Show your teeth and mean it-- this puppy is treating you as a fellow pup and not as the Alpha Wolf you (or Mister) are... I guess that makes one of you Alpha and one of you Beta. Anticipate the transgression and issue the deep-chested man-pitched growl and snap BEFORE it occurs-- afterwards is too late.

Afterwards, if this has not been enough, quickly thrust your open hand at his throat and pin him to the ground without hurting him, holding him down and giving him the evil eye, snarling, till he looks away or submits with curled front legs and a relaxed belly. Then IMMEDIATELY remove the hand. Repeat as needed.

This will not only curb the specific behavior but establish his place in the family pack order and hopefully prevent other bad behaviors from even starting. Seems he was born with an internal setting that will seek a higher place in that order than is good for you, and for him.

Our local animal control and shelter manager showed me how to estimate a puppy's inborn pack-order setting-- give them a nice businesslike patting, then scoot them onto the ground on their backs. The ones who will not tolerate this in good humor are going to be trouble in a household, inviting a constant battle over control and a tough hand in training. The ones who not only go down but stay down after you let go, those are the submissive ones who are willing to take a low pack order placement and who will be loyal and need no fear-based training because they already have a high level of dread and respond better to praise and reassurance.

In between is every other pack-order setting, including the happy-camper playfulness that is exasperating but not usually dangerous-- the dog who becomes the official fool or trickster in the pack, restoring good humor when the big bad control-oriented males have fought and frightened everyone in the pack.

Very few dogs ever are capable of thinking like a human, or seeming to-- it's much simpler for a human to think like a dog and communicate in their language.

~Susan