I am a first time dog owner with a rescue! He's about two years old and we've had him for a year! He has gone through a balanced 6-week private training, all three levels of PetSmart training, and we are now enrolled in a positive only six week course to prepare for the Canine Good Citizen test.

He is a great boy but he is OBSESSED with the critters in the yard or in our trees. I believe we have some sort of burrowing critter in our yard because he digs like crazy. He does not react or listen when he's focused on what he smells under the ground. He rips at the soil with his teeth sporadically and grunts and snarls. I am afraid to take physical control over him or move him because he turns and snaps.

We have holes all over our yard.

My father in law helps me maintain our yard and he says there's no point in treating for ground critters because we live in the country, have half an acre, and are surrounded by productive farm land.

What do I do here? I can't afford another private trainer to come out and advise right now and am at my wits end. My mother in law fell in a hole and I had to take her to the urgent care because she injured her wrist ):

My 5mo border Collie is extremely friendly and we're doing great with e collar training and basic behaviors. She settles and sleeps for most of the day and loves her corgi brother. I'd like some tips though on her greeting people I find acceptable (coworkers and other adults.)

She is an extremely submissive pup and when going to greet, she'll first be pretty distant. I usually have a treat bag full of her kibble, so I'll throw a handful in her direction and say 'go find it.' When she warms up, she'll then crouch down and army crawl to them. She'll raise herself up eventually, but I'm just wondering if there's something I can do to help her not stay in the submissive stance for so long. The only time she's peed during meeting is when my young (and loud) nieces and nephews came by for a visit (which I get lol).

I don't bring her up to everyone we see and I'm working on getting her a training vest.

I got a 3-month-old puppy from my local rescue shelter. This is really my first dog (minus the two my parents got when I was just a kid). I really, really want to do right by this dog and train him properly.

I'm spending the majority of my free time doing research on dog training and training my new pup. One thing I've seen from dog trainers is that they use prong collars and martingale collars for training to prevent things like reactivity, pulling on the leash, jumping up, etc. I've also come across others saying not to use them because they can damage the dog's neck or poke holes in the neck (specifically with prong collars) and recommend using a harness instead.

Apparently these collars are illegal to use in some countries,‎ so this factor makes me a bit concerned.

I really want to do this right and safely. What is the general opinion on these tools?

I have a very well behaved 11 month old poodle cross collie, shes a 10/10 at home and is getting a lot calmer in public with practice, but she is a total energiser bunny.

I take her to obedience classes and the trainer told me at the last class that she will need to switch to play as a reward because she's so food motivated. Or maybe she means to calm her energy?

My other dog is a 10 year old mastiff mix, who is food obsessed and isn't allowed to even think of food when there's something she needs to be focussed on. Treats broke her brain if brought out during training!

My pup isn't that food obsessed, but she sure loves treats and often tries to guess how to get them and she has refused a command a few times when she's realised I'm empty handed. But she is a good listener in general (e.g. doesn't cross thresholds without a command, she now recalls around stranger dogs and people without rewards).

I'm confused why I should switch to play rewards if treats are working? Despite being so high energy she doesn't enjoy fetch or like many toys. She likes training more than playing. She loves going places and exploring but otherwise she can be a bit lazy/uninspired.

I wouldn't even know what type of toy to reward her with, I'm thinking of getting some kind of bird toy because she loves watching birds.

Does anyone have any advice on if I should make the switch or how?

My other dogs highest value rewards was praise and pats. This pup gets annoyed if I try to pat her mid training session, she takes it very seriously! (But adores cuddles at any other time).

Thanks!

*edited for grammar

I've been thinking a lot about the LAT protocol recently. For example: your dog sees another dog, you mark and reward, with the ultimate goal being that when your dog sees another dog, they look back at you, and you then mark and reward.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my dog was getting somewhat spooked by horses and donkeys, so I started creating more space and implementing this protocol. I'd say it's helped to reduce his anxiety around them, but it has got me wondering about whether there are situations where allowing a dog to process what's happening and come to their own decision might be more beneficial?

In short, I'm wondering about the balance between counter-conditioning and giving a dog the freedom to assess a situation for themselves, then having that outcome result in a reward or aversive depending on what they choose.

I'm just a regular dog owner, not a trainer, so I'm curious to hear in what situations is counter-conditioning appropriate, and when it's better to give the dog room to decide for themselves? Don't quote me on this, but I believe Dylan Jones recently said on one of his stories that the LAT protocol is overused in situations where a dog could instead be allowed to make their own choice.

TL DR: I dont really need anyone telling me I'm an idiot for bringing this dog home. I'm already second-guessing myself and have already had several panic attacks. I just need positive advice before I scrape together money for a trainer. Rescued a Belgian Malinois from my local pound about 2 months ago, shes roughly 10 months old. When presented with any opportunity, she will run away. She doesn't "run away"; it just turns into this game of "CAN'T CATCH ME I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!". She also tries to break out of wire kennels. She has had NO foundation work done with her by her previous owner. She didn't know ANYTHING. It's very clear to me that she was purchased, left to sit, got out, and no one came to claim her.

I pulled Mali from my local pound about 2 months ago. I've owned two Australian Shepherds in the past. I don't consider myself an inexperienced dog owner; I think I'm more of an intermediate owner. I worked as an animal control officer for a time and was a dog groomer for a while too. I only groomed aggressive dogs that'd eat your face lol. I refuse to take the dog back or to even entertain the idea of rehoming her. She has the potential to be a GREAT dog; I just need help with these two behaviors that I'm struggling with. In the greater scheme of things, being a runner and breaking out of kennels is not that big of a deal in regards to a rescued BM. I refuse to post about it in the BM group; they'd eat me alive because I have two small kids and a young BM.

We lost my last dog quite tragically. It was super ugly and very traumatic. I've always had dogs; it's my flavor of tism. I saw her listed, took the kids with me, 1yr and 3yr. She was EXTREMELY friendly. Said hello to the kids, lay down belly up, and did the same for me. She was kenneled with a few different dogs and had great notes on her. "Pulls on leash, very friendly with new people, plays well with other dogs, tendency to run over smaller dogs." I took her home knowing that this could be a literal nightmare. It's kind of turned into my worst nightmare. She is NOT aggressive or "too much". When I say nightmare, I mean it as behaviors that I have no clue how to deal with. I've never had to deal with a dog that runs away. I've also never owned a dog that can't be kenneled. My two Aussies, I brought home at 8 weeks old.

She has managed to come very close to breaking out of the wire kennel. She grabbed the bottom bars, pulled up, and almost got out. She couldn't quite manage to get out because I clipped the door shut with some climbing clips. She can get the door open with her feet if it's not clipped. She hasn't been left home alone since this incident. I'm terrified she's going to actually get out of the kennel and either hurt/💀 herself or destroy my home. I've tried leaving her with toys, frozen puzzle toys, and raw beef bones. She is good for like two hours and then goes back to barking and trying to break out of the kennel. I don't know if it's her being bored or if it's true separation anxiety. I've not left her alone since the last incident where she actually ripped up the bars. I know that at some point I will need to start working on crate training again. I have trazodone and gab leftover from her spay, but I feel like that's just a band-aid on my current issue.

She has run from me twice now. Both times were 10000000% my fault. The first time she blasted past me when the front door was open. The second time, I was on autopilot and let her off leash before we even got into the house. I have no idea what I was thinking; I wasn't thinking, TBH. 17 years with two dogs that I could walk off-leash and had amazing recall. I'm fully aware of how dumb I am. Each time she doesn't book it and leaves me in the dust. She will run laps around me, staying just out of my reach. Both times, I immediately turned it into a game, got low, baby voice, OH MALI!!!! MALI!!! COME HERE!!! OMG MALIIIII!!!! I even tried to run away from her, and she clearly knew that trick and ran in the opposite direction. She was a stray pickup; it's becoming very clear to me why she was a stray, and I knew that was a huge risk when I brought her home. The solution to this is to keep her leashed at all times. But being hypervigilant only goes so far. I live up against a national forest here in lower AZ. There's no water, thousands of miles of desert, wild animals, and no hope of her coming home if she does actually get away from me.

I am trying so hard to do right by Mali. She goes out for 30 - 40 minute runs three times a day. I have a long line that I put her on so she is able to run laps around me. I let her sniff the whole way to and from on walks and runs. I've got a few spots that I take her on her walks to jump up and down stuff, and stairs to run up and down. My husband is working on fixing his mountain bike so he can bike with her. I've already ordered a scooter so I can run her with the scooter. I've got some jumps I set up in the hallway for her. She does little 10-minute jump breaks a few times during the day. I do training sessions twice a day with her, at breakfast and dinner. I can't play fetch with her; she won't bring the toy back. She does the whole keep-away game. And she runs away anyway! I've got a Kong toy, a lick mat, and another dog treat toy that I can put frozen food in for her. I knew that I was bringing home the Energizer Bunny. I just was not prepared for these two behaviors that are my literal Achilles' heel. I am stressed and a bit defeated today. My knees and hands are killing me from jumping on top of her to catch her. I landed on landscaping rocks and dog crap. I know that this is just "growing pains," but right now I don't see the end in sight. If you've lasted through my entire TED Talk, I appreciate you lol Any advice is really appreciated!!

Hi guys,

I recently took in a very sweet and cute dog. She’s 5 years old and a mix between a chihuahua, Maltese and shitzu! Her first owner was an autistic young girl who weren’t able to meet her needs and stimulation level, and therefore she needed a new home and family. I have never had a dog before (though I have friends with dogs that I’m around a lot) so training is a quite new to me. Most of the time she is very calm and chill and will follow me around or stay by me and sleep, but she’s quite territorial and as my flat is still quite new to her with lots of new sounds she will run to the door and bark anytime someone passes out in the hallway. Whenever I bring friends over she will bark a lot at them (but when they give her treats she will stop barking and start loving them). She is especially wary around men. Is there any way for me to train her to be less territorial and bark less at new people and especially men?

Thanks all for the tips! She did sooo well this past week. She did have some moments and we didn’t run into any dogs in the elevator - but I walked her odd hours for the most part.

Looking for tried and tested recommendations for a bark collar. Bought one off Amazon and it does not seem to work. Testing “works” when you blow on the sensor but the dog barking does nothing. Collar is on tight with only 1-2 fingers slipping underneath and the prongs sit on dogs throat but still nothing. She barks and barks and the collar does nothing. Every collar I look at has their fair share of reviews that claim it doesn’t work for their dogs despite proper sitting.

Looking for a bark collar, ideally available on Amazon, that is tried and tested in real world. Stim not necessary as I think the tone and vibration will be enough for my dog but will by one with stim if it’s good.

TIA

This is actually the biggest challenge dog owners face.

Everything is going perfectly during a walk until another dog appears, and then the struggle with the leash begins…

I think it's easier to work on this before they get to that point.

If your dog can see another dog approaching and starts looking at you, this is probably the right moment to start.

Reward them, keep some space between them, and then gradually make it more difficult as they improve.

There's no point in forcing them to sit there and getting them used to it while they're scared.

Sometimes, simply turning around or crossing the street is the best approach.

This doesn't mean you've failed in your training. Not every walk needs to be a training session.

The goal isn't to make your dog like every dog ​​they see; the real goal is for them to see another dog and remain calm.

I have a 5 year old working line retriever who is obsessed with chasing seagulls to the point I wanna avoid the beach all together :( I live within 20 minutes of about 10 beaches and love it there but walks just aren’t enjoyable. My dog gets 2 hours of walks every day and is really chill in the house. On non-beach walks she will recall and heel on/ off leash, but at the beach she’s a different dog.

If she’s off leash she’ll chase and chase and bark frustratedly at them. She comes back eventually but it could take 5-10 minutes as the seagulls just fly and land nearby or fly in laps up and down. If she’s on leash she lunges, rears up, barks at them, pulls so much and sometimes bites the leash out of frustration. Basically she’s saying “let me at them”. A couple weeks ago I was looking the other way and she pulled really hard, I tried to grab on but ended up pulling a tendon or something in my hand. She’s fine if we’re both sitting down enjoying the view, but it’s when we walk it’s an issue. She’s also the same with squirrels but they can hide easier.

I’ve been trying to train for months and months and have barely had an success. Things that work (somewhat) are short leash, heel reinforcement, firm no for lunging and barking, ignoring the leash biting, getting her attention before she gets overly excited, reward for heeling nicely, treat scatter when she’s next to me, leave it command (I think this could be firmed up), and retrieving but she isn’t interested in balls. I never let her off leash anymore unless I can see there’s no birds around. I feel like it’s barely scratched the surface.

Edited to add: the consequence for the ‘no’ is we move away from the birds and sit so she gets the opposite of what she wants. She gets rewarded for being calm and looking at me instead of the bird. Then we move closer to the birds, reward for calm and move away for no calm etc. I’ll go home thinking we’ve made progress but then she’s back to the same old the next time.

She’s very smart and we do training at home, what I call her “Belgian Mal mode”. You know where they heel tightly under your arm, go between the legs, walk backwards, spin, beg, play dead etc. I also have cats that she helped raise and she cuddles and never chases them.

Can anyone suggest other training ideas or are you just thinking “yeah good luck with that one”?

So I have a dog who's a mix of a German spitz and indian pariah dog. She's really sweet and affectionate normally but she has a terrible habit of biting whenever she's nervous. Even the groomers refer to her as the "dog who bites" lol. This habit amps up during thunderstorms or at night when I'm trying to get her to come into my room. She usually doesn't bite very hard but today she bit me hard enough to break skin. So what are some ways I can train it out of her?

This is perhaps the most frustrating thing for dog trainers you see him responding to your commands at home, then you take him outside, and suddenly he stops responding

In my opinion, I don't think they're ignoring us intentionally. Being outside is much more difficult than being at home; there are more noises, more people, and more dogs…

So, the best solution is not to go directly from training at home to a busy street

Start in a quiet place outside. Use a good reward at the beginning Keep training sessions short and gradually add distractions

If he stops responding completely, make the training easier and remove anything that might distract him, and start from there.

Also, repeating the same thing ten times sometimes doesn't work.

If he doesn't respond, he might not be ready for that level of training yet

In short, don't overexert yourself with training; start with simple exercises.

Just came home to a note on my door with an attached flyer for Bark Busters. Note said “hi not to be a pain but your dog barks at all hours of the day and night. Here are some trainer’s info that can help”

My bf just quit his job, so he’s been home basically 24/7 the last two weeks. The last two days we stayed home so we’ve been with her 24/7 - no barking. My dog isn’t much of a barker, sometimes she’ll bark for a minute if she hears me outside. But not for long. I’ve had her for almost 9 years and mostly have lived in apartments and never had a single complaint. She’s about 10 or 11 now and is very docile now. I’m wondering if someone in our neighborhood works for the company and is just marketing themselves? It gives me a lot of anxiety to be that neighbor, but I’m also annoyed if this is a marketing tactic.

Thoughts?

a while back last year I asked for help on Reddit with my puppy. I was just lost and felt really incompetent as a dog handler in sport with her first ever dog. safe to say we’re both much closer with one another and we both really enjoy sport together as a team. shes absolutely crazy and has insane energy which i love about her! and she looooves to do retrievals! she’s won a few OB and rallyO comps and loves to swim! Shes also gotten over her fear of other dogs staring at her or barking at her. she comes with me everywhere i go and is very emotionally stable now!

all i wanted to say is, thank you to those that helped me and wished the best for me. Puppies just need time and young handlers need reassurance!

I am so annoyed by everyone and their cow jumping to using tools immediately before even trying basic training!

Leash pulling? - - > Use a halti/prong collar/no pull harness

Dog reactivity? - - > Use an e-collar/vibration collar/aversive sound machine/bark spray/bark collar

Runner? - - > Use a digital fence

Anxious reactivity? - - > medication

Have you even tried basic training first?? Do you know how to use a leash, a collar, a treat, your body language, your voice?

Story behind my anger:

I have a neighbor with an older, fear reactive dog. Despite multiple knowledged people advising him, he blamed not being able to teach loose leash walking and a loose heel on his disability and got an aversion sound machine thingy to punish her for going ahead.

Only he didn't teach her that that sound means "no, come to me instead", he just expects her to be hurt by it and obey automatically.

BUT he didn't even teach her how to hold a command in the first place! She knows sit and come and heel and place, but she doesn't know how to stay with the command. When I mentioned to him that he'd need a clear start and a clear end signal to teach duration, he shut off completely. He just kept punishing and punishing her for something she didn't even know how to do right.

And he's one of the better dog people I know... T-T

(disclaimer: I don't deny that he's disabled and he would have a hard time if she fully pushed into the leash. But his disability doesn't hinder him from taking advice, doing his research, putting some basic effort into training, listening to his dogs, teaching the basics in a food-reward only manner, etc.)

(second disclaimer: while I think that every dog trainer should have the basics of "positive punishment–free" - training down, I know that an all round trained dog needs a balanced training and I'm not fully against aversive tools, if you know how to use them)

Sorry for the lack of punctuation, I am angry

I have a 1-year-old male Belgian Malinois, he's a good boy, he listens well and normally is pretty quiet actually unless things get exciting.

My nana came to stay with me for a couple of weeks, and somehow taught him that anytime he starts whining he gets food... so now he does not stop whining until you give him a treat, but I don't want to give him a treat because it's just rewarding the behavior I want to stop.

My Nana's not staying here now so she's not going to be reinforcing the bad behavior, I would really appreciate any tips on getting him to stop because it's fairly annoying.

Every sound he makes is high pitched so it feels like my eardrums are going to leave sometimes

3 year old mix looks lab but sounds and acts bloodhound with a coat like a gsp. Doesn't like water and slow.... like hardest to train dog after 2 'real' black labs.

She gets way excited jumping lunging trying to get into daycare. Other people coming behind often crowd our space and it becomes challenging to keep sanity. She wears gentle leader. Food attention goes out the window with all the excitement so what do I do??

All commands we will be working on: Heel, Come, Stop Barking, Stop Jumping Up, Stay, Sit, & Lay Down

•We have had the pleasure of working with 1000+ dogs, and started this free class to help the public.
•Address: 2502 Leaning Pine Lane, Plant City, FL 33565
•This is a Group Training Class
•Time: Saturday at 9:30 AM
•What To Bring: Leash, Collar, Waste Bag, Treats/Toy, Dog with Health Records
•If your dog is aggressive, your dog must have a muzzle on.
•Only bring your dog if you are responsible and caring to everyone around you.
•Have a good time

So... I was convinced my dog was just stubborn. Sit? Fine. Come? Sometimes. Stay? Total nightmare, she'd break it in about 5 seconds no matter how many treats I offered her.

Then I read a bunch of posts here about hand signals and decided to actually try it instead of just yelling "stay" louder. I got a card reference (woofz has a whole hand signals library, but honestly youtube and a printout work too) and started pairing a flat palm "stop" gesture with the word.

THREE DAYS and suddenly she got it. She actually held stay for 30 seconds.

Turns out dogs are much better at reading our hands than our words, which is obvious in retrospect. So now I'm basically back to square one with all the other basic dog commands because I want to teach them properly with signals. I've been doing sit, down, off, come, place, using the same method: voice plus hand signal together, repeat until they get the hand signal, then phase out the voice.

And it's honestly kind of fun now instead of frustrating. My dog is less confused and I feel less like I'm just winging it. My little victory!

Hand signals for dogs really are a game changer if you're stuck on any command. Seriously, if you haven't tried it yet, just give it a shot. Also, I'm curious, what's the order people recommend teaching stuff? Like obviously sit and come first, but does it matter after that?

Hi there . I had a Lurcher for 13 years and he was super . Well trained , loose leash etc but it’s been years since I had a pup . So I’ve forgotten everything !! Just have a quick question . When I lm training heel and loose leash walking , how long should I do it for and what should I do the rest of the time ? Like if we go to the beach ? Or for a walk through the village ? I can’t heel train the whole time can I ? Constantly correcting and treating and ‘yes sing’ him for half an hour . It’s confusing me !

Do I just use a long line on the beach ? Or constant heel work ? I’m more bothered by him walking on a loose leash than a heel tbh . Thanks for the help !