There are 6 areas of a dog's life where dominance is established: eating, sleeping, resting, playing, attention/affection, and territory. Establish your dominance in these areas, and you're the leader of the pack.
1) Eating: Feed your dog after you've had your own meal, and make them work for it - a down/stay while you're getting their dinner ready, put the dish down on the floor before you release them from their stay to get up and eat. No free-feeding, meal-feed only - as pack leader, you control the resources, and the access to them. Put the dish down, wait 15 minutes, pick the dish up. If your dog doesn't finish his meal, he doesn't get anything else to eat until the next meal.
2) Sleeping: Unless you have the dog you want, manners and obedience-wise, he doesn't get to sleep on the bed. Period. He should sleep in his crate, or on a dog bed on the floor, in your bedroom. The bed is the prime territory in the house - as pack leader, it belongs to YOU. Give up your rightful territory to a pack member who hasn't completely accepted your leadership position is simply giving away your authority.
3) Resting: Wherever your dog is hanging out is the spot they consider the best resting spot - whether it's a chair, the sofa, or a sunbeam on the floor. But again - the pack leader owns everything, and subordinate pack members should cede that spot to the pack leader when s/he walks into the room. When you walk into the living room to sit down, your dog(s) should automatically get up from their spots to allow you to choose to sit where they were resting, if you like. If he doesn't get up, make him - then check out each seat (including that puddle of sunshine on the floor, you may not think it's a desirable place to sit, but HE does!) before choosing one and sitting down. Never sit down on the sofa next to your dog or worse, pet/cuddle him! Make him get off, sit down, and invite him back up if you like.
4) Play: This one's pretty simple - you always initiate the game, and you end it. If the game involves a toy - a ball, frisbee, tug rope, whatever - you get it out and initiate the game, and when you end it you take possession of the toy and put it away. (Tug is not necessarily a bad game, it can be very useful in teaching mouth control, but it must always start and end with the human in posession of the tug.)
5) Attention/Affection: Another simple one. The dog is not allowed to seek attention/initiate petting/cuddling. If they do, you make them work for you before giving affection. When you want to pet/cuddle your dog, YOU initiate it by calling them over to you - don't go to them. (See my post to Erin for more information on this.)
6) Territory: Teach your dog a sit/wait at the door. (Very simple, shouldn't take more than 2-3 days to teach.) Every time you allow your dog out, put him in a sit/wait at the door, open it, take a step out, and have a good long look around YOUR yard. When you've determined there's nothing out there that you want, release your dog and allow him to go out. (Get rid of the doggie door!) Make him sit/wait before jumping into the car, and sit/wait before jumping out. If you've got a dog that patrols your fenceline, put him in a sit/stay just outside the door, where he can watch you as you walk the entire perimeter of the yard before you release him to go out in it.
1) Eating: Feed your dog after you've had your own meal, and make them work for it - a down/stay while you're getting their dinner ready, put the dish down on the floor before you release them from their stay to get up and eat. No free-feeding, meal-feed only - as pack leader, you control the resources, and the access to them. Put the dish down, wait 15 minutes, pick the dish up. If your dog doesn't finish his meal, he doesn't get anything else to eat until the next meal.
2) Sleeping: Unless you have the dog you want, manners and obedience-wise, he doesn't get to sleep on the bed. Period. He should sleep in his crate, or on a dog bed on the floor, in your bedroom. The bed is the prime territory in the house - as pack leader, it belongs to YOU. Give up your rightful territory to a pack member who hasn't completely accepted your leadership position is simply giving away your authority.
3) Resting: Wherever your dog is hanging out is the spot they consider the best resting spot - whether it's a chair, the sofa, or a sunbeam on the floor. But again - the pack leader owns everything, and subordinate pack members should cede that spot to the pack leader when s/he walks into the room. When you walk into the living room to sit down, your dog(s) should automatically get up from their spots to allow you to choose to sit where they were resting, if you like. If he doesn't get up, make him - then check out each seat (including that puddle of sunshine on the floor, you may not think it's a desirable place to sit, but HE does!) before choosing one and sitting down. Never sit down on the sofa next to your dog or worse, pet/cuddle him! Make him get off, sit down, and invite him back up if you like.
4) Play: This one's pretty simple - you always initiate the game, and you end it. If the game involves a toy - a ball, frisbee, tug rope, whatever - you get it out and initiate the game, and when you end it you take possession of the toy and put it away. (Tug is not necessarily a bad game, it can be very useful in teaching mouth control, but it must always start and end with the human in posession of the tug.)
5) Attention/Affection: Another simple one. The dog is not allowed to seek attention/initiate petting/cuddling. If they do, you make them work for you before giving affection. When you want to pet/cuddle your dog, YOU initiate it by calling them over to you - don't go to them. (See my post to Erin for more information on this.)
6) Territory: Teach your dog a sit/wait at the door. (Very simple, shouldn't take more than 2-3 days to teach.) Every time you allow your dog out, put him in a sit/wait at the door, open it, take a step out, and have a good long look around YOUR yard. When you've determined there's nothing out there that you want, release your dog and allow him to go out. (Get rid of the doggie door!) Make him sit/wait before jumping into the car, and sit/wait before jumping out. If you've got a dog that patrols your fenceline, put him in a sit/stay just outside the door, where he can watch you as you walk the entire perimeter of the yard before you release him to go out in it.
If you take control of these 6 areas - consistently and firmly, but calmly - there won't be any question about who's the leader of the pack.