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Hard time getting my point across ...

Kdemars

Well-known member
I want to make Ella behave but I can't seem to get through to her. I have plenty of toys for her to chew on and yet she only wants feet, shoes and pants. The worst of it is that she loves my dad's arm. She draws blood frequently and although he doesn't really mind b/c he adores her, it is starting to make me feel guilty that he looks like he is abused. When he raised dogs as a young boy they just beat the crap out them (I swear he thought that was the right thing to do – he is not a mean guy). He has promised not to hit Ella but I think he is wondering if I am ever going to figure out this discipline thing before she can really hurt us.

I have tried bitter apple spray and once it dries she just licks it off until it doesn't bother her anymore and then goes back to biting. I have tried picking her up and firmly saying "no" making strong eye contact and placing he somewhere else with toys. I am going crazy b/c I don't know how to help her figure this out. She is a strong little girl and needs to be put in her place but I can't figure out how. And the growling is killing me - it almost hurts my feelings when she growls at me even though she is clearly playing with my pants or shoes, I feel like it is directed at me. Help me please!!! :flwr:
 
Try some sound aversion when she does the wrong thing like clapping your hands twice quite loudly and immediately repalce your foot, arm etc. with toy
 
Sorry guys - nevermind - I just now saw the post about this recently - off to read all those lovely respones. Thanks!!!
 
I also wouldn;t worry about growling when clearly playing. I have one enthusiastic grolwer -- Jaspar -- who growls and makes all sorts of noise with certain types of play and not with any aggression. Leo by contrast is Mr Silent!! They all have their personalities. Play growling isn't a worry and in one thread Tara notes not to scold a dog for growling generally even if these were warning growls -- because a growl for a dog is a polite way of saying 'I don't like this' and is usually a response to an upsetting situation. Dealing with those situations is a different training issue and more complex -- but as Tara notes, if you make a dog feel it cannot growl, then it is more likely to move straight to snapping in an uncomfortable situation. So growls can be good! The goal is to figure out why the dog is growling and address that situation so it doesn't need to growl, if the growling is a warning. If you just have a noisy play growler -- as it sounds like here -- don't be worried. :) Just hope she doesn;t end up like Jaspar, who does growls and these kind of tuneless warbles and yodels, and the occasional single bark to encourage you to keep playing. :sl*p: It actually all makes me laugh more than anything else. :lol:
 
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