growling and snarling 11 week old puppy

[macholt]

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Hi Folks, I'm also fairly new and I would like to know how to read an 11 weeks old puppy.Our Gaby can turn from loveable to a snarling growling pup instantly,the part I am having trouble reading is she will roll over on her back and then bare her teeth,I do tell her in a loud NO and hold her muzzle and sometimes she calms down and other times she looks like she is calmer but then she shows those little evil gremlin teeth. I also noticed she does this more when she seems to be tired and played out.She is also a talker which my last rottie wasn't and I'm not sure which growl is which.I don't want to disipline her for a playful conversation but I will not accept an aggressive growl either.I know she is probably confused but I want to nip the growling in the bud while she is still this young.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jane

[Storm]

At this age they are still trying very much to put things into perspective. They are dogs, they only know how to behave like dogs with dog like behaviors, now they are at the beginning stages where they are been integrated into the humans world etc. First of all be consistent in all you do, try more so been a "leader" and provider and not so much a buddy! To much rough housing, buddy buddy etc. could create misconstued situations where one provokes undesireable behaviors and then either unknowingly reinforces them or just adds additional confusion to the whole situation. If the dog from a young age is taught to interact constructively in conjunction with imprinting the fact that good behaviors are rewarded and negative behaviors are ignored, this with using various incentives will mould a dog that always looks up to you almost as if you are a source of not only companionship but also interaction, food and just plainly "life". Focus on making yourself more desireable and utilizing this by reinforcing good positive behaviors. At the end of the day it is a mental game, make mistakes, be inconsistent and reinforce negative behaviors now and they will be there permenantly.

[Roxibear]

Hi, I'm new as well, in fact this is my first reply. I have a 15 week Rottie bitch called roxi. You situation sounds very familiar to mine. We got her at seven weeks and from the start she was chewing, human and otherwise. This carried on for a few weeks with just mild no's and then she seemed to be getting more aggressive. As there are always kids around my house, as well as my own, I decided to be firmer. Within a few weeks again the aggression had almost stopped completely towards my wife and I and also our twelve year old. However towards mt eight year old son she was still trying to be dominant. This consisted of jumping at and biting him. In my opinion this can't be tolerated even at a very early stage. I reinforced to my son that he had to act less frightened of her, which was probably one of the causes. I know the books say no tug of war but she absolutely loves it so I set up a few tugs between them making sure my son won mostly and the pup an odd time. I also supervised him taking food off her, no problem there except she gulps when she sees anybody coming, but no growling as yet. Instead of trying to dominate now she now grabs her toys and rushes towards my son to play. There are still the odd accidental nips but it doesn't seem like aggression and she knows when he is scolding her. She does growl when playing with him and doesn't when playing with me but I honestly think this is because she is more excited, again it doesn't seem like aggression.
I think just trying to be firmer will help and in time you will know the difference between playful and aggressive growls. I am about to post on another subject with her that I can't seem to stop, maybe you will have some tips for me. Good Luck.