Kristen,

i can't add much to Andres post, but i can tell you my expirience with harder pup in 5 dog house.

Dog that hackles up or goes stiff will not be off leash with my pup; correcting that kind of behaviour will not make that dog more tolerable towards pup. Accident waiting to happen.

That said my pup has plenty one on one time with two of my other bitches (they can't stand each other but are very cool with youngster), and i have seen how strong dogs that are not thought manners by older dogs (that patient but firm older dog that Andres mentioned) and DON'T KNOW dog body language turn out to be. Aggressive and does not when to stop for his own good. And later (if he does not get killed in some fight) you still have bad case of dog aggression.

Waiting for Andres response on reaction towards pup that won't trade items.

Edit time is too short.

i meant:
"...and does not KNOW when to stop for his own good..."

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Ok, so rather than just outright correcting him for possessive behaviors with toys, food, etc. I should offer him something else to replace whatever it is he’s guarding, correct?

What would be appropriate for the hard play and mouthiness? Just removing him from the situation entirely, like a ‘time out’?

For “keep away” and “jealousy” I would just ignore him. Is that right?

To all the above, I think basically yes.

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How would I correct him for showing aggressiveness towards other people unnecessarily, without hindering his training? Do I allow him to bark at the door when family approaches it? What about while on walks?

Correct him down TO THE POINT WHERE HE stops lunging at the "threat", QUIETS DOWN SOME, BUT MAINTAINS KEEN INTEREST . This takes finesse and is dog dependent. There are other times when aggressive displays will be appropriate, and you will want to promote that.

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I should just pretty much let him be a wild child,

This would NOT be good advice. The crate, positive reinf. obedience, bonding activities in a controlled environment, and FIRM, PROGRESSIVE lessons in proper manners is more what I would do. No hurry: it's a pup.

Regarding what your other dog does, I have no idea as I haven't seen it, and a description is possibly not good enough. Just make sure you're very careful. You don't want to traumatize your pup physically or psychologically. That's just common sense.

Ivan:

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pup that won't trade items

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Stick my fingers in the side of his mouth quite firmly, while internally laughing at how hard my dog bites at such a young age and how much "personality" he has, until he releases the item. Then I'll stick the new item in his mouth and say "There you go! Braaf!" Then I see how he catches on, I congratulate myself on how smart he is, then I tell my wife and kids...my kids look at me in admiration, and she looks at me and shakes her head. How's that, Ivan? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I agree with you about just letting him be wild. I don't
think I could handle that, especially since he will be living in the house. Again, thanks for your excellent posts. The advice about how to handle 'inappropriate' aggression towards people on walks is very helpful.

I just have one more question for now:

How do I go about cat-proofing him without hurting his prey drive? At the moment, I have my 5 year old cat that could care less about my current dog, but I anticipate he will be very cautious with a rambunctious puppy that tries to chase him. I also have 3 kittens that are just getting acclimated to the dog, but they will not be permanent fixtures. We're only keeping one of them. I know for a FACT that they will be pissed about the puppy, and will hiss and hump up their backs and not hesitate to smack the $#%^ out of him if he gets too close, and run.

As I said before, he's about 4 months old now, so when I get him he'll be around 17-19 weeks old if that makes any difference. I'm fairly certain he's never been exposed to cats before, so I'm sure he'll be very excited by them, but I don't want to overcorrect or do anything that might hurt his prey drive. He will be kept on leash when in the house and of course the cats will not be left loose when I leave (they'll go in the basement like they do at night, and he'll either be crated upstairs or outside in a pen during the day - haven't decided yet. At night he'll be crated in the house, probably in my bedroom).

You don't.
Use your search function - there are several posts about high prey dogs killing cats that they'll lived with for many years.