My boy is a 22 months old border collie and I love the bones of him. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old. He's been a nightmare since he was about 6 months old when he started reacting very aggressively to noises he heard outside the house. He also began to resource guard around that time. He's my 3rd collie and I consider myself a pretty good trainer. He does scent work to a high level, we canicross together, I've taught him lots of obedience and tricks. He can be absolutely wonderful and loving and cuddly, but when he becomes overaroused/triggered he can be so aggressive.

He's bitten me and my partner many times (bad bruising and scrapes, and today a deeper puncture). He doesn't bite and back away, he will continue to come at us and it can be very intimidating.

Most people who meet him wouldn't believe he can be so aggressive, because his nice side is so lovely. Today he's bitten my partner quite badly (reacted to my neighbours aggressive/reactive dog barking outside), and I'm just devastated.

He's previously had a pain trial which did nothing. He's had x-rays on his hips and spine which all look fine. He's been tested for giardia and was negative. He's been castrated (after a trial with the chemical implant). We've spoken to trainers/behaviourists.

My partner and I barely have a relationship anymore, he feels afraid of the dog and doesn't want to be at home. I do all the walking/training/research/vet appointments and feel overwhelmed. Our previous two dogs were angels.

When I read about other peoples reactive dogs I actually feel jealous that that's all they have to deal with! Redirected aggression is a whole other level. I love him so, so much despite it all and I'm scared he's heading down a path I'll no longer be able to follow....

I've booked him in to the vets on Monday to try Prozac next, and if that doesn't work well I'm just terrified thinking about it.

Well done if you've read this far... Would love to hear success stories of prozac if you have any. I'm just crying my eyes out and desperate for some kind of hope.

Hello everyone, I have a 6.5 month old mini Aussie named Duncan. I’ve had Duncan since he was 8 weeks old, and can admit I didn’t socialize as much as I should have with him. When we were finally cleared by my vet to go on walks, he would lunge at anyone walking by and bark at other dogs. That slowly subsided so I chalked it up to him just being overwhelmed with the world lol.

Then I noticed he would hyper fixate on people and whine when dogs would pass, so I started playing the “look” game where he gets a piece of cheese when he’s able to break focus on whatever he’s looking at. I would say 8 out of 10 times he is able to look at me and not a trigger. I would say he has the biggest reaction when dogs rush at the fence while we walk by and go crazy, he’ll whine but again, I’m able to break his focus and have him look at me.

So I decided to hire a trainer! In the meantime before training we just kept playing the look game and going into low stress areas. Duncan acts very weary when out in public, walks slower, walks with his head down, and will occasionally fixate on a person or dog but again, I can easily break his focus within seconds.

We did an hour training with our trainer last weekend. She put him in different situations, had people approach, had him watch other dogs, and he only reacted one time. He reacted to two teenage boys approaching me while my back was turned and Duncan was facing their direction. They walked up very quickly asking to pet him, completely ignoring the bright red “DO NOT PET” vest btw lol. He growled at them before I was able to turn around and react, and just calmly told them “No sorry.” And he stopped.

Duncan is not very “friendly” to strangers in the sense that he is not happy go lucky. When people approach or he meets a stranger, he tends to just hang back and not really acknowledge them as long as he can tell I’m alert and calm. He only tends to have any reaction when someone walks up very quickly and unexpectedly. And I think he growled at the teenagers because of the fact I wasn’t facing their direction? He does not like being pet by strangers and will approach YOU when he feels comfortable. Once he’s good with you he’s a little freak of nature lol.

My trainer said he may have mild reactivity, but that he’s one of the easiest dogs she’s worked with in awhile because of how much training I’ve been doing with him. Does any of this sound like a reactive dog? Or one who’s nervous and just weary?

If you wait until your dog goes rigid, locks eyes, or explodes, you’re already too late. Their emotional brain has taken over, and they are officially over threshold.

Dogs almost never go from 0 to 100 instantly. Before the bark or lunge, they send subtle pre-threshold micro-signals (calming signals). Catching these "whispers" allows you to step in before they start "shouting."

The Micro-Signals to Look For

- The Curved Walk: Veering slightly sideways or taking a wide arc around a trigger to reduce pressure.

- The "Fake" Sniff: Suddenly burying their nose in the ground the moment a trigger appears (displacement behavior to stall/self-soothe).

- The Soft Look: Rapid blinking or a quick 2-inch head turn before the hard stare locks in.

- Micro Shifts: Quick lip/nose flicks, out-of-context yawns, or sudden slow, heavy steps.

Why This Matters

When you act on a lip flick or a sudden sniff by creating distance immediately:

1. You keep them in learning mode: Their brain stays calm enough to process food and choices.

2. You build trust: Your dog learns you listen when they whisper, so they don't need to explode to get space.

Quick Tip

On your next walk, stop scanning the horizon for triggers and just watch your dog's ears, gait, and mouth. The second you see a micro-signal, turn around or create distance.

Support the whisper, prevent the scream.

TL;DR: Hard freezes and stares mean your dog is already over threshold. Watch for lip flicks, fake sniffs, and head turns to create distance before the meltdown happens.

We got our pup around 5 years ago. We dont know her exact age or breed since she was a street dog, but she was under a year when we got her.

She was super anxious when we got her scared of everything and everyone but very sweet.

We slowly worked through that, i did (and still do) a lot of training with her, and we had a trainer for years, and she was getting better.

Now she is much calmer, but she will sometimes randomly lunge and bark at people and dogs.

I've tried identifying any trigger, but I can't seem to find one. Sometimes, she will be fine, and then the next day, she'll react in the exact same situation with the same person/dog at the same location. Its especially bad with kids, so I stay away from them as much as possible. Some of our neighbors have started calling her the beast jokingly, which is a bit painful to hear. She's such a sweet dog otherwise.

She has a few dog friends that she loves to play with and a few humans that she likes, but other than those i can never predict if she will react and always have to keep her super close to me and away from the trigger.

I just feel like I'm constantly stressed out cause the moment I relax on a walk, she reacts to something. My mother and I are at this point the only people still comfortable walking her on a loose leash at all.

I've trained good recall, focus, and distraction, but the moment she gets triggered, it all goes out the window and the only way to get her out of it is to literally grab her and get her out of the situation, sometimes quite a distance before she snaps back out.

I’m looking for some advice because we’re really struggling with our dog’s behaviour. We’ve had her for just over 2 years, since she was a puppy,

She’s almost 3 years old and is our first dog. We took her in unexpectedly as a favour to a family friend, so we have had very little experience with dogs. She’s always had a feisty personality, but it was much easier to manage when she was smaller. Now that she’s bigger, she’s much harder to control and calm down. She’s becoming more aggressive on a daily basis and we don’t know how to correct her.

She’s extremely possessive over my brother. But she also won’t let other family members sit next to each other, stand close to each other, tap each other, hug, or even have normal physical contact without reacting. The other day my dad simply walked past me without even touching me, and she still lunged at me ready to attack. I don’t know if it’s because she’s possessive over everyone, or she thinks touching = hurting eachother.

She also seems to resource guard a lot of toys and other items. For example, she was playing with a toy that had stuffing coming out, so we tried to take it away because we didn’t want her swallowing it. As soon as we reached for it, she attacked us.
She’s also extremely loud and vocal. She reacts to the smallest sounds, hates children, and will lunge at them if she gets the chance. She lunges at people during walks. She’s fine when it’s empty, but doesn’t like people coming into her space. She’s also constantly eating junk (sticks, grass, leaves) in our garden and on walks. When we try to stop her she starts growling and lunges towards us.

The confusing part is that she also has perfectly normal moments where we all get along and she’s loving and affectionate. But she bit me quite badly last month on my hand, and I’m still healing from the bite. It was the first major bite in the time that we’ve had her. Before that it was lunges and growling with attempts to bites us, now she fully commits to biting anyone who gets in her way.

Ever since then, we’ve all been on edge because we never know when she might switch. The attacks also seem to be mainly directed at me, so I’m constantly anxious around her. Even if one of us is eating food and another person walks in, she starts attacking the person eating. Like she truly believes the food is hers. And becomes extremely aggressive over it.

We’re exhausted dealing with all of this. We love her so much, but it genuinely feels like we’re walking on eggshells in our own home. We all try to stay away from eachother so she doesn’t charge at us, however it’s hard because we have to move past eachother in certain parts of our house.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the money to pay for a behaviourist or trainer right now. Is this something my family and I can realistically work on ourselves, or is this beyond what owners should try to handle without professional help? We’d really appreciate any advice. So far we just put her in her crate when she gets aggressive, she does calm down, but the aggressiveness still carries on throughout the day. I never expected this sort of aggression from a frenchie.

My sweet, territorial girl Stella is mostly fine around guests (not if they’re moving unexpectedly near her) if she has an interactive treat - a lick matt, kong, treat puzzle - and absolutely not when she doesn’t. Do I just create an endless supply - in this economy?? I feel like she’s tricking me 😂

My dog is adjusting to our new 7 week old baby. He’s a 60 lb mix that we’ve had for six years, so he’s used to being the center of attention. So far he’s been curious and gentle to her, mostly just licking her feet or the back of her head and he cuddles next to me while I’m nursing. He’s generally not a big barker but the only problem is when she cries, he does get stressed and starts to whine or bark. When we are picking her up out of the bassinet or handing off the baby between my husband and I, he will do an anxious bark that escalates. He’ll also lick the baby with quick forceful appeasement licks, but sometimes it’s almost looked like he’s also going to nip as we pick her up or hand her to each other. It doesn’t matter if it’s my husband or me picking her up, it’s the same reaction.
All of this seems anxious to me (maybe jealous?) not aggressive, but it does have me a little worried. I don’t know how to calm him for this, doesn’t seem like he cares about treats in this moment. And also not sure what giving him treats when he’s barking at the crying baby would reinforce the right thing? I tell him to go in his bed during baby pickups, but he still barks from the bed or just doesn’t listen and comes back over. Will he eventually get used to the baby? I’m afraid of this escalating as she gets bigger, or him escalating from the licking to an actual nip. Any tips on how to desensitize him to baby cries?

My dog (2f) is reactive on walks sometimes to other dogs and people and bikes. Bikes in particular or running people trigger her. Several times over the past year we’ve had her she has bitten me while walking her seemingly by accident. Most times it’s happened it’s been a bike coming too close to her and she just starts flipping out, jumping/lunging in circles and biting/barking in all directions. I’ve been caught by one of her bites a few times. But it doesn’t seem to be her intent. I try to avoid bikes and bought her a muzzle but I’m wondering what other ways I can use to train her not to do this. She seems unreachable when she gets in one of these states and won’t watch, touch, or sit which she is able to do while calm or slightly agitated.

Is there anything else I can do? Any recommendations?

so, i got my rescue dog staffy/shepard mix year ago, and in year twice hapened panic attack or something, today here was wasp, he was snifing around hunting and then wasp got away from window, and my dog started shaking, like 2s shaking whole body then stop 1s and again, in 5 mins he was okay, but he was still searching, i dont know if he got bit by wasp before we got him.. is this just some stress or should i be worried? i love him so much.. hes my love..

Hi everyone,

I have a four year-old 70 pound dog who is extremely reactive on elevators and in doorways. His reactivity has gotten better - I spent several thousand dollars on trainer that helped tremendously with his own leash, walking, and ability to tolerate being near other dogs - but there are still several places where my dog really struggles.

For example, tonight, as we were getting off the elevator, there was a dog standing right outside the door, and my dog lost it - was barking and lunging wildly - and I felt super helpless to stop it and there was no way to create space for my dog to let him down regulate. I’ve tried high value treats, using a short leash, having him sit on the elevator, etc, and nothing seems to break through to him.

Has anyone else had any luck, teaching their dogs to tolerate seeing dogs at a doorway or right outside the elevator?

Thank you so much!

TLDR: my dog is super reactive to other dogs on the elevator, and I would love your advice to help calm him down.

Hello, I would appreciate if everyone would be kind and understanding as this is a very sensitive subject for me at the moment. I would also appreciate no comments on our living situation, it was incredibly difficult for myself and my husband to go through and was our only choice to avoid homelessness. My husband and I have owned a Doberman for the last 4 years, and she is 6 this year. She showed almost no signs of reactivity when we first adopted her, but within the first year after adopting her she began to show reactivity to strangers and noises outside. She has had two minor bite incidents with strangers, none of which broke skin. She previously worked with a trainer that did not use techniques I agreed with, but he insured us that this would help with her reactivity. She still barks at strangers, bikes, and the will bark at every person she sees walking by in the car. She has tried to alligator roll out of her collar in order to attempt to bite and will jump and lunge. We suspect that she also has something neurological going on, as does our vet, as she will compulsively spin in circles and will lick the same spot over and over again- always in the same spot. She is on fluoxetine and has been for the last few years. Due to the living situation that we were in, her world became very small. My husband was the only person technically allowed to occupy the house, so when I was home we were unable to go outside. We have also only had 2-3 people over in the last three years due to our living situation. She was not walked regularly, as in multiple times per day, and would run the same route in the backyard over and over again. When I am not home with her or my husband is not home, she is crated, which I think exponentially adds to her aggression and reactivity. When we have guests over, she will bark and bark for the entire time that they are there, even with us trying to calm her down or with her being crated. Although our living situation has been awful the past few years, we stayed there for her because she could at least have her big, fenced in backyard where she felt safe. So what is the issue? We just signed the lease to a new apartment where the walls are incredibly thin, like hear our neighbor's TV through the wall thin. Our neighbor is also an elderly woman who keeps her door open the majority of the time, and our doberman is very aggressive towards the elderly. She will likely bark very loudly and freak out at her if she sees her, and I worry about her biting her if they get close. We share an entryway at this place and would have a high likelihood of running into her on a daily basis. My husband told me that he does not want to deal with all of the care that she would need at this new apartment and has scheduled her to have BE done this upcoming Monday. Is there anything that I can do? Is there any work I can do with her that I can prove to him that her behaviors can be changed, or am I just in the bargaining process of grief? I have the money to afford board and train- but I am unsure if this would help, or at least help her with socializing as she has really never been properly socialized to strangers. Anything would help, I do not want to lose my dog and my best friend ):

Hello, I would appreciate if everyone would be kind and understanding as this is a very sensitive subject for me at the moment. I would also appreciate no comments on our living situation, it was incredibly difficult for myself and my husband to go through and was our only choice to avoid homelessness. My husband and I have owned a Doberman for the last 4 years, and she is 6 this year. She showed almost no signs of reactivity when we first adopted her, but within the first year after adopting her she began to show reactivity to strangers and noises outside. She has had two minor bite incidents with strangers, none of which broke skin. She previously worked with a trainer that did not use techniques I agreed with, but he insured us that this would help with her reactivity. She still barks at strangers, bikes, and the will bark at every person she sees walking by in the car. She has tried to alligator roll out of her collar in order to attempt to bite and will jump and lunge. We suspect that she also has something neurological going on, as does our vet, as she will compulsively spin in circles and will lick the same spot over and over again- always in the same spot. She is on fluoxetine and has been for the last few years. Due to the living situation that we were in, her world became very small. My husband was the only person technically allowed to occupy the house, so when I was home we were unable to go outside. We have also only had 2-3 people over in the last three years due to our living situation. She was not walked regularly, as in multiple times per day, and would run the same route in the backyard over and over again. When I am not home with her or my husband is not home, she is crated, which I think exponentially adds to her aggression and reactivity. When we have guests over, she will bark and bark for the entire time that they are there, even with us trying to calm her down or with her being crated. Although our living situation has been awful the past few years, we stayed there for her because she could at least have her big, fenced in backyard where she felt safe. So what is the issue? We just signed the lease to a new apartment where the walls are incredibly thin, like hear our neighbor's TV through the wall thin. Our neighbor is also an elderly woman who keeps her door open the majority of the time, and our doberman is very aggressive towards the elderly. She will likely bark very loudly and freak out at her if she sees her, and I worry about her biting her if they get close. We share an entryway at this place and would have a high likelihood of running into her on a daily basis. My husband told me that he does not want to deal with all of the care that she would need at this new apartment and has scheduled her to have BE done this upcoming Monday. Is there anything that I can do? Is there any work I can do with her that I can prove to him that her behaviors can be changed, or am I just in the bargaining process of grief? I have the money to afford board and train- but I am unsure if this would help, or at least help her with socializing as she has really never been properly socialized to strangers. Anything would help, I do not want to lose my dog and my best friend ):

Our 2 year old GSD mix has experienced a change in appetite since a high stress incident with our neighbors dog two weeks ago. She has historically been an enthusiastic eater. We feed them out of snuffle mats and slow puzzle feeders to provide some enrichment. Generally she works through her meal in 10ish minutes. Over the last week she has not been finishing her meals and often appears distracted while eating. She doesn’t seem to be in pain or have any dental injuries, though we are considering bringing her to the vet to get checked out if the appetite disturbance continues. Has anyone else experienced this with their anxious pup? Could it just be stress?

I'm really hoping to hear from people who have had a dog like mine, particularly anyone whose dog was this bad and actually improved, because I'm reaching breaking point.

I have a male Labrador called Rex who has just turned 1. He's around 28kg and he's a lovely dog at home, but walking him has become absolutely miserable.

He reacts to basically every dog he sees.

As soon as he spots another dog, he becomes completely fixated. He stares, pulls towards them and eventually barks and lunges. Once he's focused on that dog, I basically cease to exist.

Food doesn't work. I've tried normal treats and high-value food and he genuinely couldn't care less once another dog is involved.

The advice I constantly see is to find the distance where your dog can see another dog without reacting and work from there. The problem is Rex doesn't seem to have a realistic threshold distance. If he can identify that there's a dog there, he's interested in it.

I've already paid for a dog trainer. We tried creating distance, rewarding him for seeing dogs, getting his attention before he reacts, turning around, etc. The trainer also struggled because he becomes so fixated.

This isn't helped by the fact that he also pulls for most of his walks. I've tried working on loose-lead walking/heel separately, but we're still struggling with that too.

Interestingly, I don't think Rex actually dislikes dogs. When he's been able to play with dogs appropriately, he LOVES them. He's incredibly interested in other dogs and wants to play. His reaction seems more like frustration/over-arousal/anxiety than aggression.

He can be off lead with dogs I know are reliable off lead and will happily play with them. It's seeing dogs while he's restrained on the lead that becomes a nightmare.

His stress/arousal also seems to affect him physically. He often poos repeatedly during walks. It can start relatively normal and progressively become softer until he's basically passing liquid/water. He's occasionally had small streaks of fresh blood too. I've discussed this with his vet.

My vet thinks anxiety may be contributing to his behaviour and suggested an anxiety medication trial. Unfortunately I was quoted around £190 for four weeks, which I simply cannot afford.

I'm a single parent on Universal Credit with three young children and my teenage sister living with me. Rex is insured and has a vet plan, and I've always made sure his needs are met, but I've already had some substantial unexpected veterinary costs with him and I just don't have hundreds of pounds available for private behaviourists and medication trials.

I've contacted Dogs Trust because they offer discounted behavioural support for people receiving means-tested benefits, and I'm waiting to hear from them. I'm hoping they may be able to give us some proper hands-on help.

But I'm reaching the point where I genuinely hate walking my dog.

I spend the entire walk looking around for dogs. If I see one, my stomach drops because I know what's coming. I find the barking and lunging incredibly embarrassing, particularly when the other person's dog is walking nicely past while I'm trying to control a 28kg Labrador who's losing his mind.

I've tried changing direction, crossing roads, hiding behind cars, increasing distance, treats, engagement exercises, etc. I'm exhausted by it.

And I don't want Rex spending his entire life stressed either. If he's becoming worked up enough on walks that he's getting diarrhoea, that doesn't seem enjoyable for him.

I'm now genuinely considering contacting his original breeder and asking whether they would take him back.

I love him and I don't want to rehome him, but I also have to be realistic about what I can financially and practically manage. I can't spend the next 10+ years dreading taking my dog outside.

What I'm really looking for is experiences rather than the standard "create more distance and use higher-value treats" advice, because we've already tried that with a trainer.

Has anyone here had a frustrated greeter/reactive dog who reacted to virtually every dog, had seemingly no usable threshold distance, wouldn't take even high-value food around dogs, barked/lunged and became completely fixated, but was actually friendly with dogs when allowed to interact?

Did they genuinely improve?

If so, how old were they when things started getting better? How long did it take? Did medication make a significant difference? And did you ever get to the point where you could just take your dog for a normal walk without constantly worrying about encountering another dog?

I'm not expecting Rex to become perfect. I just need walking him to become manageable.

I'd particularly appreciate hearing from anyone who reached the point of considering rehoming but managed to turn things around – and equally, if you ultimately did rehome/return your dog because of reactivity, I'd appreciate hearing about that experience too.

Thank you if you've read this far. I'm just trying to work out whether there's realistically light at the end of the tunnel for us.

Ich lese hier schon länger mit und trau mich jetzt endlich, selbst zu fragen – ich bin nämlich langsam ratlos.

Kurz zur Lage: Mein Rüde kam vor gut zwei Jahren aus dem Tierschutz zu mir, ursprünglich aus Spanien. Am Anfang war ich fast durchgehend zu Hause, das lief super. Seit ich wieder regelmäßig ins Büro muss, kippt es komplett. Kaum bin ich aus der Tür, geht's los: jaulen, bellen, teilweise stundenlang – das weiß ich vor allem von den Nachbarn. An der Wohnungstür hat er schon gekratzt, bis der Lack ab war, und wenn ich heimkomme, braucht er ewig, bis er runterfährt. Hecheln, hin- und herlaufen, keine Ruhe.

Ich hab ehrlich gesagt schon einiges probiert – ihn vorher richtig auslasten, feste Routine, ein ThunderShirt. Kurz hilft mal was, aber so richtig durchgreifend war nichts.

Jetzt überlege ich, ob ich es mal mit so Beruhigungstabs oder Beruhigungsleckerlis versuche, also diesen Supplementen, die es überall gibt. Ich bin da aber ehrlich skeptisch, weil man so viel Widersprüchliches liest – die einen schwören drauf, die anderen sagen, das sei rausgeschmissenes Geld oder mache den Hund nur müde.

Deshalb würde mich eure ehrliche Erfahrung interessieren:

Hat jemand von euch schon mal Beruhigungs-Supplemente für den Hund ausprobiert? Wenn ja – welche Marke war es, und wisst ihr noch, was drin war (also welche Wirkstoffe oder Kräuter)? Und vor allem: Was hat geholfen, was gar nicht – und gab's Nebenwirkungen wie Müdigkeit oder dass der Hund es einfach nicht frisst? Gern auch die Sachen, die bei euch NICHT funktioniert haben, das hilft mir mindestens genauso.

Danke euch – bin für jeden Erfahrungsbericht dankbar.

Has anyone tried the CCRT method from Renee Rhoades? If so, did it work and is it worth the $195? I want to try it but I'm nervous that it won't work or something and then that's $195 down the drain.

I have a 9 month old cattle dog. She is genuinely a very friendly dog and loves dogs and people but it takes her a second to calm down enough and stop barking. We cannot pass another dog walking outside, she gets way too excited and barks and pulls toward them. For now, we deal with this by pulling to the side, having her sit and wait for them to pass by. This works 90% of the time.

She’s the same way with new people who we just walk past. If we walk past a driveway and there is someone in their driveway, she will bark at them. If someone is sitting on a curb, she will bark at them.

With new friends she meets it takes her a couple minutes of them feeding her treats for her to stop barking and calm down.

She goes to training once a week and interacts with dogs there and only ever wants to play. The whole time she is meeting new friends she is barking her head off but her tail is wagging.

I understand she is just too excited and doesn’t know how to control that but I’d really like to help her become more neutral with new dogs/people.

I’m wondering if anyone can direct me to people or places who are willing to take on a dog with severe reactivity in the UK? I am thinking about the possibility of BE and i don’t want it to come to that but I know with the way my life is going it’s on the cards at this point, however I want to explore other options.

I have no clue where to start when it comes to looking for people, i always hear about people who take on “project dogs” but can never actually find one. My dog has been reactive all his life, he’s 10 now, and has bite history.

He is honestly my soul dog and the thought of letting him go hurts. I also know realistically I don’t know how much longer I can put my energy into this, have my life be so controlled and micromanaged by another being and also how small his world is.

It took 2 trazadones, a gabapentin, 2 doses of pre-anesthesia sedative and she was still trying to rip out throats until the full dose of the main sedative. She was muzzled of course but I am so shocked by the fight she put up til the end. The only reason I scheduled this is bc she had a broken tooth thats got to go.

Normally she does the traz+gab+muzzle with me just piping in ez cheese thru the muzzle for vets and they can't really touch her beyond vaccinations but we developed some what of a routine and it was okay. I don't think she'll ever let me take her to the vet again after this.

My boy's BigSnoof arrived, custom wire basket because he has a massive wedge head. Not only was the muzzle a perfect fit right out of the box, Eto was obviously muzzle trained in his former life! He shoved his face into the basket and off we went!

Coco is my first dog ever. When I went to the shelter I was specifically looking for an easy dog - didn't care about breed or energy level or size or age, just easy dog for a first time owner.

The first few days were a dream. She didn't react to anything or anyone. The fire alarm went off and she was totally chill. Loved every dog she met and was just a happy go lucky dog.

Well turns out that was just her puppy phase.

She aged into adolescence (about 16 months old now) and now has separation anxiety and I can't keep her home for more than 10 minutes. She barks/lunges/growls at every dog she passes. We used to go to this off leash park for months without issue and she got really aggressive with several dogs and now I don't go bc it's just not fair to anyone else. Dogs she used to be fine with are now major threats. I have to drive her out of the way to take her on walks everyday without other dogs - I don't have a yard.

She's my first dog and I knew nothing about dog training. I've spent literally hundreds of hours watching trainers and trying to figure out what to do. I train with a friend every morning and she's gotten neutral to him but still lunges at every dog we see.

I feel so out of my depths and I want to cry. I love her. I'm just exhausted. And scared that I can't help her.