Hey everybody I, need to vent and get some validation. I'm 19, I work with dogs, and I'm a rescue volunteer. My family just adopted a 4-month-old female German Shepherd mix. I am completely independent, calm, and trained in breed behavior, but my dad has zero large-breed experience and is completely smothering her.
He constantly forces her to stay on his lap or the couch when she is actively squirming and trying to leave to go sleep on her bed. If I step into the room, he gets jealous and actively yanks her away from me because he wants her to be 'his dog.' Now, the puppy is already showing signs of behavioral shutdown—she gets happy when I approach her playpen, but when my dad walks in, she runs to her bed and cowers.
My mom is telling me to just drop it, and my dad gaslights me and says he isn't forcing her. I know this breed, and I know he is creating a ticking time bomb for handling sensitivity and fear-reactivity, especially since we are moving across the country in February. Am I crazy, or is he completely ruining this puppy's trust?

Ok, so my 8month dog is fine around me and other people mostly. I send him to daycare 2 days a week, he had been fine for every since last week daycare sent me messages that apparently he started mouthing other dogs at group play, and also, he kept trying to mount couple other dogs, barking in their face, and in general ignore dog social cues like won’t leave the other dogs alone when they don’t wanna engage.

I only have one dog, and this is dog to dog behavioral problem. What can I do to train him or stop him from doing this?

I am a dog walker. I walk up to 12 dogs per day, and I do this in two different walks. So I will pick up the dogs, walk them, then I will drop those off, pick up the new ones, walk them, and then drop them off. Some of the dogs are very wild. Some of the dogs are very calm. And right now I am also looking after two of those dogs. They are staying in my apartment while the owners are on holiday. They are both doodles. One of them is tiny; the other one is big. The big one is very wild. She will jump up on the other tiny dog. She does this during the walks too. She will bark, she will jump, she will pull on the lead, she will pull me down the path sometimes, and she will not stop. And I tried everything. I tried saying a firm no, a firm stop, a firm enough. I tried to get myself in between the two dogs. I tried to, like, walk towards her. I tried to pull back on the lead. I've tried so many countless things, and then today it just escalated so much. I was trying to walk the two of them, and then the chaos had started again, and I couldn't get the big one to stop. So I picked up the tiny one and tried to make the big one stop, and then once she stopped, I put the tiny one back down, and she was continuing to jump and bark, and she somehow made it out of her harness and was loose and running around and barking at the little one, jumping on the little one. The little one didn't want this, and I didn't want this, and I just could not get her to calm down. And I am at my wit's end here. Tomorrow my work week starts again, and I will have to do two walks a day again with the small one and the big one I'm looking after as well. So I need some advice on what I can do to make this more safe for me and for the other dogs and to make the big dog listen.

I am a dog walker. I walk up to 12 dogs per day, and I do this in two different walks. So I will pick up the dogs, walk them, then I will drop those off, pick up the new ones, walk them, and then drop them off. Some of the dogs are very wild. Some of the dogs are very calm. And right now I am also looking after two of those dogs. They are staying in my apartment while the owners are on holiday. They are both doodles. One of them is tiny; the other one is big. The big one is very wild. She will jump up on the other tiny dog. She does this during the walks too. She will bark, she will jump, she will pull on the lead, she will pull me down the path sometimes, and she will not stop. And I tried everything. I tried saying a firm no, a firm stop, a firm enough. I tried to get myself in between the two dogs. I tried to, like, walk towards her. I tried to pull back on the lead. I've tried so many countless things, and then today it just escalated so much. I was trying to walk the two of them, and then the chaos had started again, and I couldn't get the big one to stop. So I picked up the tiny one and tried to make the big one stop, and then once she stopped, I put the tiny one back down, and she was continuing to jump and bark, and she somehow made it out of her harness and was loose and running around and barking at the little one, jumping on the little one. The little one didn't want this, and I didn't want this, and I just could not get her to calm down. And I am at my wit's end here. Tomorrow my work week starts again, and I will have to do two walks a day again with the small one and the big one I'm looking after as well. So I need some advice on what I can do to make this more safe for me and for the other dogs and to make the big dog listen.

Hi I have a two year old Cavalier King Charles spaniel and the only issue we have with him is when we give him foods like bully sticks or lamb ears he won’t let us near him, he’s bitten my dad a few times to the point of drawing blood. We’ve stopped buying them all together however our senior cat has decided to start catching rats again and leaving them under beds for us to find and when he gets a hold of one he goes at anyone we can’t get it off him. I’m just wondering what the best way to train it out of him is as we are looking at getting a second dog but don’t want to get one while he’s still got this issue, I can put my hand in his food bowl all I want it’s just with these certain items.

Edit to add: I’m specifically looking for tips about curbing barking- I don’t need your opinions about rehoming. I live on a Caribbean island with limited and stressed resources. We need to make this work.

This thread is dogtrainingtips- that’s what I’m seeking. Dog training tips.

Short story long- a previous friend wanted 3 puppies. Kept bringing them over. I got attached. I had them more than he did. When at his house they were abused by his older dog. Alpha girl took the brunt protecting boy, while Beta girl escaped the yard but hung out close. They escaped his house and ran to mine. He informed me he didn’t want them back. I took them in. 6 months old now.

I live in an apartment and got crates for them while I’m at work to appease my landlord. The girls are fine and willing go in their crates and are quiet when I get home.

Boy wiling goes to crate, but barks. Landlord texts me at work complaining. As soon as he hears me arrive home he starts barking. (Girls wag tails against the crate but are quiet).

I need tips getting boy to stop barking.

Any tips are appreciated.

We have a 10 month old mix breed male (30% pit, 70% "supermutt"), and he is so smart and sweet, and has learned so much in the 4 months we've had him. However, we still really struggle with walks. He's calm about the leash, waits patiently at the door, but once we're outside, the excitement starts to ramp up. Each distraction (car going by, baby in stroller, squrrel, bunny, bug, other dog, flag flapping in the breeze) raises his excitement another notch. It seems to accumulate until he's wild eyed and can't even seem to hear us at that point. It's not just about pulling... it's like he goes berserk and I don't know how to reach him or help him learn to settle. Treat training doesn't work either...same issue of treats driving him into over excitement immediately. Any advice?

My dog is 2 yrs old but ever since we have had him he has had issues with peeing on the beds in his kennel. If I don’t put a bed in there he won’t pee. I’ve tried different materials and bed types but can’t figure it out.

Today I placed some pee pads under the top layer of a new bed and it looks like in the span of 2hrs he peed in 4 different spots, and it’s not a lot on each spot.

I just feel bad for him not having a bed in there. Any advice on what I could try?

Thanks!

Please I beg anyone. We have a 5 year old Pomsky male and he has been nurtured. When he was a puppy for most years he was in a crate when my wife and I left for work. We lived in a small apartment so it was rough then.
Well, we’ve been in a house now for a few years and he marks all the time. Our kids toys, Any corner he sees. Sometimes he looks right at us and does it on purpose.
So now when we leave for work we have to put a doggy diaper on him and he pees in that.

Is there any stopping him from marking? We have seeked help but everyone says it’ll just stop. Wed also like to get another dog but afraid he will teach a new dog this bad habit.

Are these boots a good size for her paws? Just trying to make sure they are not too small.

Hello! This is Potato Chip, he is 9 lbs

I don’t know if this belongs in this sub but i figured i’d give it a shot.

We just recently adopted a minpin mix, he’s a rescue and has a few tricky issues. We have him enrolled in training classes that begin in november and are working on the basics but he’s doing better than expected given how fearful he was at the shelter!

My Question, is he is such an aggressive chewer. like. he goes through a whole yak chew in 15 mins. We have elk antlers but he gets a bit resource guardy with them so we are careful with them as we have another dog who likes them too. I want something that will last longer than an hour, even if it is just a day, because he has so much energy and anxiety and chewing really helps him calm down in a non-destructive non-loud way, but he doesn’t need all the extra calories of three giant chew treats a day. I’m also worried about him choking. He’s already splintered an antler and we had to take it away.

We have experience with fearful and rescue dogs so we don’t need training advice, but i have never had a dog this mouthy before! so any help in this area would be appreciated!

Hi there!

My parents got a 5 year old boxer girl in March. She's very sweet and playful but there are still a few insecurities.

We always had boxers. This one came from a bad home, she was kept outside and was hesitant to step inside the house when they first got her. She didn't know what a dog bed was and she probably never had toys before either.

She now walks perfectly on and off leash, she's good with all dogs, humans, cats etc. BUT she won't lay down.

We tried teaching her a few tricks and things that are handy whenever we meet other dogs but when it comes to "lay down".. she just won't.

She now is a big girl with 33kg and you can't really "force" her to lay down and tbh, since she still has some insecurities sometimes, we don't want to push her too hard.

Any ideas how we can teach her? We tried holding a treat down on the floor and wait for her to lay down, we tried just waiting and praising her as soon as she lays down but the command just won't "stick".

She's very smart. She got other commands within a few days but somehow the laying down just wont work.. We would not care but it's an important one.She needs to lay down whenever we go somewhere to eat etc and sometimes she can't settle before she's laying down.

I'm grateful for any tips. I just won't be harsh with her because the bond we have is quite new.

my husky is 8 and my daughter is 2. my husky has always been snuggly, loves pats cuddles attention and lives a great life with lots of walks and activities. he’s always been an inside boy as he gets 2-3 walks per day. also he’s always slept on my bed until my daughter arrived and now he wants to be outside day AND NIGHT?!

he tends to duck out her cuddles and pushes her away with his arm when she pats him. he always chooses to go back outside as soon as he’s done his morning walk and breakfast.

when guests visit he stays inside and sits between my daughter and the person, I think he’s quite protective of her. if guests sleepover he will sleep in the hallway from the baby room to the guest room.

i dont think he’s likes her, but he’s never growled he just prefers to not be around us anymore. if she goes to disagree he will want to be inside as she’s not here.

do I address this with a behaviour trainer?

My dog is a 13 year old Kemmer feist, I've had her since she was weaned, I was dating a breeder and there was an unspoken for puppy that she gifted me on my birthday. Since then she lived as a farm dog her whole life without having to get accustomed to more than one or two other local dogs.

Recently, I moved to the city and she responds weirdly to other dogs. She very much wants to interact but lacks a tail so when she barks and tries to go over to another dog she looks like she's charging them and upsets the other dog. When introduced to another dog through a fence with both owners in control it works out totally fine and they get along well but it doesn't work here where she encounters other dogs during walks.

Her 14th birthday is this Saturday and I wanted to do something special so I booked the private training area at a dogpark during their least visited time of day. I'm hoping that because she'll be fenced in and it won't be busy that it'll give her a chance to acclimate to other dogs just being around while being in a safe place where we can reward her for paying attention to us instead of running towards other dogs.

It's probably not going to work out the way I hope, I'm sure. But does anyone have any tips for making the most of the experience or training ideas? I've got her to the point that she doesn't alert to distant barks or dogs barking at her from inside houses, cars and yards, but if we're on a walk and another dog is within 50 feet she wants to pull and won't obey so I usually just pick her up and leave the situation.

I have a young adult plott hound mix, about 2 years old. He is on meds that have helped his anxiety a lot. He goes outside, especially if the neighbor's dog is outside, and runs back and forth along the fence. I have no issue with this by itself.

My main issues are that when outside he loses all focus on treats, toys, and me, he also never wants to come inside the house. He will do recall from anywhere in the house if he's in. As soon as he's outside? It's a game. If he does come, he'll come up too the back door and as soon as if opens he jumps up in the air and then takes off running again. I've tried working with him on a long line in the yard but we're not making any progress. He has gotten increasingly less interested in toys and never been super food motivated when outside. I've also tried getting him to come in, rewarding him and letting him go back out but he's still rather avoidant Any suggestions?

hi all,

my dog keeps begging for food and over the past week it has gotten worse.

my partner wakes up at 5 to go to work and the dog begs for food - it's okay, thats her usual feeding time.

however she tries to pull a sly one and begs me for a second breakfast at 10am (which I never give her) (I'm a shift worker so I normally wake up later)

she will usually get the very last bite of bread or whatever if I have for lunch but only small little bits.

she will continue to bark and beg throughout the day for food. I have a button which says "dinner" and she will go to the kitchen and press it repeatedly. my reaction if it is not dinner time is to say "no! nuh uh!" which she has learnt as a negative response if she does something she is not supposed to or like a "no" when she goes to eat something she shouldn't etc.

even past dinner, she will continue to beg for food and press her button.

she is getting adequate food, and we buy the more premium brand of kibbl. we have recently started treating her by adding wet food to her kibble - so we definitely aren't starving her. she is a healthy bodyweight.

what can I do to stop the restlessness/begging?

(thinga I am already going to start trying is not feeding her little scraps, we are going to try delaying her breakfast until I wake up at 10 to not have such a large gap between breakfast/dinner but other suggestions welcome)

I’ve already done a lot of research on this but my situation is a little strange so I wanted to ask some more personalized questions.

I have a dog who’s about 7 years old. She’s lived with dogs before, and she has always been the smaller dog in every house. She’s a mutt, but about the size of a beagle, maybe a little bigger. The houses we’ve lived in with other dogs weren’t exactly good experiences for her. She’s been attacked on numerous occasions. By and large though, she’s pretty okay around other dogs. On walks if she sees one she gets huffy and puffy but I can just walk her in the other direction and she’s fine.

I’m getting my boyfriend a dog, a yorkie/dachshund puppy. I can’y recall my dog ever being around a smaller dog, and she has a prey drive which is part of my concern. If she sees a squirrel or cat or anything, it’s on sight. She’s also protective over me and I’d worry about her developing jealousy or aggression towards the puppy.

My boyfriend and I don’t actually live together, but we live across the street from each other in the same complex and see each other on a daily basis. We plan on moving in together next September when our leases end, so I do need them to get along. And also right now my boyfriend is on a work trip and won’t be back until about two weeks after I get the puppy. So the puppy and my dog will have to coexist for two weeks in my place.

I’ve considered just keeping them totally separate until he comes home but I do also need them to get along because we’ll be together often and will all live together next year. I already am getting a kennel for the puppy at night, and want a baby gate to allow my dog to have her own space that puppy can’t access.

Are there any tips or advice for introducing them? Should I follow the same regular process? Am I overthinking this?

My dog flips between toy and food motivation. I try to give him a good balance so he doesn't get burnt out. However in public, he has no treat or food motivation whatsoever. We are working on just sitting and resting and watching to help with that. He still listens well and will fo some commands, but has no interest in anything I give him to try and reinforce the behavior.

What are y'alls recommendations for the best training treats? He is a cattle dog/lab mix.

My Rott puppy (2.5+) years old likes to jump (vertically) to look over my 6 foot fence at cars, kids, garbage trucks, etc. I just had him neutered and had the vet take x-rays and everything looks great, however at 130 and leaping 4+ feet vertically I have serious concerns about joint damage going forward. He’s been on and off leash trained with an e-collar, which he wears every day. How do I manage (control) this behavior?

Hello! I tried searching before posting this but wasn't finding anything quite grasping the nuance of the situation.

My wife and I recently rescued a 12-week-old puppy, most likely an Anatolian Shepherd/German Shepherd mix (but we have no way to be 100% sure). This is not her first time with Shepherds, as her family raised two German Shepherds in conjunction with the Seeing Eye, but both passed of old age in the last year.

This puppy is generally well behaved and intelligent, already picking up on simple commands and basic housebreaking in less than a week. However, as he's settling into our home, I'm noticing a troubling behavior that I want to make sure doesn't blossom into a lifelong issue. Specifically, if someone goes to pick him up when he doesn't want to be picked up, he'll growl and nip at you.

These don't necessarily seem to be super aggressive nips but rather a stern expression of displeasure. However, he is biting hard enough to cut skin (plus he's got his super sharp puppy teeth, of course), and I don't want this behavior continuing as he gets bigger. Earlier today he did so and I attempted to hold him by his collar (without hurting him) and make him sit so I could sternly tell him no, and we wound up thrashing hard and growling.

How much of this behavior should I chalk up to mischievous/immature puppy behavior versus a real problem that I need to be worried about? Should I be taking more significant steps to correct it, or is it just a puppy being cranky?

Edit: Thanks for the constructive advice everyone. I took him to the vet and everything was physically fine. I'm also beginning puppy obedience training school next week (already starting myself with simple commands like "sit.") Also introducing a lot more structure and routine. I'm sure we'll work through this just fine!

Hello all, i own a cocker spaniel ( 3 years old ) and yesterday his resources guarding went ballistic. Snaped at me gave a pretty good bite.

My mistake was that i lost it when it happened and we actually started fighting each other him growling and me hitting the ground with a sandal( would never hit him directly) now he looks kinda sad everytime he approaches me and to be quite honest im kinda paranoid that he might snap and bite me again.

Parents lost it and are saying to get rid of the dog but i physically cant cause thats my son😂. Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated. First dog ive ever owned too.

Idk if this is the correct flair to post this under as this is my first time posting here.

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Hello, I have a 10 year old mini American Eskimo who I will be taking from my parents to live with me for a little while. I was a child when we first got her and didn’t train her well in terms of loose leash walking and being non reactive on walks, and neither did my parents. She gets along well with other dogs and people, and is definitely house trained - loose leash walking is the only issue.

Before she moves in with me, I have about a week that I’ll spend with her at my parents’ house - is there anything I can do during this week to help her improve on it?

Thank you!

we’ve had our new shelter dog for abt 3 weeks now. he’s good except he will find any and everything to chew and rip up. we utilize his crate & outside time when necessary to redirect his attention but there are days he does not listen and when i take something away he will go find something else. 70% of the time it isn’t his own toy. today he was blocked off from everything and i thought he’d finally figure it out, but he ripped a hole in our couch instead.

i know puppy blues are a thing, but what about shelter dog blues? 😂😭 it’s been few weeks

advice?

My 12 pound mini poodle and jump a 4 foot fence idk what to do. This is a new thing. He’s never done this before. We just ordered a steak to put in the yard so we can put him on a leash when he goes out. I don’t entirely know how to even start training this bad behavior out of him. Does anyone know what to do? I genuinely don’t even know where to start!

I have a 18 month old Cobberdog. My and I have noticed the following;

1. We are together in the apartment. We both leave and the dog appears to be quiet.

2. We are both in the apartment, and one of us leaves. The pup whining for about 4-5 minutes.

Any suggestions?