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I go through this a lot with my pack, especially with Sox. She's not in an alpha position, but she wants to be so badly! Kira is ahead of her, and Sox is trying to make sure that Naomi is trailing, so will growl when Naomi approaches her crate or food bowl (which is normally in her crate). Today, for example, Kira wanted something in Sox's crate. Normally, if Sox is in her crate, no one will approach. But Kira just tromped on in, even though Sox bared teeth and growled. Kira pushed forward with her snout into the side of Sox's neck (I saw no teeth -- kind of just butted her) and Kira growled softly. I never knew Sox could get that tiny! Kira was blocking the door and poor Sox was curled into a corner taking up the least amount of space canine-ly possible.

But my girls do play rough. They always back down if someone yelps, and if someone retreats, they won't chase them down. But I'm like you -- Naomi has a habit of grabbing loose neck skin and shaking for all she's got (maybe it's a Dane thing?). I'll intervene, because I know the other dogs could seriously hurt her if they wanted to, but they always extricate her without any harm being done to anyone. Sox will tolerate it . . . Kira will growl and bare teeth, but won't bite or snap, because normally Naomi will run away on her own at that point. I believe, for all the noise, that everyone's playing, but they let me know when someone oversteps their bounds. Food aggression among my dogs is my biggest problem with them. Kira and Sox had an issue with the water bowl as well until they settled their dominance issues. Kira wouldn't allow Sox to drink, or if Sox was drinking and Kira came over, Sox would back up in a hurry. I'd respond by kenneling the aggressor and letting the more passive dog have access to whatever resource was coveted. In about ten minutes, I'd let the aggressor out, and normally they'd start playing nicely again, with the aggressor looking to see if I'm watching or not before deciding how to behave. I've found that, now that I've established a leader-type role, they look to me before reacting to a lot of situations. I was shocked as heck today when a simple "Leave it" to the room in general protected my six sausages while my back was completely turned. Shocked, but happy ^-^