Showing puppy who is this boss

[Lucy & Ellie]

Lucy is 10 weeks old tomorrow.  We got her at 8 weeks.  She seems very smart - she can already sit, down, and potty on command.  (Though she still goes in the house if we don't follow her around every second she is out)!!

We are all new to the world of dogs/puppies but I've tried to do as much research as possible.  I know that she needs to know her place in the family.  I feel like she respects me and learns pretty well from me - she is not as mouthy with me, she doesn't nip at me as much, she obeys when I give her a command she knows.

But I have kids!  They are 7 years old.  I can't tell sometimes (again, because I"m new to puppies) if she is playing or being aggressive with them.  They will be playing or running with her and she'll run along behind them and nip at their clothes or fingers and growl a little.  Even if she is just playing, I don't want her to rip their clothes and the kids get scared when she nips and growls.  

When she is too mouthy with me, I yelp loudly like a puppy and that really did work.  Sometimes I'd firmly grab her by the scruff too.  But this would be like when we were down on the floor together so it was easy for me to do.  As I said, the kids will be running around and playing with her and frankly they just don't seem to understand what they need to do to train her.

Oh and like when I ask the kids to take her outside to potty (or bring her back in from being outside), they don't just bend down and scoop her up.  They are really unconfident and so she moves away, then they move towards her and she  moves away again and it turns into a game.  Sometimes Lucy will growl or nip at them.

I feel like training the kids is harder than training the puppy!  I have told them they need to be confident and be the boss (and yes, I am always there supervising).  But anyway, I don't know that they are going to change their ways before it's too late with Lucy.  

Anyway, my main thing is the growling and nipping at them.  How can I get this to stop?

Thanks so much for any advice.  I know that mouthiness and nipping are VERY common questions and I have read the past threads... but I'm curious about how to make Lucy see that the PEOPLE in the house, no matter the age, are the bosses.

[Mindy White]

I agree that the kids running is too fun to resist!  A small trick that has worked for me is that if you run into her biting at their hands have them spray some bitter apple on their hands before they play with her.  

[Adina P]

I doubt she is aggressive.  My kids are younger than yours but our dogs are now adults.  You have gotten a lot of great ideas.
I think I would do my best to keep puppy tethered to me at times when kids were running around all hyper.  I agree that it *is* harder to train kids than it is to train dogs.  Dogs at least are done being puppies 1-2 years in. But kids...they have YEARS of childhood. 

[Julie and Max]

Lots of great advice here, my daughter is older, but I make sure that she feeds Max once a day, she makes him sit before she goes to school (so he doesn't run out the door) and she makes him sit to be treated. I've done a lot to involve her in the dog training and it's really helped a lot. He was more nippy with the kids than with me, but now he's much better. I do think it would be harder with seven year olds, been awhile since I had one but I remember that they never stop moving!

[Lucy & Ellie]

Today was either a fluke or a turning point.  I'm knocking on wood, but we had a great day with Lucy!  The kids were a tiny bit more calm so that helped, but even when they were not all that calm, Lucy was VERY good.  At one point we were just all in the kitchen, going about our business, and Lucy was just a delightful part of it all.  I loved it!!!

[Julie and Max]

That's awesome that Lucy had a great day!