Um....er....and I thought I was being subtle!! I never was very good at it!

Seriously though (yes here I go again!) wouldn't you enjoy your dog doing something fun and enjoyable for you all to get the attention? At the moment the dog has you pretty well trained to give attention to him on demand when he feels like it. It could be fun to train him to do the "Oh poor me, nobody loves me!" routine on demand. He stills get the attention, you still get the laughs and the pack status is restored.