this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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You have to set boundaries. She’s going to keep on doing it until you teach her not to, and she’s more likely to do so to other people as well.
Give a sharp “Ow!” and do it in a high pitched voice. Then give her a sharp “No!” Then the play stops. You’re giving three types of reinforcement there - the yelp is for letting her know she hurt you (do this even if it didn’t hurt), saying “no” helps her to understand what she was doing was not the correct behavior, and withdrawing the fun is the punishment part.
It sounds like you also might need general obedience training. If she’s good around other dogs I’d consider obedience classes where you can work with her under the guidance of a trainer.
You can try training her on your own, too, but get a good up to date book on training. Use treats for positive reinforcement. At a minimum, for her safety and for yours, she should learn the commands for sit, stay, and come. I’d also do “give” meaning she has to let you take the stick (or whatever) out of her mouth, and I also like to train away food guarding behavior (you should be able to pick up their food bowl while they’re eating and not have them bite or growl.
The cat poop one is not a fight you’re going to win, but the rest of it should be solvable. At the very least, if you catch her going for it, a sharp “No” and calling her back to you to get a treat should work, but she is going to keep doing it if she can get away with it. I’d start with the basics and then work on the poop eating.
This is the method I used, but if mine was wayyy too amped and persisted with aggressive play, I would redirect with a toy. I'd just put it in his mouth when he got mouthy so he would learn what he could bite with force. Later, once he learned to not be rough during play, I trained a command word to use when he got carried away.
Also for food, from the first month I had him, I trained him to sit and wait for me to touch his feet, ears, and mouth before he could eat. And also I'd take his food randomly. If he responded with aggression, he didn't get to eat until he let me take it away without issue. However, he was a 6month old puppy at the time, so we were working on brand new skills and not breaking old habits. I have zero advice or experience for older dogs. Not sure if it's different.
Probably 80% of it is his natural demeanor, but 5 years later and virtually nothing bothers this dog
I used this method. My dog used to get so rough that I was concerned that he was going to hurt someone.
Adding to it, when play stopped, I turned away and 'sulked' because body language means so much. Also, I added in a toy for tug of war, and whenever the play escaped the toy I said ow and play was done.
This took a few months to really sink in for the dog, but we got to the point where he would play, we would say to get a toy, and there was no more leaping for limbs.
Some long time later, we were to the point where I could hold his teeth for gentle tug of war, but he decided he didn't like my skin in his mouth.