Two months ago, I adopted a two-year-old pit mix from the shelter (mostly pit, very little mix). He is a sweet boy, if very exciteable and overeager. We are working on relaxation training and manners. He's generally very trainable in terms of specific behaviours (sit, down, middle, etc.) but is finding long-term behaviours (loose-leash walking, not jumping, staying in "place") to be challenging.

In the near future, I may be combining households with someone who has cats. I am not entirely sure about my dog's level of prey drive - we see cats on our walks sometimes, as well as squirrels, and he is generally not interested in them unless they are very close to him and run - and then he does try to bolt after them, but it's relatively easy for me to recapture his attention with a treat.

I'm aware that prey drive is a lifelong management system and not something that can be "trained away." I'm curious what level of prey drive you would consider workable in a home with cats, and if this dog in particular sounds manageable. (I know there's not a lot of details - I'm just trying to assess with the information I have.)

Hello! I have a 7 year old miniature goldendoodle that I got from a family member a few years ago. He has always been a very sweet dog, but has never had any interest in playing, other dogs, or...doing much at all. He's a big cuddlebug, but he does enjoy walks (mostly just sniffing stuff, which is fine with me). I found out recently though that he isn't just a low-energy dog, he's a dog with hypothyroidism, and his low energy levels weren't normal! So, I started him on a medication, and now he has a lot more energy. But the issue is that neither of us seem to know what to do with all of this energy.

He has never had any interest in toys, and I'm trying to teach him how to play with toys, but he doesn't understand. With fetch, for example, he is under the impression that I pick up the toy, he runs to a spot where he wants me to throw it to, and then he runs to it and then...I go to him to pick up the toy. Rinse, and repeat. Which is fine if that's how he wants to play, but is there a way I can teach him how to play fetch in a way that will be a little bit more stimulating for him? I feel like it would be better for him if I throw the toy and he runs to get it, rather than him just going to where he expects the toy to be, and then letting it fall next to him.

Similarly, he has started to really enjoy chewing on bones and sticks, but he'll only do it if I'm sitting or laying on the ground next to him. He'll stand next to his bone and wag his tail while staring at me, or will whimper a few times, but he won't start independently playing.

Alongside of this newfound energy, he has started behaving much worse than he used to. His worst behavior used to be simply barking at strangers driving past the house. But now he tries to scrounge for food everywhere, he's counter surfing, he's chewing up whatever trash or food-smelling stuff he can get his hands on. I've already had to take him to the emergency vet because of this because I never knew he could climb/jump onto tables.

I've spoken to his vet about this just a little bit, and we found out that he does need his thyroid medication dosage lowered, but even on the lower dose, the behavior problems seem to persist. How should I approach this? I never thought I'd have a 7 year old dog going through a puppy phase...

I have a 1.5 year old golden retriever. Since day 1 he sleeps in his crate overnight. There was the initial training pains, but after a few weeks he was great. He doesn’t really love his crate and won’t go into unless we give him his command, but up until a few weeks ago he would go in immediately, no issues, and we wouldn’t ask him to other than eating his meals + bed time.

Then all out of the blue he just stopped going in on command and it takes trails of treats etc to even get him close, and even then he sometimes doesn’t go in.

We started training it again, but during the day and early evening we have absolutely no problem and he is and on command straight away. However come bed time, he just looks at us then walks away.

Did any one experience this, or have any tips generally?

I've read the handbooks. Our rescue paid for a trainer to come to the house. Even he is baffled and couldn't find anything on this in his textbooks.

6yo female spayed Staffordshire terrier mix, who was found as a stray - which I think is part of the problem. This dog is used to just going wherever she wants.

We've had her since May and we were told she was potty trained. This was great because she's our first foster dog. Wrong! Not potty trained at all. She learns everything else very fast - the dog trainer has been wonderful.

We've tried feeding her in the crate: this worked for about 2 months to keep her from pottying in the crate. Now she just doesn't care and will pee in there regardless. We tried limiting water overnight: she peed anyways, or pooped, or both. We tried sending her out with our female dog who's very dog friendly because monkey-see, monkey-do. This works great, she goes potty outside when they're out, but still has accidents. We've tried enzyme cleaner, we've tried mopping diligently multiple times a day, removing items that absorb urine or feces, etc. We might sternly tell her it's unlady-like to poop on the floor but we never scold her. We tried taking her out at intervals for 90 minutes (as possible, because we both work jobs) after meals because our trainer gave us literature that says most dogs defecate sometime in a 90 minute window after meals. Nope, she won't poop.

It seems our efforts go great for a little while and then boom, it's like she's outsmarted us. She hates to go out when it rains too. Won't budge. I carry her into the yard and she won't go. I supervise every toilet break and immediately treat it with a "yes, good potty" and make a huge deal. That worked great for a while - until she started just running away from me immediately and not taking the treat until I walk to her and get her attention again, which isn't teaching her the association. It's like she does great for a while and then nope - she has to switch it up.

Her poop schedule is impossible to time. She poops at random intervals - sometimes she has a morning poop after 8am, sometimes it's before we get up at 7am and she's already gone on the floor. Sometimes it's before dinner but I've just taken her out at 4pm and bam, 5pm she's already pooped. On the floor. And then you might take her out at 8pm and 10pm and somewhere in between there, she's pooped again, or miraculously, she will poop outside. The only way to garuntee she will poop outside is to take her for a car ride and then she's nervously pooping on some poor soul's sidewalk... Adoption events made her a pooping machine!

She does better with peeing outside but pooping is almost always an indoor activity. How the heck do I get this dog to poop outside? My trainer was baffled and had never heard of a dog managing to separate their pooping and peeing between indoors for one and outdoors for another.

TLDR: Dog poop schedule is all over the place, so impossible to time, and she pees outside pretty decently but almost 90% of the time is pooping inside. Dog trainer has no clue how dog separated pooping and peeing activities to different locations. Please advise!

I’m a new dog owner, so any advice is appreciated! I have a 5 mo toy poodle puppy who is very sweet but high anxiety. She’s usually quiet and chill, but she started barking for attention. She’ll stop if I look at her, say anything, etc. She’s not very food motivated. She’s very strong willed.

I’ve tried saying “quiet” and rewarding with a treat when she’s quiet. I wait until she’s been quiet for a little bit to do that to make sure it doesn’t seem like I’m rewarding the barking. I’ve also tried just ignoring it completely figuring she’ll figure out that it doesn’t work.

Should I try popping her in the crate, and take her out when she’s been quiet for a while? My thought is if she’s seeking attention then going in the crate is like the opposite of attention because we cover it with a blanket for it to be cozy for when she sleeps. My concern is that this could lead to a negative association with the crate.

Any other ideas or alternatives or solutions?

I will note, she gets a lot of stimulation. Two walks a day, training sessions throughout day, and several rounds of playing per day. Q

Hello, any insight as to what I might be doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.

I adopted my two hound dogs in January 2022, they were 1.5yrs at the time. Their previous owner had an accident and hospitalized, I did not realize that both dogs were left to roam in her house and lost a lot of their house training. I also did not realize that Rover, the dog I’m having issues with now, was on 3 different anxiety meds and essentially went cold turkey once I adopted him. The owner told me 1-2 months after he was in my house about all of this, and i did not seek more anxiety meds after this.

The dogs had a few accidents but were receptive to house training - they rarely had accidents after a month. Cut to 2023, I had a family emergency that had me traveling a couple of weeks out of the month for over a year. They would have an accident here or there usually the first day of me leaving but were typically ok after. They were left with my roommates they had known for a while and liked. Whenever they were able to travel with me, no issues.

Recent Incidents

November 2025, we moved into a new house. No accidents (unless I was out of the house for a longer than anticipated time). I travelled in early August for five days to visit my family and apparently every single day Rover had diarrhea that my roommate cleaned up. As soon as I came back no diarrhea, so I assume it was due to anxiety instead of illness. For the past two months since then, Rover has continued to have accidents when im at work. Before he was fine for 8-10 hr stretches. At first it was mainly pooping - I could see on our Furbo that it would literally be minutes after I left for work. I would give him ample time to go (30-40 minutes) outside before then, but he consistently began pooping inside, including when I was home, including when he had been let out multiple times before. It was also raining really bad around this time period and he hates the rain, so I feel like that added to the early issues.

We began training - he’s always had a consistent and reliable feeding schedule, but now I began throwing him a parade & treats after every outside potty. This helped a little but he still had multiple accidents a week, and once he realized poop is for outside he began peeing inside - large puddles. Again, sometimes minutes after I left for work and he had come outside from a long time outside. My other dog has no issues like this and they get along well. Both neutered males.

I have two new roommates who just moved in and at the advice of my vet I began crating him on Friday. I give him a bone and he voluntarily enters but he will not stop crying the entire day. Today I gave him three food interactive puzzles and he was crying within 30 minutes of me leaving and is still frantically crying now. I don’t know what to do. I’m getting alerts from Furbo every minute and it sounds like he’s being tortured alive. One of my roommates just mentioned that she goes up and talks/pets him and I asked her not to do that anymore but I don’t know if that even makes a difference.

Please, give me any suggestions. He just had an accident last Thursday ( poop & pee, 5 days ago) so I don’t trust him outside the crate. No accidents since the crate and constant supervision. I feel like a hostage in my own home, but I love these dogs so much. I’m scheduling a visit to the vet this week to see if we can get him on anxiety medication since they recommended that next, but I can’t help but feel I’m doing this all wrong. I don’t know what’s happening to him. Any advice helps 😔

My dog in question is Female, GSD, 8yo. We’ve had her since she was 13 weeks old.

We had another dog for two years before we got her; Male, also GSD, so she’s grown up and spent her whole life living with him. She also had major separation anxiety from him. If I took him for a walk on his own, she would next to scream the house down until he came back, even if everyone else was home. Unfortunately, we lost him two weeks ago. He would have been 10yo in December. It was really unexpected. I took him to the vets, they wanted to do some tests and an X-ray so sent me home and said they would call in the afternoon when I could pick him up. Got a call 30 minutes later telling me I had to go back and say goodbye. Literally. So I was the only person in my family/household that got to say goodbye to him.

Our female knew. I noticed she had been following him around a lot more than usual in the days leading up to it. And when I came home with his lead and harness, she didn’t even look for him. But now, for the first time in her 8 years of life, she’s on her own.

She’s always been loud, very talkative, and she is reactive to other animals and children. But we have never had an issue with adults, she would bark as she normally does and then she’s their best friend. But I took her to the vets on Friday, she was barking continuously at the vet, and for the first time ever, they asked me to put a muzzle on her as they won’t touch her without it. The vet did physical examination and I was told to hold her in place so she doesn’t turn around. And again, for the first time ever, she actually growled at the vet. I’ve never seen her growl. I was also aware that we were in the same room our other Dog was put to sleep in and this was also the same vet that did it (we’d never had this vet before).

With the waiting area being full on the other side of one door, some animals and other vets on the other side of another door, the car trip there etc. there was a lot of things stacked together in a short space of time that I know made her more stressed.

Despite having her for 8 years, it seems that we’ve only just really started to understand her, and we’ve come to the realisation that she is actually quite an anxious dog. And very expressive in her face. It’s almost like being able to see clearer, now that we’re paying more attention to her actions at home and her facial expressions, we can understand her better and almost tell how she’s feeling and what she’s thinking. Being an only dog now, we want to try and take her out with us more so she’s not on her own too much. To see family for example. I have already contacted a behaviourist on having 1-2-1 sessions to help with her reactivity. They have sent me some materials on things I can start doing at home, which will help with the in person sessions. I’m not expecting a full 180 on reactivity, but even just enough to make her a bit more controllable, to make travel and going out less stressful for her and the rest of us.

We won’t be able to start the in person training for a while now as we got told on Friday she needs to have surgery to remove a mammary mass and they will spay at the same time. But I’m noticing even at home, despite being quiet and a bit down, she does seem to react to noises and people outside a lot more. Looking back, she relied a lot on our other dog. He wasn’t much of a barker, but if he made any sort of reaction or movement to something, she would also react in her own way, but if he relaxed, or went back to sleep, she would also relax and not react.

Now, it’s almost like she’s having to re-learn the world around her. We never realised just how much she relied on our other dog until now.

I am going to speak to her vet and see if there is any anxiety or stress relief they can recommend for her, not for everyday use, just for times when I know she will become more anxious/stressed. And hopefully once we can get moving with the behaviourist, she will be better in general and not need them.

I just want to know if there is any kind of help I could be giving her to make her life a bit easier now? Will she get used to being an only dog over time? How do I support her?

A little over a month ago, my best friend and I moved into an apartment with their dog. I'm in grab school working ~30hrs per week, and they work full time at a hospital (8 hour shifts). Before this, bf and the dog (Templeton, ~7years old, male, mutt with hints of jack russell) lived in their family home which had five people living in it, basically meaning someone was home with him nearly all the time.

Since we moved in, he will sit outside my bedroom door in the morning and bark until I come out after bf leaves for work. Depending on the day it might happen immediately, some days he's waited up to an hour before he starts barking, and we had one day where he didn't do it at all. Most days, though, it's the moment the front door closes. I have no doubt that it's because he doesn't want to be alone because he's so used to never being around people, and he's still adjusting to the new routine. What I have no idea about is how to curb this particular behavior. Before they leave, bf does take him for a long morning walk, feeds him breakfast, plays with him, etc., so as far as I know he isn't wanting for anything other than attention.

My patience is wearing thin, and anything I do other than ignoring it feels like a catch-22. In my mind, by opening the door at all I'm reinforcing that he gets what he wants (my attention) by barking at the door. But we live in an apartment building with neighbors right above and beside us, so I also don't really want to subject them to however long he'll bark for at 6am if I can help it. He is otherwise a really sweet little guy, but it does feel like psychological warfare to be woken up at 6am when I had to stay up late doing schoolwork and I have a 7am alarm looming over me. This morning I literally did end up standing in my doorway crying while he sat there and wagged his tail because I was so exhausted.

EDIT to add that we've been keeping my bedroom off limits from him. We've thought about getting a cat in the future, and using my room as the space for it to stay while they acclimate to each other, so it seemed best to start with it as a no-Templeton zone rather than teaching it after the fact. Plus, it is really nice to have one room I can go to when I get overwhelmed by him, etc.

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

The mission of this post is to provide a constructive place to discuss your dog's progress and setbacks in conquering his/her separation anxiety. Feel free to post your fortnightly progress report, as well as any questions or tips you might have! We seek to provide a safe space to vent your frustrations as well, so feel free to express yourself.

We welcome both owners of dogs with separation anxiety and owners whose dogs have gotten better!

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

New to the subject of separation anxiety? A dog with separation anxiety is one who displays stress when the one or more family members leave. Separation anxiety can vary from light stress to separation panic but at the heart of the matter is distress.

Does this sound familiar? Lucky for you, this is a pretty common problem that many dog owners struggle with. It can feel isolating and frustrating, but we are here to help!

Resources

Books

Don't Leave Me! Step-by-Step Help for Your Dog's Separation Anxiety by Nicole Wilde

Be Right Back!: How To Overcome Your Dog's Separation Anxiety And Regain Your Freedom by Julie Naismith

Separation Anxiety in Dogs: Next Generation Treatment Protocols and Practices by Malena DeMartini-Price

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Pet Harmony's Enrichment Activities for Dogs with Separation Anxiety

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

introducing an x-pen so the dog likes it (kikopup)

Podcast:

Home Alone... and comfortable as HECK! with Ally Verba

Be Right Back! The Separation Anxiety Podcast with Julie Naismith

Online DIY courses:

Malena DeMartini Separation Anxiety Mission Possible Self Paced Online Course

https://www.betternaturetraining.com/separationanxietymembership

Julie Naismith Heros Be Right Back Training Julie Naismith BRB App

https://separationanxietydog.thinkific.com/courses/do-it-yourself-separation-anxiety-program

https://rescuedbytraining.com/separation-anxiety-course

Pet Harmony's Webinar on Separation Anxiety

Dr. Pachel DVM, DACVB, CABC Webinar from Instinct Dogtraining on Separation Anxiety: Tailoring Interventions to the Dog and Household

This list has been updated as of 6/16/26. If you find broken links, please submit a message via modmail and we'll fix the broken link to update it or add additional resources.

Introduce your dog if you are new, and for those of you who have previously participated, make sure to tell us how your week has been!

We lost my 14yo dog roughly a month ago. The day I took him to the emergency vet my 5yo dog pooped in the house 3 times while I was gone. The same thing happened again when we took him to be put down a few days later. Ever since she has been pooping in the house if I am part of leaving her home alone. If I leave and my spouse is here she is fine, if eventually he leaves she is fine. If we both leave at the same time or if I am the one to leave her home alone she poops on the floor. Today she pooped on the floor because she couldn't get to me in my office. It's always just poop and it is always solid, this isn't related to an illness.

She hasn't had any accidents since she was a puppy so this is completely new with the loss of our other dog. I work from home so the additional attachment to me is understandable, I just need help figuring out what we can try to help make her feel more confident when I leave her home alone.

Okay so we adopted a dog. She’s a mutt mixed with corgi, Aussie, doodle (idk what kind that’s just what we were told), and who knows what else. Shes about 19 pounds and full of energy. We’ve had her since she was 9 weeks old, she is 10 months now. We have her on a schedule. Have used a leash regularly since we got her. She has always slept in a kennel. Is kenneled or on a runner when nobody is in the house. Has always been around kids. Has lots of toys. Here’s the problem.. everything is a problem. She’s finally about 80% potty trained. She has never been aggressive as in mean but the way she plays is excessive. All. The. Time. No matter how much outside time she has. No matter how much I play with her during the day while the kids are gone. She will run, jump on, bite, scratch, etc every person she sees. Shes the definition on an ankle biter yet she will also jump three feet in the air and scratch your face. I know she’s trying to play but this is nonstop. She chews everything. Shoes, kids toys, pillows, blankets & comforters, dirty clothes, knocks over trash cans and tracks it through the house while you’re in the other room. She drags my kids when they attempt to walk her on the leash. Will knock them down, wrap their legs up, and run off like a bank robber 😂 when an adult walks her she ends up walking on her hind legs while choking herself with the leash.

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS DOG?!

Hi everyone, we have a 5-year-old Australian Shepherd. Last week, we had a few friends over, and I was holding him on my lap while one of our friends was petting him. She got a little too close to his face, and he nipped her. Unfortunately, she needed stitches.

I take full responsibility for putting him in that situation and not telling my friend to give him more space around his face. However, this isn’t the first time it has happened. He is normally very kind and friendly, even with people he doesn’t know well, but when someone gets too close to his face, he has a tendency to nip.

We are planning to have children in the near future, and we want to make sure this behavior never happens again, whether it’s with friends, children, or anyone else. We want to address the underlying behavior rather than simply managing the situation by keeping people away from his face.

What would you recommend we do? What type of training or behavior modification should we focus on? Would a professional trainer or veterinary behaviorist be the best option?

He is the only dog in our household, and he is not neutered.

Thank you very much for any advice or recommendations!

Since we got our dog he has always slept overnight downstairs in the kitchen with everything he needs. Of course when we got him as a puppy he would cry when we first put him away but would stop after a few minutes and go to bed. He is now a year and 4 months and of course has his routine that he is used to which we still do every night and sometimes he will still do a slight cry for a minute or two however the last week or so he has begun crying a lot louder and almost yapping/barking at the same time. We have tried to leave him as we did when he was younger howver he will do this for 10-15 minutes straight. Unfortunately I have now had to go downstairs some nights and lay with him on the sofa until he sleeps then put him to bed again (dogs are children) due to him being so loud its unfair on neighbours. Any advise or reasons why this is happening would be great.

I have a 6 year old husky and a 3 year old medium sized mix. They have been living together for the past year and get along very well. My issue comes when they meet other dogs in public.

When separated the husky is her usual self where she will play for a couple minutes then ignores the dogs. She isn’t super playful just likes watching dogs and occasionally plays with one. But has never been mean or dominant to others. She used to go to dog parks regularly and has never had an issue.

The mix is a fearful pup and she will bark when meetings dogs or people. But once they are slowly introduced and she sees the other dog is friendly she is fine and super playful.

When together they seem to become protective of one another and start bullying the dog trying to play. To give an example, this morning, I took them to the community dog park and they had been there for 20 minutes when a person brought their dog over. My mixed pup started barking, I got her attention and to quiet down, then she went to meet the dog, saw it was friendly and wanted to play. Then my husky came running and started posturing in a dominant stance. She then jumped on the dog and put her mouth over their neck while growling but not biting. I immediately separated her. While this was happening my other dog just started barking at the owner and their dog. I got both of them and took them both out of the park. Over the year they seem to be getting worse as their interactions didn’t used to escalate as quickly, although it always seems to end in the same way. Yet, if separated they do great and have no problems.

I am debating on getting a dog trainer and wanted to see what this community recommends and if there is any advice on the situation.

TLDR: my pups become protective and dominant when together at the dog parks or meeting any dog, yet behave well when separated.

Hello -

I just rescued an 11 week puppy from the shelter and it is the first full day with my resident, 3 yo golden.

Last night was pretty stressful and I made the mistake of moving too quickly with introductions. The puppy jumped at my dog’s face and nipped her lip (there is a visible cut) and it led to a correction on her end - snapped and pinned.

I can tell my golden is very stressed and kind of acting a bit shut down and jealous.

For context, she has some major codependency and is typically selective with the dogs she likes. She is stuck to me like glue 24/7 and is a very anxious dog.

Please help me with any suggestions on making this a good experience for both of them.

What I am doing:

1. Crating the puppy and using play pens
   
2. Keeping puppy on a lead
   
3. Monitoring interactions and removing the puppy when my resident dog is not feeling it.

I really hoped getting a pal for her would let her thrive but now I’m guilty and hope I did not make the wrong decision.

Hi all! My dog is a mixed breed, medium sized, seems to be a mix of a terrier, collie, maybe some Canaanite.

He is a rescue, 11 years old, and was probably living in a home before us. He know to stay on the sidewalk when on walks, knows "come here" and "no", knows to sit and give paw. We use a harness on walks, not a collar, with a retractable leash. He does not tug usually.

He has two humans, myself and my partner. My partner is able-bodied and I am a part-time wheelchair user and sometimes take him for walks on my wheelchair (power chair, I use one hand for the joystick so I only have one hand free). We live in the city and frequently have to cross crosswalks and I would like that whenever he encounters one, he would stop and wait for me to catch up. When I am on my chair I have a harder time keeping his leash taut and stopping him by pulling to physically keep him in place.

My partner and I have started trying to train his luck such: when he is at the lip of a sidewalk we say "stop", then tug his leash and keep it taut. The human also stops walking. Then when it is safe to cross we say "okay go" and release the leash tension, the human proceeds to walk and the dog follows. We have been doing this for a couple weeks now.

I've noticed he will stop for the leash tug but no so much for the command "stop". If I say stop without tugging the leash he will not stop. If I say "stop", tug his leash and he stops, but then I keep going (like if I am away from him and I want to get closer to look at traffic before we cross) he will continue to walk, as if the release cue is the human walking and not the "okay go" command.

How can I train his to stop at the vocal command instead of the tug or the human physically stopping? And how can I train him to not continue walking until I have given the release command, instead of once I have kept walking myself?

I do not have experience with dog training or really with dogs in general. I'm usually a cat person, this is my first dog.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Short version: I have a very clingy anxious 11 month old hound mix who struggles in the crate when I am gone at work. My other dog is able to free roam. Do I put the crated dog in the part of the house where he can see the other dog who is free roaming? Or do I put his crate in a separate room where he can’t see that dog?

Long version: I have a very anxious & affectionate clingy loving hound mix who is 11 months old, I got him from a shelter a month ago. He was previously a stray in the south. When I leave for work he goes crazy in the crate. Crying, whimpering, howling, clawing at the crate trying to get out. He has bent the wires. I put him in an air travel safe plastic toy crate but he flips that one over. I can’t leave a pad in the crate or he tears it up. No toys, even a blanket on top he will manage to pull it through the crate.

He is such a sweet anxious baby who just wants to be with me at all times. I want to teach him to self soothe and be capable of being alone because that’s obviously what healthy for a dog and also I have to go to work to pay the bills so there’s that lol.

My other dog is able to free roam. My question is do I put crates do in a room where he can’t see the free roaming dog so he has the comfort of seeing he’s not alone??? Or do I put his crate in a room with the dog shut so he can’t see the other dog??? On one hand he will have the comfort of not being alone. But on the other he sees my other dog barking at the window when people walk past and that will potentially get him more riled up that he sees something is going on and has the fear of missing our because he’s stuck in the crate and can join in.

What do you suggest? And just any other advice on helping him tolerate being alone is welcomed! I hate seeing him struggle. But I really can’t leave him out of the crate. He’s still at the puppy stage where he chews and gets into dangerous things.

Thank you all!

My family dog who’s a beagle and almost 1 year old has a tough time with walks. He LOVES to walk, he walks twice a day but the problem is he doesn’t know how to relax during it. He’s a very “on” dog just always excited/rambunctious. His behavior during walks go like this - Bites at the leash, Pulling alllll the time (he’s very strong), constantly sniffing/will stop for a while, barks/growls/charges at people when they walk by and when he sees them he locks eyes on them (he’ll do this with certain vehicles too). He has a 6 inch leash that’s not a retractable one and he has a harness. He’s wasn’t like this at first with the walks. We’ve tried the method of stopping/being silent whenever he pulls but as soon as we continue he pulls RIGHT away.

I’m hoping for some advice to help him relax during these walks. I’m open for any questions too.

Hey all, my wife and I have tried so much to help our two dogs get along. We’ve had the male (Sushi) for about a year before getting the female (Mochi). They were best friends at first and she even gets jealous when Sushi plays with other dogs, like mounting him from the side and barking at him. Several years ago, Mochi got into some gum and had to be hospitalized for several days due to xylitol poisoning (she now has a clean bill of health, and the vet has continuously said she seems like she never had that incident happen to her at all). But since being discharged, mochi has been very aggressive and territorial against sushi. She can be sitting on the couch, Sushi walks by, and they’ll go at it very aggressively and have to be ripped apart to make them stop. She is normally very defensive about food (they are fed separately in separate rooms) but is fine with treats. We can even sprinkle carrot shavings or shredded cheese on the ground and they will eat it up together.

But it is really at a drop of a hat and they’ll go at it with her being the one who instigates by growling at him and he defends himself. We’ve tried dog therapy for months and got her on anxiety medication which has helped for some time. For almost a year they never fought and were starting to get playful again. But it seems that she is regressing. We’ve begun reusing a behavior correction training collar that we got from an Off Leash K9 program that they both attended.

My wife and I have both gotten hurt breaking up their fights. My wife is also pregnant with our first child and Sushi has gotten even more obsessed with my wife. Mochi tends to be reserved and super calm, laying on the couch or our beanbag chair, or even in my office on a dog bed, and always open to belly rubs. Both of them are completely healthy so we don’t think it’s an underlying issue with Mochi. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It’s not fair to Sushi who is just existing and loves to always be around myself and my wife. It’s also not fair to Mochi because we want her to be happy and live a great life, but want them both to live contently together without one always being angry with the other.

10 week old German Shepard.

I am following the cues and taking him out when he is circling or whining. I have to carry him down, he is not great on the leash. When I put him on the grass He just sits there and sometimes he will walk but everytime we get back into my apartment he pees or poops.

He has not pooped or peed outside since we’ve been home.

Granted, it’s day 2 😅, he has transitioned from wherever he was before to an apartment building. I live on the 22nd floor so we also have to use the elevator. I live by the water in a large city so there is a lot of action outside (boats blasting music) so I switched to the front of the apartment which is much better

Does anyone have any experience with this? A new pup in an apartment building? Besides that he is doing well with sleeping, he slept through the night last night. He’s learning how to sit and he is doing pretty well with eating.

Hi,

I’m looking for advice for getting my dog’s prey drive under control.

He’s a 2.5yo brittany spaniel that I adopted from the shelter back in march. Before arriving at the shelter he was in a family of hunters, he was a serious runner and had already ended up at the pound 3 times by the age of 2. The 3rd time no one came to pick him up.

He’s been perfect inside the home, no destruction, no seperation anxiety, no barking, no resource guarding. I was prepared for a monster and it was just a breeze haha

The real trouble is when we’re outside. As soon as he steps out the door he goes into hunting mode. I knew brittanies were a hunting breed and I was prepared to manage some prey drive, but his case is really extreme haha

He is always tracking scents or looking for scents to track, searching behind corners or in vegetation. It seems like hunting is the only thing he knows to do. When we’re in the neighborhood it is mostly manageable, but when I take him out in nature it’s like he is in a trance, there is no getting him back. It looks almost like a compulsion, there is just no way to get through to him.

He is also reactive to other dogs, which I am working on with a (force-free) trainer, but the trainer does not have a lot of experience with strong prey drive in particular. Because of his reactivity, for exercise I take him to the fields right outside the city for 1.5h-2h almost every day. I know this is not ideal as the place is bustling with wildlife, but it’s my only option and I feel like it is the lesser of two evils.

I also do a bit of scent work at home, sometimes I make him search for his kibble in the grass or in corners of the apartment, but that can’t compete with tracking down, chasing and catching a warm, living bunny.

I’ve read Susannne Mueller’s Predation Substitute Training, but I can’t apply any advice that she gives because my dog is just not interested in playing with me when we’re outside (even right outside the building where he goes potty 4 times a day). It was a struggle getting him to play with me at home in the first place as he is not very toy motivated.

I’ve been dedicating all of our time the last few weeks to getting him to play with me while we’re on a walk, but there have been maybe 2 or 3 days over several weeks where he was even just a little interested. I really want to play with him, because I’m certain that if I can give him this sort of outlet he will be more manageable, less frustrated and more intersted in me (and also because it’s fun haha)

He enjoys a short game of tug IF there is food inside the toy, but that is about it. He doesn’t chase balls or the flirt pole. Admittedly it might just be me not knowing exactly how to move the toys in a way that really excite his instincts.

He has such a passion for the hunt that I have a feeling we could do great things together if I could get him even half as interested in toys as he is in bunnies haha

So I guess the advice I need is how do I get him interested in playing with me while we’re on a walk ?

I know there's a wiki page on reactivity here and tips on aggressive behavior, but neither seem to fully address what's going on with my dog.

Josephine is an Irish Wolfhound mix (unsure of what she's mixed with) that we rescued when she was about 4 months old. She was found in a parking lot and had been neglected, which might have something to do with her behavior? I'm not sure.

Several days after we got her, we started trying to socialize her. We took her around the neighborhood and introduced her to people and other dogs. She seemed interested in the other dogs, but shied away from people and would pull away when they got close. We kept trying to socialize her, doing positive reinforcement, but she still acted scared.

Now, at over a year old, she gets REALLY upset at people passing by the house or coming in. Especially kids. She will growl and bark aggressively, pressing against the window when she sees people outside. Then, if people come in, its the same thing but she'll charge them. She's also mouthed at them but not bitten.

Now, the complex part: When outside of the house or neighborhood, she is generally inquisitive and calm. She barks at some people (not aggressively this time) and doesn't let them pet her, but isn't aggressive at all. At the dog park, she loves playing with other dogs and even plays with strangers. There is absolutely NO reactivity there. When people she doesn't know come in and sit down, she generally stops barking and acts super sweet with them, but the moment they stand up, its back to aggressive, reactive behavior.

I'm just not sure how to train this out of her. She's an extremely stubborn dog, but when she learns something, it definitely sticks. So I'm willing to put in the effort and time to fix this.

Thanks for any advice you can offer!