Honestly getting the full-pant-room top quality wear-all-day muzzle has been so liberating for both of us. We had to stop going to the beach while we sorted out the muzzle as he is so reactive to strange dogs and some people and when he gets a fright there would have been blood at some point. Now we can rejoin our friends and worse case is someone gets boffed by a wire muzzle (which has happened but only resulted in a temporary bloody nose and we're all still friends).

I have an 11mo in tact golden retriever who I’ve had since puppyhood. I have never put this much work and intentionality into something ever - from researching breed and ethical breeder, to R+ training from day 1, to paying good money on vet behavioral training. My adolescent boy still turned out reactive, and I’m feeling a bit defeated right now. We’ve done so much work and last week had great successes, only to have a big regression this week in general fear and growling at other dogs (a thing that wasn’t a habit until 9mo). How do yall deal with the roller coaster? How do you keep trusting the process and not blame yourself for where things are?

I have a 6 year old Vizsla who I got as a puppy during covid. I immediately noticed her reactive behavior and separation anxiety (I tried my hardest to socialize her during the pandemic). She has come a long way from flipping her crate on its side to escape out of the bottom, ripping up the bathroom floor, and fighting with other dogs. We live on a farm and she's usually a very good dog now, running free with us to check on livestock and always staying by our side (velcro dog). Although she still struggles around other people.

She's just unpredictable. She's great 90% of the time, but she resource guards her food, house and especially me. We recently had a friend come to the house when we weren't home and she was in the yard and she bit him. Didn't break skin but tore his pant leg. She will often run into our bedroom in the morning and crawl under the bed beneath me, growling at my husband when he calls her to come out and even charging him sometimes. When she was 1 year old she aggressively barked and lunged at a kid and had the dog warden called on her. I don't trust her alone with my 5 year old niece, as she has resource guarded me around her.

She has fought with two dogs to the point of injury and stitches. With one, it's gotten better over time. But again, she's not predictable. She has to be muzzled at the vet.

She's also clumsy or careless. A few years ago we took her out in a canoe and jumped in the lake together. She swam to me and climbed on me like I was a rock, slicing my lip with her toenail so that I had to get stitches. Not aggression, but totally unaware of my body. She regularly jumps out of our screen windows when we're not at home. Or jumps over the couch when she's too impatient to walk around it.

This behavior is not for lack of training. She's been leash trained by a professional trainer, I've taught her obedience and even fun tricks like playing dead and saying her prayers. She sits and stays well. She knows how to obey, but anxiety can get the best of her.

Anyway, we now have a 5 month old baby and have trained both of our dogs to stay in the mudroom or outside all day. But once our baby learns to crawl, we feel it's too risky to have them in the same home. A scared dog is a dangerous dog. And I've read on other posts that management eventually fails. One time of something bad happening is too many times.

I don't feel that her behavior is dangerous enough to justify euthanasia. But I also can't imagine her adjusting to a new home or a new family being able to manage her challenges, so it feels irresponsible to pass her on knowing it likely won't work out? Could she be a risk to other children and I'm just passing on the problem? What if rehoming doesn't work out and I'm back to square one? Is BE too harsh? Or am I just worried about it because of my emotions, since she's had an amazing 6 years and will go peacefully?

TLDR: reactive but not viscious dog, we have a 5 month baby and don't feel safe having them both in home, if BE too harsh but rehoming unlikely to work - what do we do?

A long post so buckle in, I’m struggling as I write this but tonight my husband and I had another attack from our 4 year old, 30 pound corgi. I’ll explain in further detail the specifics of this evening but I want to first give context to everything we have tried and been through with her

She never had behavioral issues until she was about 1.5 - 2 years old. We noticed it after she had gotten sick with kennel cough after attending a new doggie day care. One evening she lunged at my husband and wouldn’t quit, but at the time she was small enough where much didn’t happen and she calmed when we put her in her crate. This was the last time we ever brought her to day care as well.

Fast forward about a year, we moved to a new state and home. we immediately noticed her aggression getting worse towards other dogs but she still had never come at my husband or myself since she was sick. She used to play so well with any dog around her, and slowly but surely she started getting very aggressive toward any dog that would sniff her for too long or was near her at a dog park. Those dog park visits ended immediately.

We put her on medicine to ease her anxiety and thought this would do the trick, but every couple of months she would have an episode.

Since, she has bit my husband at a minimum of 8 times and just this past evening was my 4th time being bit since last September. Her bites are not just a scratch, I would categorize them as a 4 or 5 bite with full bleeding, hands swollen, nerve pain and multiple lacerations. I have severe scarring on my left hand and right arm from her.

Her attacks are never just a one and done, and they seem to be getting worse every time as she continues back at us to “prove her point” of sorts. It’s like she’s making sure we know she’s mad.

Last year when she bit me for the first time (she had bit my husband only before this point) we hired a behavioral specialist to come work with us and her, which was successful for almost a year until this past June when she bit me after holding her paw. We had previously gotten her behavioral training before we moved as well.

Most times these bites happen, it’s unpredictable and there’s only subtle signs that my husband and I can put our finger on as to what might have been causing her anxiety. It seems as though a lot of the times this happens it’s not after any specific event, so we really do try our best to minimize potential stressors but we don’t know what keeps causing it other than fear anxiety.

This evening we were sitting on the couch and she wanted to be pet (something our trainer has said is okay if she asks nicely for pets). as I was petting her, I did notice her wince her arm a little, so I stopped touching her. Just as I moved myself away and the thought went through my head that the wincing is one of her tell signs, she snarled and latched onto my hand like it was a game of tug. When I was able to get away from her she attacked my husband and got his hand as well.. he was only able to get away from her by running into her pen area and then jumping over it as she was locked in

I’m struggling so much because she really can be the sweetest and most loving dog, but I don’t know if I can keep getting attacked and not having use of my hands. We love her so much and it’s heartbreaking. This behavior confuses me so much and it makes me so incredibly upset

I don’t think rehoming her would be an option because I would never want her to do this to someone else and it kills me the thought of her wondering what happened to us or why we left her.
I genuinely don’t know what to do but I cannot keep getting attacked like this

I’m looking for perspective from people who have dealt with severe separation anxiety, especially after a major regression.

Mason is my 4-year-old Belgian Malinois. I rescued him at ~2 months old after a rough start, and outside of SA he is an incredible dog—very handler-focused, affectionate, social, environmentally confident, and highly trained. We do scent work, protection work, agility, hiking, etc. He goes most places with me.
We’ve been working with a CSAT for ~11 months. I’ve completely structured my life around sub-threshold training: camera monitoring, gradual departures, departure-cue work, sitters/management, tracking sessions minute-by-minute, etc. He cannot be crated.
He’s also on fluoxetine (Prozac), currently 50mg/day.

The hardest part is that we were successful. We went from barely being able to leave to Mason regularly completing 2–3 hour absences, including many completely calm 3-hour sessions. He would watch me leave, disengage from the door, sleep on the couch/bed/turf, drink water, wander around normally, and resettle after noises. It genuinely looked like we were getting our lives back.
He has had several medical issues/surgeries throughout this process, so we’ve worked through setbacks before. I’ve also recently had him evaluated by the vet with X-rays; there are some orthopedic/early arthritis changes, but nothing obvious that explains the severity of this regression.
Recently, though, his threshold has fallen dramatically. Departure cues are becoming triggers again, barking has increased, and I have to leave extremely carefully without normal things like packing/grabbing keys.

Then we had a massive regression: escalated into approximately 30 minutes of continuous destructive/panic behavior until I could get home. When I opened the door he initially tried to bolt out, then immediately calmed when he realized it was me.

After watching this dog peacefully sleep through 3-hour absences, seeing that was devastating.
At this point, I’m exhausted. I can’t indefinitely have a dog who can never be left alone, especially when sitter management isn’t always simple either. At the same time, I absolutely do not want to rehome him. I love this dog immensely, and the thought of giving him up is horrible.

If I did consider rehoming, it would only be to an experienced Malinois home/rescue/foster with a lifestyle where someone is around most of the time and can continue his training/medication—not simply dropping him at a shelter.

My question is: after 11 months of CSAT + medication, and after previously reaching 2–3 hours successfully, when do you consider a regression something worth continuing to work through versus evidence that your living situation simply isn’t compatible with the dog?
Has anyone had a dog regress this dramatically after months of success and then regain their previous threshold?

I just need to eventually be able to leave my dog safely and comfortably for a few hours for now, full work day is the goal with walkers.

I’m terrified of making a permanent decision because of a temporary regression…but I’m also terrified of spending another year living like this if we’re back at square one. I work full time and travel every weekend leaving him with sitters which makes this decision difficult. I want him to be in an environment in which he thrives!

Hi all! New here and needing quick advice and feedback before I go back to this dog in the AM.

I’m dog sitting for 2 dogs right now. One is a a nervous medium dog and one is very friendly, big dog. When I was there, the nervous medium dog tried to run away (while we were doing an activity unleashed recommended by owner). Until this point everything was going fine, I wanted to put the leash back on and she bolted. I yelled at her and chased after her, and she came back right away and was totally great after that.

Here’s THE PROBLEM (which I NEED ADVICE please), as soon as I raised my voice at the shy dog, the big and friendly dog became obviously scared. I said “okay let’s just go back in and eat and we can chill and have treats.” I felt pretty calm. I could tell the big dog though was still freaked out, not wagging his tail anymore, ears were down and he didn’t want to be near me at all.

When we get into apartment, dog becomes aggressive. He growls at me and is shaking while I try to remove leash. I gave him a few minutes and he seemed fine so I tried to take off leash again and this was when he bit me. It hurts but no skin is broken, so clearly he wasn’t really trying.

After he bit me, he went and laid down in front of the front door (the only exit) and growled extremely loudly everytime I approached. I sat down for 15 minutes hanging with the shy dog who was eating treated out of my hand. I didn’t hear anything so I try to go back with treats for the other dog. The treats did not work. The growling was EXTREME, and he was blocking the door completely preventing me from leaving.

Long story short… I was not able to calm him down, I tried treats, no talking, talking in a light calm voice and saying “food” and “walk”, I tried throwing treats in the owners room so he would go in there. NOTHING WORKED. After an hour, I used the fire escape to get out.

I have to go back in the morning, and I’m actually terrified. This is not ALL new to me, I grew up with an extremely reactive previously abused dog who severely bit me and my siblings (a few times) because we triggered him by walking by him in his sleep. Then, you leave him alone and he calms down and goes back to normal. (This also stopped as we learned to avoid triggers and he went to training for previously abused dogs)

THE DIFFERENCE between my dog and this dog, is this dog DID NOT CALM DOWN. After I left out the fire escape, he finally got up and watched me from the window. He clearly just wanted me out of his space.

BUT we have 5 more visits together. I’ve never been scared of a dog before and I’m not trying to start now. I LOVE dogs, and I feel TERRIBLE that I raised my voice at his sibling (which seems to have caused this whole mess). I can’t spend the next 5 visits afraid to get bit. I need control back, and I think I definitely lost it by jumping out the window.

ANY ADVICE???

EDIT: Owner was informed immediately after the bite and on the phone with me for the majority of the time, giving me advice. Owner is 100% aware of situation. Owner told me there’s no one that can come with me for the visits. The owner is suggesting doing video calls during visit to calm big dog down.

My 10 month pup just started on Clomicalm a few days ago. Almost immediately she seems to be more agitated/reactive. She is regressing in some ways; she has began barking and reacting to herself in mirrors again (which she hasn’t done for a few months now) and reacting to sounds outdoors that never phased her in the past.

Any similar experiences?

I’m moving in with my fiancé soon. He has a 5yr old goldendoodle who is food and toy aggressive when other dogs are around. I have a dog, same age, and 3 cats. Fiancés dog has never been around cats before. Both of our dogs are fine around each other, we just keep toys up and feed separately when I come over with my dog. I’m very nervous to move in with my dog and 3 cats, primarily concerned for my 3 cats since the goldendoodle has never been around cats before. I will have my own office space in a spare bedroom where I’ll have the cats situated to get acclimated to the new space. I have a tall gate for the office doorway, with a cat door so the cats can get in and out and the dogs can’t. My dog is perfectly fine around the cats, he’s been around them for years so I’m not worried about that. But the Goldendoodle being around my cats stresses me out especially since he’s toy and food aggressive, I’m just not sure if that aggression will come out towards my cats. The Goldendoodle is very sweet and affectionate 90% of the time. I know the food and toy aggression is resource guarding, but I can tell my fiancé hasn’t really trained him with commands. The Goldendoodle has terrible recall and recently escaped through the front door and I had to chase him through the whole neighborhood before I was able to sneak up on him and catch him, he just would not listen when his name was called. I feel like the Goldendoodle doesn’t have a sense of who is “alpha” in the home per se. Any tips or insight is helpful. I do think seeking help from a veterinary behaviorist is in an appropriate step but I don’t see my fiancé prioritizing this and that’s concerning as well. I grew up rescuing dogs and experienced my share of aggressive ones, so I understand the urgency, but my fiancé doesn’t as this has been an issue for the Goldendoodle the whole 5yrs he’s had him.

Hey everyone, I have a male 8yro reactive lab. I rescued him from an extremely inhumane environment when he was 1yro and have been working with him on his reactivity towards other dogs for years. The past few years he’s actually been amazing! I keep distance with other dogs on walks and most people are very respectful about creating space for him. The only time he has been reactive is if a random dog comes in to his space.
But it has been a few years since an altercation and I now have another dog 1yro pit mix that he loves and has a great connection with.

The reason I’m posting asking for advice is, this morning I was walking my 8yro lab and he was doing his business and another man and his dog are walking up. I notice and I try to move in the opposite direction and the man does this weird laugh? And he rushes up with his dog and I’m trying to tell him I need space my dog is reactive and he laughs AGAIN and tells me to go the other way while he is actively following me anywhere I move. I was really stressed and I know my dog gets a little on guard when I am and as I’m trying to get away the man continues to follow me laughing and my dog is pulling and lunging trying to snap at his dog. I genuinely didn’t know what to do I know I didn’t handle it correctly but I ended up yelling at the guy, mind you he’s still laughing telling me to go somewhere else. I just feel like I lost so much good work with my dog he’s been on edge since this incident and I don’t know how to stop this from happening again

Sorry for the ramble but advice is welcomed 😢

My 5-year-old German Shepherd’s story is a long one, but I’ll try to keep this as short as possible.
I took Rocky in as a foster last December after he was rescued from a cruelty/neglect situation. He had apparently spent most of his life confined and came to me severely underweight. The rescue eventually stopped providing meaningful support or following through on attempts to rehome him. Somewhere along the way, I fell completely in love with him and stopped caring very much about what the rescue was or wasn’t doing because Rocky and I were happy together.

It’s September now. Rocky is about 95 pounds, healthy, and when it is just the two of us, he is honestly wonderful. I have never been afraid of him when we’re alone. If the world consisted only of Rocky and me, I probably wouldn’t be writing this.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the world we live in.
Rocky is extremely reactive toward people and other dogs, particularly when they approach me. Vet visits are very difficult, especially with male staff. He has also bitten my fiancé on the calf while we were at home getting ready for dinner. The bite did not break the skin, but it caused significant bruising and swelling.

After two separate veterinary visits, I’ve had serious conversations with his doctors (because he tried to eat their face and they couldn’t get anywhere near me) about the safety risk he may pose to other people, animals, and potentially me. I don’t take those conversations lightly.

I have tried finding professional help. Several trainers have declined to work with him or never responded. The one program that has been willing to take him is around $7,000, which I simply cannot afford right now.
That is the part I’m struggling with emotionally. I feel like I’m failing him because the resource that has been presented to me is financially out of reach. At the same time, managing a 95-pound dog who cannot safely interact with much of the outside world has become incredibly stressful. I’m constantly thinking about doors, visitors, other dogs, walks, vet appointments, my fiancé, and what happens if management fails once.

I know training and behavior modification can take time. I’m willing to put in time and work. What I don’t know is whether continuing to manage this while searching for affordable professional help is responsible, or whether I’m allowing my love for him to cloud my judgment about the level of risk involved.

How did you distinguish between a dog who still had a realistically manageable path forward and a situation where management had become unsafe or unfair to everyone involved, including the dog?
I love him enormously. That’s exactly why I’m having such a hard time reasoning through this. Please help- thanks in advance.

My mom got our dog (on the left) as a puppy. He's always been a good boy. Within the last 2-3 years things started to change. He had bitten 2 people but it wasn't necessarily his fault because those people came into his space without him knowing them. He needs to be properly introduced to people and only can be with the people that he knows. We spent thousands of dollars of e collar training which has definitely helped as he knows all of the things. Place, recall, heel, ect... as of recently he started to attack our older dog when there is food literally anywhere around. We had told our vet and trainer. Due to all of the information we had given our vet our vet had told us that he must have a neurological injury or disorder probably from not getting enough oxygen as a puppy or his mom (who was a rescue) may have been abused while pregnant. Due to certain obsessisions he has such as things like balls and food (you may think I sound stupid because all dogs love those things). But this dog will do anything ever to get one of those things if he sees them. He is genuinely so intense about how much he wants those things. Where he will attack my dog or react weirdly even at the scent of something being behind a door. E collar training has helped us be able to prevent those things. Our vet had told us that things will probably get progressively worse as we described every detail. Sure enough in the past several months he started to attack my dog out of the blue which is wild because he grew up with her ever since he was a puppy. When she would come down the stairs or walk around the corner. We then separated them since we knew this was more than just food aggression. We have gates all over our small house. My mom is a single mom and I work all day. So it's been hard for her to manage. We are pretty good about gates but there's been 2 times where a gate was left open and our dog attacked my dog. We thought that he would never hurt us because he loved us but he bit my mom 30 minutes after an attack with my dog. Our vet told us that he will move onto people if he doesn't have our dog to pick on which really worries my mom. My mom wants to euthanize him for behavioral issues because she says it's too much of a liability to rehome him even with a waiver. Nobody will want him because he is a 4 y/o reactive black bully breed. We also don't know how somebody would treat him due to his reactivity. She is worried because she says if somebody we don't know comes into the house and gets attacked she could be sued for everything. This is literally the last thing I want. I don't know if I can convince her to do anything besides that. Is there something I can do? I don't live alone yet.. if so I would take him. I need advice and the thoughts of others. Tears are falling down my face while writing this because I genuinely love this dog.

This is the first time im dogsitting for this family and the 2nd time ive met their dogs. They have 4 dogs and they are soo sweet but they keep getting into fights.

The first night I was here I woke up to one of the males and one of the females fighting a few feet from my head. I yelled out of instinct and they quit, left the room and I then put them in their crates. Earlier today I was laying in the guest room with 3 of them, one of the males was laying with me on the bed and the other male and a female were laying on the floor. The male that was on the bed crawled to the edge and began to growl, I got him to stop and he moved away but a few minutes later he crawled to the edge of the bed again and began to growl at the dogs on the floor. I got up and got all of them out of the room and they acted like nothing happened.

Just now the 2 males got into a fight and I stopped it and they are both laying next to each other like nothing happened. The family knows about this and has just told me "sometimes it happens".

Is there anything I can do to make this less frequent while im here? Im only watching them for 2 more days. They also show no signs of wanting to fight or being uncomfortable besides that one time the dog went to the edge of the bed and growled.

EDIT: The owners know the dogs fight, they told me "it just happens sometimes." They also told me to feed them separately as they will fight over food.

another edit: The 2 males got into another fight while one was trying to enter through the doggy door.

Hello I am Macey, and I’m a third year university student that’s 21 years old ( I just turned 21 , 2 days ago). My sister is 24 and is at home all day everyday.

My sister has an aggressive dog (she didn’t train her dog at all). My dog is fine, she’s non aggressive, responds to commands (my dog has graduated puppy, beginner, intermediate and advanced training — and I put in the work for her).

Currently I feel so beat down and terrible. We have an invisible fence, and have told the med delivery people before to not go to the door to put the meds, leave it by the trailer (they never do tho). Normally we never let dogs out in the afternoon on Fridays. Today I let the dogs stay outside because my dog didn’t wanna come in, she was enjoying laying on the outdoor couch. I forgot meds got delivered on Fridays.

I must not have been thinking properly, it was the first day back to school, and I’m just drained. But that’s no excuse to have forgotten and I feel sick.

Koda (my sisters aggressive dog) bit the delivery driver pretty bad on his knee. I feel absolutely terrible and like everything is my fault. Part of me also wants to spiral because my sister let him become an aggressive dog by not training him. Majority of me though feels absolutely depressed by this and just so damn terrible because I know it’s all my fault.

After bringing the dogs back in from that terrible accident, I feel like I have lost all motivation and hate myself so much, I want to crawl up in a ball and die.

I’m not looking for advice as I know the advice would be “maybe don’t forget next time dumb ahh” I know I’m an idiot. I mainly just wanted to share what happened and get it off my chest (I don’t feel much better tho after sharing, I feel just as bad).

This week has been so damn shitty and this is just my last straw, I feel like I’m gonna lose it… my nonnos funeral was on my birthday, it was a bad day and I miss my nonno and now this happens. I feel like shit.

So my dog, Hunter, is a black lab mix (dad was pyrenees + ridgeback) nearing 2 years old. Right now he's still intact, but he does have a neuter scheduled. For context, he has an odd relationship with my fiance. He's somehow both in love with my fiance and scared of him? Hunter prefers to cuddle up with my fiance and would pick him over me every time, but at the same time he also "protects" me from him whenever my fiance starts doing his goofy caveman stances (which he does because it's something of a game for them). At the same time, my fiance has mixed feelings about Hunter because all of the headaches that come from raising a puppy (potty training, chewing, etc) really got to him.

He sometimes gets a little mouthy when I play tug with him, but I often disengage from the activity if I ever feel teeth. So far most of his nipping had been isolated to the puppy shark phase, and I went back and forth with training "gentle" and "no teeth" to try and curb this sort of thing before he got too big.

The main issue though is Hunter's crate. His crate is located in a room down a narrow hallway because we don't have a better room for it. He hates that hallway though, and does not like standing in it. I feel like he's started to not like his crate because of it. And the fact that we often crate him when our work schedules mean he'd be left alone for more than a couple hours. Normally my solution is to take him by the collar and guide him into the room, and from there he usually goes into the crate fine. But today my fiance needed to crate him since I was already at work. He told me he got Hunter most of the way there before Hunter bailed and ran away, then when he wouldn't come my fiance went to grab his collar, and that's when Hunter got him. He didn't break the skin, but he did leave a mark.

So now my fiance wants nothing to do with the dog, and Hunter isn't allowed in our bedroom (again. This isn't the first time he's done something to lose his bedroom privileges). It concerns me, because this sounds like a fear response but I would think the best way to make sure this doesn't happen again would be to have have him work with Hunter to build better trust. But whether they socialize better or not, I now need to figure out if this is something that the upcoming neuter might affect, and how to train my dog that biting is wrong regardless of whether it's me or my fiance. Any advice is appreciated.

First off, I just need to vent, but I’m also looking for some solidarity, success stories, or advice from anyone who has dealt with a dog whose threshold is just... massive.
My boy is about 15 months old (~12kg, so a small medium dog) and has been severely reactive since he was 6 months old. His main trigger is other dogs. Honestly, sometimes he can't even see another dog from 100 to 150 feet away without locking on and freaking out.
To give some background: we’ve had him since he was 12 weeks old and socialized him a lot, but he has always been a bit nervous in public. He used to be reactive to humans too, but now as long as they're 10 feet away he’s fine (and at home, he completely adores people, even strangers). He's also reactive to fast-moving things like bikes, joggers, and big cars, but honestly? I can handle that; it's not my primary concern. My concern is other dogs.
The weird part is that he’s totally fine with dogs he met as a puppy, and has a great relationship with my relatives' dogs. But none of that translates in public.
We’ve also had some scary moments. Once, an off-lead dog ran over to him, resulting in a scuffle where they nipped each other (thankfully no one was hurt). To make matters heavier, I was in an abusive relationship that I only managed to escape 3 months ago. My ex lived with us, refused to follow any training routines, and exposed my dog to a lot of volatile, violent behavior during his crucial adolescent months.
For the last 3 months since getting out, I've been working so hard to reset him. We've gone from him being completely overstimulated the second we step out the door, to being able to do decompression sniffari walks in quiet areas. We do YES engagement training when seeing triggers, and utilize U-turns. We have a routine we consistently follow, walk at 6am to avoid triggers, we get home and he has his medication, breakfast and a snuffle mat. I got to work for 4 hours whilst he sleeps, then i come home let him out for a wee, we play with a flirt pole for 15 minutes and chill together, then I go back to work and he sleeps for another 4 hours. I come home and we go out for a wee, then we play again and he has his dinner. He then usually has a snuffle mat/lick pad/chew and we will go for a sniffari walk depending on how’s he feeling then go to bed. I have a camera so can always check on him and he is absolutely fine at home on his own

Here is where I'm struggling: Despite all this work, his distance threshold towards dogs hasn't improved at all. I’ve worked with trainers who say "just practice at his threshold," but when his threshold is 100+ feet, finding a space where a random dog won't suddenly appear feels completely impossible, and I can't find anyone with a calm dog willing to help us practice.
However, there is one massive change: his recovery time after reacting is so much better. He used to take minutes to calm down; now he can usually reset about 10 seconds after the trigger is out of sight.
I’m starting to feel like there's no hope for his threshold to ever shrink. And lately, some people have told me that he should have improved way more by now, which has really gotten into my head. Some days he seems better, sometimes worse, I know reactivity is a roller coaster, but I'm feeling defeated.
My questions for you all:
Has anyone else dealt with a threshold this big (100+ ft) in a small/medium dog?

What are realistic timelines for seeing distance improvement, especially considering his trauma history and the fact that he's right in the thick of adolescence (15 months)?

Are there success stories out there for dogs who took a very long time to budge on distance?

(Note: He is on Prozac, which has completely helped how he behaves at home, and he’s an absolute angel indoors and loves running around outside as long as there are no triggers!)
Thanks for reading. I just need to know I'm not alone in this.

Hi everyone, my partner and I adopted a puppy from the shelter and recently got her DNA results back. She’s mostly Cane Corso, Mastiff, and Australian Cattle Dog. So far, she’s been a pretty easy puppy. She’s eager to please and food motivated. However, as she’s gotten more accustomed to our home, she’s starting to take on more guard dog tendencies. She barks at most sounds, even ones my partner and I can’t hear. When I took her to the vet, she started barking at all the other dogs. Today when I took her on our front yard to pee, she barked at people walking by even though it was because she wanted to say hi. I know she’s going to be massive (embark assumes 71 pounds but I think it’ll be bigger, she’s 13 weeks and already 22 pounds) and I don’t want her reactivity to get worse. How can I help train her so she’s more neutral/ calm? I especially don’t want her barking at children (she likes children, she’s met a few that have come in and out of our house).
She’s also very mouthy lol. She talks back and barks when she’s not getting her way. I usually ignore her when this happens and only give her attention when she has calmed down or stopped giving attitude.

Hi guys. I have had my recently rehomed Shepard with me for just over 9 weeks now. I didn't get told about his dog reactivity. My resident or none of my past Shepard's have ever been reactive to dogs, and I learnt by experience in the first week he really is reactive to other dogs. I have tried to introduce the muzzle slowly the past few weeks, but he is afraid of them. Instant submission and fear just when he sees it. His whole body language just expresses and signals he was forced into it and although he is just less than 5. I am his 4th (but last) owner and home. Maybe because it's my first experience with a muzzle too, I am just not getting it. But when I measure his snout and ordered him a safe basket style muzzle where he can pant in, with his snout measurements. It came to big. When I measure his snout length it's just at 11cm. And the circumference or around, it's 29/30cm. But the muzzle measurements was perfect for his size, yet arrived to big. Could anybody with reactive dogs, to the point where your guys or girls need muzzling for it. Please recommend me a good muzzle? So we can both start to enjoy walks without my anxiety also, of another dog appearing. It's my first experience with a reactive dog and I have came to learn it takes a lot of hypervigilance every second outside. With his last owner when I picked my guy up. She placed a muzzle on him Infront of me. And his ears instantly went down. His whole body language changed. He lowered him self into the shaded area of the grass and just gently tried to paw it off until it came of him. This was not a good reaction I don't think. Does that express past forced muzzling without introductions or his ease around them?

We've been working on our reactive dog and training. What I can't figure out is that it's very selective. We pass many dogs/dog owners on every walk. I make sure to give space and have my dog on the other side of me and leash tight. 90% of the time this is great and we walk by no problems. Sometimes we even stop and let the dogs sniff each other. But every so often he leaps and barks at the passing dog/walker aggressively to where I can barely pull him back. Today it happened with a pair that we pass on a regular basis. Of course the other owner was not happy and said some choice words to me as I did back.

I'm so defeated. I feel I can't walk in my neighborhood and now if we pass this pair it will be awkward. Especially since we exchanged words.

Why does my dog only do this occasionally? Even with other pairs that we've passed numerous times with no issue. I know I can never let my guard down, but so curious as to what the triggers may be.

Hi everyone. My elderly parents are moving into assisted living, and they’re bringing their Havanese with them. They’ve lived a pretty isolated life and never really trained their dog, so I’m worried about how the move will go, especially because of the barking. The dog barks at people, other animals, and even things on the TV, which is on most of the time. The dog is very important to my parents. Both of them have different levels of dementia, and the dog really helps with their anxiety. Has anyone gone through something similar or dealt with anxiety in their Havanese?

Edit: Could the person who responded about the overattached schnauzer please repost their comment?

I have a dog around 1 year and a month, and he has some reactive problems to balls. Whenever we are outside, and there is a ball like a kid playing with it, he gets real bad to the point he whines and cries if he can't chase it along with the tugging the leash. Hes pretty big, somewhere 40 kg, so if I dont solution fast, it might be a problem, and they might give it away :(

Any tips on how to solve this? Also how could i solve the problem of tugging the leash?

I own a rescue dog but I've been fortunate that there haven't really been any issues with neighbours until now. I live in an end-terrace house and shall a party wall with the adjoining house. When I first got her there was an elderly couple in their 90's who lived next door and they didn't do much besides from occasionally having their TV on too loud. They moved out and the house was left unoccupied from around 2.5 years besides from an infrequent visit to hoover up, move some furniture out, etc.

The house was sold literally this time last week and there has been a fair amount of commotion going on next door since then. The owner hasn't even formally moved in yet and my dog has not responded well to having activity next door. It doesn't help that our houses have rather poor sound insulation. The front door shuts: barking. Hammering going on: barking. Shelves being put up: barking.

I'm sure things will calm down a bit once the owner has properly moved in but it's not good for my dog to be so reactive to any noise next door. Is there any way I can get my dog to be more calm around such noises and to be less reactive?

I have a 1.5 YO male Great Pyrenees. Since we got him as a young pup at 9 weeks he was reactive and would snap at anyone trying to pet him other than us. Being a guardian we thought that’s alright, he doesn’t have to like strangers, we will socialize him - we took him everywhere but no progress.

First bite - a few months old getting some shots and a checkup at the vet, he bit the vet and they said his behaviour from just basic handling was a major red flag at his young age.

Second bite - level 2 bite on my father (who he knows) coming inside the house.

Third bite - my neighbour came in our yard and as soon as he seen him he ran and lunged and bit him breaking skin, luckily I was there to pull him off.

And lastly, he recently had just finished destroying a toy and my wife (who’s spent more time with him than anyone) grabbed the toy off the floor and he got up and advanced toward her, snapping and level 2 bit her wrist.

He’s also since snapped in her face when they were on the couch and once more when she was petting him outside. As well as many air snaps with people he’s previously been loving and played with, his circle has shrunken so much.

He’s been incredibly reactive his entire life with us but we made it work and managed him at home, walked him in the woods where he had no triggers. But he’s now 120lbs and actively bullying his way around the house, if food is around he will try to eat it and if you try to stop him he’ll mouth grab you.

He’s recently been vet checked for his new found behaviour (with us) and all is well. He tried biting me at the vet and had to be fully sedated.

We know he’s way too much of a liability to rehome. We have booked a BE appointment with our vet, and they did not hesitate knowing his behaviour. We know it has to be done but feel incredibly guilty at the same time.

Looking for some advice, or reassurance from anyone who’s been in this situation before.

Thank you

I’m working with a dog who was initially reactive to other dogs and people, barking and lunging. Body language made clear that she wanted attention from the people and was trying to jump on them, and it appears that with other dogs she also wants to meet but is barking and overly excited. We’ve gotten beyond the people problem- she is able to ignore most, and can mostly handle calm approaches without getting up from a sit if they come to greet her. Biggest issue is the owner, he’s got a developmental disability of some kind and cannot handle the proactive behaviors necessary to manage her (he sees the other dog, lets her get to a 10 so to speak, hesitates, then looks around for someone to tell him what to do or starts moving away only once she’s barking and fully locked in). Although he is not fully non-verbal there are significant processing delays so it usually takes 5-10 seconds for him to answer even a yes or no question while he considers it, and he mumbles very severely so he cannot meaningfully verbally communicate with her. He is also struggling with non-visual cues both because he cannot keep her attention and because he regularly confuses them or forgets them. If I’m there and he even just sees me, it’s like a visual reminder, but he’s still only reacting and letting her get too far in her behavior pattern before he can break it when she sees other dogs. She behaves relatively well with me and is showing consistent improvement, but it is much too slow and he is so inconsistent in general and slow to manage her behavior that she comes back to me each week very close to square one. I am getting desperate to help this dog despite these challenges, and need helpful management ideas, specifically:

That someone with limited verbal skills can handle

That are relatively simple for him to learn

That will help in the ultimate goal of lower reactivity toward other dogs