Cujo

Riley's testing his limits today.

Up until now he's been so good. Sleeping alot, going potty mainly outside (except for one day where it was mainly inside), redirecting his biting when told NO and presented w/ a chew toy instead, playing with his toys at playtime.

But today something snapped. At playtime he would play with his toys for a second and then bolt (and he can't have full run of the carpeted house yet). He would NOT stop biting the furniture, our shoes, our hands. And then tonight he bit my face, hard. I yelped like a dog and he looked startled, for a second, and then he lunged at my hand and bit it HARD.

I know to never use the crate or pen as punishment, so I didn't want to just put him in there. So I took him out and ran him around. Usually vigourous playtime or running around on the leash makes him good and tired and we have (had) a really good routine. So I took him out and he pottied and then ran around. But this time it didn't tire him out and when he was in his pen he kept trying to shred his potty pad (when he has chew toys and a fleece sheep-ie he could wrestle with). Now there's a predicament. If I sternly say NO! and push him away from the potty pad (cuz NO does nothing with him) he might think I don't want him to use it. So what do you do? I honestly don't know. M said to take the pad away for a while to redirect his attention and that he'd clean up any messes that Riley made. He's calm now, so I guess I'll put the pad back in. But geez, he was so rebellious and wild today! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. It probably is, but the question it: who will win the dominance war?