Now we are 7. Two humans, I'm the "trainer" the other is the "spoiler". One cat, a 6 year old field lab we have had since 8 wks, then in 2006 added Molly an over bred under trained or badly trained 6 yr old lab, Sept 2007 added Daisy a stray Great Dane/Greyhound super model, and reciently Bailey, a 3 yr old rover we thought was a Lab but I think is more mastiff hound something.
We made a few changes:


Set up outdoor kennels where they spend most of the day and taken out to train and aire. Now they eat in their kennels as well not in a group.
All the dogs sleep inside, with Bailey safely in his crate
NO one is allowed on the furniture
No dogs in the bedroom.

Lucy the original dog has been disappearing into the background. We train field work and she is manic about it but I've seen her shaking in her kennel,or standing with a cowering look when around the other dogs. For 3 months last winter she vomited regulary with no reason according to the vet. She has a neediness to be with us alone maybe? I thought it would be fine for us to select her as the dog that can be on the couch with us when invited. Or the one that goes with us for walks and rides to the store alone.

I take the 3 girls for runs(loose on ecollars for a good run) separatly from Bailey until he settles in and handles reliably. 4 are too many to deal with if we stumble on a moose, a runaway sled dog or very occasional cars on our backroad. Each gets some training or time with us alone almost every day.

http://www.alaskadognews.com

I am not quite understanding your question, Linda

Regarding the lab, some dogs are very pack driven and if she was raised with humans, without other dogs she is likely going to be more attached to you than other dogs.

Was she a house dog before all these changes? How recent are these changes, did the vomiting happen before the switch to being kenneled outside? Are all the dogs in together, or separate?

I know a lot of people focus on who has what position in a pack of dogs, but for me I have always found it much easier if they all occupy the same position : under all the humans. If there is only one human in the home, then all dogs are number two. I don't allow them to discipline or antagonize one another at all. I settle ALL disputes. When you try to force animals to occupy a position they are not prepared or able to occupy, all that happens is a fight. If the one dog is being timid around the others, then you need to start being more aware of the behaviors causing that. If there is one dog giving intimidating looks, or squaring off, that dog needs to be stopped. Once all the dogs understand that you do not tolerate that behavior from any of them, they seem to settle in quite well. The timid dogs start trusting that you will protect them, and the bullies stop taking advantage of the weaker ones.
All JMHO.

I just write too much and get confusing. I liked Camron's response. To answer Jennifer. With the little Lab Lucy, The vomiting happened just after we found our third dog Daisy last September, now 2yrs old, an imposing Great Dane/Greyhound.She is reminded daily that she is not in charge but it took a session with a local trainer for me to realize what the GD/G was doing.
Having raised only labs I needed the help with this odd mix.

Lucy was inside/outside only dog for 5 years with a tight bond with us and the cat. She didnt know how to play with other dogs. We competed in field work but there was no dog play at those events and training.

The 3 females have been kenneled together in a larger kennel or loose inside since last fall. It depends on the weather. They are all in at night. Now we are building separate kennels. I think your right about Lucy's need to be with us. I need to separate Lucy and give her more house time during the day. Unlike the rescued dogs who have been dumped at the shelter a few times she has rarely been away from us even gone on fishing trips. That seems so obvious now... I get so intrigued working with the new dogs I have to balance that out better. thanks

Dogs are never equal, no matter how well you think you manage a pack, dogs are never equal. They always figure out their own rank one way or another. All you can do is limit the way they do it, but it will happen, and there is no way to change a pack rank. That's the quickest way to creating conflict between the dogs.

The easiest way to deal with it is simply to separate the dogs that don't like to be around other dogs from the rest of them.

 Quote: Linda Henning

I've seen her shaking in her kennel,or standing with a cowering look when around the other dogs.

 Quote: Mike J Schoonbrood

The easiest way to deal with it is simply to separate the dogs that don't like to be around other dogs from the rest of them.

Big fat ditto: Separate them. JMHO.

I haven't had to deal with a multiple dog situation for many years (and when I knew even less than I know now ,) but here's an earlier, somewhat related thread , including this excerpt from a book I like - The Dog's Mind by Bruce Fogle:

Dogs don't expect to live in equality with other dogs or with us for that matter. Democracy is a misplaced ideology in the canine world. Their minds work differently but we find this a difficult concept to accept because it's alien to the way most of us think. Kind owners who punish bully dogs and elevate submissive ones create conflict in their dogs minds because, to their thinking, what we are doing is unnatural. Jealousy over attention from the owner, possessiveness over a toy or bone, rivalry over who sleeps in the favorite spot, these are all manifestations of problems in dominance behavior where a hierarchy has not been properly established. . . Our responsibility during the juvenile period of the dog's mind is to determine which of two or more dogs is likely to be dominant over the other(s) and then give subtle rewards to that dog (like the first pat when you come home.) At the same time he must remember that you are dominant over him. The submissive dog, in the meantime, gets ignored. This attitude by us, hard as it may seem, dramatically reduces the likelihood of future fights.

And there's a bunch more here.

Mike

---

Suppose you were an idiot.

Suppose you were a member of Congress.

But I repeat myself.

-Mark Twain

If you were to "give" her status how would she then be able to keep it later? I don't see how you can make the other dogs see her as dominant when she won't be displaying any dominance of her own, it would be false dominance and the other dogs would see right through it. From what I've learnt it's even possible they may resent this false dominance and try to 'take her down a peg or two'

Ah I am not as distracted and I understand the question now. No, it is unnatural for an alpha to attempt to enforce higher rank of another pack member.

Each pack member must fend for themselves and beyond correcting inappropriate behavior the alpha does not decide who wins and who loses, who is higher ranking and who is not. The only rank the alpha concerned with is it's own.

You can deem fighting and "picking on" each other an inappropriate behavior and deal with it that way, but you are not deciding rank by doing this. Rank is not only fights and push and shove and taking things, it is an attitude, a presence, and body language game. You cannot give body language and attitude and presence to a dog that lacks it, you can only prevent a dog that does have it from hurting or "picking on" that dog.

 Quote: jennifer marshal

... Each pack member must fend for themselves and beyond correcting inappropriate behavior the alpha does not decide who wins and who loses, who is higher ranking and who is not. ....

Just for readers who might see the above and interpret it as advice to let dogs in the household "work it out for themselves," it's not.

 Quote: jennifer marshal

You can deem fighting and "picking on" each other an inappropriate behavior and deal with it that way ...