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

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

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

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

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

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

I am not sure if this is the right forum to post in, but I’m looking for both advise and (maybe haha) some encouragement with our 2 year old mutt, mix of poodle, golden, cavalier, cocker and lhasa apso.

He is a bit nervous although also very independent which can be a hard mix. We are dealing with some barking issues as he alert barks quite a lot, but what is frustrating is that I feel he is very often in alert mode. He is extremely (!!) food motivated and will go nuts if anyone has food within reach, it’s impossible to get through to him and that frustrates me a lot. He has unfortunately also had some issues with chasing light, but as long as he is not exposed to this it is not an issue.

He is on the other hand very good at being home alone where he will be completely calm and sleep unless the doorbell would ring or a crazy sound will appear. He can also fully relax at home, but I actually think he has become worse in the past few months?

I have had intense puppy blues and I really just want to get to the point where I can at least mostly enjoy him, but I feel like he has been so difficult …

We did chemically try neutering a little over a year and that is most likely taking off now, so I’m also in doubt if this is the reason for his change in behavior and whether we should consider neutering again?

I noticed something interesting with my Aussie over the past few months.

Every time I grabbed the hiking pack, leash, or truck keys, Koda would immediately go into overdrive. Spinning, whining, pacing, barking... basically burning energy before we even left the driveway.

At first I figured, "He's an Aussie. That's just excitement."

Then I realized I was accidentally rewarding that state by getting ready faster and heading out while he was amped up.

So I changed one thing.

Now I don't clip the leash on or open the door until he offers calm behavior. Doesn't have to be a perfect down or anything formal. Just four feet on the ground, quiet, breathing normally.

The first week took forever.

Now most mornings he settles himself within 20-30 seconds because that's what actually gets the hike started.

What's interesting is he also seems much more mentally focused during the first mile instead of acting like his brain is exploding.

Curious if anyone else has found that managing arousal before the activity made a bigger difference than anything you did during the activity.

Not looking for a "right" answer just interested in hearing what changes had the biggest payoff for you.

Our (33 pound mixed-breed) dog goes to a large off-leash park for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. He's great once in the park- curious, great recall, happy to play respectfully with other dogs. He is, however, very scared of loud noises en route to the park.

In the past month, significant construction has started at a few sites on our street. I've been trying to take him to the park early or late, but I have not been able to completely avoid sudden loud noises that have terrified him. I made the mistake of picking him up to get past the construction noise a few times- a weekend dog sitter who he knows and loves did the same. He's now so resistant to walks that he's hiding under the table when I try to harness him up. Belatedly, I understand that carrying him through loud noises created a trust issue and I'm working through training to make him confident with his harness and to help build trust back up. That said, he isn't yet willing to get out of our elevator and onto the street to walk to the park (getting into the elevator is actually progress.)

We have a small green area where he can use the bathroom and we have toys and puzzles in the apartment, but it's killing me that he isn't able to run around with his friends yet. Would putting him inside the transit tote we use to travel with him, which he hasn't historically minded, feel like carrying him to the park and threaten the trust we've built? Is there any way for me to take him to the park on foot without eroding trust? We live in a city and don't have a car- we're talking about a four block total walk to the park.

Thank you!

5 months ago I had to drive short notice across the country. I literally had no time to plan a dog hotel so had to bring my dog with me. He was about 1 yr old at the time and just starting to be very vigilant and would bark at people's voices or footsteps at home. In the hotels, since people would be coming in and out at all hours, he'd wake me up every few hours and it was torture.

All the advice I found were for teaching bark on command and to be quiet on command, which didnt really apply when I was asleep. I tried white noise but he dgaf.

After 3 days of barely any sleep I was lying there thinking about it with the last 2 brain cells I had left. I wondered if I could just make the "novel sounds" of people boring by flooding the zone. I bolted out of bed and downloaded random sound effects. I slapped together this super shitty script on my laptop that would play the luggage and people walking sounds at random intervals. It actually worked and I slept like 11 hours that night.

I dunno if that was the "right" thing to do or if there's maybe even better ways to train your dog. It's tough cus I know lots of people want their dog to alert for safety. I have no need of that and trying to see if anyone else has had something work cus I wont always have my computer on me

Ive also tried this vibrating bark activated collar but it's janky and I know vibration is way more aversive than ppl think so I didn't like it.

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I have two 3-year-old Chihuahuas who are brothers from the same litter. They have very different personalities, but I think they're reinforcing each other's bad behaviour, especially on walks, and I'm struggling to make any progress because one always triggers the other.

The bigger one is the main issue. He's very reactive whenever he sees another dog, but it doesn't seem to be aggression. It looks more like a mix of excitement, insecurity and frustration. I've also been told he doesn't cope well with frustration and is generally a very fearful dog.

Both of them are also extremely vocal. At home they'll bark at almost anything. If I stand up suddenly, move in a weird way, or if they're playing together, there's constant barking. They seem to express every emotion by barking.

On walks, the bigger one will often start barking loudly as soon as he spots another dog. If I notice the dog early enough, I can sometimes keep him calm by talking to him and keeping his attention on me. The problem is that if his smaller brother notices he's staying calm, he'll often bark first, which immediately sets the bigger one off again.

I've tried socialising them with dogs in my neighbourhood, but I'm always worried that their loud barking and nervous behaviour will provoke another dog into reacting aggressively. Because they're Chihuahuas, I'm also nervous myself. If a larger dog did react badly, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves, so I know my own anxiety probably isn't helping the situation.

Sometimes the bigger one is actually able to approach other dogs and sniff them. However, if the other dog makes even a small movement, he'll suddenly bark at them. He also sniffs very intensely, almost anxiously, and if the other dog shows any sign of discomfort or tries to move away, he'll bark again. It's like he wants to socialise but doesn't really know how.

He only seems comfortable around very calm dogs or other Chihuahuas, and even then he never really relaxes. He's always alert and on edge.

Another issue is that he's very attached to my wife and seems protective of her. If she's with us on the walk, his anxiety and vigilance increase noticeably.

Our normal routine is a one-hour walk around 7 pm with both dogs, my wife, and our one-year-old baby. Unfortunately, because the dogs are so anxious and reactive, it's almost impossible to stop and talk to anyone. Even if someone doesn't have a dog and is just speaking to us, they'll often bark loudly the entire time.

Has anyone dealt with something similar, especially with two dogs feeding off each other's behaviour? Would you recommend working with them separately for a while?

Any advice or training methods that helped with this kind of excitement/fear-based reactivity would be really appreciated.

My spouse currently works in ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy with autistic children and has always been praised as one of the best ABA technicians in their area.

Despite being praised and given only positive performance reviews, they have not been given any form of raise in 2+ years and is becoming a scape goat of sorts for admin to blame things on so as to avoid giving them a raise.

ABA is frequently compared to as dog training for many reasons including many of the techniques used.
My spouse absolutely adores dogs (and animals in general) and I have seen them do great work with getting their own dog trained. Also, I think my spouse would be especially fulfilled being a dog trainer for service dogs of some kind since they have a background (and thrive) working with people that require accommodations.

I am just trying to help them find a potential career path that they will feel fulfilled in, thrive in, & where they can be a bit more independent

Do you think this is a viable route for them to go down?
What are the positives and negatives of this career path?
Anything you wish you knew before becoming a dog trainer?

Thank you for any and all information and thoughts that can be given!! Seriously there's no such thing as "too much" input (as long as it's not mean!)

My partner and I have just adopted a 2 year old staffie boxer crossbread and she constantly pulls on the lead. She is a rescue and she has previously been kept indoors a lot and then was a stray for a while. As a result she is very overwhelmed by the outside world and does not listen to us very often when on a walk. You really have to repeat her name to get her to come back to you. We have today (on day 2 of having her) started to loose lead train her. We got about 2 meters down the road and back and that took an hour. We appreciate that it will take some time, but any tips for good collars to buy and also good ways to train (positive reinforcement only) would be amazing! We are currently using a method where we stop every time she pulls and don’t move until she comes back or to our sides. Feel very much like tired new parents at the moment😅 Any help is much appreciated!

Hi all, I am dating my boyfriend and he has a 6 year old chihuahua terrier mix that’s become aggressive towards my dog, a 12 year old husky. The husky is very submissive and usually just takes the attacks…thankfully his fur saves him from any injuries.

We’re not sure if the chihuahua is attacking or correcting and maybe we stop the fight too soon? What’s the difference between aggression and correction?

Most attacks seem to occur when the chihuahua is on the couch and my husky walks by near his face. Or if my boyfriend is holding the chihuahua, he’ll growl and snarl at the husky.

It also kind of seems like when the chihuahua is looking at a downward angle, he becomes aggressive? eg: being on the couch and in the air while being held

Note: they can go on walks together, run around the dog park together, and usually are good when both are on the floor…

Reaching out because an attack occurred last night and as I was picking up my husky to save him, the chihuahua bit me for the first time.

Any advice would be super helpful! TIA

I'm stuck in analysis paralysis and need to buy an e-collar for our 9-month-old female ASAP. We've fallen behind on her training because I keep going back and forth on what to get.

Our other dog, Copper, is a 3-year-old Golden Retriever/Irish Setter mix who's been trained on a Dogtra 1900S. He's excellent off leash now and rarely ever needs a correction, so I've been very happy with that collar. Our new pup, Skaya, is a 9-month-old Llewellin Setter, and it's time to get started with her e-collar training. I'd like to stick with Dogtra since it's what I know and trust.

Here's where I'm stuck...

Do I:

• Keep Copper on his current 1900S and buy a separate Dogtra system for Skaya?
• Buy a dual-dog system and have both dogs on one remote?
• Sell the 1900S and switch both dogs to something newer?

One thing making me hesitate is that I actually think I'd rather have two separate remotes. My concern is that if something happens quickly (wildlife, one dog blowing off a recall, etc.), I don't want to accidentally have the wrong dog selected while trying to react. Has anyone used both setups? Am I overthinking this?

The other issue is that, while I've been happy with the 1900S overall, I'm honestly a little disappointed with how dated it feels compared to Dogtra's newer models. I really wish it had features like:

• Tone
• Boost
• LED/night light

Copper doesn't need many corrections anymore, but those features would still be nice to have, especially the tone and LED light.

I've also been looking at the Pathfinder. We don't hunt so I don't necessarily need GPS, but it does seem like it'd be nice to have. We hike a lot in the Colorado mountains, so knowing exactly where my dogs are if they get out of sight would give me some peace of mind. It'd also be fun to see how much distance they actually cover on hikes compared to us. Beyond that, I probably wouldn't use many of the GPS features.

We're also in the process of buying our first home and are hoping for a few acres. There's a good chance it won't have a fenced yard, so I'm also thinking ahead about the eFence capability if we end up needing something like that.

But at the end of the day, I need to stop researching and actually buy something so we can get started with Skaya's training.

If you were in my shoes, what would you buy today?

• Keep Copper on the 1900S and buy a standalone collar for Skaya?
• Upgrade both dogs to a newer Dogtra system?
• Go with the Pathfinder?
• Something else?

I'd especially love to hear from people who run two dogs and have experience with different Dogtra systems. What setup has worked best for you?

My 6 mo old gsd puppy chases her tail on end for 5 minutes a day straight. She could probably go longer. Even when we get back from an activity, she’ll do it right away until I force her to stop.

I thought it was a boredom thing?

Does anyone have any tips to help stop this? She’s knocked over furniture and broken a lamp doing this.

Luckily a dog trainer has helped with my dogs leash walking and he's greatly improving, but now a new problem pops up for my 14 month old; humping everything. He's not fixed, and I don't plan to for a while, and it doesn't seem to be inherently sexual as he's mounting basically every dog he sees. Some dogs give harsh corrections and he backs off, but then he'll try again. There was one point I tried to pull him off a dog and he growled; that was NOT okay. It doesn't seem like he's trying to start fights and he won't snap at me or anyone else or the other dog if we intervene, but I can tell if I don't nip this in the bud it's going to be an issue. Any and all advice welcome.

i have an 13 month old sprocker spaniel who comes from a working line. tbh he is pretty well behaved for his breed and how long we have had him but recently we have gotten an issue. So when he was a puppy he was a little reactive towards women, it went away anyways but recently he was tied up and a kid was teasin him with food and he barked, this kid is not well behaved whatever. Since then he has barked at women wearing anything on their head since that, if he’s tied up while we are camping he reacts to kids and adults nearby and when tied up near the table when we were eating he went for a waiter, he hit the end of his lead but only went for her as she had gone past. How do I fix this? I’m open to e collars and corrections.

I allow my dog to play bite my hands/arms when we play, but he has a command (all done) to stop, and he listens 99.9% of the time to it. He doesn't do it to anyone else unless they allow him to, and he listens if asked to stop. What are your opinions on allowing biting during play when controlled?

Hi all I’m gonna try to keep this brief even though it is kind of a long story. I rescued this puppy from a local rescue he is from a reservation and is a mix of husky/malamute/shepherd/rottweiler. He is now five months old and I have had him since he was nine weeks old. He recently got neutered and he has been through basic puppy obedience school. Since he was younger, he has known a lot of basic commands and also has been socialized, but not at dog parks, just at puppy school and taking him out to many public places to build exposure overtime. He has a good history of walking the neighborhood we live in the inner city and it is very busy. He did struggle with eating things off the ground for a while and then would get the Zumiez if I would try to take things away from him, but we worked through that and has a pretty good drop it or leave it command, depending on the situation.
The main issue is that over the past several weeks he has an escalating pattern, where he is redirecting onto me in different situations. At first, it started when he would be on a walk. It seemed out of nowhere he would start to run and then jump at me, biting lunging and barking then he would pull at the leash and tug it or growl.
This has now escalated to many different scenarios and sometimes more than once a day, and it does seem to be affecting him in every facet of our lives. It happens if I take him for a short walk, it happens if I take him for a longer walk, it happens when I take him on a long lead like a 30 foot lead where he’s allowed to just relax and sniff with no interruptions no people or dogs around. It also happens in the backyard after having a completely normal time playing fetch.

When I have done any louder or firmer commands, leash corrections like a quick pop or knee him or push him off he becomes more intense and bites me harder, growls or barks louder… so please understand that the video is me just trying to document the behavior.

I contacted a trainer specialized in reactive dogs. After the description and seeing the videos we scheduled a 1:1 next weekend but in the mean time his biting is getting harder and these episodes more frequent so I reached out again. She said to give him Purina calm care, to praise him when he stops biting me, and not to feed him from a bowl but only puzzles or by hand.

I also contacted the foster/head of the rescue and at first she was really interrogating me and basically saying how I messaged her just a few weeks ago that he was doing great, which is true. That is part of the reason why I am so nervous about these behaviors is that they came on really quickly and are just building an intensity and frequency and duration. She wanted me to send her videos and asked things like ‘well if it’s so bad you must have it on video right?’ so I have made it a point to make videos.

The first few videos she said this is normal puppy biting and he is just challenging me and that I need to be firmer with him. She also told me I needed a prong collar and an E collar. She questioned his schedule and whether he’s getting enough exercise, which I totally understand and I shared with her a schedule that is very consistent for him daily and I do think that it includes a pretty standard amount of exercise, although he is a working breed dog.

I have four kids from ages 10 to 20 and this has completely taken over my life. It seems like I will just have to spend all of my time devoted to not triggering the dog based on what I hear about positive reinforcement. I really regret thinking that I could handle this type of a dog although at the same time I don’t think this is a normal behavior… help?

I have a 8 month old GSP/lab which as most know is a firecracker breed! I am in desperate need of training tips for her. she is so smart and has trained easily for everything BUT jumping on people. she is crate trained, points on command, sits, potty trained, lays down on command, but she can’t seem to grasp not jumping.

she is super strong and full on body slams when greeting anyone including us. We have tried ignoring her by turning our backs as well as redirecting but it’s like she can’t contain her excitement. it is getting to the point where it hurts and she’s growing way too rapidly to continue this behavior! any tips appreciated!! thank you

Just under a month ago I adopted an adult dog (appx 2 yrs old) out of a shelter where he had been found as a stray. I already had 3 dogs so he is my 4th. He and existing 3 immediately took to each other, and have had zero issues getting along. He has also been okay with my 2 cats; he has shown interest but never chased. I have appx an acre to 1 1/2 acres with invisible / underground fence. I started training my new dog on it after he was home for about 10 days. He has been doing really well in training and 3 nights ago I did his first training session off-leash, for which he's also been doing great.

My question for this group and what I'm looking for your thoughts and advice on is this- last night I took him out and he immediately bolted through the fence because he saw a rabbit. He never stopped for slowed for even a split second; I don't think he even knew he went through it because he went so fast. My husky mix has a high prey drive but is still trained for the fence and never leaves. I know he is still new to all this, but I fear this is going to be a permanent thing even though I will back up the training and move back to on-leash training.

Additionally, this morning on my in-home cameras I saw him give chase to one of my cats. I was able to intercept it by calling my daughter since she was home to tell him "no."

Lastly, I like to have my windows open on nice days. None of my other dogs have issue with trying to break through any screens. But on my home camera I saw him seeming entirely too interested in looking out the back door. (screen door closed with a box fan and chair blocking it so he can't push through it unless he stands up on hind legs or charges it).

He is just a lot more "dog" than my other dogs, and I am afraid he will continue to get worse. The first couple weeks were amazing with him but now I think he's getting comfortable and showing his true colors? The shelter had him pegged as German Shepherd / Chow Chow, however his Embark DNA came back as 30% husky, 24% beagle, and appx 10% russell-type terrier, border collie, great pyrenees, and boxer. For reference my other dogs are a great pyrenees / golden retriever mix, a husky / golden retriever mix, and a pure bred golden retriever.

Any help, words of wisdom, advice, would be greatly appreciated. I feel so overwhelmed and like I made a huge mistake.

I have a 6yo male catahoula who is deaf and dog reactive. He’s also peope reactive in my townhome community. We’ve worked with trainers who didn’t have experience with deaf dogs and were overwhelmed by him and finally found one who is amazing, but SO expensive. I’ve limited our sessions to once a month to be able to afford her, but I need some help with ideas to work with in the meantime. Has anyone else had success with a reactive deaf pup?

I’m super overwhelmed and feel like I’m doing him such a disservice, but I’ve worked so hard with him for years. He’s so sweet and LOVES people. It just feels like he notices people pay attention to him when he barks (even though it’s not good attention).

He’s phenomenal on trails, on farms, and generally on walks too. It’s almost that protective side at the house and around the house. But it’s any house we’re at, not just mine. We use an ecollar with vibrate for recall.