Great Dane puppy growlinge

Question
I have read your bio. I agree to read and rate your response fairly within three days
I have recently purchased a ten week old male Great Dane.  When he first came home he was very laid back and easy-going.  We have now had him for two weeks.  About a week ago he started growling and has even started to snap at members of the family (all adults-no children in the household) I immediately started doing research to find out what we were doing wrong and what could be causing this.  He is a healthy puppy.  Through my research I concluded that we were treating him more like a human than a dog so he started to assume the position of the alpha of the pack. As soon as I read articles and training techniques we got started on them right away. For the most part he now complies or is learning with our commands (such as sit, come, shake) But the thing that worries me (being that he is going to grow into a giant dog rather quickly) is that he still does growl and snap at someone atleast once a day. Is this something I should be concerned about? Is this something he will overcome with our consistancy or do we need to try something else?  We have tried the domination games like rolling him onto his back until he gives in to submission. It's not a plyful growl either. It's rather agressive. He has gotten the hang of the commands we have taught them, but there are times throughout the day where he refuses to walk beside me on the leash or come when he is called. He can be a very stubbourn dog. Aside from that he is the perfect pet! I live in a small town where there are no available sources for obdience training and the nearest city that offers anything of the sort is four hours away. I would greatly appreciate any advice you have for us so that we can enjoy our time with our pet instead of worrying about his future outcome.  I have included a list of things we have started to do to show him that we are in charge:
Walking beside humans on a leash
waiting for human to go through doorways first
eating after humans eat
having to be quiet and sit before we put his food/water bowl down
Staring at him waiting for him to avert his eyes when he is in trouble for growling/snapping
quieting down before he is allowed out of his crate
Staying off beds/furniture
Not climbing up on/ touching humans unless allowed by humans to do so
Play time only when humans initiate it
Making him lay down in a corner by himself when he is in trouble for snapping and or biting
Never giving in to his whining
This is a long email but I just wanted to leave you with any information you may need for our situation.  Any advice would be wonderful!

Answer
2/1/10:

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for your initial ratings after your question and my response, and before your follow-up which I suggested.  I don't know any other way to communicate with you after you comments and questions in your rating exceot to revise my response, which I know you will be alerted has been revised.  I think the best thing to do is contact AllExperts Adnub and ask how you can follow up with me if I'm Maxed Out.  You can tell them that I've given permission for your follow up to be sent through to my on AllExperts even if I'm Maxed Out.  The other option is to keep trying as I open up dates for questions to be answered.  I have opened up dates between now and February 3rd, and will open up more dates, so please keep checking.  Unfortunately, sometimes I become Maxed Out even when the question isn't appropriate for my area of expertise (not everyone takes the time as you did to read my bio) and I reject the question.  This presents a problem for me, and for questioners, as I become Naxed Out and I don't know what to do about it short of letting questioners know to report the problem to AllExperts administration, or to simply just keep trying to get a question through to me.

I hope you get an opportunity to follow-up with me and respond to the questions I sent you.  Again, thank you for abiding by our Internet agreement as per my bio and raading and rating my initial response promptly.  It would be a pleasure to help you out again if I'm able.

With best regards,
Madeline at AllExperts
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Hi Amanda,

Thank you for reading my bio and agreeing to its reasonable terms.

Your submission raises serious questions about what I'm calculating is only a three month of age Dane pup.  I regret that you're not located in an area where you can work with a competent, positive methods trainer who understands canine behaviour.  However, you do have the option of videotaping interactions with your dog and working with a veterinarian behaviourist long distance.  I know that some vet behaviourists will work long distance with owners under specific conditions.  That's will probably be my most important advice to you, since you're correct in that the behaviour you've described is worrisome, particularly since your dog will be quite large when full grown.  You can go to AVMA.org as a start in looking for a vet behaviourist with which to work.

For now, let me address some of the issues as I'm reading them.  Be prepared for me to be honest in my response, and always polite. I'm going to cut and paste specific portions of your submission and respond to them, just a couple of paragraphs for now, before I ask some questions which I feel I need answered in order to continue.

Amanda wrote:
He is a healthy puppy.  

Madeline at AllExperts writes:
While your dog may be phsically healthy, displaying the behaviour you've described does not sound behaviourally healthy to me if the behaviours are unprovoked.  At this point, I'm not sure that they're not being provoked, or being exacerbated, based on certain portions in the information you've submitted so far regarding how you've been trying to remedy the undesirable behaviours.   

Also, you don't say how you know he's a healthy puppy.  Has he been to a vet?  Has every option been explored - discomfort in knees or other joints; gastrointestinal health; dental discomfort; a full thyroid panel done to determine if he may have a thyroid issue, which can be one cause of aggression in dogs; a test done to see if he has pano (panosteitis); ear infections; etc.?  While I'm not a vet, and certainly haven't mentioned every possibility, growling and snapping behaviour in a three month of age dog is not considered normal if it commenced unprovoked and continues unprovoked.

As to your treating your dog more like a human than a dog, I'm not sure how to interpret that or what it means; but a lot of people who may be considered to be "spoiling" or babying their dogs have dogs who don't growl, snap and try to bite.

Also, you don't say specifically what provokes the growling and the snapping, and as well what your reaction is when such occurs.  Would you mind giving me this information in brief detail, as well as information about the first instances and appearances of the growling and snapping and what you feel provoked them?  As well, toward what part of your bodies does your pup direct his snapping?  Has he ever connected and actually bitten?  If so, can you explain each circumstance?  I'd also like to know: what do you know right after he tried to growl and snap?  And, what happens just before he tries to growl and snap?

With this information, I can try to address your question in a bit more detail.  Would you mind responding to my inquiry as a follow-up, at which time I will try to answer your submission in more detail?  I do have other things to add based on your submission so far; but want to hold those in reserve until I hear from you again in follow-up form.  In this instance, I will respond to a follow-up, since I'm asking for one; although typically I don't respond to follow-ups.  I have some information which I feel I need, but not all of it; so if you can answer the questions in the paragraph above, that would be most helpful.

Thank you, and looking forward to more information,
Madeline at AllExperts