The first entry I could relate to. Our Doodle (Graci), who is 11 months, bites our clothes and arm/leg/butt/ankle. It is so annoying. Yelling or hitting her butt are not the answer, but she frustrates us with not listening nor learning that it is not acceptable behavior. We tried timeouts, spraybottle of water, and walking away. Timeouts help for the moment but then she will nip again like what happen before doesn't matter. She got used to the water in her face and when we walk away she just follows and continues to bite. We know that her nipping is her way of saying she wants to play, but it has gone too far. We would love to play with her, but she isn't a fun playmate. Who wants to play with a dog who bites? My daughter cannot even run across the house without Graci trying to bite at her. I took Graci to obedience school. She did great, but at home she is a different dog. I am more her master than my husband so she will listen to me a bit more. She bites at me but it isn't as bad as what she does to him. He cannot sit on the couch without her lunging at him. He has to stand to watch TV, but she bites at his clothes when he is standing. He tries to walk away but she follows. Again, he would love to play or even pet her but she doesn't allow it. She just wants to bite. Every toy we give/gave her she has destroyed in seconds. The only thing that seems to calm her down is a bone, however we don't always want to give her a bone when she bites because we feel that is rewarding bad behavior. We are actually thinking of getting a muzzle because we have run out of ideas.
The other is barking. She barks at us all the time. I know barking is a way of talking but it is ridiculous. She will bark at us if we sit down on the couch. Yes, she is saying she bored and wants to play, but when we do play she bites making us not want to play with her.
If anyone has any helpful tips please help.
