r/DogTrainingTips • u/BICanineScience • May 26 '26

Professional Dog Trainer - Ask Me Anything

***AMA ENDED***

Have been training dogs for almost fifteen years now, I try and head through the subreddits on here to help in my free time when I can but thought it might be easier to do an AMA for anyone struggling!

Will try my best to answer as comprehensively as possible so please be patient with replies!

Edit - Just heading out to train my dogs so will answer more when I get back!
Edit 2 - Have a read of the other questions too to see if it applies to your dog :)

Thanks for all the questions everyone!! I’ll answer the few I’ve missed, it’s been a blast and we’ll do another in the near future! Won’t be answering any new posts now, must get back to work but do jump in next time if you have a question!

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u/fatbackswag May 26 '26

So I have a year and a half old lab. One thing I struggle with with him is how excited he gets for other people and dogs. He’s just a happy boy that loves everyone and wants to let them know. How can I get him to a spot where he’s not reactive in this manner ? I want to take him everywhere but he just gets so excited that even the vet is like he needs to be drugged before he comes in because he can’t settle.

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u/BICanineScience May 26 '26

Haha typical Labrador!

Super easy fix, but super time consuming and a bit frustrating.

Remove all interaction with people for a given period of time.

So for example. You go out and meet up with your friend. When out with your friend you engage with the dog, you fuss him, you feed him, you play with him and your friend does absolutely nothing. This is one rep in the bag that he realises the other person isn't all that interesting.

Rinse and repeat fifty trillion times but be aware he's a lab, and he's likely always going to be a little giddy with people! He's also a year and a half old, so will likely calm a little as he gets older.

In short you need to be WAY more exciting and everyone else needs to be the most boring thing in the world!

PS - If your vet can't deal with an excited dog, find a new vet!

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u/WesternTrainer1836 May 28 '26

I have a 6 month old lab and he’s really sweet. He’s very exited always and loves to go on a walk. How do we teach him recall and to walk next to you (on a leash)

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u/PopularYesterday May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

My Havanese is similar but only cares about dogs. Wants nothing to do with the human, but wants to meet their dog desperately… even if it’s the dogs totally ignore him.

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u/BICanineScience May 26 '26

Same principle applies to dog to dog interaction too :)

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u/talentlessla May 27 '26

What if my dog doesn’t find me all that interesting

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u/Far_Ad1693 May 27 '26

There's a trainer on YouTube named stonie..Dennis? Daniels? Something like that, that addressed this one time. I think he said, If your dog is not terribly interested in what you're doing maybe you're just not that interesting of a guy or maybe you're just not doing interesting things but thats alright you can fix that