[rottlove]

Hello, my 9-week-old Viva growls when I pick her up unless she is sleepy. I am working a lot on the nipping and have the yipe and ignore thing down, but what is the appropriate response to her growl/nip combo when I pick her up? I am always gentle and use both hands. Seems like if put her down immediately and ignore her, she won't tolerate being picked up after a while, having been reinforced that growling=being put down. We are going to KPT and working on different commands with positive reinforcement, and she gets nothing without a "sit" and eye contact. She scored mostly 3s on the PAT. Her litter was home-raised with two children that know how to handle pups. Any advice would be great; she catches on quickly and is a joy to train.