black lab puppy aggresiveness

Question
I have a 4 month old black lab. She is great except when she gets excited. She starts biting and growling. If you tell her no she gets even madder.I have tried immediately putting her in the kennel as a timeout and holding her close as to say im in control niether works. I have 4 kids and she is worse with the younger ones. What else do you suggest? She is already 40 pounds so i have to kinda nip this ASAP.


Answer
With somebody the right age in the family, 4-H dog training is a great idea.
In my area, clubs form soon after the first of the year.  Even many urban
areas have 4-H.  For info look in your phone book under government listings
for extension or cooperative extension offices.  Ask specifically about a dog
or canine club.  The dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a
pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much
easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn
to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience
class.  A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/

If 4-H doesn't work, it is important that somehow she comes to understand she can't behave that way to the rest of the pack.  Also see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm Besides that page, they have some child specific material there.