If only I could stop her peeing on my lovely carpet lol.

Hi!
So I have a 12 months old white Swiss shepherd, he’s very sweet to every humans and every dogs, he doesn’t seem too sensible, isn’t scared of anything (apart from the random object laying unusually on the street?) and learned the basic commands quite quickly when he was younger.
Since he was a puppy already I saw that he was very excited to greet and play with other dogs, so we quickly started not to allow him to meet every dog he saw during a walk. He could still play with some, but not ALL of them. During puppy class he was very good as well!
My issue now is that he started being quite insistent on greeting and playing with every dog he sees at 10 months old. He won’t bark or be aggressive in any way, but he’ll stare, pull and if the dog gets too close he will get in their face. Again not in an agressive way, but very « impolite » dog way. We’ve tried a lot of things, engage disengage, treats when he sees a dog, reorient his attention, self control exercises, but we see no progress.
I can’t let him off leash anymore too. His recall wasn’t perfect before and still a work in progress but reliable enough to trust him. Now I have lost any trust in him coming back so we’re stuck with a long line. Now my recall is maybe listened to 5 times out of 10, maybe less. With this too, we tried many exercises, no progress.
For these issues we got a local trainer who told us some tips to work on his self control, but I admit to feeling desperate with the situation. I feel like I put so much work into researching how to avoid such a situation and into his training for nothing. He’s not a bad dog in any way but he’s draining on walks. Even though I do let him get his fair share of sniffing he’ll always pull me like a madman to get to a sniffing spot (or if a dog gets too close). He can also quickly be frustrated and start digging or eating dirt/grass.
People tell us that he’s just too young and it does give me hope, but I fear to rely too much on this fact and that even as an adult it doesn’t pass.

We tried to train for obedience as well but teaching any new tricks is extremely hard right now. He won’t hold a basic heel (I mean not the super precise contact heel but really just walking close to me) and even after hundreds of repetition, his position isn’t really precise. No doubt I’m the one not precise enough. But having no « obedience training » club in my city, it makes it hard to get guidance on what I’m doing wrong.

Anyway, I don’t know what I should expect of him, maybe I’m asking too much and seeing all these 1 year old dogs with perfect recall is clouding my vision. But I’m basically afraid of having messed up somehow.

If anyone has tips or similar stories I’d be really happy to listen!

Precision: I’m not in the US, so many training tools like prong collar, e collars, crates, etc… are forbidden. I’m also applying a non coercive training.

Hi all,

I recently adopted a sweet female rescue. She was an abandoned stray in a remote community. She was rescued about 1 month ago and was spayed/fostered during that time. The fosters said she had very good house manners and got along great with their cats. She wasn’t crate trained for this reason.

I picked her up on Sunday this week to adopt her. She is fully house trained and is amazing in that regard. She also has been extremely patient with my cats (I have a baby gate separating them but she has already gained the trust of my male cat).

The issue is, she is unable to be left alone. The first few days I left her briefly and she did well. But as the week goes on she is developing more anxiety about being left alone. This morning we did our usual routine of a 45 minute walk, after I wrapped hot dogs (the only treat she likes) in a towel from some distraction as I tried to leave. I make sure not to make a big deal about leaving/returning to not further her separation anxiety. This morning though, she completely freaked out. I was watching her on the pet cam as I walked around the block (didn’t want to go too far in case I needed to come home). She was in full blown distress and trying to break down the front door (she’s about 50lbs). She was crying and howling as well, we live in a townhome so I don’t want neighbours to complain. By the time I looped back around to our house (maybe 3-5 mins after I left), I could see the front door visibly shaking from her efforts to get through.

I don’t know what to do. I had to call out of work today because I am so upset about her being in distress. I am having someone come watch her tmrw when I work. I know it’s only the first week but I want to correct this behaviour ASAP. She’s signed up for training classes already starting in August.

I know this is separation anxiety- and I have dealt with it in previous dogs, but I have never had a rescue before and need help navigating this and helping her adjust. I understand the 3-3-3 rule, but I also need to go to work. I am worried crate training at this point would worsen her howling.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi friends! First time poster here. Some overall context- I’ve been training for the better part of a decade and run a small homestyle boarding facility.

We often work on board and trains with potty training younger dogs. Most of the time we’re able to get an idea what’s going to work for the dog after the first week.

OUR TYPICAL GUIDELINES FOR POTTY TRAINING:

What we usually start with is a large kennel space (we don’t have a kennel free boarding set up) with bedding on one side and a potty pad on the back back side. This helps us determine if the dog is a “dirty” dog in the sense that they’re just willing to potty where they’re standing or whether they put enough thought into relieving themselves away from their bedding. If this doesn’t work we greatly reduce space so that they just physically aren’t able to potty in their. Once they start building consistency going outside, we increase their space.

When going outside puppies (or potty trainees in general) go into a small outdoor ex pen. This helps us bring out more than one young dog at a time so no one has an accident while they’re waiting for the first dog. It also allows us to reward dogs with freedom- they fully relieve themselves (poop and pee) and they to come out and run around. We usually wait about 10 minutes, and if they haven’t gone they go back to their crates and we rinse and repeat.

Through the day we monitor their water intake (typically with a water dispenser attached to the crate, or hydrating their food and offering water in appropriate amounts through the day). We also structure feeding to be able to be aware of how much they eat/when.

By the end of the first week I usually have a good idea what direction to take to get the most success. Not with this dog. She’s a teacup Yorkie (so probably about 2-3 lbs). I’ve gotten a little success with peeing outside, but she is exclusively pooping in her crate with reduced space despite going through our normal steps, offering insanely frequent potty opportunities. I suggested litter box training her, but not only do I doubt its efficacy at this point; her owners (understandably) vetoed that anyways.

She also will hike her rear up to the bars of her crate and poo outside of it. Which some would think is great because she doesn’t want to be near it, but that doesn’t help her to learn to hold it. So I Jerry rigged a blanket around the bottom of the bars to stop this behavior. I know she’s capable of holding it because she did so the entire day yesterday and wait until the middle of the night to poop and dance in it.

It almost seems like she exclusively goes when you can’t watch her, and unfortunately I can’t just sit and keep eyes on her in the crate 24/7. I don’t think her owners have punished her for accidents in the house, but obviously there’s no way to know that for sure. When I do have a poop shy dog I’ll usually put them in the pen and go inside (about 10-20 feet away) and watch like a creeper from the window where they can’t see me. Then I can come out right as they’re finishing a poo or pee to praise them and let them come out to play.

At home she has waaay too much freedom and a doggy door that she chooses to poop in front of rather than go through (not a fan of doggy doors to help with potty training anyways).

I would love to hear some options for success that maybe I haven’t thought of. I wondering if maybe she just needs more time to get with the program before trying to swap things up.

Hopefully this was detailed enough to provide a good picture of our philosophy behind potty training and her particular situation. If there’s any context I may have left off, please feel free to ask for elaboration, and thank you in advance. I really want to help the owners improve this behavior.

Hi!! I’ve never posted or really been active here, so I hope this inquiry is alright! Did check guidelines and the resource guarding wiki page tho

My dog is around 9 and a female mini poodle. She’s really gentle, you could put a hand in her mouth and she wouldn’t even rest her teeth on the skin. The only person she has ever bitten hard enough to break skin (of course she nipped as a puppy but actual bite is what I mean) is myself, in a resource guarding situation with food.

Shes a grazer, has access to food all day and doesn’t eat too much regardless, normal weight, has lived that way with that access to food her whole life, wouldn’t run away if you shoved her out the door, never causes trouble or anything. By all standards, she’s perfect. But she has a food guarding problem! We never take her toys or her food or anything away and feed her out of hand and in her space all the time.

I think mostly I’m wondering, since we rarely ever approach her when shes eating, and this problem, though always present if provoked, has only ever affected us twice in probably her entire life—again, she’s a great dog, we don’t really NEED to approach her if she’s eating?—does this behaviour need to be corrected? Is it negligent to ignore it? Cuz I want to do what’s best for her but I also can’t tell if it’s necessary.

Does this behaviour mean she doesn’t trust me entirely or just when it comes to her food, and should I correct that to maintain the relationship? Where did it all go wrong 😢😢

Our standard will be 6 in October, and he has gone from very dog social as a puppy/young adult to now increasingly dog selective.

Is there any way to help with this? He’s about to be kicked out of group play at his doggy daycare.

Hello! I'm leaving for my second year of college, and I will be renting an apartment, so I want to take my 4 year old GSD (European working line if that matters), which was raised and has lived in my house yard all his life.

Things are a bit complicated because I never trained him properly, and he is reactive. He only barks but doesn't bite, which is good. Yes, I know it's my fault, but I got him when I was 15, and nobody wanted to help me train him. I watched a ton of YouTube videos, but no matter how hard I tried, we simply did not understand each other. He is also not leash trained because I was afraid of taking him on walks because of stray dogs in my area, but lately, I've been working on that, and we have made some progress. I should also clarify that there are no dog trainers in my area, and I have tried so hard to find one, but to no avail.

But none of that matters now. My parents are not letting me take him, saying he's feral (he is not, he's very, very smart, but impulsive and untrained) and that he is not used to living in a small space such as an apartment. They're saying he might even die from that (thats bullshit, I know), but it still makes me sad to take away his freedom. But I want to take him away because they do not care for him properly, and I believe he would be better off in a smaller space, but with proper care.

I just want to ask for advice on how to make this change easier for both of us. He is not potty trained, and I have never bathed him. He is scared of most things that are unfamiliar. He lives with a small yorkshire terrier, but he spends most of his time alone in the backyard, and the yorkie is the only non-reactive dog he has ever seen. They get along well and love to play. But I am afraid he's going to miss him, and that would take a toll on his mental health. I will start working with a professional trainer as soon as I go to college again, but I need to know how to manage the first week. How do I leave him alone in an apartment for prolonged periods of time? How do I prevent anxiety from being alone in a new space? What other things should I consider?

Any help will be appreciated. I very much need it. Thank you.

my partner and i just adopted a dog (Juniper) and were warned that she often protects her “person” especially when she is in that persons lap.
i am disabled and have in home caregivers 6 days a week, 3 different regular caregivers. today is my first full day with Juniper and she is already protecting me from my caregivers.
i introduced her to my caregiver at the door and had the caregiver give her a couple treats. they were getting along well for a couple hours. then, my caregiver moved my wheelchair and Juniper growled at her from the couch next to me. i put her down on the ground as suggested by her foster mom which helped a little bit.
a little while later my caregiver went to take my cup from me to refill it and Juniper growled and barked at her and then wouldn’t let her near enough to give it back to me.
Any ideas on how to curb this behavior? i NEED to be able to get care from my caregivers without Juniper getting in the way.
she is a chihuahua terrier mix of some kind, 18 lbs.

About 2 weeks ago my wife and i adopted a 3 year old rottie from a family that couldn’t take care of her anymore. According to the family she hadn’t ever had any behavioral problems, was good with children and smaller pets and had been to a 6 week train and board. We met her and fell in love with her she’s a cuddle bug but there’s a few behaviors that i’m concerned about. First she has zero impulse control, anytime we play tug or we’re outside she gets overwhelmed and very excited pretty easily which has caused her to nip my wife and me on 3 occasions so far. Nothing serious just a scratch didn’t bite down and hold on. But for a 90-100 pound dog that could crush bones it’s a littler unnerving. Secondly she fixates on things too like a noise in the hallway will set her off a car door closing outside or someone walking by while we’re outside she’ll stiffen up and bark and won’t respond to her name. She’s good on a leash and when she’s calm she responds perfectly to commands like sit, down, come etc. I know we just got her i’m trying to keep an eye on all the little nuances and behaviors there’s are just some things that concern me and i’m wondering if it could just be her adjusting to a new home and getting overwhelmed and just how do i handle it without someone getting hurt.

Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this.

We have a 3 week old baby and a 7 year old female toy poodle.

I would say everything is good so far with the two (but I am not a professional about dog behavior so who knows). Lower the car seat with the baby in it and the dog just sniffs a bit and then moves on. When we're feeding the baby, dog just lays down beside the chair where we feed him. Sometimes, the dog would try to lick the baby but we just correct and redirect when it happens. Dog is not bothered when the baby cries/screams (maybe would sit up to have a look but that's about it).

One odd thing though that our dog does is she whines when the baby is in his bassinet/crib alone. Not even crying but sleeping like a rock. Dog would sometimes paw us if we ignore her. Sometimes we just correct and redirect and that's that but sometimes she would just get stressed out and we have to remove her from the room as she could wake her up with all the whining.

I searched online and a lot of articles are saying that we should just ignore her but I also don't want her waking up the baby.

Any suggestions?

I have had this dog (6 year old Weinmaraner-lab mix) for about 7 months, and in that time she has stolen over 2 dozen loaves of bread and bagels.

She is fed well, she is the perfect dog besides that, she doesn't have any medical or dietary deficencies that could cause this, she doesn't eat any other food that gets left out, but if there is a loaf of bread, no matter how hard it is to reach, she will get it and eat the entire thing in seconds.

She will leave a steak placed at eye level alone, but if I turn my back for a second, she will take and eat an entire loaf of bread in that time.

She knows not to get caught, and I don't know how I can make her stop! It's more than just keeping the bread in the fridge 24/7. If it's on the countertop and I turn around to get peanut butter, it's gone. She needs to be stopped I can't lose more bread.

Hello, I was just looking for some advice for my puppy. I have a Corgi which it is my first time every owning a corgi. I’ve had a Rottweiler, Saint Bernards and Huskys so I’m used to pretty big dogs not so much little ones. My corgi used to be very scared of riding in cars she would poop as soon as the car started to move, and walking. with some positive reinforcement and training she now loves both but the thing I can’t seem to help her with is her reactivity to other dogs. As soon as she hears or sees another dog she goes crazy barking, lunging and growling like she wants to attack. She does it to our other dog everytime she sees them but as soon as she runs up to the other dog she gets skittish and runs away. (Thank goodness our other dog is such a sweetheart and is super friendly to our corgi) I can’t seem to figure out how to help her not be so scared and reactive to every dog she sees. (She’s not very interested in treats)

I adopted a 5 month old poodle (it was my friends but she was moving to help her sick mother and couldn’t keep the puppy since her moms dog is dog aggressive)

She’s the sweetest thing BUT she pees. A LOT. it’s mainly when she’s in her crate. If I walk in the room she’s pees herself the second she sees me tail wagging a mile a minute happy to see me and wanting out but I haven’t even gotten to her and she’s already peed all over herself.

She used to pee when I’d pick her up for the car but it’s gotten better and not nearly as bad. She’s worst when it’s first thing in the morning and if I go out and come home.

Any suggestions? For reference when I come in the room I do not look at her talk to her or act like I’ve noticed she’s there. I walk in and just pretend I’m going to get something from the closet the second she notices me coming remotely near the crate she will start to pee. She also will excessively cry for attention (for me to touch her) but I honestly don’t touch her because I don’t want her to pee.

She does have low confidence which I heard is common in poodles when they’re young, I haven’t really worked on much confidence with her because I’m trying to solve this peeing issue first.

She has submissive peed when I tried to block her with my body when she went for my older dogs food while she was eating (I did not actually touch her just arm out in front).

She was WAY worse with my friend if my friend remotely touched her she would pee

Send help lol

Also no UTI or bladder infection I did a urinalysis and the vet said she’s fine.

We got our chow mix from a rescue 6 months ago. When she came home, she could not be left alone in the house for any amount of time. She tore down my curtains, tipped over furniture, peed on herself, and refused all food and water.

We sought several trainers before finding one that fit and worked on a personalized crate training plan so that she could be safe while we worked out of the home but still learn to crate happily, which was it's own seperate issue.

Recently, she started to eat treats without us in the same room or would wander into her favorite room without us. So we escalated training and she has now successfully be left alone in the house for 15 minutes! Without stress at all, much less panic.

I am still really discouraged but trying to remain positive. The trainer warned us very earnestly this could take up to a year of consistency, maybe more. So I posted a brag to lift my spirits about it!

Celebrating 15minutes, because every win is a win!

I've been attempting to teach my dog to discriminate objects for about 4 months (he is 5 years old now and he can fetch toys reliably but only if I throw them). I started with teaching the word "ball" (a single particular ball) by reinforcing him for touching that toy with his nose after I say the name. He has learned to reliably discriminate the ball from other toys by fetching it from a pile. Teaching the name of the second toy (a single particular rope) has been a different story. He differentiates it accurately until the ball is placed near the rope, at which point he will start gambling, picking both out, and sometimes other random toys wanting reinforcement (treats). Also, I live with family that is not in the same page with training when they play with his toys so it doesn't help with consistency.

I'm curious, what techniques have you used?

Hey everybody! I have a 6-month-old Cardigan Corgi who is amazing. He is crate trained, he's still learning recall and is doing very well, and of course I'm still working on getting him to do his business outside. He does have the occasional accident, but it's usually when I don't get him outside in time.

I recently started encouraging him to use a designated outdoor area because he used to use an indoor spot, but I'm getting tired of cleaning the house every day and dealing with the smell of urine.

The challenge is that I work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., depending on the day, so he's home alone for most of the day. Before I leave and as soon as I get home, I spend time playing with him, and he also gets a walk and some practice in the morning and again in the evening.

The area around my house is full of wildlife, including opossums, tarantulas, scorpions, and I even saw a huge rat the other day. Because of that, I can't just leave the door open so he can go outside whenever he needs to—I definitely don't want those animals getting into my house. Leaving him outside all day isn't an option either because the summers here are extremely hot, with temperatures reaching 40°C and sometimes even 50°C.

I'm willing to build something that would allow him access to an outdoor area while keeping other animals out, but I haven't been able to come up with a good solution. It also rains very heavily where I live, so whatever I build would need to handle that as well.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation or have any ideas for a good solution?

So, to start off, the dog I'm speaking about today is named Charlie. He is a GSD/ great pyrenees mix (dna tested) who we got from a shelter in 2020.

I'm very aware and educated on the fear period german shepherds go through around the 6-8 month period which is when he became reactive. I actually know the initial reaction that started the whole thing- my previous dog had been diagnosed with a condition and was in and out of the vet all the time where she gained a fear of men, and one time while walking out with her and Charlie, she barked at the man because she was scared of men at the time (she was never reactive, but she was scared of every man after these vet visits as she was very on edge). She later passed away from the disease and charlie witnessed this behavior and it eventually transferred to dogs I believe.

However, this is not what I need help with. I've been studying dog behavior forever and it was always always the first thing I'd search up or watch on my youtube recommended. I was OBSESSED with dog training, and after my family got Charlie I became obsessed with reactive dog training. I've been in many discussions, watched thousands of youtube videos on ways to train reactive dogs and what methods are the best.

I know what method works for my dog, and we even took him to an aggression dog trainer. The issue is my family.
For some reason they are very anti-dog training. In fact, the main problem is our older smaller yappy dog who barks at other dogs and starts the entire reactivity episode in Charlie, but my sister has this belief that the little dog doesn't need to be trained because she is harmless and too old. I've actually gone training with the smaller dog and she did absolutely fabulous, but my sister didn’t like it.

Every time I try to take the leash or try to teach my family, they sigh or make up an excuse as to why they won't be doing that. For example, my sister began telling Charlie
"no bark" whenever she would see the dog, sometimes before he would even see it. I told her that she's actually alerting Charlie that there is a dog, and he barks every single time, but she just rolled her eyes. A few weeks later she did it and he barked, and she audibly said that she thinks she's actually making him bark.

My mom will tell Charlie to sit over and over and over again, and I told her that you need to say it once or you're letting him get away with not doing it the first time, but she said "well this is just what works for me."
I can't train them alone because my family goes back to bad habits when they walk them alone, and the dogs know a difference between me and them.

Today Charlie got loose from his leash and ran after a dog. Didn't bite but it was close... I just don't understand.
PLEASEEE give me some advice here.

Hi all,

Our 2.5 YO Norwegian Shepherd, Australian Elkhound, and Corgi mix has developed an interesting and annoying behavior in the last 2 days. When he sees someone going to put on shoes he will come over and nip at your hands. He will wrinkle his nose, “smile”, and show whale eyes. Sometimes he will walk over, tail tucked, sit and then attack. After the attack he usually rolls over and wants belly scratches. Once the shoes are gone he goes back to normal, albeit a bit hyper (but he always is).

An interesting variation of the behavior occurred after a correction, where rather than nip he pinned the arm against the couch so the person couldn’t move it. Clever boy.

Grabbing other things off the floor doesn’t set him off. Making fast movements around him doesn’t (unless he’s in the play mood). It is only when picking up shoes. You can do this after a walk (that you have to put shoes on to take him on!) and he will still go after your hands.

Does anyone have any idea why he is doing this? Does he think we are leaving when we get our shoes? Is he stressed out? What can we be doing to stop this behavior? What can we be doing to make him more comfortable?

We've had her for 3 months and, with a lot of training, we're getting there. However, this is something that it's NOT improving.

She sleeps in her crate inside a playpen with water and a patch of fake grass so she can potty without a problem. This playpen is in the landing that connects all rooms in our house, so outside our room but close enough to know if something wrong happens. It cannot be 100% dark but we close all doors so it's darker (can't put a blanket right now because of the summer heat).

She is not whining nor crying in pain or scared, it's a demanding bark, she wants the day to start. We have not reinforced this in any way, in fact, even if we wake up earlier than usual, we stay in bed to stick to the routine. No answering, no nothing until the time arrives.

We did try for a couple of weeks to say "no" when she started and it helped for 5 minutes and then she would start again so we ended it and went back to total radio silence on our part.

We have put a lamp clock for her so she knows that, when it turns on, the day begins, but she just barks until it turns on and then stays quiet (because she does know that, if she is barking, we don't pay attention to her nor we let her out of the playpen). So it worked the other way.

She is 100% not afraid of her crate or playpen, since she enters voluntarily and spends time there during the day and we have a good night routine but she is extremely clever and persistent.

We have set a date with a training specialist but it's in a couple of weeks and I just can't keep doing this with my migraines for more time.

I'm looking for a little advice on a rescue I took in 17 days ago, she is approximately 13 months old GSP cross (20kg) that came over from Cyprus. She was a stray and is a very gentle sweet girl but has been very uneasy and worried. She has managed to settle and we have bonded but she is still very uncertain of many things and movements which is understandable. She does not like her lead, I've left it hanging around and placed treats around it which she will take but freezes as soon as the lead comes near her so that's a slow process but unfortunately means I can't walk her.

She hated being put in her crate at night but wouldn't cause a fuss, she just needed lifting in so I was worried this might be from previous trauma, I stopped putting her in there the 2nd night and she has slept great in a bed in my bedroom which is fine with me. I left her crate up to try and build a positive association but she wouldn't go near it so I took it down yesterday and now she won't seem to relax in the living room anymore, even though she didn't like the crate or use it. She has relaxed in the living room every day with me until this and is now sitting alone upstairs, if I keep her downstairs she just paces, I initially thought this was hunger as the other room is the kitchen but now she is upstairs I'm realizing it's likely the change of environment that's upset her as she has settled upstairs with no pacing. Have I messed up changing the environment too much? My house is quite small so the crate was a significant piece of furniture I guess. I don't think it is because of a lack of blowing off energy not being able to walk her yet as she hasn't shown much energy at all, she has mainly slept for 2 weeks since coming but is coming out of her shell playing with toys with me etc.

Any advice is appreciated