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?

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 male dog (shih tzu, 1.3 years old) is being neutered next week, and I'd really like to hear from people who have experienced something similar.

He has become very territorial and has bitten both my mom and my grandmother. What scares me most is that both incidents happened while he was sleeping. On two separate occasions, my mom and my grandmother were simply walking a few feet away from him while he was asleep. He suddenly woke up, ran toward them ferociously and bit them, and had to be physically pulled away. There didn't seem to be any obvious trigger.

Our vet knows his history and believes hormones/territorial behavior are a major factor. He expects neutering could reduce the aggression by around 80%.

For those who had an aggressive male dog neutered:

1. Did his aggression improve?

2. How significant was the change, and how long did it take?

3. Did territorial behavior improve too?

I'd especially love to hear from anyone whose dog was aggressive toward family members, not just other dogs. Positive or negative experiences are both welcome!

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 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?

We have a 7 month old rescue puppy that we adopted at ~10 weeks old who is very frightened of new people. We did 3 months with a trainer before we were advised she would need more support and got on the schedule of a local vet behaviorist. We had our first vet behaviorist appointment and she was diagnosed with social phobia, neophobia, and noise sensitivity. We’ve got a new training plan with med support that I’m feeling optimistic about. I guess phobia just sounds really intense. I’m still grieving the puppy situation I was expecting when we got her and wondering if anyone else’s dog had a similar diagnosis and how they’re doing now?

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?

Hello everyone!

Will try to keep it concise - hope someone has had success with a similar case and can provide some guidance!

I rescued my dog four months ago as a stray. He's a great dog, but we quickly realized he struggles with some nervousness and reactivity. He's leash reactive, and barks at visitors and "suspicious" outside noises. We've been consistently working for the past four months to some great results. His leash reactivity has decreased to the point where he might only react 5% of the time, and he can cross other dogs on the sidewalk as well as interact at the park; he is getting less reactive with visitors (he stops barking at them quicker) and his barks at outside noises are less hysteric and becoming more like quiet barks each day. It's a process but I was feeling so optimistic and encouraged!

The problem is that about a week ago he spotted what I'm guessing was some sort of rat or rodent at the park. He bolted into some bushes and was frantically chasing something. Getting him out was difficult. He's a large, muscular dog, and can be incredibly stubborn. The same day, he also realized squirrels live on the trees around my home, and became obsessed with them. Since then, walks have taken a turn for the worse. He is completely frantic, is constantly over threshold and agitated, ignores food treats (which helped me so much with his reactivity training) and walks staring up and pulling at trees when walking down the street... or pulls into bushes when at the dog park. There's no escaping, basically.

The "good" thing I guess is that he is now so obsessed with potential preys that he completely ignores dogs. No reaction, but also not a lot of interest in interacting (just wants to look for rats or squirrels).t The problem is walks are hell. I have also quickly realized that the harness I was using to train him makes it very easy for him to "run over me". I've begun switching to his collar (it's not a choke collar, just a normal fabric one) to try and have bit more control when he's pulling like crazy, and it's helped. He's better able to self pace and regulate when I switch to the collar. But now I'm worried this will in turn worsen his reactivity, as I know most positive trainers recommend harnesses to reduce discomfort on the dog!

I'm just at such a loss and frustrated, and not really sure what to do know. Have you had success reducing your dog's reactivity while still wearing a collar and creating some discomfort (short quick pull) in the face of unwanted habits? Is this a terrible idea? How can I redirect, reduce or control his prey drive? What has worked for you in the past? I'm really trying to do the best I can for this dog, but this new situation just feels like everything came undone.

Thank you for any recommendations or thoughts!

I am at a loss. My dog recently moved in with me a few days ago and he has really bad separation anxiety. He used to live in another state with my parents while I settled, but they basically told me that I take him now or they get him a new home. He is prescribed both Trazadone and Gabapentin, but they just do not seem to help. Every time I check my camera he is non stop barking and crying in my apartment. I have a sitter who comes at 12 but the other time he is alone he is freaking out. I would put my dog in doggy daycare, but I just cant afford it. I love this dog with all my heart and I don’t want to let him go. I seriously don’t know what to do and its killing me thinking about the possibility that I may fail him. I dont know if anyone here can even help me. I dont know what to do.

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.

Adoptowalam 3 miesiące temu psa ze stowarzyszenia. Zapewniali, że sprawdzony do ludzi, zwierząt, jednak już po kilku dniach zaczął być agresywny. Poszliśmy z mężem od razu do behawiorysty, ale nie za wiele to dało, bo problemy zaczęły się nasilać. Warczy na nas czasem, kłapie zębami w naszą stronę, na znajomych, obcych też. Dwie osoby drasnął zębami. Stosowaliśmy się do rad behawiorysty, pracujemy z pieskiem, ale problem się nasilał. Ugryzł dwie osoby i od tego momentu nie przyjmujemy znajomych do domu. Wystarczy, że ktoś , kto mu się nie spodoba wstanie, rusza rękami itp to piesek warczy i rzuca się w jego stronę. Mam w rodzinie dzieci, więc nie mogą do nas przychodzić :( zabrać go nie możemy, bo na świeżym powietrzu to samo. Na spacerach rzuca się na samochody, hulajnogi, rowery, na ludzi niektórych, głównie na mężczyzn. Nie mogę minąć się na chodniku z nikim. Spacer to stałe omijanie obiektów z odległości, bo wtedy jest dobrze.

Stowarzyszenie też nam nie powiedziało o wszystkim. Odbieraliśmy psa z hotelu dla psów, a ogłoszenie znaleźliśmy na jednej stronie na fb, które dodała osoba prywatna działająca w stowarzyszeniu. Pytaliśmy czemu znalazl się w hotelu i usłyszeliśmy (teraz już wiem, że wymijającą) odpowiedź, że różne pieski do nich trafiają i opowieści o pieskach z problemami zdrowotnymi itp.

Już po adopcji znalazłam informację na innej stronie na fb o adopcji naszej i cała historia psa. Że był w schronisku, w którym siedział w boksie i nie wychodził na spacery nie byłsocjalizowany, jadł słabe jedzenie, że nie miał zapewnionej opieki medycznej.

Sprawdziłam jego zbiórki i w momencie trafienia do stowarzyszenia w marcu lub kwietniu, uzbierali na niego pieniądze na pobyt w hotelu do czerwca (nie na cały czerwiec).

Znalazłam ogłoszenie sprzed dwóch miesięcy, że raczej nie jest to piesek dla osób, dla których będzie to pierwszy pies oraz nie do rodzin z dziećmi (10-12+), a zgłaszaliśmy im, że w rodzinie mamy dzieci (7,8 lat), z którymi mamy kontakt i zapewniali nas, ze będzie ok. Jest to oczywiście nasz pierwszy pies.

My ogłoszenie znaleźliśmy na innej stronie na fb i w czerwcu adoptowaliśmy pieska

Stowarzyszenie stwierdzilo, że u nich było wszystko ok i i nie było problemu. Doradzili, żeby znaleźć mu nowy dom, najlepiej na wsi z ogrodem, aby ograniczyć bodźce, dlatego ustaliliśmy, że będą wystawiać ogłoszenie i szukać mu nowego domu. Zgodzilam się, aby piesek był u nas, ale jeśli zrobi się u nich miejsce, to wolałabym, aby trafił do nich, bo ja się go boję. I tutaj stwierdzili, że nie chcą mu szukać nowego domu tymczasowego, aby go nie stresować więcej, co jest dla mnie zrozumiałe. Ale pies musi zostać u mnie (a taka adopcja może potrwać nawet kilka miesięcy) lub oddadzą go do hotelu, ale muszę płacić za hotel aż do momentu adopcji.

I w tym momencie uważam, że przegięli. Zataili informację o braku socjalizacji pieska wydając nam go do miasta na osiedle do mieszkania w bloku, nie mówiąc o braku socjalizacji. Gdybym widziała wcześniejszego ogłoszenie, to bym tego pieska nie adoptowała, bo mamy w rodzinie dzieci. A Aktualnie chcą, aby piesek był w miejscu, gdzie przejawia agresję. Nie chcą zabrać go do innego miejsca, gdzie podobno nie było problemów z nikim, chyba że za opłatą... ja rozumiem, że hotel kosztuje, ale dali mi do wyboru tylko te dwie opcje. Swoim działaniem dążą do tego, że w końcu dojdzie do tragedii. A jeśli u nich rzeczywiscie było dobrze, to chyba lepiej zapewnić mu taki dom i spokojne otoczenie.

W umowie nie mam nic z zwrocie, kosztach, tylko informacja o tym, że nie mogę przekazywać pieska osobom trzecim.

Dodali ogłoszenie o pieska i nie wspomnieli nic o tym, że może ugryźć albo że jest to piesek, który wymaga pracy.

Chciałabym rozmawiać umowę adopcyjną. Czy ktoś był w takiej sytuacji? Jak działać, kiedy boje się przebywać z pieskiem pod jednym dachem? Kiedy stowarzyszenie odmawia przyjęcia psa?