dominant behavior between dogs?

Is Buddy trying to assert his dominance? Is he being an annoying, opportunistic puppy

 
I think both. Opportunistic in trying to get every resource possible. And wants to be the center of the action. The other dog is accepting his actions and control of the situation. So, things may actually be stable, though dog interaction can be dynamic, changing as context changes. You'll definitely want to train an "off" or "drop it" command to de-fuse other situations that are less benign.
 

Agree with Ron. I tend to overlook most of the dominance behaviors that Conrad exhibits around the house towards Marlowe (which are pretty much the same as what Buddy does) because they are harmless, Marlowe accepts them and it keeps the relationship between them flowing smoothly. If Marlowe were the type of dog to try to also constantly assert himself, there might be an issue, but he's not, so I see no real reason to stop Conrad from throwing his weight around from time to time. It makes Conrad happy and Marlowe doesn't particularily care, so it's win-win.
 
But I do keep an eye on things if there's a real high-value item in play that might trump Marlowe's general tendancy to surrender everything to Conrad on demand. That would also be my advice to you. For most dogs there will be something that is so awesome and special that all prior social harmony may fly right out the window and the opportunistic scavenger side of all the dogs will come out. For those situations you need to have already established your own leadership, taught "leave it", and know the dogs well enough to know when to use those tools.

If he's under 6 months old, probably just an annoying puppy!  But, pups like this really need to be exposed to sensible older dogs who won't back off, but will tell the puppy to do so.  You have to be careful, though, as you don't want him to meet adults who will frighten or injure him, just make him understand that he isn't the king of the hill all the time.  If you have any friends with stable, safe adult dogs, bring them together on neutral ground for a play date.

Thanks for all the advice.  Buddy will be 7 mo. on 11/21.  There are a  couple things that Maizy will absolutely not tolerate.  One of them is, Buddy will jump up on Maizy's shoulder.  She has never liked dogs being on top of her, so this is a no-no and she will tell him so.  I can count on one hand how many times she has lightly nipped him and it was always correcting him. 
 
As far as the one thing that is so special are Maizy's balls.  They are her favorite toy and the one thing that she will challenge Buddy on.  She will run right up to him and bark and bark in his face and it doesn't faze him.  In fact, he will charge her when she has a toy and she will drop it, but then will bark at him as he takes it away. 
 
He also tries to lick her ears or her beard (she's a mini schnauzer).  She really doesn't like that.  She'll back away, back away and he'll just keep coming after her.  Until she has lost it and is high pitch barking and we are telling him to leave it.  He usually will, but we sometimes have to say it a few times.
 
Sue

In addition to the wonderful posts above I would like to add soemthing I read in one of Patricia McConells' books.
Always help your alpha enforce his or her dominance. For example humans tends to push away the older dog with reasoning such as "oh your the old guy, you know better then to growl at the baby" thats a big no no because in they are already trying to establish rank within themselves and by doing so we are showing the little ones that its ok to challenge the alpha. When your younger jumps on your bigger, reprimand him. Feed the older dog first, give the older dog treats first and if you can walk them together. The puppys that play togehter stay together!

He also tries to lick her ears or her beard

That's appeasement behavior.

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

He also tries to lick her ears or her beard

That's appeasement behavior.

Can you tell me what that means?  She doesn't like it.  She will back away and spin in circles to get him away from her face.
 
Sue