Aggresive pup

Question
I have a litter of rottwieler pups. They are now 6 weeks old & one female in particular can be quite aggressive towards others. (pups & humans). For example, she was walking away & I stopped her to pick her up & she turned around snarling & barking at me. She's also like that when she's eating. I noticed the mother holds the pups' head in her mouth & pushes her down when she shows aggression which I copy when she (the pup) is misbehaving Not in my mouth obviously!! But I place my hand gently around her muzzle & push her down. My concern is that a friend wishes to buy her but she has small children & because of her aggressive trait I would rather not allow it. Can this trait be trained out of a pup? Also this friend doesn't do much training with her dogs which I think is important.

Answer
Your instincts are totally correct! NO WAY should this puppy go into a home with small children!!!

Many years ago I used to be involved in puppy temperament testing. http://www.workingdogs.com/testing_volhard.htm  One day we did a litter of rotties, and one of the 7-week-old puppies went after the tester TWICE, very similar to what your puppy is doing. I eventually heard that the puppy was ultimately put down because of its aggressiveness.

Please don't be in too big a hurry to place this puppy. Try working with her and see if you can improve her attitude. Personally, I wouldn't be gentle with her at all. Get up in her face and give her H3LL for her behavior! Give her scruff shakes as you hold her up in the air, staring her in the eye and roaring in her face when she misbehaves! Also practice Long Downs with her several times a week: http://www.volhard.com/general/artbywv.htm#tnw

I had a similar puppy once.... albeit a much smaller one... and I ultimately "fed" her to a couple of my other dogs. One was a bitch who was very defensive with her food bowl with other dogs... and I put the puppy in the kitchen with her when I fed the adult. The puppy got a terrific correction when it tried to dive into her food bowl! The other one was a crabby old bitch who would attack puppies from two feet away for even looking her way, and I normally was careful that nothing happened between her and puppies... except in this instance. Once again, puppy with an attitude got a terrific correction. So between those two bitches and myself, we were able to convince that puppy that she really was NOT "God's Gift"; she turned into a wonderful dog and I was eventually able to place her. I would have kept her if I hadn't thought she was placeable, which I did once with a male that I deemed to be too dominant for most people.

In your case, you are not dealing with a puppy who would ultimately weigh only about 15#. You are dealing with a puppy who could be a very dangerous animal when she is grown. I would give her a chance at this point and work hard with her, but if you cannot bring her around, please be responsible and do the right thing with her.