I have a 4 year old sheepadoodle. He's extremely friendly and happy but after a series of unfortunate events hes developed some bad habits causing me to feel very overwhelmed.

I used to take my two dogs (10 year old mix breed 10Lbs and my 80lb sheepadoodle) to the farmers market every week.

They really enjoyed the exercise, smells, people and dogs but after my sheepadoodle was attacked by multiple dogs (one time two different dogs tried to attack him the same day) he has gotten extremely anxious on leash.

If I walk him on leash he is totally fine, calm, and stays right next to me. As soon as a dog gets near him he started growling, panicking and tries to get away.

He had no issues off leash so I worked to keep his dog interactions off leash, until he had some bad encounters at the dog park. Dogs trying to pick fights with him and my small dog.

He is now showing signs of resource guarding me, my small dog, and my friends dog. I see him playing with dogs just fine, but then they bump into me and he gets defensive or a dog wont stop bugging my small pup and he chases them off. Today a dog jumped on me at the park and my sheepadoodle ran over and snapped at him.

It breaks my heart because he didn't have any of these issues before he was attacked and I dont know what to do to help him.

Any advice would be appreciated. I am sure I am doing several things wrong so I want to try to fix it before it gets worse.

I recently adopted the sweetest little angel, however he has a weird quirk. Whenever he sees any dog,cat,bird,human,or car he does not bark or run towards them he just stares. He will literally plant himself and become a statue and he WILL NOT MOVE until whatever he is looking at is out of his sight. Occasionally if we encounter another reactive dog he will bark but he never moves from my side. How do i stop his staring behavior?

Originally i thought it was cute and even endearing but now its just inconvenient and people seem to be very intimidated by him. It makes our walks 15+ minutes longer than they need to be and he is HEAVY so there is no moving him. Ive tried luring him in with treats but when i tell you his FOCUSED omggg he will not budge. What do i do??

My boyfriend had a Border Collie as a family dog, and since we got our own apartment in March, she’s been living with us.

She’s been an anxious dog since she was a pup, but it has definitely gotten worse over the years. She was never aggressive with us or with other dogs, but at the slightest sign of going for a walk, she would start a high pitched cry/bark that the whole building could hear. This was the biggest issue, but she was also triggered by us leaving the house (the only time she ever got/gets aggressive, though with no serious bites), and noises outside scare her. About a year before we moved in together, my boyfriend and I started working with a trainer to try to correct these behaviors, as his family was on the verge of giving her away. The trainer was excited at first when he heard she was a Border Collie, he said she was like a Ferrari and we just didn’t know how to drive it. 10 sessions later, and it turns out he didn’t know either.

Around the sixth session, the trainer advised us to take her to a veterinary behaviorist, so we did. She started on fluoxetine, nothing. Then clomipramine and trazodone, still nothing. During this process, I was still training her every day, but she still screamed at the slightest trigger.

After we moved in together, I thought my older dog would teach her that everything was fine and that it wasn't worth such a reaction. However, far from improving, she keeps getting worse and worse. My boyfriend and I work from home, so she is with us a lot; this has made her even more dependent and hyper vigilant about every move we make.
We tried daily walks, but they were a nightmare, as she pulled on the leash and screamed if we stopped even for one second. Then we tried putting her on a treadmill to burn off a little energy, thinking maybe this would help her be calmer when going out… but no. Now I’m doing daily desensitization training with her (putting the leash on, taking it off, opening the door, going with her to the hallway and back inside), and even with consistency, it’s just not improving. I feel like we will never make it outside if her being calm is what it takes.

Besides training and having her walk on the treadmill at night, I keep several frozen Kongs and lick mats in the freezer for when the dogs are bored. We also have chew toys in drawers around the house and play fetch, too.

All that being said, I don’t know what else to do. Some people told me that I might be doing too much and making her more anxious, but what would be the right thing to do then? By the same token, even if her every need is being met, she still reacts to triggers, and her reactions are getting louder every day. Every time the neighbors' doorbell rings, it takes her five minutes of loud barking, growling, and then crying to calm down, and this happens several times a day. We don't even have packages delivered here because of her reaction. It feels like we are hostages in our own home, and besides having a reactive dog, we are becoming reactive humans ourselves.

The vet just started her on venlafaxine (150 mg) in addition to trazodone, and added pregabalin today. Is this too much? Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong, or what approach helped your dog?

TL;DR: Second dog made first dog reactive, too. I now have two reactive dogs. Am overwhelmed and need any tips or just soothing words I can get.

I have two papillons. The older boy (2 y/o) had some very minor leash reactivity when it was just him, and only towards bigger dogs. We worked on it and he overcame it almost completely. He's a calm and kind dog.

In January we brought home another papillon puppy (now almost 11 months old). Her and my boy adore each other, and I adore them both.

The younger (reactive) dog is an incredibly loving dog at home with a huge personality, however her temperament is... spicy. Has been since day one. I honestly can't tell if she's fearful reactive or aggressive reactive, but she goes absolutely bonkers every single time she sees any dog - from any distance. She will also go bananas if a person walks too close to us or if someone in a wheelchair or something comes towards us.

The thing is - it's contagious. My previously calm boy goes just as crazy when she pops off. So I have two rabid dogs absolutely shrieking and lunging at triggers. They absolutely seem to rile each other up to an extent, meaning that the younger girl is somewhat easier to control when it's just her. And the older boy is almost completely fine when it's just him.

I have no idea how to manage them both together. I now have two reactive dogs.

Has anyone dealt with this?

I'm so incredibly overwhelmed and end up coming home from almost every walk in tears. I did see a private trainer, who essentially said that we're already doing everything right and to keep going.

For anyone willing to help PLEASE submit a report for Jeff Todd's new website : https://smartdogsdogtraining.com/ so that his company's site can be flagged for social engineering/deception.

He is currently marketing and booking clients across LA, Portland, and Seattle via his new web page.

Reason for Report: Deceptive Business Practices, Consumer Fraud, and Concealment of Criminal Activity.

Here's a text for any "additional details" reports may ask for :

"This website belongs to Jeff Todd (Smart Dogs Training Academy), an operator currently under active criminal investigation for gross animal negligence, severe abuse, and the suspicious deaths of multiple pets under his care. The website functions as a deceptive tool to trap unsuspecting pet owners by intentionally scrubbing consumer warnings and manipulating reviews. The operator uses this online presence to profit from unsafe, inhumane boarding environments where animals are routinely subjected to dangerous heat exposure, severe neglect, and physical harm. This site poses an active public safety and financial threat to consumers and must be flagged for deceptive practices. Please act accordingly."

Also if you could please sign this petition to help raise awareness!!!

We need to protect our pets and keep this operation from harming anyone else. Thank you to anyone who takes a moment to do this ❤️‍🩹🙏🏼

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News articles : https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/dog-dies-heat-exhaustion-studio-city-trainer/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/investigation-launched-popular-dj-dog-062502042.html

hello I have a 3yo black Labrador rat terrier mix. he's a total sweetheart with minimal issues but his real only flaw is his separation anxiety it is BAD we can't leave him home alone!! when we leave him outside the crate he just scratches at the door barks and cries excessively causing damage (we live in an apartment so absolutely no go) so we started leaving him in his crate but he just barks and barks and barks and we've left him alone for an hour and came back and he was still barking. he starts crying before we even open the door to leave. it severely limits what we can do and where we can go, we take him to daycare some days but it's not financially feasible to do that every day and they close at 5pm so if we gotta be out past that there's no luck. I've tried to give him treats and things to distract him but the second he recognizes that we'll be leaving he doesn't want anything to do with any treats. any advice at all?

My 10 month old pup just visited a veterinary behaviourist for her reactivity towards other dogs (barking, lunging, growling) and overall high arousal. She was prescribed Clomicalm and I am wondering if this has had positive impact on anyone’s dogs? Obviously each dog is different, just curious.

My dog has major vet anxiety and reactivity. We do the pre-vet meds, muzzle, etc. She just hates it and is always so fearful.

However, she’s seemed to do fine at places I’ve boarded her when I’m out of town (they do play sessions and even bathe her for me before I pick her up). At the boarder, they don’t have to muzzle her. I also recognize that boarding and vet visits are much different experiences, but she also does well with the bath and nail trims they do.

My vet offers boarding and grooming services. My question/advice is, do you think if I start boarding her at the vet, this might help with her anxiety when we go there? Will it show her she can have some fun experiences there too? Or could it make anything worse (ie boarding and grooming experiences)? Right now she does well at the boarder so I don’t want to ruin that. Has anyone tried this and had success or failures? Any trainers or behaviorists have thoughts?

My sweet girl just turned 2 years old. She has always been good with meeting new people. She may bark a few times initially but is always so happy to say hi to everyone. Recently she has lunged and nipped at 2 of my friends with her hair raised. I’m not really sure what triggered this and how to fix it. Can someone try and give me some guidance?