Need some answers like QUICK

[Horsefeathers!]

I know this thread is quite old, but I just happened to stumble across it (it's still quite early yet and I'm doing a lot of stumbling about :-? ).

I don't know that this is in any book, but my dogs recognize the word, "mine." I don't know how this came about, but it works wonderfully. With newer dogs, or dogs who like to nibble on inappropriate things, we go around the house, hold close to us anything we don't want chewed, and emphatically say, "mine!" If they are allowed to have it, we offer it. The dogs now only take what is offered to them and won't touch anything else. Maybe my dogs are just weirdos, but I've never had one of my dogs chew on anything I told them was mine. It works for furniture, too, not that you can pick it up. Just give it a big ol' arm wraparound hug and say, "mine!" very emphatically. My dogs respect MY stuff if I tell them it's mine. Prior to this, I was a huge contributor to the stockholders of the Bitter Apple spray. What made me have to change that was that a couple of my dogs actually LOVE Bitter Apple (and I agree that it's the most vile, disgusting tasting thing there is beside *snicker* goat milk).

If you think you look silly walking around screaming at the dog's toys, imagine how goofy I look walking around with all these dogs following me, picking up all my worldly possessions and emphatically telling the dogs they're mine.

Then again, my dogs may be the only weirdos on the face of the earth this works for. I'm kind of accepting the fact that I live on the Island of Misfits.