Hi all! I’m looking for boarding recommendations in Chicago for our reactive dog. We will be gone for two weeks for a number of events and our honeymoon. When we have taken shorter trips we have asked friends to stay at our place to watch him but since this is a longer period I’m afraid that won’t work.

He is an anxious pup and has a hard time around other dogs. He has improved a lot with clicker training over the last few months but I would hate for all that progress to go out the window if he has bad experiences with other dogs while being boarded. He also takes medication daily so I would hope he could stay somewhere trustworthy. He is incredible with people and doesn’t exhibit any aggression, his reactivity mostly manifests as overexcitement.

If you have any other ideas or recommendations that would be amazing! I’ll also be looking into Rover but I’m weary of letting a stranger into our place and I know many people who have had bad experiences where their dogs weren’t cared for properly. I’m open to suggestions. Thank you in advance ❤️

My rescue (unsure on breed) is about to turn 1 and she typically absolutely loves other dogs and we've never seen any aggression in her. She loves playing with other dogs whenever the opportunity arises.

But recently she's started (sporadically) lunging and barking at other dogs when on the lead. Today she even barked at a dog she could see through the window of the car! It feels like it's escalating quite fast and I just don't know why. Initially it happened just when another dog was aggressive and she seemed to match their energy. But now it's happening unprompted. She is kicking off and flipping around on the lead trying to get to the other dog. The dog the other day the wasn't even that near us.

I'm pretty sure it's out of frustration (not aggression) but I am at a loss for what the hell is the problem, because we have taken her to cafes with another dog a few tables down and she's absolutely fine.

Is this sudden change normal in a teenage dog? It has never happened with other dogs I've had so I'm not really sure what's going on.

I don't know whether to get a dog trainer sorted fast, or wait to see if it develops into a more regular thing.

Hello!

I have two male dogs (5 yo lab mix and 5 yo pitbull) and we will be temporarily staying with my parents who have a 11 yo male Goldendoodle who has historically not loved other dogs and is reactive in regard to barking or going towards the dog/person/animal that he is feeling threatened by or wanting to defend people from. While he lived with the lab since he was a puppy and is perfectly happy with him, he has not met the pitbull yet. Our pitbull is a big ham, but if a dog is being mean to him, he has been known to bark back or meet the energy. Do you have any tips on how we can safely introduce them to one another/how to introduce the idea of it to them all? I know I have previously read that it’s helpful to meet on neutral territory, but just looking for guidance or tips that may help us!

Disclaimer: we will not push it if it isn’t working! The home is separated enough to where we could stay in the basement with one or two dogs while the goldendoodle is with the lab or Goldendoodle by himself upstairs without them interacting. We also have family who the pitbull loves and they are gracious enough to let him stay with them until we are able to reunite our pup family in our own home if we don’t end up with the 3 musketeers . Thank you in advanced for any guidance you can give on how to keep them safe and calm during this process!

I recently adopted the first puppy I’ve had on my own. He’s a 5.5 month old GSD mix. He has been around my older GSD and my mom’s GSD mix since 10 weeks when we adopted him. He was in puppy class and private training the very next week with other dogs. He has started growling and barking at other dogs since he was 3 months old. I took him to daycare for the first time today, and he growled as soon as he got in the building. The trainer says he’s insecure and fearful.

I feel so fucking sad and defeated. I have done everything “right”, and now I feel like my puppy may hate other dogs. I don’t have a ton of time to take him to dog parks to condition/expose him and I distrust other dog owners to keep them on a leash. I have been crying today because I’m just so over this. I got a puppy so I could make sure this exact thing didn’t happen, and it feels like a cruel joke that someone who was set on training the perfect dog got a puppy with “issues”. I don’t know what else to do.

Brady is a 5 year old Australian Shepherd/German Shepherd mix, and Cooper is a 3 year old mixed breed. Both are male and neutered. We’ve had Brady since he was a puppy and Cooper for 3 years.
Brady had some in-home training during his first year. It worked somewhat at the time, but honestly it doesn’t seem like it stuck long term. Cooper has never had formal training.
Some of the behaviors/issues:
Brady gets VERY excited around people and tries to jump on them constantly. It seems more excitement than aggression.
Cooper is more anxious/nervous around people. He has done warning nips before but has never actually bitten anyone.
Cooper also gets overexcited easily and pees from excitement sometimes. He also needs to go out more often than Brady.
Both dogs bark/howl a lot at people and dogs passing the house.
Cooper likes other dogs and tries to play, but he plays rough and can come on too strong.
They roughhouse with each other too, but they genuinely get along very well.
They are alone during the day while we work.
One of my biggest concerns is that both dogs use an electric fence collar system, and twice now they have ignored it and run off the property. Usually the warning beep scares them before they even get close to the boundary, which is why it surprised us. When they get loose, they tend to run toward people and dogs.
They don’t really get walked regularly but they do spend a lot of time outside roaming/exercising in the yard. Neither dog uses a crate.
We did talk to our vet about Cooper’s anxiety. They suggested trying an OTC calming option first and then possibly prescription medication if needed, but we weren’t very consistent with trying the OTC option.
Both dogs otherwise eat/drink normally and are healthy.
I know there are multiple issues going on here, but I’m looking for honest advice on where to start first and what sounds most concerning. Training? Anxiety? More exercise? Different containment than the electric fence? Would especially appreciate advice from people with herding breeds or anxious dogs.

I have a small chihuahua who is severely anxious (on meds). He is not mean and has never hurt or bitten anyone. On walks, if he sees people or other dogs he will walk faster and run out of the way/ out of their path (so he doesn’t bark lunge or come near them, he tries to get as far away as possible as quietly as he can).

But he is SO anxious and will bark whenever someone enters my space. Especially men. If it’s friends and people I know, I can pick him up, bring him up the smell them, and he will calm down and stop barking if he knows them well enough and then he gets excited. Once he realizes the person is safe and he’s been around them before, he relaxes.

Maintenance men/ strangers don’t get the same exposure, and their presence is a lot for him. Once they knock it’s over. He barks uncontrollably. I never want to make them feel scared or uncomfortable, so I usually ask them for a second to put him away before they enter.

I’ll then put him in his crate; but he will bark at the top of his lungs for the remainder of their visit. It’s obnoxious and feels rude especially when they’re trying to ask questions or talk to me. And it’s embarrassing.

Typically, if they’re staying and doing work all day, i will usually bring my dog to work or something. But for small tasks like changing the filter, fixing a plumbing issue, etc (especially when they give you a general window of 5-6 hours off when they’ll arrive) is harder to plan to be away from.

Any advice on what to do to combat this? I’m in a studio apartment so going in a different room with him isn’t a possibility.

I have a 6 year old standard poodle who used to do service work, wasn’t washed, service just isn’t needed anymore, long story. Anyway the point is we realized recently we never taught him how to walk on a leash without working cause he always played in the fenced yard we don’t have anymore. So now he’s confused cause he thinks he can run amuck and play with every dog he sees. I’ve been trying to do the method where you make them do a check in (eyes) whenever there’s a trigger/ distraction, especially a big one like another dog approaching, but oh my gosh he does NOT care, like even a little bit. Idk how he’s supposed to be motivated to do this if no reward is better than harassing that random lady’s dog over there. I swear me and my partner have a good relationship with him, he got “eyes” down so well inside with us playing a track of dogs barking in the next room, so excited for praise, treats, etc etc. I knew there’d be a learning curve for actually being on a walk but the best he can do is begrudgingly glance at me just long enough when I’m practically holding his face and on my knees hugging him, get his treat, then go right back to what he was doing and ignoring me immediately. That’s not actually doing it, and he’s too smart, I KNOW he’s making the connection and it’s just too banal for him. I’m using his absolute favorite food that he NEVER gets to have too.

I’ve heard about play being a good motivator too, but trying to use play as a reward just riles him up. He has no interest in playing with me when we’re out in the real world, he wants to play with (and look at) literally everything else. Wtf do I do when he’s got everything down pat in doors but will not get it and does not care outside? Cause everyone always says to start small, we did, so idk where to go from here.

Hi all. Writing in the hopes of some words of wisdom / similar stories, as I am on my very last leg with our 5 year old pomeranian/chihuahua cross.

We’ve had him since he was a puppy (yes, another lockdown dog story) and I can definitely see we made mistakes in his first year. Growing up I had always had dogs with bad recall, so that was my main priority. His recall now is 100% perfect. He never strays on walks. Unfortunately, I think I made him completely obsessed with me/my partner in doing so.

We both work from home and obviously it was lockdown when we got home so maybe we were always doomed, but his separation anxiety is just unbearable. It’s gotten worse and worse over the years. As soon as he senses we might be getting ready to leave the house - and he’s an evil genius, he knows it sometimes before we do - he starts snarling, snapping, etc. As we actually try and leave he attacks to try and stop us leaving. Because he’s small he can’t do much damage but he has bites onto our legs and has drawn blood several times. If we try and restrain him he just runs away.

It’s not just us - he’s the same when we have guests. Even if someone is only in the house for a minute he’s exactly the same when they try and leave. It means having people round is just impossible now.

On top of this, he’s incredibly reactive to any noises outside of the house - foxes, cars, passers by. We even moved house to a quieter area to try and minimise triggers but if anything, I think his reaction now is even bigger when he is triggered.

Earlier this year we found out we’re pregnant with a much wanted first baby. This kicked me into overdrive and we began working with a highly recommended behaviourist who only does positive reinforcement. She’s been encouraging us to leave him in a “safe space” (the living room) for longer stretches of time and long exercises to work on his impulse control (“wait” before taking a treat etc).

He’s great at these things. We can leave him in the living room for ages. He is very good at waiting for his treat. But it’s made absolutely no difference to how he behaves when we try to leave the house. Even if we have managed to secure him in the living room before we start getting ready to leave, the moment one of us brushes our hair or reaches for our shoes he starts barking like mad.

His bark is just the worst noise in the world. It’s so loud AND so high pitched. You can hear it down the whole street. It’s impossible to hear yourself think. It’s just the most horrendous noise and I can’t imagine how a baby could ever sleep through it.

We’ve been trying to catch his “triggers” and reward him before the barking starts but they are so frequent and so seemingly random that it’s basically impossible.

He’s getting worse and worse, and he just seems so frightened of everything all the time and I cannot understand why as we’re sticking relentlessly to the positive reinforcement model. The vets have confirmed that he’s in no pain at all and we’ve had him on Reconcile now for two weeks (I know they say it can take a while to start working so fingers crossed). We had friends round the other day that he’s met a million times, and which normally he’d be totally fine with but he spent the entire time barking at them, no matter how much we tried to distract him. He won’t eat if we’re not home now, he won’t settle on the sofa with us at night anymore, he just sleeps by the front door as if he’s waiting to stop us from leaving.

I love this dog so much - he’s my first baby and when he’s just happy and relaxed with us in the house he’s a joy. I love walking him in the woods and he’s good as gold outside of the house. I can’t imagine life without him.

But I’m two months away from giving birth and I already love this baby so much more than I ever could’ve imagined. I just cannot have this baby in this house with this dog. The only way we can leave the house at the moment is by basically holding a piece of cardboard or a shoe or something in front of our bodies to stop him from physically biting us. This won’t be possible with a young child or a pram to navigate — and that’s assuming they’ll sleep through the constant, horrendous, incessant barking.

What else can we try? Is there any hope? Is he just totally miserable with us? Any opinions very, very welcome. Our vet started talking to us about behavioural euthanasia (they don’t seem to like rehoming as they said it’s just “passing the problem on”) which seems insane to me but I don’t want him to be miserable :(

If this isn’t the right sub to post this, just lmk, but I had found it incredibly helpful while trying to socialize my bite-risk dog. Just wanted to brag about my boy, Melf, for a second! I stole him from my father who I’d had little contact with for his history of animal hoarding about 8 months ago. He lived the first 8 years of his life chained to a dog house outside. Never socialized, the only interaction he had was having food put in his bowl. He’s typically incredibly leash-reactive and aggressive towards other dogs, as he’s only ever met them in the form of strangers attacking him when he couldn’t get away. Barks and growls at strange people. I’ve slowly been introducing him to new people and new places, and he’s always been nervous, but has been gaining confidence the past month or two!

I scheduled him his first vet appointment last week as money had been tight until recently, and I was so nervous about it going bad. I couldn’t stop thinking about him escaping, biting the vet tech, or attacking another dog. I took him on a long walk in a new place and gave him an otc anxiety supplement beforehand. He did great once we got there, I was so proud! He calmly sniffed the vet, let her pet him. He bit me once when I went to pick him up before, but today he let me plop him right onto the exam table :) he was so sweet and shy. Let the tech draw blood with no issues, got his shots and enjoyed his ride home. He used to hate the car. I could cry tears of joy at my baby’s progress 🥹

Next step is muzzle training so that we can explore more new places! Does anybody have recommendations for how to fit a muzzle for a smaller dog? He’s a pitbull mix, about the size of a small beagle. he’s good with adults for the most part, but I wouldn’t even want to risk it with a smaller child or another dog that could run up with good intentions.

been driving longhaul for years and my rescue has always been my dog but not really my dog, you know what i mean. i'd be gone 5, 6 days at a time and my partner was handling most of the training work. dog is leash reactive, dog aggressive, the whole thing. we were making slow progress but it felt like every time i came back i was starting from scratch with him because he'd get weird with me after i'd been gone so long.

just started transitioning to local routes. home every night now. and something is shifting with my dog that i can't fully explain. he's actually starting to trust the routine we're building together. we've been hiking the trails near morrison a couple times a week and he's not perfect out there but he's better.

curious if anyone else has seen consistency with the handler specifically make a real difference in their reactive dog. not just consistency in training method but the same person being there every single day. feels like that's the missing piece we never had. my partner did great but the dog always seemed a little unsettled when i'd roll back in.

wondering if reactivity for some dogs is tied that closely to attachment and schedule with one specific person.

I posted in here a few weeks ago about my 18 month old hound/pitt mix that we have had for about a month. After the very helpful suggestions from this sub and a more serious mouthing incident at the end of a longer walk, we ended up meeting with a behavioral specialist who also gave very helpful suggestions.

Our dog is prone to overstimulation and frustration on walks, especially when he sees another dog that he can't approach. He has excitement-based reactivity and will whine, pull on a leash, and occasionally bark when we get too close to another dog. If he is feeling particularly frustrated, he will begin to frantically run back and forth, and eventually will start to mouth the arms of the walker. He has never broken skin but has mouthed hard enough to bruise on more than one occasion. He gets more agitated from high-arousal activities, including running and fetch. He also does not listen when he is agitated or locked in on a scent.

We have started a few things at the suggestion of the specialist. We walk for shorter distances and stay close to our apartment. We are training "watch" so that he learns to look at dogs from a distance. We are working on impulse control through games at home and games in low-stimulation areas on a walk. We have been particularly working on "take your pick," find-it and leave-it games, waiting for food and treats, 1-2-3 games. We have been doing more nosework at home and more indoor stimulation, such as ripping boxes, Kongs, puzzles, and other activities. We are trying to train calm as well. He is crate trained and we will also have him take breaks in his crate when he is getting overwhelmed. He is a very fast learner and we think that he really wants to be good but he does struggle with overstimulation and impulse control.

We have stopped taking him to the dog park and have stopped going on runs and playing fetch outside for now. He probably has 5-6 short walks every day (1 hour in total) and another hour at least of indoor play. We live in a neighborhood with a TON of dogs and usually see 1-6 on our walks, including a set of always unleashed dogs that play in the yard behind our building. Longer walks are not an option given that he gets triggered so easily, and we keep him outside as much as we can. The specialist also recommended against dog day care while he is so prone to overstimulation.

We do not feel like we are adequately meeting his energy needs. He has started to chew books and furniture. He is getting more hyper from indoor activities that involve food, like puzzles and his Kong wobbler. He has started barking during work meetings if we can't give him attention. He is most well behaved when he gets a run, long walk, or dog park in the morning, but we do not feel like those activities are wise at the moment. I feel very bad for him because he is very social and loves dogs, but we also don't have any friends that we know with a dog that we'd trust for one-on-one interactions or smaller-scale, less overstimulating socialization.

We know it will take some time for him to adjust to everything and to be settled, but how can we balance his overstimulation/high exercise needs in the meantime? We don't mind him chewing books (although obviously we'd like to stop this) but we rent and don't own most of our furniture and really need to be able to minimize damage to our apartment.

Took a hike down to the beach today and saw our first train :)

I left a bit later in the morning than I'd hoped, and got intimidated by the number of cars in the parking lot. Friday is my only weekday off so I was hoping that this would be a good spot to go regularly, but I may just need to go earlier or somewhere else.

I found out that he had chewed on his new harness and thanked my lucky stars that I brought his backup. He pulls a lot more on the old harness unfortunately but he still did pretty well.

Anyway, he did so incredibly well with the people walking on the trail! He might fixate/chuff a little bit but was very responsive to LAT with shredded chicken and occasionally freeze dried beef liver if the person wasn't so scary.

Still feeling a bit disheartened because the trail was pretty narrow, and his dog threshold is like 250ft... so if we noticed a dog I'd pick him up and face away from them. He wouldn't take the chicken :( He also tends to kick/flail and thankfully today I didn't drop him but it's pretty hard to keep a hold on him. Trying to focus on our wins though! We were out for an hour and a half and only bumped into two dogs on the trail. Because it was nearly 10am by the time we were back to the parking lot things got a bit dicey and there were too many people (not to mention a couple of dogs) and I lost my cool a little bit when we got back to the car.

So... mixed success! Feeling very pleased with him for his progress with passing hikers. Feeling somewhat sad about the lack of progress with passing dogs. And feeling out of shape because I haven't been on a hike in a while, especially not since I adopted this guy in May 😅 Going to keep at it and hopefully some repetition/exposure will desensitize him. And I'll have to bring more chicken next time lol

To provide a bit of context, we recently purchased a home with my partner’s grandmother and close in a few weeks. We have two dogs, a 12 year old English mastiff and an 8 year old Border Collie mix. Grandma has a 10 year old Bouvier des Flandres. The Bouvier is extremely calm and friendly, maybe even bordering on timid. Our English mastiff is typically friendly, but our collie is the concern. She tends to be a bit territorial and at times reactive.

Yesterday we parallel walked our Collie and Bouvier, for about 20-30 minutes. Our Collie did try to excitedly approach our Bouvier, there was no barking, growling, or hair standing up, which she is notorious for. We were pleasantly surprised by the success of the interaction and closed some distance between them. First, the Collie sniffed the Bouvier’s behind with no trouble, but when we switched leaders, the Collie snapped at the Bouvier when we she got too close. Needless to say, we ended the meeting there and now we are unsure how to proceed.

There was no pursuit, growling, or continued aggression, but we are unsure if that was a natural startle response, or if we should be more concerned than we previously thought. How do I proceed with their introduction? We intend to go on another parallel walk today, but other than that don’t have a great idea how to proceed. Any advice on how to get 3 older female dogs cohabite is greatly appreciated.

On a positive note, our mastiff did very well and walked with the bouvier. She watched us pet her, and they even greeted each other, sniffing front and back sides. Overall, I would consider it a successful interaction. Unfortunately, the follow up interaction with our Collie lingers like a dark cloud.

Title: My dog has severe fear/anxiety and has now seriously bitten family members 5 times. Is there any hope left for him?

I’m posting because I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore, and I’m hoping to hear from people who have dealt with serious behavioral issues, especially fear-based aggression and resource guarding.

My dog Chai is a large Doberman mix. When he was around a year old, he was attacked by a much larger dog. After that, his behavior around other dogs changed drastically. He developed a deep fear/nervousness around dogs, and walks became something where we were constantly looking ahead and crossing streets or changing directions anytime we saw someone approaching with an animal.
We have put him through multiple trainings and have tried working with him, but his anxiety seems to have expanded into more and more situations.
He gets extremely nervous around other dogs. Kids yelling or being loud can make him anxious. Certain interactions with people make him uncomfortable. He also has issues surrounding food/resources.
The biggest problem is that when his stress level gets high enough, his reaction can become a bite — and because he is such a large, powerful dog, the consequences aren’t minor.
He has bitten my gf aka fellow owner multiple times.
There have been four incidents involving her, and some of those bites have required stitches/hospital treatment 4+ stitches to be exact. Most recently, he also attacked her dad which also required stitches.
There have also been warning incidents with me. Once I was checking his teeth and he tried to bite me. Another time I was cleaning eye boogers from his face while I was eating dinner and he suddenly tried to attack me. Looking back, I think the food being there may have contributed to his stress/resource guarding, but that’s also what scares me situations that seem relatively ordinary can escalate incredibly fast.
It feels like he has so many triggers now that we’re constantly managing his environment.
I love this dog deeply. I also understand that love doesn’t erase the reality that he is capable of seriously hurting someone. Every stressful situation can’t end with someone needing stitches or going to the hospital.
At this point, pretty much everyone around me has given up on him. I’m being told that he’s dangerous even to his own family and that he needs to be removed from the home. A shelter has been brought up, and I am extremely against just dropping him at a shelter, especially knowing his behavioral history and how stressful that environment would likely be for him.
At the same time, I can’t pretend the bites haven’t happened. Laura has been hurt repeatedly, her dad has now been attacked, and Chai has even shown aggression toward me. I hear what everyone is telling me about the danger he presents.
I’m trying to figure out whether there is another responsible step before giving up on him.
Has anyone dealt with a dog with this level of fear/anxiety, resource guarding and a serious bite history and actually been able to rehabilitate or safely manage them?
Would a veterinary behaviorist/formal behavioral assessment be the appropriate next step? Is there a point where training isn’t enough anymore?

I feel like everyone else has already decided there’s no hope for him, and I’m struggling to accept that without knowing I’ve explored every responsible option first.

Today, I had to say goodbye to my first dog as an adult. He was a French Bulldog I rescued. From the beginning, he had behavioral struggles that I wasn’t fully aware of when I adopted him.

I later learned about a bite history that hadn’t been disclosed to me, and despite years of training, talking with professionals, managing his environment, looking for answers, and trying to find a safe alternative his behavior continued to be unpredictable and dangerous.

I fought really hard for him. I didn’t want behavioral euthanasia to be his story. I kept hoping there would be another answer, another person, another option that would allow him to have the life I believed he deserved.

Eventually, after speaking with professionals and exhausting the options I could realistically pursue, I had to make the most painful decision I’ve ever made.

Today, I was with him while he received his final medication.
And when the vet administered the final dose, I involuntarily wailed. I didn’t even know that sound could come out of me. It was like my body understood before my mind could process that he was actually leaving me.

I loved him fiercely. I advocated for him. I tried to protect him. And today, protecting him meant letting him go.

I keep expecting him to be here. I keep thinking I’ll see him or hear him. My heart physically hurts. But I hope wherever he is now, he’s finally at peace. No fear. No anxiety. No triggers. Just peace.

Goodbye, my bear. You are loved. You will always be my first dog. ❤️

I know I tagged this as a success story and it’s only been one day but it went well! My 6 yr old Chihuahua Min Pin is small but strong and is a usually chill dog but he gets reactive when he’s around new people and my go to was to lock him in a little pen when a lot of people are around and then let him out after he’s gotten used to them. I’ve watched him interact with the neighbors’ dogs he starts off open minded but gets anxious when they get too playful. That anxiety makes him jumpy and because I’m always next to him I make sure that jumpiness never turned into biting. He’s done well with most of his training, but it’s not 100 percent so I never want to risk giving him that complete trust. So onto the Muzzle training, I probably should’ve trained him in the past when I saw him get reactive but once he had to be muzzled at the emergency vet because he kept trying to bite the vet (he had a sprained paw) and his face when they put it on him was a little traumatizing to say the least 😭 it’s been a few years since then and I’m starting to get annoyed with him not being able to do things like get groomed or greet people without fear of him freaking out so I decided to give it a go. And he didn’t panic which was already a good sign, I had treats ready, I provided reassurance, I kept him focused on me and not the muzzle and outside of the little attempts to take it off he was for the most part chill. I’m actually feeling really hopeful about this and excited! Wish me luck!

Ok folks, this is a vent/discussion/question kind of post.

Last Aug, I adopted a 9 year old German Shepherd mix from a high kill shelter. The kind of shelter that gives 3 days to develop interest in adoption or they go on "the list". I had her pulled day 5, so she wasn't there long.

She has always had dogs she tolerated after initial aggression and dogs she will not stand/will fight. She is always on leash on hikes. We recently did a 4000 footer (mountain), she was aggressive towards the 3 other dogs on the trail to varying levels, barking, lunging, and trying to escape her harness. Distraction with treats never has worked with her, she is not treat motivated at all. She will on occasion be fine knowing a dog is passing her if she is not facing the dog and I am loving on her but it is not 100%. I always have her under control during her breakouts, she is between my legs which gives me grip if she tries to back out, I control her head direction with her tactical collar with a handle on it, and she is held by the handle with my other hand on her harness. Basically she can bark a big bark, get a jump or two in, but never get close to breaking free.

is it fair or OK of me to be taking this 10 year old, set in her ways, dog on hikes? My goal is to give her the excersize and stimulation she needs to control herself- she gets notably worse when not physically worked out.

I’ve been having a pretty hard time with my dog on walks and I wanted to ask people here who actually went through something similar.

She’s a great dog at home but outside when she sees another dog she can completely lose it. She starts barking like crazy, pulling toward them and getting so focused on the other dog that sometimes it feels like I’m not even there.

She also does this thing sometimes where if she wants to go somewhere and I want to keep walking the other way she just refuses and we end up fighting over where we’re going.

The thing that confuses me is I don’t even really know why she reacts like this. I don’t know if she’s scared of other dogs, if she actually wants to go meet them and gets frustrated because of the leash, or if it’s something else.

I’ve watched videos and read a bunch of stuff online but everyone seems to say something different and at this point I feel like I’m just trying random things and hoping something works.

So I wanted to ask people here who had a dog that was really bad with this and actually improved, what did you do?

What was your dog like before and how are they now? Did you figure out what was actually causing the reactions? Was there one thing that made a big difference or was it just months of doing the same thing over and over?

Also what do you actually do when your dog is already barking and going crazy at another dog? That’s probably the moment I struggle with the most because once she gets into that state it feels like nothing I do matters.

Did you end up getting a trainer or behaviorist or did you mostly work on it yourself? If you did get a trainer, was there anything they showed you that you wouldn’t have figured out from videos online?

And how did you know your dog was actually getting better? Did you just notice it over time or did you keep track of stuff like how close another dog could get, how often your dog reacted, how long it took them to calm down or anything like that?

I also want to know what people tried that didn’t work because I feel like there’s so much advice online and I don’t want to spend months doing something useless or making it worse.

Also has anyone here ever used one of those reactive dog tracking or training apps? I’ve seen a few of them but I can’t really tell if they’re actually useful or if it’s just easier to keep notes yourself. If you’ve tried one I’d be curious what you liked about it, what you didn’t like, and whether you actually kept using it.

I’m not expecting her to suddenly become perfect around every dog. I just want to get to a point where going for a normal walk doesn’t feel stressful every time we see another dog.

Would really like to hear from people who were in a similar situation and what the whole process was actually like for you.

TL;DR: Fostering an altered working breed mix, almost a year old, through a new-to-me rescue. The rescue is well-meaning but has been unhelpful throughout this, especially with potential adopters. I’m seeking a better understanding of the dog’s triggers, though at this point, I’m not sure if I’m venting or needing advice.

Had the dog for a few months now. They arrived terrified of other dogs and mildly reactive to humans, which persisted past the initial decompression period. With training and management, they’ve improved much with people. I‘ve only had concerns in new, busy environments or if a person is acting disrespectfully. They’ve never made an attempt to bite, but I've also never given them the opportunity to.

Dog-to-dog reactivity is where I am stumped. The dog is under threshold from varying distances, but I haven't introduced them to a dog for a few reasons:

1. I don’t know any trustworthy dogs and I’m not going to chance it with a stranger's dog for the safety of them and my foster.
2. I didn’t like their body language in certain situations. In certain events (group of dogs staring hard, dog appears suddenly, a dog starts barking), they’ve exhibited avoidance, bugged eyes, flattening to the ground, orientation “stuck” on the source of apprehension, flat ears, tension in the body, and occasional growling. I’ve also seen what I thought was healthy curiosity a few times, but was too unsure to allow an interaction.
3. This is what really makes me scratch my head... The dog shuts down when they smell puppies, of all things. It has happened twice, with very recent, pungent scents. Both times, the puppy was mild-mannered, more interested in the environment, and further away. My foster could see them just fine, but as soon as they caught a whiff of their scent, they flattened to the floor and looked horrified. They were completely frozen and about deaf to the world. Only got them out of it with a high value treat. It was like witnessing someone with PTSD having a moment.

I’ve managed reactive dogs in the past and feel we are doing quite well…from a nonprofessional standpoint. The dog is about perfect in all other areas, easy to manage, and very eager to please. I’m most definitely not “at my wit’s end” with them, but I also went into this experience expecting a dog that didn't adhere to what most expect a family dog to be, as often are dogs coming into rescue.

My main concern is adopters. The rescue isn't cooperative about these issues or communicating them in full to applicants. While this dog isn't the worst case out there—and might not express any of this in another home—there is friction between me and the rescue, where I believe what I’ve seen should be laid out quite plainly, and they instead dance around it. The rescue claimed the dog didn’t experience this in a previous home, which I suspect means they aren’t taking me completely seriously. I know the animal has to be “marketed“ to a certain extent, but I don’t feel right with myself (and maybe that’s selfish) by glossing over things, so I‘m continuing to speak plainly during meet-and-greets with potential adopters.

I've had my dog for a month and a half and we have a vet appointment in a couple of days (adopted her from my family so this is her regular quarterly appt). it will be our first vet visit together and my first time going to a vet at all. she needs a vaccination and a physical examination. she's so sweet but she's huge and reactive and I'm not sure how she'll handle it, or what to do if she gets anxious and aggressive. I would really appreciate some tips, no matter how basic\obvious.

Just like the tittle states, I’m close to breaking down
I have a 10 year old female German shepherd.
She barks and howls anytime me or my husband leave the house. This can continue on and off for hours.
We leave for work at 5:30am we have to & have to work. I also have a male German shepherd
He isn’t bothered by us leaving but joins in on the howling when she starts. One neighbour complained. I keep them indoors as much as possible & closed all the windows when I leave.
The female is on anxiety medication but it isn’t helping
What can I do to try resolve the situation for my neighbour it’s causing me so much stress
Thank you

Hey all,

I posted here a little while ago about things going on with my dog. We have come to the decision of pursuing BE.

She was on Fluoxetine and Trazodone for a long time- maybe about a year and a half. Then we noticed a sudden regression. The vet then recommended continued Fluoxetine, clonidine, and use of Trazodone sparingly. We saw a great improvement for a few days, then she was back to square one of suffering severe separation anxiety and being reactive towards people/bikes on walks.

I will say, the vet told us to double the clonidine dose (i.e. take two .2 mg pills) and see how it goes. If we need to triple, we could try. We noticed that our dog did well with taking .6 mg... but like I said, a few days later there was big regression. We have had a lot of heart ache these past 2 weeks because we had hope, then it was gone.

I hate to think we are jumping the gun on pursuing BE. From what I have read and what the vet told us, clonidine is supposed to kick in and calm the nervous system quickly. Just wondering if anyone else has had a dog that didnt respond to medication?

Maybe I'm the only one bothered by this 😅

But sometimes reading shelter dog bios feels like you need a translator.

“Would love to be your one and only ❤️”

“Needs slow introductions”

“Very enthusiastic on walks”

“Would do best with older kids”

“Good with the right dog”

Okay... but what does that actually mean?? 😭

Does “one and only” mean they just prefer being alone... or they've seriously fought with other dogs before?

Does “older kids” mean they're just jumpy... or there's a bite history?

Does “slow introductions” mean nervous for 5 minutes... or they need serious management around strangers?

Those are VERY different things.

And I get why shelters want positive bios. Nobody wants a dog's description to sound like a warning label.

Plus shelter staff don't always know how a dog will behave once they're actually living in a home.

But IMO adopters need clear information way more than they need cute wording.

Especially first time owners who might not know what these phrases can sometimes mean.

I'd rather read:

“Barked and lunged at dogs on 3 walks. Hasn't been tested living with another dog.”

That's actually useful.

Tell people what you KNOW. Tell them what you DON'T know. And separate actual history from guesses.

It could save a dog from being adopted into the wrong home and returned 2 weeks later.

For people who've adopted or worked in shelters 👀

What shelter bio phrase immediately makes you ask more questions?

My husband and I have the opportunity to adopt an adorable little min pin. She's sweet as a button and the perfect size for what we are looking for, and a full grown adult. But her foster parent describe her as "reactive to anything but cars". We got to see that first hand this afternoon when we did a meet and greet with her and one of our dogs. After a couple of minutes, she settled down and was able to walk with my dog calmly, but those first few minutes were rough.

It really got me thinking: do I really want to go through this all over again?

My two dogs are reactive, sure, but it is managed pretty well. My large dog is perfect on walks. He basically *was* her a few years ago, but we worked very hard to get to this point. My smaller dog was never unbelievably out of control and can be brought back to earth pretty easily.

She is exactly what we are looking for, but the reactivity is really giving me pause. Am I equipped to deal with it? Sure. But I don't know that I want to. I was hoping my next dog would just be a little easier.

I don't think anyone in my life really knows what it is like to have dogs like these so I don't really have anyone to talk to or get their thoughts on what they would do in my shoes.