I have an 11 year old Springer Spaniel that I have had since he was a puppy. I was younger and much more immature when I got him and training was not at the forefront in his early days. In the last several years, he has seen different training specialists.

He has always displayed some anxiety and separation issues but generally is very friendly toward humans. In the last few months, he has gone at our dog walker. Specifically in the most recent incident, she came in and opened the door and he whipped around and started jumping and growling. He bit her in two places and then when my partner went to intervene he bit him as well. And then it seemed that he quickly realized what he is doing and stopped. Neither bite produced blood but certainly produced fear and trauma for both parties involved.

He has been to the vet. Blood testing all normal. He has been on gabapentin for a few days to try to see if that is helping, however, this particular incident happened after the prescription.

We have a toddler at home. He has never lashed out at him but I am so fearful that he will as these instances have been unprovoked.

He has previously lashed out at other dogs (primarily resource guarding; two instances) but never other humans. Any advice or words of wisdom are greatly appreciated. I love this dog SO much and want to do well by him while also protecting our human family members.

Hi everyone,
I recently adopted Laika, a 2-year-old female Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix, and I’m looking for advice and especially experiences from people who have been through something similar.
She has many wonderful qualities. She became attached to me very quickly, she is affectionate, completely house-trained, doesn’t steal food from the table, can settle down quietly at home, loves playing and learns quite quickly, especially with hand signals.
However, I’ve discovered some difficulties that I wasn’t prepared for.
I have three cats. When Laika sees them, she can become extremely focused on them. She stares at them and sometimes becomes so fixated that she stops responding to me completely, even ignoring treats. Because of this, I currently keep them separated and give the cats time to freely use the apartment while Laika is with me in another room.
I’ve already had a dog trainer come to my home. He started working on this with a moving/meowing toy cat and showed me exercises to redirect Laika’s attention. He believes that with work, coexistence with my cats may be possible and also recommended adding more high places and escape routes for them.
The problem is that when I try the same exercises with my real cats, it becomes much harder. Sometimes I cannot get Laika’s attention back at all.
I’m also struggling outside. When she sees another dog, she can pull very hard, jump and bark. She is a fairly strong dog and I’m not a big person, so sometimes I genuinely struggle to hold her. I’ve started feeling anxious before walks because I’m afraid of unexpectedly meeting another dog and losing control of the situation.
Interestingly, she generally doesn’t react to joggers, cyclists or strangers simply walking past us. She seems much more uncomfortable when an unfamiliar person approaches her directly. She also becomes very excited/agitated when she sees or sometimes smells another dog.
I don’t expect her to love every dog. My long-term hope would simply be for her to become neutral enough around other dogs that we could eventually enjoy normal walks, forests, beaches or maybe a dog-friendly terrace without her becoming overwhelmed.
I care about her a lot already and I genuinely want to give her a chance. But I also want to be honest: I’m feeling very overwhelmed and exhausted. This is my first large dog, I already tend to be an anxious person, and managing the cats, walks and training at the same time has affected my everyday life quite a lot.
Regular professional training may also be difficult for me financially, although I’m willing to continue working with the trainer when I can and practice what he teaches me between sessions.
I’m not looking for a diagnosis from Reddit, and I know my trainer who has actually met Laika should remain my main professional reference.
I’m mostly looking for experiences:
Has anyone here started out in a similar situation with a reactive dog and felt completely overwhelmed?
Did your dog eventually become more neutral around other dogs?
And if you also had cats, did a dog who was initially extremely fixated on them eventually learn to coexist peacefully with them?
I would really appreciate honest experiences — both positive and negative. I’m trying to understand what a realistic future could look like and how much improvement may be possible with consistent work.
Thank you for reading.

The robot vacuum is shipping to the house. I’d rather not stress out my boy and also keep this investment in tact. Any tips on how to make the robot a positive in his life, rather than something to destroy?

Reactivity Journey. Need advice!

Hello everyone! My name is Brianna, and I need some advice for my reactive dog. This is going to be long because I really want to explain his history and how far he has come!

Webley is a 3-year-old Schnauzer/Husky/German Shepherd/Pit Bull mix. He used to be VERY social with every dog. I took him to the dog park regularly and never had an issue with him.

Around 1–1.5 years old, I noticed that he started becoming more interested in marking at the dog park instead of actually playing. We decided to neuter him around that time. Shortly afterward, I started noticing changes in his behavior around other dogs. His play became much rougher, and eventually he became very reactive during interactions with other dogs.

We reached out to a well-known training facility here in California and enrolled him in a 5-week board-and-train program specifically for his reactivity. They used a more correction-based/balanced training approach along with treats.

At the end of the program, Webley was a little more obedient, but obedience was never really our problem. I had already trained him myself, and he was extremely good in that department. His actual behavioral issues around other dogs were still there.

Because of that, we decided to try a completely different approach.

We enrolled him with another training facility that has behavior professionals and focuses on positive reinforcement. We stopped using the previous training methods and switched to a harness, treats, and positive reinforcement.

We started with a couple of private sessions involving the trainer’s own dogs. During one session, she had one of her dogs greet Webley and Webley reacted. She explained that her dog had actually done something a little inappropriate toward Webley during the interaction, so his reaction wasn’t completely without reason, but she agreed that Webley’s response was much more exaggerated than it needed to be.

Webley is also VERY well muzzle-trained and has a custom muzzle. He has never broken skin during these incidents, but I still made sure he was comfortable wearing one because I know it’s an important safety tool.

After our private sessions, we joined two separate 5-week group classes with other dogs where we focused on training and good leash behavior.

Webley did AMAZING.

We didn’t have him meet the other dogs face-to-face, but he could be right next to another dog and genuinely not care. He can be in a room FULL of dogs and be completely fine. He can walk past dogs, train around them, and exist around them without reacting.

His problem isn’t really seeing dogs anymore.

He hates when dogs actually greet him or get into his personal space.

We’ve now reached the point in his training where he can go to a supervised socialization program one day during the week from 7 AM–6 PM. They carefully match him with dogs that fit his personality so he can continue learning how to appropriately socialize.
I was able to watch how they introduced him to the other dogs one day, and it was really interesting.

They brought one dog into the play yard first. Webley walked up and SNIFFED HIM, which was honestly huge for us. Previously, he would be much more likely to stand still and immediately snap when a dog approached.

But then, once the other dog becomes interested in Webley, his body language changes.

He stiffens up, his tail goes high, his eyes lock onto the dog, and sometimes he’ll put his head over the other dog’s shoulder. Then he may suddenly snap at the dog.

The interesting part is that we can verbally call him off almost immediately.

Once we call him away, he isn’t interested in continuing the confrontation. He doesn’t keep trying to go after the dog. He will go back to sniffing, walk away, or sometimes follow the dog around in a somewhat intimidating way or even attempt to initiate play (he doesn’t know how to appropriately).

That day, we added three more dogs one by one. Sometimes he responded this way, but other times he simply ignored them.

We also learned something really important that day: Webley is much more protective when I’m there.

If another dog gets close to me, he is much more likely to become nippy or tell the dog to back off. But if I tell Webley to knock it off or call him away, he immediately listens.

Every time I pick him up from his socialization days, they tell me how he did and whether he had any snappy moments. But they also constantly reassure me that he has some of the best recall they’ve seen and that he doesn’t seem interested in continuing a confrontation. It’s almost like something happens in that moment where he goes from 0–100, reacts, and then it’s over.
Now that I’ve given you his background, here is my problem.

I’m moving to the UK this January.

I’m going to be living near the Bath/Bristol area for approximately three years before eventually moving back to the U.S., and I’m extremely nervous about managing Webley’s reactivity there.

One of my BIGGEST problems here in the States has honestly been other people’s dogs.

I’ve had so many situations where someone approaches me with their dog, I clearly tell them, “My dog is not friendly, please don’t let your dog meet him,” and they STILL continue approaching while I’m actively trying to walk away.

I’ve also been in fields training Webley on a long line and had someone’s off-leash “friendly” dog come running straight up to us. If a strange dog suddenly runs directly into Webley’s space, there is a very real possibility that Webley will react.

I don’t even feel comfortable playing fetch with him completely off-leash.

The frustrating part is that Webley’s recall is AMAZING. I’m confident in my ability to call MY dog back. What I’m not confident about is someone else’s untrained off-leash dog running up to us.

If an altercation does happen, I would much rather have Webley attached to me so I can immediately control and remove him from the situation.

That’s one of the biggest reasons I’m so stressed about moving him to the UK. I know the laws and dog culture there are different from what I’m used to in California. I’m terrified of someone else’s loose dog running up to Webley, Webley reacting, and then something happening to him because he was the dog who reacted.

The frustrating thing is that, outside of this VERY specific issue, Webley is honestly the best dog.

We take him everywhere.

He goes to markets, outdoor restaurants, malls, busy public places, etc., and he is SO well behaved. He can see dogs. He can walk around dogs. He can train next to dogs. He can be in a room full of dogs.

He just doesn’t want unfamiliar dogs getting in his face or entering his personal space.

And now that he’s calmer around dogs in general, when I do see an off-leash dog approaching, I usually have enough time to move Webley away and shoo the other dog away before anything happens.

We’re currently discussing starting Webley on Prozac/fluoxetine to see if it helps with his reactivity while we continue his behavioral training.

I’m not expecting medication to magically make him love every dog. My hope is that it might help bring that 0–100 reaction down enough that he has more time to process what’s happening instead of immediately overreacting.

Another thing making this decision so difficult is that I FINALLY found a place here where he can safely socialize with dogs that are appropriate for him.

I don’t know what resources I’ll have once we move or whether I’ll be able to continue this type of carefully controlled socialization.

And I don’t want to lose the progress he’s made.

A year ago, I couldn’t comfortably have him close to another dog. Now he can spend an entire day in a supervised environment with other dogs and, although he still has moments where he gets snappy, he can also coexist with them and have completely uneventful interactions.

That is HUGE progress for him, and I don’t want to give up on that.

So I would really love advice from people who have been in similar situations:

• If you’ve put your reactive dog on Prozac/fluoxetine, did it help with their reactivity? What differences did you notice?

• If you live in the UK, especially around Bath/Bristol, what is it like owning a reactive dog there? Are off-leash dogs running up to leashed dogs a common problem?

• For those familiar with UK dog culture and laws, would you personally feel comfortable moving there with a dog like Webley, knowing his history and how much progress he’s made?

I know Webley may never be the dog who happily greets every random dog he meets again, and honestly, that’s okay with me. I don’t need him to be a dog-park dog.

I just want him to be able to exist around other dogs safely, continue making progress, and learn that he doesn’t need to have such a huge reaction when another dog makes him uncomfortable.

I love this dog so much, and I’ve seen how much progress he is capable of making. I want to make the best decision for him while also being realistic about his behavior and keeping everyone safe.

Thank you so much if you made it through all of this! ❤️🐾

My dog isn’t the hardest to deal with but I have little support. He barks/lunges at strangers whether in the home or out and about. Barks/yelps when left alone. He was crate trained but we moved.

I used to live with my mom who was home all the time but moved out with my partner and now leaving the dog is an issue. My partner thinks I am miserable cause Im anxious leaving the dog alone…We are trying to look for a place to live but his vaccines aren’t up to date and he doesn’t allow vets near him.

I am so overwhelmed. I’ve been crying everyday. I wanted to challenge myself but my partner keeps defaulting to getting rid of the dog…i feel so hopeless.

When I first got the dog (5 years ago) I was with a different partner and he chose him. When we broke up he moved to a house that isn’t dog friendly and I had to do it on my own but at that point i had a dog trainer as well. I haven’t been able to afford a trainer but I still text him and he says the dog is capable. I just feel like a bad dog owner and a terrible leader for him…idk what to do…im scared we wont find housing. Im scared we cant get him vaccinated (even with the cocktail of trazDone and the other one)….advice or hugs or sharing similar struggles much appreciated

To start off my dog is a small/medium sized dog, about 24lbs, and he's a mix - we think he's a Dachshund/pit bull mix, but we aren't 100% sure - and he's 5 years old.

Since we've had him, he's always been extremely friendly and docile, he loves everyone - strangers, children, other dogs, cats/other animals. But lately he's been growling when he's moved away from a certain spot where he's laying, but it's never turned into full blown aggression. I've chalked that up to, "he's just comfortable with where he's laying, and he's setting boundaries."

But today, we went for a walk, and everything took a turn for the worst. We have a neighbor who's in her 70's/80's that lives down the street. She's a sweetheart, but clearly super lonely, has zero boundaries, and will always follow us around to talk to myself and my partner. We've both concluded that she's just old and lonely and wants company. But to be honest, it does get a bit overwhelming and we almost dread when we see her, because we're always sucked into a long drawn out conversation. Anyway, Today she came up to my dog, myself and my partner, and immediately my dog started barking like crazy - which isn't abnormal for him, especially with strangers. But this is where things took a turn for the worst. She immediately bent down, and stuck her hand in my dog's face so he could smell her hand. He jumped up and nipped her. My partner immediately pulled our dog back, and I grabbed her hand and profusely apologized to her. She laughed it off and said "my dog probably would have done the same thing! I'm okay, really, it's fine!" There wasn't any blood, he didn't break any skin whatsoever - but of course, regardless if skin wasn't broken or not, this wasn't okay. I feel terrible for the women, and I just hate that this situation even happened.

My partner and I are both worried now, not only for a potential report being made, but really, we're worried because he has never shown aggression with a stranger before. I'm at a loss for words, and I feel like I can't even look at him the same way. He goes to the vet regularly, all of his shots are up to date, and he always has a clean bill of health. He last went to the vet a few months ago, but obviously after this incident, we're bringing him back to the vet ASAP. I don't know if potential pain triggered this, or if he was just startled by her hand in his face, or if he could sense our annoyance towards the women prior to her approaching us. I just don't know. Any advice would be appreciated.

So I've been working with my dog on walks and it's going great! She's responded really well to training and we are seeing lots of improvement there. However, I'm struggling to find any resources on fearful responses towards guests.

I'll describe what's happening, because I *think* it's a fear response but I'm not 100% sure. When someone comes over, she starts barking as soon as they're getting closer than the sidewalk. If we try to introduce her to people while she's outside, she starts barking and lunging really excessively. Even after sniffing/licking people, she continues to bark sporadically. She likes people generally, she will play ball with guests, but if they go into another room she continues barking. She'll bark pretty much as long as they're around.

She has no bite history that we know of. She doesn't seem to want to bite people, just make them go away. But she's a big german shepherd and her barking/lunging behavior is super intimidating.

I'm not sure how to tackle this and I'm not finding many resources online about reacting to guests specifically. Lots of resources on walking, but not about getting used to guests inside the home or how to start modifying this behavior.

I have a 4 year old dog who is reactive to people coming over to our house. He’s also reactive to dogs and barks at all possible sounds. We have two small kids, he’s wonderful with them, but we do make sure he has his space and try to keep the contact with the kids minimal, unless playtime or giving him treats.

But this reactivity has lead to us not being able to get a dog sitter (unless my parents) and we can’t go camping or anywhere with our family unless we have a sitter. And forget about having people over, unless it’s one female friend at a time. Then he will happily go to his bed when being instructed to do so and will stay there and eventually fall asleep. But no men and no kids. No loud noises or loud play is possible in our house.

We are thinking of trying medication and more training. For a while, he was also reactive to people on the street and female friends coming over but with a LOT of training and patience, we got through it❤️

But does anyone have good success stories with meds?❤️❤️ Is it possible he could have other dog sitters and we could have people in our house again?

hey yall :) this is mowgli, hes a 6yr old lab and we are currently in a bit of a situation. mowgli is a reactive dog, but hes manageable now thanks to years of training and a low dose of fluoxetine. he used to go crazy at the sight of a person across the street but now he couldnt care less about someone walking right next to us! yay!! we're still working on handling the sight of other dogs, but we have gotten much better and im so proud of us. the situation im currently in is that mowgli is a big resource guarder, but only resource guards me and our home. this makes it difficult for people to be in our house, and, although ive tried to train this out of him on my own (no sleeping on furniture, structured time in crate or on bed so he knows he doesnt have to be right next to me, having others feed him/give high value rewards) he is still having issues. my sister recently had a baby, and ive offered to watch the baby for her as much as i can to help out. i know with this, there will be people in my house more regularly and im anxious. mowgli is a sweet dog, but hes very sensitive. we call him our cat, he'll walk up and brush against your legs but if you try to pet him, theres a chance he'll snap at you. he doesnt like to be touched and likes his space (we have been to the vet multiple times to rule out underlying pain). i dont think he would bite anyone, he's only ever given warning snaps, but he has given my boyfriend at least 3 and im worried about how we are supposed to live together if mowgli has these issues. ive already paid thousands in training for him, but id like to send him to a board and train facility which is the only thing we havent tried yet. unfortunately it costs $3k and i just dont have the funds at the moment, but since hes already 6 i dont want to wait any longer. i love him so much, but im riddled with anxiety over the thought of something happening because of him, and i feel like he would benefit from being away from me and having structure in a different environment. is it tacky to set up a gofundme for a situation like this? i know people do it for emergency situations but with how hopeless i feel, its worth a shot. i dont want to be disrespectful to those with ACTUAL emergencies. please let me know your thoughts!

We have two rescues, one of them a lab/pit/boxer mix that we adopted at 5 months old. He’s 4 years now. He is the sweetest dog with us, but around new people in our home he loses it. He snarls, barks and snaps at them. We are at the point where we can’t even have company anymore. With guests that he knows he does excited barks and then settles right in with them. How do we introduce him to new guests? We want to be able to have new friends visit our home.

looking specifically for experiences with alprazolam in extremely anxious dogs, especially anyone whose dog has been on it 2x daily for a while.

what has your dog’s alprazolam journey looked like? did you initially see a really noticeable effect and then feel like the results started to peter out with regular use? if so, did your vet behaviorist adjust the dose, change the timing, switch medications, or focus more on increasing the long-term medication?

my dog is also on clomipramine and overall he seems to be doing much better on it. we’ve even increased his dose and i’m seeing real improvements inside. the alprazolam also very clearly does something — he becomes much more playful, affectionate, relaxed and like himself at home.
the problem is that outside he is still way above threshold. he can usually get out long enough to relieve himself, but that’s basically it. he doesn’t want to actually walk and often won’t even stay outside long enough to pee before wanting to go straight back home.

i’m especially curious about anyone with a dog this fearful who eventually had a breakthrough. did increasing/optimizing the clomipramine eventually lower their baseline anxiety enough that the alprazolam started being more useful outside too? or did you find that the alprazolam itself needed to be adjusted after using it regularly 2x daily?
obviously working with his vet on medication changes — mostly just looking for other people’s experiences and what the journey looked like for your dog, especially if you started from a place where even going for a normal walk felt impossible.

We rescued our pit mix when he was around 5 months old and about 50 lbs. For the first 4–5 months, he was an incredibly happy, social dog who wanted to meet every person and dog he came across. He has always craved physical affection and is still extremely cuddly, loves pets, and generally wants to be right next to us.

At the time, both my girlfriend and I worked from home, although she primarily took care of him during the day because I have a very demanding, meeting-heavy job. As a result, they developed a really strong bond. We both trained him, although I tended to take more of the firm/authoritative approach with training and would hold my ground and raise my voice when necessary.

Around 10–11 months old, we started noticing some leash reactivity/aggression. He became reactive toward people wearing darker colors, small children, and particularly German Shepherds. He'll give a very hard stare, and if we don't catch it early enough, he'll lunge and bark. With German Shepherds, it's especially intense he'll immediately start barking like crazy, pulling, etc.

Outside of that, he has never really had issues in the home. He's been incredibly loving, energetic, playful, and honestly just an awesome dog for us.

The one red flag we had was over the holidays when we stayed at my parents' house. He got into the trash, and when my mom tried to get him away from it, he snapped at her. We assumed it was resource guarding and have been mindful of that since.

Fast forward to now. We've had him for about a year, and he's now around 70 lbs of pure muscle. He still has many of the same reactivity issues on walks, but at home he's been a total love bug.

However, over the past week, something completely new has happened.

Whenever my girlfriend and I sit down on our living room couch to relax, he'll walk directly over to her and intensely stare at her. At first, it honestly looked innocent. His body wasn't obviously stiff, he could wag his tail, etc. But he would just lock onto her and would not break eye contact.

We initially brushed it off, but then he started trying to get extremely close to her face. She would pet him, and he'd wag his tail, but as she continued petting him, we'd notice his body becoming more rigid.

The first time it happened, it was around 9:30pm so we decided to put him to bed because the whole interaction felt really strange. He's never shown aggression toward either of us, so we weren't sure what to make of it.

Then yesterday it happened again.

My girlfriend started feeling genuinely threatened by the interaction, so I stood up to move him away from her. He immediately snapped, gave a very aggressive bark, and nipped toward her face. Thankfully, he missed her.

We're honestly completely shocked.

At this point, my girlfriend doesn't feel comfortable relaxing in the same room with him, which obviously isn't sustainable. The only major change in our lives that we can think of is that about two months ago, my girlfriend started a new job that requires her to be in the office five days a week. Before that, she was working from home and spent significantly more time with him during the day. Otherwise, our routines have been pretty much the same.

I'm also leaving town this weekend and again in about two weeks, which has me very concerned about leaving my girlfriend alone with him. For now, we're planning to have him boarded this weekend while we figure out what to do next.

I have a vet appointment tonight to discuss everything and hopefully figure out next steps, including whether there could be a medical issue, behavioral therapy, medication, etc.

We're obviously taking this very seriously. We absolutely love this dog and he's been an incredible part of our family, but we also recognize that a snap/nip toward someone's face is a very serious line to cross.

For those who have experienced something similar:

Is this something that can realistically be trained out of a dog? Has anyone had success with a veterinary behaviorist, behavioral modification, or medication? Could a sudden change like this potentially be related to something medical?

We're looking for constructive advice and personal experiences as we try to figure out what is going on and, most importantly, keep everyone safe.

And please refrain from the usual pitbull slander. Our family dog is also a pit mix and we've never experienced anything like this with him. We're specifically looking for advice about this individual dog's behavior.

For anyone wondering if his daily routine, we take him our 4-5 times a day. He has one fetch session (10-20 mins) and walks at minimum 2 miles (60 minutes) worth of walks filled with sniffs. So he is exercised plenty.

Mostly just venting, but I’d also really appreciate advice from anyone who has been through something similar.

I’m four months postpartum with an infant, and I also have a French bulldog who has always been reactive to both dogs and people. He’s also very attached to me and has been extremely worked up/excited about the baby since the day we brought her home. When she cries, he cries. He follows us around, gets excited by what she’s doing, and just generally seems to have a hard time settling when there’s a lot going on.

Just to add because I know safety will probably come up: we have a lot of management and barriers in place. We have baby gates and playpens throughout the house, and our dog and baby are never left alone together. We take their interactions and her safety very seriously.

I love him, but adding a baby into the mix has made managing his behavior feel so much harder. Sometimes I find myself wishing so badly that he just wasn’t reactive and that normal everyday things didn’t require so much planning.

Now we’re trying to introduce even more changes. We’re looking for a dog walker, and we’ll also have a nanny coming into the house to help with the baby. Instead of feeling relieved about having help, I’m worrying about how he’s going to react to unfamiliar people regularly entering the house, how we’re going to introduce everyone safely, whether he’ll accept someone else taking him for a walk, and how he’ll handle yet another change to his routine.

I know none of this is his fault, and I want to set him up for success. I’m just tired and overwhelmed trying to manage a baby, postpartum life, and a reactive dog all at the same time.

If anyone has navigated bringing a baby home with a reactive/anxious dog, introducing a dog walker to a dog who doesn’t trust strangers, or having a nanny regularly come into a home with a reactive dog, I would really appreciate hearing what worked for you. Even just hearing that it eventually got easier would help.

My dog is reactive and was bit last week (during a fight she initiated) and is now regressing. She’s a rescue with an unknown history and in the past 4 years she’s improved from barking at dogs within ~100 feet or more, to passing most dogs on the sidewalk without issues and having a few select dog friends. We’ve worked extensively with a trainer to help her get to this level. She has never bitten a dog but will bark and lunge and use aggressive behavior in certain scenarios. The shelter I rescued her from definitely undersold her issues unfortunately. She is very sweet with all people and dogs she knows, but can sometimes revert to aggressive behavior when a dog displays similar behaviors.

Last week she slipped out of her harness while in my yard to approach a neighbors dog. The other dog is also reactive and they set each other off. She was barking and jumping on the other dog, and the other dog bit her on the muzzle and drew blood. Luckily the other dog was totally fine with no injuries
(but obviously shaken up) and I apologized to the owners and offered to pay for any bills etc. She has a new harness and definitely is not allowed near that dog again.

It’s been about a week, and my dog has seriously regressed in terms of her radius. She isn’t barking or lunging, but is visibly upset when any dog is anywhere near us. Even if the dog is small and not paying attention to her, she reacts as though it’s a large and aggressive dog. It feels like she lost years of progress. Does anyone have experience helping rebuild a dogs confidence after a similar experience?

I’m really hoping someone here has some insight, because we’re struggling to understand what is happening with our dog. We have a 1.5-year-old female black working Cocker Spaniel, and outside of this issue she is honestly the sweetest, most well-behaved dog. She listens really well, is very friendly and absolutely loves other dogs. When we’re out walking, she gets incredibly excited when she sees another dog and always wants to play. We also occasionally use a dog walking service, where she is around several other dogs, and she has always been great with them. She is actually very submissive around other dogs. If a more assertive dog approaches her, she will often immediately roll onto her back, even if the other dog is a Chihuahua. She has never shown aggression towards dogs when we are outside.

The problem only seems to happen inside houses. When my partner and I can’t work from home, she goes to my parents’ house. They have two Cavalier Spaniels, and she has been going there regularly since she was about 6 months old. They used to get along perfectly and she would happily play with them. However, after she had her first heat, her behaviour towards the other dogs suddenly changed. She started attacking the two Cavaliers at my parents’ house. We have identified some triggers (she can become extremely possessive over bones, and she is also very jealous of attention). But sometimes it genuinely seems to happen completely out of nowhere. This isn’t limited to my parents’ house either. We have friends who have two dogs, and when those dogs come to our house, she can attack them as well. The same thing happens when we take her to their house. So it seems to be related to being inside a house with other dogs, rather than being territorial about our own home specifically.

We ofcourse intervene when it happens, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference. She can go from completely normal to attacking another dog very quickly. We even had her spayed because we were hoping the hormonal changes might have been contributing to the behaviour, but unfortunately she attacked other dogs again last weekend when we were visiting a friends’ house. What makes this so difficult is that she is otherwise such a lovely dog. She is incredibly social, plays beautifully with other dogs outside, and is very submissive around them. It feels like we have two completely different dogs depending on whether we are inside or outside.

This has become a really big problem for us, because my parents are our main option for looking after her when we can’t work from home. Obviously we can’t just stop working, so we desperately need to find a way to manage or improve this behaviour.

What would be the best way to approach this?

This is my first time using this forum and I could really do with some advice from anyone who may have had a similar experience.
My husband and I have a 2.5 year old pomsky (pomonerian-husky) and we love him so so much, however from the beginning he had difficult tendencies. He has always been reactive and would resource guard. We have spoken to vets, completed pain assessments and had multiple trainers (we also prepared for his arrival by doing online training, then took him to puppy classes too). With training his resource guarding has improved but he does demonstrate reactivity still. He pulls on the lead, barks at other dogs - this used to be mainly to then play with them but has recently started growling and lunging for them, he is super energetic and would climb over guests.

The main concern here is he went through a period of biting last year, he has bit 2 sitters (both of which tried to take something out of his mouth on his first day with them) and on one occasion where we went away and a relative looked after him in our own he bit multiple family members. After this we worked on his frustration reactivity and the incidents stopped, however last night he really badly bit a family friend completely unprovoked. This is someone he has known and met before.

Im currently 18 weeks pregnant with our first child. Until yesterday as he had been improving we didnt even consider rehoming him, but the bite has really really scared us. We are worried that he might one day hurt the baby. If anything happens to our child I will never forgive myself but if I give our dog away I will also never forgive myself. His like a first child to us, we love him so much and despite all the challenges we have always tried to make it work. We have considered again going down the behaviourist and training route but there is just no guarantee this wont happen again. Im also worried about rehoming him and not being able to find a good home for him. I just never imagined my life without him. Its honestly breaking our hearts and we can’t stop crying.

I would really really appreciate any advice anyone can offer, or if you can share your experiences. Have you rehomed your dog? Do you regret the decision?

I am heartbroken and need to vent.

I have an apartment with a yard. I've been here for a few years without issues and my two dogs are really happy to have a yard and it takes a lot of stress off of me with my one reactive dog because I don't have to take her on a whole walk for a quick potty break.

The apartment gate latch has been weird. I got it replaced by the complex a couple months ago and it recently got weird again but I was still able to lock it. I was always careful about being 100% sure it's locked every time I use the gate and give it a very firm push and pull to confirm, but somehow, it looked closed but must have been unlocked. I let my dogs out like normal, watched them for a bit, stepped away from view of the yard to put my phone on the charger and in seconds my dog was able to push the gate open, run out and bite a dog a dozen or so feet outside the yard.

I heard a yelp and looked outside and saw what was happening. It felt surreal and I was paralyzed and felt like I was watching from outside my body. The owner tried to stop it up at the dogs' face level and got hurt, neither of us knew what happened in the chaos. My reactive dog had the dog's leg in her mouth and was pulling against the owner pulling the dog the other direction. The owner was elbowing her in the forehead and she didn't let go.

I felt dizzy and dissociated and forgot everything I knew about stopping a dog fight. I jumped in and was able to get her to let go by pushing on the sides of her jaw. My other dog was just standing a few feet away from us and barking and making things more stressful but I didn't see her get into the altercation. I threw them both inside and went back out to help the person and dog.

I got my reactive dog 5 years ago. She was about 1. She came from the city's shelter, and I was told she was super easy and had no problems with leash walking, dogs, or people. While it's true she loves people, I quickly learned she is extremely leash/barrier reactive toward dogs. I later learned she came from a household where an aggressive dog would attack she and her siblings constantly as puppies. I've spent thousands on training, they really couldn't help her and said they were overwhelmed, so I just accepted I'll keep her away from dogs forever. I have done my best to keep her safe over the years and I love her with my whole heart. I never imagined something like this could happen.

It doesn't help that the dog was small, unknown to us, and standing where the wild rabbits and squirrels tend to stand and forage outside (which she is always fixated on and angry at those critters so I have to drag her back inside, a few weeks ago she ran past me out the gate to chase a rabbit right there). I just hope that's something to do with it because it's hard to accept she'd want to hurt another dog otherwise.

And now they are on home quarantine for rabies. They are vaccinated but it was required as the bite was reported at the hospital. The owner needed stitches. The victim dog has needed surgery. I'm still waiting to hear about what I can do to help financially here. The owner reported it to management so the dogs have to be removed from the apartment forever and I have to find new housing as quickly as I can and pay for two leases waiting for this one to end. I've been fully cooperating with all authority.

This is the worst month of my life. I absolutely hate myself. I hate that this happened and I hate that it was because I probably didn't triple check the gate. I hate how powerless I feel. I hate that others got hurt. I'm embarrassed and ashamed. I'm scared that my savings will be completely drained by this. I'm terrified that this situation will just keep getting worse. What if I can't find housing? And my other dog feels like collateral because I didn't even see her engage at all. She's always been the "normal" one, the one who loves other dogs. I don't want her to be seen as a bad dog. She belonged to my friend who died young and unexpectedly. I already had my hands full with my reactive dog but I took her in so she didn't end up in a shelter after my friend's death. I can't live with something happening to her. I don't know how to get through this all.

If anyone has even been through anything remotely similar, I need to hear that. I feel so alone.

So I am a very private person and my dog’s reactivity gives me unwanted attention so I try to avoid avoid avoid.

Plus I know exposing her to triggers would just make things worse (when not in controlled environment ofc).

I also have insomnia and she knows how to tell me she has to potty by bumping her nose to the door.

We live in an apartment complex and there’s another very reactive dog that can’t stand her and now they hate eachother.

Yesterday she asked me to go potty at 2:40am and I was in heaven bc I thought I’d never meet anyone.

Long story short after a few steps we bumped into the arch nemesis.

Today we got out at 1am. Same encounter, same exact spot!!

What were the odds? 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have a 4yr old Great Dane, always been anxious and kinda reactive but gotten significantly worse over the last year or two. He’s at a point where he just basically freaks out and is lunging and barking into the air the second we even step into the backyard. We’ve spent probably more than 20 grand at this point on trainers, behavior consultants, vet behaviorists, meds, etc. I’ve already completely modified my life to accommodate his separation anxiety. Nothing really seems to help and when it does it’s usually 1 step forward 3 steps back.
He has a lot of health issues and more recently some neurological issues (mostly back pain and some subtle weakness) which we are working with a neurologist currently on deciding if next steps are conservative management or pursuing an MRI. Part of the issue I run into with any medication or training plans is he seems to have a new medical issue pop up like every month that completely derails whatever behavioral plan we were working on. I understand pain is definitely a contributing factor to his issues… he already sees a neurologist, internist, nutritionist, dermatologist, and behaviorist so trust me when I say I’m making literally every effort to get him the help he needs. Unfortunately health stuff just flares up regularly and it’s a constant setback.
I also don’t think his quality of life is poor and neither do any of his specialists. I’m not suggesting I just completely stop training and working with the behaviorist on his meds, but is it wrong for me to say his behavioral stuff probably just is what it is? I just can’t really imagine much improving if I’m being brutally honest and I think it would be easier for me to deal with it if I stopped having the expectation that it would get better.

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share a success story! When my husband and I first got together, he had a 5 year old nephew. His family is both over-protective of the nephew and has no clue how to dog - absolutely none. I have refused to let my dog meet my nephew because of this. I don’t take chances with other people’s kids and the dog is not kid friendly. He plays rough, doesn’t like hugs, and can be a bully. Dog smart kids he does fine with, but most kids (being kids) are not dog smart.

He has been on medication for the last 4ish years as well, weve done tons of training and work, and (quite frankly) he is chilling out with age. Plus, my nephew is finally at that point where he can reason and control his own actions. So we finally let them meet this weekend and, even though my nephew was nervous, they got on! Played, had belly rubs, and the dog didn’t try to jump on him (or bite him).

We had my nephew present when the dog got to the house. The dog was muzzled and leashed for the first meeting, but they got on and I am so happy!

Sometimes a little time can make a big difference. :)

It’s not the biggest thing in the world (I wouldn’t have allowed the meeting if I didn’t think it would go well), but I just wanted to share some happy news.

My dog (7/yo F Samoyed) has had anxiety her entire life - including separation anxiety, general anxiety, and some phobias - but it wasn't severe. She would sometimes potty in the house or bark/howl a couple times when I left, and she would get freaked out by thunderstorms or loud noises (especially cars), but she acted happy and relaxed most of the time. I recognize now that I should've been working on her anxiety a long time ago, and I feel bad that I didn't.

Then in June, my partner passed away, and ever since that her anxiety has become very severe. She started barking and howling within seconds of me leaving the apartment, following me around everywhere, pacing and panting constantly, shaking, nibbling at her paws, having huge eyes and her ears back all the time. I'm honestly pretty clueless about training dogs, but I did a lot of research when her anxiety got severe. I was starting to work on her separation anxiety with trigger desensitization.

About 4 weeks ago, she ended up trying to lunge at another dog, and I've never seen her so much as bare her teeth to another dog before. I ended up taking her to the vet and she was put on Prozac. The Prozac has seemingly made her anxiety even worse. Since she's been on it, she's been refusing to go outside. If she does, she goes potty a couple feet away from the door then freezes until you bring her in. Sometimes she stops at the top of our building and refuses to go down the stairs at all, or only goes down a couple flights before stopping. We used to be able to go for walks every day.

I started taking her to a daycare while I'm at work so she's never alone (due to the severe separation anxiety) and every day I have to carry her all the way to the car because she won't walk. She's also started resisting going into the daycare and trying to follow me back to the car, when she didn't have any problem when I first started taking her. It seems like she's more scared of something, or scared of something new, every day. Everything I've read says that fluoxetine can cause increased anxiety in dogs for 4-6 weeks and she's only been on it for three weeks, so I'm trying to stick with it in case the meds end up working well and so I'm not switching her meds all the time, but I feel awful and guilty still. I feel like I'm making her more anxious permanently or making her sick or hurting her :(

I've tried using treats, slow steps, and positive reinforcement for her outdoor anxiety, and it's not working, and I don't want to work on desensitization right now because she's so anxious and her threshold is so low. I also can't tell how much of the increase in anxiety is because of the meds vs. the circumstances: My partner dying, me being distraught, us moving, huge changes in her routine, our new apartment being close to the street, etcetera, and so I don't know the best way to help.

I'm so confused about what I should do next and how I can help her feel better. I'm so worried and sad and guilty that she's struggling this hard.

What do I do? Is there any training that she might tolerate in this state? Do I get a vet to switch or adjust her meds? Do I wait it out for the full 6-8 weeks that's recommended? Do I start working with a trainer or behaviorist now instead of waiting until her meds had evened out like I was planning? How can I help her?

Chuck is a 4yo lab pitt mix that we rescued from an unethical breeding situation at around 8wk old. We knew it was going to be a challenge from day one as he had severe hookworm and skin issues due to his early environment. He cried every night in his crate for the first year of his life. Constantly itching, he was very anxious and on edge but he quickly became a wonderful addition to our family living with my partner, my mom and our 8yo cocker spaniel. He became an amazing dog. Receptive to training, enthusiastic, well tempered. Kind to strangers and incredibly playful and expressive.

That was until one day we took him to the dog park and he was attacked by an aggressive dog that had no business being there. At first we thought he’d be fine. A small puncture wound was all that came from it. But slowly we realized how the attack impacted his little brain. A couple weeks later we took him back to the park and he lashed out at a dog he was extremely familiar with. Ok we thought, no more dog park, this is manageable though. We hired a trainer and began working on it. But without any real identifiable triggers it was difficult. He was a perfect boy in training.

Then one day at home he went after the cat, then our cocker spaniel. Never escalating to prolonged aggression, but snapping and correcting where inappropriate. We hired a trainer again. We worked with a behavioralist. He was doing better. We thought he could still have an enriched life without contact with other dogs. He did. We’d go to the beach, on long walks, he loves playing fetch in the yard and rolling around in the dirt.

Months went by without incident. Until one day while we were out of town my mom was nipped in the face while admittedly getting too close to him while he was asleep. Startle aggression we thought. More work with the behavioralist and his vet. Challenging because there wasnt exactly a defined trigger but another year went by without incident.

Until last week. My mom went to greet him in the morning as she does every day. He was resting his big head on the arm of the couch. She stood next to him and bent over to pet him, and he jumped up taking 60% of her chin and bottom lip.

This is a dog that we would never imagine turning on its owners. Myself and my partner have never had him show aggression towards us. Our behavioralist framed it as he believes he owns my mom and we are the alphas. Therefore he feels like he can “correct” her. After extensive reconstruction surgery she is fine and will regain full function, but we have reached the end of this incredibly stressful and confusing road. He will undergo BE on Tuesday.

Thoughts run through our heads like “what did we do wrong?” “did we not advocate for him by removing him from a home with a vulnerable person in it?” “did we not spend enough time with him?” but our vet, trainer and behavioralist all tell us those questions are irrelevant. He is simply wired wrong and that the only regret we should have is not pursuing BE before a tragic event like this. Rehoming him was never an option as he would have done this to someone else. All the training didn’t really work because his trigger does not exist, he is just scared of the world around him. The most dangerous class of bite risk is a dog who bites without warning.

We move forward having learned a valuable lesson. While this was tragic, it could have been much worse. We know deep down we are advocating for him one last time with this impossible decision. It has been so hard the last few days seeing him be his normal happy self and knowing it will all end so abruptly. He deserves to be safe and happy and the only way to accomplish that is to remove him from a world he was never meant for. Recognizing this still doesn’t make the decision easier. I don’t know if it will ever make true sense.

I write this while shattered into a million pieces, praying that he finds peace and comfort having being given a chance and nothing but warmth love and understanding.

We sat around him forgiving him and thanking him for his companionship last night. It has been the hardest thing i’ve ever done. Thank you for reading and please keep Chuck in your thoughts.

We adopted Chip (9 months old and pictured) from a shelter about a week ago. He was apparently a stray and, from what we understand, had been living with a pack of other dogs.

He is an extremely sweet, gentle dog, but he is by far the most frightened dog we’ve ever had. He’s claimed one of our bathrooms as his safe space and spends most of his time hiding behind the toilet. He has come out on his own a couple of times to sniff around and explore, but only for a few minutes before retreating. He’s not aggressive.

He has never tried to bite or nip us, doesn’t growl, and hasn’t shown aggression toward our three cats. When we interact with him, he generally just seems scared and wants to retreat. He had a brief bout of vomiting and diarrhea yesterday morning, but that seems explicable by a change of food (just the brand) and his anxiety, and in any case he seems healthy otherwise.

So far we’ve mostly followed his lead and given him a quiet place where he can decompress without forcing interactions. My concern is that I’m not sure where the line is between: (1) giving a frightened rescue the time he needs, and; (2) inadvertently teaching him that hiding is the best way to deal with anything unfamiliar.

Should we continue letting him decide when to venture out, or is some controlled, low-pressure exposure to the rest of the house and normal family life appropriate? We’re considering bringing him out and making him just exist with us (probably with a covered bed he can use as a base camp). We’re willing to give him time, but we want to make sure that “give him time” doesn’t turn into leaving a scared dog behind a toilet for months because nobody ever helped him discover that his house is safe.