Pack Leader

[SilentHill]

Ok, so I recently began reading stuff about dog behaviors and I'm a little confused by my situation.

We have a (almost 3) Bi-Blue boy.

My parents have a 8yr old Tri boy, and a 1yr old blue merle boy.

Little background is that the bi-blue lives with me, but goes to my parents house every day for doggie day care.

The 8 year old, he is a loner, If he is being provoked physically by one of the o hers he will snap at them and run away, if someone wants a toy that he has or a bone, they must simply just go take it, he will hold onto it as long as he can, but then eventually it gets ripped out, he doesn't try to recover it. He is always last when coming into the house. I think he is bottom of the pack but that's why i'm posting, I want some opinions on pack order.

the puppy and our dog Levi (the bi-blue) are always "playing" chasing each other around the house, consistently the puppy will aggravate Levi. Nipping at his feet, charging at him full speed trying to take him down (the puppy is on the small side about 20 lbs, but Levi is on the big side about 45 lbs) The puppywill regularly take toys from Levi, but Levi doesn't even care. He almost seems like he wants to avoid the confrontation and just relax. He is very easy going, however. He is ALWAYS first one in the house. no other dog even tries to push past him to be the first one in. He continuously "mouthes" with the puppy, and 95% of the time, the puppy ends up lying on his back with Levi mouthing his legs, or body, but the puppy is still mouthing back. They never full on fight, but if the puppy steps out of line, and actually bites Levi or hurts him, Levi is quick to put him down on his back, he is also fearful of him if he runs at him, but that fear goes away and he gets right back to antagonizing him as soon as the moment has passed.

I'm just trying to figure out the chain of command and what i really going on here. I have read that things both of them do are considered to be dominate behaviors. I'm really wondering, if because the puppy is the pack leader over my parents and the older dog, that this somehow plays into a weird spot because at my house Levi is not the pack leader?

Sorry for being so long-winded, but this is hard to explain!

[*Caro]

I think you might be getting too worried about who is pack leader. It's not a useful term for understanding dog dynamics and behaviour. This is article gives a good overview of the fluidity of dog relationships. http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose/dominance.aspx

With your older dog, it probably doesn't really care that much about the toys to argue about it - or just isnt interested in playing tug. Who goes through the door first doesn't mean much, just that one dog likes going first and the others don't care. You also have an adolescent in the mix there - and their behaviour is going to be more based on doing what teenagers do, testing boundries and having fun.