My puppy is now 7 weeks old.

He keeps on grabbing my pant legs and shoes no matter how much I try to re-direct him with a fleece tug or a rag. I pretty much just stand there and wait for him to get interested in something else than big praise. Is that all I can do for now? Just wait until we start training and he realizes there are more fun games to play than grabbing my pants? He's going after my hands pretty good too but that's normally when I'm carrying him and I just shove one of his toys in his mouth. That works most of the time. I scruffed him once for going after my face as that's not polite in doggy manners either. He did it when he was irritated that I picked him up. He hasn't tried it again.

Would Bitter Apple on my pants make him cautious of biting surfaces? I'd tell a pet owner to do it but I'd like to do some bite work with him.

He's pushy and a bit independent. Classic ACD pup. Is there anything I can do to help with the independence? I've started hand feeding him most of his meal through marking for eye contact. He learns very quickly.

I'm going to a dog training school where puppy imprinting is part of the program. Puppy has to arrive as a "blank slate" pretty much. So I can't teach sit, down, stand, etc. What would a young puppy be able to learn that wouldn't conflict with later training but would give us something to do together?

We're going to be on the road for three days while I drive to Missouri. The first day will be about 9 hours, the second about 8.5 hours, the third about 4 hours. I'm going to start with short trips in the car tomorrow. Anything else I can do to make the trip easier on him? He will be riding in the passenger seat in his crate.

The clip below shows an excellent exercise for puppies that helps introduce focus, engagement, charging a marker, basic positions, and some fundamental obedience principles, without giving commands or going into specifics. IMO, You should be able to do this and still maintain your "clean slate" status.

https://leerburg.com/flix/player.php/717/Keeping_Your_Puppy_Engaged_with_Michael_and_Cappy

Were it me (IMHO, JMO), I wouldn't use any deterrent applied to my clothing to prevent mouthing. I believe that active solutions to problems forge a better working relationship, especially with high energy breeds. I'd stick with redirecting and tug. Welcome to the world of biting dogs.

Any idea on how they imprint the puppies?

God that brings back memories of Sugar, or satan's pup as she was known, I wish I had known about tugs when she was 10 weeks old!

She was relentless, it is exhausting, but it does pass, eventually!

Not much in the way of advice, as usual I will leave that to the experts, but I can offer empathy, herself is snoring her head off like a drunk sailor next to me on the sofa, and as I look at her, I can STILL vividly remember that time!

side note:

notice how ME maintains self discipline and does not fall for the cheap, corny, lame-O crap that so many breeders feel they need to do when displaying their puppies to the public, ie lifting them off the ground, spinning them around in the air, putting mad pressure on them, bringing out aggression...etc

I say this for the newbs, you will see such things by breeders to impress you, it looks grand, it is not. it only impresses newbs. it is dangerous physically for the pups and can scar them mentally.

look at micheal, he has a pup he can easily do such crap with...but he doesn't.

it is difficult to notice really what is going on for the newb in the clip. I have had people watch it and they just see a guy kind of randomly running around with a puppy.

it is subtle and purposeful dance; nothing is overdone, nothing is wasted.

 Quote: Bob Scott

Any idea on how they imprint the puppies?

There's a few different definitions of imprinting out there. I think what they do is probably about half imprinting and half basic OB. Experts please correct me if I'm wrong! I'd like to get some solid info on what is considered what but everybody seems to say different things.

Going off of the book Tom Rose has produced which outlines his normal training program.

Puppies get taught focus, tracking boxes, ook(a down with their head on the ground between their paws) by itself and with tracking articles, OB positions taught on a raised surface to produce a more correct movement, place command, kennel up, restrained recalls, rag bite work, a basic hold and bark(for the rag), around(builds to IPO blind work or agility directional work), retrieve, position stays, finger point(builds to a motivational send out), jump chute(looks like a blast!), start of a formal heel, and a finish. All before 16 weeks.

It's a lot and that's why they REALLY don't suggest people bring a puppy that they've picked before being taught how to. They're looking for a specific drive, temperament, and speed of maturity in the pups due to the course being pretty condensed. I think Maverick will do fine. ACDs tend to be somewhat precocious and he's very food driven. I think his prey drive is decent judging by the amount of time he spends latched on to various parts of my clothing.