puppy help

Well I got a puppy, Lolita (Lola) on the 16th. She is 1/2 Boston Terrier and 1/2 Chihuahua. Lola is going to be 10 weeks on 11/1 So far she's been pretty good about house training, but i need some help.

Sometimes when i go to pick Lola up, she'll growl and snap at me. Usually when this happens she's about to go to sleep, or in a playful mood. I don't want to let this become a habit, and I don't know how to break her of this. I usually snap my fingers at her and give a sharp "NOT" (no rhymes with lola so i dont want to risk confusion). Is this just puppy play biting?

I have 3 other dogs, 2 Jack Russels and a mini schnauzer, and they're all great with how little she is. However, I'm gone from 7 to 2 every day, and i don't trust her to be out with them for that long, so i keep her in her crate. I've been doing this since i got her, and giving her treats, but she still cries.

She sleeps in my bed, without the other three dogs who sleep in other family members' beds. Is this going to give her dominance issues? She wakes up in the middle of the night, so i take her to go potty, feed her, then we go back to bed, but she insists it's playtime. I've considered crating her at night, but i feel bad since she's in the crate all day, and i like to have her with me. How do I get her to like her crate, and learn that night time is sleep time?

I would take a warm washcloth and rub her head and back gently with it before picking her up. Tell her to sit and push her hinny down as you stroke, then pick her up. Fade out the washcloth (You won't need to do that more then a couple times to get the point across, keep the "sit" and then maybe the command "up" when you lift her. Let her know it is coming, let her know you are mom, and that you are also the one in control. It worked for me. Make sure when you lift her that you have one hand under the hind feet so that feeling of dangling doesn't exist.

You could perhaps try an ex-pen instead of a crate during the day and then crate her only at night. Keep the crate in the ex-pen so she can use it as a bed to rest (and therefore be more comfortable sleeping in it at night).
You might also like to try saying "Uh uh!" instead of "Not", when she growls or snaps at you. And don't bother her when she's going to sleep (crating her will help with this at night).
Also make sure you play with her a lot before you go to work/school so that she's tired and will be more inclined to sleep while you're not there. And play with her (obviously) when you return. It's not too early to train her either. You might like to buy a clicker and do a google search for 'clicker training'. It's an excellent way to train her especially since she's so small.

Oh and one more thing...always remember, reward the good and ignore the bad. Make sure she knows that bad behaviour gets her ignored/no attention and being good gets her LOTS of attention.


Cass.