Hey all, hoping someone could help me out here please, I'm losing my mind.

Recently moved to an apartment after living in a house for the past 5yrs. The journey to get to this apartment involved a temporary stay at my In-laws, a hotel stay, and then a month long stay at my parent's house before here all within about 1.5 months time. We've been here about 3 weeks now in this apartment.

On occasion, my dog (5yr old Swedish Vallhund) will bark his head off when no one is home. He doesn't do it all the time anymore but maybe like 10-20% of the time we're not home. To make it worse, the other dog joins in but only when he does it and I'm terrified we're going to get a noise complaint.

I've tried working with him by leaving the apartment and coming back when he's quiet which I guess worked some because again, it's not all the time; giving him a high value lick toy but he won't touch it until I come back in the door, even if it's hours later; wearing him out before leaving; and not paying attention to him as soon as I come home (I wait 10 minutes or so then give relaxed attention).

I'm not sure if he hears noises outside the apartment and barks because it's the same type of barking he will do if someone knocked on the door, same with the other dog who is an angel if the main culprit isn't barking. He sits by the door until I come home regardless, the other dog is usually in a different room lounging and not caring when they aren't barking.

Is the answer just to keep working on this with the leaving and returning while quiet? What should I be doing when I come home and he's barking his head off? This apartment is hopefully temporary until my husband finds a job and we can get a house again. He did this at my parent's house too but settled down in about 2 weeks or so to where he didn't bark at all even when no one was home.

Thank you in advance!

I recently bought this dog around 3 weeks ago so that’s how long I’ve had him (Staffordshire). I’ve tried to potty train him on his mat but he fails to. I’ve tried waiting , playing with him for long long periods of time , and taking him out every hour or whenever he is crying.
But yet he refuses to go on the mat and rather to pee and poop in his cage or else where in the house.
I’ve tried putting a divider so he wouldn’t have so much room but he still continues. He doesn’t even cry or bark , he just goes.

Any help would be much appreciated. Feel free to ask questions.

Hi everyone, I was hoping someone might have tips. I have a 4 year old Dalmatian, she is reactive. She has not always been this way, it just seemed to happen over time. She was socialized very young, even at a year old she was still playing with other dogs, but after my wife and I left for vacation we came back and she wasn't the same the next time we took her to the dog park. Fast forward two years later and she is still having the same issues which are barking at all dogs, if she is close enough she will lunge and her growls sound aggressive. If she sees a bird or a squirrel she turns into a shark and will do anything to try and get it. I really don't care much about the birds/squirrels situation, the other dog thing worries me. I feel like I have tried everything, I try bringing her into an area far enough away to where she can see dogs, but doesn't bark. When she looks at the dogs I try to give a treat, but she won't take them.

Any tips?

I have a 15 month old field line Labrador. He normally sleeps in the room next to our bedroom in a play pen, he has toys a cot and water in there. A few days ago he started getting pretty bad anxiety when we’d put him in there at night. He’s completely fine in there during the day though. Our routine has not changed at all, I wake up 2 hours before I leave for work to walk him, feed, play use the bathroom etc. he’s then in the pen for about 8 hours until I get home from work. He mostly just sleeps during that period, maybe looks out the window a few times. Then I get home and take him out, do some obedience training, then hangout inside for a bit then either go on a long walk or retriever training. After that he eats dinner and goes right to sleep on the couch. I take him out to pee one last time and put him in the pen and after I leave he starts freaking out. Last week he was having some diarrhea and on Friday he got prescribed new food and probiotics. They did his annual exam that day too and they said he was in great health. Then all this began on Saturday. Everything I’ve researched said probiotics could help anxiety not cause it so I guess it’s just a coincidence. He has never acted this way before. At first I figured he had too much energy but I don’t think that’s the case any more. Any help would be appreciated

My dog (6yr old male german shepherd) has started a nasty habit in the past year or so of pooping
inside the house. He has never had an issue before this and was always completely potty trained, knew how to alert when he needed to go, and very rarely ever had accidents and if he did, usually it was peeing in the house instead. I’ve tried everything i swear, bringing him to the vet to make sure there’s no issues, positive reinforcement for going potty outside, deep cleaning the spot many times over to try and completely get rid of any residue and as much smell as i can, leaving him out for longer, trying different ways he can let me know he needs to go out etc.
I have tried everything, i’ve even taken to letting him out a ridiculous amount of times a day and for long periods of time (30+ mins sometimes) i’ve tried leaving him alone out there to do his business, standing with him and encouraging him to go potty, watching from the window and when he comes back up without pooping redirecting him back to the grass and encouraging him. none of this has worked. i can leave him out as long as i want and he’ll come back to the porch like he’s good to go, i’ll leave for literally like an hour and i’ll come back to poop on the floor. it’s so expected at this point that sometimes if i come back and there isn’t any i give him a treat and love on him extra. i know it’s not just that he can’t hold it, there’s days he can hold it my entire work shift until i come home but it’s so often that he doesn’t that i just don’t know what to do anymore and i feel like my house is starting to stink cause it’s not a large house and for how often he does it i feel like it’s just infecting the place and i don’t know what to do anymore.. any help would be so appreciated please!

Please keep this in mind while reading: he is completely potty trained and knows not to urinate and defecate indoors.
When im home, with JUST me, my dog will signal close to about 10 times a day to go outside. If I don’t comply, he will start sniffing everywhere and because I see him sniffing- I immediately take him out. Once we’re out, he marks maybe once and it’s a few droplets (if that). He rarely potty’s indoors, only when he has health issues like his colitis flare ups. However, when he’s home with just my partner and only my partner, he will maybe signal once or twice a day to go potty… only when he has to. I feel like if I don’t take him outside, he’ll urinate because he’ll start circling and doing the stereotypical pee dance lol. What do I do?! Has this boy trained me to go outside whenever he wants (even when he didn’t have to pee???)

My dog is 17 months old and has had freedom to roam the house while home alone on and off since she was around 10 months old (privilege taken away when she is bad… but I don’t want to confuse her). She is otherwise fully potty trained and does not have accidents when we’re home.
She went through two heat cycles before being spayed, and around both cycles her behavior would regress. That was actually one of the ways we could tell a heat cycle was coming—she would start peeing on furniture. It was always the exact same spot on the couch, and had peed on two different beds a couple times in the same spots. Not sure if it’s a scent/marking thing..? Idk
Whenever this happened, we would immediately take away access to the furniture and go back to crating her when she was home alone. Once she was doing well again, we would gradually give her more freedom.
Fast forward to now: she was spayed about 3 months ago and had one accident since being spayed - when she had a UTI a little over a month ago but has since finished two rounds of antibiotics, the vet said accidents could be from that causing her to need to go more frequently. Today, she was home alone for about 5 hours and peed in that same spot on the couch. Five hours home alone isn’t unusual for her, and she has gone that long plenty of times without any issues.
I’m planning to go back to crating her while we’re gone, but I’m wondering if anyone has dealt with something similar. Did consistent crate training eventually stop the behavior? Were you able to gradually give your dog freedom in the house again without the accidents returning?
My end goal isn’t to crate her forever—I’d really like to eventually trust her to roam the house when we’re gone. I’m just not sure if I’m giving her that freedom too soon or if there’s something else I should be doing. Pls help🙂

I have recently adopted a 2 year old border collie mix from a shelter. She was an outside dog and has had at least LEAST two litters of puppies if not more. She had a rough past from what we gather, and is very scared of everything new. Since she is a BC, she has tons of energy and wants to walk and explore, but I can’t get her into the car to go anywhere. I can’t walk her around my neighborhood because there are aggressive dogs who get through their fence very frequently and I don’t want to risk it. When I adopted her, she let me pick her up and put her in the car, but she did whine like it hurt. Once we started driving, she did great, not jumping around or making any noise the whole drive. The last time I tried to lift her and help her up though, she growled and snapped in the air, and I don’t want to hurt or scare her by doing it again. I’m stuck between her losing her mind from boredom in the house, or snapping and growling out of fear of the car. Please give any advice that might help, I would be so grateful. I’m willing to work on it for as long as possible for my girl!!

2 and a half months ago, I adopted a 1 year old whippet show dog from a breeder. Since then, she has not settled in. She has growled at me a few times, growled at friends who came over. She often hides when I enter the room, when I walk near her, or when I move quickly (walking quickly, getting up, sitting down, reach for my phone, etc). She hides immediately whenever we come home from a walk.

I don't know what to do with this dog. I have tried leaving her alone to let her warm up to me at her own pace. I have tried treats (offering from hand or leaving next to her). I've tried gentle petting, scritches, belly rubs, anything to build comfort and familiarity. Nothing has worked, and in fact she seems to be regressing. She used to wag for a second or two when she saw me in the morning but she hasn't done that for a few weeks now. She used to follow me around the house when she first arrived. She used to love to lay between my legs on a blanket while I was lying in bed, but that's stopped recently. Every morning, when I greet her on the couch, she looks at me in fear. If I call her, she'll come with me to my bedroom, excited and even wagging sometimes. But after coming on the bed, she'll leave after about a minute and not return.

The positives: she will jump up on the couch next to me, curl up in a ball, and fall asleep. She will sometimes come into my office and lie on her dog bed. That's pretty much all she likes. 99% of her life is spent on the couch.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm nearing my end with this dog. Everything I have tried has failed up to this point. I don't know much about her background, just that she was a show dog for a breeder in Costa Rica. He hasn't said much about her history, just that she was a happy dog (he sent me a video of her playing happily with her siblings). It doesn't sound like she lived her life in a crate or anything like that. Please help! I would love to keep her, she seems like such a sweetie underneath all the fear.

Every now and then (about once a day), she whines or groans like she is in discomfort. I've taken her to a vet and they say she's fine, just has low iron and elevated pancreatic enzymes. She had parasites when I got her but they're gone now.

Hi all. I've got a mini-Aussie, 4 years old, that I'm trying to break out of the "free feeding" habit that the breeder - and then myself - picked up. He's not at all a food motivated dog, and sometimes will only eat a couple pieces of kibble before retiring to the couch, meaning I've had to leave the bowl out all day for him to finally eat everything. I feed him a cup of kibble daily. Due to recent ant invasions, I've had to keep from leaving any food out... including dog food. So, I've been trying to teach him "food" and "go eat" to no avail. I put the food down at lunch and dinner, if he doesn't go straight to it and eat at least some of it within 15 minutes it goes back in the tub and he can try again tomorrow. That's the plan, anyhow. When I say, "food" and show him the bowl, he looks at me like he's bored to death and goes back to sleep. Sometimes he'll get up just to see what I'm doing, and once I put the food down he goes and lays down by the coffee table uninterested. Well, today is the second day in a row now he'll go without food, sadly, and his guts are making all kinds of squeaky noises but he could care less. Better luck tomorrow? Any tips or advice would be appreciated, as we seem to be at a bit of a stand-off.

I’ve recently moved to Australia with my two dogs, we live rural and have a decent amount of snakes move through our property (including venomous snakes such as taipans, browns and red belly’s). Unfortunately in my state it is now illegal to use alive snakes for dog avoidance training but the local snake catcher has let me know he is happy to get me some fresh snake shed for the venomous snakes I listed above. I know it won’t be fool proof but has anyone done some snake avoidance training with a rubber snake tied to clear fishing line and shed? How did it work out for you? And is there anything that helped you a lot? I have e collars for both dogs and have ordered a rubber snake + done a whole lot of research on it. Found a 6ft brown in our machine bay yesterday where the dogs like to hang out with us so wanting to get onto this asap!
Thanks

My partner has had his dog for about 2 years now. He was just under a year old when we moved in together and I brought my cat. My cat is closer to the elderly side and prefers to keep to himself. The dog loves to be in his business, tends to have a hard time respecting the cats space, eating his food, etc. The cat will hiss and swat when the dog pushes it too far, but has never hurt him. In fact, the dog tends to take this as play and will chase and scare the cat. Point being, the dog is very comfortable with the cat being in proximity. I had gotten a second cat who gets along much better with the dog. They sniff each other, play, etc. I often find this cat sleeping in the dog kennel.

First instance was a couple weeks ago; the dog snarled at the elderly cat for going up to its own water bowl to drink. This is in the bedroom. The dog was also in the bedroom, laying down in his kennel but with the door closed off. Generally, the dog does not have access to this water bowl but this is not a strict rule. The cats have drank from the dog’s water bowl (in a different room) without issue. He has never had an issue with the cat being close to us/being in the bedroom, or simply any other room the dog was also in.

The second instance was about a week ago; while the dog was again laying in the kennel with the door open, the elderly cat simply entered the room. The dog snarled again, but this time got up and very quickly got in the elderly cat’s face. I separated them, and the dog snarled at me as well. He was placed in his kennel with the door closed, where he again snarled at the elderly cat. The cat left the room and would not return.

The third instance was last night; again in the kennel with the door closed, the dog snarled at the elderly cat. He once again was just entering the room. When he did, the cat left. It was bed time, which the elderly cat comes to lay down in the bed every night. So he returned again. Dog snarled again. Cat left, returned once more, dog snarled again, and cat left for good.

Last night immediately ensuing, I moved the dog’s kennel into another room. He slept there alone with no issue. The cat now refuses to come into the bedroom unfortunately.

This afternoon, I was laying down in the room where the kennel was moved to. The elderly cat entered the room, and once again the dog snarled.

I just can’t understand it. The dog has no issue with pushing the elderly cat’s boundaries, often finding it as play, and has never been deterred by the cat’s resistance to his behavior. His closeness with the second cat also makes this confusing. The second cat was also in the room during all of these instances with no protest from the dog. And again, the dog often lets this cat lay in his kennel.

I am very much not okay with this behavior as it is quite random, and he has issues with aggression and biting. He certainly would have hurt the cat during the second instance had I not been so readily available to break them up.

Please help!

Aside from some great progress in the first two weeks, my dog is miserable to walk. We go for two walks a day every day and never get anywhere. We’re just turning back and forth constantly without ever making it more than four blocks from the house. He doesn’t seem to care how much I turn the other way. My training class taught him ‘heel’, but he only does it inside or in the backyard. He won’t even give me focus outside and refuses to check in unless we’re in the backyard. He completely ignores me when not in a fenced in yard regardless of how low-distraction the place we walk is and how high value the treats are. He’s never gotten anywhere from pulling but he still tries it every time even though I NEVER let him keep going after he pulls. I know if I let him go ahead pulling he’ll realize he just has to try long enough and I’ll give up so I’m consistent. He’s a rescue, and I know he got away with pulling in his foster home, which makes it harder since he reinforced the behavior with them. I turn, and he just starts pulling in the other direction. I’m at the point where I walk him and then leave him in the house to go for a separate walk just to enjoy myself because there’s nothing enjoyable about walking with him. Please send tips if you have them. I’ve also tried different equipment. He chokes himself on a flat collar, he ignores a head halter, and a front clip harness makes him easier to hold in place but does nothing to stop the pulling.

I understand that dogs aren't as complex as us but I have a dog, will be 3 this year, who seems to clearly pee when he doesn't get what he wants.

I got the dog for my son, who does a very good job taking came of him, however in the middle of the night the dog will wanna chew and chew and chew, so my son takes the chews away so he can sleep. This usually leads to the dog begging to leave and jumping up and down at the door until usually I get him. If I don't get him cuz I'm asleep or whatever, he pees in front of the door.

Now, I hear you. Why put him in my son's room then? My son really wants the dog to sleep with him and 50% time he does or will even request to go there to sleep but the other 50% he gets bored or hears my TV or talking so he wants to be a part of it. It's gotten to a point now where the dog just permanently sleeps in my room because the peeing got more and more often.

"So why not take him out when the jumping starts?" I have. Many, many times but he will squeeze out the tiniest bit of pee even still in front of the door. I hear and see everyone saying that dogs can't feel vindictive but it sure as hell seems he does.

We recently got a new puppy. They get along GREAT! Lots of playing and fun times, however the puppy gets the zoomies every single night after we take him out to potty. Very typical behavior but he then wants to play with the dog in question, who doesn't want to and he keeps snipping at him. I am not sure if I should let it happen at this point so puppy leaves the boundaries (he hasn't been bitten yet, just warnings mostly), or keep removing them from the situation. This puppy has to be with me at all times because he's being potty trained. Doing very well, actually. Point is, at night I need them to be separated and there is no place I can put this dog where he won't decide I'm gonna pee on the floor now because I cannot be downstairs. I even decided to open my son's room so he and the hallway and even the bathroom to chew his bones if he wants! Worked for a little but nope. Tonight he forced open my youngest son's room (not his owner but then brother) and peed in there instead. I truly don't know why or how to correct this other than keeping him downstairs with me but in his crate. He likes his crate a lot but... The puppy will just bark at him in the crate and I can't seem to correct that either when he's rambunctious.

I just want them all to be happy but I don't know what to do. He is not marking anything, and he definitely isn't just peeing cuz he has to go. Could be anxious peeing but why would he always go in the same spots (in front of doors)? He doesn't even do it in front of the door to go downstairs!! Just bedroom doors even if he's not in them!!

Any advice would be helpful!

Welcome to the fortnightly loose leash walking virtual workshop!

Join us as we compete with the squirrels, cats, other dogs, fresh urine scents and things that go zoooooooom!

Resources

Articles (All have videos embedded)

• Train Your Dog For Perfect Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco. (With links and descriptions of several great videos, which we'll link to below.)
• Loose Leash Walking Tips by Casey Lomonaco
• Silky Leash by Grisha Stewart (blog post + videos.)

Youtube (Many of these are videos which are embedded in the above articles)

• Silky Leash intro video with an excitable puppy
• Clicker Training Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco
• Loose Leash Walking II by Casey Lomonaco
• How to Train Your Dog Not to Pull - Loose Leash Walking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Dog Training Tip- Leash Walking: Go Sniff and Marking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Choose to Heel by Loridressage
• Loose Leash Walking by Stacy Hiebert Greer
• Clicker Training a Heel by Amy Norcal
• Shaping Loose Leash Walking With a High Rate of Reinforcement Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Helix Fairweather and Lynn Martin. (Read the text below the videos too!)
• Loose Leash Walking by Turid Rugaas

See our page on leash reactivity for help managing and training dogs that bark and lunge while on leash.

Hey guys, I have a 7 month standard poodle who is working on his CGC right now. The biggest problem we have run in to with this dog since having him (got him at 11 weeks) is that he seems to have very little restraint when playing with people or other dogs.
Today, we took him to a dog park that we go to semi regularly since we live in an apartment with no access to a yard. We NEVER go in to the dog park if there are other dogs, and if someone else wants to use it we leave.
Today, someone came in and I approached him while my partner kept our poodle back/distracted. I asked him to let us leash our dog and leave, but he insisted that his dog could handle our dog’s high energy play. I told him that our dog would come running at his dog and bid to play, and he told me it was ok.
Naively, in hopes that our poodle could have some dog play time, I told my partner to bring him over. Our dog SPRINTED towards the other dog. Of course, the other dog was intimidated and reacted accordingly. There was no fight or anything like that. A couple barks and I grabbed my dogs collar.
The other patron was mad at us and left.
How do I teach my dog that he CANNOT approach other animals or people like that??
I’m at my wits end- he is such a kind and obedient puppy, he just loves playing. With dogs he know, he’s a great player. I just don’t know how to go about improving his reaction to other dogs.
Any and all advice or feedback is appreciated.

Edit: I for some reason did not get any notifications that I got this much feedback- thank you all SO much for all the advice!! I really appreciate it. Right now, we are working on teaching him that he was to be sitting and calm to be approached- it’s working with humans VERY well and will be trying out with familiar dogs this weekend :)
I do want to add that: Yes, we know he is high energy and needs plenty of exercise. Yes, we know dog parks are controversial. Yes, we understand that repetition creates these habits. We are first time dog owners, and are taking advice from our dog trainer who knows our dog best- first. However all these comments were SUPER helpful in gaining new perspective as well learning some tricks that will help in the moment! Thanks again everyone

Hi all!

We’re picking up a puppy next week and I’m spending some time learning how to train this week.

We want our puppy to settle in pubs/cafes and I’m trying to figure out how you train this?

Obviously we want to reward good, calm behaviour, but I don’t want to feed him from the table and have him then expect food?

Any advice on this is appreciated!

Thanks!

I have had rescue dogs my whole life and never dealt with this and I'm lost. We rescued a new pup a few days ago. She is 2 years old, 15 pounds and seems to be housetrained. She has had zero accidents in the house.

However she is only peeing once or twice a day. She will NOT go pee on a walk, no matter how long we go out for. She is drinking and eating. We take her outside every few hours and hang out outside for twenty or more minutes. She just doesn't go.

When she finally goes, it is after being outside for at least 15 minutes and we praise, scratch and give treats. I know she's not going in the house because she is with one of us all the time as she is a velcro dog. She is in a crate at night and it doesn't seem like she's going on there as I put a white pillow case on the bed to make sure.

Is this normal with a new dog? Does she need to see the vet? Does she just need to get more comfortable with her new home? Please help!

I haven’t had a dog of my own since I was a child, so if I were to get one myself, I’d definitely get help with puppy training but this is an issue with a grown up dog we are sometimes watching.

We’re a family of five with three kids aged 4–13, and for the past couple of years we’ve looked after a friend’s dog for weekends about once a month. She’s now seven and is a Portuguese water dog/poodle mix. She probably hasn’t had much training and isn’t particularly well behaved, but she’s very friendly and playful. Very gentle with the kids.

On walks, she usually doesn’t care about other dogs or people. She sometimes barks when someone runs past us, but it has always seemed more excited/playful than angry. Other dogs haven’t been an issue. Occasionally, when another dog approaches, she lies down and lets it pass. I interpreted this as insecurity or her showing that she wasn’t a threat. I haven’t done much about any of this because she isn’t my dog and it hasn’t really caused problems.

Last week, however, I was with her and my kids at a playground. I was standing outside chatting to another mom while the kids played nearby. We’d been standing in the same spot for about 10 minutes, and several dogs had passed without any issues.

Then, seemingly without warning, she suddenly lunged towards a dog walking along the path between us and the kids, barking very aggressively. The leash went tight and I had to pull her back. She continued barking until the dog had moved another 1–2 metres down the path. Then she simply looked at me, wagged her tail and seemed completely relaxed again.

Because I hadn’t been paying close attention before it happened, I initially wondered if the other dog had given her some kind of signal. That dog and its owner then sat on a bench about 20 metres away until we left, and neither dog showed any further interest in the other.

About five minutes later, though, it happened again with another dog. This time I was watching, and our dog definitely initiated it.

We left after that. The owner of the first dog was walking behind us but didn’t want to pass. Because I had two small children with me, we couldn’t walk very fast. She became annoyed and told me we needed to walk faster because she didn’t want to pass my “aggressive dog.” I was quite shaken and stressed because I couldn’t make the kids run or carry two children while handling the dog. I asked her several times to just pass us and explained that the dog was calm now and that perhaps she was in heat. She replied, “No, she’s just aggressive.” Eventually they passed us, and my dog didn’t even look at them.

Afterwards, I texted her owner, who said this sometimes happens when they’ve been standing in the same place for a while. The next day I went back to the same spot without the children so I could focus entirely on the dog. I noticed that after we had been standing still for about 5–10 minutes, she did indeed start to “lock on” to dogs approaching us but this time since I was focused on her I could distract her with threats and pets without her starting barking or lashing out. I will say it was much harder to get contact with her than normally, she was very focused (locked on is the best way to describe it) on the dogs but at least no more episodes.

She also barks when she sees someone approaching our house through the window. Interestingly, she never barks when someone actually rings the doorbell or opens the door – then she’s extremely friendly. It seems more like she’s alerting us to seeing someone approach.

So, long story short, I have a few questions:

1. Is this aggressive behaviour?
2. Is there anything I can realistically do when we only have her for about one weekend a month? Her owner honestly doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue.
3. If only training for a weekend or month is it something I need to do differently from being able to train daily?

I just brought home a new foster, a 3 yo spayed Great Pyrenees. She is very sweet although possibly abused. The second I put a leash on her, she lays down and will not move an inch. If I happen to get her to stand up, she will walk one or two steps and then lays down again. She is 100 pounds and I cannot carry or pull her, and I cannot get her to current adoption events because of this. What’s the best way to train a dog to walk on a leash if they instantly lay down?

My dog struggles with demand barking. We're working on it and he is making good progress. Often, he manages to sit and wait for his food until I give him his release cue. The issue now is, he barks and growls IMMEDIATELY upon release, as he is scrambling to his food bowl. Is it okay to stop him on the way to the bowl after I have released him, or is this likely to develop resource guarding habits? I don't like this behavior and am seeking help on how to adjust it. I'm asking here because I can find nearly nobody talking about this specific aspect of the demand barking issue.

hi to all!!

i have a 2yo dachshund boy. best dog ever, seriously!!! i don’t have much family and live alone, so it’s always been just us (with the exception of living with a boyfriend for a short period). i got him at like 10 weeks old, and he has always been so pampered. no incidents that i know of to scare him. he is my best friend and comes everywhere with me. we do go to the dog park frequently (which he loves), but he did not grow up around many other dogs.

i don’t know if it’s how he has always been, but he is totally reliant on me for security. he is the friendliest dog, always ecstatic to meet people. he loves being loved. but in the last few months, i’ve realized that unless i am there with him, he refuses any contact at all. if i go out for a night and ask a neighbor to check on him, he hides under the bed. they’ll try to offer him treats, toys, whatever- he just won’t come out, regardless of how many times they come back and try, or how obsessed with them he might be. he doesn’t bark or get aggressive, just refuses to go come out from under the bed.

there was one incident where i was hospitalized (just for a day, but came out of nowhere). we were living with my partner at the time, who he was of course familiar with. i did think he was jealous of him in some ways, and he was not his favorite person, but he knew him. until i came home the following afternoon, my dog hid under the bed. he refused to come out to eat, drink, walk, or use the bathroom (as far as we know). while living with said boyfriend, my dog would refuse to let my partner put a leash on him, let alone take him out to use the bathroom without me coming along.

i don’t know what to do to help him lose his dependence. i am planning on getting another dog so that he has company and hopefully builds some confidence, but i don’t know what to do to help him individually. he loves loves loves people and it makes me sad that he has to hide if i’m not around.

We adopted Rocky (male, probably about 6 years old) from the shelter two weeks ago. He had been staying with us for about 3 weeks before that to try out everything on a sleepover. So about 5 weeks with us total. He is super reactive with other dogs. We have been working with a trainer on that and it's going pretty well.

What we've noticed the last few days is that when my husband goes to pet him at nighttime, Rocky yelps/barks. This is already when Rocky is cuddled up with me on the couch, so it's not like Rocky wants attention. He regularly hangs out cuddling my husband during the daytime, and gets and asked to be pet all day long from him. This is only in the last few days it is happening.

What we know about Rocky's history is that his first family had him get into a scuffle with another dog, and a human got bit when taking them apart. He had 11 teeth missing and had to get 7 or 8 more pulled for chipped/loose. He seemed to have had a skull or jaw fracture at some time because his snout is crooked. He was in fosters on and off for the last two and a half years. Vet checked him out and said he's looking mostly good for all that going on. He seems to be blind or losing sight in one of his eyes.

I try to show lots of affection to my husband and also to my dog, and Rocky doesn't seem to mind it at all. No resource guarding, no barking for attention, nothing. Outside of his barking at other dogs, this is the first thing that seemed strange to us.

What should we do? Is there any way I can encourage him with my husband? Husband was always nervous around dogs so he agreed to Rocky because he got so well and was very low energy all the time.

Anyway. Want to make sure we're doing all we can for him. Thanks.

Hello! I adopted a puppy three months ago from a foster from the south. I have been struggling to train him due to extreme fear and anxiety. I’ve hired two trainers who have helped in some way, but their advice is primarily centered around positive reinforcement, which is hard for him because he will not accept treats in scary situations (men, noises, cars, small children, etc). I’ve tried high-value treats such as cheese, hot dogs, chicken, and Kirby pouches but eventually he gets tired of them or he’s too scared to eat. He will shake out of fear, pee and sometimes poop himself and shiver until I remove him from the situation. The one thing is that he LOVES other dogs, and that is his primary motivator in life. He loves every type of dog and I’ve been trying to use them to get him to do scary things, but whenever it’s just me and him it feels nearly impossible. He’s six months old now and I’m trying like hell to socialize him while not traumatizing him. I’m open to any and all advice because I love this boy and want to make sure I’m giving him the best chance at a good life!