Molly's a good pup most of the time, yet she has these aggressive tendencies. Here's a little background: she's 75% havanese and 25% lhasa apso, 5 mos. old. She took a basic puppy training class - was socialized quite a bit and learned the basic commands. She is pretty much potty-trained, except for the occasional accident when we don't see her sitting by the door...
Molly's very sweet, lovable, playful, energetic. If she's laying down, just resting or chewing a toy or greenie, and someone tries to pick her up, she'll start growling, thrashing her head about and bite. She is like this quite a bit with our 8 yr.old too.
As I write this, I see the obvious solution would be to NOT PICK HER UP! It can't be that simple though, can it?
When we do need to pick her up (say, to put her in her crate), we get a treat/toy, and pick her up, while talking soothingly to her and giving her the treat/toy. That seems to work pretty well.
Last night, I gave her an old sock to chew on and she was being quite protective of it. I went to cover the blanket with the comforter and she must have thought I was going to take her sock, and she lunged and bit my arm - leaving teeth marks and a bruise! That's the closest she has come to breaking skin.
We have to figure something out before she breaks skin on dd!
We have a call into to local trainers...