Attempt at dominance?

Question
We have 3 dogs, 2 goldens and an Irish Setter, all rescued.  Our newest addition, Gabriel, is a 7 year old male Golden who was a stud at a puppy mill shut down by the USDA (he is now fixed).  Most of the time, he is totally the Beta dog.  He learned how to walk on a leash, go up and down stairs, cross shiny railroad tracks, and eat from a stainless steel pan only by watching the other dogs.  He loves the off leash park but follows the other Golden around like he is his shadow.  But when our senior Golden sleeps, Gabriel stands over him like a centurion, not bothering his sleeping friend at all, but he will stand like that for half an hour at a time.  When Senior Dog is awake, Gabriel defers to him in every way.  It's quite funny to watch, but I suspect this is his one Beta chance to be dominant.  Correct?

Barry

Answer
It could actually just be that he wants to play with the other dog-that is rather common for one dog to stand over a sleeping dog,just waiting for him to wake up so they can play!!! While it is possible he might be trying to dominate the other dog,if that's the case they usually do so by growling at the other dog and not letting them stand up ect So I suspect this is him wanting to play all the time