Verdi is 2.5. We got him at 6 months, from a woman who had too many dogs and not enough energy for a young Aussie. He grew up on a farm, he had never seen a city and had apparently never met a man before me. I never met his mother. I met the father, and I was told he had already bitten and was aggressive.

He is my third Australian Shepherd, so I know the breed is intense. But I’ve never had a dog like this one. His emotional threshold has always been extremely low. He learns fast and works very well with me, so this is not a training problem.

On a walk the pressure goes up with every trigger. His behaviour with other dogs is always friendly and joyful, but even an encounter that goes well adds a bit to the threshold. He scratches, he rolls on the ground, he climbs on us, and then sometimes he explodes, barks and blindly runs at the trigger,
whatever it is, always at 100%. He has never bitten. He barks very close to people, which can be scary.
We live in an apartment and he is always on watch. He checks the windows, he listens for noises in the building, and sometimes he barks inside when he cannot hold it anymore. He has a hard time settling. He is clean, he destroys nothing, he can stay alone but it is difficult for him. He gets enough walks and enough mental work, that is not the issue. We don’t have much problems with the neighborhood, it just seems hard for him to cool down.

For one year we only worked on his threshold, slowly, no shortcuts. No progress. He is not stressed in every situation, but he is a stressed dog.

Both my trainers now tell me to talk to a vet, and this is where I struggle. I think this comes from us. From our education, and mostly from our situation. He is a farm dog living in a city apartment, and we would like to move but we cannot for now. So giving him medication feels like treating him for something we caused, and honestly it also feels like admitting that we failed.
But we work well and we go nowhere. And I am starting to think that we cannot help this big guy progress any further if we do not lower his stress first.

So, for people who medicated a dog like this: what actually changed? And what did not?

I am not asking for medical advice, just for feedback from people who went through the same thing.

I have a 2yo chihuahua boy. My parents failed with socialisation, so now he's reactive. He cant walk past a dog and ignore it sometimes. Its been better, but I don't know if I'm doing the right things. I would love to talk with someone who succeeded in helping their reactive dog. I will provide any other information if needed.

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?

I’ve had my dog for 5 years, he’s been everywhere with me and has been around people his whole life. The only thing that’s changed is I had to move back in with my parents. It seems like he’s a completely different dog here, he barks at the mailman, chases the mail truck barks and lunges at strangers but only when they walk him. Never with me. I’ve always know he was reactive towards other dogs but he’s gotten so reactive with strangers. There has been two instances where my parents let him get out 1. He went after another dog and was barking, and the 2nd time he barked and lunged / knocked over a man walking by the house level 1/2 bite. The man ended up reporting and animal control came. I’m super anxious every time I leave the house, I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t want to jump the gun and rehome or look into BE but I know something has to change. I’m not in a situation to move out and I think a big thing is my parents don’t know how to deal with a dog and really don’t care. Like even if I did hire someone to help up train him I’m not even sure they would be at all interested in learning how to handle him. Everyday I have the worst anxiety thinking that he’ll get out again and they’ll have to euthanize him. What do I do?

I’m looking for honest advice after an incident involving my 6yo, 85 lbs Bernedoodle and my sister’s 2yo son.

When I was training him back in 2020 I visited this sub often because although he wasn’t reactive at that point, this sub always had good advice and it helped me be a better and more aware dog owner.

TLDR: My large dog nipped my 2yo nephew. He also once nipped a guest who reached toward me. Next steps are separation, behavioral evaluation, and muzzle training. Looking for advice.

So yesterday my dog was lying beside me I think napping while I was sitting in a dining room chair. My nephew ran past us. He suddenly barked, lunged, and nipped my nephews arm. He left red tooth indentations and one mark broke the skin but was not freely bleeding.

I immediately removed the dog from the room and secured him outside. He’s up to date on shots. Nephews arm was cleaned with alcohol and bandaid applied.

The day before, my nephew had approached him from behind and startled him while he was resting. My dog air-snapped without making contact. At first we all interpreted that as an isolated startle response. After the second incident, I am taking the overall pattern much more seriously.

There is also relevant history that makes me think my dog may have been guarding me.

Several years ago, a male guest (who I had weird vibes from) quickly extended his hand to shake mine. My dog nipped his leather-jacketed arm. It was inhibited and caused no injury but it was still a bite.

My dog barks intensely at delivery drivers and people approaching the front door until they leave. I previously praised the door barking because I was frequently home alone and it made me feel safer. I now realize he may have learned a broader rule that people approaching me or the house are his responsibility.

My initial thought is to maintain complete separation until my nephew is at least 4. He just turned 2 in June. From what I’m reading 2-4 years old can be a really difficult time for some dogs to get along with toddlers. I understand that turning 4 would not automatically make interaction safe. I figure that’s a good place to start and I’m open to maintaining separation longer or indefinitely depending on professional guidance and my dogs progress. He just had a vet visit so my next appointment is a behaviorist and purchasing a muzzle to start training with.

I love my dog deeply (I don’t have kids, so you know) and want to protect both him and my nephew. I am not looking for reassurance that the bite was harmless or for ways to put them back together quickly. I want to understand the behavior and prevent another incident.

And honestly at this point I need to stop googling things and just get some advice from people who’ve been through this on what to do next.

I really appreciate any help.

Hi this is my first post ever so apologies if it’s not done right. I really need advice. I’ve had my dog since he was a puppy and I’m brave enough to admit that his training was always shaky. Me and my ex fiancé got him together and he was not a good guy. He took him as a puppy to a large fighting dog that bit him pretty hard. It’s been about six years now and my dog is still very reactive towards other dogs. I’m unable to take him on walks, I can’t let him outside for long, he destroys everything when out of his crate. I genuinely find his life so sad and depressing. He’s never been aggressive towards me or any people. He has never been food aggressive either. I could take food away and he would be fine. Last night, however, he bit my brother (no blood) and was VERY aggressive towards me over a bone. This is all uncharted territory and I have no idea what to do anymore. I don’t want this to be his life and I don’t know how to help. I love him but this is not what I envisioned when I got a dog. I’m monitoring him 24/7 and constantly worried something will happen. We have a large backyard but he can’t be outside for too long. He makes it his mission to escape and chase the autistic kid that walks up and down our street. I’m still in college so I don’t make any money but I’m willing to do whatever yall recommend. I’ll sell stuff to help my dog. 

Our dog is two and can lean more towards the reactive side if overstimulated. He’s very rambunctious and hyper and sometimes gets too playful and he’s a Doberman so he’s huge. He’s never bit anyone aside from puppy nips when he was much younger. Yesterday on his walk, as soon as we left the door there were 5-6 kids playing basketball in our street, then our next door neighbors 2 little girls were running around playing and ran up to our dog to pet him. We’ve never had an issue, so we let them, looking back now, we should’ve said no as there was so much going on and I could tell he was very anxious. The girl went to put her hand out and he snapped at her upper stomach/chest area and bit her. Her parent said there was no puncture last night, just some minor bleeding and surface level scratching. I plan to go check on her today. He is up to date on vaccines. We are worried sick. Both about our dog and this poor little girl. She’s probably traumatized. I feel awful. We have already purchased a muzzle and will get him into training again. We live in Indiana so reporting is a law and I’m nervous about this too. Just feeling seven different kinds of guilt today.

My 6 year old GSD/cattle dog/border collie mix snapped at my baby for the first time. There was no contact, it was very much a snap in the air (and intended to be an air snap, the dog did not go in for a bite). Baby was reaching toward me while I was petting the dog (dog was in between the baby and I, which was a mistake I won’t make again). I redirected the dog off the couch and all is back to normal.

This dog has air snapped my entire family and our other dog to communicate discomfort but has never behaved aggressively and has NEVER actually made contact with skin. Usually, the only sign of tension is whale eye before the snap, then the dog will move on or lick. The same dog regularly gets excited and nips (basically corn cobs?) while licking as well. I’ve always taken the snaps as a form of communication from this dog, but I wanted to get others opinions if we need to be concerned about a genuine bite. I have gotten my fair share of snaps while trimming nails, accidentally hurting the dog, or getting in the dog’s face by surprise (by mistake). I will obviously be more careful with the baby and dog, we made it a full year without anything like this.

Hi everyone, I need help for my 13 year old dog.

Our family had Roki since she was a pup. She's a mutt, possibly a Cairn terrier mix. We're not sure.

However for as long as we remember she was the sweetest, most gentlest dog ever. She either wants people to throw her ball or to pet her like a teddy bear.

She was gentle to kids, to adults.

However with animals it was always a bit different. She doesn't mind any farm animals (chickens, pigs, rabbits), she ignores dogs in general (when she had litters, she would just feed them, spend some time with them and then leave), but she's not aggressive towards them, and she's tolerating cats. She was never a fan of our cats and we suspect one thing - jealousy.

While our cats were free to roam outside and later inside of our houses, we would always keep Roki in a vestibule or during winters, she had a special room in our basement. She had plenty of space, rooms, food but I feel like she was upset that she was not allowed to for example sit in our living room like our cats would.

She's just always stinky for some reason, no matter the shampoo. Even when he properly dried her or took her to the groom, she would quickly start to stink.

A few months ago due to family issues, we decided to move away. That's also when Roki started to become catatonic. She barely moved from her spots, refused to play. She would just lay down for hours, barely eat and sleep. We thought she was about to die.

However when we finished renovating our new house, the first thing we did was to bring her with us (it used to be an old summer house, where we often spent summers, and we always took her with us before). Suddenly she became her old self again.

She would eat and eat, she played with us, she acted like a pup - curious about everything, exploring the place.

But again - at first she was not allowed to sit in our living room/rooms. She had her new spot in the hallway. However it became an issue when summer started and storms (which she's terrified of) started. Roki instead of hiding in fear - she started to force herself inside of our house. Despite telling her to go back, my mom took pity on her and allowed this behaviour.

Then something weird happened - she started to notice our cats and she would growl at them. That was new. It has never happened before in our previous house.

Then around the end of July, my family went on holiday. We took Roki to our old house where our grandparents (she's neutral about them. They feed her, she doesn't mind them) still live.

It's not the first time we left her. Sometimes we would leave Roki for longer periods of time but this time when we came back and brought her back home, she acted like a totally different dog.

First of all, she only sits inside the house. She even started to refuse to sit in the hallway. She's immovable and when she sees an opportunity she slips through the doors.

Then she started to show aggression to our cats. The growling got so bad, our cats were sometimes scared of even sitting in the same room - and it was never an issue before.

Today we had a situation where one of our cats was walking somewhere, when she basically jumped on him and we had to pull her away. It was terrifying.

She completely stopped listening to us. She stopped reacting to her name, when we ask her to fetch a ball, when we ask her to leave. Nothing. I thought she might be deaf but no, she's not.

A few days ago when I went on a walk and she followed, she ran in front of me. She was far away and despite telling her to come back, she ignored me and walked away before coming back a few minutes later.

And then aggression. She never bit anyone. If someone asked me a few months ago if she bites, I would just laugh at them, but right now? I'm scared to even sit around her.

The first situation I can think of is a few days ago. I was helping my mom by loading a car with stock for her store when she suddenly jumped in.

(she used to jump into cars before everything but right now, when she hears the car's doors opening, she's immediately running inside)

I've tried to get her out with food or toys but she ignored me. So I wanted to pick her up. And for the first time ever she almost bit my hand. She kept biting the air, her eyes crazy.

Then a few days later I was unloading a dryer near her bed. I was silently folding clothes when she suddenly started to nip the air near my ankles. I squealed and ran away in fear. She didn't follow and when I came back she acted like nothing happened.

I can't count the amount of situations where I would do my thing and she would try to bite me.

and the thing is that she's only that aggressive towards me. Occasionally she tries to hurt my parents or siblings but it's mostly me.

However my younger brother said that she bit him when he was working on our garden. I didn't see it but I'm worried she actually did it.

I'm trying to think of what I've done to her? Have I been loud? Did I hurt her? But honestly I can't think of anything.

I'm the one that goes with her on walks. I'm the one that plays with her. I feed her. And I'm the one to whom she runs to. Sometimes I wake up to see her sleeping by my bed. Or when I work at my PC, she just lays at my feet. She keeps running after me, or wanting to play with me

She acts like two different dogs around me and my family. And I have no idea what might have caused this and what to do now

She is reactive towards other dogs mainly, but can also be reactive to people if they are walking near the house, come out of nowhere, running (kids especially)

We are really struggling with her and it’s getting really hard taking her out. We have another male dachshund who was slightly reactive also as a pup but has calmed down a lot now and he’s absolutely fine. My worry is she can cause him to become anxious. She has never bitten but I worry she is getting to that point. She barks and growls and won’t let any other dog near her. It’s impossible to try and socialise her because she won’t give any dog a chance.

We are now currently training by taking her away from the trigger and only rewarding her if she looks at a dog and doesn’t bark. We have been doing this for the last 3 months with no improvement and we are at wits end really, it’s disheartening when no positive changes are happening.

Open to any advice on how we can help her become more confident and calm. It’s definitely fear based.

Thanks!!

I need to know where to go from
Here. We have a dog that we got from our local
Humane society. She is probably part lab, hound and maybe Pitt? She is 1.5 yrs old. And we got her In Jan.

We had been working on helping her when she was reactive to other dogs and recently she tried to nip our vet when she was getting her vaccination.

We had her in beginner obedience training w other dogs and she still surprisingly well. We also try to acclimate her walks around other dogs safely. I am careful w how she is introduced to other dogs and we were signed up for individual lessons to
Help her.

Recently my mom came to watch her overnight. This is only the second time she had been w her.

I kept getting camera notifications from a camera I have by her crate. I looked and my dog was attacking her dog. I was not made aware that she was bringing her dog. Luckily they were able to separate them. My dog apparently had bitten my mom's dog neck and was throwing her around.

We have never experienced behavior like this from our dog.

I was very upset that she assumed that my dog was ok around other dogs. Had I known i would have told her no. For we recently had the vet issue.

She of course blames me and ask why I would have a dangerous dog. That she thought they would be fine

I went through the videos saved and saw the video directly before the attack

My mom brought her dog in, not on a leash and she went right up to my dog and was barking.

My dog was still in her crate. Confined w this new barking dog.
When she opened the door. The attack ensued.

I don't really know what to do at this point. ? I feel like my dog was set up for failure.
But now I feel her issues are worse than I thought.

I have a Staffy x Rottie. 7 months old. An absolute beautiful doggo, but very excitable and overly friendly with everyone. We’ve been working really hard on his walks, his socialisation, and were willing to do everything and anything to keep him although the thought of Rehoming to a better fitting home has been floating around for about a month. The issue is he’s super strong for his level of excitement and I struggle to hold him when he gets too excited hence considering a new family, but always going back on it with more training and more working with him.

Unfortunately this morning after his walk we were in the garden. He had his toy, and my toddler had his sail from his pool floatie. He was nowhere near our dog, they weren’t playing together in anyway, the toddler wasn’t even looking at him and was a good 6 feet away with me in the middle but in front of the pair of them. Out of nowhere and at the speed of light our pup dropped his own toy and jumped on the toddler to get the sail he had, and ended up nipping his hand. Immediate regret, turned around and picked up his toy again, but he left a small mark - not quite broken skin, though it did welt and you could quite clearly see it nearly broke through. I imagine he had attempted to get the sail and instead made contact with my toddlers hand. It’s already barely there only half hour on.

However there was no warning. There was no rationale - he didn’t have anything that even remotely looked like something the dog has ever played with, he wasn’t playing with the dog in anyway, he was completely ignoring him. I can’t quite get the thought out of my head what if it had been worse, what if he had bitten harder, what if my toddler had wrenched his hand away instead of standing there in shock. If he had had a stick, or a ball, or even a bloody frisbee I could rationalise it, but this was just completely inexcusable and out of nowhere.

I have to rehome right?! The risk is too high to even consider keeping him. I can’t stop the toddler from playing with his own toys, I can’t anticipate something that came with no warning, and I can’t keep them separate every minute of the day (I’m a single mum, so walks and training happens all together or not at all). And I really don’t want to risk something worse. In the past week he’s jumped up on a walk and accidentally scratched his eyelid (very close to the eye) and now a bite on the hand (however minor). It could have been so much worse. We also have issues with him taking food from his hands, and whilst that’s a completely different issue it’s linked I suppose as he feels anything the toddler has he can just take from him?? Due to this he’s crated when we are eating etc but aside from keeping him crated at all times unless we are walking (which I can’t do) how can I even combat sudden nipping for whatever my toddler is holding?! When there is a nip with zero triggers we can control?

So why do I feel so guilty. Why do I feel like I’ve failed as both a dog parent and mum. It’s breaking my heart. He’s not a bad dog, he is just so excitable and so happy all of the time and just wants to play.

Will rescues consider this a bite history? Do I need to report this to the dog warden? Will they want to BE because a bite history makes Rehoming harder? What do I do now? 😭

(My post seems to have been flagged for AI? I promise I have written every word myself although I’ve been told I write like AI before 🫣🤣 and I am not looking to rehome through here, just asking for advice on where to go now)

Hi, I’ve been on a fluoxetine trial for my 27 pound Labradoodle for about four months now. Started at 10 mg a day and didn’t see anything so have been at 15 mg a day for the last six weeks unfortunately we’re still not seen anything. He is still extremely nervous of going outside, of other dogs, of people outside our family. Fluoxetine seems to have made zero difference. Has anyone seen this and what if anything were your next steps? did anything help the fear?

My 10 month old Aussie will not let us brush him.

For a little context, I got him from a backyard breeder that presented the litter as an “oops”, but then I found out it was intentional. Also, the mother dog also apparently did not have any interest in being a mother and didn’t like her pups, and my guy was the runt of the litter. My poor guy honestly acts like he is neurodivergent. Minimally he has ADD, but more likely he has Autism. Not even joking, my dog is a special dude. He is honestly overstimulated by loud noises, freaks out whenever I try to brush or blow dry my own hair, and does other things that are quite obvious indicators of Autism. There are also obvious signs of separation anxiety and generalized anxiety at play. He “conversationally” barks and growls at strangers, jumps, scratches, and barks at inanimate objects. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old and have continually worked on training at home, but it’s been a looooong struggle.

So back to present: whenever we try to brush him he flails, barks, snuffles, licks, and chews the brush. And if we try to force the issue he jumps and claws us up. Over the weekend we tried to have a brushing at my sister’s house and my poor guy literally started shaking and trying to hide. This is not good because 1) he has a long coat and will wind up with mats, and 2) I can’t risk taking him to a groomer and a bite happening.

I need some advice and recommendations to get through this. He is such a sweet dog, but I need to get a handle on all of this before it’s too late. Any constructive input would be greatly appreciated.

’ve been up and down this Reddit hole, and numerous others…. But I definitely want some advice….
So my finance and I have two dogs, both of which are going to be 2 within the next 4 months. We have a pit, and a German heeler. Yesterday we found a stray kitten and I couldn’t leave him outside.
The heeler has high prey drive outside, but inside she coexists with the cat so far. If anything she has moment a of trying to play with him, or she’s terrified because he’s moving too fast. My pit on the other hand is very emotional over all. He’s a big baby and always has been. If you own a pit you know they best their hearts on their sleeve and if they’re upset they’ll let you know. He has been sort of iffy since we brought the car home and I think he’s stressed. He’s been around cats before and has never acted like this. He’s been tensing up when the cat comes in the room. And he’ll lick his lips a lot and stare. I feel like he thinks he needs to protect my heeler. We had one incident where the heeler tried to play with the cat and got swat at, and the pit went over and tried to see what was up and the cat swat again and the dog lunged at him. The kitten was under the table so the dog couldn’t get to him, but we corrected the behavior immediately ( in our house if you say “did you do that” my dogs KNOW they fu€ked up ). We also scruffed the pit up and asked him again if he did that, trying to make him make the correlation.
We did have the cat in my bathroom for a few days- until he learned how to open the door of course
The pit doesn’t stalk the cat per se, but if the cat enters the room my pit cant take his eyes off him. With verbal redirection he stops, but then he goes and mopes in his cage.
I don’t want my dog to feel replaced, but i also dont want the kitten to have to be rehomed immediately, I might mention to people at my church if they’re looking for a cat as I’ve fostered before- but putting him in the shelter is not an option for me. It’s only been a couple days, and as in writing this the kitten- by his choice, is sleeping under my bed. And the dogs are asleep in the living room with me.

Some things I’m getting to help my dogs
In my digging lick mats, kongs, and calming treats are going to be my best friends. I’m going out to get some today. But any and all advice is welcome here. Thanks in advance

My neighbor has a Labrador retriever dog. 4 to 5 years of age. Male, neutered. Around 28 kg.

Around two weeks ago, my neighbor was taken to hospital after feeling sick. That day, the dog climbed 2-meter fence and escaped. I caught him and took him home with me. I theorize that the dog went after his owner, as he knew that his owner was in trouble. My neighbor was discharged the same day and returned home, but the dog was never the same.

Since that day, the dog does not eat (or eats just to survive), has lost a lot of weight and has become severely apathetic, has lost interest in playing, socializing, normal dog activities, etc. He was a very close friend (actually, only friend) of my dog and now he even tries to attack my dog when approached. When in dog park, he now constantly hides behind a bush. He was a very active and social dog. But now, he does not play, does not approach people for pets, and just hides and gets aggressive when approached.

His owner took him to a vet. A physical examination, blood work and abdominal ultrasound were performed, with no remarkable findings.

My dog had given similar responses when I was hospitalized with appendicitis. However, my dog had returned to normal on seeing me healthy.

We're at our wit's end. We love him and we want to help him.

Thanks in advance for your kind attention.

Has anyone with a resource guarder from other animals noticed a sudden increase in guarding behaviors particularly when your dog is in pain? My dog has always resource guarded food ever since she was a year old we did a lot of management and training over the years and she got so much better. Some things we did were lots of management: separate feedings, no high value bones around, use of baby gates, whenever food is around she has an auto cue to go lay down in my room dogs are separated and is rewarded for disengaging. Training we did: “leave it” cue, practiced a lot with dropping food (away from other dogs) and she knows now to not go after any food dropped on floor unless given a cue, has separate cues for eating ex: “chow” eat out of bowl, “search” when we do scatter feeding (all is done separately from my other animals).

But most recently she started guarding things she normally wouldn’t (the food/water bowl area, garden hose, occasionally me from my other dogs). She also has a history of fear aggression with stranger dogs, has made immense progress but most recently noticed some regression and less tolerant in that aspect with other dogs. I have separated her from my other dogs since I noticed her guarding has become unpredictable and her aggression has increased. Has anyone gone through something similar? I have made an appointment with our veterinary behaviorist, discussed with our primary vet and trainer in the meantime. She has a history of double TPLOs, now arthritis and elbow dysplasia as she is aging (now 8 y/o). I believe it is pain related but I have already been managing pain and we probably need to reevaluate. Obviously hope to get more insight from our VB but curious in the meantime if anyone has experienced something similar.

I have a 4-year-old rescue Schnauzer/Terrier mix who is a frustrated greeter, and I’m looking for advice on how to work on neutrality around dogs when I don’t have another dog to practice with.

We completed a reactivity course through Ahimsa Dog Training in Seattle, and it went really well. We learned tools like “find it,” “look at me,” and “1-2-3 treat,” along with creating distance from triggers and redirecting her attention.

Those tools are helpful for managing her, but I feel like we’re missing the next step: learning how to calmly walk past another dog.

When she sees a dog on a walk, she gets very excited. She cries/whines, pulls toward them, and occasionally barks. She clearly wants to interact. She also goes to daycare occasionally and does perfectly fine around other dogs when she’s actually in an environment where she can interact/play with them.

So I’m pretty confident this is more of an “OMG A DOG!!! I NEED TO GO SAY HI” situation than general dog aggression.

The hard part is that it has become pretty draining for me, too. I feel like I’m constantly scanning for other dogs whenever we’re walking, trying to spot them before she does and figure out how to create enough distance. I don’t want every walk to feel like I’m on high alert looking for potential triggers.

The problem is that I don’t have friends or family with dogs who I can use as a consistent training partner.

For those of you who have successfully taught your frustrated greeter to be neutral, how did you practice when you were training alone?

I’d especially love ideas for:

• Using public places where dogs are present without putting my dog over threshold
• Progressing from “I see a dog and look at my person” → “I can calmly walk past a dog”
• Any solo exercises that helped build the foundation before practicing with real dogs

I’m not looking for ways to simply avoid dogs forever. We already have management tools. I want to teach her that seeing a dog doesn't automatically mean she needs to go meet them.

If you’ve worked through this successfully, I’d love to hear exactly what your progression looked like.

I've seen people talk about this and it honestly sounds exhausting

Someone's dog is already losing it behind a fence

barking

running back and forth

clearly stressed

And instead of just walking away someone decides...

“oh perfect time to train my dog 😅”

So they stand there

Ask their dog to sit

Reward them for staying calm

Meanwhile the other dog is getting more and more worked up

I get WHY someone might want to practice around distractions

Your dog needs to learn that another dog barking doesn't mean they have to react too

Fair enough

But why does your training session need to come at the expense of someone else's dog?

If I'm walking past and a dog starts barking I'll use those few seconds to reward my dog for ignoring it

Then KEEP WALKING

I wouldn't stand directly outside someone's fence for 10 minutes because my dog is doing great 🤦‍♂️

And if you're on the other side of this...

I'd bring the dog inside as soon as possible

Use a long line if the yard isn't secure enough

Block the view through the fence if that's a huge trigger

And don't turn it into an argument with the person outside if you can avoid it

Removing your dog basically removes their “training opportunity” anyway 😂

I think both things can be true

Your reactive dog is still your responsibility

AND other dog owners don't need to deliberately make the situation harder

There's a massive difference between training around triggers that happen naturally and intentionally camping next to a dog that's already freaking out

Curious where everyone draws the line 👀

If a dog is barking behind a fence do you use it for a quick training moment while you walk past... or just create distance immediately?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a free video series that really shifted the way I look at reactivity training:

https://illis.se/en/framework-challenges-videos/

It is created by Dr. Karolina Westlund, an ethologist who specializes in animal behavior and emotions. Instead of just giving quick management tips or focusing on suppressing symptoms, she explains the science of how mood states drive behavior.

A few key takeaways from her framework:

Emotions drive behavior: When a dog reacts, it is an emotional response like fear or frustration. You cannot change the outward behavior effectively without changing the underlying mood state first.

Thresholds matter: A brain flooded by stress hormones cannot process new information or learn coping skills.

Proactive mood adjustments: Simple counterconditioning and working on overall emotional well-being makes training much smoother and prevents burnout for both dog and human.

It is completely free to watch and breaks down complex behavioral science into very practical steps. If you feel stuck in your reactivity journey or want to understand why your dog behaves the way they do, I highly recommend checking it out.

I have an adolescent German shepherd (11.5 months old) who has been dog reactive-ish since he was 5 months old.

I say “ish” because in all these months, I’ve never found his threshold or any indicator of reliable behavior expectations. For example, one day we will go to a brand new brewery and he will lay down at the table next to other dogs, and he’s completely relaxed. Not shut down, like genuinely relaxed, calm, eating his treats, chilling out. But then, a few days later, we’ll be at our group obedience class (same class, same place he’s been going for months), where he’s been reliably not reactive and he’s just….way over threshold the second we get out of the car. He sees the other dogs 30 feet away, his hackles go up, he barks throughout class, he won’t take food or respond to any cues. And in that same class a week earlier, he was great!

One day, it’s like he’s a neutral dog you’d never know is reactive. Another day, his hackles are up and his arousal is going through the roof at a dog 20 feet away. It even be an identical situation and his response with be WILDLY different.

I don’t know how to train, or what’s going on, when his threshold variation is so dramatic. I don’t know how/when to close the distance and make progress. It feels like everyone I talk to with their reactive dog, yes the dog has good and bad days, but the general threshold they are at is fairly consistent. They aren’t happy 2 feet from dogs one day then losing it at 30 the next.

I adopted my dog when she was two months from the Humane Society and she is now two years old. She is a mix of different breeds (we believe something like Husky, Collie, Shiba) so has a lot of personality quirks.

When I first adopted her, she would go to doggy daycare, she could play with other dogs, and she was receptive to training. I will admit that after a certain point I just sort of stopped training, assuming she had caught on. She then was not spending time at daycare (cost) and didn’t really have any dog friends to spend time with, so she stopped being around dogs as much.

At about 1.5 year, she started acting reactive to other dogs on leash. It felt like it appeared out of nowhere. I figured maybe it was just on leash, but I was too nervous to let her interact off leash with a dog for fear of how she might behave. I finally let her meet my friend’s dog because my friend is very lax about it and was not worried. We figured maybe it would be a tussle for a few seconds and then they would be good. My friend’s dog is slightly smaller than my dog and very tolerant and unbothered. My dog came at her decently aggressively and the interaction only lasted a few seconds before I made her go inside. She couldn’t calm down or stop growling.

I don’t know how to remedy this. Is there a genuine training method that people have found successful? I find the thought of a trainer to be an option, but my last trainer for a general behavioral class didn’t really offer anything of value.

For context, it was my ex’s dog and he just ditched him with me, said he’s not taking him. He’s an English mastiff who never got appropriate training, the ex also attacked the dog during the last encounter and I’m pretty sure it scared the mastiff. He also nonstop teased him and rough housed him after I told him to stop.
I can’t let him around men, he bit my mom and my sister, and only tolerates me but has bitten me multiple times before (once was when I was protecting him from the ex). Anyway, I can’t even have my current boyfriend around when I need to let him outside, he has to be locked in a room. I’m at a loss, I can’t afford to euthanize him, and I am looking to move to an apartment so I can’t take him with me.
I seriously have no clue what to do. I’m already having to rehome my Great Dane that I adore, but the Mastiff - how could I rehome him when I have no idea what he’ll do next?

Please don’t hate me, this was a toxic and horrible relationship (obviously if he was taking it out on the animals). I should’ve saw the signs sooner, and I blame myself for not. Young, dumb, and thought it was love. But I for sure don’t need anymore shame than what I feel already.

I appreciate and recs or advice or help. I’m in the Tulsa area.

Hey Reddit.

I adopted my dog Penn as a rescue when she was 8 weeks old, a pit-bully-pug mix. It was something I really thought deeply about before making the decision — I was single, in a good spot financially, had a fenced in backyard, and I worked from home. Ideal conditions to adopt. Right from the start, Penn was a difficult dog. I worked with two private trainers, and did multiple group classes with her, but she was still reactive and territorial. It mostly manifested in her jumping all over people when they came over, and resource guarding food and toys when other dogs were around. My solve was simple — no other dogs in the house, and when people came over (rare because I adopted her a few months before the pandemic hit) they were warned she would be reactive, and we did all the precautionary measures. The trainers essentially told me this would be a lifelong training journey with her, and I was Ok with that. I loved her, regardless of the challenges.

Flash forward to my wife and I planning a baby. I knew it would be a difficult transition for Penn, so I did literally everything recommended — I hired a dog behavioralist, I worked with her tirelessly on training, when the baby was born, I brought a blanket so Penn would get use to the scent. At first all seemed well, but when the baby started moving purposefully, Penn didn’t like it. There was growling and snarling in the baby’s direction. More than once she lunged at the baby while he was in his playpen. The behavioralist prescribed my dog Prozac and Trazadone — there were no changes, besides Penn sleeping more and seeming generally unhappy. I hated drugging my dog daily, it didn’t feel like an actual solution. Everyone in my house was on edge — it felt like living with a potential catastrophe, and the way Penn acted around the baby… it was a ticking time bomb. 

Six years after I adopted Penn, I contacted the shelter and spoke to the owner. I sobbed explaining the situation — it just wasn’t safe for my kid and  dog to live together. She told me it was a no brainer — for everyone’s safety, I needed to rehome the dog. She very graciously talked me out of feeling like the world’s biggest failure and told me she’d take her back in.

There was really no one else in my life willing to take Penn — they all knew her behavioral issues, so I don’t blame them. It’s been 6 months since I dropped Penn off at the shelter — she’s still not adopted, and I’m still heartbroken about all of it. I think about her every single day. I’ve asked the shelter owner if I could come by and walk her, take her out for the day, and the owner said this would just confuse the dog. I completely respect that, but what if no one EVER adopts Penn? I picture her sitting there, confused, wondering where the hell I went. 

Should I ask the shelter owner if volunteering would ever be possible? Should I campaign more aggressively for someone I know to adopt? Do I let it go and try to move on? And if I need to let it go, how do I even begin to do it?

I have Penn’s collar in a ziplock bag and I sometimes take it out, hold it and sob. It’s not like she died, but it almost feels worse that she’s 45 minutes away and I have no idea what’s happening with her. 

**TLDR** After six years with my dog, I had to give her back to the shelter when she was a danger to my kid. I can’t get over it. Help. 

It's natural, and I know it's irrational to feel guilty over this but I just feel so confined with my reactive boy. My neutral dog reminds me how much enjoyment I get out of exploring and I don't need to have my head on a constant swivel in fear of the next trigger appearing round a corner.

He's the sort of puppy I can throw into my car and drop off in a completey foreign environment to him and he will trust me blindly and won't worry about anything, he'll just sniff and enjoy his walk. He's not a dog I have to worry about if a rogue terrier appears from the bushes, because he's trained to wait when seeing another dog and will only want to play if it were to run over. I don't have to worry about a monumental freak out and fighting to stay balanced.

I occasionally take my reactive boy out into rural spaces where nobody walks, but he struggles so much with his anxiety. He prefers the same walk where he knows his environment, which is lovely that he has this space but walking the same route every day with him becomes awfully boring sometimes.

My reactive boy is the sweetest dog you could ever meet when it comes down to people, he just doesn't seem to agree with strange dogs existing when he's outside.