> If a dog misbehaves [...] I'll use a gruff voice and a hard look. If the dog persists in the undesirable behavior and looks for approval, I'll refuse to look

> If a dog misbehaves [...] I'll use a gruff voice and a hard look. If the dog persists in the undesirable behavior and looks for approval, I'll refuse to look at it or face it. I recently got an older golden retriever (7 years old) that didn't have a lot of training but generally had exceptional manners. His one negative behavior was mouthing. When he got excited and wanted to play he would places his mouth and teeth around my hand. Not biting at all, pretty gentle and more like he was trying to get my attention. But I do not want this behavior and especially did not want him to do this to any guests. I've never really had my own dog before and I wasn't sure what to do. I knew I had to communicate to him that this was totally unacceptable behavior but I didn't want to use choke collars or any other kind of physical punishment. What worked almost immediately was sternly, firmly and loudly saying "NO", standing up tall and puffing up my chest and crossing my arms and then turning my back to him and walking away from him. At first he would run around me, trying to get back in front of me and trying to get my attention back. I would generally count to 20 or 30 in my head while maintaining the alert posture, totally ignoring him, not looking at him, continuing to turn away from him and walking away. Pretty much always he would eventually sit still and as soon as he did I would soften my posture and voice and pet him and tell him he was a good boy. This was so effective, so quickly, that I use a much more attenuated version whenever he displays bad behavior. I just decrease the intensity of the NO! and the severity of my body posture based on the severity of his behavior. I consider now that I'm not punishing the dog, I'm communicating my boundaries. I'm making it clear that I am not going along with what the dog wants. I've thankfully never had to pin the dog or do any physical punishment at all. I just make it clear that I won't acknowledge him or be his friend if he misbehaves and so far that has worked very well.