(I would have added to cookiebaker's thread but I don't want to take away from her problem)

Riley has an aggression problem. We have had her 3 weeks now and she is still fighting to be top dog. When she bites and we scold her (we've said NO!, squirted lemon juice in her mouth, ignored her, walked away, pushed her away, yelled OUCH really loudly, tried to make her sit instead, given her a distraction or toy and holding her mouth shut. We even tried flipping her on her back, standing over her and saying no and/or growling at her.) A lot of the times she growls back and won't stop fighting and resisting. She lunges at our faces and bites us all over.. she's giving me welts on my arms and even drew a tiny bit of blood today. I'm afraid that shes becoming too aggressive.. she will never back down. She bares her teeth and growls and runs back for more no matter how much you disipline her. If she was an adult dog she'd have to go away probably because she would be labeled vicious (IMO anyway). Most of the time if she gets "unreasonable" (i call it ATTACKING) we put her in her cage and ignore her until she wakes up from a nap.

We've called her breeder (who suggested the flipping them over thing and our vet suggested the lemon squirting in the mouth but both seem to aggravate her more.) She's only 10 weeks old and 13 lbs but she thinks she deserves to be top dog. It doesn't help that most of our friends dogs are shy and run away from her (though today she played with a playful dog).

oh yeah.. and today she was attacking me so bad while I was sitting on the floor that I took her and pushed her off of me pretty hard so she slid about 6 ft away. I think she was very surprised but she didn't bite me for a while. Now that is a last resort but we need to lay down the law here.. she should not still be fighting for dominance. We are very assertive and firm with her and she has been socialized very well.. someone is with her or playing with her 24/7.

help help help help help