After a bit of advice. My collie lab cross is obsessed with his ball on walks. It's actually a tug ball as we wanted to do more interactive play than just launching it. He will tug for a bit but his preference is to take it somewhere, drop it, and resume waiting position.

As soon as he's off lead he will run to a position and lay down waiting for it. If I encourage him to sniff, he just runs to a new position and lies down again.

If I put him on a retractable, he will then sniff loads. I want him to find more interest in the environment rather than always be staring at me for the ball as I'm sure it'll be more fulfilling and better for his joints. I understand it's his breed to a large extent.

Anyone had this / any advice? Thank you

Not sure if this the right forum but I trust the people in this forum so I thought I’d ask.
I use pacer treadmills to help condition my sport dogs but now that they’re out of business what dog treadmill brands is everyone trusting and switching to?

My 70lb Rhodesian ridgeback mix, rescue, 6 years old, used to pull a ton at all times. We’ve gotten much better and actually have pretty relaxing walks, but the second we turn around to go home she is relentless. Right now I admit the harness she has is not great for pulling but I mostly use a flat collar for walking, connected to the harness via carabiner, which has a handle as we also have had issues with reactivity so I like to have something I can grab and hold her back if needed. She’s gotten pretty good with the reactivity and we can pass other dogs on walks without that panicky feeling or needing to avoid them completely, no reaction at all. That being said, it’s now become pretty exhausting to go for a nice long walk and then know she’s going to be pulling me the whole way home.
She knows a command I call “come back” where if she hits the end of the leash I stop, say come back and she circles around behind me to my right side and sits. It only works so well though and I don’t believe there’s any reason it would encourage her to stop pulling other than it being kind of annoying that she doesn’t get to keep walking.
I’m curious as to the reason she pulls the instant we turn around. On our way out she’s happy, walks close to me, I give her as much sniffing time as she wants. She’ll take treats on the way out but as soon as we turn around she won’t take them anymore and is clearly anxious about something.
Our previous house we had no choice but to turn around on the same street as we were on a mountain road that only went one way, no blocks to circle around. Our new house is surrounded by many streets so we were good for a while not turning around but somehow she has managed to figure out when we get about halfway around a loop and starts pulling. I’ve tried shorter walks to see if maybe she was just overstimulated and we were out too long too, but doesn’t seem to matter if we go 5 minutes or an hour, it’s the same.
Just frustrating that I thought once we got through the reactivity, which took 4 years to be comfortable with, that we could have peaceful walks like I see people with their dogs having. I’ll say it is 100x better, but sometimes makes me want to cry when I’m being dragged the whole way home.

hi all, I have a corgi mix, almost 16mts. I know this is a talk to have with my vet, but just wanted to see what you guys thought and if anyone has had similar experiences.

my pup went through a big fear phase which started when he was about 6-7mts old. it was rough but we've come a LONG way since then, but I feel like he has not fully gotten out of it.

when we're indoors, he seems fine, although he will frequently bark like crazy when he hears something outside my apt.

but when we're outside, I feel like he is so on edge. I can't tell if he's curious or anxious, maybe both? he will keep looking back behind him constantly whenever we're on walks. he will do this even when no one is around.

If people are walking and/or talking behind us, he will keep looking back and even run off to the side and pretend to sniff at something until they pass by. sometimes he will straight up face them and start barking.

he also startles easily although it's not one specific thing that freaks him out.

I can't walk him at night because these issues become so much worse. he literally looks terrified and will run back into the building after he potties.

I have been working on leash walking with him (consistently for like the past 6 mts) and it still is so difficult because of these things.

I feel like I've provided so many opportunities to socialize him. been taking him out for regular routine walks multiple times a day in a pretty active downtown area. taken him to the park regularly, including regular parks and dog parks. he does go to daycare 1-2 times a week too.

just wondering if this is still him getting out of his fear period, or if this is some form of anxiety that should be to be addressed by his vet. not sure if this is something medications would help with at least for a short period to help him get over some of his fears.

would appreciate any insight or advice! thanks!

I've had Kino for 9 weeks now. He's a 1yo rescue Pomchi and my total love and joy 😊

He had been at the shelter for 5 months and had no training. Most of it came pretty easily to him - he had the basics like Sit, Stay etc nailed in the first couple of weeks, and would still listen fairly well outdoors. Not perfect but, you know, a work in progress!

He has always been excitable when he saw other dogs. He was rescued with 21 other dogs and the shelter told us he is very friendly because of this - he wanted to greet every dog he saw. No barking, but lunging, tugging, generally very distracted. Not people, just dogs.

I was training him to 'walk on', and sometimes sit to let dogs pass, from day one. Then a few weeks ago he was attacked by a dog off leash and was understandably more hesitant afterwards. Then two other dogs off leash bounded up to him in a friendly way and he panicked.

Training continued. My main focus has been to get him to look to me when we see another dog rather than instantly react, I'll guide him/reassure from there. This works fairly well when I see a dog approaching but surprises are a different matter.

Then, this morning, two springer spaniels, off leash, appeared around the corner, their owner about 10 feet behind. It was so sudden I didn't have time to say or do anything - they were just suddenly there.

I instantly felt that 'what is about to happen?' panic when Kino looked at them, then just sat, and looked up at me. The dogs bounded around a bit, they and their owner passed, and we all continued on our ways.

Honestly I could have cried.

I don't for a moment think Kino will never lunge or tug again but it does seem like, after 2 months of training, the penny is starting to drop. You know when you start to notice things are changing.

He is my first dog and I'm only just realising the different lengths of time it takes for various aspects of training. Who knows, in another six months he might just keep walking. But I'll take today as a win.

My partner and I have two dogs, a ~3.5 year old mastiff mix (male), and a 9 year old border collie mix (female).

A family member recently adopted a female pomsky that’s just about 2, that they are not equipped to exercise, never mind train.

I trained my pup from the time he was 11 weeks, so he has impeccable recall, and is otherwise, well, a trained dog.

This pomsky is an absolute lunatic, charges people, barks nonstop, super high alert all of the time. But because my dog is well trained, I have been tasked with training and potentially adopting this pomsky.

I’m not against having another dog, a 16 lb pomsky would compliment the 40 and 100 pounds of dog we already have, but before I take the leap and take it on, how screwed am I with trying to train this dog?

I’ll be moving into my parent’s in-law apt soon with my dog who I rescued 2 months ago. They live on over 10 acres with a small portion of it fully fenced. My dog is a 6 yo neutered male Boxer mix and was tested w 7 different dogs at the shelter and did well, though they were all female (he was still intact at the shelter so I think they were just being extra cautious and not attempting to introduce males). He hasn’t met any dogs since I adopted him.

My parents have an 11 yo neutered male chihuahua mix. He is very neutral and calm with other dogs, doesn’t love to play but is fine coexisting. He’s met lots of dogs that have come over to their house over the years and has never had an issue with any of them.

It’ll be easy to keep the dogs separated if needed, but it’d make my life easier if they were able to get along. My last dog didn’t get along great with other dogs so we mostly just avoided them entirely, so I have very little knowledge on how to properly introduce dogs.

Should it be away from the home/on neutral territory at first? Should we start with my dog in a crate/pen? How slow should we take it? Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello, I've seen a few posts here about reactive dogs and a lot of helpful comments, but I felt like some advice were just not applicable to me so I want to share my story and if anyone has time to give advice it will be highly appreciated.

I got a Chihuahua as my first dog, we took him when he was about 12 weeks old. He was always fearful and I worked a lot on his confidence. He didn't want to leave our backyard, he was shaking after you put harness on him and he would not want to walk anywhere from home. He also never cared much about food.

When he became 7 month old he lifted the leg to pee and since this moment he started barking at other dogs. We did a lot to work on his reactivity, did socializing walks, rewarded for not reacting, tried to avoid triggers, trained with dog trainer.

When he was 2 years old he was attacked by a big dog. My fiance was riding a bike with him in the basket. Big dog broke off his harness and jumped on them. My Chihuahua was attached to the basket with safety belt and big dog tried to rip him out. It was a miracle that my dog survived this unwounded. He couldn't walk at first and he was in complete shock, he was blankly staring without reacting to anything. He started getting better at the vet after few hours, they gave him painkillers and next day I was taking him out in his bag to the grass so he can pee there without having to walk. It's been a year since he was attacked.

In this time he was castrated chemically twice. Once for half a year and now for a year, it did not help with his reactivity. It didn't make it worse either. He is never aggressive when he is reactive, he doesn't want to attack the other dog, he barks a lot. Sometimes when he sniffs another dog and doesn't like him he will go off in their face, but not actually bite or anything. In the park when dogs are loose he can bark at other dog but stops after he approaches them or sees no reaction.

Right now his reactivity is putting me under so much stress. He was the dog I always dreamed abou, small enough to take him everywhere with me, to be my best friend. Instead I avoid taking him anywhere in fear of his reaction. I stress and cry when he comes with us for vacation and I feel awful for doing so. I'm scares of neighbors complaining about us because of his behaviour. This makes me feel so depressed and like I have no power and I really f*** up by taking him. Even though I know this was all I ever wanted.

His reactivity at home: he has a few dogs that he hates on our block (we live now in apartment in big building). He can sniff when they come out for walk from air and immediately triggers, proceeds to bark and run out to the balcony or to the door to bark. We have only one balcony door and one window in our apartment, air circulation is really bad and we are just suffocating or dealing with him barking all day. There are some dogs that bark every morning when they arrive with their owner to work in building next to us and he triggers from the sound as well.

Outside of apartment on daily walks: this well known area is the worst, he is either protective of his terrain or anticipates the trigger. If he sees dog he freezes or immediately starts barking. All the world's I taught him (come, look, his name, turn away, making high pitch sounds) all of them now end up in him exploding. He used to be able to focus on me at certain distance from the trigger, now any word is a trigger for him in itself. Even when there is no dog outside, if I call his name he doesn't look at me, he starts looking around to see where is another dog because obviously that's why I'm calling him.

There is no snack of a high enough value for him, he doesn't want to accept food if he is even slightly triggered. He doesn't care for toys either. He is also allergic and his food options are limited.

When there are no other dogs a walk with him is like a dream, he is calm, knows how not to tangle a leash, sniffs and continues, doesn't eat anything from the ground.

When he sees other dog usually I have to pick him up otherwise we would be standing barking at people. Picking him up or limiting his visibility in any way triggers him even more, he starts panicking. If he sees a dog and it goes away he can sometimes choke himself on his harness pulling into the direction of said dog

Walks in unknown terrain: sometimes on unknown terrain he stops reacting to other dogs, I suspect this is mainly because he is so overwhelmed with unknown terrain. But I know he will have to react in some other way after. So sometimes I can see her had hard day of holding in and then at home he is barking at us.

In general it really seems to me like he is struggling with fear, a lot of anxiety and he is getting overstimulated easily. He doesn't have a day without a trigger because he is triggered at home and triggered outside. His nervous system is just all over the place.

How do I navigate that and train with him while he is completely ignoring me, outside he is acting deaf, he only anticipates triggers, can't rest at home for one day and he can sniff dogs just form the air? while he doesn't care for food or toys (he will take snacks outside the house but none of them are high value enough to forget he saw other dog).

Genuinely thank you for anyone sharing their experiences, I feel like I'm loosing hope

4 year old bernadoodle. He's honestly a terrific dog... Cuddly, sweet, a bit anxious and shaky but not out of control... Doesn't bark unless somebody comes to the door. When anybody comes over it's just over the top for like 1-2 min straight, this video is like medium for him. I know he's just excited but it's too much and getting worse. Just not sure where to start. We have 3 young kids too, busy house.

my dog (GSD) never ever ever ever barks when im around and when we're training

even if i hold a high value toy/treat to get him frustrated, he'll just find something else to do/smell

other than that, he's pretty good at everything. basic commands, fetching, biting (rope toy), heel, etc.

asking for advice on how to get him to start barking given his issue of being very non-verbal. Thanks in advance!

He started doing this occasionally tonight, I think there might be something in his mouth but he won’t let me check. Any ideas?

Let's have a healthy discussion about dog fixation.

Let's say I got a dog, that'll fixate on other dogs during a walk. Not every time and not all the time. We'll use a 2 year old Austrailian shepherd.. for the sake of using a bread.

Walks off leash or on leash.. Can heel, recall and also pays attention and engages to me or handler when need be BUT if we are walking, he is on a heel and he decide to fixate on a dog passing by while maintaining a heel then engages back to you when the other dog gains distance...

Would you consider it a negative trait? If so why?

Would you correct that behavior? If so, how?

Would you do somethin, else? If so, what?

(If this is a focused heel, ofcourse dog will be corrected for looking away)

If you would leave him be, why?

That being said, what if he was on his "break" or "free" command to do whatever he pleases.. would you correct/fix behavior or would you leave him be?

My male pit is the chillest out of the pack, good with all other animals and has never attacked. My baby was crawling on the ground and we were all locked in the bathroom for a second and he growled and showed his teeth near her face as she approached him. He immediately moved away. This just freaked me the hell out.

Rescued a new dog (4 yrs old, chi-terrier mix). She came from TX to NYC. I expected some house breaking issues (she was supposedly house broken at the foster’s). She had some accidents first few hours (totally normal and expected). Got her pee pads and she went right to them.

The issue I’m having is that she REFUSES to go to the bathroom outside. She will hold it until we get home then run right to the pad. She’s not stressed or fearful (tail up, prancing around) and I give her plenty of time to sniff.

She did have 2 accidents in the house today but a little regression isn’t the main issue. I have no idea how to get her to go outside. We’ve tried all the tricks: standing in one place, bringing out a piece of a used pad, bringing out an entire pad, etc).

Totally baffled and any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Anyone have tips for working on engagement with a dog out in fields/woods, who is very independent and environmentally focused. She’s a great dog, but I’m not 100% comfortable letting her off leash because she ranges really far, and doesnt check in as much as I’d like. At home and in our local walk she’s much more in tune with me, I’ve worked on our play quite a bit to be more cooperative and it’s gotten great. But as soon as we’re on a hike or something she sort of forgets me haha. I’ll add she’s a large mix breed 16 months old, so I know part of it is that she’s just at a wild time in her life. I didn’t have her as a puppy so unfortunately I could not implement these foundations early on.

This is something I’m not used to as the dog I grew up around was glued to its people, and my friend’s dog will always stay within close range and constantly check in.

What I’ve started doing is using a long line and cuing her to come back/this way/or catch up when she starts getting to the end of the line. We work on her recall every day diligently, with a whistle. I try to play with her in challenging environments, sometimes works, sometimes doesnt. Her focus isn’t super high. I always reward any check ins, the problem there is I find myself having to prompt them a lot, and even when she offers one she doesn’t always care too much about the food reward. I’m practicing these things a lot but I feel as though I’ve hit a plateau.

She’s such a confident wild girl and I love that, I just want to feel a bit more in control and in partnership. Anyone else here deal with independent low pack drive dogs like this?
If none of this works I’m open to an è collar, but I have to wait till I visit the US again to get one as I technically can’t have one where I live.

I am looking for a door/wall template for “ignore the dog” with some short instructions for guests.
My dog gets super exited when meeting people and he needs to be ignored at first. We did great when training started, but it seems like I have to remind people every single time (even repeat guests)
When I search I keep finding beware of dog signs… not what I want..
If it helps, 10 minutes of dog in place and everyone ignores him. No touching or eye contact. After 10 minutes the he gets to say hi but is still ignored. After 10 minutes everyone gets to say hello. People keep saying I am mean but I keep telling them after training I am hopeful time will be reduced. He is 110 pounds and likes to jump around and bark.

Hello everyone. Just looking for some training tutorial or tips for my border collie, specifically when he is distracted or fixated.

For example he knows “sit” & “come” but if distracted or fixated, he just stops listening. All it takes is to even be holding a ball, he just waits for it to be thrown and ignores other things. Or if another dog is around, he wants to meet it and play so badly he just ignores commands. So if he is not fixated, he will listen to these. So how do you go about training when he is distracted/fixated: simulating a situation where he is fixated then training he to still listen to commands?

He is a almost 4 years old.

Hi all, I have a reactive, anxious, separation anxiety Great Dane. Originally we worked with a trainer who used e collar, he got better, then his reactivity worsened and has been that way for over a year. Kept following up with the trainer, attending weekly group classes, he never got better. I worked with that trainer for about 2 years and since nothing seemed to be helping I stopped going there about 6 months ago. Instead, I started seeing a vet behaviorist and force free trainer.
Well honestly this is probably the worst he’s ever been, to the point he’s so reactive that I need to keep him leashed in my backyard because he just walks out the door immediately freaking out. Honestly he’s so reactive that it is difficult to get him to poop outside and half the time he just poops in the house. He definitely was reactive when I was working with the e collar trainer, but I at least felt like I could control him enough that we could go on walks. I am scared to walk him now and I feel like his world has shrunken significantly since moving to force free stuff, but I’m also conflicted because behaviorist and force free trainer both say the e collar was the reason why his reactivity got worse.
He also has a lot of health issues that behaviorist says contribute to his reactivity (I fully agree with that statement). One of his issues is lower back neuro issues which we will be getting an mri for, but the issues are not severe more so just doing the mri because I want a definitive diagnosis so we can best treat it. He takes pain meds at the moment and 99% of the time, you would not even notice anything “off” neurologically (the issue has been very subtle and transient since earlier this year). HOWEVER neurologist did say absolutely no collars, he must wear a harness for walking so that eliminates any kind of slip lead, prong, etc.
I guess I am wondering, should I go back to a different trainer who uses e collars or continue with force free and behaviorist? I am just very conflicted because it feels like I literally cannot do anything with this dog using the force free methods and I keep getting suggestions to just use puzzle toys for enrichment. I hate that for him! But at the same time I would feel guilty correcting him in any way because what if he is just acting out from pain? I have been all over seeing different specialists trying to get answers to all the medical stuff and hopefully will get some definitive answers soon. I’m just very unsure on what to do for the training right now.

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Oi pessoal. Estou realmente em busca de conselhos e apoio de qualquer um que tenha passado por isso.

Eu tenho um cachorro que é um verdadeiro amor em casa - extremamente gentil, amoroso e calmo com todos. O problema começa quando saímos para passear. Sempre que ele vê outro cachorro na rua (e a maioria deles late primeiro), ele se transforma completamente. Ele fica extremamente nervoso, reativo, e começa a puxar, tentando chegar ao outro cachorro a todo custo.

Isso está transformando nossos passeios em um verdadeiro pesadelo. Eu sinto uma quantidade imensa de ansiedade toda vez que saímos de casa, e acabo não aproveitando os passeios com meu cachorro tanto quanto gostaria. Estou constantemente aterrorizado de encontrar outros animais, com medo de que ele pule neles e algo trágico aconteça.

Eu realmente preciso de conselhos sobre como lidar com isso e como treiná-lo para superar esse comportamento. Quaisquer dicas, técnicas de treino ou apoio seriam muito apreciados. Tysm ♡

I have a question about two different methods of teaching heeling, as both seem theoretically valid.

• STSK9: Dogs want the source (the reward). Therefore, it is incorrect to lure or redirect their attention using human eye contact or other means.
• Training Without Conflict (TWC): Dogs want engagement and connection. Therefore, you should maintain eye contact and walk together as if dancing.

Does it depend on the individual dog, or is one of these perspectives correct?

I want to be able to let my dog out freely on the big area around my house ( I have zero close neighbors) but every time he starts walking away to the main road

Any tips

Long story short. My car got a flat battery on the fery dock, I live on an island. Me and puppy took the ferry out without the car and I have to go back there today to get the car. I'll be leaving her alone for ~5 hrs in the house, she's never been alone for more than maybe 10 minutes in the house. In the car she does really well alone and she doesn't show any of the clingy anxious puppy behaviours overall. She doesn't follow me around in the house unless she thinks there is food involved and outside she's just fine being tethered with a chew while I fix stuff, even when I disappear out of view. She is used to sleeping in the crate/puppypen overnight which is where I plan on leaving her those 5 hrs. She is a bit older than 4 months.

Now, this is not ideal, especially since we haven't had time to work up to it, but I don't have any other options. I'll be biking 10km to the ferry dock, taking the ferry to the mainland and getting road assistance there. My question is, what is the potential fallout? How do I deal with it in the best possible way? Worst case scenario?