Question for non-native Spanish speakers

A question for American, British, Australian or any other English-speakers who also speak Spanish: how do you deal with the Spanish "r?"

I learned how to make an alveolar trill after working obsessively at it for a solid three months (because I'm crazy). I'm sort of self-conscious about it, though, because I feel like I have a tendency to overdo the sound in a way that sounds like I'm making fun of the language. Like, if I say "perro," for example, a lot of times it comes out as [per:o]. I'm not trying to exaggerate the sound or anything--I just can't help it, for some reason.

Um, I can't really help you much there. I started learning Spanish around the age of six and had no difficulty producing the sound. Never really thought about how I produce it. I guess the part of my tongue that is closest to the lips goes up to the palate, not just the tip, a little bit more too. I make a "r" sound, blowing air so that the tongue vibrates and voila.

This might be of some help to you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Alveolar_trill

I have no clue if that girl is doing it the same way I produce the sound, but no one has ever corrected me in Italy and I've asked many times for correction on my pronunciation. (They tell me my accent is quite good and I'm very happy about that). She's right about needing only one or two taps and that it should be done gently... almost lazily in my experience. I think I put my tongue where the palate meets the ridge...

I'm correcting myself again... ok, there are three parts of my upper gum.. and ridge behind the teeth, a bump near the front that is ridged (I guess that's the alveolar ridge!) and then a smooth palate. I put my slightly behind the ridge behind the ridge behind my teeth and just at the beginning of the bump (alveolar ridge). Ok, and that's final! No more corrections! Sorry, I've just never described making the sound (or thought about the shape of my upper gum) before!