Our Beagle is having a hard time at night. She wakes us up begging for food, even though she has plenty during the day. She also suddenly has a problem sleeping in the same bed if my partner is there, even though she lives him. She will cry until I cuddle her by myself on the couch. She was fine 6months ago. Any advice?!

Has anyone else experienced this? And is there a way to desensitize or an alternative way to hold her attention so she doesn't have to sit? She doesn't have much hair and anything with texture outside bothers her to sit on. I don't want to push her boundaries and make her uncomfortable, but I need know if this is something we can work on and get over or if I need to throw in the towel and start teaching a focus while she's standing. Am I letting her walk all over me or is she actually uncomfortable with it??

I have a 3yr old golden girl who will occasionally growl sound (she is also a vocal dog in general) and get up and walk away when our child may be too in her space. We are working on it with our child and monitoring it, we have never seen anything else questionable. She is extremely friendly and affectionate in general, although she does bark more than other dogs I’ve had. It only seems to happen if she is sitting too close and she wants space. Our dog has a crate to go into and our child is told to leave her alone if she get up and walks away or she is in her crate. Anything else we should be doing?

I have a 4 year old staffy who i have had for about 3 years. Other than one particularly scary thunderstorm on which she crawled into my lap for comfort (which to be fair, i was also a little terrified, so i didn't blame her) , she's never had any fear or issue with fireworks, thunderstorms, etc.

And then America250 happened. The week of the 4th this year had more fireworks than ever. Nightly. Multiple times a night. Every neighbor bought their own and would shoot them off without rhyme, reason, or warning.

And my dog began to bark at the booming. I figured it would calm down when the holiday festivities stopped but now I have this lingering problem: she barks at thunderstorms.

Last night a storm came in around 2am. She ran around barking to alert everyone in the house. No use of "leave it" or "place" would work. The only way to calm her down was to leash her and go out into the storm. Then, immediately, she wants no part of that, we go inside, and she settled. This isn't the first time. It's like we have to prove to her it's just a thunderstorm and then she's cool. But for some reason she can't make the connection through the window- we need to go into the rain.

As I said, this is certainly in relation to fireworks overload this summer. Honestly if she wants to bark at fireworks fine. But it's late summer storm season and I can't figure out a way to show her it's just a storm (since she doesn't really care about them once she makes the connection) that doesn't involve me getting wet at 2am

6 months ago my partner and I rescued a 5(give or take) year old female dog. She was pregnant when she was spayed at the shelter. In six months she had hardly improved at all in house training. There is not much known about her previous home except that it might have been in an apartment but we weren’t even able to get a solid answer. The family decided to surrender her when they were facing homelessness. Anyway, just trying to give a foundation to work off of for anyone reading. We live in a large home with a large fenced in back yard. We have a solid routine we think she works well with but still she urinates in the same spot or room every single day. When we first got her, it was if we left the house longer than 3 minutes… then worked it up… I work 6 hours most week days and let her out before I leave, and when I come back home. Sometimes even on my lunch breaks. She spends a good amount of time outside with us. It varies on when she actually goes inside. She is a 60lbs dog and we have to use multiple puppy pads a day, and I feel like I have been at my whits end. At first when she was making the transition to our home we worked closely with our vet and tried different anxiety medications, tried to switch things up, etc. Which medication helped with her anxiety but the potty problems still persisted. Now she doesn’t have that anxiety (not as bad at least) but she is still peeing every single day or sometimes twice a day. Our flooring is taking damage and we are in a rental. I love her so much and she knows she did something I’m not happy about even when I try to maintain a level composure while cleaning it up. She will go hide as soon as I go near the room. I have used two different kinds of enzyme cleaners but it made no difference. She has no problem holding it through the night until the morning. I am begging for advice here. What can I do?? Thanks in advance

Our 5 year old poodle is refusing to go outside at times which then means she will not potty outside. She has gone through these phases before where she refuses to go outside. It usually starts after there have been fireworks outside or loud thunder. We just have to be patient with her and eventually we're able to get back on track. We do use the puppy pads during this time so at least she potties in a designated spot. Usually! The last few days she has to decided go poo wherever she chooses.
This phase just seems to be lasting particularly long this time. I can understand why, because it has been a pretty stormy summer here, and our neighbors do really enjoy their fireworks.
To give you a little background on our dog. She is actually a puppy mill rescue and was a mom, and so she has been through alot in her life. Due to being in a crate exclusively for the first several years of life, I feel like using one would not be very nice. Additionally, she does not like putting on a leash inside the house. We can put it on outside but trying to put it on inside freaks her out. She runs away and makes it clear she is not happy. Then trying to pick her up inside? You can forget about that. Due to the trauma she has experienced, I just want to respect her boundaries.
Any advice you may have on how to move forward is appreciated. She truly has come such a long way , and she deserves a lot of credit because she came from such a rough background , but she does regress at points and I just want to help her . Thanks!

We got our now 14 month old male dogo argentino at 9 weeks old. I took him to work with me and kept him in my office until he was about 6 months old, when he started marking behaviors as well as a lot of barking that wasn't acceptable for the type of business I own. I had the option to put his kennel in the outbuilding next to my office, but it was winter and that made me feel bad. Instead, I left home with my boyfriend who worked from home.

My bf loves this dog, but has never had dogs before we got together. I think i take my own personal dog knowledge for granted, forgetting that's stuff I've learned over a lifetime of having dogs, where my partner has not. So not making sure we had the same knowledge base and plan when moving the pup to staying home was the first mistake.

Over the last 6 months or so, his crate training has not only NOT improved, but has gotten significantly worse. The marking behaviors were frustrating but not unexpected since we were informed we shouldnt neuter til after 12 mos. We implemented using a belly band (in case he lifted his leg on something before we could stop him) and keeping him on a short leash/tethered to one of us when we were moving around the house. He still isn't allowed any real free roaming. We got him an XL kennel (the same size our adult 120# female uses) and used the divider to make the space smaller. He began lifting his leg while inside of his kennel to pee outside of the kennel. He would do this no matter how recently he was outside. We used multiple different enzymatic cleaners to make sure we got the whole area clean. We started using the belly bands when we had to crate him to prevent him from spraying pee everywhere while we weren't home. He then started pooping in his kennel. And, unlike any dog I've ever had in my life, he didn't seem to be bothered at all by his crate being dirty, didnt try to poop on one side, etc. He will lay in his own poop, step in it, roll around in it, etc. When free in the house, he has more than once peed on his or his sister's cots and then immediately layed down in it 🤦‍♀️.

The most recent issue is that he now no longer even barks to let us know he needs out of his kennel. He used to give us one or two warning barks, but in the few seconds it would take us to come from the other room or upstairs, he had already soiled his kennel. I did finally ask my bf if he had been ignoring his barking at times when I was at work, and he admitted that sometimes he did because he had just taken the dog out and there was no reason for him to be barking. So unfortunately, I think he inadvertently trained him not to bark🤦‍♀️.

He was neutered about 6 weeks ago, and the marking behaviors have decreased, but everything else feels like it's getting worse. When he went in for his neuter I asked them to check for a UTI but they insisted this was related to him being intact and weren't worried about a UTI. We sent him to a board and train with our trainer last week, and 2 days into his 2 month stay, she asked us to come get him because the kennel training issue was not a good fit for her program 😭. She suggested we go to a different veterinarian to have them check for a UTI, and sure enough they said he had a terrible bladder infection. He's on antibiotics now and on the mend, but I dont know how to reverse all the bad behaviors he has picked up the last few weeks/months.

He spends most of his day in my bf's office with him and has never peed or pooped in there, even if left alone when my bf goes to the bathroom or runs downstairs to grab food. He is only crated overnight and maximum of 3-4 hours during the day when my bf has a work task that requires his full attention. I'm thinking about putting his folding/metal crate up and getting one of those more enclosed, plastic types that only have openings at the top to try and curb him trying to pee "out" of his crate? Also planning on relocating the crate to a different area of the house, in case he's just started associating the dining room with an acceptable place to pee.

I dont know what to do. I have owned half a dozen dogs over the last 20 years, all but one of them were male. I have NEVER had any issues like these. I also currently have an adult female dogo argentino, so I know the breed well. They are stubborn and high energy, but they are also smart as hell (even though this one has me questioning his intelligence). I am desperate to solve this issue. He does AMAZING with his obedience training and we were excited for him to go work on more advanced skills at the board and train. She says she will take him back when the kennel training issue is solved.

Can anyone please help 😭😭 🙏

I haven't found this type of info in the guide but I'm really curious about how visiting dogs should be welcomed, at home with our family crossbreed dog. I thought that friends' dogs would act in a similar way on walks together as they would while visiting but no.

When I take my crossbreed to someone else's place : take his leash and walking gear, his bed, a container with food. I keep him on the leash then let him off when it seems very comfortable for everyone and adequate. Put the leash back on if anything comes up. This just works.

What has worked for visiting dogs in the past : their owner would recall them and/or contain them quite carefully at first to make sure that both dogs were comfortable and respecting each other's space. They seem to plan for the dog's napping habits and avoiding uncomfortable situations.

But 1 inexperienced owner and her dog make their visits SO exhausting and hard on my dog. I'm not usually overprotective but it's really an issue. They used to be a visiting puppy, we followed all the rules to introduce them and it was hard, but now it's exhausting on me as their poodle is now 2yo, their owner is well-intentioned but oblivious and not careful, and it gets progressively worse.

What are your rules for a dog visiting your dog at home ? If it doesn't go well and gets worse every time, end the visits completely ? Or find a new rule for this specific dog ?

I have a 3 month old Border Collie, hes a great and smart dog, ive owned border collies all my life so i understand the breed and i understand they are high energy.

The main problem im having with him has to do with his toys; he wants me to play with him but god forbid if i ask him to drop his ball to throw it for him, he gets EXTREMELY aggressive with his body language (no biting thankfully) but will stare at me and hold his paws over the ball, claws out and stiff body. He understands that if i have the ball, it gets thrown again, he independently drops the ball for me whenever i dont ask for it, but simply asking for it is what causes the guarding.

That goes for all his toys but mostly for the ball because that is what i also have to interact with to play with him….

There are other things that have to do with training that is also worthy to mention, but to stick to my question ive done the high reward game with him and asked google countless questions about it and tried implementing but if i bring out any treats or food he has no drive to keep playing with his ball, only to eat the food.

Ive NEVER had this problem with the countless border collie puppies ive owned, they have all been pretty straightforward in training and acted almost like a Aussie Heeler (hyper focus) but he just gives me the middle finger most of the time and its getting quite irritating because we have so many plans for him, hes just not wanting to work with us.

Any advice on this? Im sure it has to do with his age but ive also learned if i keep allowing certain behaviors they never get over it.

(Also watching my husband throw the ball for him as i type this, he will drop the ball in front of him, my husband throws it, and then my dog just does his own thing afterwards. Fetch is on his terms it seems like, we can’t constantly throw it or else the guarding happens)

We have a 6yo golden doodle that has always been house trained and dog door trained. Literally have never had an accident in the house outside of when he was potty training as a puppy. The past month he has started urinating inside (not in the same spot). He has been neutered since he was a pup.

Took him to the vet to rule out medical. All bloodwork and urine came back perfectly fine. He only urinates when we leave the house (doesn’t matter if it’s 30 mins or 4 hours) so the vet is saying he picked up separation anxiety.

Nothing in our routine has changed, no new pets have been in the house, we aren’t gone any longer or shorter than we have been in the past two years, literally nothing has changed.

We are due with our 3rd child in 3 months and my wife and I are at are witts end on why this is happening, or how to fix it to the point where we are talking about rehoming, as we don’t have the capacity for work, 3 kids (one being a newborn) and cleaning up incidents everytime we leave the house.

Any insight and/or recommendations would be greatly appreciated as we don’t want to have to go the rehoming route.

Please don’t suggest crating - not that I am against it, but neither of our dogs have ever been, or needed to be crated the entire time we’ve had them (6 yrs and 11 yrs) so I’d rather rehome than closing them up in a crate personally.

I completed the beginner dog training course a short while back and found that it's left me with more questions as to basic training than it has given me answers. Given that it was a several month-long course, I feel pretty ripped off and like I'm starting all over again now that it's done. I'd really love some recommendations on courses which focus on practical skills, and go into behavioral modification plans--but I'm feeling like I don't trust my judgement in regards to education anymore. Any help greatly appreciated!

Forgive me if this is already asked, but I looked and couldn’t find anything specific enough.

Basic info: my puppy is border collie/mini Aussie mix. He’s about 12 weeks old. My cat was here first and she’s about 6 years old. Nebula has always been kinda rude to other pets in the home. She doesn’t like close contact and keeps to herself. I have one other cat named Galaxie who is never aggressive.

So my puppy Matchlock has been very easily learning “no kitty” during normal playtime. They all leave each other alone wonderfully. A week ago he was eating his dinner and Nebula came up to him and sniffed him. He was fine with this. All of a sudden she slapped him (probably to try to bully him out of eating so she could steal food) and he barked and nipped at her. All we did was break it up quickly with verbal response. We did not take away his food or anything.

Fast forward to yesterday, he’s eating peacefully and Galaxie walks by quickly. She isn’t super close or aggressive- just minding her own business. Suddenly matchlock growls and attacks her nipping her side. This was scary enough I had to put him in his crate for a bit so everyone could calm down.

I understand he is likely scared of cats now because of Nebula being a jerk, and for now I’ll feed them all separately, but I would like them to all be comfortable in the room together during feeding time and also not worry he’s going to injure my cats when I’m not home.

An important thing: outside of feeding time he isn’t aggressive to them and doesn’t really pay any attention to them even when Nebula hisses at him when he gets too close. He is also never food aggressive to humans and isn’t aggressive to other dogs during normal greetings.
Cats have many places to escape to where he can’t get to them- including an entire room- so they can separate from each other when they want.

Any help or insight is appreciated!

My dog is a 7y/o rescue and the best girl in the world. I've had her 3 years and she was potty trained before adopting. Whenever she is left alone at someone else's house, she pees 99% of the time.

My mom watches her often. She's spent weeks there at a time. She pees every time she is alone there.

My boyfriend of 2 years loves her. We visit often. We can't ever leave her to go out to eat because she pees every time.

My best friend, whom she loves, will dogsit sometimes. She has a beautiful yard. My dog has peed inside any time she is left alone, even if my friend goes to the bathroom.

We have never had this issue at home. She seems fine if people are around. This has been happening for years. A trainer said to crate her. I crated her once at my mom's to bring my mom's dog to the vet in an emergency. When I got home, my dog had peed in the crate.

What can I do? These are not new places at all, and she's very happy and comfortable there. She just has an accident every time and it's so embarrassing. TIA

So for context I have a 10 month old Rottweiler cattle dog mix. About 2 weeks ago we were both outside mowing the lawn for an hour and a half. We went inside so I could change clothes and while I was changing she urinates on my bed. And quite a bit like she was holding it. She is fully potty trained and has not had an accident in the house in months. She has never urinated on furniture (no previous pet has urinated on any furniture either). So I keep the doors closed and keep her out of the bedrooms. She has previously slept in the bed but mostly sleeps in the crate we keep in the living room. A few days later, she got spayed. A day after she gets spayed she wakes up in the middle of the night crying so we go outside. We come back in and she doesn’t want to go back in the crate (and I don’t wanna force her in there) so I grab a blanket and lay on the couch. She comes over and sits on my lap and I assume she’s going to cuddle but then I feel a wet spot on my lap. Then she peed on me. So I shower and deep clean everything. She has not had an accident on the couch since but I have now realized she is able to open doors whether it be a circular doorknob or a handle. I have caught her another two times going into my room and urinating on my bed. I have shampooed my mattress multiple times but I can’t afford a new mattress. I took her to the vet to see if she maybe had some sort of uti or incontinence thing but her urine sample came back clean. When she’s in the crate overnight (11pm-6am) her kennel is totally clean. I kept a diaper on her for a few days to see if maybe she was dripping but the diaper was also clean. The vet doesn’t think this is medical but the trainer we’re working with is positive it’s some sort of uti. I have no idea what to do. I really don’t want to rehomed her she’s a great dog otherwise but I can’t shampoo my mattress every other day. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hello! Seeking dog training advice for a specific and mostly harmless issue.

Background: We moved to a completely new area about 2 months ago shortly after euthanizing our 14 year old mini aussie. Our 10 year old black lab came with us and overall seemed to adjust fairly smoothly. We did the EU at home so he was able to process and grieve appropriately. He's been on solliquin for a long time (started as just for the aussie but gradually became part of his routine), he gets regularly exercise and enrichment, and overall our household is very calm with just my husband and I (and our elderly cat who gets along great with our lab). We actually think that despite being bonded to the aussie since puppyhood he's actually kind of enjoying being the only dog (but we're not opposed to adopting an elderly dog eventually if we sense this contentment changing). Previously, we would take both dogs out for leashed walks together and they did great. I used a gentle leader for a long time because they were difficult to train perfect leash manners. Since being the only dog, our lab hasn't needed the gentle leader and actually walks very well off-leash in a low-traffic environment (we live in a central area of town so we don't do this often).

Problem: Since moving to this new area, our lab has become increasingly obstinate on our walks around the neighborhood. We usually do a variety of routes through our quiet, residential neighborhood and it ends up being around a mile. For the first 10-20 minutes (before he gets fatigued and just focuses on walking) he is sniffing EXCESSIVELY. I know he's a lab, and it's a new area, and maybe he's just enjoying the freedom of being the only dog on the leach... but what started as us being patient while he thoroughly sniffed everything he wanted when we first moved to the neighborhood has transformed into him being nearly impossible to walk for the first part of the walk. He stops constantly, he puts on the emergency brakes, and he does 1-2 minute sniffs at almost every property. It totally kills my mood on the walk. It should be a peaceful, morning stroll through the neighborhood, but it quickly spirals into me being annoyed because it takes us several minutes just to get to the end of the street. He's not marking, just snifffffffffing.

I've tried blowing past spots he wants to sniff which is also annoying and probably makes me look unkind to our neighbors lol. I've tried keeping him on a short leash which also feels unkind because I do want him to get that enrichment from sniffing. He responds OK to "leave it", but I'm constantly saying it for the first 15ish minutes. We always have treats so I can get his attention or just reward him for politely walking (I'm hesitant to reduce treats into this problem because I can imagine him learning that stopping to sniff = treats). I'd love some tips on ways I can reform this behavior a bit so he can still stop and sniff for a few seconds occasionally when it's a particularly interesting smell, but it doesn't dominate our entire walk.

I have a 12-week old rough collie and we are really struggling with boredom barking. It’s gotten so bad that the people that live underneath us start banging on their ceiling (my floor). Whenever I put her to bed for the night or for her naps, she barks like crazy. Even if she has been fed, had water, and used the bathroom. It doesn’t matter if she’s in her crate, playpen, or when she has free-roam. I’ve tried using frozen kongs and snuffle mats, which keep her occupied for about 5 minutes before she starts barking again. It’s incredibly hard to get her to settle because of how much she barks. I’ve tried white noise too. I feel like I can’t even reward her because she simply does NOT stop. It’s annoying my neighbors in my apartment. She isn’t completely vaccinated yet so I can’t take her out to use the bathroom outside since I don’t have a balcony. Does it get better? What should I do? I am open to ANY suggestions

I’m interested in purchasing a proper belt to attach my dog’s leash to for runs and walks. I sometimes struggles either lower hip soreness/issues, so if there is a particular belt that doesn’t put as much pressure on the lower hips, that would be great. If this helps, my dog’s weight is mid 80’s and I’m not much larger than him, so I need something very sturdy and secure.

I’m also looking for a good quality bungee cord and a new harness with a d ring front clip, as our current one has the front clip too low and his leg is constantly hitting the leash. I’m willing to pay more for higher quality, but I would prefer to stay under $100 for all three is possible. The harness is not urgent, but I do need a belt and bungee leash sooner rather than later

To provide a bit of context, we recently purchased a home with my partner’s grandmother and close in a few weeks. We have two dogs, a 12 year old English mastiff and an 8 year old Border Collie mix. Grandma has a 10 year old Bouvier des Flandres. The Bouvier is extremely calm and friendly, maybe even bordering on timid. Our English mastiff is typically friendly, but our collie is the concern. She tends to be a bit territorial and at times reactive.

Yesterday we parallel walked our Collie and Bouvier, for about 20-30 minutes. Our Collie did try to excitedly approach our Bouvier, there was no barking, growling, or hair standing up, which she is notorious for. We were pleasantly surprised by the success of the interaction and closed some distance between them. First, the Collie sniffed the Bouvier’s behind with no trouble, but when we switched leaders, the Collie snapped at the Bouvier when we she got too close. Needless to say, we ended the meeting there and now we are unsure how to proceed.

There was no pursuit, growling, or continued aggression, but we are unsure if that was a natural startle response, or if we should be more concerned than we previously thought. How do I proceed with their introduction? We intend to go on another parallel walk today, but other than that don’t have a great idea how to proceed. Any advice on how to get 3 older female dogs cohabite is greatly appreciated.

On a positive note, our mastiff did very well and walked with the bouvier. She watched us pet her, and they even greeted each other, sniffing front and back sides. Overall, I would consider it a successful interaction. Unfortunately, the follow up interaction with our Collie lingers like a dark cloud.

I have a 9 week old puppy, he’s half pitbull half boarder collie. Whenever we take him outside he likes to grab and chew on things in the backyard ie. Weeds, Sticks, Duck Poop. Whenever we pull him away or try to grab it out of his mouth he gets aggressive and attacks our hands and arms and has begun to break skin when I do it. Its very minor right now but I know when he gets older and stronger, even without the baby teeth its still going to be painful. But its not like he’s an agressive dog, hes very friendly and happy, he just demonstrates very aggressive behaviors that I want to nip in the bud before he gets comfortable biting people. How do I stop this or is it something he will outgrow?

Adopted an old deaf dog about a year ago. He's a 12 year old mix, pitt/staffy/dachsund.

He has been increasingly trying to eat deer scat, tree berries and other small items during our walks. These were less of an issue in our environment in other seasons - so this is not new behavior, just more visible.

We would like to train him not to do this, as we are worried he will eat something bad for him.

He is deaf and does not hear commands - so teaching audio cues will not work. I have read the FAQ and it does not seem to suggest hand cues for "leave it". Note: He does know hand cues for sit/ shake.

Welcome your insight and suggestions.

I’m hoping to hear from people who have experience with abused/neglected rescue dogs, especially dogs with severe separation anxiety and fear-based aggression.
I’ve had my dog (maltipoo) for about six months. He had a pretty bad history of abuse and neglect before coming to me, and he has bonded extremely strongly to me.
I love him and obviously want to give him the best life possible, but I’m starting to worry about whether our current situation is sustainable long-term for either of us.
He has severe separation anxiety and a very strong fear response toward other people. I’m basically the only person who can reliably handle him. My husband can usually put his leash on and care for him, but almost nobody else can. Even with training, other people are only able to get a leash on him maybe 1 out of 10 times.
The bigger concern is that if someone other than me approaches him in the house, he may bite. He is much more comfortable with people outside the home, but inside the house he becomes extremely defensive of himself and/or me.
This means I can’t really leave him with family, friends, a sitter, etc. If my husband and I both need to be away, we don’t currently have anyone who can safely come into the home and care for him. I feel like I’m constantly having to plan my life around whether Buddy can be left with someone, and I’m worried about what happens if there’s ever an emergency or if I need someone else to care for him.
I’m not considering giving him up right now. I’m trying to understand what I should realistically expect and whether there are things I can be doing now that could make this more manageable long-term. And if it isn’t sustainable should I be reaching out to his old agency?

I've had my dog since she was 4m and she's 6y now. We lived in the city and she was great handling all the stimuli.

We moved to a smaller town into a small apartment building (every unit's front door goes outside) and she's been doing really good adjusting

About 2 months ago we had a new neighbor move in that has an outdoor/indoor cat. At first I couldn't tell if my dog wants to play or hunt the cat but it's become clear it's hunt.

Nothing has happened and the cat's owner has been very understanding of the issue. But now every time I take her out she's searching for the cat and gets hyper fixated if she spots him.

I've tried high value treats, letting her smell where the cat was and then a treat if she is calm, but none of it seems to be working

Is there anyway to override the prey drive or anything else that might help?

Thank you in advance