All our dogs/cats have always deferred to my husband, who is clearly top dog (and also not much of a pet-guy, which they clearly sense, and stay out of his way). I'm way more of a softie, and often have to work for top dog rank. Since Gary has nothing to do with the chickens, I'll have to keep after the rooster. So far, so good. I'll do the head-down if need be, but so far he's keeping his distance from me. And getting rid of part of the spurs also sounds appealing - both for myself and the hens. I can likely get Gary to do that for me when the spurs come in. They are just little nubbins so far.
