rat terrier aggression

Question
I read your response to the lady with the problem of terrier aggression after placing in a home.  I also do rescues but usually of the feline kind.  A friend called me from the vet er and told me she had a rat terrier momma who had eclampsia and the owner did not want the puppies.  they were one week old.  My friend ended up taking one and me the other (there were 3 and the owner informed my friend that she was going to wean the baby at 2 weeks old -- needless to say the puppy died but at least we saved 2).  I bottle fed this little guy up until about 2 weeks ago.  He is now 7 weeks and is an aggressive little thing.  He does not like to be picked up (liked it until he could walk dunno) and bites everyone and worse yet he growls at everyone when they try to love on him (hug, kiss, etc)  I dunno what to do with him.  He is so little.  I was told about pinching his upper and lower jaw together (gently) and saying a firm no which has curbed to some degree the biting but he still totally flips out when you try to bring your face near his.  He is totally scared that you are going to eat him or something and nothing has ever happened to him.  I was told by the vet to nip his ear if he was biting us so i am thinking this made a bad situation worse but have no clue.  We were going to keep this little guy as my daughter really wanted a little dog and we have huge ones but with him growling i am really considering other alternatives but those are few.  i dont' want to adopt him out to another family with these same problems.  any suggestions.

Answer
Vicky -

I am only going to be of limited help here since I have only raised one batch of pups in my life and those were australian sheperds.

Without being able to see him in action I simply can;t see if he's doing normal learning aggression or if he really is acting that way out of fear.  He is supposed to be a spunky and fiesty little character.

The other thing to note is that if this is a toy rat terrier, their temperments are really that of a toy breed, like a chihuahua, as opposed to a terrier like jack russells, cairns, etc.

I do know that eye contact is seen as a sign of dominance and that's what he may be reacting to with the face situation.

You may want to google orphan puppies. I suspect you can find a group who does just what you're doing and are willing to share their experiences.

I'm so very sorry that I can't help.

-Beth