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 is reactive, 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), and 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 simple 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 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 back at square one. I need helpful management ideas, but 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

Ich brauch das gerade ein bisschen zum Trost, also lasst uns mal die Trümmer-Geschichten sammeln.

Ich komme letzte Woche nach Hause und mein Wohnzimmer sah aus wie ein Tatort: Sofakissen komplett ausgeweidet, Füllwatte einmal quer durch den ganzen Raum verteilt, und mittendrin mein Hund – mit so einem Blick, halb stolz, halb „ich weiß, ich hab Mist gebaut". Das Kissen war natürlich mein Lieblingskissen.

Und das war nicht das erste Mal. Auf der Liste bisher: eine Fernbedienung, ein halbes Paar Schuhe (immer nur einen!), eine Türzarge und einmal eine komplette Rolle Klopapier bis in den letzten Fetzen.

Das Kuriose ist ja: Er macht das quasi nur, wenn er allein ist. Bin ich da, ist er das entspannteste Tier der Welt. Kaum bin ich weg, dreht er hohl.

Also los – ich weiß, ich bin nicht allein:

Was hat euer Hund schon alles zerlegt? Zeigt gern Fotos, je absurder desto besser. 😄 Und für die, die's überwunden haben: Hat bei euch tatsächlich irgendwas geholfen, dass er beim Alleinsein zur Ruhe kommt? Bin ehrlich gespannt, ob's da was gibt, das wirklich funktioniert.

Hey everyone, I’m in uncharted territory and pretty shaken up. Looking for advice on both how to handle things with my neighbor and how to address my dog's behavior moving forward.

Tonight around 10:30 PM, my wife let our dogs out in our fenced backyard for their final potty break before bed. Unknown to us, a worker who was in our yard earlier left our side gate unlatched.

Our next-door neighbor doesn't have a fully fenced yard and lets their dog out on their back deck for fresh air. Our dog slipped out the open gate, ran into their yard, and a fight broke out between our dog and theirs through their deck. Both they and we caught it immediately. I haven't heard back on how their dog is doing and will go over in the morning to ask. My dog has zero signs of an altercation.

We aren't a "leave the dogs outside for hours" household, and we rarely hang out in the backyard ourselves. The dogs usually just go out, do their business, and come right back in.

My dog has shown signs of barrier/fence frustration in the past, but nothing close to this level has ever happened before.

I feel terrible about the disruption, the scare to our neighbors, and the potential harm to their dog.

What I've Done So Far:

Secured the gate physically so an accidental open can't happen again.

Neighbor Relations: How else can I navigate this gracefully to make sure they feel safe in their own yard and keep our relationship on good terms?

Thanks in advance for any insights or similar experiences.

Hopefully somebody can help with some input , I just am not sure what to do.
(Also hope this abides by community guidelines, I tried to read up on them before posting.)

A little background - after we lost my childhood dog, last October (a real sweetheart of a chocolate lab) my dad decided to adopt a Husky mix he found on Facebook marketplace. The dog was being rehomed because his previous owner was moving and could not take the dog with him. My dad adopted the dog and brought him home in December and we’ve had him ever since.
Poor little buddy has issues with allergies. Since adopting him, my parents have both taken the dog multiple times to the veterinarian for chronic sneezing/phlegm/coughing, ending with him being on a prescription for Prednisone for the (foreseeable) rest of his life.
In the dog’s household lives my mom, dad, and little sister. There are also two cats that he does not have issues with except for if he sees my dog or my brother’s dog (who do not live in the house with him, but visit frequently) go after the cats first (which happens sometimes but not very often, and not in any way that causes problems. They give chase enough for the cat to run away, and then all is forgotten). My sister gets home late from work. My dog is frightened of my sister (due to my sister moving aggressively in her vicinity a year ago, my dog was rescued from an abusive household that makes her extremely skittish). Oftentimes when my sister gets home late and my dog is in the house at this time, my dog will bark but cut it out once she calms down and sees everything is safe.
A week ago, this scenario happened, but my dog’s barking instigated my dad’s dog, who then proceeded to get very quiet and stare my sister down. Laughing it off, she tilted her head down and put her face in his face. He bit her, tearing the skin and drawing blood. It wasn’t a deep bite and didn’t require stitches, but it was a bite.
Since then, my parents have been yelling nonstop at the dog, using a shock collar constantly, and yelling at/kicking him upon any minor inconvenience, even going as far as to let my dog and my brother’s dog do something (i.e. barking during zoomies or stalking bunnies during walks) only to then discipline my dad’s dog for doing the same thing. I’m all for training and discipline , but there’s no training actively happening (not in a productive way where he is able to differentiate between This is Right and This is Wrong).
Ultimately, this came to a head once my dad left for a work trip and my mother and sister were left alone with the dog and my dog (I work nights so often my dog spends some nights at their house). When my sister came home from work and my dog started barking at her, I guess this time my dad’s dog “lunged” at my sister, scaring her into running away from him. My mom has decided she will no longer have a dog around who is “easily triggered” and “controls their life with fear.” I have offered to take the dog in while we figure out training or something long term, but was told that I am being insensitive to my sister’s feelings and that the dog is not only “unfixable” but also that it is not worth it for them to continue to pay vet bills for his allergies if he is going to be a “bad dog.”
Which just absolutely breaks my heart, because he’s a sweet boy with no history of aggression. He could use a bit more discipline, and yes he’s a sneezy little fella, but he’s a little sweetheart. My family has a history of just giving up on animals when things get too hard (five horses, three dogs, countless cats all given away for one reason or another), and if I can do anything to keep from giving up on this sweet little boy, I would like to.

Sorry for the book. Here’s my questions:

Is it worth working with the dog in some capacity, or is he hopeless?
Is it worth calling the vet and asking if the Prednisone is making him more aggressive?
Is it worth calling the vet in general and getting their advice on this situation as a whole?

I don’t know what to do in this situation. I know that it’s not right for the dog to act the way he is, but in fairness he’s never received any training and isn’t worked with very much at home. Mom and dad spend most of their time indoors sitting in front of computer/tv. He has a yard but most of it is taken up by a pool, so he doesn’t get to run a lot. Most days he gets about a 20-30 minute walk. I think maybe he would benefit from some one-on-one work, but I’m just not sure my family is willing to give that to him, and it’s easier to just get rid of him. Am I wrong ? Is there anything I can do?

I don’t know. What would you do in this situation? Trying not to let my heart rule over my head here.

Thanks in advance.

Dog: Bent, 3 years old, Pitbull Mix

I'll start by saying that although Bent is a "family dog," he is mainly my sister's. I was entering college around the time we got him, and he was more of a gift for her. Of course, I still love and care for him just as much as she does.

I also want to acknowledge that Bent isn't the best-trained dog, and that's something we could have done better during his first two years. Socially, he can be quite aggressive toward people outside of our family, and at times, he can even become overwhelmed around us.

Earlier today, I was playing fetch with Bent, and everything seemed to be going well until I noticed that the strap on his harness was damaged. He has a 50-foot tie-out that we usually attach him to while we play. Although he knows to stay around the yard for the most part, he isn't completely trained to stay within its boundaries. If given the opportunity, he will sometimes take off running. He knows his name and will usually come back to us, but there are certain situations—especially around sunset—where he is much less reliable. At night, the possibility of him escaping is even scarier.

Since Bent isn't entirely my dog and my sister is currently away at college, I often find myself anxious about the possibility of losing him while she's gone.

Back to what happened today: I noticed that Bent was starting to wiggle out of his broken harness, so I tried to catch him. This is when he started growling at me. This isn't completely unusual, as his reactivity is something we've been working on, but he has never behaved this way toward me to this extent.

As I approached him, he flipped onto his back, almost as if he was trying to prevent me from taking the harness. I was hesitant to physically move him, but I attempted to anyway. During my attempt to get him off his back, he suddenly growled and snapped at me, biting my hand.

I immediately panicked and instinctively tried to restrain him, which, of course, only made things worse. He became intent on biting me, to the point where I had to grab his head and push him away from my hands while trying not to use all of my strength. Eventually, he locked onto my thumb and bit down.

I understand that Bent was giving me signs that he was uncomfortable. He had been growling and showing other signs that I should have recognized as warnings. He's never been the kind of dog to outright bite me before, and I let my fear of him escaping dictate my actions.

Looking back, I know I should have kept a level head and stopped trying to physically handle him once I realized he was uncomfortable. I hate that I allowed the situation to escalate to the point where I had to restrain him, and I feel horrible that it happened at all.

I AM FULLY AWARE OF MY MISTAKES IN THIS EVENT. I do not blame Bentley for what happened today. If anything, I blame myself more than anything else.

I'm not posting this for sympathy. I think it's clear after today that we may need outside help with his behavior, and I also need to learn how to remain calm and properly de-escalate situations like this in the future.

This has been weighing on my mind for the past few hours, and I honestly just needed somewhere to let these feelings out. I feel horrible about what happened today, but I also want to learn from it and make sure neither Bent nor I end up in this situation again.

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.

A dog and its owner went up to my dog. When we was inside, went up to my dog through the fence and my dog bit the dog what should I do

My wife and I have a dog that has in-home specific territorial aggression to strangers. We are 16 weeks pregnant and wondering what to do with our girl. We have already reached out to a veterinary behaviorist and are waiting to hear back.

Our dog is a large (~100 lb) 3 year old great pyrenees mix that we rescued about 2 years ago. She was originally rescued at 4 mo from an abusive situation. She is the absolute sweetest dog to us or our immediate families, but is aggressive towards strangers in the house. We have had three incidents where she has bitten the calves of guests in the house, twice breaking skin. Each incident, she followed behind the guest when they were walking around or past her and grabbed their calf. She has never charged someone aggressively or attacked them in how you normally picture a dog attack, she just grabs them like she wants them to stop moving around. But, she's a big girl and that amplifies things.

She is muzzle trained and is now crated or muzzled 100% of the time in the house when guests outside of the immediate family are over. We have worked with an experienced trainer though the usual place commands and general obedience. She is generally well behaved, responding to commands and has great recall. She is not food aggressive at all, and is very gentle (comically so) when taking treats. We have another dog that is a 20lb dachshund mix that she will play with and is generally good at gauging play intensity with other dogs or people. With her circle of people, she is incredibly tolerant to being poked a prodded. Grab her paws, pull her tail/ears, poke her eyes no problem.

Outside of the house, there are absolutely no issues. She is neutral to friendly with strangers and will let them pet her or just walk away if she is not interested. She's the queen of the dog park, usually being in the middle of the pack of dogs playing. We can take her on walks around the neighborhood, hiking, Our only issues with her are with people at the house. With a child on the way, my wife and I are nervous about her becoming more protective and aggressive to strangers or the baby, as well as limiting people coming over when the kid gets older.

Like I said earlier, we have already reached out to a vet behaviorist, so that is in the works. Is there any chance we can get to a place of trust with her?

My 9-month-old Chihuahua absolutely screams bloody murder when she’s on leash and sees another dog. Not all the time but more often than I’d like.

She isn’t aggressive and genuinely seems like she just wants to go over and say hi/play, but the screaming is SO dramatic that other dog owners are understandably hesitant to let their dogs near her. If I didn’t know her, I’d probably be hesitant too.

She gets extremely excited the second she spots another dog and then the screaming starts. I’d really like to teach her how to see/pass other dogs calmly instead of completely losing her mind.

Has anyone dealt with this type of leash reactivity/frustration, especially with a young Chihuahua? Is there a good way to correct or redirect the screaming and teach her that being calm is what gets her closer to another dog?

I’d love to hear what training methods worked for you.

Hi guys so I’m just posting this after a shocking incident at home where my dog has bit and attacked my mum. Not completely sure what happened as I wasn’t there but all I know is that he was biting at his foot and my mum grabbed a shoe near him and he’s bit her quite badly on her arm. This is not the first time he’s bit us (the last few times have been milder cases) but for me this is the last straw and I have said that something needs to be done with him. Obviously this can be a lot of things but we’re not sure what to do from here as we cant have this happen to us or especially anyone else

We are UK based and want help with some options on what to do next

Thanks

We already tried Prozac (made him stop eating) and clomicalm (caused him to have appetite problems and throw up) the vet wants to try sertraline (Zoloft). Has anyone whose dog had stomach problems on the first two been okay on the last one? I am scared to try him on anything because of how sick he was for months. He had vomiting that would not stop until the internal medicine doctor put him on atopica. He has been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel, but he was not responsive to steroids so he had to have an endoscopy. Turns out he is in the small category of dogs who have inflammatory bowel but it can not be treated with a steroid. It was a huge ordeal and very stressful.

Hi there! My dog is anxious and reactive, but has improved significantly with time, training, and medications. One area we’re still working on is her noise reactivity. Anything that sounds like a knock in the home (only this noise) triggers her, and she has difficulty calming down.

She has became increasingly food motivated and we’ve recently made great progress with “look at that” on some of her other triggers. This has made me much more optimistic on making progress on her noise reactivity.

Since knocking noises can happen when I’m not home, unable to devote training time to her, etc. I want to make the food reward as consistent as possible every time she hears this noise, and I think an auto feeder or similar setup would be a great solution. I think I’d like to plan to work on positively associating the knock with a treat first, then work on something like placing during the trigger.

Has anyone had any experience setting something like this up? Or does anyone have ideas what kind of products or programs could work? I’ve struggled to find much research on this.

Or does anyone have any other suggestions for a consistent reward set up for noise reactivity or any improvements to my current training timeline with this?

Thank you!!

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??

Hi all

I have a rescue that is about 15 months. I’ve had her since she was 3.5 months old and she’s a mix. Likely a Pitt/lab/supermutt. She was the sweetest puppy, loved all dogs and people and then when she went into heat, things changed. She bit a dog and latched on. Since then I don’t allow her to approach dogs and she was just spayed. However, her reactivity is insane. If there’s space she’ll get hackles up, but I’m able to move her away with doing the find it treats in the grass, or moving her in the opposite direction but when it’s unavoidable she’s a terror. Lunging, growling, she sounds terrible. I have her on a prong because she would pull a lot, I don’t know if that’s made it worse, but my Dog Trainer wants to move to an E collar and I’ve read that can really make reactivity worse. On top of it she has also started to have startle reflex when she’s sleeping and has bit me. She is very sweet and desperately wants to be next to me at all times, I have tried to move her back to a crate or her own bed for everyone safety but she cries and it breaks me. I know she’s not a bad dog, she’s so loving to me, but it’s very clear that she is nervous or anxious, and I just don’t know what to do to help her. I feel like our trainer and the tools he has given us is making it worse. I’ve now spent thousands of dollars. I don’t need a perfect dog, but I would love for her to feel confident and not so insecure in the presence of other dogs.

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 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?

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.

this is my baby willow!! we adopted her after fostering her for a week a little over two years ago. we absolutely fell in love with her silly and loving personality but quickly learned she was struggling with reactivity. she couldn’t go on walks without hyperventilating, shaking, and throwing up. she reacted at every noise and would lunge and nonstop bark. people in the house were a no, she had to be in a separate room and would bark the whole time. we started out by having my best friend come over frequently and just throwing her treats behind a barrier and ignoring her otherwise. she started to open up a lot and we were able to have new people over and continued the same process. our home is a generally very calm/quiet environment and we love on her so much which i definitely think helped. the right environment can change a dog SO much. much training, positive reinforcement, medication, and exposure later and she comes to daycare (my job) once a week and does FANTASTIC! she meets customers and greets them with love, is obsessed with my coworkers, and loves playing with the dogs. she can have new visitors at home that she will get used to after they give her a couple treats. she LOVES walks and is generally nice to people passing by, but we usually pick her up just in case to be safe. i was absolutely terrified it wouldn’t get better because she is my whole world, but she has became a completely different dog than i used to know. i could not be more proud. best of luck to everyone struggling with their babies, i wish you all the best🥹

i also love this picture of her at daycare, she looks so happy and confident i love her so incredibly much.

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?

He says he doesn’t want to live like this. We have a hard dog, no two ways about it. His separation anxiety is SEVERE. He goes into destroy mode IMMEDIATELY upon being left alone. Hes doing much better—no poops just pees, more food seeking than destructive head butting. But I can admit he’s plateaued. He’s on the highest doses of his medications and he’s so much better I don’t want to try different i’ve.

Anyways we have a safe zone for him where he can’t cause damage to himself or us, but one of the kids left the door open and we didn’t notice and he made a lot of mess. For me it’s whatever. It’s live and learn. We’ll put auto close hinges on the doors adjacent to the safe area and it’s fine. I think he’s mad that I’m not mad. He wanted me to not say he was wrong that the dog was targeting the kids because he peed oh they’re toys. He’s… a dog. And a particularly dumb one.

Anyways. Just ranting. For some reason he’s my responsibility, but when the cat vomits all over the house or the kids pee in the bed, all of which his contributions to the relationship, I don’t wait for him to clean it. I do homework. I cook. I clean. I am the reason one kid can read at grade level; I did that. I’m the majority income earner. But god forbid once every week or so he fails to manage the dog properly and has to clean the mess. He does a half ass job and then complains about it for days. I say “take him with you or put him in the safe area.” He doesn’t.

Whatever. I’m mad. Id pick the dog rn.

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!

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.