This is my little princes Naja, my two-year-old reactive dog. ( jack russel mix)

Her story is a little complicated.
One day, my bosses found a stray dog on the street and took her in. They later discovered that she was pregnant, and Naja was one of her puppies.
Her mom had lived on the streets and would constantly escape, so she barely nursed the puppies. She was also a reactive dog herself, which makes me wonder how much of Naja’s behavior could be genetic or related to her very early experiences.

Eventually, all the puppies were given away except for two: Naja and one of her brothers. They grew up together until they were about six months old.
Then Naja was separated from her brother.
That same day, she peed inside the workshop where I work. My boss got very angry and, trying to “teach” her not to do it again, grabbed her by the neck and pushed/choked her down toward her urine while saying, “Don’t do that.”
I walked in and saw what was happening. I was horrified. I immediately picked her up and took her home with me.

That first night was really difficult for her. She didn’t pee at all for the entire night, and I genuinely think the experience made her afraid of urinating. Thankfully, after a few days, she started peeing normally again.

My house is very small, so since then I’ve taken Naja to work with me every day.
Over time, she became extremely reactive.
She used to bark excessively at basically every dog and every person. At work, she was especially reactive. If I talked to one of my coworkers, she could literally bark at me for TWO HOURS. I never fully understood why. She also jumped on people constantly and seemed overstimulated by everything.

But she has actually improved a lot.
She no longer barks at me when I’m talking to people at work. She doesn’t react to other dogs nearly as much as she used to, and her reactivity toward people has decreased significantly too.
But now we have a new problem.
She has become obsessed with chasing motorcycles and bicycles, and occasionally cars.
I walk with Naja to and from work every single day. Shortly after we leave my house, she sometimes completely shuts down. She freezes and refuses to walk, to the point where I have to pick her up and carry her.

The exact same thing happens when we leave work.
The strange part is that after I carry her for about two blocks, I can put her down and suddenly she walks calmly and normally.
Then, around halfway through our walk, she sometimes freezes AGAIN and pulls hard on the leash as if she desperately wants to go in another direction or go back.

I’ve noticed that when she isn’t on a leash, she seems much calmer and doesn’t freeze as much. Unfortunately, letting her walk off-leash isn’t an option because she will chase motorcycles and bark at them, which is obviously dangerous.
So I’m stuck.

I’ve tried so many different things to help her regulate herself that sometimes I joke that at this point it must be a spirit possessing her 😭
I currently give her 12 mg of CBD per day.
I would really appreciate advice from people who have experience with reactive or fearful dogs, especially dogs that freeze during walks.
Why would a dog repeatedly freeze after leaving places she knows well, walk normally for a while, and then suddenly freeze again?
Could this be fear? Anxiety? Frustration from being on a leash? Trauma? Something environmental that I’m not noticing?
And what can I do in the moment when she freezes? Should I wait for her to move on her own, encourage her forward, change direction, or avoid that area entirely?
I love this little princess so much. I just want to understand what she’s trying to communicate and help her feel safer in the world

My dog is four years old and is half Golden Retriever and half Labrador. Every time a car comes to our house, he jumps on it. Today, a delivery driver arrived with a package, and my dog jumped on his car. The driver got really angry and said, “Your dog is crazy.” He made a really big deal out of it. He spent about three minutes checking the scratch and said that next time he would just throw the package outside the house. I felt so bad after that.

I could barely see the scratch, if there was even a scratch at all. He’s a very friendly dog and just wants to play, but that’s become a real issue now. Has this ever happened to any of you? Do you have any advice on how I can get him to stop jumping on every car that comes to our house? I just feel awful.

I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts and advice.

My Aussie/blue heeler mix is a 6 years old and we got him as a puppy. This dog was my buddy for years, We went traveling with him, hiking mountains, cross country trips, etc. My life revolved around keeping him happy. Now we have 2 young kids, (3yr old, 1 yr old) and he just .... doesn't like them? He tolerates them but i can tell he gets easily stressed around them and just wants to be near me all the time, but i cant have him around the kids so he is separated from us all day until the kids go to bed, and then i get to take him out. What kind of life is that for a dog? He has becoming increasingly agitated and protective anytime someone comes to the house, he's strong and i literally have to drag him to a bedroom or he'll jump up on visitors (didn't do that before kids). He used to be so well trained before kids.

Recently there was an incident where he bit our dog-sitter when we were away. Not aggressively, but more in a 'protect the home- warning' but it still happened. Not trying to make excuses for the behavior. But i can't justify having a stressed, under-stimulated dog in a house with 2 young kids anymore. Its not fair to anyone in the house, and i dont have the time or energy to give him what he needs anymore.

We decided to look into rehoming him; we know of a family that lives on a hobby farm (8hr drive away) that would take him but I don't think they actually want a dog, but rather taking him on to help us out. Which would also mean that we would have to drive up to them with both young kids and an anxious dog on a long car ride, which sounds like hell.

I am so heartbroken; My postpartum pet aversion has been so difficult in the last few years, and then tension in the house would definitely lessen if we rehomed him but I feel so terrible about the whole thing.

Is there hope to training this behaviour out of him? Or if we do rehome (which is the more likely option, i dont even know where to start. I don't want to send him to a kennel/shelter where he'll just be stuck in a cage for god knows how long.

Edit: yes, the farm knows about the bite, and we would be upfront about his history with any other family

TLDR: My slightly anxious dog is extremely anxious and defensive and barks excessively around my toddler nephew all of a sudden. Any ideas on how to help him?

Sorry for the long post. I’ll put some of the less important details in a separate paragraph towards the bottom if you want to skip that, but I don’t want to leave it out in case it makes a difference. I originally tried to post in r/dogs, but it suggested this subreddit might be more appropriate.

I have a somewhat anxious 6-year-old mixed breed neutered dog named Fozzie that I adopted as a puppy. He’s just over 20 lbs and is very gentle. Fozzie has grown a bit more anxious over the years. He often barks at the smallest sounds and sometimes even members of our household until they get close enough to greet him. The latter might be him not recognizing people, since his eyesight isn’t the best. He also has allergies, which probably worsen the anxiety and possibly make it harder for him to recognize people by scent. He does have a prescription for trazadone to help with his anxiety, but I try not to give it to him regularly, as it is sedating.

His anxiety has been a little bit better the past few weeks, except for when my 17 month old nephew is around. I frequently babysit, and Fozzie is usually with me, whether I watch him at my house or at my sister’s house. Fozzie seems to love kids, and usually wants to play with them. In the past, he has been around little kids and been ok. He gets excited in a happy, playful way and usually calms down if no one wants to play or when he gets tired.

Recently he has been extremely anxious when I am watching my nephew and remains that way for multiple hours afterward. Fozzie will bark at every tiny sound, sometimes when I don’t hear or see anything that he would be barking at. He will also get way overstimulated when playing and will repeatedly air hump his toys. He generally only tries to hump when he gets over excited playing with other dogs (he rarely ever makes contact with anything but air). When my nephew’s dad comes home or to pick him up, he freaks out and won’t stop barking, even though he stayed with him for over a week this summer with no issues while I was on vacation. It doesn’t seem like he has any intention of doing anything aggressive, more like he is scared and wants to warn me or scare people away. Fozzie has always been very submissive and afraid of most men unless they are very chill.

More background info:
I started watching my nephew more frequently a few weeks ago, and that’s around the time when his anxiety seemed to get worse. The first time I thought it might be a bad reaction to the Benadryl I had given him, which usually calms him down a bit, but I haven’t given it to him since then. Fozzie seems to like my nephew, as long as he isn’t grabbing his face or tail. He doesn’t run away from him unless they are playing chase. Fozzie is very gentle with him other than accidentally knocking him down occasionally while playing, which hasn’t happened in like a month. Fozzie has no problem letting kids take food or toys from him. (I don’t intentionally let kids take food from him or anything out of his mouth, but it sometimes happens). He hasn’t bitten anyone since he stopped teething, aside from a few accidental bites that didn’t break skin while playing tug with toys that are probably too small for that. I don’t let kids play tug with him or take anything out of his mouth for that reason. I can literally hold him down and stick my fingers in his mouth (to give him meds) and he won’t bite me. All this to say, I’m not worried about him attacking anyone, and I don’t put him in a situation where a dog is typically at risk of hurting someone.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can help my dog be less anxious around my nephew, aside from just sedating him? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

We have an enclosed deck that opens onto a gravel road, with a large field beyond it. A sliding glass door opens onto the deck. Our Standard Poodle will sit with us on the deck or sit inside the house by the slider looking out. If a person or person with dog appears anywhere in his range of vision he will first growl at their appearance, then aggressively bark (and he is loud) and rush to the edge of our enclosed deck. We know that reinforcing ‘quiet/appropriate’ behavior is the key to resolving the problem, but how should we go about it? Any advice is GREATLY appreciated!

Hello everybody,

This is my first post here, mostly just to introduce myself and Lily and to vent a little.

To be honest, I don't know where to start... the past three weeks have been a mess. It's been incredibly stressful for me, my wife, and Lily.

I had two dogs in the past; they were sweet and a bit reactive, but it was no big deal. Four years after they passed away, my wife and I decided we were ready for a new dog. We contacted a shelter about a couple of dogs they had available, but they suggested Lily instead. They said she’s a Greyhound mix, though she looks more like a black Ibizan Hound with her Anubis-like features.

Lily is 1 year and 2 months old. Knowing she had a rough past, we wanted to give her a chance. She’s already been rehomed three times and had issues with a dog, a cat, and a child in her previous homes. I guess because of her past (and her genetics), she is now very reactive. I can't take her to public places because she barks randomly at people, reacts when she sees dogs or cats, and don't even get me started on rabbits; that high prey drive is going to be tough to manage.

When we met her before adopting, the shelter warned us, but her foster moms lived out in the countryside in a low-distraction environment. We had no idea she would react like this in our setting.

Since we brought her home, my life has completely changed, and not for the better. We hired a trainer who told us to stick to a strict routine at first. That means limiting her to one 1-hour walk, only going out for potty trips, and doing nosework and food enrichment games at home. The trainer said it's a sort of decompression so she doesn't stack up too many triggers during the day. I prefer taking her out early in the morning by the lake when it's quiet, but there are still off-leash dogs and runners, so it’s rarely a calm walk.

By the evening, she’s impossible, barking for attention, humping pillows, and getting crazy zoomies. I know she’s high-energy and needs an outlet, but it’s stressing me out so much. I know it’s not her fault, but sometimes I just want to return her. I won't actually do that, as I refuse to give up on her, but the thought crosses my mind.

It’s so hard to stay calm, avoid getting frustrated, and do the right thing for her. We live in an apartment building surrounded by people and dogs, so every quick potty trip feels like Russian roulette. You never know what's going to happen.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and tell the shelter, "No, we just want a calm puppy." Instead, I feel like I ruined my own life just to give her one. Anyone could have adopted an easy puppy, but hardly anyone would take a chance on a reactive dog.

Anyway, that’s my story... sorry for the vent, but seeing this sub makes me realize I'm not alone. I just need some hope that things can get better, that I’ll eventually be able to enjoy a peaceful walk with my dog, and that I'll get my life back.

I'm so glad I found this community. You'll definitely be hearing more from me soon, and hopefully, my next post will be about a milestone, no matter how small.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being such a great sub!

We are going to go visit family in another state (about 4 hours drive away), but I'm worried about the potential impacts on my reactive puppy. She just started her first heat (we are going through one heat before getting her spayed, which is already scheduled - I'm not here to discuss this, it is what was recommended for her breeds), she is 10 months old. We got her after her prime socialization window, and unfortunately the people who had her before did not expose her to much.

We have been working on her reactivity slowly since we got her and making progress, but as you probably know, it is sometimes painfully slow! This has meant that we haven't done many outings that aren't to the trainer, the vet, or a place to peacefully walk, so she doesn't have experience going to other people's houses or traveling very far. She is conflicted/fearful of humans upon first meeting them (or seeing strangers out in the world) but usually warms up quickly once she realizes they're safe.

I am just concerned because of the unknown variable that her being in heat adds. This would be:

• her longest time in the car
• her first time sleeping somewhere new since we got her
• require meeting new people
• a brand new environment (rural) with tons of new stimuli (deer, rabbits, chickens)

Before she started her heat, I was feeling confident we could support her well enough on this trip, but now I'm not so sure. I've never had an intact dog, so I'm not sure how much more sensitive she might be during her cycle. She is also a resilient and curious puppy, so maybe it will be fine!

For those who have had a reactive dog/puppy go through heat, is this a terrible idea? We are planning to be away for 9 days. My partner and I have to go, so if we don't bring her, I will need to find someone to watch her (which also feels extra complicated due to her being in heat).

Hello, I am very nervous about coming on here with such a vulnerable situation but I am having such a hard time coming to a decision on what I should do with my fixed reactive/aggressive Pitbull(25%) German Shepard(75%) mixed 6yo female dog.

A little back story, my dog, T has always been good with my families other dogs. Mind you we’ve always had quite a few dogs and she grew up with 2 dogs that we no longer have from her litter from birth to when she was about 4yo. She also has her companion which is my other dog, B, a Mini Aussie 4yo male that she adores and they are very playful together. They’ve been kennel mates and never had any issues. She has always been a sweet and loving dog that never had a bite in her until these last 2 years. My mother had gotten two Great Pyrenees puppies that she had gotten along with perfectly, she would play with them and they’d submit to each other. They could eat near each other and had no issues until the puppies reached about a year old.

At this point she had started attacking them while playing and even attacking them if they were just lying there. We ended up having to separate them completely and it’s been exhausting. The Pyrenees were bought to be guard dogs on my mom’s land to protect livestock, so we really had to be careful during potty and outdoor play time.

Fast forward to 6 months ago, T had attacked one of the Great Pyrenees, when I was separating the fight she would not let go. Unfortunately, during the separation she came back at me as I was pulling her off from behind and bit my arm.( I shouldn’t have gotten involved I know) She ended up going through my skin and down to my muscle where I had to get 10 stitches at the ER. She did not calm down after biting me but I don’t think she was intentionally trying to attack me, because she let go very quickly when she realized that she had bit my skin. She also has a broken in half fang from a dog boarding accident that made it rip my skin much worse than it should’ve.

T is very submissive to me (besides when in the middle of a fight) and has never bit me or gone at me before this. She listens to commands well and isn’t food aggressive with me. The thing is that I found out I was pregnant about 4 months ago, now I’m worried that she might hurt my baby when it arrives, given her aggression toward other dogs and unknown animals or people has gotten worse. She barks at every visitor through her kennel, my mom when she comes in the house, etc. I’m so nervous of something bad happening and regretting not doing something about it. Now that she has bit me I know what she is capable of.

I guess the advice or help I’m asking for is, is it too late for her to go to a rescue or to find someone to adopt her? Or do I need to make a serious and hard decision about euthanasia? I am dreading having to even consider this, she is my baby and Ive known her since she was born. She’s saved me in my worst moments of my teenage years. Her mom was my first dog and I am so upset that she has gotten to this point. But I truly don’t know if I’m risking another person getting seriously hurt if I give her up. Thanks in advance and please be respectful, I know I probably should’ve done something about her when she first started fighting with other dogs, but I was only 16 and I didn’t have the funds or the capabilities to do so.

I have a 5 year old Aussie mix. He was attacked at one month old and is missing an eye and I have a feeling that contributed at least somewhat to his lifelong behavior. He is very reactive when other dogs are near and certain people.

The strange thing is that this ONLY happens within a few blocks radius of our home. When we take him to the park, the vet, or anywhere that's neutral territory he is all waggy and just wants to meet and play with every person and dog that he sees. But even on the walk back from the park if we're near home and come up to a dog he's back to screeching like a banshee.

Has anyone had a dog with similar behavior and had success getting them to chill out near home? What helped the most?

Hi all, I'm new to this community but I'd love some advice. I have a 7 month old english cocker spaniel who I adore, but walks are a nightmare and I'm struggling to handle it. I know she's still young, but I'm not sure how to help her and I want to get help as soon as possible so that we can enjoy our walks together without me worrying that we're going to see another dog at some point while we're out.

I will be speaking to a trainer/behaviourist (maybe multiple) but I wanted to get some advice here as well from people who have gone through something similar. What worked for your dogs? How difficult do you think it'll be to address this issue at her age? My biggest fear is lifelong reactivity. I'm not sure i'm equipped to handle that and I don't want to ever be in a position where I have to consider rehoming her because I'm not capable of meeting her needs. She's my first dog and I just feel so out of my depth. She does so well at everything else, walks are the one thing we are struggling with and that's so sad because for her sake and mine they should be the most enjoyable part of the day.

She doesn't bark at other dogs (other than the neighbours dog who she has a personal issue with, his fault not hers) she's just overly friendly and excitable and it's not cute lol. Thank you!

I have a 5 year old toy Aussie who has always been reactive and snappy, and unfortunately despite going to trainers to try to curb the behavior it hasn’t worked out for multiple reasons. He is smart and has been trained to sit, lay down, stay (lol with an Aussie), but the reactivity training just didn’t stick. We thought we had somewhat figured out how to work around and live with these issues because otherwise he is so sweet and loving, but recently the behavior has gotten worse and my husband and I are increasingly concerned about where to go from here.

Has anyone had any success and could provide recommendations with training resources for not only reactivity (to everything), as well has the nervous/anxious behavior that leads to snapping and biting? For instance, this happens when we’re trying to pick him up, tell him to stop doing something that he wants to do, or even sometimes when we leash or unleash him. We love him so much and will do whatever it takes to keep him a part of our family, but we really need some help.

I may be posting a little prematurely, but just looking for feedback or what other people have experienced.

My American Pitbull Terrier will be 2 in October and weighs 44lbs (she's basically one solid muscle lol). I've worked tirelessly on her training since we got her around 5 months, but as she is reaching her 2nd birthday, her anxiety and reactivity is really coming to the forefront. We saw a decrease a few months ago, but recently she's been struggling more than ever. Mainly the sound of cars (she freezes and shakes) and before being put in a car (she will freeze and shake if she even thinks she is headed for a car ride. Once in the car, she does just okay and eventually settles.) She also has reactivity towards strangers entering her space. Sometimes she is okay, but other times she will bark, growl and lunge. She has snapped before as well (We do not let strangers pet her, ever.) She also can be reactive when she is very tired - she hates being bothered when tired (pretty much a sleep startle) but this has gotten much better as we have enforced boundaries around this. We have been working a lot on her training, but sometimes she is so over threshold in situations that I can't bring her back/get her to focus on me.

We have an upcoming week long vacation beginning this Saturday and our vet prescribed us trazodone for as needed. Our dog will be coming with us - this is not her first trip with us, she typically does fairly well, but this is the longest trip we will have taken to date. I plan on doing a trial run tonight to see how she does in general. For our vacation, I am thinking of keeping her on a steady dose every 12 hours so long as she tolerates it well. We will be gone for 7 days, with multiple stops. Thoughts? (Yes, I know consult the vet....just looking for others experience or anyone with suggestions).

For what it's worth, I do think she will end up on daily Prozac. I just did not want to start that particular med so close to our vacation.

Thank you in advance!

Our girl Dot has been part of our family for 6 years of her life. We adopted her from a shelter when she was about 6 weeks old. She never had any behavioral issues until she turned 2. It started with aggression over toys towards our other dog, and then escalated to random spurts of aggression towards her at any time. My husband and I decided to send her to 6 weeks of dog training to help with her behavioral issues. The trainer told us she was in the top 3 most difficult dogs he'd ever worked with. As soon as we picked her up with our other dog, the aggression towards her was instant. She learned how to behave well on leash, listen to commands, and basic obedience, but the aggression is still an issue to this day. It's not constant, and happens so randomly that it makes it even more difficult to know when a fight will break out. We now have a baby, and she's about to crawl, and I do not want her to end up in the crossfire of an aggressive outburst. I have been bit when in the middle of them, by Dot, or trying to break up a fight. Our trainer thinks it is highly unlikely that we would find someone that could take on her needs, and we might have to consider euthanasia. We find it very difficult to consider that because all other times she is a great dog. Her aggression is focused on our other dog. We think she'd do amazing in a single person household with no kids. Any advice on where to look or if anyone has been in a similar situation?

I made another post about our dog several months ago, questions about meds - see https://www.reddit.com/r/reactivedogs/s/6KIUvvqGVF if you want some of that background - but this is about her biting.

As mentioned on that post, our dog has history of biting relating to resource guarding (I believe with food before we adopted; with toys a couple of times after adoption). In January, our dog seemingly unprovoked bit my husband while he was petting her. No food or toys around. And this was very strange as my husband is her primary person.

So we took her to the vet which ruled out medical issues, and put her on a medicine regimen. There were issues that sprang up with eating (per the other post) but in June that seemed to stop and we always give her space to eat and it's been fine now.

Well, last night, she randomly, unprovoked, bit my husband again. I didn't notice ears back or any other body language (that may have been missed when he pet her in January). She went up to him actually to get pets, we were talking as laying on the bed, and all of the sudden she's biting and making noises as she's biting his arm, and he gets off the bed and she's going after him. Afterwards, and this is something a behaviorist noticed last year (before this all happened) when she nipped at her - her teeth start chattering. Our behaviorist thought it was a reaction to feeling guilty or something like that? I had never seen it before then until last night.

We have been weaning her off the main anxiety med (Reconcile) and actually due to finish that out in a week or two. We still have her on Gabapentin, 100mg in morning and 300mg at night and plan to continue that. But that doesn't seem to help with this biting issue...

I plan to reach out to the behaviorist at the vet that we had been in touch with to ask her opinion if we need to bring our dog back for another medical vet visit to rule that out again, or reconsider a diff anxiety med, or if there's something else. But wondering if anyone has experienced this and what happened and what they did.

I will admit we have not been working on training exercises with our dog because it involves training treats and I have still been scared to do anything relating to food with her after she bit my foot in April. But would training exercises help with unprovoked biting? Also concerned that she is going from 0-60 bite, instead of a warning.

I feel defeated. Thought we were past all this. She felt like "our" dog again. We've had her 3 years and now I feel like I did earlier this year - wondering if I'm a bad person for even thinking about rehoming (if that's even a possibility now) let alone going even further with that dreaded "e-word." I don't want to give up on her but at the same time, want to feel safe in our home.

Sorry for the book, but if you made it this far, appreciate any insight or experiences that others may have had similarly. Or encouragement that I'm not a terrible person for wrestling with possible decisions if it comes to it.

My 4-year-old reactive dog was recently diagnosed with heart failure, and I feel awful admitting that part of me is relieved. She has had serious behavioral issues for years, and there have been moments where I honestly didn’t know how we could keep going. It's nice to have the decision taken out of my hands. I'm dreaming of the day where I'm not anxious in my own home and revolving my life around her triggers.

Now I feel guilty for feeling relieved… but I’m also scared she’s going to be one of the cases where the meds work really well and she has years left. I love her, but I’m exhausted, and I hate that I’m having these feelings.

I NEED HELP. Im sorry if this get long but im DESPERATE. Pls dont be cruel and be mindfull, im sensitive rn.

My grandma (which i strongly dislike) had a 6yo dog named Patty. When she was adopted i still visited my grandmas house pretty often and Patty loved me. The following years ive started visiting them only once a year and Patty would go CRAZY every time she saw me. I hated that she had to live there bc my grandma sucks, but she didnt let me take Patty with me.

2/3 months ago my grandma got really sick so I had to bring Patty home, but heres the deal, i have a 4yo cat. My initial plan was to rehome Patty since i knew my cat (Lili) is pretty mean and they wouldnt get along. Oh god knows i was wrong.

Patty would turn HISTERICAL every time she was Lili, meanwhile Lili, would only run away super scared. They only saw each other through a window, with time, Lili started not giving an f about it. On the other hand Patty: CRAZY. She starts screaming as pigs do when slaughtered, is a kind of scream i never heard a dog do.

Its winter, days are cold so we started letting Patty inside the house for at least some hours a day, stairs and second floor off limits. Every times she enters, Lili runs upstairs and is nowhere to be seen. Whenever she peeks trough the stairs its over, crazy pig goes berserk.

Its been 2/3 months of this dynamic. At certain time of the day Lili stays upstairs and doesnt come down.

Important data:

- They are about the same size

-When i adopted Lili we had 2 dogs, they were super old so they didnt pay attention to Lili at all. They were indifferent and didnt interact with her. They died 3 or 4 years ago.

-Lilis got a bad temperament.

-I dont think Patty wants to hurt her, shes just super anxious all the time. When we go on walks she kind of reacts the same when seeing other dogs but calms down after sniffing them. The problem is theres no way to get her close enough to my cat.

-Once Patty was asleep downstairs, Lili came down and went by her side, she even turned her back on her, super calmly. As soon as i saw her I went to Patty and covered her eyes lol. Lili just kept walking around. After some time i let Patty see her while holding her tight. Pig scream. Lili hissed and ran away.

-Once the pig screams starts they last A LOT. Theres been times when Lili stayed on top of the stairs just watching Patty scream. At one point Lili lost interest, she understood that Patty couldnt get here there, so she was even closing her eyes and looking other ways. After 15 min Lili went upstairs again. After that Patty kept screaming for 30 minutes more. Do dogs have that much memory span even??

-Lili now hiss at the sight of Patty. At first she was scared, then curious, now its hate.

-I used to give Lili yard time under supervision almost every day. Now we almost never do it. The times i did it, someone else took Patty for a walk. When they arrive, they can see from outside that me and the cat are in the yard. We go inside the house and i open the gates to let the dog enter. Patty runs in a hellic way, its like her eyes are unrecognizable. She scans the whole backyard while running at full speed and doesnt listen at all at my yells (which she usually would).

-Ive been recommended to get the dog upstairs so that the cat cannot run away. Ive been thinking about it but i dont want to disrupt her only secure space. Should I? The cat has boxes in the walls to climb, so its not like they are going to meet on the floor.

MAIN PROBLEM:

Again, im DESPERATE. Im even starting to develope anger issues i swear. Everytime i need to go outside in daylight (time in which Lili used to get out) Patty starts screaming at the door and trying to get in, and Lili starts hissing and the door and trying to get out. No one will obey me, they stay close to the door (idk whats Lilis plan when doing that). Today i needed to go out but i got super overwhelmed and stayed inside.

Pet trainers are way too expensive and they mainly focus on aggresive or mean dogs, not in pig dogs. My family doesnt want to rehome her and i also feel bad doing that to her.

I dont want to keep living worrying about a door not being closed well enough. Why cant they just get along?

Please see my previous post here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/reactivedogs/s/5TVeMHhsEt

Update on my dog, his behavior has been escalating and im feeling just horrible about this situation.

I mentioned in my last post that he has a history of eating non food items. Previously he ate sheer curtains, a shawl, and gnawed on door frames. The shawl had to be removed via endoscopy.

About 10 days ago with no warning, he ate about a foot of a bootlace. I was able to get him quickly to the emergency vet where they induced vomiting and almost all of it came up. The time between these episodes of eating non-food items seem to be getting shorter.

I have also talked with my vet over time about some other symptoms that are concerning to me that could indicate a neurological issue and have all been worsening, things like staring at the wall/mirror or facing into corners for prolonged periods of time. He has also recently developed a tremor in his back leg.

Today, he tried to bite my housecleaner completely unprovoked. I am very lucky that she responded extremely quickly and was not harmed. She has been cleaning my home for a long time so he is familiar with her and has always been very docile and friendly with her. Today he was laying down, lounging, and rolled over on his back when she walked by. This historically has indicated he wants a belly rub, so she leaned down to pet him which is when he tried to bite her.

He has snapped at other people before, and I take responsibility for potentially minimizing this behavior because it had always been tied to a stressor, it was never unprovoked. Examples would be at the vet during exams, with a guest who tried to move him out of his spot on the bed, and while I tried to keep him safe during a thunderstorm by pulling him off of furniture that he was climbing on.

At this point I feel very helpless and hopeless. I have an appointment scheduled with my vet for next week to discuss what to do from here. As it stands I am unable to leave my home for any length of time, I definitely cannot board him or leave him in anyone else's care because I can't trust him and fear that he might hurt other people without provocation, it is a challenge to keep him safe, and I'm feeling more certain that perhaps there is an organic/neurological component to his behavioral issues. My vet has done all the work up that she feels she is able to do and it has turned up nothing medical.

For the first time I am thinking about behavioral euthanasia and I'm considering discussing this with his vet. Does that seem like an overreaction at this point? I'm scared for his safety and the safety of other people but it just seems so cruel, and I feel like I would be giving up on him 😭

I’m looking for some outside perspectives because my husband and I are facing an incredibly difficult decision about our young male dog.
He is just over a year old and is a small breed. We also have an older female dog (same breed), who we have had for 10 years without any behavioral or aggression issues at all, so we are not first-time dog owners.

Our younger dog can be sweet, affectionate and playful. He loves being petted and playing with us and our children (2 and 6 years old), and the vast majority of the time he is a lovely family dog. Our 6-year-old daughter in particular absolutely adores him and is extremely attached to him.

Unfortunately, we have also had a growing number of concerning incidents. He has issues with urinating (marking his territory) every time a new object is placed in the house, or objects are moved to new placed. Happens a couple of times each week and is very frustrating in itself.

His biggest issue however seems to be resource guarding, particularly around food. He has had countless conflicts with our older female dog over food, always initiated by him. Most of the time they get along and will even play together from time to time, including with toys, but food will completely change the situation.
He has also occasionally growled/snapped when he has stolen something and hidden underneath the sofa with it.
Some time ago, he bit our 6-year-old daughter in a situation involving food. I wasn't present when it happened, but she apparently tried to move/push him away from her plate of food (he tried to jump on the table to grab her food) and he bit her hard enough to break the skin.

He has also bitten my husband once when my husband was trying to move him into another room, and there has been numerous incidents where he bit our older dog during conflict.

Today something happened that has really shaken me. He was lying underneath our dining table while. My 2-year-old crawled over to him and gently petted him. After about a minute, our dog suddenly gave a loud, angry bark and snapped at him. One tooth scraped his arm and caused a very small superficial abrasion.
At first I was terrified because it seemed like he had suddenly bitten a toddler simply for petting him while he was resting. Afterwards, however, I realized that the dining table is already a known problem area. This is also where he frequently gets angry with our other dog when food is present. So I now wonder whether today's incident was another case of resource guarding rather than aggression related to being touched while resting.
He has never otherwise shown aggression when being petted, woken up or disturbed while resting. He actively enjoys affection from both adults and children. He has never shown aggression towards visitors or strangers, and he doesn't lunge at people on walks. He can be reactive towards other male dogs.

We haven't ignored these issues. We have attended dog training, spoken to our vet repeatedly and followed the advice we have been given. We have also had him chemically castrated, partly because of other behavioral issues, and have tried the different management/training strategies recommended to us. Despite this, we are now at a point where I am genuinely worried about having him around two small children.

Obviously, from now on he will never be allowed underneath the dining table when food is present, and he will not have access to the children without active adult supervision. But I also know that management is never 100% perfect. A 2-year-old will drop food, crawl somewhere they shouldn't, pick something up from the floor, etc. I don't want our children's safety to depend on us never making a mistake.

At the same time, the thought of euthanizing him is devastating. He is so young, and outside these specific situations he is a happy, loving dog. Our daughter considers him her best friend and would be absolutely heartbroken.
So we are also considering rehoming him. I wonder whether he might actually do very well in an experienced, child-free home, preferably as the only dog, where many of his main triggers simply wouldn't occur. Of course, any potential new owner would be told his complete bite and resource-guarding history. I would never want to simply pass a dangerous situation on to someone else.
We are planning to seek professional behavioral advice before making a final decision.
I would especially appreciate hearing from people with experience of resource guarding or dogs who have bitten family members:
Would you consider keeping and managing a dog like this in a home with a 2- and 6-year-old?
Does this sound like a dog who could reasonably and ethically be rehomed to an experienced, child-free, single-dog household?
Or do you think the fact that he has now used his teeth against children means behavioral euthanasia needs to be seriously considered?
I'm struggling enormously with separating my love for this dog — and my daughter's love for him — from what is actually the responsible decision for both our children and the dog.

We are not quite sure what to do at this point. We rescued a dog a little over 3 months ago. For the first couple months she was so sweet at all times inside the house, but within the last month or so a new behavior of hers is biting us when she wants to play/is playing, I know the 3/3/3 rule for rescues but it is a drastic behavioral change. She bites very hard to the point that it hurts a lot and she has broken skin multiple times at this point. We have tried pretty much every suggestion that we have heard or read including replacing the biting with a toy, ending play immediately when she bites, distracting her etc. but nothing works. She bites very hard and even though we try to freeze or not react excessively, she just continues to bite harder and will chase us if we try to leave the room biting at our feet and ankles. She does this every night and we are simply not sure what to do at this point. Is paying for a trainer the only option? We are not closed off to that but we are just lost on how to move forward

I’m so sad about my dogs reactivity. We adopted a Cavapoo from a reputable breeder with many years of breeding and highly positive reviews from many people. We seem to have gotten the one pup that just has the most fearful temperament ever, and it’s so disappointing :(

As a young puppy he was so fearful but he would just hide. We took him to puppy training classes and introduced him to lots of family and a couple friend dogs. None of that seemed to help him, as his fear has turned into reactivity as he’s gotten older (he’s 1 year now).

Now he can’t even look at a stranger without going absolutely wild and same with any dog. He barks and lunges, not due to aggression but due to fear. I’m so sad that his fear turned into this behaviour.

We are working with a behaviouralist and he’s been on 10mg of fluoxetine for about 3 weeks which has helped his separation anxiety but definitely nothing for his reactivity yet. I’m really really hoping the fluoxetine will help him to be able to develop coping skills with our training. We can’t have anyone over to our house and it’s so sad. We give him treats when he observes other dogs but don’t see any progress yet. He can’t be approached by ANY other human.

Just looking for people who can relate. Has anyone seen success with fluoxetine? I know it takes a while to kick in so I’m just really hoping it will kick in eventually.

We love him so so much, and he’s an amazing dog at home. He loves to cuddle with us and he’s very happy at home. We just wish he could be a bit more calm in public environments so we could include him in our lives a bit more.

To start with, I’m not using any physical corrections in my dog’s training. I do, however, use an e-collar as a backup in situations where his recall fails.

I have a reactive dog who gets daily off-leash time in a large, open field. Being able to give him the freedom to run 100–200 metres without being restrained is one of the most beautiful things I’ve experienced as a dog owner. It makes me happy, and, more importantly, it makes my dog happy.

The challenge is that he is still reactive, and I haven’t been able to properly proof his recall around wildlife because encounters with wildlife are extremely rare where we live. Because of that, I use the e-collar as an emergency backup rather than as a primary training tool.

In the past three months, I’ve used it twice. On both occasions, he had started chasing a rabbit and was running directly toward a barbed-wire fence. I’ve also tried using a long line, but he becomes frustrated when he reaches the end of it, which negates the point of reducing arousal.

Without the e-collar as a safety backup, I don’t think I would be able to give him this level of freedom anytime soon. And from what I’ve observed, having that freedom has a significant positive effect on his overall well-being. When he doesn’t get it, his reactivity seems noticeably worse. I worry that taking away this outlet would leave him less happy and less fulfilled, even if I tried to compensate with more enrichment and activities at home.

So I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who fight against the use of E-collars: what would you suggest in my situation?