Got it!

I tend to live the same as Kacie where I do not allow dominance or aggression at all in my house.

But the difference is I only own one dog and when I have a second dog, it is a foster so it is only a pack member temporarily.

I own a Aussie shepherd/lab cross spayed bitch, and normally foster a male. Recently however, I've agreed to foster what was listed as a male but turned out to be female! So now I have my 3-year-old spayed bitch and this one-year-old intact bitch. The new foster is at least 10 pounds lighter than my dog.

I am having the same problem as the guy with two males in that I cannot tell which is the dominant dog. The new foster ("Lucy") is like Jeckyll and Hyde, she has growled and snapped at my dog when Lucy is in her crate and my dog, Emma, walks by. ALso she snapped at Emma on the stairs one time as Emma went to pass her. However when they are together in the yard (always supervised and the new dog on-lead) Lucy acts very submissive, licking at Emma's mouth and pawing gently at her. Also she follows Emma's lead. If Emma goes left, Lucy goes left.

Are there any specific signs I should look for to tell which is the alpha? With my previous male fosters I was successful in having a home with neither dog being dominant and no signs of aggression or dominance. Should I continue on that route and correct Lucy for each instance of dominance display, or allow her to be the dominant dog? I don't even know if she IS dominant. I am posting a separate question about Lucy as well. Thanks for your input.

My Borzoi pup is 27 inches at the sholder so he always is getting in trouble because he is Bigger and Taller then the other dogs and he will put his head over them. The Bouvier puppy and he push and shove and chase . We are fairly sure the bouvier will be dominate over him, behind the collie. I am glad I introduced them early, they pen uptogether and sleep together.
The collie is 11 years old but a very tough fit dog . he got my Akita,s mojo early on and kept it the whole time . He dominated and herded the hell out of that akita! The 2 pups leave him alone. He has gotten in the middle of them when he thinks there is enough and all puppy stuff will stop ,usually when they are racing up the steps.

The question is not which dog is the pack leader? The question is rather or not the human is the pack leader? The person you talk about here should be the pack leader and should not let the other dog dominate the other one. Even though the other one is submissive he/she still needs a pack leader. The human should set the rules boundaries and limitations for the pack and settle rank issues. It is donwn right difficult at times having multiple dogs in the house. It is usually tough enough to deal with pack behavior and obedience issues with one dog let alone 2 or 3. It is comparable trying to herd a bunch of cats. I deal with multiple dogs all the time coming in and out of my pack, I set the rules boundaries and limitations and enforce the rules, boundaries, and limitations. I think I am in the same boat as Carole's husband. Suggested reading Ground work for dogs, Introducing new dogs, articles Ed has on theories of corrections, obedience training, Read Cesar's Way. Buy some of Ed's DVDs