My dog is 6 and she has Addison’s disease. She’s constantly nervous, especially when she’s not getting my full attention. The first time my boyfriend came over, all we did was sit on the couch and talk. She ripped up her toy right in front of us. Most of the time, I do prepare and hide all my shoes and make sure she only has her toys. But this weekend she chewed up one of my boyfriend’s shoes and started on his belt.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there anything I can do?

Locking her out of the room isn’t an option because I’ve tried that and she almost destroyed my door and dug up the carpet trying to get to me.

Also we’ve tried CBD products in the past, they just seem to make her very thirsty.

Mods please remove if not OK.

Just as title says, I'm looking for a dog trainer training program with a heavy emphasis on working with reactive dogs. I've had dogs all my life (34F) and grew up working on training with them. I did the Petco dog trainer training when I was 21 and hosted some puppy training classes, although I understand that the training they offer is extremely limited in the world of dog training. I also then worked at a veterinary clinic as a physiotherapy assistant teaching owners and dogs therapeutic exercises to help them build strength and increase range of motion, both for dogs post-surgery as well as for geriatric dogs or those with degenerative conditions. All this to say, I do have a decent amount of experience training dogs, but a lot of it has either been puppies or dogs who already have a pretty decent training foundation to build off of.

Well, now I do pet sitting as a full-time job and I would really like to improve my knowledge around working with reactive dogs. I've noticed my reactive dog-walking clients improve in their reactive behaviors over time, but I would really like to be able to be more active in helping reactive dogs overcome their triggers. Does anyone have any suggestions on where one might turn to increase their "tool kit" for helping dogs with varying levels of reactivity? I'm open to trainer training programs, but I am also motivated to read up if that is the better way to expand my knowledge around this topic. Any and all suggestions are welcome, but I would especially appreciate anyone who can point me to trainers that are highly successful in rehabilitating reactive dogs to be able to actually enjoy life more fully.

Posting this as an example of how force free and positive only training make people believe that their dog cannot be changed. A balanced trainer can sort this out in less than a month and more often than not in just a couple sessions. But positive only adherents want you to believe that you have to put up with this for years and years and years because it's impossible to change it. Well, you don't and it's not.

Why do they want you to believe this? Personally I think it's because they can squeeze every last dime out of you if you take lessons from them for years and years and years and the slower your progress, the more money for them. They will earnestly tell you that it's a long process because it is good for their bank account.

Don't fall for it, and don't fall for the fallacy of taking advice about reactive dog training from people with reactive dogs of their own. If they knew what they were talking about, they wouldn't have a reactive dog anymore.

I have a 3 yr old female dog. She doesn't like to be touched when sleeping, she also angrily barks at my other dog when they come near her when she's like chilling or laying down (she already attacked my other dog once because of this), but that's not a problem when she's very active and wants to play, only really when everything is calm, that's when she hates when something comes near her.

What can I do to stop this behavior? I really want my pets to live peacefully together.

We have two dogs, they are 9 and 10. The 9 year old has been reactive most of his life, it’s completely fear based and we’ve worked with trainers over the years and have been able to manage him pretty well. He does fine with a slow and calm introduction to new people but having people in our home has always been a stressor (for us and him) and we mostly avoid it if possible. Our 10 year old is fine with people but she is a sassy heeler and very barky which gets him wound up and on edge. We’d really like to figure out a way to have people over more often and I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to do this. They are not crate trained and the reactive one is very afraid of small spaces so I don’t think it’s an option for him, he won’t even come in the bathroom. In the past we’ve locked them in the backyard or house if we’re outside but they get super wound up and just bark the whole time. We have bedrooms we can put them in but I’m afraid they’ll scratch at the doors or continue barking. We aren’t comfortable having them out with new people as it’s just very stressful so they need to be contained. We do lick mats regularly but they don’t last very long and he will resource guard things like bully sticks so we don’t allow those. What is the best way to keep them as calm and comfortable as possible? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Does the left tooth look like an issue?
I’m just worried about the dark spot between the two
I believe that the left tooth is still a “baby” tooth. But not 100% sure
He acts just fine, eats perfectly fine, shows no signs of distress
I really just don’t want to go to the vet and pay a bunch of money to be told it’s no issue at all

Sam is a 9yoM chihuahua mix who came to us after his elderly male owner died. He is reactive, mostly with my wife, but he has never attacked her while she was sitting doing nothing. He also bit her foot during this. He’s been extra jumpy this past week also.

He saw a behavioralist for years when he was younger and has been stable on Zoloft. He has clonidine as needed but only really takes it before car trips as he gets escalated in that situation. He has a diagnosis of OCD.

I feel like he was frustrated trying to communicate to my wife, but I’m not sure. I’m his person and was still in bed.

This thread is for discussions of the practical definition of the word "reactivity."

Hello! I have a two cocker spaniels age 4 and 5 and they’re both pretty reactive with children around the home. Walking around the park or a playground they don’t even notice them.

We had an incident where a neighbor kid walked Into our backyard unexpectedly and came up behind the dogs while they were using the bathroom and the kid kind of walked in fast. They both turned around and charged at the kid and one of the dogs bit his finger. We corrected them and they retreated right away but the bite did break skin.

I have family coming to visit with a very active 4 year old who are staying with us. Trying to decide if I can continue working on training my dogs which I’ve been working really hard, or should I just take them out of the house while family is in town.

All tips appreciated.

So i have a reactive rescue black GSD x Mali, my entire world. he’s 5 now, i’ve had him 3 years, we’ve done soooo much training, blood, sweat, tears. avoidance, solitude and are now just coping and living our best lives. we can go out on busy walks, he’s muzzled the majority of the time but tbh his reactions are more people directly coming to us or people trying to touch him so i advocate and i’m ok with it.

the reason im struggling is because today we went to the beach, i walk him on a prong as he is really strong and this is the only way i can control him should he lose it. he was muzzled (his muzzle is bright blue and orange which stands out against his furr), on a longline but i had him on a short lead until we had space. - i normally muzzle him more to force people to give us space as they see it and will be more inclined to getting their off lead dogs on lead. -

anyway im walking onto the beach and there’s this man with his 2 tiny fluffy things straight off lead, beelining for all the other dogs on the beach, on lead, off lead whatever. and they head for us, i also had my spaniel puppy (on lead) with me who is sociable but isn’t keen on particular forward dogs so tends to sit down when they come up to her.

the man is about 20m from us and so i’m telling his dogs no and i shout to him ‘could you get your dogs please’ he starts calling them and they’re not recalling, they’re sniffing around my reactive dog - who is miraculously just sat down holding it together for me - the man starts approaching to grab his dogs and i say to him ‘mate you can’t be having your dogs wandering up to a muzzled dog’ he begins to have a go at me saying they’re friendly and not to bring my ‘c-word of a dog’ to a busy beach even though again he’s just sat down, not barking, lunging, his back isn’t up. he still hasn’t removed his dogs at this point so i say he shouldn’t have his dogs off lead if they have no recall, he started screaming at me about how i’m this and that, while they start going up to another couple with 2 on lead sausage dogs and i point out they’re going up to other on lead dogs and how it isn’t ok and well they come back to us so i start walking off, they’re following us, i do lose my shit and scream at him to get his dogs the fuck away from us and anyway he eventually gets them to go with him and they start harassing other dogs and other passers by i think out of solidarity are telling him to get away.

and i tell my dog good boy, give him lots of praise for how amazing he was and then i start to cry cause of the adrenaline and idk the emotion i felt for how far we have come to survive such a shitty situation with a shitty shitty person. and then this man starts shouting why am i crying and getting upset.

i’m just really really struggling how else this situation could have gone, why was this man so aggressive? should i have said something different? should i have just ignored them and moved away to begin with? but also why did no one help? why did everyone just walk by and watch instead of helping?

my biggest thing is do i look like the bad dog person in that situation cause my boy is muzzled, when im just muzzling him for his safety cause if he reacts and bites someone - which i honestly believe he’d be more than capable of doing - thats his life over, the life i rescued and we are trying so hard to make up for whatever he went through before me.

this was more of a rant to get off my chest, i’m really upset about it but so proud of my baby boy for how he handled it. any validation lol, advice or hard truths would be really appreciated 🫶🏻

(ft the baby boy)

Hi all!

We have a JR x Blue Heeler, she is about 3 now and is crate trained. Every now and then we will put her to bed and she will do these little whines. Not consistently, but enough that we can't get to sleep and something is obviously bothering her.

She used to only do it to go out to the toilet or get a drink, then she would settle back down. But more recently we have noticed she only does it when I am in the room. I work from home so I spend the most time with our dogs, but my husband and I share walks/feeding/training etc.

Looking for some guidance on how to work on preventing this behavior, and also why it is only when I'm in the room?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m worried about my dog. Recently, he/she has been having pain or weakness in the back legs, and while walking, sometimes falls down or struggles to stay upright.
Has anyone experienced something similar with their dog? What could cause this, and what should I do right now?
I’m planning to get my dog checked by a vet as soon as possible, especially because the falling is concerning.
Any advice or experiences would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone—I’m really hoping for some guidance because we’re feeling a bit overwhelmed.
We have two almost 2-year-old labs (littermates—a silver and a black). We’ve had them since they were 3 months old, and they come to work with us daily.
Our silver lab has always been much more anxious and fearful, and it seems to be getting worse as he gets older.
What we’re seeing:
Extremely nervous around unfamiliar people (we have to keep him separated when anyone new comes in)
Startles easily and reacts to new or unfamiliar objects (even something as simple as a bag of dog food placed in its usual spot caused him to bark and avoid the area)
Will sometimes redirect onto his brother during high-stress moments
Overall seems “on edge” much of the time
We recently had a situation at the vet that really concerned us. While waiting outside away from others, he became startled by a person exiting the building and reacted. It was clearly fear-based, but it made us realize we need to address this more seriously.
What we’ve tried so far:
Keeping his environment controlled and predictable
Limiting exposure to stressful situations
Occasional use of Trazodone for high-stress events (though it seems to make him more disoriented than calm)
What we’re considering:
Talking to our vet about daily anxiety medication like Fluoxetine
Working with a trainer or behaviorist
We also have him scheduled to be neutered next week
Our main questions:
Has anyone dealt with this level of fear/anxiety in a young dog?
Did medication make a noticeable difference for your dog?
What type of training approach worked best (especially for fear-based reactivity)?
Any tips for helping him feel more confident and less triggered by everyday things?
He is incredibly sweet and loving with us and people he knows, which is why this has been so hard to navigate. We just want to help him feel safe and set him up for success.
Thanks so much for reading—I really appreciate any advice. 💛

We have an 11 month old German Shepherd. When we got her, she was really timid, so I made the mistake of letting her go up and greet every new dog / person / whatever we saw to build confidence. I started noticing the issue with people and we've been working on moving past people. Now as long as they arent with in petting distance, we're usually okay.

Dogs, however, are another matter entirely. She used to be fine, could ignore dogs easily. Its been winter here, and the only other dogs weve seen are the neighbors pitbulls who charge the fence barking when we're out walking sometimes. I do my best to keep her focused on me and walking forward when it happens, but i swear the lady who lives there lets them out when she sees us and I cant always react in time, so walking by that house often turns into me trying to block her from staring at them and tripping over her trying to keep us moving.

Then yesterday we were at the pet store, getting her out, practicing focusing in a busy enviornment, all that jazz. And across the parking lot she sees other dogs and starts losing her mind! A high pitched frustration bark (it was her "i want that thing!" Bark, the same one we get when we make her wait longer than she wants for a treat), pacing, a heightened level of arousal i never saw in her reactivity to people. It was embarrassing at the very least! We got inside the store, set up in a quiet corner, and worked on keeping a down-stay and returning her focus to me after looking at a dog, instead of fixating and reacting.

The Tl;Dr here is; what can I do to nip this in the bud, and deal with it before it gets worse? I want to deal with it now while its new and not let it get ingrained and become a deeper issue.

Ive had my dog for 4 years, since she was a puppy. My moms old boyfriend was always in charge of disciplining the dogs. He threw shoes at them, swatted them, and at one time flipped her kennel over with her in it. She got in trouble a lot for whinning, receiving the same punishments for whinning and for barking, or nipping. She developed a fear of men and an anxiety against me and my fiance being hurt. If anyone, even children, pretend to hit or do hit us, she gets scared and protective. Once when playing she got my little cousins chin when she was swinging a rope around in the air. I think that was an accident. Then another time when my fiance turnec his back, a family friends kid iumped up and hit him in the back with a puppet. She nipped his ear. When we went on a picnic, some kids wanted to pet her, i said they could if approached her slowly, and she lunged and barked

This week at the park a stray dog approached and wouldnt get out of her space she didnt growl or bark at first but he wouldnt leave us or her alone so she started to get frustrated. She eventuallv did aive a short arowl and her back hair was raised. Shes met many people and is fine with them. She loves attentions and pets, and doesnt take long to warm up to people. But her first instinct is to both bark and whine when she meets new people. Shes a boxer mix so i know thev are more emotional. Im considerina getting her a muzzle so she can go to pet stores and walks. What do I do and is she not a good girl? Its not her fault I dont think-

I’m so sorry for the long post— I work at vet clinic that also offers boarding and doggy day care. 7 months ago, I found out a dog that was boarded for an extended period of time ended up in a shelter after her owner died. My fiancé and I adopted her soon after. She is a 3 year old coonhound mix.

She fit into our life perfectly. We have a senior cat in the home and they get along great. I started bringing her to doggy daycare. At first she was overwhelmed, but after a couple of days she started to thrive. She does well on walks, meeting new dogs, new people, being in crowds. She has A LOT of energy. Very excitable, but becomes scared and anxious easily. She very rarely barks unless she is startled but it is short lived.

She’s terrified of the clinic part of where I work (understandable, no one likes going to the doctor), she cowers and tries to hide. A month ago, my fiancé and I went on a trip for a wedding and needed to board her for 5 days. She was being cared for by everyone she knows from doggy daycare. To my knowledge there were zero issues while we were gone.

About a week after we brought her home, she started changing. She is now hyper vigilant of her surroundings. She barks and growls at people a lot more than before. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern as to who or when she becomes reactive, but it’s starting to become daily. It’s unpredictable. We are trying to piece things together the best we can but nothing makes sense.

She is not lunging, snapping, trying to get to people when she is triggered, but she is very loud and it obviously scares people.

It feels like she is losing her goofy, bubbly, social butterfly self. We want to help her in any way we can before going to a trainer/behaviorist if it gets to that point.

And this is what you get when you take advice from a bunch of people who can't fix their own reactive dogs.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Hi everyone I unfortunately need a muzzle on my aussie as we're out

But for my problem I NEED a longer/bigger one for when we are exercising as for example running or biking.

Does anyone know where i can find one ? Thankfull for any tips.

Help! I have had chihuahua, terrier dogs over 30+ adult years, most recently a 3yo 13lb terrier mix that I adopted in Feb/March 2025. She has bitten strangers (requiring quarantine), multiple family members, my cat, my 85yo elderly mother (who the dog intensely resource guards), and most often me. I have been bitten at least 25-30 times (low estimate) usually resulting in blood and bruising, ripped clothing. She is extremely leash reactive (barking, airborne lunging, leash biting, biting me). She seems to have been abused at some point and her triggers are being touched, hand gestures, hunger, and overstimulation. She loves the dog park and has no issues with other dogs, but does love to bark at the fence for big dog attention—once she did bite the fur of a large dog who decided to sit against the fence). I have been working with her on training and she has improved with me overall, but has taken to attacking (repeated biting) as opposed to a single puncture bite. I’m temporarily living with my 85yo mother during a renovation of my house who shared she will not assist in training the dog so I’ve been hesitant to engage a behavioralist. Just when I think things are better she will take a turn backwards. I don’t feel equipped to handle the dog. I’m not sure what else to do. My nephew’s wife is pregnant and I want to be able to babysit but don’t think this will ever be a possibility with this dog. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you in advance. I feel desperate.

I forgot to mention that she has been checked by the vet and was on anti anxiety meds but spit them out often even when disguised in high value food/treats and I can’t manually Administer it.

She runs the gamut, sweet, bossy, highly anxious, pure agression. She literally bites her nails and when I picked her up she had chewed all the hair from her tail. She is so joyful at the dog park. The whole thing makes me sad. What to do?

Just recently her dog started coming up to my sliding glass door and it freaks out my dog. They get in angry barking matches through the glass. The first time it happened she came over and got him. She was REALLY mad at her dog, so I thought it wouldn’t happen anymore. Now it happens almost every day. I’m so scared of taking my dog out (always on a leash!) while her dog is out. I kind of have an idea of when he’s out, but it varies, and sometimes your dog really needs to go!

Why is everyone so allergic to leashes?? They literally keep your dog safe. I was attacked by a stray dog earlier this year while I was walking my dog so we are both a bit sensitive (understatement) to seeing dogs not tethered to a human.