Lost my confidence with new puppy

Pippa is now almost 19 weeks and I think starting to test boundaries. Being a toy breed (chihuahua x yorkie) I'm told she matures quicker and might start pushing things earlier? Anyway the other day I was in a rush and went to pick her up out of her crate rather than waiting for her to saunter out as usual, and she went craaaazy like a little Tazmanian devil and actually bit my hand - not in a playful way. A colleague has lots of dog experience and suggested she was territorial over her crate because we'd never really stuck our hands in etc before (it never occurred to me). So we've been messing around with her blankets in there and generally trying to show we own the crate.

But just in general she seems to be more impatient with us and snarly and my colleague says we need to enforce the idea of us being in charge. I'm just not sure how to go about this and what dominent type behaviors to show? We already have rules like not jumping onto the lounge sofas and waiting before eating her food etc.

Also my colleague doesn't use treats to train and I just can't imagine Pippa doing anything without the odd treat, although I do try to make sure she doesn't get one every time.

Basically I'm feeling like I've lost my confidence and just don't know what I'm doing! I really want to have a good adult dog and I am willing to work to achieve this - just so confused!

Is she entire or spayed?

Unspayed I would hope at 19 weeks.

to show your dominance over another species
I saw an article when I was a kid where you had to stare down the dog until they break eye contact, then you mount them

(please dont)
In some ways your friend may be right - but in many others please ignore her
you dont have to show her that you own the crate not her - it shouldnt be a battle, it should be her safe place

Teach her fun games of in and out the crate - do it with her dinner if you have some kind of issue with using treats - make her 'work' for her food
chuck a treat in and say 'bed' when she goes in
lure her out with another treat saying whatever command you want when she is running towards you ('here' 'out' whatever)
rinse and repeate so it is fun
If you wish her to be used to hands in the crate then make them NICE hands, hands that drop food - and do it slowly - chuck in treats from a slight distance, then slowly work up to drpping treats in with your hand in there

I know you must have got a shock, but she was trapped in a space with nowhere to get away from the big hands comming at her

I thought it should be her safe place which is why we hadn't really 'fiddled' with her when she is in there, and she is so good at being in her crate with no whining. I have been sticking hands in since but for strokes and also to mess her bedding around but only in a nice way just moving it. She hasn't gone for me since but her snarly-ness has cropped up a couple times since - when she has been sitting on laps or held by us (eg at a picnic where we had to keep her from the food and keep her sitting in one place on the lead) so I can imagine she just got a bit fed up on those occasions.

Yes she is entire - not ready for a spay yet! But could this be early hormonal-ness showing then? Or normal puppy stuff? I'm not expecting too much I know she's still young, just eager to do the right things and if people say it's normal puppy stuff I'd just find that reassuring!

Sometimes when you're confused and/or stuck with training, I find it really helps to get a new book written by a good trainer and just spend some time thinking and learning something new about dogs.

A good one would be The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson if you haven't already read it, and I am sure others on here can recommend more.

Alexandra Horowitz's 'Inside of a dog' is also good.

Having done a bit of searching of similar topics before posting I was thinking of reading The Culture Clash so I'll definitely do that now.

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Prev...ceguarding.pdf
http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/re...ndfoodgame.pdf
http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/resource-guarding/
http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...ctguarding.htm

Book: Mine! A guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs by Jean Donaldson

No need to lose your confidence, resource guarding is probably more common in Bitches than you realise.

SmokeyBear's post contains all the right information, and at 19 weeks you have the ideal opportunity to deal with the situation now.

Please read this

http://www.apdt.com/petowners/choose...ancemyths.aspx

Think about it for a minute. The dog is a very small, very young animal who doesn`t have any say in its own life - you control everything. Food, comfort, freedom, reassurance. You are a huge powerful creature who is at times frankly scary and most of the time unpredictable. The pup doesn`t understand a word you say or why you do things. The den is his one safe place.
Please also get a good dog training book that doesn`t use discredited theories - Jean Donaldson`s The Culture Clash is good - and treat your dog like an animal that needs nurture and confidence building rather than an evil genius that is out to control your world.