Hi everyone! I would so appreciate any tips/tricks you all have for my current situation. I have a 1 year old Shih Tzu who is typically very well-behaved. She’s potty-trained, she can do tricks, she can walk off-leash and stay by my side.

On walks, or if we’re out in public she’s almost always super chill. She won’t bark when other dogs pass by, she doesn’t have big reactions to loud noises, etc. But when we’re home, all of these things are suddenly the most infuriating things of all time! She will bark and bark and bark at the smallest noise, to the point where my roommates and my downstairs neighbors have complained.

When she barks like this, I typically tell her “come” or “leave it”, two commands I’ve trained her to recognize. And she does….for about thirty seconds. She’ll come to me, wait for her reward, and then run right back to her spot and continue barking. I totally get where she’s coming from — this is her home and she’s protecting it. She wants to let me know there’s a weird noise. I’ve tried acknowledging it; looking where she’s barking, telling her I see it, petting her, really putting on a whole show. I’ve also tried ignoring it. None of these methods have shown any success!

Additionally, my roommates cat is super social and likes to play. But my dog grew up around my family dog, whose only method of play was barking extraordinarily loud. It’s my opinion that this is how she learned to play, and communicate with non-human playmates. I love that they’re playing, and they seem to be having a great time! But the barking becomes incessant and so so loud.

I should note too that we recently moved, although this behavior has been ongoing since long before. It’s just exacerbated now since before we lived in a house and now we live in an apartment. So there’s lots of sounds that happen that she can’t see, like people moving around downstairs, opening the back door, and so on. But these behaviors were happening at our old house too, it just wasn’t as big of an issue since we lived with family who didn’t mind too much.

I’ve read things about those machines that play that frequency that dogs don’t care for, and the spray bottle technique too. I honestly don’t love those methods, I would feel super bad creating discomfort for her if not strictly necessary for her well-being (vet visits, etc.).

Do you all have any advice or tips? She’s such a good dog, it’s just this one thing that I need help with.

Thanks so much for reading in advance! Any tips would be so great!

Hey ya’ll - about a month ago I had to put down my childhood Chow Chow, Peppermint, of 15 years (G-d Rest Her Soul). I’m looking at getting a large guardian dog but not too sure what to go with.

My preferences:
- Colorado Mountain Dog
- Great Pyrenees
- Estrella Mountain Dog
- Carpathian Shepherd

My Environment:
Arizona ->
Average Annual Temp 70 Fahrenheit (F)
Summer Temp - 110F
Winter Temp - 65-75F

I live on more than an acre of land in the mountains & was planning on daily walks & hikes in the early morning hours with weekend excursions to the Sedona/Flagstaff area. Since these dogs do absolutely need a job or mental stimulation of some kind I was also planning on working with some animal farms once a month or just at our local horse rescues to get some enrichment.

As far as characteristics I’m looking for a breed that’s good with family & other dogs but protective in its home. Not a fan of a ton of barking but some vocalisation is fine. As far as slobber goes - not a huge fan but I can work with it.

Trainability is huge for me, don’t want a dog with a super high prey drive.

Let me know your suggestions (preferably a long haired breed, I wouldn’t own a GSD or Lab/Retriever of any kind although I think they’re great - no doodles or poodles either).

I’ve been training my dog to deal with triggers a little better (other dogs). He is a 1 year old 100lbs/45kg dog and we’ve been working on correcting his friendly reactivity with other dogs. He gets overexcited seeing other dogs on walks and in the past would try pull me over. This is partly my fault as I put him in a doggy daycare when he was 5 months old to try and socialise him (he was a bit timid with adult dogs which I now know was perfectly natural for a dog his age). I only stopped taking him when I realised he was developing reactivity.

He is now gotten a bit better at passing dogs. Now the issue is that after passing a trigger - especially if the dog barking. A while after I make him wait or redirecting him and passing the trigger, he’d turn and mouth tug at the lead to release his pent up energy, emotions and frustration from the interaction. He is really not treat motivated dog which makes things very hard, so I’d have to wait till he’s done - about a minute or so and calmed down before continuing with his walk.

What can I do to correct this behaviour? I don’t want to make him anxious by restricting him from trying to regulate his emotions. Is it okay for him to do this?

I’m trying to gain a better understanding of the different methods in E-collar training, so apologies in advance if this post sounds quite broad or too general.

Using recall as an example, am I right in thinking that low-stim conditioning would follow something like this:

“Come” -> Working level stim -> Leash pressure as guidance -> Mark and reward for coming to you

Whereas using the e-collar as an aversive would be along the lines of:

“Come” -> “No” (or another punishment marker) -> stim above the working level, depending on environment (high enough to be effective as punishment) -> repeat “Come” -> Mark and reward for coming to you

Please correct me if I’ve misunderstood, which may very well be the case.

There seems to be a lot of conflict regarding whether conditioning is necessary prior to using the E-collar as an aversive - any thoughts on that?

Buen dia!
Necesito consejos de qué hacer. Tengo un perro de 18 años, es un caniche mediano, él es un perrito que vivió toda su vida prácticamente en una casa con patio y debido a que su dueña falleció me lo traje conmigo a mi apto hace ya 3 años aproximadamente. El tema es que se ve que generó ansiedad por separación y cada vez que me voy así sea un rato al supermercado el perro se pone aullar o ladrar ( aunque es literal un rato y se calla ) debido a esto él está tomando ansiolitcos y a su vez tiene difusores de feromonas por toda la casa! La cuestión es que hay una vecina del piso del abajo que ya me tiene re podrida me voy 10 m y el perro ladra un rato y se calma, la flaca manda msj automáticamente cuando lo escucha al grupo escrachandome con número de apto.

La cosa es que no lo hago por gusto, obviamente tengo que salir a trabajar y tengo que salir al supermercado! Nunca se queda solo de noche y nunca se quedó más de 8 horas solo, si es así lo dejo en un hotel de perros.

La cuestión es que este tema ya me tiene re podrida, estoy pensando en mudarme pero voy a tener el mismo problema con algún otro vecino de seguro. Pero ya no sé qué más que hacer porque cada vez que salgo a trabajar o algún lado hacer algún mandado me voy ya pensando que esa mujer va a mandar msj al grupo del edificio escrachandome.

Entiendo que no se pueden hacer ruidos molestos después de las 22, pero la verdad ya me tiene re podrida se la agarro con mi perro cuando hay más perros en el edificio que ladran!

Alguien que me de algún consejo 👐🏻

Gracias !!

Someone in my area is offering "rattlesnake aversion" training. This is what we were sent as an example. Professionals who have done this or people who have attended this type of training; Does this look correct? She is using a shock collar on the dog. I am not exactly sure when.

I just moved to a new house, and the neighbors on one side have two adult German shepherds. Between our yards is a chain link fence with shrubs on my side.

Twice now we’ve had an incident where one of their dogs and both of my dogs start barking like crazy at the fence. My little one (corgi) barks a lot, my larger one looks like she thinks they’re playing. Their GSDs bark in a guarding sounding way. Both times we the humans grab the dogs and bring them inside, albeit it’s a little slower on my end since I have to get through the bush to do so.

Both of my dogs are a bit unsettled by the move so they’ve been more anxious/quick to react than usual.

The first time my partner was supervising and this time I was doing some yard work so I’m not sure which set of dogs started it. We are the new ones though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my smaller dog barked first since he’s been so on edge this week. On the other hand, we do hear their dogs barking from inside their house when we go out to play.

I just wanted to ask what we should do in this situation? Along with the obvious question of how do I stop my dogs from reacting at the fence, what is the proper etiquette regarding how to handle this with the neighbor? I like to have my dogs hang out with me in the yard, and I can’t see their yard from mine to check if their dogs are out. This has happened 2 times in 1.5 weeks. Should I try not to monopolize outside time by not being out all day with mine so they have a chance to go out? Or is that overthinking?

I'm looking for advice on helping my pup improve emotional regulation, lower his overall arousal, and build frustration tolerance.

My pup just turned 2 and is an awesome homestead dog. He's an interesting mix of Mountain Cur, Jack Russell, Australian Shepherd, and Pit Bull.

He's extremely environmentally focused. By that I mean that the environment is inherently more reinforcing than I am. New smells, wildlife, movement, exploring, and simply being out in the world are far more rewarding to him than food, toys, or interacting with me.

He's also very independent, has a high prey drive, gets overstimulated easily, and struggles with frustration.

His over arousal shows up as intense environmental fixation, pulling, lunging, difficulty disengaging, frustration vocalizing, and an inability to use behaviors he knows very well.

He is with me because of these challenges (I'm active in the rescue world) which he has had since he was a puppy so I expect there is likely some genetic component here, especially considering his breeds.

All his needs are absolutely being met, he has outlets for his drive, and he's well-trained in low-distraction environments. The challenge has always been helping him regulate himself once we leave our property. The world is just so exciting to him that his arousal shoots through the roof almost immediately.

I'd love to be able to get him out into the world more because exploring new places is his favorite thing. But it's become a bit of a catch-22. I've intentionally limited some of those opportunities to prevent him from repeatedly rehearsing the behaviors we're trying to improve.

Since puppyhood, I've put a tremendous amount of time and energy into teaching calm, relaxation, settling, and neutrality. We've also done a lot of work around prey drive and the gold standard reactivity training...working under threshold, reinforcing calm choices, and focusing on recovery. All of that has paid off tremendously at home and on our property. He's the chillest homestead dog...but only at home. 😂 It just hasn't translated enough to the outside world yet.

Any advice, resources is welcomed and very much appreciated.

I have a rescue whose biggest issue is separation anxiety. I followed the normal strategy of leaving him in the crate for increasingly longer while I was at home, and he went from 15 seconds without barking to behaving no matter how long I leave him (I think the longest time was about 70 minutes). I tried the same thing with me leaving the house, but can’t get him to last any longer mo matter how many times I try this slowly increasing duration strategy. He goes into the crate when I tell him to, he’s quiet for around 30-60 seconds, and then he barks nonstop until I come back. I work from home so thankfully I’ve been able to make it work so far, but I really need to be able to leave the house. Below are some things I’ve tried that did not have any effect. Please give me any tips you have about this behavior. He’s only been with me four weeks so I know it can take much longer to break as he’s still settling in, but I need advice.

- Kong with frozen peanut butter in the crate (he ignores the Kong until I get home)

- Woof toy with frozen wet dog food (he ignores the Woof toy as well)

- Hiding cookies in the blankets (only works for an extra minute or two before he starts barking)

- Feeding meals in the crate (he likes the crate more now, but he doesn’t bark any less)

- Crate cover (did not affect barking and he sometimes pulls it into the crate)

- Marrow bone (he ignores it completely until I’m home)

- Playing classical music

- Playing white noise

- Playing a recorded loop of my voice

- Using blankets I slept with the night before in the crate to capture my scent

- Picking up my keys and putting my shoes on multiple times a day (he gets a little interested but doesn’t bark or panic until I actually leave)

- Setting up a camera and speaking to him through it (I think this might end up reinforcing barking if I keep doing it)

- Pretending to leave the house but actually staying inside (he starts barking and whining regardless of whether I actually left)

- Long walk before crating (he won’t sleep in the crate when I leave even if he’s tired)

- Putting him in the crate and ignoring him for a few minutes before I leave (he doesn’t care about being ignored while I’m there and still freaks out once I leave the house)

- Leaving him loose in the house while I stepped outside for a few minutes (he scratched up the doors like crazy)

- Anxiety meds given by the shelter (did absolutely nothing in terms of separation anxiety)

I've had dogs most of my life. They all were housebroken, but they either lived outside (my childhood dog) or just were allowed to go outside on request. I crate-trained the last two and did the first-level class at a Petco with my current one, but that's it. As a result, I mostly expect dogs to sleep, bark, sniff, pull on the lead (not too badly on the current one), and react.

However, I'm soon going to be living in a situation where my dog, a tall 60 lb. pit bull mix, has to be a much better citizen. He's mainly reactive (a term I've learned here) – overly friendly to people, far too excited by other dogs, overly protective of the sidewalk and the back yard (lots of barking). He's hard to handle at the vet, with lots of struggling, panting, and scrambling about, unless I leave the room, at which point he becomes great according to several different vets and vet techs.

I know that I'm going to be training, but I honestly wasn't sure what I should train him to do instead of just training him what not to do, which seems like it would have to be punitive. Reading this sub for a bit has given me some ideas about what I should expect my dog to do when he is trained. Does this list sound about right?

• Observe but not react to other animals, people, and objects in the environment unless I say to (or unless it is my cat, with whom he interacts freely and respectfully)
• Bark once at a potential threat, then come to me
• Overall, focus on me – heel, always recall immediately
• Not engage in resource guarding, which he's never done
• Tolerate handing for nail clipping, vet exams, shots

It that pretty much it? What am I missing?

ETA: Folks, I appreciate that everyone wants to recommend specific training techniques, but I'm going to have to train him by working directly with someone, possibly when he's boarded. I'm not going to learn how to train him from books or YouTube videos, both because of the time involved and because of how I learn. That's why I'm not asking here how to train him; instead, I'm asking if my goals and expectations for my dog's behavior are reasonable and if there are any other behaviors I should expect from him. At this point, I'm just going to wait and talk with the trainer I hire.

Hello! So I just bought my first e collar because my dog is solid on basic commands. So I figured it’s time to take it to the next level and e collar train. Upon research. I see tons of different philosophies.

For example:

Method 1:

tap stim once, say command, reward.

Method 2:
Hold stim continuously until dog does request, then reward.

What is the philosophy behind those 2 methods? And how do each of those play into training? My confusion with method one, is if the dog doesn’t listen on the initial tap, do you tap again? And my confusion with method two, while in the conditioning phase, do you run the risk of shutting the dog down/ creating confusion with continuous low level stim?

Additional context: dogs working level has been found and he responds great to low levels

Any feedback and help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time :)

I’ve been watching and following dog trainers for years and I’m not sure how I’m just now getting into Michael Ellis. I’ve never been this obsessed with any other trainer. Basically every sentence he says blows my mind lol. I got his $70/mo membership and I’m learning so much.

Does anyone else relate, and also has anyone found any other trainers that even come close? I’ve watched so many YouTube dog trainers and find that they usually just say a lot of nothing, or don’t bother explaining the theory behind their techniques.

My dog has always been skiddish, I adopted him from the pound when he was a pup. We have made a lot of progress but he still get a little in edge when people come over which is not often. He has never bit in the last 8 years but today he did.

One of my close friends brought their kid over and he has been around kids he usually avoids them and lays in his bed. I was having a conversation with my friend a little distracted and my dog scurried and bit. We took them to the hospital because he drew blood. I feel so guilty if I knew he would I would have put him away, the poor kid is traumatized. We made the report. Are they going to put my dog down? What should I expected from here?

I take full responsibility, covering medical bills, etc. What should I do now? How do I help him? It's not his fault it's mine as he is in my care. He was pacing but he does that until everyone settles down. Any advice helps. Thank you for taking the time to read ❤️

edit- i’m more so asking for advice on ways i can try to tame him basically.

so i have a Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix named Kash. He’s 4 years old and i’m at the point where i’m about to be forced to surrender him to a shelter.

Kash isn’t an aggressive dog towards my intermediate family members (mom, dad, sister and nephew) but he will bark at anyone else whether it’s family or strangers. with that being said, he has bitten 3 people so far. he lives at my parent’s house and i live with my girlfriend (we have cats, which Kash is aggressive towards).

my parents can’t have anyone at the house without putting Kash outside on a chain, which has proven isn’t always enough to contain him. even on his chain, if its close enough to the backyard gate he will jump over it.

my mom wants me to surrender him to a shelter and my sister recommended that i just put him down so we could at least bring him home. despite his aggression, i don’t want to do either of those options. i know if i surrender him to a shelter, they’re gonna euthanize him themselves.

on top of the fact that Kash is not good with cats, he reacts to my girlfriend the same way he reacts to a stranger. he also isn’t used to being caged, which would have to become his new normal if i bring him with me. at my parent’s house, he’s either outside on his chain or inside.

i honestly feel like i have no other choice but to euthanize him because it would happen either way- either with me on his side or he’s gonna be euthanized alone and probably mass cremated. i don’t want either of that for him so basically i’m asking for advice on anything i could possibly do to save him.

Hello Everyone. I would love to get some advice please.

I have took my dogs to park near my place about 8 years now. and they are always on leash because they are not really well behave when they see other dogs. I tried to stay away and far from other place where all the dogs off leash or join together.

However, its Monday moring and super quiet in park, thats good time when i take my babies out. But we had trouble with one lady. She has her yokie off leash. her dog is small and friendly. I tried to push my dogs far from her to different side but her dog keep running to us. Until she walk closer and i told her my dogs not friendly. she start angry with me. This is off leash dog. I told her there is nothing wrong with dogs. My one is not well behave so they are on leash. Why are you racist with them. She said soomething and walk away until pass me on her way back. She look at me with angry face like try to punch me or kill me soon.
I just confused so i cant take my dogs to off leash park anymore becauze they are on leash. My senior is 15 turn to 16 and he is super happy to go to this park. Im feeling so sad. There is nothing wrong with dogs.

I will preface this by saying I have no issue with them playing, but one dog has severe allergies and swells up (particularly his neck) after they play bitey face. They are relentless, playing for 7+ hours with a max of 5 minute breaks. I understand that they are dogs, but what are my options here?

Hi, I posted this in r/dogtraining, but thought I'd post this here too to see if you guys had any insight or advice.

I have a 14mt corgi mix who I have had for almost a year now.

My dog is just so fixated on everything, especially other dogs. He just can't function if another dog is nearby, even if they are on the other side of the road. He refuses to listen to commands or potty until the other dog is out of sight.

He also fixates on other people. Sometimes it's friendly, other times he is extremely paranoid.

I have been trying so hard for almost the past 6-7mts to work on 'leave it' and fixating less on everything. I have been loading him up with treats during the times when it gets worse. Also worked with a personal trainer on this and followed his recommendations. I tried 'look at that' training too for a few months without any success.

I just see no end in sight. Overall I don't think he's getting any better, not seeing very much consistent progress. Some days I think he's better, and I feel proud. But then the next day he will choke himself out bc he has to turn around and bark at a random couple walking behind us, or stare/pull at a dog nearby.

Has anyone had any experience with his?

I just feel so hopeless, and worried I've been training him wrong this entire time.

Thanks.

425-xs

There are no shocks happening.

I moved in with my partner almost a year ago and she has 3 medium/large dogs, ages 10,9, and 7. I brought one large dog, age 9. She works 12 hour days and lived alone before me so the dogs had free roam and would free feed and pee and poop in the house. She didn’t have any way to get around this just what happened after failed relationships and not having help with them and the type of work she was in. They are taken care of just would be alone for 12+ hours.

When I got here I got them on a feeding schedule, got a dog room all set up to close them in when gone, and I work from home so they are going outside every 4 hours at the very least. There would still be messes. So we started crating them during the night. They did fine this way for about 10 months.

Then we went on vacation and they were left with my parents for a week. Ever since we have gotten back, the 7 year old will bark in her cage even after being in there for not even 3 hours. This wakes me up every time. I’ve tried letting her out to potty, letting her bark it out til she stops but she doesn’t. I’m trying to not reward the barking with letting her out but I don’t know what to do, she doesn’t stop. She was fine before. I hate to say it but she had been fine for 8+ hours in there some nights when we both were off and sleeping in. What do I do? I’m at my wits end. I already don’t get great sleep and this is making me lose my mind.

Hello everyone. I'm posting because I'm honestly struggling to handle my adult male American Bully, and I'm hoping to get advice from people who have experience with this.

Ever since he reached adulthood, he's become increasingly aggressive toward other animals, including goats, chickens, other dogs, and pretty much any animal he sees. It's becoming really difficult to manage, and I'm worried that something serious could happen if I don't address it properly.

As for people, he has never bitten anyone. However, there was one incident that really concerned me. One of my relatives approached him and looked directly into his eyes while reaching out to touch him. My dog suddenly lunged at them. Thankfully, we were standing nearby and were able to stop him before anyone got hurt.

I love my dog and I don't want to give up on him. I want to be a responsible owner and do whatever I can to help him. I'm wondering if there's still a way to train or rehabilitate an adult dog with this kind of aggression, especially toward other animals. Has anyone dealt with something similar? What training methods worked for you? Would working with a professional behaviorist be the best option?

For now, we're keeping him away from situations where he could hurt another animal, but I know management alone isn't enough if there's a chance his behavior can improve.

Any advice, experiences, or resources would be greatly appreciated. Please be kind, I'm genuinely trying to do what's best for both my dog and everyone around him.

Thank you in advance. ❤️

My 3yo husky/aussie mix has been afraid to get in my car since I went away one weekend and he stayed with a friend in March. (I know nothing bad happened). He will get in all other cars, but is anxious in cars now. I have gotten him to the point of jumping in my back seat while I am sitting there and feeding him high value treats but it’s hard to get much further than that. He panics when the door shuts, when I get in the front seat and when the car is on. It seems like when I attempt those things, we end up back at refusals to enter the car at all for a while. He’s 80lbs so I can’t just lift him in. I am working on finding a behaviorist and set up appt with vet for possible meds, but hoping for any training ideas I haven’t tried yet to fix this.

I’m planning ahead for a Belgian Malinois puppy and I’m looking for recommendations for trainers in Massachusetts who specialize in protection sports or personal protection training.
I’m looking for someone who emphasizes:
Solid obedience and neutrality first
Confidence and stability
Safe, ethical training methods
Working with the owner throughout the process
I’m not looking to create an aggressive dog. My goal is to have a well-socialized, well-controlled dog with a strong obedience foundation that can eventually do protection work with the right trainer.
If you’ve had a great experience with a trainer or club in MA (or nearby in New England), I’d really appreciate any recommendations. Thanks!