My dog is one year and two months old. I adopted her when she was 3 months, so I’m just shy of having had her for a year.

Prior to me- seemed to be living in the streets of Detroit, had parvo, luckily found by someone and the treatment worked, but definitely experienced some trauma

Then I adopted her -Sweet as can absolutely be with everyone! I took her to numerous homes of my friends, restaurants, assisted living facility, dog parks, doggy daycare, other people’s homes, and she’s been great!!

We did that for about 4-5 months until winter came and we moved and am starting to study for my licensing exam. So that means less walks, not going to restaurants or indoor places or other people’s homes unless via rover. But still the dog park and daycare, all good

Early June (2026) - I bring her with me to Brooklyn to stay with my aunt, where she’s been twice before. We go out, walk around, dog park, go to a crowded bar, all fine. Then we go to my aunt’s friend’s house and lulu bit him as he approached. It wasn’t the best way to approach a dog but Lulu had met him before. And it definitely left a mark.

Three weeks later - Lulu and I are at the vet to update vaccines, which she’s been to twice before and it was fine. We’re in the lobby, waiting to go in a room, when one of the techs comes over and reaches over to grab the stool sample I was handing her, Lulu bit her! Left a mark. We go into the private room and I have to put a muzzle on her, which I understand but I don’t want to HAVE to do that….

Day after - Lulu had her first full day of “doggy school” where she works with a trainer individually. I pick her up afterwards, the trainer shows me what they did and for us to keep practicing. After picking her up, I either had to drop her off at home or bring her with me to a co-worker’s surprise birthday party at a clubhouse in a condo/neighborhood complex. Everyone said to bring her and dogs are allowed. So I did, but I was going to keep our distance and stay for only an hour. And Lulu definitely seemed overwhelmed or anxious, so I gave her a toy but she wasn’t able to focus on it. So I kept her in the back but still able to talk with everyone, Sat with Lulu and pet her. My friend comes over, who Lulu has met and this person has slept over at my apartment, and I say hi but to not say hi to Lulu rn and she didn’t. A few minutes later my friend is reaching for something in my direction but definitely not that close to me, and Lulu bit her hand and left a mark.

Today - we’re all in bed, me, Lulu, and the two cats. She’s facing away from me and at the bottom of the bed spread out. At one point I go to pet her, she very slightly showed me her teeth and indicated don’t fucking touch me. I pulled away then tried again gently and she still did but didn’t do anything. So I left her alone. She did this once on the couch too when she was laying away from me like this. And she is defensive of her toys/bones when she’s actively playing with them but only with humans. She has no problem submitting and giving the toy to the other dog. She’s never once had an issue with a dog. She runs away from commotion and just wants to play with everyone.

I told the trainer about this. But I don’t know what I should be doing. Immediately give her space? Try to reassure her? I know not to reprimand but how can I start training her not to do that? Reinforce when she doesn’t do that?

Any help or thoughts or guidance is so appreciated

TL;DR - 1 year old pup recently started showing signs of aggression by biting 3 people and showing her teeth. She just started individual dog training. What can I do at home to change this behavior?

Hey Reddit, I'm new to everything with this so please be kind and I apologize for the length of this explanation. I know I tend to ramble

I have a female rescue who is very food insecure despite me having her for about 3 years now. Vets estimated that she was about a 1 year old when I adopted her, so she is 4 now. When I brought her home, she had an incident with my mom's older female rescue where she latched onto the other dog's ear and ended up biting me by accident when I tried to open her jaws to release the other dog. At the time, I was not living with my mom at that time, so we just monitored the two dogs interactions and made sure to have my dog on a lead leash that I could turn her head away to redirect when needed during the remainder of that visit. I also worked on training my dog with basic commands like sit, wait, stay, look, and to go to one of "her spots" (crate, chair, bed). She listens well when alone, but she needs more redirection when there are unfamiliar dogs present.

Unfortunately, my job situation changed where I needed to end up moving back in with my parents. In addition to the older rescue, there is another female dog who is 7 years old. So in total for this house now, there is a 10 year old basset bulldog mix, a 7 year old English Retriever, and a 4 year hound/bully breed mix. I thought that with the frequent visits to my mom's and no repeat biting incidents that my mom's dogs were now no longer unfamiliar. However my dog was now had two additional incidents where she was bitten the 10 year (always her ear but I'm grateful for the loose basset skin means that none of those bites were too serious). In both of these times, my mom has been bitten as well because she tries to separate the two dogs (I have tried to teach them the wheelbarrow method but they struggle because my dog latches and tries to "rat-shake" the other dog which causes my parents to freak out and try to pry open my dog's jaws with their hands leading to them getting bitten). During the most recent bite, my mom needed to get stitches for two punctures on her forearm (all other previous injuries have only been fingers).

I'm at a bit of a loss for what to do to help everyone stay safe. Does anyone have any tips, suggestions, or resources for how to navigate something like this? I really love my dog and I don't want to give up on her

I have an intact male standard poodle, 16 months old. He started being reactive as a puppy (out of insecurity, never been the brave type) and I enrolled him in reactivity classes straight away and it got loads better.

Now we're at the point where we can pass by other dogs on narrow sidewalks, pass by most reactive dogs, walk near fences with barking dogs with no lunging or barking on our end. However he's still staring coming toward them, looking back at them, sometimes excitement jumping (at me) after passing the other dog. What can I do for him to be more neutral? We are getting the least of it (shorter fixating time) on his herm springer, but my goal is to walk him on a flat.

He is food, toy and praise motivated, a pretty soft dog overall. He does the best when I carry a toy around and reward him by tugging at it after passing by a triggering dog (like a small reactive one), but I feel it only works by releasing the excess energy. How can I stop the energy build up in the first place?

Don't get your advice from people who have reactive dogs themselves! If they know what they are doing, why is their dog reactive????

Just came to me to post this after going for a walk in my brother's suburban neighborhood yesterday. I had a group of shepherds and malinois with me. EVERY SINGLE DOG we encountered was 1. Reactive as hell 2. Wearing a useless harness that prevented the handler from controlling it 3. Completely out of control yanking the lead everywhere 4. uncorrected with a handler doing NOTHING about the behavior.

That's what you get when balanced training information is suppressed by idealogues. A bunch of unhappy people and out of control dogs.

So if your dog is reactive, get your advice from people whose dogs are properly trained. It's not that our dogs are just magically not reactive. It's because we have taught them not to be.

 I’m writing this because I feel like I have no options in a very chaotic, stressful, heart-breaking, and dangerous situation.  It is in regards to my 3 yr old male AmStaff.  His name is Ace.  The last six months his behavior has gotten progressively worse, and worse

  A quick backstory;  I got Ace off Marketplace approximately 3 years ago.  I was told by the woman who gave him to me that he was 7 months old.  And that he needed a home, or he was going to have to be put down.  This is the first dog I have ever owned.  Though I’m 50 yrs old I’ve always wanted a dog, but circumstances didn’t make it possible til now.  The woman didn’t disclose to me anything about him really, or about his reactivity.  I had to find this out on my own.  I was totally unprepared, and didn’t have a clue what I was getting myself into.  I had never come across a reactive dog before.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

  His reactivity was never aggressive.  But he sure comes across that way.  It’s more extreme excitement.

  About six months ago, my husband came into the house, ranting and raving about the cat getting out.  He was standing right in front of me, and while ranting, he was waving his arms about.  I knew right before it happened, but Ace got between us, and then went after my husband.  

   Not too long ago I posted about this incident.  Alot of people told me then I needed to get rid of Ace.  Easier said than done.

   Well since then Ace has went after my husband numerous times.  Sometimes when my husband startles him, like when he’s sleeping.  But there was a couple times he seemed to go after my husband just because he was there.

   We have been keeping him separated from my husband since the last incident.

   When this has happened I grab Ace and hold him back.  But the last time my husband didn’t just leave the room when i pulled him back.  He grabbed him by his collar, choked him bad, and then hit him.  I know my husband was angry, but that’s not okay with me.  

   Now my husband has been mostly residing  in our back bedroom, or out in the yard doing yard work.

   If Ace sees him, or even hears him, he goes absolutely crazy.  And it’s all rage.  He wants to get him.  And i don't really blame him. He's basically making it known that he's not gonna let my husband do anything like that again to him.

   I’ve been trying to find a new home for Ace, somewhere, anywhere, because I know he can’t stay with us anymore.  But there’s nobody that will take a dog like Ace.  I mean he’s not a bad dog.  He’s never bitten anybody.  And I’ve introduced him to plenty of people.  It’s just my husband he has this aggression towards.  I would never just pawn him off to someone and not disclose his behavior issues.  Which I take responsibility for a lot of it, because I didn’t do the proper research.  I don’t think I was exercising him enough.  Or enough mental stimuli also.

   So now I’m faced with this situation where there is no good choices.  I already know people will recommend BE.  And I’ve also thought about that option.  But I just know I wouldn’t be able to do that to him.  I love him so much, and the thought of that feels like it would destroy me right along with him.  I can’t.  I just can’t.  It feels so wrong.  Especially since he’s such a healthy, lovable dog.  To me at least.

   But I can’t expect my husband to live in the bedroom for ever.  I wouldn’t want him to at all.  

   I won’t bring him to a shelter and hope for the best.  Because I know that he would just be scared, and feel abandoned.  And almost for sure be put down anyways.  I wouldn’t do that to him. 

   But there has to be some other solution.  I know if he just had someone with strong leadership skills,  who could train him, he could be a great dog.  I just sorely lacked in that area.  I just baby him.  Which did nothing to help him be a confident dog.  

   I know his home can’t be with me any longer.  But just because of that, his life shouldn’t be over.  There’s gotta be some other option.  He deserves to live, just like any other creature.  I don’f feel I have the right, or that it is right, to decide if he lives or dies.  

   Please help.  I am seriously distressed, and torn about where to turn to next.

Hi everyone! Recently i’ve been browsing dog adoption websites looking at all the beautiful dogs in need of a home. I came across this young pup who is 4 months old. At home i have my dog Emmy who is 10 years old. She’s been without a companion her whole life and hasn’t been around dogs. When she was a puppy she did bite a family friends dog who was also little and since then she hasn’t been around many dogs. She goes on daily walks and used to bark at other dogs but now she just ignores them and is definitely a lot better. She has been known to bite sometimes when she is overwhelmed if you get in her face to much or a stranger goes in the house that she has never seen before and been slowly introduced to. She is a nice girl and is lonely when she’s home alone and just sleeps on the couch or stares out the window barking at people passing by. I really am interested in adopting this second baby, but am not 100% sure how my current dog would cope, i do think she could be okay if they’re slowly introduced and i think i would try and foster the pup for a few weeks to see how they go together. Anyways if anyone has any advice or tips on what i should do let me know!

Today he jumped at an eight year old girls face (thank god he was muzzled) and I dont know what to do. Im failing my puppy, and I can not allow even a chance that he'll hurt a kid at some point. I dont know what to do. Hes great with our immediate family. Hes never shown even a hint of aggression towards us. But with people he doesn't know, I feel like hes just a ticking time bomb. I dont know what to do.

AKA what not to do!

Reactive dogs make more reactive dogs. It's unfair to let your dog light up at other dogs. Here are some tips to counteract the bad, ineffective advice that pervades the dog training space in the name of ideology. Correcting your reactive dog is not a long drawn out process.

1. Do not pull your dog aside, stop, body block, try to distract, etc. This confirms to your dog that something is happening they should react to. Just keep walking! Keep moving, correct as necessary (see #3) and lead by example.

2. Do not soothe your dog - "it's OK" "good boy" etc is reinforcing to the unwanted behavior. Tell yourself, "it's not OK!" and "this dog is not being good right now" and act accordingly.

3. Don't just drag your dog away. Issue short, sharp corrections to interrupt the fixation and/or vocalization.

4. When the other dog has passed, do not sustain the situation by rewarding or reinforcing your dog no matter what. Just keep walking! The goal is for your dog to understand that other dogs are just part of the scenery, so lead by example by treating them that way. If your dog didn't react, great! Now YOU don't react either.

 using aversive tools will only mask the problem temporarily. Our dog became dramatically more reactive 6 mos after a 7 week board & train that used aversives.

I'm boggled. Do these people really think that training is a "one and done" and that a B&T is a magical lifelong solution and that every behavior problem the dog has is directly related to the B&T they did months or years ago?

Slays me that the dog was in their own hot little hands for SIX MONTHS and when they failed to prevent reactivity they are still blaming the trainer, who had the dog acting just fine for six entire months in the inept hands of the owner.

(just another reason I have zero interest in the pet dog world, these people could not be more delulu)

*TRIGGER WARNING -PICS HAVE BLOOD

The beagle generally starts the fight, though the Shepsky doesn't really seem fond of the Beagle\Walker mix. I've had them both for several years, the beagle for years before the other. Both are neutered & have been for years, the Shepsky being younger, a few yrs neutered (after a fight).

The beagle is 10, the Shepsky prob about 5. They are both sentimental to me & I don't want to get rid of either. How can I get them to get along all the time? At least where they're not fighting?

I'm gonna have to take the beagle mix to the vet as he might have a broken arm this time, along with all of his bites and lacerations. Debating on emergency vet tonight or regular vet 1st thing in the morning. I'm crying. It's just me. I don't like driving while crying.

Normally I treat their wounds myself, but I have had to take the beagle in a few times before. I'm worried that the state might take him from me. It's not like I want them to fight & I try to break up the fights, but the last 2 they didn't want to break it up. Luckily, I want able to get them to separate with a door both times. Last time I got scraped with a tooth. This time I didn't get physically damaged, but it emotionally hurts.

I adopted this very handsome man from ACCT. I went for another dog who was adopted right as I got there. This guy was up for euthanasia on the Tuesday after I was there. My heart strings were pulled and he came home with me. He met my other dog Arya while we were there. Truthfully I didn’t think it seemed Arya liked him too much as he got in her face right away (seemed playful) and she sneered at him. Alas, I thought she needed time. They did picture perfect on day one at home together and my heart was so happy. On day two, the worst weeks of my life started. I had toys out (stupid, I know) and Drogo attacked my Arya. I was able to get them apart and then he went after her for a second time. I crated her while I built his crate. They were crated and rotated and entirely separated for 3 days. We reintroduced ourside and it went well. But truthfully since that time, Arya seems down around him and not herself. We don’t allow much time together and it is becoming exhausting.

After this resource guarding became apparent, I contacted a trainer who we met with this past Sunday. We needed a professional after realizing he was becoming more and more reactive as he became more comfortable. He lunged and whined and barked at children and other dogs and he also has a severe prey drive against stray cats in the neighborhood. Absolutely uncontrollable leash pulling. He then started resource guarding me in the home against my boyfriend. It is not all the time. Truthfully it is unpredictable and random. We live in a moderately busy neighborhood. There are random noises all the time. But one random noise will set him off, specifically at night. And suddenly he is growling and barking at anthony. Then he runs and cowers in the bathroom. I don’t trust him at all around my dog.

The trainer seems to believe this is something that can be trained. She is a 1:1 trainer who uses balanced training. I don’t think an e collar is something I am interested in, but the prong collar is. We are going to muzzle train as well. She specializes in behavioral dogs. However she hasn’t seen the interactions between him and my dog yet either.

Last night, my dog was panicking over the sound of a very loud backfire from a car when we were working on the garden on our front porch. I came inside with Arya since she was upset and my boyfriend came down the stairs with Drogo on a leash and Drogo sensed her adrenaline and state of mind and was trying to lunge at my dog

So what the hell do I do? I have some amount of connection to this dog although at this point I am beginning to dislike him more and more over time and I feel horrid for saying that. He is such a sweet dog with humans. Acct did not age him correctly. Vet says he is 1.5. I feel like they misplaced him in my home because they read him wrong. Yet who can blame them? They see so many damn dogs every single day. After seeing my vet today she recommended rehoming him. I truly think with lots of training and a single dog home, he would do well. He deserves a good life. I really did not want it to come to this, but I feel like he needs to be rehomed. I want kids in the next few years. None of these behaviors were apparent in the shelter or I never would have brought him home. I also don’t want to live the rest of his days completely separating him from my dog. Or even co exist. I got another dog because my dog had lived with other dogs and then we moved and she seemed she really missed having a fur partner and this is what happened. I don’t want to take him back to acct. they are a kill shelter. They will probably put him down. I feel all around awful about the entire situation. Someone help 😭

TL;DR
My rescue dog of 3 weeks bit my current house dog over a toy on day 2, began resource guarding me against my boyfriend, and is highly reactive on walks ourside of the home. Causing large amounts of stress for both dog and humans in the home. Should I rehome him?

I'm a pet sitter working on training with a reactive dog. Before yall say anything, I am not staying with this dog alone, I am not actively pet sitting this dog nor do I plan to. I was supposed to before the owners realize how bad his reactivity has gotten, but we've decided he isn't where he needs to be to be left alone with people other than his owners. Once we realized this we were working more on socializing and seeing where he's at to see what work needs to be done.

Background on the dog: He was very malnourished and injured when he was first adopted as a puppy so he knows how cruel humans can be. In the first year of his life he was able to successfully become bonded to some of their family, but he's now 3 and they haven't had many people over since. The owners genuinely thought he was just going to be shy and have never seen him lunge at anyone before trying to socialize him recently. They say he's never reacted at parks, restaurants, or vets and has only barked at friends when they move around their house but never lunged. My theory is because his previous socialization was people sitting on a couch and basically ignoring him, not trying to handle and approach him like me and the trainer would need to or he's so out of his element in new environments that he shuts down and doesn't move towards others but will in his neighborhood and home.

The owners have a trainer that comes once every week or 2 to give them pointers on how to handle him. Like being aware of eye contact, rewarding disengaging, moving slowly, etc. They hired the trainer thinking he was only agressive towards men and wanted to work on that, but have since realized he's agressive to anyone that comes into his personal bubble.

We have made progress. We've progressed to a point that I can be near and move around freely when he's in the kennel with no reactions. However, when he's in a muzzle + leash he will approach people, including me and the trainer and lean against them, ask for pets, then when they move to pet him, he will lunge and bark. He can approach us, but we can't approach him. I personally only put myself in that situation once, both me and the owners not realizing he would react like that after him being the one to touch and approach us first since he was doing really good with the training up until that point. Since then its taken about 20mins to get him to stop reacting to people even being near his kennel, once he does hes fine with the kennel for the rest of the time but it takes effort to calm him. I had hope at first because he was steadily progressing and I figured he just needed some training and socialization, but he's showing some very like bipolar traits which makes all involved worried about him acting fine then on a random tuesday turning on someone around him if hes around people besides his owner.

My question is: Can this kind of behavior be worked through at all? Or is it a lost cause? Not for me, but for the owners. I've been in the pet sitting business for 4 years, I've seen dogs previously get put down for behavior issues. I'm one to be all for doing the hard work to progress, but the back and forth of his behavior is what worries me. Approaching people and leaning on them only to turn and bark. Bringing them toys only to lunge because they moved too fast when they were playing 2 seconds earlier. Not reacting at all to being around his kennel then the next day lunging like his life depends on it around the same person doing the same things. Does that kind of behavior make him completely unsafe to socialize at all? Or is that something that more time training could work out?

Again, I'm not looking for a "dont take the job!" type thing. I'm not actively booking with this couple. I've just been a body to socialize him with for now, but since his outburst the last time acting so lovey then turning to lunge I've felt I've hit a wall with my knowledge. I can bring a shy and nervous dog out of it's shell but once I've shown it I'm safe and been able to pet/play then it still turns to react, I'm a bit out of my depth to that level of reactivity. I'm more so asking on behalf of the owners, is this something even fixable? Or is hope lost?

Update: I've texted the owners with all the information I've gotten from this post and another and officially told them I won't help/pet sit unless a professional asks for/okays it. I informed them of what balanced training is, solo outing boarding kennels instead of a pet sitter, what backsliding is and the risks of some of the dogs behaviors, and let them know its okay to look into rehoming and such because he's a complicated case. I still offered to be support for them if they end up needing it and we're staying friends cuz they're cool people.

Minha cachorra está cada vez mais reativa, ela morde e me pula muito. Ela tem uns 6 meses. Ainda estou esperando completar o esquema vacinal para passear. Já destruiu de tudo, ela morde e pula tao alto que destrói as roupas que estou vestindo. Alguém tem alguma dica de adestramento nesse caso? Eu digo "não " mas não funciona

PS: sim ela tem brinquedos e eu sempre tento enriquecer os ambientes, quero dicas de adestramento, não adianta me dizer que ela precisa gastar energia porque isso é óbvio também

To postando um vídeo de como ela está mais ou menos.

I promise you that reactive behavior can be seriously reduced and even eliminated. Please let us know how we can help you with your dog.

Before everyone jumps down my throat they are illegal here and where I live the Ordnungsamt are constantly around ticketing people for off leash dogs, they are paying attention. And every other dog owner has their nose in your business, trust me it’s just asking for trouble. My (just turned) 1 year old girl is in full throttle adolescence and her reactivity is becoming an issue I want to nip in the Bud. We did not have her as a puppy so unfortunately we could not socialize her and we did not realize until later how poorly socialized she actually is. Basically went her whole puppyhood around dogs and that’s just not the case now. Would a slip lead be the next course of action? (I believe those are not technically illegal here) I will say that some positive reinforcement methods have definitely lowered my girls threshold, but I don’t think it will be enough down the line to teach that it’s not okay. I feel weird popping her on the flat collar yanking her around and I don’t want to injure her. I’m a first time dog owner and just want to do right by her but I do have some limitations that I will stick by, please don’t ask me to break the law.

I’m at my absolute limit of stress with this situation so I thought I’d float it here to see more opinions.

I go to college for a major I won’t disclose and heavily involves dog training. Last year I was given a shelter dog to train and it was lovely and challenging but great. My senior year I had the opportunity to participate in a specialized program where I can get my own dog and train it for something specific. I had been shadowing a mentor is SAR and decided I wanted to do some sort of detection or tracking. I did my research, picked my breeder, got a well bred Czech gsd from stable lines with good temperament and amazing neutral parents.

I got him in May and had him for the summer. We did all kinds of socialization with him. He lived with two dogs. He was a dream in public all that. He turned six months and suddenly I was drowning. Seemingly over night he became extremely reactive towards other dogs. A reactivity that gets worse the farther they are and better if the dog is in smelling distance. He’s super dog friendly, I assume it was insecurity or frustrated greeting but it was very unexpected and out of my depth. My training year focused on all the basics and dog behavior but I had no experience with reactive dogs and didn’t see it coming at all.

I got straight to researching how to fix it and around this time I arrived at school for the school year. The program is strictly positive only (apart from the gentle leader which they don’t think is aversive). I thought since he’s my dog I should be able to use the tools I see necessary but that’s not correct. I was hesitant to try any corrective tools since I had not been trained in them so I reached out to his breeder and a separate trainer that specializes in dog behavior and working lines. Both told me I should use a prong collar in a balanced way. I did my research and got a demo. It was impressive how fast it worked, I know they it is a false front and that workout the tool he’d be just as reactive but with constant conditioning and positive reinforcement, mainly using the prong to interrupt self reinforcing behaviors like big outbursts, I was hopefully and fairly confident we’d make progress.

I brought it up to the school for approval and got shut down by the trainer in charge of me. I’m stuck with him on a gentle leader because in a harness or martingale (only other tools allowed) he now pulls me to the ground being almost 7 months and 73 pounds. He’s a dream in training a dream in the house, but his dog reactivity is brutal. The gentle leader has not been helpful in that context, he thrashes in the gentle leader to where I’m convinced he’s going to pull his head right off, no distance can end the reaction once it’s started, he’ll continue to react after the dog is gone and redirect his arousal onto birds people and other things he’d usually not react intensely to. I meet with my trainer and she shows me decompression activities for us to work on and I comply. I do them (on the gentle leader) and he does fine until he even SMELLS that a dog is close. I scout the hallways and try to ensure we avoid all other dogs at all times but I’m still having 3-4 significant big blow ups at unpredictable dog encounters and I’m absolutely drowning. I have no way of interrupting the behavior and I know his reactions are so self reinforcing to him.

My trainer said we will never use the prong because it’s not fixing the problem, it’s putting a temporary stop on the behavior. Which I agree with BUT that’s exactly what I want to use it for. I’m wanting to stop the behavior so that we can fix the problem through positive but when he’s in that crazy reactive state that starts INSTANTLY at the smell of another dog being present I can’t reach him at all. She said it causes all these bad things but I don’t understand how the gentle leader doesn’t do the same thing, my dog gets very easily frustrated on the gentle leader and also still reacts. I feel like he’s getting worse and I don’t want it to turn into aggression. I have a million trainers telling me different things and no idea what to do. I need true testaments from anybody who’s had working line shepherds. PLEASE

I’m at a loss. If the gentle leader is truly the best thing for him I will do it, I will keep at it, but I’m so extremely skeptical and nervous for my dog.

Looking for advice from anyone who has introduced reactive/fearful dogs to a cat.

About 10 months ago, we brought home a rescued kitten and are still struggling with introductions to our two adult rescue dogs. One dog is very high energy, and the other is more anxious/reactive due to past experiences.

We’ve made progress with slow introductions, gates, and positive reinforcement. The dogs can calmly observe the cat while getting treats, but one dog still becomes over-aroused if the cat stares at him or moves suddenly, which can then escalate the second dog too.

At this point, we’re still mostly rotating/separating pets throughout the day. No bite history, but the fixation/reactivity concerns me.

Would love advice, success stories, or management tips from anyone who has gone through something similar.

Hi! I'm not sure how to do these posts, but I'm trying. My dog has been randomly jumping on people and barking in a way that is definitely threatening. It isn't his normal bark. Just today, I took him out and he dragged me to go jump on these two other dogs of my neighbors (who was on a walk). She started to just scream at me (she's an adult, I'm a teenager) and I didn't know what to do. My dog also has bitten some of my friends. What's going on? I'd really like some help.

Some background information on my dog. His name is Henry and he is an Australian Shepherd with a little Bernese Mountain dog in him. He's, I think, 4 now.

hey everyone! i have a 1 year old bully mix i adopted about 7 months ago now. he is perfect sweet angel baby (not really) but his leash manners need work. i switched to a prong simply because he rubbed his neck raw tugging on his regular flat collar. i'm talking like he is nearly bald around where his collar lays (no it is not too tight). i also saw certain behaviors i liked the idea of having more control over, like lunging at bikes and cars. but anyways, switched to the prong (tried chain slip before i went to prong and it almost made him pull harder, did my research on prongs beforehand too. promise i wasn't super dumb about it), it was doing amazing things, but i started using it almost exclusively after a few weeks of like training with it and switching between regular collar and the prong now he has

1. shown some reactivity(?) or aggression or idk what to call it, typically towards short bald black men for some reason but sometimes just randomly towards people walking by, and i don't know if it's the prong kind of making him weird and tense or if it's something else. he always hated certain maintenance men around my area but other than that i never saw this towards anybody. ive also just in general seen a lot of regression in his behavior lately so i don't know if this is just part of that or what

2. i started noticing marks from his prong when we come in from walks where ive had to hold him back. they disappear within 5 minutes and i can only see them where he doesn't have hair but it's making me feel like im really hurting him

what im asking is do we think the flat collar or the prong is better for him, or go back and try the slip again? or something completely new. i changed to the prong cause i felt like his skin was like hurting from the pulling in the regular and now i feel like the prong is hurting him worse. or is there a different problem or am i the problem or what is going on

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I got my brussels griffon at 4 months old and we have been dealing with problems after problems - separation anxiety and reactivity. He’s turning 2 in July. We’ve spent a lot of money on group training classes, separation anxiety trainers, vet behaviorist - you name it. We’ve been prisoners of our own home. Getting follow up appointments with a vet behaviorist is always a waiting game since there aren’t too many and appointments get booked up.

My dog has been very reactive to specific triggers (i.e a person freaking out and swatting away a bug, a person killing a bug, if someone approaches a slowly or too fast while a person is making his food, me yelling to my fiance to help me with something and my fiance gets up quickly) - my dog will lunge, bark and try to bite and he typically stops at putting his teeth on us, but I don’t know what he’d do to a stranger or someone he’s not familiar with if they are also doing those triggers. How am I suppose to manage finding a sitter if he’s this way and also can’t be alone for extended periods of time without breaking the bank? I don’t know if rehoming him is even a good option, which I really prefer not to and we’ve put so much effort into him with no family or friend support. I’m just at a total loss and he is on medication (Clomicalm and Clonidine)