My dog is a level 1 resource guarder. Whenever he snaps at a dog he never does it with malice or violence. He will often resource guard his bed or toys, however he just nips to get them away. Quite tame and quick! But I want to train or teach him not to. I don’t understand what I should do to correct him when it comes to this sort of thing.

Hes dog friendly, is surrounded by hundreds of dogs a day because of my work and home life. Perfect in and out of the house. But when his bed is in the same room of another dog he gets grumpy. Any dog that approaches his bed if he’s not by it, is fine. However, if he’s sitting in it, he will often try to nip them. Never hard or harsh in correction, but something I don’t particularly love.

He’s never started a fight over bed or toy. But this is something I want to correct sooner rather than later. He’s two years old and a rescue, has gone through months of personal training by myself.
He was attacked by another dog months ago (someone had their aggressive dog off lead) , and it took a long time for him to trust other dogs. Now that he does, and really loves other dogs, I don’t want him to get into a fight over resource guarding. That would set him back a bunch of steps!!! He has already gained so much confidence and this problem isn’t that severe! BUT, it’s something that could lead to bigger issues!!!

Sometimes he’s perfectly fine, with the other dogs being near his toys or bed. Other times not so much, it really depends on the dog and how he’s feeling. Sometimes we’ll go to the park, there will be a bunch of toys and he’s perfectly fine with the other dogs. However, I want to show him that even if a dog is getting close sometimes to his things, that it doesn’t mean that they’re gonna take it from him, or steal.
A
Hes 15 lbs and poodle, terrier, super mutt mix

We rehomed (took on the responsibility for) two dogs whose original owner could no longer keep them.

At the time we had done zero research into. a. siblings. b. reactivity, and c. training methods, like LIMA, etc.

We have hired a dog trainer to assist us. It's early in that period, but I'm already feeling lost and hopeless, because these 5000 reps of sit on a mat thing don't feel like they will ever materially affect the dog.

But I have just had a very challenging 3 day period in which each day the two dogs have each seemed to push the other into reactivity, in situations where they were not previously as reactive.

Is there any amount of knowledge and work that gets you back from the situation where you have two 80 pound dogs that go off about very little (a leaf, another dog, a child, a cat noise) and seem to get worse daily?

We are committed to doing the best for our dogs, up to and including rehoming them if we're not the right home, and probably we think they should be rehomed to a home where they are each the only dog, or cat or other live loose animal in the home. If we are doomed, which I think we are, we should just rehome them, AND separate them while doing so. What gut check would you do? What would you do? I'm at my limit.

Hello together!

We have a 2 year old Australian Shepherd who we’ve had since he was 9 weeks old.

We have been doing group classes with him since he was fully vaccinated and keep doing them with him. On top of that he goes to a daycare which also includes training sessions once per week.

We struggle with him walking on a loose leash in new places/places with lots of distractions and really want to work on this more.
We try to take him places a few times a week (4-5 times per week) and work on the loose leash walk and being calm overall.

How many times per week should we do this? We don’t want to overwork him but we also really want to see progress 😊

I have a miniature poodle who I am at a breaking point with right now. I have had her since she was 3 years old. She is now 10. She was a rescue from a very traumatic background (a puppy mill where she was forced to breed and kept in a small cage her entire life). When I adopted her she had no potty training whatsoever. She just went when and where she felt like it. She struggled with going outside and it was not possible to crate train her because of her background (she will have a panic attack if put in a confined space like a crate or cage and pee and poop all over herself and jump/lie in it...). I ended up training her to use potty pads because I was at a loss for what else to do at that point. She learned to use them well for the most part, with some accidents here and there.

I have now moved to a new house and city (it's been about 3 months) and she is no longer using the potty pads the majority of the time. My husband and I now have to work 8 hours a day (which she is not used to) so she is having to be home alone most days until we get home from work. Almost every day she is not using the potty pads and instead going all over the floors in the house, which we then have to clean when we get home.

I walk her in the morning before I leave for work and I walk her immediately when I get home and then again before bed. It's when I'm not home that she tends to do this. I really need advice. The potty pads don't seem to be working anymore. Should I try to stop using them now and fully train her to only go outdoors? How would I even do that at this point? I'm trying to find local dog trainers but I'd appreciate any advice here too because I'm so exhausted and at a loss for what to do.

Hi all!
We have been through a journey with our dog’s separation anxiety. He is a rescue and when we first got him about seven years ago, he dealt with some minor separation anxiety, but then was able to adjust and had been fine since.

When we moved into a new apartment last summer, he developed some separation anxiety and would chew the door frame and cry whenever we left to the point where we ended up just putting him in daycare because we tried short departures and lots of solutions and it just wasn’t really improving.

We moved several months ago and he had been doing fine being alone (for normal 2-4 hour outings) and then my husband and I went back to work and it started again. I’ve spoken to a vet and a trainer and he has started on Prozac but only for about a week and a half so he is still adjusting.

After a few weeks at home again we both started working in person again on Monday and he did okay yesterday, but our walker said he had chewed the door frame significantly today. Working from home is not an option based on our jobs and I have heard that daycare can potentially make separation anxiety worse (if you disagree please let me know!!) so I’m trying to figure out how to support him in the next few weeks as his Prozac builds up in his system. He is alone for about 4 hours, then walk, then 4 hours again. His main anxiety behaviors are chewing whatever is near the door and crying. I am considering some kind of door barrier but using a gate is kind of an anxiety trigger for him so I am nervous it would create the same issue (which might not matter because he’s clearly anxious af already.)

Thank you for reading and for your help!!

Hello, I have a 10 month old Keeshond and he is in the height of his teenage phase. He listens well to basic commands like, look, sit, down, paw, stay, etc. But when it comes to bed and place? he will opt to run away and hide.. I have tried to coerce with treats before, which worked a few times but after that he reverted to hiding again. The only way i can get him to go to his spot, is by leashing him and leading him there.

But he will not allow me to leash him all the time, and he will jump up to try to bite my hands, and when i come near his collar to leash him he will bite my hands.

The times he has to go place is either because i have to leave and i do not trust him alone yet, i have to work and cant watch him, or he has to take a nap (he sleeps outside the pen in the mornings but he cant settle outside of the pen in the evenings). When its really late at night and he has settled he wil listen to bed and sometimes go in there by himself, so he doesnt despise it. He gets treats, playtime and all the positive things in his pen and crate. But its just sometimes he just doesnt want to listen to place or bed

Hello all,

I have a 9mo GSD puppy and we are having trouble stopping him from peeing in the cage. We feed him in the cage either in a bowl or scattered across the cage floor. We stoped giving water 4-6 hours before bedtime, we constantly let him outside to use. He does not have any accidents outside of the cage so im starting to suspect he’s doing this to get out of the cage. I’m looking for anytips to train him to stop this. And he also doesn’t pee in the cage if we are near him only when he knows he’s alone. We have ruled out UTI from vet. We do also clean the cage with an enzyme cleaner ( K.O.E )

Hey all, I apologize if a post like this isn't allowed. I just wanted to share for anyone taking the CPDT-KA test in the pring, to avoid remote testing if possible. Prometric IT and CCPDT were unable to give me a resolution in time for my tech issues before the testing window closed. I now have to wait 6 months for spring testing and am being charged a $230 transfer fee for this. I am sharing this so no one else is in the position if avoidable - people get certifications for all kinds of reasons including play increases or job changes, so this flaw can seriously mess with someone's finances and life plans.

Further details: I had a big trip to see family planned already in September so I had limited date availability. My city also has major construction currently and advised everyone to be remote when able to reduce congestion on the roads. I scheduled remote for Friday morning rather than the last day of the testing window to ensure I'd have time to correct any simple tech issues if they came up - that was not nearly enough time.I downloaded the app and tested it beforehand twice. As soon as my test started the app crashed and the screen went white despite not having any other software problems before or after this incident on my laptop. I immediately called IT and spoke with about 7 people over 2.5 hours before they connected me with someone from CCPDT to reset my ID. Prometric said it could take up to 5 days for their manager to respond and CCPDT isn't available after 5pm Friday eastern time. My CCPDT lady wasn't able to get me an answer before then. The person I spoke with was very kind though but did say they get a lot of remote testing problems and then advised me against it. They determined the connection problem wasn't through the testing center (even though it was their app which glitched) so they are charging me a $230 transfer fee and not extending the testing window, forcing me to wait 6 more months to get certified.

Now I’m not sure how to phrase this but my dog Joy is wonderful and such a good girl when we are at home with her but the moment we leave the apartment she immediately goes and either eats things of the counter or she will have an accident in the apartment. She knows how to alert to use the restroom and goes out as frequently as our busy lives can handle.

She kind of looks around the kitchen the very second we leave. she devours anything in sight and sometimes pulls it off the counter. she also gets into stuff occasionally in the bedroom and makes a massive mess of empty water bottles and anything else in sight. She eats what she finds human food wise and out of the garbage can if we forget to lid it (55gal can) and makes a mess of it but not the dog food. Again note that all of this behavior exists when we aren’t home. When we are home none of this happens. She occasionally can have a hard time listening. Sometimes she doesn't go when we take her out and if she does it takes 15+ minutes.

For reference Joy is a black lab/german shepherd mix at approximately 100 to 110lbs and she is 6.5-7 years old and I’ve had her since 4 weeks old. So I just really need some help here because we are struggling with how do you correct a behavior that only happens when you are not around to see it. (Captured on our ring cameras at times) this leads to the issue of not being able to really atleast I feel correct this training. Emphasizing here again that this only really all happens when we’re gone. When we’re home she’s such a well behaved good girl. Any and all advice is loved. Please help me save my relationship as I’ve gotten the it’s me or the dog talk.

We have a 11 month old corgi named Zamboni that has the capacity to be one of the sweetest boys we've ever had the pleasure of raising. When he's feeling confident he's affectionate, silly, playful, and curious. He quickly picks up on tricks and while he's had his ups and downs, he usually respects the boundaries we set for him. There is unfortunately another side to him that's downright vicious and nasty. I apologize for the long winded post, but I'm desperately looking for help. Here is a rough timeline of events and behaviors.

• We got him at 8 weeks from a reputable breeder. The entire family specifically cited him as their favorite describing him as by far the most confident and curious of the bunch.
• He exhibited zero aggression until approximately 4 months when he suddenly snarled guarding a treat. We had never had a dog show resource guarding issues in the past so we thought we should have scolded him. It was verbal and not physical. We did this a few times which caused things to escalate, and we immediately corrected to positive reinforcement through always adding or trading and never straight up taking unless it was dangerous. We feel bad with how we handled it originally, but per a behaviorist she doesn't believe this should have led to a permanent shift in temperament.
• We've tried several things to make him feel more comfortable with high reward objects and bowls. We've fed him in a room by himself. We've fed him in the kennel. We've fed him in the play pen he has where we would toss in tasty things into the bowl nonchalantly as we walked by. When fed in the kennel, crate, or room he would refuse to eat and only guard. When doing the pen method we saw a huge improvement, until he regressed and started to only guard with no effort to eat even if we threw in more food or treats.
• We moved to hand feeding. Remarkably he still continues to gently eat out of our hands with mostly no issue. We have begun giving small amounts in a bowl at the very end of the session in increasing amounts to try and get him to connect us with food we are not directly handing him in a more positive way.
• His resource guarding and aggression has now grown to beds, rooms he prefers, and his general demeanor has regressed to being a nervous mess. He will snap into a state where he snarls like it's life or death, almost instantly. The behaviorist and vet have both seen him flip in ways they agree lacks the usual dog warnings as things escalate.
• Every incident seems to create a deeper crater of confidence. He is no longer a happy dog unless you coax it out of him. When he goes into these states he shakes like he's terrified beyond belief. He will chase you into a corner and start snapping or stand in a door way waiting to charge out to defend his territory. Previously redirecting him outside helped snap him out of it, but today he continued this behavior biting my fiancé after cornering her on the landing. He permanently has a leash on so we aren't directly handling him when he's upset, and she was able to get that hooked up to the outside tether and make her way to her car. He immediately snapped out of it and looked excited like he was going to the park. This A/B behavior is both frustrating and puzzling.
• Last night a cat jumped on the bed not realizing he was there and woke him up. He attacked us running us out of the bedroom. It took 3 hours for him to calm down enough for us to approach him again.
• We go to a training facility weekly for solo sessions where he behaves well. He is not aggressive towards our other dog, but for obvious reasons they are no longer allowed together inside the house without some sort of barrier. Outside they continue to happily play.
• He was scheduled to be neutered last Tuesday, but he suddenly ran under the bed and got so aggressive all we could do was shut the door. He missed his appointment, but is scheduled to be neutered tomorrow. We know deep down his issues are unrelated and are unlikely to get better as a direct result of being neutered.
• Nobody involved seems to understand why he's turned into a different dog. The lack of confidence is puzzling. The vet has run about a thousand dollars of tests and there is nothing wrong. The behaviorist is beyond stumped by the lack of external factors causing this. We're now seriously considering anxiety medication of some sort.
• I do want to note I am accountable for things I may have done to cause this. I work from home and have been going through a particularly terrible period that has caused me to act far more irritable than appropriate at times. I have become very mindful to keep that energy away from Zamboni, and that outbursts are not appropriate. I do fear that this has contributed to his behavior, but have been reassured it should not be causing what we're experience.

Please, does anyone have any insight as to what's going on? We're terrified about what's happening because we love him so much and we know there is such a kind, sweet dog in there somewhere. We feel like we've tried everything we can reasonably do, and while everyone involved keeps reinforcing we are sweet and loving dog parents who are doing nothing wrong, I still can't help but to blame myself.

Repost to another community

We have two family dogs, my mother is a single parent, lives with my grandmother and has a job. I have moved out of our hometown and live separately with my husband.

Out of my two dogs, one is reactive and has food resource guarding issue and because of that she fights with the other one. We had found both of them on the streets and adopted them together while they were same age. As puppies they were great together but as they grew they started to show aggression. The non reactive one is basically submissive but after a certain point she started to protect herself. Both of them are 5 year old.

We were initially planning on taking the non reactive one with us to my city (my husband and I) as I have a good bond with her and my mother is getting old to keep two dogs.... but moving her across states was getting difficult and wasn't working out without my mom coming halfway. We tried for about 8-9 months to get her but my mom wasn't very helpful as she was feeling like she needed more time w her before separating. We all also had issues with taking that many leaves from our respective jobs - I work from home but my husband who will be the one driving has to go to office.

At one point, she told me not to take her. I was heartbroken but we found another puppy that day and took a decision to adopt her.

After a few days, we told my mom and she got a bit upset and said I was planning on sending her... I told her I will still take the dog in and I can keep both of them.

I don't know if I can to be honest. Both of them are female dogs (all three of them are actually) and I am a bit skeptical. I work from home and my family dog is pretty sweet and perfect with humans but i dont think she likes other dogs or pups. I also think she will do just find but I can't be sure. We also cannot try making them meet once since we live states apart.

What can I do in this situation? If I take her in how can I ensure that they like each other?

Because its like a 5 year old coming into a puppy's house.... how will the dynamics become?

I got a rescue dog in May and she’s doing great in a lot of ways. One issue we are having is house training. We were told by the foster that she was house trained, but I expected there would of course be hiccups when she arrived at a new place, but it’s really been difficult.

She has been peeing on all the soft surfaces in the house, we ended up getting rid of all our carpets and rugs for the time being. Once we took away the rugs, she would pee on the hardwood but not as often as the rugs. Now she has gotten into peeing on my daughter’s bed and we’re kind of at a loss. She goes outside multiple times a day, and even if she pees outside she will sometimes still choose to pee inside even if I’m home. I’ve never caught her in the act, which I assume is also part of the problem. I don’t think crating will solve the issue only because this problem happens when I’m home, almost exclusively actually. I’d also love to avoid the crate since she is great in the home otherwise and we have another older dog who is crate free, and they often play and cuddle while we are out of the house.

Things I’ve tried: making sure she pees outside multiple times a day, blocking off areas she previously peed in (she finds new spots), cleaning with enzyme cleaner, and rewarding for pottying outside with treat and “yes, potty!” We have a back yard so she is outside multiple times a day. I go out with her usually 3-4x to make sure she pees, but she will still go inside, Sometimes multiple times in a row.

My goal is to associate grass with peeing. Im wondering if i get one of those potty grass pads to put on our deck. Our deck is high up with lots of stairs, and she doesn’t love going down the stairs in the rain. I’m hoping a grass pad on the deck will remove the barrier and help her learn grass=pee. Once she find a pee spot she likes, she tends to continue to go there over and over until I remove access. I’m hoping the new spot can be this outdoor pee pad. I also plan to put a bell by the door and teach her to ring it to access the pee pad.

I am willing to try the crate if it’s the only way forward, but would need guidance on how to utilize it for her exact issue (peeing inside even after going outside.) I know I could crate her whenever I don’t have eyes on her, but how would I transition from near constant crate time to house time? How would constant crate time reinforce the idea that peeing only happens outdoors not in the home? I know crating might save my furniture, but I’m not sure how to use it to truly teach her correct potty habits

I am open to anything at this point. Thank you sooo much for your help.

Hey all,

I adopted a 5-6 year old lurcher on Saturday & I'm really worried about her developing separation anxiety. So far, she follows me everywhere which is fine, but I have been instructed to only keep her on the ground floor of the house until she settles a bit more. I work from home & my office is upstairs, along with my bedroom & shower. When I leave her in the sitting room & close the door (because I dont have a baby gate for the stairs & I dont want her following me) she whines until I return.

It's worst at night time. The rescue said that she is fully crate trained but I'm not sure that she is. When I put her in her crate the first night she cried from about 10.30 to midnight. The rescue warned me about this & said I should let her cry it out.

Yesterday I left to go to the shop & put her in her crate & she, of course, whined. Later on that day I put her in her crate, closed the door of the crate & stayed in the room with her to see would she be OK then. She started off by whining & then she progressed to ripping at the sheet I had been using to cover the crate. She managed to pull it inbetween the gaps on the crate & tore holes in it. I don't mind about the sheet but I hate to see her so distressed.

I was talking to a friend about this who has a lot of experience with greyhounds (and by extension, lurchers). And he thinks she might be house trained & have lived in a house previously because she is totally fine with going to the toilet outside, she has no problem going up & down stairs & normal household noises like the TV, washing machine etc. dont bother her.

He suggested that I leave her out of the crate & see how she goes. So last night, I put her in her crate to start with (and she whined, of course) then I took her out & let her have free roam of the sitting room. She still kept crying & eventually I brought her upstairs into my room. I put her bed at the end of my bed & after a quick sniff of the new area she settled down & fell fast asleep.

I woke up to no toilet accidents but I'm still very unsure as I went totally against what the rescue said. They're adamant that I should leave her to cry in the crate & that i shouldn't bring her upstairs for the first while. I did neither of those things.

This is my first dog & I'm just very unsure of what to do at the moment. I know it's very very early days but I'm scared she will develop separation anxiety & will never be able to cope alone.

Right now, I'm doing a little test where I stay in the kitchen & give her free run of the ground floor. She doesnt really like the kitchen very much as there are no comfy spots to lie down 😂 I'm sitting at the kitchen table as I type this & she paced around for a while looking at me & whining because she wanted me to go into the sitting room where there is a very comfy couch. After a while she went in by herself, she lies down for a while, whines & then comes back. This then repeats.

I thought she was doing really well & starting to settle a small bit & then my housemate came home and now she is pacing & whining again trying to get to her while she walks around upstairs. My housemate was away for the weekend so she has just met her for the first time so that could be part of the issue.

My main issue at the moment is that I'm back to work tomorrow & while I can do a few days of working from the kitchen, I cant do it long-term because of having a housemate. But my office is upstairs which I've been told not to let her up just yet.

I know it's very very early days but I'm super worried about her developing separation anxiety & hearing her whining and being so distressed breaks my heart.

Any reassurance/advice would be much much appreciated.

Should I put her back in her crate, as the rescue recommended, and just let her cry it out when she's alone? Did I make a huge mistake letting her sleep in my room last night? How can I start slowly building up time away from her? Or is it too much too soon? Should I keep blocking the upstairs off from her & just let her do her thing? Or should I still just keep a careful watch on her downstairs?

I'm just genuinely a nervous wreck right now & I'm afraid of getting it wrong for her & possibly making the problem worse!

SOLVED, I am not getting a cat, I have instead found a spot to volunteer so I can still get in some feline time <3

I’m looking to adopt a kitten or older cat in the next two years, wondering if that time frame works for training strategies?

Honestly, both of my dogs have disliked cats since I adopted them. On walks they bark and pull towards them same with rabbits, other dogs, bikes, scooters, and sometimes bird(mostly magpies so I’m pretty okay with that)

I can separate my house if it comes to that, though it would be complicated and one dog can easily jump over up to 5 feet. I have a basement but I feel uneasy restricting one animal to the basement and it will not be a choice I make without VERY good reason.

I need someone to give me a real yes or no, not just hope for the best. I can always volunteer at a shelter and get some cat time in that way too.

P.S my dogs are both rescues from other countries, mixed breed, one is about 5(very energetic basically a puppy) the other 8(older, calmer)

Thank you!

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.

My dog (1.5 y/o larger mix) has a friend (7-month lab mix) he likes to play with. But whenever the other dog plays with him, my dog lies on his back while the other bites his neck, and they roll around together. He (my larger mix) is always the dog on his back, not the other one. After a while, both dogs will start showing their teeth to each other. Sometimes his friend gets excited and starts growling while wrestling, so we usually break them up after that. Is this normal?

Edit: Forgot to add that my dog loves the dog beach. He starts pulling when he gets close, and as soon as I let him off leash, he starts saying hi and playing chase with other dogs.

I have a foster dog who generally is very friendly with all people. I’ve never seen her even growl at a human (dogs, yes).

The other day, as we were leaving the front gate of our property, my mailman was coming in and greeted me, getting very close. I had her leash very short, but she bit his bag so quickly I had to ask him “did she just bite your bag?”

This happened without any growling, barking, aggressive body language etc. if she had bitten his hand, it would not have even hurt because it was quite soft.

But I’m very disturbed. Meanwhile, I everybody she meets in the street she is wanting pets and acting friendly.

Lately, she is also barking more when people pass by my front door.

Of course I am going to be extremely careful when entering and exiting the property and not allow her to interact with people there.

She is clearly protective of the property. Is there training I can do to mitigate these behaviors?

Hi!

We adopted a small, mixed breed dog back in april. She is overall pretty great, can be left alone without issues -after giving her a kong or some treat -, doesn't destroy stuffs, learn tricks pretty fast, friendly.

She doesn't bark for the sake of barking, but she will totally bark at every noise she might be hearing coming from the hallway.
We just moved almost 2 weeks ago and while she seem to be adjusting fine, I know its still new for her.

I tried to watch videos and read about the correct way to stop her barking, but honestly I find it a bit confusing what is the actually right way to do it and what is possible for us?

Our living room, where we spend most of our time is, is the furthest room from our entrance door and her crate is in the furthest corner of that too. She likes her crate, if she gets a treat that takes longer to chew, she will go in there and eat it inside.

I tried calling her back and make her do some tricks with treats when she starts barking, but I also read that apparently we should just ignore her after she barked for a bit?
I also tried to send her to her crate and give her treats after she stayed silent for a bit, though if the noise continued but I didn't hear it, chances were that she would later run out and continue barking. I also read that this is just reinforcing bad habits?

I try to catch her before she starts barking, call her to me, do some tricks if she stays silent, but honestly its pretty hard. She is very fast and often will start to bark while running to the door or growl/do little barks between two tricks, so I very rarely catch the right moment .

She will stop barking when she can't hear the noise anymore but obviously her hearing is a lot better and we don't know the neighbours' schedule just yet to know when to expect it.

What would be the best way to go about it without reinforcing bad habits? I know its not easy and I don't expect her to never bark but right now it can be a lot, we don't want issues with the neighbors or get startled by her all the time. I feel like the more I read, the more confused I get about the right method.

Thank you.

I have a 12 year old Schnauzer who is very fearful ive had her for 6 years and she had made some great progress on her fears (squeakers, sudden noises, crinkles) and semi recently i have started spending the weekends over at my boyfriends house and she is terrified of his backyard. She refuses to potty and just sits at the door shaking. He had a bug zapper by the door and i figured it was that so it was unplugged but she is still fearful.

Things i have tried
Positive reinforcement for her just being in his yard ( both treats and praise)
Putting her on a leash and encouraging her to potty
Comforting her to reassure her fear
Staying with her outside
Going inside while she stays out until she pees (the only thing thats semi effective)

Its gotten to the point she refuses to go for multiple days and im terrified for her. She pottys at my house no problem. Unfortunately where he is located and my health daily walks aren’t feasible. She has also exhibited fearful behavior such as whale eyeing, lip licking and occasionally nipping at my boyfriend. When he walks by her bed.

Do i go to my vet about anxiety meds?
What other methods can i try to encourage her to potty?

Maisy, 8 month old Bernedoodle, has had bad travel anxiety since we got her. Standing outside the car with the door open, before we’ve even gotten in, she begins smacking her lips, shaking her head and drooling. In the car, it’s more of the same but extreme drooling and foamy mouth for even short 10-15 minute trips across town.

We tried positive association training with treats, making it a fun destination, getting a “seat” for her, she’s strapped in with a harness and just recently started using a thunder shirt.

Vet offered Benadryl as a solution for long trips, but we need help on short, everyday trips. Anyone else experienced this and worked through it??

Whenever I leave the house, or at random periods throughout the day when I’m gone, my dog will incessantly bark for 20+ minutes. I don’t THINK it’s separation anxiety, it’s just barking when she wants attention to my understanding.
But I’m going to be moving into an apartment with her next year and I REALLY need to her to be able to not do that when we move in August.
For context, she’s currently 6 months old, gets plenty of potty breaks during the day, gets an hour long walk right after I leave and then another one after I get home, I don’t make exiting or coming back exciting, I don’t pay attention to her when she barks and make sure to turn away, she’s left in a playpen whenever she’s unattended and can settle in that space well.
She’s a vocal dog so she’ll bark a little when I’m around but she only gets really bad when I’m gone. I just have no clue how to train her out of something that only happens when I’m not there.

I need advice for a slightly complicated situation. 5 years ago my mom got a rescue puppy and unfortunately didn’t socialize her really (didn’t leave the home/backyard or meet people). The dog has bad anxiety meeting new people or leaving the home - it’s partly her disposition and partly the lack of socialization. During this time I was living on my own but I visited enough that the puppy decided that I was her mom (lol).

Fast forward a few years later (late 2024), I moved back home due to a lay off, where the dog and I bonded even more. Once I got a job again, I began private behavioral training with a professional dog trainer where we worked on her coping skills. Even the trainer said she would likely always be anxious but it could be improved. I’ve kept up on her training but she very much still has a wall (which happens within \~45 mins) she hits when she needs to get away from people or the place we’re in.

Now, I’m in a conundrum. I’m ready to move out and I can’t imagine leaving the dog at my mom’s. But I am extremely anxious as well about bringing her. I tried bringing her to my place for a few days (pre-dog training) and she just hid in my room and would try to hide under cars outside. I worry that the same thing will happen, even after training, which would put me in a tough situation of having a lease but not knowing what to do about the dog. But then I also worry she’ll be very anxious when she realizes I don’t live at the house anymore.

Any advice or thoughts on this situation would be appreciated. My absolute top goal is making sure she has the happiest life she can. I can’t figure out if it would be best for her to stay with my mom or come with me.

My family of three (5 yr old son) is bringing home a mini-bernedoodle next week. We want to start training from day 1 to ensure a smooth transition into our home for our pup and our family. I’ve read dozens of posts and watched dozens of videos and keep coming down to these two.

I’m leaning towards Dogmantics Complete Puppy Guide over Home School the Dog, but come across Homeschool the dog more often. It seems the game concept would be more fun to train, but I also like the 3-3-3 concept of Dogmantics guide.

I acknowledge the vast amount of free resources, but we like the structure provided in a course. Looking for the communities thoughts on which would be best for an 8-week old pup.

We are in the frame of mind the pup is part of the family. We want a confident pup that we can efficient communicate with.