my dog is reactive due to past trauma. i live by myself and its just him and he is comfortable by himself. he does go to my moms and my brother has 2 dogs there that he can be around. one of them is bigger than him but she is very non-dominant and laid down when my dog tried to go after her the first time ( it was an accident he got loose, i didn’t try to introduce them) and now he is completely fine with her and even plays. the other is a puppy ( he is fine with meeting puppies so i knew this wouldn’t be an issue ). so those are the only 2 dogs he is EVER around.

my issue is i am looking to move in with my boyfriend and he has a pitt - this pitt listens to him and me very well and is such a sweetheart but its take a little while for the pitt to warm up to animals and also he is CRAZY. he wants to play and jump 24/7 and i dont see a calm or good way to introduce them and i dont want to put my dog in harm or make him uncomfortable. are there any good tips i should try to make this work?

my mom did say my dog could live with her but he is my soul dog and i am having a very hard time with agreeing to let him live there without me. he loves it there and im there often so he would be fine but i was hoping there was a way to keep him with me. ( long shot i know)

I have 2 educator E-collars, a 3 year old micro and a 1 year old mini. The micro used to be able to last a few days without being plugged in or turned off but now it can’t go 24 hours. The mini is still pretty new and we’ve just started using it consistently and I want to know what I should do to preserve battery health! Should I just turn it off or should I turn it off AND plug it in when we aren’t using it? Also no, the collars don’t stay on 24/7 just for a couple minutes or hours a few times a week, I just don’t turn them off haha.

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping for some advice on leash training my 8-month-old Mini Schnauzer, Snati. I really want us to have calm and focused walks, but right now about half of our walks are a mess. On good days, we’re fine and actually have a great time. I’d like to make that the rule rather than the exception.

The main issue is pulling. As soon as we leave the yard, Snati just tunes me out completely. He’s not really food-motivated once we’re outside either—he’ll even turn down his favorite liver treats.
Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Stopping every time he pulls. I’ve been doing this since I got him 6 months ago, and while it sort of works, he still pulls a lot. I still stick to this method.
2. Switching up his gear.
   • First, we used a regular harness with a 5m leash, but I’d shorten it to 2-3m. He would just pull against it, and getting him to come back to me took a ton of coaxing.
   • I switched to a retractable leash, which has been less frustrating for me, but it doesn’t actually solve the pulling.
   • Tried a collar with a 2m leash. This was okay for a while, but now he’s stronger, and I worry it might hurt his neck.
   • Now we’re using a no-pull harness. It stops him from pulling super hard, but overall it hasn’t reduced the behavior.

On good walks, he’ll hit the end of the leash, feel a light pull, come back to me for a treat, and we’ll keep going for a bit until this repeats. No biggie, I feel like he’s getting it.

On bad walks, he’ll lunge to the end of the leash over and over, get frustrated, start whining, and completely refuse treats. At that point, I’ll usually just head back home, but sometimes I’ve had to carry him because he’s so wound up.

I know I’m supposed to practice leash manners in the yard and slowly expand the range, and he’s actually really good on the leash in the yard—he’ll follow me, pay attention, and take treats. But the moment we leave the yard, it’s chaos.

On top of this, he is an un-neutered teenage male and is becoming bit reactive to other dogs. So I REALLY need to nip this in the bud.

Here’s where things get complicated: 98% of the time Snati will not poop in the yard. He will only do it if he really really has to go.  He reliable goes in a field by a playground a couple of blocks away. On a good day, it’s a 5-minute walk, but on bad days, it can take 20 minutes, which just adds to the frustration because he’s clearly uncomfortable and pulling like crazy to get there.

I’ve tried teaching him to go potty on cue, but it hasn’t clicked. I’ve also tried standing in the yard until he poops, then rewarding him with a walk. I wait for 5 minutes, if he doesn’t go we go back inside and try again in an hour. The problem is this can take hours. For example, Friday morning I took him out at 8, and he didn’t poop until 11 after several tries. By that point, he was whining a lot and clearly uncomfortable. On Saturday, we went out at 8, tried again at 9, and at 9:30, he gave up and pooped on the living room floor. He is well house-trained and this was his first accident in months.

I’d totally stick to the “wait him out” method if my schedule allowed it, but most days I just don’t have hours to spare. I’ve thought about taking him to work with me every day (I can do that) and keeping up with the method until this clicks for him, but I wouldn’t always be able to follow up with a walk as a reward. I also worry about him having another accident at work, which would be very inconvinient to say the least.

For context, here’s our general routine:

• 6:30 AM: Quick pee, then breakfast (sometimes he eats, sometimes he doesn’t).
• 7:15 AM: 20-30 minute walk.
• 8:30 AM: I head to work. Some days he comes with me and chills in a crate under my desk. Other days he’s crated at home, and I watch him on a camera.
• 12 PM: If he’s with me, we do a quick potty break and some playtime at the office before more crate time.
• 5 PM: Back home for a quick pee, dinner (which he might eat, might not), and a little playtime.
• 6:30 PM: Another 20-30 minute walk.
• 7 PM: Play and training. We’re working on “stay” right now, with kibble or tug as rewards.
• 7:30 PM: Chill time on the couch with a chew or toys.
• 9-10:30 PM: If he’s calm, he stays out until bedtime. If he gets bitey, he goes into his crate earlier.

Weekends are more flexible, with longer walks if things are going well or extra time in the yard (he’s tethered since the yard isn’t fenced). I usually only crate him for his afternoon nap but otherwise leave him free to roam and play.

So, with all this in mind, how do I tackle leash training when I also have this potty issue? Have any of you dealt with something like this? I’d love to hear what’s worked for you.
Thanks in advance!

Hey folks,

I've got a 10 month old Aussie rescue mix that recently seems to be resource guarding his crate.

It all started about a week ago. My partner and I were staying at his parents house before flying out the next morning, and his parents would be pet sitting him while we were gone. He had a big day playing with two other dogs the day before, and the day it started he mostly rested all day but then played with another dog for about half an hour before we called him into to his crate. We set up his crate in a guest bedroom, and he initially walked in there with a toy he had picked up (not his). When we went to close the door he growled/snarled at us. We thought he was guarding the toy, so we lured him out of the crate with a treat and traded him for another toy that was his. A few minutes later we called him to enter the crate (no toy in mouth this time) and he went in willingly again. He again growled/lunged when we touched the door to close it.

He has been doing this off and on for the past week. We just upgraded him to a bigger crate and got him a better crate pad, and he's mainly only been in the crate at night the last couple of days with lots of positive reinforcement when he does not show aggression when we close the door. He is usually not in his crate for more than 6 hours per day (broken into smaller chunks) and gets plenty of exercise. We also recently upped the amount of food he is receiving as he's a bit too trim. Overall his needs have been well met, but despite this he is still occasionally demonstrating the aggression when we close the door.

For context, our dog has displayed resource guarding behaviors before, but only with food, toys, and water twice. We are already working towards desensitization with a trainer for that.

Any tips, information, or advice for this issue?

** I have read that sudden aggression issues can be something pain or health related, so we will be seeing a vet this week for a check-up. We also have training again next week.

How do I get my dog (red heeler) to chill out about food? He's absolutely food desperate at all times regardless no matter what. Literally trembling at the sight of any food. Super irritating.

I receive dogs from a breeder at 8 weeks and have them til they’re anywhere from 6 months old to 2 years old for training. They then go to forever homes. There’s one dog that I think about almost every single day and my heart breaks a little. Has anyone else ever felt like they met their soul dog in someone else’s dog?

Hey, just this last couple of month I adopted a dog from the dog pound he was playfully happy and everything else

But when we took him home he turned into a whole different dog. He started attacking my male dogs and wouldn’t let go.

We believe he was an ex dog fighter cause of the scars on him. But he was never scared of us. I’m now trying to fix him but idk if that’s even possible.

Like today he got into one of the biggest fights with my German shepherd. We couldn’t get him off. We were spraying him with water putting a broom stick in his mouth to try to pry his mouth open.

Nothing was working. But he released and we grabbed him and pulled him and the other dog back.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do for him. He honestly such a sweet dog just got a little mis wired

My in laws rescued a female dog (back in June) we aren’t sure what she is… our best guess is a schnoodle. She is roughly 1 or 1 and a half years old. She was thrown out a moving car window and was returned to the pound 2 other times. The 1st time the family wanted a big dog and they were planning on going on vacation and asked the pound to watch her for a week but never came back. The 2nd time was 24 hours later cause their kids would run and play and she would go after them and they said she was biting. So we are her 3rd family and we believe we are her only hope cause she had a week left and they would have put her down. No one knew that she was a resource guarder, the pound kept the dogs separate. We didn’t know till after she got fixed. We thought maybe she is guarding cause she thinks she had puppies, but she was guarding a massage pillow and wouldn’t let anyone get near it. Then, it turned into toys. Now it’s starting to be her food bowl, toys, and sometimes different people in the house. And it is hard to tell when she is going to guard, it is random. It used to be when her parents would get home from work, now it seems like when it’s closer to bed time.

We have tried food, treats, CBD treats, a E collar with sound, vibrate and shock. We have 3 bigger dogs and she only seems to go for our biggest dog who is a Goldendoodle and he is a big baby! So it’s like she knows he is a gentle giant. Even with the collar she doesn’t stop when she attacks. We make loud sounds and she keeps going for him. Sometimes she goes for people but only if we try to take a toy or object that she knows she can’t have. She likes to take things in her kennel and keep it there but we can’t let her just have it cause if we do she will destroy whatever it is and eat it. She’s thrown up limbs from toys and plastic from things that she keeps in there. And she knows she can’t have it so when we realize she has something in there or trying to take things in there she growls at us.

We just aren’t sure what to do anymore… we can’t just give her up cause she does love us like when we leave and come back she’s happy to see us and gives us her belly! But everything we have tried doesn’t work… she’s not good driven like our other dogs. When she is resource guarding it’s like it’s not her or like a switch flipped and nothing will snap her out of it…

ANY AND ALL ADVICE IS APPRECIATED! We just want to give her a good life that she deserves.

Just a fun question for today.

What are your opinions on frozen stuffed kongs? Do you feel they teach resilience in dogs to cope with everyday stresses?

I have a 2 yr old JRT who is a little bit reactive. We have been doing the work to get her more comfortable and confident around people and other dogs and she has come a long way. She has good recall so if it is too stressful of a situation I can show her how to walk to the other side of the park and stay calm. But when she approaches other dogs she goes in too fast and assertive. Are there techniques I can do to help her approach more calmly?

Hello! New to posting but saw some others mention the benefits of this thread in other ones I've been reading. I want to give a short description of the last couple months I've had my rescue and how it started and where I'm at now. I'm feeling very lost and sad. After visiting a shelter I brought home an older (7yrs approximated) mix houndy female dog back in early October. She was happy but quiet in the greeting yard. Didn't react to other dogs walking by, mailman, even someone shooting fireworks in the distance. And so so sweet. Immediately upside down for belly rubs. After coming home she was shy and withdrawn but considering her new rehoming it made sense. I followed the 3-3-3 rule as best as I could and avoided people and dogs in walks. I managed to have 2 weeks of planned sick time so we were together for a solid week. In that time I found out that even leaving the house for 2 mins (to move my car, change laundry etc) would immediately bring out continuous barking. I tried a crate to give her a space, but even if I sat in the same room, barking. I panicked a bit that I didn't have the knowledge to train her, that she was showing signs of separation anxiety and worried about going back to work/my life. In that time I reached out to trainers, day cares and babysitters. Day care went ok. They said she was shy but kept her in the quiet yard. She would come home with a happy face. Rover sitters with no dogs said she just wanted to sit in people's laps and was sweet, walked well. Those with a dog said she was calm and got along fine. I met with 2 trainers. One who came to the house and worked on place and relaxing, massage etc. she was VERY nice and her words made sense but my dog was seeming even more nervous after she left. I understand they go thru things when learning new behaviors etc but that's what I noticed. the other we went to their facility and did an assessment. He found her very trainable, worked well with a clicker etc. long story short after seeing how he worked with dogs, meeting other clients at the facilities reading reviews etc I really felt confident with them. And my dog seemed to love his energy, high voice, praise, stern command etc. she played with him a bit even and hadnt even done that with me! Long story short, they did a board and train for 5 days. She came back instantly fine with sleeping in her crate, short bits of time during the day, no longer sitting and staring at me, no whining at me when I'm sitting in the house, loose leash walks, no more limited reactivity/interest to dogs, learned new commands, made some friends at the property etc. seemed GREAT.

fast forward another month. I continue to use a combo of their training facility plus the reg dog daycare so she isn't home for longer than a couple hours. She spent a weekend with my sister's dog. All good.

Fast-forward to thanksgiving. I came home to my parents where there are 5 other family dogs. Honestly none are perfect and I wouldn't blame her for reacting back to getting barked at or bumped up against when they're all in one place. She did really well considering all that. She barked at one dog whose blind and deaf and was smelling her face, no other follow thru. She growled back at one dog who jumped and growled at her when she walked too closely over him to get it the couch. I also notice sometimes, maybe 10 percent of the time she will almost whine under her breath, sounds like a snore, when a dog walks past the couch. I can say no and she stops. The other 90 percent she is fine with even the same dog jumping right up next to her and sleeping with their backs touching. She doesn't seem to hold a grudge against the dog that snapped at her, and maybe is more resistant to the 2 other female dogs. The only other time I hear her do that, she was on the floor and the older dog was rearranging her own dog bed (imagine similar to when dogs rearrange blankets in their beds, she just does it with the whole bed) and my dog started being grumpy about that as well. That one makes no sense to me unless she just doesn't like that specific dog? If they're all walking around the house or going potty outside, there are zero issues. The other dogs could bark at the front door, bark at each other, really even bark at her and she doesn't pay any attention. They'll sit around us when we're eating at the table and everyone is fine (I promise I am watching everything like a hawk during these times, I'm not trying to be irresponsible or unconcerned of behavior). Im worried she's becoming reactive or aggressive. She snarled at one dog who came up to her off leash, they smelled butts and then the off leash dog immediately showed teeth. I wish my dog could have let it alone, but I understand why she reacted at least it makes more sense then waking by the couch or shuffling a dog bed 5 ft away. I'm seeing the trainers again next week but this weekend my mind is just spiraling. Any words of advice appreciated. Did I break her by sending her to day care? They say she's shy and sort of aloof, I feel like thinking back it's key words for not happy there. She eventually got moved to the bigger louder side. They don't say those things at the training day care. They always have nice nice things to say about her interactions with dogs and people, settling and relaxing etc etc Did I break her by brining her to my family home with too many dogs at once? I'm sad. Her papers say she came from a house with dogs (I believe her actual brothers and a sister) and did well with big and small. I was hoping that would at least be easy for her and the staying home alone would be the biggest challenge! I don't want to think about things getting worse, where can she go if I need to leave, day care, family visits etc etc... If anyone made it this far I appreciate you!

Just adopted a puppy, a mutt(some ppl call them mongrel) its his second day at our home and hes sometimes runs on the sofa and barks and runs and tries to bite us while we're nearby, he is 11 weeks old, my typical response is to keep his toys near by so I can avoid the bite and give him the toy and play tug with him, my sister are scared when they're playing with him or near him

TLDR: look for the BOLD text.

My boy Angus is now 10 months old. I adopted him on his 2 month birthday. I did Ancestry Pet DNA and they originally reported this:

1st report

Then a few months later when I logged in they reported this:

2nd report

I don't know why the DNA Profile changed as we only did one test, but anyway, I included this info just in case it has any bearing on what I am about to discuss.

He is definitely trainable. He very quickly mastered sit, lay down, paw (both right and left depending on which hand I hold out), back (I don't like the word beg but this is the same command, sit up on hind legs), spin left and spin right (which I use the commands 'come by' and 'away' inspired by herding dogs for clockwise and counter/anti -clockwise). He even understands 'Wait' in that I will show him a treat and repeat wait and then toss the treat and he won't go get it until I say 'go get it'. This is all in private. Most of these he will reproduce in public also, but in public he is more excited and can't hold back on the wait. He'll also do 'middle' (I stand with my legs wide and he comes and sits between them) and sometimes I can coax him with treats to move forward or backward in that position (we're still working on that)

When out on a walk, he will respond to "here" by coming to my side and sitting, and I will give him a treat. The problem is as soon as he is let loose again he goes right back to pulling me forward. On our walks, unless there is another human or an animal around, his nose is constantly on the ground, sniffing his way through our walk. I don't have a problem with that, per se, but If I were to go at his pace I'd be swiftly jogging, only to stop and turn around at the last minute because he passed something mildly interesting.

What can I do to stop him from just persistently wanting to pull me along on his walks? He is about 65 lbs. now and quite powerful. I just want a normal walk where my arm isn't getting pulled out of it's socket.

I do the stop every so often and wait, but he goes right back to pulling me along. I've also tried hard checks on his harness (not around his throat) but neither of these seem to last longer than the individual incident no matter how often I do them.

So that is the leash pulling.

He is now 10 months old and his new teeth have come in and he has started mouthing a lot again. The scars from his puppy mouthing have not fully healed and now that he is 50 lbs. heavier and equally bigger are posing another problem. He apparently doesn't like me wearing long sleeves, but it is unavoidable since it is getting much colder. He is constantly jumping up and grabbing my sleeves, as well as jumping up and grabbing me (but it is particularly noticeable when I wear a sweater/hoodie/sweatshirt.

If there is a way to stop that, I'd also be eternally grateful.

So my dog is crate trained but his crate broke during our move. Would it be okay to leave him tethered to something for an hour. I'd prefer to not let him free roam but I know he could hurt himself while being tethered we worked on tether training when I first brought him home to help teach him to calm down and boundaries etc but while we wait for his crate to come in what are some things we could try

Something I've always pondered about my dog (and past dogs too)... We walk in the woods everyday and they pass 1 million sticks without interest. And then if one is in my way and I move it to the side of the trail (usually trying to not let them see me do it) they go nuts for that one 😁🤷‍♂️

Hello! I’m just looking for some general advice because this is really disheartening for me. My partner got his dog, Loki, from my parents’ dogs’ litter, and now as he’s reaching maturity (he’s about a year and 3 months old), he’s displaying a lot of aggressive, territorial behaviour. I haven’t been able to see Loki much lately as my partner lives at home with his parents and I live away for university, and so maybe he needs to become reaccustomed to me? He was very excited to see me when I got to my partner’s house, so I’m not sure why he’s now growling at me from time to time. Every time he’s growled at me has been within my partner’s presence. It’s becoming very hard to read his behaviour, and I’m starting to become a bit scared of him. He snapped at me out of nowhere yesterday when both me and my partner were petting him, and now I just don’t know what to expect. I’d appreciate any sort of advice, as this is really quite saddening. He’s never been like this with me, and has always been incredibly cuddly and affectionate with me. Is it just a maturity thing? Please help!

I’m watching my brother’s 8 year old labradoodle (f, 40 lbs, spayed), who I have watched for years. The labradoodle (is not the best trained, knows basic commands, but generally listens only when food is around, very food motivated to the point of being pushy, sneaking food and can resource guard food that she steals; the labradoodle isn’t submissive with other dogs, but also isn’t the most confident of dogs. I have an almost 2 year old standard poodle (f, 45 lbs, intact) who is well trained (CGC), e-collar trained, doing advanced obedience, she has had an incident where has had overcorrected the doodle, my poodle can be the fun police if she thinks that things are out of control. I also have a 3 yr old cockapoo (m, 20 lbs, neutered) who is also well trained, e-collar, but poor impulse control, his favorite activity is to rile up other dogs and watch the mayhem that ensues.

Until yesterday, I had the doodle and my poodle together. The two were fine. Both had lots of crate time, group walks, separate feeding, and together time. There was not any issues at all. My cockapoo was at my folks house because we split custody and my folks were convinced that the cockapoo would somehow get hurt if he was in the mix.

Yesterday, my dad drops off the cockapoo. The doodle kept humping the cockapoo. He corrected her but the poodle stayed out of the mix. Then the humping stopped because the doodle understood that she was pissing off the cockapoo. Outside of this, the three dogs were fine, yesterday. Again they had lots of crate time and lots of controlled together time.

This morning my dad come over earlier than expected to help me around my house. The dogs are all in their respective crates, but barked excitedly at hearing my dad arrive. (Mistake 1) I stupidly let the cockapoo out of his crate then the doodle then the poodle. The cockapoo excited and spun with joy because it was morning and time to pee. The poodle did her weird excited foot stomping and barked to be let out the doodle was also excited. (Mistake 2) I couldn’t let the dogs out fast enough the all run away from the back door towards the kitchen where there is a second side door. The cockapoo was now super excited digging into the furniture and running in the house. The poodle was barking and nipping at the cockapoo (normal behavior for the two of them) and the doodle was kind of a third wheel. Doodle then attempted to interact with the cockapoo, I didn’t clearly see what she did. The poodle got in the mix to stop, doodle growled at the poodle, cockapoo was out of the mix watching the chaos like it was his masterpiece. I call the poodle off the doodle but poodle has redlined and was now on top of the doodle, I did the only thing that I could think of and kicked poodle who immediately jumped off the doodle, and ran to her place.

I got all dogs in their crates. Potty them separately. I checked the two dogs. The poodle bit the doodle’s ear and it was bleeding. Not super bad but I took her to the ER vet just incase. Vet said it was a good scrape not a puncture wound no need for stitches.

To make things worse, I pet the doodle feel lump, text my brother about it and he had no idea about the circular lump between her shoulder blade and spine. 😭

Aside from feeling really shitty, I do recognize that I made a few mistakes, namely letting the cockapoo act a fool rile up the two big dogs. Any other thoughts on how to prevent the chaos in the future….assuming my brother trusts me with his doodle again.

I have a 5 year old Texas heeler and have never had this issue before. We’ve lived in duplex’s, and while he would bark when he heard strangers, he got used to the neighbors within 2 weeks.

I’ve been living in a trailer park for almost a year now, and he still barks and growls every time he sees my backyard neighbors going in and out. He’s met them and is great! So I am at a loss for why he barks at them when he sees them through the window.

It’s annoying for me, and since I personally hate having dogs bark at me, I don’t want them to feel threatened by him. When I’m gone he sits on the couch where he can see the backyard, and apparently barks even more.

Any and all tips would be appreciated. Right now I’m thinking of getting some of the vinyl window frosting. Thanks!

Help! We live in the city and the sidewalks are pretty heavily salted in the winter. I've also noticed little balls of ice get stuck in my dog's paws and she ends up limping, and I carry her through parts of our walk because of it.

We tried some boots for her last year that were an absolute pain in the butt to put on, and now she has learned to hate the process unfortunately. They also did not stay on.

I've seen the style that has a strap around the back like overalls, which might be more promising. I've also heard of paw wax but I'm hesitant about that because I read that it can be a bit messy.

I would love some advice and suggestions!

My hyper aroused dog is a german shepherd/australian shepherd mix, 2 years old. I take him on bicycle rides each day, where he runs for 20 mins straight. However when walking he pulls on the leash. However he doesnt do this when I have a longer leash, only when I shorten the leash to force a heel. Ive tried leash corrections but they dont do anything, and stopping and walking in circles. I have trouble enforcing a heel for a long period of time, only short distances. He also has trouble with the word focus, when we are walking outside. I know I need to be more consistent on training. Ive taken a break in training due to personal health reasons, but now I want to change this. Any advice here? He also hyper aroused with other dogs and people, not agressive. Ive managed to socialzed him as a puppy, however Ive made the mistake of letting strangers pet him, which causes him to be excited. He doesnt bark or growl. A very friendly dog, however he gets hyper aroused. He's not fix, which I know I need to fix him, but I was waiting until he was fully grown which he is now. I just dont have the funds, because im currently unemployed due to health reasons. im going to voc rehab to see my options, please dont be harsh with that aspect. If fixing him will help this, which im not sure, I will defintely fix him if it does or doesnt help. I only have one dog, and Im not willing to breed him.

So here’s the dilemma, my mom bought my two sisters (13 and 14) 9 week old male puppies from the same litter for Christmas 2 days ago. The breeder said the dad is a Maltese poodle mix and mom is a toy poodle.

Now I already know this was a bad idea, I wasn’t supportive of her getting one dog from this “breeder” (someone who we know’s aunt) let alone 2. But it’s done and there’s no way they are going to get rid of one.

But even tho my mom won’t listen to me, my sisters will. So I’m asking for advice to give to them in order to prevent possible behavioral problems that I’ve read can come with raising 2 puppies the same age.

They also have 3 older dogs in the house. I’m hoping that the other dogs can help to teach them? I haven’t seen much info about littermate syndrome when there are other aged dogs present. Does anyone else have experience with this?

They already have separate crates, food bowls and rooms that they will sleep in. But if anyone has advice for this circumstance please let me know.

I have a rescue named Pixie that I’ve had for almost 2 years and she’s a sweet girl with a little crazy in her. She’s almost 8 and some sort of mix.

I always leave my dogs to roam inside the house and have never had a problem with it (I have another dog who is 10/husky mix), but lately Pixie has started to open doors. At first it was annoying, but then she started destroying the wood frame around the door, the door knob, and the door itself. She only does it when I would leave, never when I’m home.

The cherry on the cake was last week she shredded the metal security door. This was a concern but now it’s a huge concern for her health. Her mouth got pretty gashed up from it and now she’s crated when I’m away.

She never expressed this behavior before. What are some things I can do to remove this behavior so I can let her roam in the house again? I will talk about the behavior when I go to the vet next month with her, but does anyone have any recommendations in the meantime?

I’ve tried the butter apple spray & cayenne pepper on the door so far with nothing to show

So my mother in law, who has had several GSDs over the years, lost her most recent one about a year ago. She recently found another through an online rescue group. The dog was in Oregon and we are in West Virginia.

So my wife and flew out to Oregon this past Saturday (11/23). We picked up the dog (Wakka) on Sunday afternoon then started our journey eastward. We were in somewhat of a hurry to get back because my wife works tomorrow (11/30). We put in about 8 hours of driving each day, stopping at hotels each night. We arrived at my mother in laws yesterday evening, just in time for thanksgiving dinner and a full house (13 people and another dog). Wakka was great the entire way. And of course he was kept in leash the entire time. All this to say the boy has been through some massive changes over the past week.

Along the way we realized that he knew sit and lay down. He will half ass stay. However, he doesn’t seem to know his name, and shows zero signs of recall.

For various reasons we decided that instead of leaving him at my mother in laws, he came home with us for a few weeks so I could work with him to at least get him to acknowledge his name and come when called. However, I have minimal experience with dog training. I trained our first pup years ago with an e collar, but in hindsight I know I didn’t do it properly (but she was a great pup, regardless), and approximately a month to get some results.

So my question… is there an online or some other training method you would suggest to help me get started. I’ve been watching reels and other short training videos for the past several months in anticipation of eventually getting another pup for myself. Most have been mark and reward type training so I understand that concept, I just need more details on actual techniques and such.

I’m willing to pay for a program if it produces results. I also have a good bit of free time during the day to work with him.

Thanks for taking the time to read my novel and for any suggestions you may have.

I have a service dog and I want to teach them non verbal commands and think the tool could do it. I’ve looked into it but I’m not getting straight answers. I was a beep to be a recall or to just focus on me 1 vibration is to sit 2 vibrations are to lay down

I’d condition him to it and of course use verbal commands with it when able too. Thoughts?

Hello,

Just recently got an ecollar that has Shock, Vibration and Beep for my Belgian Mallinois. How should I go about correcting an unwanted behavior (ex. Dashing downstairs when its time to go out and attacking the other dog waiting at the back door). Ive read that you Vibrate, and once he pays attention to you or stops doing what is the unwanted behavior, you then reward. Any tips/help is appreciated.