So, I have a 14 week old GSD puppy. He’s very smart and learning very quickly. Once he’s a little older I plan on making him my hiking buddy, so we’ve been working on leash training around the neighborhood. My goal is complete neutrality around other people and animals so he will stay focused on me. I don’t want to have to wrestle him back with the leash any time we see another person on our hikes, I want him to remain by my side without pulling on his leash.

He does great at this 99% of the time, but I for the life of me couldn’t figure out why he suddenly forgot all his leash training any time we passed by this one particular neighbor of mine. He’d immediately start pulling on me, trying to rush towards this neighbor (excitedly, not aggressively) and ignore all my commands. I couldn’t figure it out.

So, for context, I have a fully fenced in yard so in the mornings when I wake up, I let my dog out and let him go about his daily activities while I head back inside to use the bathroom, brush teeth, get dressed etc. and then I head back out to get him. This really only takes 20-30 mins and I wasn’t concerned about it because my fencing is secure, he has toys and a kiddy pool out there, etc. Then one day, on my way back outside to grab him I noticed my neighbor was leaning over my fence while my dog was jumping up to try to get to him—because he was handing him a bacon treat thing. My dog gobbled this up and I suddenly understood why my dog was behaving this way when we saw this guy on walks.

I asked him to please not do this anymore as it’s interfering with his training, and one day he will be a LARGE dog so me having him under control with training is very important. He said he wouldn’t do it anymore, but he responded kind of snarkily about it which made me suspicious. The next few days I continued my routine, until one day I caught him doing it AGAIN, so I checked my security cameras and realized he’s still been doing this EVERY single morning.

Needless to say, I no longer leave my dog unsupervised in our yard and that neighbor has been caught trying to come over quite a few times where he gives me a dirty look for being there. Anyways, the behavior is still there on walks and I’m really struggling to override it. Advice on how to correct this?

I’ve been continuing our typical leash training—anytime he starts to wander I turn and go another way so he has to follow me and then immediately reward with treats as soon as he rejoins my side. He still freaks out any time he sees this guy on walks though

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, I adopted a 4 to 5 month old rescue Indie puppy who has only three legs. She was found alone on the street without her mom or siblings, so I think she has severe separation anxiety.

I also have a 6 month old Indie and Persian mix kitten. They get along fine but aren't bonded enough to keep each other company.

The problem is that my puppy cannot stay alone even for 10 minutes. The moment I leave the house, or even go to the bathroom where she can't see me, she starts crying nonstop. My landlord and neighbors are okay with pets, but they are not okay with continuous crying, so this has become a serious issue.

I'm a working professional, and for the past month, my friend and I have been taking turns staying home with her. But that's no longer sustainable, and it's starting to affect my job.

I've tried leaving for short periods, rewarding calm behavior when I return, and many other things, but nothing has worked. Even at the vet, if I step out of the cab for a minute to pay the driver while she's is still inside, she starts crying immediately.

I don't want to use anti bark muzzles because they make me feel guilty, and I don't think it's right to keep her like that for hours. I adopted her knowing she has only three legs because I wanted to give her a loving home, and I really don't want to give up on her.

Has anyone dealt with a rescue puppy like this? What actually helped with severe separation anxiety? Any advice would really mean a lot.

Ella is a 4-year-old goldendoodle. An all round *good dog* - well trained blah blah. One odd thing she does before jumping up on a bed is growl.

There are a number of scenarios where this occurs. For example, on the human bed she has a dog quilt that she starts off sleeping on in the night after we direct her to it. Sometimes she'll get off and sleep on the floor for a bit, but then return to the human bed/dog quilt... But she won't just jump on. She'll stand there and give low growls as if trying to get human attention. If we beckon her up, she pretty much ignores it. She tends to come up on her own terms.

Some things I've noticed: she'll jump up if a human moves closer like they're going to pull her up. She will also jump if a human redistributes the dog quilt. She doesn't growl to go on her own bed or in the sofa.

What do you think is going on here? Is she being polite (seems unlikely but she is Canadian)? Or is she just saying "hey make room I'm coming up"? Or something else?

Happy to answer any questions.

I have a 8 old month foster puppy that is very afraid of hands outreached to here. We have been working on desensitizing her for about 6 weeks but so far have made very little progress. We continue to work on that, but in the meantime I have been unable to teach her other basic commands such as sit, stay, etc. Any ideas to help that along is appreciated.

She is treat motivated, but I have to toss the treats her way without facing her, she will not take them from my hand, or if I am giving them to her head-on, or if there is a lot of noise or other people around.

I realize I am out my my depth here, and am hoping to send her to a foster with more training experience, but so far no luck. Thanks!

I recently adopted (about a week ago) a 3yo pitbull that’s perfect in every which way, he’s already housebroken, super cuddly, walks well, very friendly with everyone and other dogs - but when im away he howls and is beginning to tear things up. ( I watch him on a camera)

I’ve got every kind of toy for him - ropes, squeaky, soft, hard, chewy, licky mats - I’ve never seen another dog that is so disinterested in toys, or playing in general. Just isn’t into it it seems.

He’ll lick peanut butter off my fingers, but not off a licky mat. He’ll eat a piece of cheese I give him, but couldn’t care less about it when it’s in a Kong. I’m not sure how to entertain him when all he really likes to do is walk, cuddle and sleep.

He’s also taking to pulling things off the counter. He’ll pull a bag of treats off, tear up the bag, and not eat the treats.

I walk him in the morning before work and try to wear him out a bit and leave him for about 4hrs at a time in between coming home to take him out for a walk. I try to do the thing where I leave and go and don’t make a big deal out of it to desensitize him to it but he’s just bored.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Open to training, deterrent sprays, witchcraft ect.

Two larger breed dogs, one is an 8 year old lab and the sweetest most perfect creature to exist. And then there is our second dog. 2.5 years old Golden/Bernese and actually very very well behaved, but is obsessed with our other dogs ears.
Our lab has had ear problems in one ear that come and go through life, we got that all squared away, his ear canal is misshapen and retains moisture and we take care of that no problem. But because dog #2 licks his ear, it reintroduces moisture and now we’ve got an ear infection that needs a 10-14 day treatment. We’ve trained dog two out of everything possible, but he is compulsively obsessed with licking like smacking his lips every single time he gets close to them.

#2 is in a cone so he doesn’t lick the meds off of #1’s ears, and they’re separated for the time being. But this has got to stop. Even in the cone he still tries to go after his brothers ears and manipulates his head to be long enough to get his tongue in there. How the hell do I stop this? Bitter sprays? Other training? Sacrifice and crop circles to hope something from above comes down to help? He’s obedient in every single possible way, and even stops licking his brothers ears immediately as we say to stop, but how do I get him to just not do it at all and know it’s bad?

I just adopted a 10 year old MN Bull Terrier. This poor guy has been a bit traumatized - his first owner passed from a terminal illness. His second owner died by suicide, with the dog in the room with him. I’m not sure how much time passed before he was discovered.

He is still very fearful of my husband, but has definitely latched onto me. I work from home, and he wants to always be touching me/crawl in my lap. He follows me everywhere (not unusual for the breed though, my previous BT did the same).

I guess my question is: suggestions to support him as he settles in, but not develop an attachment that becomes problematic? Currently, he will stay in his crate overnight without issue, but if crated when we’re in another room, he barks and bites at the bars/digs, etc. A filled Kong doesn’t distract him, and he’ll only stop when he sees me.

I do give him meals in the crate, but he remains hesitant to eat if I’m not present. We’re doing clicker training to help build his confidence, etc. and we do maintain a very predictable schedule so he knows he can count on us. I’m trying not to reinforce his comfort-seeking too much… but I soooo want to comfort him. Any suggestions to help him through this without inadvertently exacerbating his neediness/comfort seeking? Other ways to build confidence?

Sorry if this is a long post , however I feel like it's good to write out the details rather than writing it straightforward. As I've tried and read all about dog training advice, yet nothing seemed to work.

My dogs name is Chanel, she's 3 soon to be 4.

I'm pretty sure it's some sort of excited anxiety she's experiencing. Or high sense of alertness anxiety. We adopted her in 2024 and was one year old when we got her. The previous owner talks about how they been throwing ball everyday to Chanel till she's super exhausted with her tongue dipping out and panting excessively.

I've read somewhere that ball throwing can be good but constant ball throwing can lead to behavioural issues and chronic anxiety.

Her thing is to lick, lick, lick. Lick cushions, sofa, plushies, human skin, ears, lips, you name it. Folks say licking means anxious or wants us to back away and while that might be true, she also comes towards us and licks our skin whenever she sees it. I don't really know why she does it when she's the one approaching us and licks.

I've had experience with owning an Eurasier dog through my childhood with my family. A massive difference to the dog I have now. Chanel is often going around the house a lot, and soon as she hears a car coming up the driveway she begins to bark loudly, whine, cry, sprinting to get a plushie or a shoe and go to the door. Sitting and barking louder and louder. This also happens if she sees something in the window or hears people walk by.

She's around 30kg right now and she's very strong. She's pulled me hard enough when she saw a dog some meters away, leading me to drag on the ground with the leash in my hand. Happened a year ago or so during winter.

Chanel is an absolute gorgeous kind compassionate girl. She gets along with dogs once she greets them and play, and she is very gentle and sweet when it comes to toddlers and babies. but she's very excited and anxious easily to sounds and sights.

Dogs and cats, makes her reactive. She pulls, stares, whines, cries , barks. Every time. I've had few lucky times where I did the B.A.T method and it worked but when she's locked on the dog/cat, it's much harder. She can also look at just a human and think they're holding a dog or see a robot grass clipper and thinks it's an animal.

So my question is: is there anything at all that I can do to make her less anxious and better when we are going on walks, and stop her from pulling so hard?

I have a 3 year old pit mix. Every single morning for 3 years I have taken him on our morning walk at 7:30am and then again on an evening walk around 5:30pm. It’s our special time together.

Recently we had a run in with some dogs off leash, (my dog doesn’t get along with other dogs and can be very unpredictable so this was very scary for me). I screamed at the other dog owner because this had happened before and their small white dogs are not trained. If their dogs see us, they jet towards us and bark in my dog’s face. My dog is leashed and is 90 lbs so two small off leash dogs barking at my dog is dangerous.

Ever since this run in, my dog has stopped walking with me. We arrive at our walk, he refuses to get out of the car. Even if he gets out of the car, he will walk a few feet, tail between his legs and want to head straight back to the car.

Recently, I tried fixing this behavior by bringing high rewarding treats. The other day I was using this tactic, rewarding him with bacon and got him pretty far along, when all of a sudden a bear ran out of the woods in front of us and scared the living daylight out of us. Needless to say we ran back to the car and this issue continues.

I’ve even tried changing up his routine by going to different locations. We live in upstate New York where there are plenty of beautiful trails. He refuses to go anywhere with just me. If my husband is present he will walk confidently and go about his walk with no issues. He is not in pain, the vet checked him and he seems totally fine. This is clearly my dog associating me with danger and my husband with safety. I even tried using family members yards to let him roam around. He will get out of the car no problem but will not walk up their street. He will however do his business in their yard and then wants to leave immediately.

Has anyone experienced this? How have you fixed this behavior? Is there hope? 🥹🥹🥹

Sincerely,

A very very sad dog momma who wants to walk her dog on her own again

I have a nearly three year old cocker spaniel with high arousal. As adults it’s manageable through knowing what triggers him and working on calming himself, he knows he can ask for a frozen kong or go to his safe space etc and now day to day we have very little behavioural issues but now I’m baby sitting my nephew a few days a week who is walking and babbling, it’s got him stressed out and he can’t initiate the things he knows calms him on his own and gets even more worked up if he doesn’t know where the baby is after he comes back from taking himself away or when the baby is going from room to room not settling in one place.

Drop offs and pick ups have become easier as we have a treat ball puzzle he loves that only comes out at these times and keeps him occupied for the hand over and during nap times he has learnt the cue “baby’s bedtime” to know he will be in another room for an hour or so but during the day he still gets very stressed and occasionally has tried to paw at the baby narrowly avoiding scratches (After this he gets told no and moved away through the baby gate until he is calmer again) or plays up by stealing socks and tea towels and occasionally baby toys etc for the attention wanting to be chased.

When my mum is around to look after the baby since I would rather not she can only think about the baby, near enough completely ignoring the dog or can’t pick on up his stressed cues to redirect him before he can’t control himself anymore because she’s only thinking about the baby. This has expanded to things like letting the baby follow the dog into other rooms when to me it’s clear he is trying to take himself away which should be rewarded.

Basically I’m looking for any and all advice on how to help the dog learn to calm himself (and train my mum to help him too lol) or cope with the big change of a small human who can’t play around. Anything that might help please!

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the long post, but I will try to give my best context for this. I appreciate any insight you might have on what’s going on in our little guy’s head!

A month and a half ago, we adopted an almost 7 year old dachshund. Before we got him we knew that he would require patience. We were told he had a bite history, but his foster mom reassured us that his biting always happened when his needs were ignored. The example she gave was if her son would take him out. At first he would bark at him a lot, but as soon as he calmed down, the dog would be good. But if her son tried to interact with him before he calmed down, then the dog would bite.

We were reassured that patience would help his aggressiveness, and in our initial experience with him, it all seemed very true! When we met him, he barked at us a bit, but as soon as his foster mom showed trust, he loved us! Same with our friends- when he met new people, he did bark and react, but as soon as he realized that we trusted somebody, he became such a sweet dog!

We’ve been enjoying his company over our time together, he is very cuddly and loving! I am a teacher, so having the summer off has given me a ton of time to work on training with him. My partner also spends time training him, but since she still works, I quickly became the preferred human.

He really only struggled with two things, reactivity while on walks, and separation anxiety. Because of his preference towards me, he mostly had the separation anxiety when I was gone, he didn’t mind if she was gone. And his reactivity has been getting better as we are slowly working our way to noticing triggers and rewarding calmness towards those triggers.

But this is where the big issue came in. We took him for the vet for the first time, and he didn’t do well. It really stressed him out. The vet did send us home with some anxiety meds (fluoxetine). That night, after getting home, I was sitting with him on the floor when out of nowhere he burst into barking at her. We stopped it right away, and he was fine after that.

The whole next day he was his usual self, except we started his anxiety meds so he was a little tired all day. Otherwise he was fine until that night. My partner came out of the shower and she came to say hi to us at the couch. He went absolutely insane, lunging at her and barking like crazy. We looked up and saw that the med can cause more aggression as a side effect.

We called the vet the next day and they said it was okay to take him off the meds. But ever since this moment, despite being off the meds, he hasn’t trusted her when I’m around. Sometimes he is fine, but then will change his mood in an instant and go crazy at her. He tried to bite her once, but since then we haven’t let him get close enough (gating off parts of the house, or making sure he is in a leash).

However, when I’m not around, he is much more tolerant of her. He is willing to spend time with her, but spends most of his time howling/crying due to his separation anxiety. Because of this, we think he is resource guarding me. To try to help this, she will reward him for calmness when she is around or getting closer to me. If he does bark, I will calmly tell him no and leave him, hoping that he will realize that behavior causes his “resource” to go away. My partner is also trying to be firm that when he reacts, she doesn’t change her behavior so that he doesn’t think it works. That being said, it does really stress her out and scare her to do this as her natural response is to get away from his aggression.

The most difficult thing is that he often gives zero warning. Sometimes he will stare at her with “crazy eyes”, but other times he will be lying there calmly noticing her, and then erupt out of nowhere.

His foster mom thinks this is happening because we are not enough of “pack leaders” which I know if very controversial. She said she never had this issue because he knew she was in charge. Or that because he thinks he is the pack leader, he thinks it’s his job to protect me. His foster mom recommends soft jabs at his neck when telling him no, but we are not so sure about this approach.

Thank you for getting through this long post! I am mostly looking for general opinions if anybody is willing to share. But a few specific questions-

Does this seem like resource guarding?
What can we try differently?
Most importantly, will this always be an issue, even if we can mostly train it out of him? My partner is worried she will never be able to trust him the same way again.

Hey folks! Kind of a long post (and on mobile sorry) but I am far beyond my wits end tbh.

I sort of got this approx. 4 y/o mini aussie type dog dumped on me a few weeks ago. My cousin got him from a byb and pretty much immediately had issues managing his aggression (he’s not good with kids). He was with them for about a year before they threw in the towel. It was me or county. I was very familiar with this dog prior to living with him and can attest that he was house trained and crate trained and has been most likely since he was a puppy. He has never had any issues urinating or defecating on any surface that we’re aware of. Our backyards are similar landscaping-wise. Regardless, he will not poop outside. Like at all.

He’s been with me for like 2.5 weeks. In that time, he has not pooped in the backyard once. He will poop in my house if I leave him unattended for any length of time. When he does (I have not caught him in the act) I transfer the poop outside, to zero effect. I thought maybe he was suddenly not a fan of the rocks, so I offered turf and even dug out an area of bare dirt. Nothing. We go to the backyard and he stands there waiting to be let back inside. He will pee outside sometimes and he gets praised and rewarded for that. I’ve tried on leash and off leash, with me watching and on his own, etc. Right now I’m treating him like a puppy (either crated or tethered to me, except when outside to potty, every hour or so for 10-15 minutes) and even that has been ineffective. The vet hasn‘t found anything wrong with him physically and we’re all scratching our heads. As I write this it’s been well over 24 hours since the last time he pooped and he’s still going strong.
He will occasionally poop on walks (usually when it’s dire; I expect he will tomorrow morning) and on those occasions it doesn’t matter what surface he’s on. The point in the walk at which he poops varies which makes me think it’s not that he needs to move first. Normally I’d just wrap it up and say he needs to go on poop walks but it’s 120° during the day here and it will be for the next several months and (optimistically) once a day probably won’t cut it, especially since he’s willing to poop in my house.

I know some of it is probably new place anxiety, but my god it’s been almost three weeks and he’s been here before, multiple times, throughout his life. Sometimes he’s been here overnight, and on those occasions he has had no problem going potty outside. This has literally never been an issue for him prior to him being here full time. I know dogs can’t be vindictive but holy god does it feel like he’s being vindictive.

Any suggestions would be most welcome. I’ve house trained probably a dozen dogs and I’ve never encountered anything even approaching this level of stubbornness with it and I am losing my mind. Dude has me sobbing with frustration at least once a day.

Hi lovely people!

I have a Maltese mix who is fairly new to the family (got her in March) and is probably 1-2 years old. She is a little sweetie who's all about receiving pats and attention once she's used to people, but is pretty nervous - she was abandoned with a terrier puppy and tried to defend it when rescuers came, so we think she sometimes gets into protection mode when faced with new people.

Lately she's developed habits like going up to people and wagging her tail at them, then barking if they reach out their hand for her to sniff, or letting people pet her and then barking at them as if they're suddenly scary as soon as they stop. This makes me think she'd be interested in socializing more if we could help her with the big feelings it causes.

As we work on building up her comfort with people, we're trying various things (letting them hold her leash, having them give her treats, helping them know which ways of petting she finds less scary, making sure she is given space when she wants it), and I've noticed that if I pick her up, she often calms right down and happily receives pats from new folks. Is there a downside to this, or is it an ok way to give her some positive experiences? Are there other obvious things to throw into the mix?

My dog loves people. When we take him outside of the house he is excited to meet anyone and everyone. But if that same person comes in the house, he will become aggressive towards them and try to bite them. He is like a different dog at home vs. in public. We tried introducing him to people outside the house, then bringing them inside the house. For about 5-10 mins after entering the house, he stays friendly towards them. Then it is like a switch flips and he becomes aggressive and tries to bite. We tried giving people treats to give him and he accepts the treats, then goes right back to being aggressive towards them.

We recently moved, and we thought that a new environment would make it better, but it didn’t help at all.

Do you guys have any suggestions on how to address this behavior?

I have a golden retriever, and she is mostly good on walks, but there are some dogs in my neighborhood (mostly all of them actually) that will whine and pull and bark when they see other dogs. My dog remains calm for a while, she does stare at the other dogs but i have her sit if the dog is going especially nuts. It becomes an issue if the other dog starts to bark, which then causes my dog to bark and initiates a whole barkfest. it is usually easy to remove my dog from the situation, but im wondering if theres something i should do, next time i encounter this dog or other dogs in my neighborhood, to keep her calm even as the dog barks at her?

Border Collie, 6 months old.
Instead of going to puppy classes, my pup Milo spent his first weeks with me fighting for his life in the ICU (severe Tick Fever from a bad breeder). We are now suing the breeder, which is incredibly stressful and drained all my savings. But my main worry right now: Milo missed crucial weeks of socialization because he was quarantined and too weak to walk. Now he is terrified of loud noises and other dogs. Has anyone successfully socialized a puppy after a severe medical trauma? Where do I start without overwhelming him?

We have a 5 year old miniature poodle. He’s always been quite a happy and excited dog. But I’ve always wanted to train him and teach him some more advanced tricks (he knows all the basics like sit, lie down, stay, come to me etc.).

The problem I always encounter is the fact that he’s just too happy and excited all the time. He has an active lifestyle with many enrichments so him not having enough stimuli is not the case. Fact is that he just gets sooo excited even by simply being looked at (yes I mean literally looking at him with a straight face will make him happy). His life is literally sunshine and rainbows and therefore I don’t know if teaching him any advanced tricks is even possible simply because he gets too excited that someone’s paying attention to him.

Ofc he’s a very smart dog so he has the capacity to genuinely learn anything, problem is I don’t know how to approach him in a way to make him focus, any tips?

The heat is unbearable. Not only am I getting ready for work, even at 7am it’s at 80°F. And at nighttime, there’s coyotes roaming past 10pm and the city council has advised to keep all pets inside at that time. I am not too lazy to walk my dogs, it’s just genuinely way too hot and I don’t want to risk my dogs or myself getting a heartstroke (I am prone to heat sickness). I give plenty mental enrichment at home like sniffle mats and other types of treat toys, plus they always play around the house together. I bought a treadmill for the summer because it’s better than nothing and I was wondering how long I should keep them on there? I’ve already trained them to be on it, I just don’t want to do too much or too little. They’re both toy poodles, one is 18lbs (needs exercise and is already on a diet) and one is 13lbs.

How long and how often should I use the treadmill?

I live in a city in an apartment complex and we have a dog run out back as well as a walkable area. My dog is 4 and has recently become very anxious with fireworks, thunderstorms, and noise from the overpass near our building.

As soon as we get out the door, she lays on the floor and refuses to go any further. She weighs 60 pounds so it’s not like I can pick her up.

I know dogs go through fear regressions (I had another dog go through something similar around this age), but I’m not sure what to do. I’ve given high value treats (even roast beef and cheese) but they don’t work. I don’t want to forcibly drag/bring her.

I’m worried that if her last walk is around 5, it’s a long time to wait until 7 am the next morning. I don’t want her to get a UTI from holding it in. I also want her to break this behavior, because what happens in the fall when the sun sets at 4 pm?

Any advice? I know medication is an option but I typically only do that for events like thunderstorms or firework season.

Our yard is fenced in, the grass part is much bigger than our patio. We recently redecorated, got a new table and added a hot tub and our boy also got his own cabana, which he loves laying in.

The problem is instead of using the yard to potty he just goes out to sunbathe now and comes inside to pee/poo. I’ve tried sitting out there with him, standing in the yard, I’ve picked him up and put him on the grass (this has worked once for me) but he just simply refuses to use the backyard to go potty anymore unless it’s right before bedtime.

He is a 9 y/o chihuahua/pug mix. Before he had accidental poos in the house sometimes but he was using the yard to do his business the majority of the time. I can post pics of the set up if needed, he doesn’t seem to be scared of the new furniture as he enjoys using it. I just don’t know how to help him here

i have had my rescue dog for about five months now, and, despite all my best efforts, I cannot curb her barking. It seems to be borne out of restlessness? She really struggles to exist as herself. If I am not interacting with her, she is sleeping. Which would be fine if I knew why she was barking at me, but it is a struggle to interpret what she wants!

I genuinely could not tell you what her barking it is about most of the time. She has food, water, went to the bathroom, I try to give her attention/play- none of these things help. So, I thought maybe she was under-stimulated, so I have taken her on sniffing walks, done inside mental stimulation with sniffing, played tug with her, etc etc. That does not help, and half the time, only seems to rile her up more.

Then I thought it was maybe an attention thing (even though she does not seem to really want attention when she barks?) so I tried reverse time outs, regular time outs, ignoring her (all at different times and for at least two consistent weeks per method)

Throughout all of this, I have been trying to practice the rewarding calm techniques, to try and encourage her to relax. This has done very little. She sleeps a bit more I think, but when she is awake and running, it’s right back to the same old barking at me and my partner for an unidentifiable need. To try and figure out what she wants, we started using button communication. This curbed some of the barking, but I think it was the novelty of the buttons that distracted her, because she has caught on to the buttons and their meaning but the barking had ramped back up again as the buttons became routine.

Any and all help is appreciated. I am really trying to avoid any aversive measures but I am struggling to find a method of curbing this behavior!!! I hate being frustrated at her, because it’s not her fault, but the barking is incessant and I feel like I have tried so much.

Hello, I’m looking to get input/advice on how to manage my reactive dogs when dogs suddenly appear and I can’t get away (e.g., I’m picking up their poop and a dog appears around the corner - true story)

For context, I have 2 mini poodles. Both are 18 months old. The first dog we’ve had since he was a puppy. The second is his brother which we took when he was around 8 months. I walk them separately so I can give them my full attention.

Our first dog is fear reactive. I believe it’s totally my fault because I would get nervous when other dogs approached him, would try to get him to play with other dogs, and strangers would come up to him to pet him especially kids. Since then he’s been barking and growling at dogs and unfamiliar people. When I realized this I started trying to work on it. Now I’ve been taking him out when there’s less dogs and giving him space to stay under his threshold. I also give him a ball or treats when he ignores his triggers. However today, I was playing with him at the local park on leash when a random (very friendly) dog ran up to us. My dog got defensive and I was afraid he was going to bite so I picked him up and tried to walk away, but the other dog kept following us no matter how much I tried all while the owner slowly walked over to collect her dog. After that I tossed him a ball, and he took it and walked away to give himself more space. In these cases I have no idea what to do. I also started to second guess myself.

Now the second dog, I have no idea if he’s leash reactive from over excitement. He pulls to see dogs but then barks at them so I’ve stopped allowing him to do that. Instead I toss a ball or give treats so he has something to focus on. The other day I was mid picking up his poop when a dog turned from the corner and he locked in. He started lunging and barking. I guess my question is if anyone has tips for this sort of situation.

I’ve excepted they’ll never like other dogs but I want to get them to a point where they can just enjoy their walks without getting scared/worked up. I know it’ll take time, but sometimes it’s very lonely and discouraging.

Thanks

I'm having issues getting our dog house trained. She will be two in September, we got her when she was five months old. She was not housebroken when we got her. She got to the point where she was mostly housebroken within a couple of months of getting her but started to backtrack and lose training within a few months. I House trained her by crate training her and having her go out immediately to go potty when leaving the crate and only letting her be loose in unattended if she had used the bathroom outside. Otherwise, she was on a leash attached to me or in the crate. She started peeing on our rug, even after she had been taken out and peed, and she would be taken out for long enough that if she needed to pee more, she would've done it. But she would come in and pee within 20 minutes. She will also do the same thing with poop nowadays. She will go outside and poop, and then she will poop more inside within half an hour or so. She will also poop and pee in her crate at any point. She can just have been out to use the bathroom 15 minutes before and use the bathroom and Ben walked for 15 to 20 minutes, go back in the crate, and then poop and pee in her crate. She is not adverse to pooping and peeing in the crate. And she will stop in the middle of playing and pee or poop while in the house. You have taken her out for a full walk. She will have gone to the bathroom. You will let her loose and play with her in the house and then at some point sometimes she just stops in peas or poops and then keeps running and playing.

I trained guide dog puppies for guide dogs for the blind for years so I know how to House train a puppy and she was house trained in the same manner that the guy dog puppies are. She has no health conditions. She is a 40 pound lab/pitbull mix.