Welcome to the fortnightly loose leash walking virtual workshop!

Join us as we compete with the squirrels, cats, other dogs, fresh urine scents and things that go zoooooooom!

Resources

Articles (All have videos embedded)

​

• Train Your Dog For Perfect Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco. (With links and descriptions of several great videos, which we'll link to below.)
• Loose Leash Walking Tips by Casey Lomonaco
• Silky Leash by Grisha Stewart (blog post + videos.)

Youtube (Many of these are videos which are embedded in the above articles)

​

• Silky Leash intro video with an excitable puppy
• Clicker Training Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco
• Loose Leash Walking II by Casey Lomonaco
• How to Train Your Dog Not to Pull - Loose Leash Walking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Dog Training Tip- Leash Walking: Go Sniff and Marking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Choose to Heel by Loridressage
• Loose Leash Walking by Stacy Hiebert Greer
• Clicker Training a Heel by Amy Norcal
• Shaping Loose Leash Walking With a High Rate of Reinforcement Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Helix Fairweather and Lynn Martin. (Read the text below the videos too!)
• Loose Leash Walking by Turid Rugaas

​

See our page on leash reactivity for help managing and training dogs that bark and lunge while on leash.

​

APDT webinar

​

• Loose Leash Walking presented by Gail Fisher

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

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

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

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

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

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

Resources

Books

​

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

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

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

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety (archived page from the ASPCA)

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

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

Podcast:

https://www.trainingwithally.com/the-podcast

Online DIY courses:

https://courses.malenademartini.com

https://www.trainingwithally.com/about-2

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

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

​

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

Welcome to the fortnightly loose leash walking virtual workshop!

Join us as we compete with the squirrels, cats, other dogs, fresh urine scents and things that go zoooooooom!

Resources

Articles (All have videos embedded)

​

• Train Your Dog For Perfect Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco. (With links and descriptions of several great videos, which we'll link to below.)
• Loose Leash Walking Tips by Casey Lomonaco
• Silky Leash by Grisha Stewart (blog post + videos.)

Youtube (Many of these are videos which are embedded in the above articles)

​

• Silky Leash intro video with an excitable puppy
• Clicker Training Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco
• Loose Leash Walking II by Casey Lomonaco
• How to Train Your Dog Not to Pull - Loose Leash Walking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Dog Training Tip- Leash Walking: Go Sniff and Marking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Choose to Heel by Loridressage
• Loose Leash Walking by Stacy Hiebert Greer
• Clicker Training a Heel by Amy Norcal
• Shaping Loose Leash Walking With a High Rate of Reinforcement Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Helix Fairweather and Lynn Martin. (Read the text below the videos too!)
• Loose Leash Walking by Turid Rugaas

​

See our page on leash reactivity for help managing and training dogs that bark and lunge while on leash.

​

APDT webinar

​

• Loose Leash Walking presented by Gail Fisher

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

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

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

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

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

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

Resources

Books

​

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

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

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

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety (archived page from the ASPCA)

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

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

Podcast:

https://www.trainingwithally.com/the-podcast

Online DIY courses:

https://courses.malenademartini.com

https://www.trainingwithally.com/about-2

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

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

​

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

#Welcome to the quarterly Event List!

Here we crowdsource upcoming events in the animal training world (for the next 6 months) to add to our calendars, and help each other plan to expand our knowledge (and meet CEU requirements).

##REQUIREMENTS

Events should comply with the following standards:

• Organisation/trainer running the event meets the criteria for trainer recommendations in the posting guidelines and wiki guide
• Major conferences, workshops and events only - it should be something that is sufficiently extensive and/or unique that it might be worth travelling and paying accommodation for if you are not directly local to it. Use this as a hypothetical question if it is an online event/conference. Events run by individual trainers should be by an already industry-recognised expert and offering CEUs; think Shikashio running his Aggression in Dogs conference or a Terry Ryan Chicken Camp, not your local CPDT-KA running their first public workshop.
• Professional - information provided sufficiently in-depth to have value to a professional as well as a hobbyist. No workshops intended solely for the general public, please.
• Events should be time-limited: the purpose of these posts is to help us all not miss events that have application/attendance deadlines and happen once a year at most, particularly at variable time schedules. If it's a webinar that is available on demand or has access granted every few months like clockwork, it's not suitable for this thread - send a modmail to suggest it be included in the wiki instead.
• The event will happen in the next 6 months (or the application deadline closes within the next 6 months). If the event is further in the future, it should go in a future quarterly thread. There is a separate Automod comment below to drop the names of such future events here as advance alerts with limited detail.

Events do not need to be dog-exclusive, just something that dog trainers and keen hobbyists would enjoy! For example, we wouldn't post a cat-only conference, but we would love to see a conference by PPG or IAABC that includes both dog and cat seminars, or a conference by animal behaviour researchers that has broad cross-species applicability.

###FORMAT

Please post under the appropriate Automoderator comment below to group events by LOCATION (Online, Europe, North America or Other)

Suggested posting format:

Event Name - the name, obviously, for easy searching
Date - Please post in ISO standard format YYYY-MM-DD to eliminate any risk of confusion between USA and rest of the world date formats
Location - Online or Country-State-City
Organiser - Name of event organiser(s)
Website - link to detailed information
Special info - anything important to know in advance - e.g. early bird price close date, available scholarships, link to facebook group for event where people are organising carpools and accommodation sharing etc.

Code for copying format:

**Event Name** -  
**Date** -   
**Location** -  
**Organiser** -  
**Website** -   
**Special info** -

Welcome to the fortnightly loose leash walking virtual workshop!

Join us as we compete with the squirrels, cats, other dogs, fresh urine scents and things that go zoooooooom!

Resources

Articles (All have videos embedded)

​

• Train Your Dog For Perfect Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco. (With links and descriptions of several great videos, which we'll link to below.)
• Loose Leash Walking Tips by Casey Lomonaco
• Silky Leash by Grisha Stewart (blog post + videos.)

Youtube (Many of these are videos which are embedded in the above articles)

​

• Silky Leash intro video with an excitable puppy
• Clicker Training Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco
• Loose Leash Walking II by Casey Lomonaco
• How to Train Your Dog Not to Pull - Loose Leash Walking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Dog Training Tip- Leash Walking: Go Sniff and Marking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Choose to Heel by Loridressage
• Loose Leash Walking by Stacy Hiebert Greer
• Clicker Training a Heel by Amy Norcal
• Shaping Loose Leash Walking With a High Rate of Reinforcement Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Helix Fairweather and Lynn Martin. (Read the text below the videos too!)
• Loose Leash Walking by Turid Rugaas

​

See our page on leash reactivity for help managing and training dogs that bark and lunge while on leash.

​

APDT webinar

​

• Loose Leash Walking presented by Gail Fisher

My partner and I got a puppy in July and he is currently 13 weeks old. I have been unemployed for the last 6 months but am now starting a new full time, 9a-5p, job soon. I also have 2 other dogs, 13yrs old and 4 yrs old. They have been used to a full time work schedule in the past and can control their potty behaviors for that time. However, the puppy has not been left unattended for more than 4 hours and I came home to messes in my house. I am trying to figure out the best way to contain him while at work without causing him a lot of anxiety and reducing the mess clean up I have to do when I get home until he is successfully potty trained and able to control himself better. I am looking for advice to help minimize the anxiety he will have so he doesn't yell for hours on end while I'm gone.

I have recently got a 5 month puppy, we have been getting him ready to go on walks by putting his harness on and lead. When putting these on he seems to get scared and refuses to move, even when we praise and give him treats and encourage him to come with us he just stays frozen. Has anyone else had this and what has helped?

Hi Reddit,

I just adopted a 10 month old rescue dog that was supposed to be put down last week, and I have some questions about raising her. I have experience raising dogs, but she is different. With her background, she is super suspicious about everything, although extremely friendly, she is timid when walking, eating, meeting new people/dogs, etc.. I live in an urban area with lots of noises/distractions and I understand things will take time, but the biggest challenge I have is that she doesn’t want to go to the bathroom. She has just been holding it in all day and night. I keep taking her to the same grassy spot in my courtyard and using key words like go potty but she doesn’t seem to do it, even after many many minutes of going in circles and staying still. I do take her on walks and she doesn’t go on those either. Positively, she doesn’t pee/poop in the house, but eventually I’ll have to start going to the office again and I would like to work on a routine. Update: she has gone once in the grass but hasn’t done it again.

I have an 8 month old mini doodle who for the last month has stopped sleeping through the night. He will be up 1-3 times. He does go out and poops or pees. I’ve read sleep regression, but we were doing so well. It’s been 5 weeks of this He does go to puppy play group Any insight or would be very appreciated I’ve tried changing his food and having eat later and eat earlier.

Is he hungry, over tired, need a vet visit?

I walk and dogsit/hang out with my friends dog a lot.

He is a 7 year old pit bull named Rari.

He is a well behaved and loves people, attention, pets, and food. He just gets anxiety from other dogs(has been attacked once at dog park years ago, is not taken to dog parks anymore).

I’m not sure what he feels exactly, but I can tell other dogs get him uncomfortable and not happy playtimey. He has a good relationship with a female huskey who is a family members dog and he lived with her for some time.

He is smart dog and responds well to training and he is my first dog i’ve spent a lot of time with and it amazes me how smart he is.

My friend is going through some stuff and has to work a lot and deal with other things so I have problems I want to work on with Rari :

When indoors he listens to commands. Also in the elevator he listens well. But once we outside, it takes multiple commands to get him to sit. He is walked on a ~6ft leash. Sometimes he doesn’t sit unless I grab his collar and get his attention.

I want more of his attention to be on me during walks, and for him to check in with me more. I feel this is better for his own safety as well.

He also doesn’t listen to the here command but indoors he comes running to it. I think the owner uses come and pat on the leg as recall(i should have found this out much sooner i know). I trained him a little with here and me clicking my tongue so that part is on me.

I haven’t used the word come but when outside pat on the leg, tongue click, here all don’t work. He is still on leash so maybe he thinks he’s already here so he doesn’t need to come closer. Sometimes when i say the recall command he just stands and looks in the opposite direction facing away from me lmao. Then I grab him and bring him close to me.

He used to leash pull a lot but corrective U turn and stops made him a lot better.

I’m not sure how else to make more of his attention on me during walks without having treats with me. That’s why I started trying to make him sit and sometimes sit and down multiple times during a walk. It feels like he has alot of attitude about sitting outside it kinda feels like he doesn’t like to sit outdoors, i think on grass he listens better but still not as good as inside.

If he doesn’t like it and there is another way for him to learn to focus on me during walks then I wanna do that. Because i don’t wanna constantly make him sit down on the floor outdoors either. I just want him to be close to me, listen to recall and focus at least 50 50 me vs outside but ideally more on me.

Right now he has never passed the test of me stopping randomly and him noticing without the leash correcting him. Sometimes I will do it 5 times in a row at multiple different part of the walks. I know he has it in him to be disciplined and focus on me during the walk I feel like I just have to teach him.

I mentioned the dog anxiety because I also wanna know ways to calm him down after he sees another dog in the distance. He doesn’t bark at dogs 99% of the time but he doesn’t need to be on alert after seeing a random dog being walked 50+ meters away. But so far he only went crazy barking and leash pulling at a dog a lot one time in my years of walking him. It was some tiny dog being walked by a (hot)woman 10m away from me and it was embarrassing and such unnecessary behavior by rari. The dog literally did nothing. Also one time Rari saw a big german shepard being walked and then turned the opposite way without a peep. I could tell that he felt fear from that dog lol. I haven’t seen another dog make him do that since then so it was very interesting to see.

After that one incident i haven’t let him get closer then 20-30 meters to other walking dogs and somehow we’ve gotten this far by luck. I do have the thought like what if he goes crazy at a dog and then Ima have to grab him and hold him back while he’s in that agitated state. Since he lives in an apartment area now with a lot of other dogs being walked constantly, at anytime in the hallway or doorways or elevator a dog could be there and I can’t have him going crazy at that moment. Even though I have the physical ability to restrain him easily I don’t want it to ever come to that. He doesn’t lunge our doorways but for some reason he loves to lunge in and out of the elevator so if a another dog was in there ever i don’t even know how both dogs would react and I wanna know how to handle the situation .

Hi all,

I am in a bit of a bind and I would really like some advice from the more experienced dog lovers here.

I recently acquired a Shiba Inu puppy. He is four months old now and got him about two months ago. He is a well behaved dog; house trained, leashed trained and crate trained. He is socialized as much as possible for a 4 month puppy and does really well with my 3 kids. Overall, he is an excellent dog.

However, I also acquired a GSD working line who is also 4 months old but made an agreement with the owner to keep the puppy for a month or so thinking that I would move out of my apartment and into my new home with the big yard where I would.have the space for two active breeds. Unfortunately, my home is delayed yet again and I estimate it won't be ready for another 2 months (keep in mind that. So I have to I thought I would be in my new home in early July - before acquiring my Shiba).

The problem is how to handle two dogs, one being a GSD working line without any training, in an apartment. The GSD is currently living with his parents and other siblings in a yard without any training whatsoever happily being a puppy.

I could crate train it but that means I would have to leave both pups in the crate for about 8 hours a day. The Shiba is never left in the crate (although he considers it his home/den) because he does no damage while we are away (he usually sleeps). I am thinking that with the GSD I would need to keep both in a crate.

I am not sure how to proceed or how I can accomodate both dogs.

Any ideas are more than welcome.

Thank you in advance.

So I've been working with my dog on her barking and lunging when walking, we recently moved to a place where people are always outside opposed to where we used to live and people were hardly ever just hanging out in their yard. Anyway, I hadn't realized how under socialized she was until a month ago so I did a little research in how to try and work on walking reactivity. She was doing alright at first; I'd let her be a comfortable distance for her away from people but still seeing them and reward her when she'd look at me instead and when walking by she'd respond well to a "leave it" command rewarded by a treat. But then for some reason for a few days she just was AWFUL she would just lose it if someone was walking by even from a decent distance and wouldn't listen to a "leave it" command and just would not stop barking and fighting my redirects. I was so frustrated because whyyyy we had been making such good progress! But finally she's doing better than when she started and while not great yet, she'll mainly just huff and I can give her a "leave it" command and she'll turn away, or if she's staring a little to at alert if I redirect her she just follows me where I'm leading without trying too hard to search out what was triggering before. I know she still has a lot more work to do and I recently bought her a gentle lead that'll hopefully help just in case any surprises pop up that might trigger her, but it's reassuring to see progress and I don't feel as discouraged now as I had a few days ago.

Context: 3rd week since adopting this soon to be large breed puppy. He’s 100% a good boi, except that he likes to ‘muzzle punch’ our 13yr old 3kg small breed dog to play or for attention. She is incredibly patient with him and will correct him eventually but it only deters him for a heart beat before he starts barking in her face, or throwing paws at her.

How do I deter this behaviour other than getting involved by removing him every time or vocally reprimanding him (eg ‘No’) or redirecting attention to toys.

P.s. He is adequately mentally and physically exercised every day, this is regardless of his energy level like he could be lying half asleep next to her and still nudging his nose into her.

I worry about his growing size vs her little self.

Hello! I just moved into a new apartment (it's been about a week) and my dog barks almost constantly when I leave. I catch him on my indoor cameras barking at something outside or a noise for about 10 minutes. Then he'll settle down until he hears something else, bark again for 10ish minutes- you get the idea. Oh, and if I close my blinds, he barks even more. I understand that this is a new space for him so I'm sure it'll take some time to adjust but I just feel bad for my neighbors. I'm only gone for a 2-4 hours a day and he never barks at night when I'm there. The days I am gone longer than that I have a dog walker come in so he's really never alone for more than 4, 5 hours at a time.

I've been providing extra exercise and mental stimulation as well. I can tell he's dead tired when I'm about to leave, but he refuses to settle completely.

I'm just confused because I have left him alone at my previous place for 4-5 hours with no issue. He doesn't destroy anything or do any typical signs of separation anxiety. I turn on white noise, the TV, and the AC on for him when I leave and still- barking nonstop for 10 minutes at a time to any noise he hears. When I'm home, he's totally silent- no reaction to any noise.

I would appreciate any tips/advice on how to deal with this! Does he just need more time to adjust? Or is this behavior that needs professional training? Thanks in advance!

Hello! I have a new Frenchie pup; 5 months old. I have had him for ~1 month. I believe he had (has?) dirty dog syndrome because initially he would relieve himself where he stood whenever he needed to go and he had no care walking through any mess made. I crate train him and he would always relieve himself in his crate as well initially. Keeping the crate clean and also adding in a shaggy sleeping pad has stopped all poop accidents and nearly all pee accidents. However, outside, he will frequently use the bathroom on the sidewalk or the asphalt patio. He appears to only relieve himself in the grass if I am in the grass with him or if he is in the grass with his big brother (also a Frenchie (4 years old) who was incredibly easy to train). I clean the patio/sidewalk multiple times a day and hose it down then add enzyme cleaner. Nothing is stopping the accidents. I should also mention, just like with any indoor accidents, if I catch him in the act, I say no and pick him up and take him to the grass. He is praised when going potty in the grass. Has anyone experienced a habitual hard surface bathroom breaker and how did you fix it?! I am at a loss for how to stop this to enjoy the fall weather on the patio without worry about piles randomly scattered around. What do you think? House training is generally going well.

Hello!

New here. I have had Mac a 8 year old Chi mix for 5ish years. We just adopted a older Chi mix Finn who is around 10 years old. Finn does great with Mac as far as walks, even eating. But when Finn is laying down and Mac comes to sniff him and lick him, Finn growls and sometimes does snaps at Mac. How do I correct/fix this behavior?

Finn has had recent dental work and also looks like a relatively recent neutering as well. The shelter he had his own kennel, but lots of other dogs barking constantly. Could he just need adjustment?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you!!!

My pup (12 months now) has always hated the car so bad, and I've been sorta hoping she grows out of it, but it's to a point where I just don't think she will. She becomes dead weight and forces us to pick her up and place her inside, and is shaking and slobbering within a second of being in the car or even when she finds out she is about to have to get in.

People always say "treats and positive reinforcement" and yeah, I wish, but when the car is in play, she is so beside herself that she will not take a treat even though she is usually a very food motivated dog.

She's pretty chill otherwise, crate trained, loves people and always has a good time when we get where we're going.

She is too large to be put in a crate in the car unfortunately, about 65lbs and we don't have the largest car.

She vomits everywhere and actually pees herself in the car.

We have tried Dramamine and it doesn't really work. It sometimes delays the vomiting by a few minutes but doesn't make a noticeable difference.

We aren't getting in the car every day or anything, but we live a pretty active lifestyle with weekend trips etc and our other dog loves going everywhere so leaving her at home seems pretty cruel.

What can I possibly do about this? I feel so bad for her and I'd like to incorporate her into our lifestyle in a way that doesn't traumatize her

Hello all. I am in a tough spot. 2 months ago we adopted a 14 week old puppy. She is a beagle mix. In our home we have myself, my wife, two kids 3 and 6 and are expecting a newborn next month. We also have an 8 year old yorkie. He previously had a sister dog who was very calm and they got along great but never did anything to bother one another.

As our new beagle grew we attempted to train her and break puppy habbits and she is very good with learning. For example, she can sit on command and knows to go to the door and sit when she has to potty. However, she really struggles in a few key areas. 1. She jumps on people a lot. This is a problem with the kids because she will jump on them and nip at them, scratch at them etc. This has caused them to be scared and it doesn't help that their reactions make the puppy think they are playing which makes her do it even more. 2. She wants to play with our yorkie roughly which has caused regular fights between the two. I've been bitten twice now trying to break the fights up. It has gotten to the point now where the two of them go at each other if left alone at any point. This has led us to the point where we have contacted the shelter and they have agreed to take the beagle back but I feel heart broken. I feel like I have not done enough to try and train her but with the issues I've mentioned and the fact that we will soon have a new born, I also feel like I'm putting the kids at risk of being injured. Given the info I've provided, is it realistic to continue attempting to train her? Am I making a bad decision by returning her to the animal shelter?

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for recommendations on timer watches that would be great for timing my dog training sessions. I usually need a one-minute timer, and it would be a huge bonus if the watch has a vibration feature to alert me without distracting my pup.

Any suggestions on specific models or brands that you've found helpful? Thanks in advance for your help! 🐾⌚️

We have been having issues with our GSD(6F). She was a great pup; basically potty trained herself, good with people, great with other dogs, generally listens and follows directions well.

In 2022 we unexpectedly had to move and ended up in an apartment building much smaller than she had lived in before and with no yard. That’s when she began acting up; barking at dogs across the street, obsessing over the cats, eating anything and everything she wanted inside the house including dinners, trash and all the cat poop she could steal, jumping on the doors when we leave the house etc. General bad dog behavior.

Earlier this year we moved back into a house with a nice big yard. It’s made a little bit of a difference on her behavior inside the house. She’s less of a menace for no reason, we’re getting along with the cats better and I can tell she is more at ease than she was in a smaller space.

But things are still not quite right. Any noise in the neighborhood and she looses her shit running back and forth in the yard barking and lunging at the fence or the dirt or a bug or whatever catches her attention. It’s hard to watch, I can tell she is stressed out. At times she will spend hours pacing inside the house too. She can’t seem to settle. She freaks out when anyone gets home, letting the whole neighborhood know of our return.

Last week was my partners birthday and she got a cute little two headed taxidermy duck from an oddity expo. My GSD decided it would make a great snack (She’s ok, we’ll see if she grows another head in a week though). It was the last straw and now I am finally asking for help. Im out of my depth. Distraction, exercise, and treats aren’t working.

Im looking for some advice. Does she need more exercise? Does she need more obedience training? Is a bark collar going to make it worse? Calming treats? Should I take her to a professional trainer? Open to all the suggestions and stories!

Hi, I apologize if this is inappropriate to post. I tried reading the guides but wasn’t sure if this was fear/anxiety, resource guarding, or reactivity. My husband and I are considering adopting a five year old pit bull. It’s just us and an elderly cat in the home. The dog’s previous owner passed away, and a relative is fostering him and has been for several months. We have had him at our house a couple times with only minor issues (pulling on leash, a bit of mouthiness and jumping). We recently had him for a sleepover. When my husband came home from work, he ran to the door barking with hackles up but calmed down when my husband talked to him and let him sniff. When we went to bed, I ended up sleeping in a separate room because my husband was congested and snoring. The dog slept in bed with me. When my husband walked by the door to use the bathroom, the dog growled. We asked his foster, and she said he growls at people in the night when he can’t see them. She said he’s “protective” and used to live in a dangerous neighborhood and had his former home broken into more than once.

So my question is whether and how the dog can adapt to my husband’s presence, as he typically goes to bed later than me and goes in and out of the room several times a night. We’re going to try having him for a few days/nights in a row to see if he continues to growl at my husband. I’m ready to consider adopting another dog instead, but my husband wants to give him another chance. Any advice?

And yes, we are planning on working with a positive dog trainer after adoption, whether it’s this dog or a different dog.

My partner and I are planning to pick up two Portugese Water Dogs from a rescue on Saturday. According to the person at the rescue they are 1.5 years old, 2 male siblings. These dogs have never been in a house and have lived their entire lives in the kennel, as well as in the pastures at the facility where they would be exposed to some livestock.

Our GSD passed in April and our Mutt passed in June and we are just now in a place where we are ready to welcome someone new to the family, and have been actively feeling the pup-sized hole in our hearts.
The GSD was super easy to train, the Mutt(was also motivated to be trained but had way farther to go) was very reactive and we(mostly my partner) worked with her a ton in order to get through some of her issues(when we got her she would have a meltdown in she saw a stroller three blocks down the road and thought it was another dog. We believe she may have been a dog-fighting bait-dog before we got her through the SPCA. I say that to say we are no strangers to a challenge, but I'd love some advice on things to look for when going to see the boys this Saturday.

tl;dr- We are possibly adding two wholly untrained Male 1.5 year old Portugese Water Dogs and I'm not really sure what to look for as we go see them in the kennel and want to identify any red-flag behaviors we can at the time, mostly so we know what we are getting into.

We would appreciate any advice or feedback you have to offer. Thank you!

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

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

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

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

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

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

Resources

Books

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

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

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

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety (archived page from the ASPCA)

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

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

Podcast:

https://www.trainingwithally.com/the-podcast

Online DIY courses:

https://courses.malenademartini.com

https://www.trainingwithally.com/about-2

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

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

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

A couple months ago I adopted a small white dog from the shelter. I fell in love with him, but there’s one major issue with him—he keeps peeing in my carpeted house.

I take him to the bathroom behind a shed. This area is pebbled unlike the rest of the property and it’s 3 by 8 feet long. The pebbles are to help him understand the difference between inside and outside. He has a doggy door that he has access to in the house. Also, in the house, I keep him in a small 25ft squared area by the doggy door. During the day, he is kept outside and has access to his potty area. Whenever I take him to go potty (in the mornings, night time, after breakfast & dinner, before entering the house, etc), I give him treats and praise when he goes to the bathroom in his potty area. I crate him at night and carry him outside to the bathroom in the morning to prevent accidents. By the way, he’s a chihuahua poodle mix. He’s 19 pounds.

For the last couple of weeks, he hasn’t peed in the house because I’ve been on top of taking him out frequently. Recently I slipped up though and forgot to take him out after movie time, so he peed in our bathroom when I took him in there (I take him in there while I go to the bathroom so he doesn’t cry). Do you guys think my dog will eventually become potty trained? Or is he just always gonna have to be monitored super well?

Also, any tips with separation anxiety and fear in new public spaces?

The title kinda says all. My dog is pretty good with humans for the most part, unless he gets scared. Other dogs are his big trigger. We’re working through it but obviously, things aren’t perfect immediately.

The last few nights we have been staying in hotels since I am relocating across the country, and he’s been pretty decent but just now as we were walking back to our room from our walk someone opened their door and he immediately entered his “reactive mode” (definitely fear based).

I just ordered a muzzle to help with the support of muzzle training, which we used in the past but were able to ween him off of it since we were able to avoid his triggers much easier.

Is there any other pieces of advice that anyone can give me for this transition? He’s a really good dog, but I am admittedly nervous to change his routine and have less exits and paths for his triggers.

Note - my new apartment is on the 4th floor, across from the stairs so I am hopeful that there is a clear path, even if this means hiking up and down the stairs each time for him lol

Puppy is a 4 month old labrador in case it matters in training technique.

She's got the "Leave it" and "Drop it" command down pretty well (at least when she's not overly excited). But I wonder if she will learn that she can pick something up she isn't supposed to just to get a treat when I make her drop it or leave it?

I.e., I want to train her for example that chewing the socks on my feet is not good. So I tell her to leave it. She does, and I give her a treat. Some time later she may chew on my sock again, I tell her to leave it. She stops, so I give her a treat.

How do I avoid the association that "if I chew the sock, I get a treat when I am told stop". Rather, I want the association "chewing the sock is something my owner doesn't want me to do."

Thanks!

Help please

Hi all I have an issue between my partner and our boy Bruce. Bruce is a just turned 1 year old intact English bulldog. For the last few months he goes into a “fight” mode with my partner at least once a night. My partner then gets annoyed and has hit him on more than one occasion. Basically he starts jumping up on him, and it’s like he pretends to bite him. He has never actually bit him, he just like boops his nose on him. He also barks at him while doing it. But he will do it constantly, even continuing when my partner does hit him (which I completely disagree with and keep having discussions with my partner about it. I think Bruce is challenging my partner but how can I get it to stop? I suffer with mental health as well and seeing my little bulldog cower from my partner is killing me. I can’t carry on like this.

My father in law has a hernia and his wife can't take care of the dog. First we just took care for a weekend or so and spoiled it rotten but since it's now the 5th week she's living here it's really time to start training her because it might be a few months before she goes home. (She used to stay here if they were on holidays).

What goes well:

• She knows basic commands: sit, lie down, paw, stay
• She can sit and wait until command is given for food
• She isn't agressive towards dogs, humans, cats.
• She loves to swim and run in the forest with us.

She gets 2 meals a day, 4 walks. We go to the forest twice a week for longer walks where she can swim

She is a small munterlander.

What doesn't go well:

• pulling on the leash and walks too far in front
• if she's walking off leash in a special area she doesn't stay close, she does listen if I call her over to sit down. If we see another dog I instantly leash her so they can sniff first. She's never ignored this.
• being too enthousiastic greeting other dogs
• doesn't listen to regular commands straight away, needs to be repeated two to three times.
• if she sees a duck all hell is loose and all commands are forgotten
• if she sees a tasty bird getting her away seems impossible

We've bought Ceasers Millan collar/leash to try to stop pulling. We've bought dog communication buttons to try to teach her.

Ideally, I would love her to listen better to me so we can start agility training together, it would be great for both of us. For her energy and our bond. Im worried because she ignores basic commands they won't accept us. If it goes well even if she moves back home I'd still go pick her up to go do this. (Owners live 3 streets away)

She is my very first dog, we have three leashes. A short black one, a flexi leash and a huge pink one for forest running/swimming.

At home she is the most quiet, lovely dog. Naps, snuggles, lots of toys to play. When we leave the house she becomes a young pupper.

my 3 year old standard female dachshund, called lotte, is extremely greedy when it comes to food, to the point where she eats other dogs shit and dirt from the side of the road. this never used to be a problem, and i think we’re feeding her well though. We give her 45g of kibble and ~60g of wet food in the morning and night, changing kibbles between morning and night to make it more interesting. but after her breakfast this morning, i took her out for the toilet. while i was picking her poo up, she had snuck in and managed to get into the table and eat half out my special k - something she’s never shown interest in, and it wasn’t exactly in an easy area. when i tried to take it away, she snarled and growled at me, and i had told her off a bit, then she looked very sad and i felt bad, and don’t get me wrong, i love my dog so much but this needs to stop. any more food at mealtimes (we’ve experimented) gets her quite chubby and overweight, what can we do?