Ok, whenever we go walking..Levi has to hold the leash in his mouth. Now, I'm thinking this dog does not want to be walked and this is his way of saying YOU are not walking me, IM the one who is walking me. Am I crazy? Am I giving emotions to my puppy? What could be the reason for him doing this. He does it on every walk we go on, without fail.

On another note: Tonight one of my neighbors dogs was outside in the yard when we came walking up on the opposite side of the street. Her dog barked at us and much to my surprise Levi (remember he is only 12 wks old) went BANANAS!!! Okay, so here I am remembering what Ed said about stepping in front of the pup to show him that I am the pack leader and that I will defend him. I'm telling the neighbors dog SPIKE GO HOME!! GO ON GET!! Meanwhile, little Mr. psycho is trying everything he can to get around from behind me (where I am desperately trying to keep him with the leash) and go towards Spike. Now, I'm not sure I did the right thing here. Obviously, he didn't feel like he needed protecting. CRAZY PUP!! Does this mean that he is not seeing me as leader? Should I have turned around and addressed the puppy instead telling him NO!! I don't know if I did the right thing or not but considering the situation, what do you guys think it all means in his mind??

He's been minding me fantastically, I'm very pleased with the way he is responding to me in everyway. That said....

Ed covers the leash-in-mouth thing in one of his DVDs (basic obedience or puppy, forgot which one).
You just say no and jerk the leash out of his mouth. It's not acceptable behaviour; the leash is your control over him and he must accept it.

As for the aggressive attitude towards other dogs, it should be corrected very strongly, according to the dominant/aggressive DVD.

However, Ed talks about more mature dogs in that video. I don't know if you should correct a 12-week-old baby the same way... even alpha wolves tolerate a lot from their pups. Behaviours that would get an adult wolf attacked are taken quite patiently when they come from the young puppies.

Hopefully someone with more experience raising puppies can advise you on that. If it were an older dog, you'd correct it until it looks at YOU, not at the other dog. Prong or dominant dog collars for the correction - both are demonstrated in the dominant dog DVD.

There's no excuse for letting an older pup or a mature dog act aggressively towards other dogs. It's a failure of the pack leader to allow that to happen. Again, don't know to what extent that would apply to a baby pup such as your Levi

I have a 3yr old who has no dog agression and a 11 month old full of dog agression. I do NOT let them run together nor is the 11 month old agessive to the 3 year old. At our club when a young dog is showing agressive be havior we turn the dog and try to change his or her focus. As she gets older and obedience is introduced I re direct her attention by giving a command and then inforcing it. IE Sit! I expect this command to be followed, I do not say sit sit sit sit. One time sit! and then if she does not comply I enforce the command. Never give a dog a command you can not enforce. hope this helps. I'm not sure that we are trying to get rid of the dog agression but teach them that we are the masters and they will comply to our commands. Disapline

Was the other dog advancing at you? When I walk pups or my own dogs I do not pay any attention to dogs that bark at us. I ignore them as long as they are not advancing. I just keep moving and keep my dog moving and focused on me and walking. If they advance I do step up in front of the pup and have pepper spray ready. Most of the time the dogs leave or stop with a verbal "GIT". I never say any more than that. I try and go the other way or find a distanced way around the other dog.
My dogs all ignore other dogs and it comes from calm, assertive leadership. I ignore and do not react so they learn that they do not need to react either, and if my dogs do react it means I have had a lapse in leadership and I better get my act together or that my dog had a lapse in judgement and gets a firm correction for being naughty.
I do allow my pups to socialize briefly also with my adult dogs (it helps everyone get over the "need to sniff butts"), once that is done everyone could care less, but it is always supervised and none of the dogs get away with acting like jerks, even the pups.
Your dog is too young to be corrected with any type of training collar. I would just keep the walk at the same pace, keep an eye on but ignore the other dog and get the pup through it even if he is looking back keep walking until he turns his attention back on you. You can tell him, NO, Leave it, Fooey or whatever command you are using for him to stop doing things but just keep walking. The more you stop or slow down and address something the more you are going to teach the dog that whatever the distraction it needs to be confronted.
I am sure that others will probably have more advice but this is what works for me. And I may be wrong so I might learn something new also. Thats what we are here for though, right??

My Mal did the carry the leash thing and I just gave her something to carry other than her leash. I had not seen Ed's video so therefore did what worked for her.

Hiya.

My 14 week old pup Carbon walked with the leash in his mouth at first and I just readjusted it so it was coming of the back of his neck instead of hanging slack and tempting him. A flexi lead is something you could use while he's still a pup to make sure there isn't slack for the pup to bite. Remember, of course, that a flexi is only good for a little pup and useless for an older puppy or for training.

He got over it fairly quickly and doesn't do it at all anymore.

As for dog to dog aggression, my pup has a bit of that too. I do what Lance does and give him a command (I always have treats in my pocket) to focus on me instead of what's raising his hackles.

In the situation like you were in, IMO, you should have zero slack in his leash and force him to stay behind you (stepping on the leash maybe) while you deal with the other dog. This isn't an ideal situation of course. It kind of forced you to try to teach the pup two new things at once. Practice making him realize that you are the pack leader and I think he'll be easier to manage.

I've been reading your other posts and it sounds either like you have a dominant hard pup on your hands or you're a little too passive. Or both. Either way, being strong and in charge while establishing your rank over him is obviously a must!

My Carbon is the kind of dog that will absolutely run things if someone doesn't insist that he back down. Once he realized I was in charge and was CONSISTANTLY a rule enforcer, he's been no problem. It's a good thing that I'm the kind of person that intimidates soft dogs...Carbon's perfect for me. Come puberty there might be some crap to deal with, but I'll just take a really long nap until that's over!