She tried to bite me! (long)

I am going to my mom's tomorrow, so today, I had to give Sydney a bath and toe nail trim. The bath she handled well (she fusses about the shampoo part, but behaves), the nail trim she does not like, but tolerates until today, she started growling and trying to bite me, actually, she got teeth on, but did not bite down hard, it was clear that she was not playing. I scolded her, and we took a break, then I finished her nails (only 1 left). Since then, she has been very submissive. She knows that she messed up.

I am basically ignoring her at this point. She has been challenging my authority a lot recently. I have increased her exercise, training sessions, and I have not been letting her get away with the shows of dominance (jumping, grabbing my leg with her paws, doing things that she knows not to do). I am taking her to mom's for the weekend (I will be staying there with her). I am thinking that if she does not straighten out while we are there, that I start her in boot camp when we get back. She is almost 10 months old, is this her teenage phase possibly?

Yep, I'd say the bratty teenage stage is beginning :D . Riley (my 11 month lab) is kinda in the same high-energy, challenging phase.

:evil: doggies, eh? No wonder there are so many dogs between 1 and 2 up for adoption. :rolleyes: :evil:

Good luck! It sounds like you're doing ok. :)

I was afraid that was what was happening! This morning, she even balked at going in her kennel! She usually goes in at 7:35 on her own, even if I am running late, if not, all I have to do is tell her "Its time for mommy to go to work", and she hops right in. This morning, it was a battle, but I won, peacefully. (Behold...the power of cookies)

I agree that it sounds like a "bratty" phase and that you have things under control! Aside from boot camp, since you know she's a little tense about bathtime/nail clipping - desensitize her to those things. Lots of handling paws/nails without clipping and even asking her to get in and out of the bath without bathing. A lot of dogs have negative associations with such things because the only time we do them is to do something "unpleasant"...

I have to disagree with "she knows that she messed up".... She had no idea what was going on except that you were upset and ignoring her. It's unlikley that she linked her behaviour with your reaction long after it happened. The only reason why I am pointing this out is because such thinking often allows us to excuse certain behaviours or not work on "fixing" them because we REASON that the dog knew she messed up and won't do it again.