I have been struggling with this since I got my Basenji mix almost two months ago. We are FINALLY in a routine, attending puppy classes, and getting to the dog park everyday at the same time.

A little bit about Sully:

He is about 10 months old we think.

Definitely has Basenji in him, but is probably mixed with many other breeds

When we got him, he had HORRIBLE play-biting tendencies. We solved this by playing tug everyday as a training reward (as suggested by our trainer)

He is very dominant at the dog park…will mount randomly, but is getting much better with correction from both me and the dogs.

He's an avid chewer. We always have bones/chew toys available for him, and he probably chews for an hour a day, easy.

He is such a sweetheart when he wants to be!

So, my issue is that he argues with me. I'll be sitting on the couch (either paying attention to him, or not) and he'll start barooing. It sounds like he is talking. He bites the couch and will start to go after me. Punishment for this only gets him more excited. We are starting to do time outs, and that seems to help, but....what the heck is this???

I have tried everything to either tell him "no, that's not okay," or to satisfy this need that he suddenly has. I thought maybe he wanted to play, so I would tell him to get a toy, but he'd get bored of that within a few minutes and continue arguing/nipping. Then I thought maybe he had to go potty, but he has a bell for that and uses it with no problem. It's like he's telling me he wants something, and when he can't have it, he starts nipping.

ALSO, almost forgot to mention that he does this when we actually have something that he can't have, i.e food. If I'm eating anywhere but the table he might do this, but not every time. And he does this to dogs at the park if he wants them to play. He makes the same sounds and gently nips them as well.

I'm so confused! Any help is appreciated!!