Puppy Dominance?

[lindyx0x]

My young Golden Retriever is 10 months old now, he is not fixed for breeding purposes. Before he turned 10 months he was much smaller in size and very non-dominant, if any other dogs growled at him he would drop to his elbows and kind of turn to look up at them in a very friendly non-dominant way.

He was in puppy obedience since he was 2 months old and had all his shots etc. etc.. I had to stop obedience when he turned 8 months because it was after all repetition and he already knew and was very very well trained *and still is* <-- this was in the summer last year

He gets his daily walks, etc.. etc.. his in very good health, shots up to date etc.. etc.. but during the winter.. there aren't many dogs walking around *in the snow* to socialize him with in the winter. Except 1 dog, a fixed female that he grew up with since he was 4 weeks old.

So yada yada yada.. now it's spring and now his 10 months old and now for the past few days *since we started seeying other dogs* we find that he is begining to show very mild signs of dominance, i talked to my trainer and she recomended only socializing him with that 1 female he gets perfectly fine with.

What he does around other dogs *NOT ALL DOGS* is his still puppy behaviour were he wants to get up there and sniff everything and everyone and every dog he sees.. but on dogs that are older than him and are fixed or are not fixed, even females that try to show a little bit of dominance on him, like stiffening up their tails etc.. or giving him a small growl if he sniffs them what my puppy does is growl back and louder and kinna gets up close to their face and they both stiffen, his ears pulled forward and just... stiff posture and i pull him away for obious reasons *his never off leash cuz his not fixed* but i'm afraid that this will escalate.. he is a Golden Retriever puppy and i don't want him to be taking chuncks out of other dogs in the near future, what can i do to correct this behaviour? He is on a pinch collar and he gets corrected, my boyfriend can correct him more efficiently since his stronger than i am.. but when the puppy is with me i find it hard to handle him when his all stiff.. since he is like.. 60 or 70 pounds now