We rescued a puppy and since we have had many dogs before and they are okay trained and great family pets, we tought it was going to be okay. I think he is a mix of something that is to intense for my usual companion breed standard. And I don't really know what to do. Like he is potty trained, crate trained and does a bunch of tricks but I dont know. He is too intense, too much. For example once he bit me (idk why) and I was startled so I kinda tapped him out of surprise and instead of maybe idk surprise or idk he seemed to be more excited and went back for another bite like in play but harder (redirecting to toys doesnt work). What has worked for my other pets at preventing resource guarding and displacement aggression seems to do nothing with him. I have two older dogs and a tiny one that lives full time inside and im kinda afraid he will injure them. He is super food motivated so that's a good thing i think.

I finally bought him a slip lead and that seems to do something. The corrections land and he seems to listen to me more. Idk help and tips is appreciated.

Photo of puppy we think he is around 6 to 7 months old

Edit to give more context and for everyone that says to rehome him. It is also in the comments

Okay, maybe he is malinoa mix, or a husky one, not a full breed. And he is quite short. He is a recue found in the streets! He is 7 to 6 months verified by the vets at the rescue. And he is already neutered by the rescue. We have time and commitment! My parents are home all the time and we are a family of adults. Our backyard is big and the place where we live is big and has a forest for the residents. I do understand this is a intense dog and that's why im asking for tips! I dont think we will rehome him tho! If not we have close family who are used to high intensity breeds (cattle dogs and huskies) and are willing to help us.

Second edit: he is also under socialized because he was really sick when they found him and contagious so he was in quarantine for a month in the rescue and another 2 weeks with us as he have other dogs and we wanted to be in the clear.

Third edit: maybe I will do bikejoring with him or try. I always wanted but my dogs where not into it.

Hello! My husband and I have been having an issue with our 8-month-old puppy. I’m not sure if it’s him being territorial over me, us letting him set boundaries in a bad way, or if he just doesn’t like to play how my husband plays with him. Everything I look at about territorial behavior seems too aggressive for what he’s doing so I’m not sure how to train the behavior.

A little background on our puppy. He is a cattle dog mix; I believe he’s mainly Australian Shepherd and Blue Heeler. We got him from an adoption agency and was very timid when we first met him. From what the agency told us he was picked on by the other dogs a bit, I think he may be the runt of his litter.

Whenever my husband plays with our dog he plays around with his snout, rubs/wiggles his body playfully, plays around with him in a tickle like motions, and will grab his legs and shake them around. Our puppy gets agitated quickly when my husband plays with him like this, however when I play with him in the same way it takes a lot longer for him to get agitated with the play, but he still gets agitated.

When eating his food our puppy will resource guard when my husband is trying to train him. However, when I am training resource guarding I can put my hands in front of his mouth, on his snout, and take his food away without a peep.

The reason I thought the issue might be territorial is because when my husband comes to cuddle me, show affection or we play around, our puppy gets very riled up, starts barking and try’s to get between us. When we try to redirect the behavior he doesn’t stop until we do. The issue with this is if I enact the behavior with my husband it’s still the same outcome.

But like I said, I don’t know if he’s being territorial, if he just doesn’t like rough housing and prefers more gentle play, or we’re letting him set boundaries and not redirecting it properly. Any thoughts on what he might be doing or behavioral training ideas you might have would be greatly appreciated! I just want to make sure we train him on the right thing and not overlook something else.

This is Bogey, 22mo lab.
I adopted him when he was 8mo and he is my first and only dog. I am unaware of exactly what his previous situation was, all I know is that when I got him he had no name and was afraid and anxious of everything. Until the last few months this had remained the situation aside from my girlfriend and my parents who we visit often and have a dog aswell.

I waited quite a while to introduce training because I was afraid I would only worsen his anxiety. Now I am just over a full year of having him and have struggled with even the basics (sit,stay,here,place). I know he knows the commands but I haven’t been able to get him to really listen to be able to progress towards more serious training. I’m still not confident to let him off a leash even in my back yard because I don’t know if he will listen to recall or not.

I’m afraid I’ve waited too long and now he is just going to be stubborn forever. I just can’t seem to get him to focus when I do try working with him. I know this was a lot and there’s not really a true question, I’m mostly just looking for some advice so I can have the hunting buddy and family guy I’ve always wanted or if I need to try a professional.

Anything advice or criticism is welcome, thanks in advance.

This is Nothing he is a 16 week old GR BC and heeler mix I’m just gonna say how screwed am I lol. He is WICKED smart and not in the cute “I can learn a trick in 2 minutes” kind of way the “I figured out how to unlatch a gate and then proudly bark at the front door” kind of way. Mind you I’ve worked with smart dogs including heelers DS’s and BCs but this little crotchgoblin is on another level. Do you know how long it took for him to master his basics consistently without reminders? 2 days. 2 damn days for sit and down in Spanish. thank the gods this little guy is food motivated or else idk what I’d do. Crate training is a nightmare as well according to my roommate he screamed for six hours straight while I was at work 🥲And he is STUBBORN he recently learned that it’s funny to forget his recall so we are working on that as well as he has graduated from stealing everything soft he can get his mouth on to giving everything to me and retrieving. Honestly kinda cute till it was my half chewed socks so if anyone has ideas or opinions on how I can entertain his little brain it would be very much appreciated because we are very much in the teething stage and my roommate and I would like sleep 😭

This is Riley. 6yo Rough Collie I adopted >1 year ago. She is a retired show line breeding dog from rural VA.

Riley was the greatest dog. Gentle beyond measure, friendly to everything, great on week-long road trips, could take anywhere with you. Truly what you picture as the “american dream family dog”. She started the phases of becoming a therapy dog & she was always the most complimented & calmest during group visits.

We live in Chicago & her first 4th of July here changed everything. The moment the fireworks started in clusters for long periods, a switch flipped. My Riley was gone & I haven’t seen her since.

Her threshold became paper thin. Any noise would send her into a panting, pacing, darty, frantic panic attack spiral, that she would take hours to settle from.

She would potty in the house as the moment we stepped outside she was over threshold.

Prozac for 2 months did nothing. CBD does nothing. Unsure if gabapentin helped at all.

Ive tried constant treats. I’ve tried fully stopping all outside outings.

Ive tried forcing her on hikes, beaches, walks, etc. with my pack of 4 other dogs, it’s so hit or miss if she‘ll start spiraling into panic attacks. She’s still quite anxious in the car and walking outdoors at baseline.

We are at a point she can handle pottying outside for 5ish mins, then she hits threshold & runs inside.

Inside she’s Riley though. She is not triggered by any noises indoors even if all windows are open & sounds are audibly heard. The one exception is continuous clusters of fireworks, which will make her spiral indoors. Thankfully she’s a very low energy dog, so she isn’t destroying my house & doesn’t seem upset living inside the condo for 23.9/10 hours a day. She has tons of bones & likes to play with my other collie.

Will I ever get my dog back? I’m angry at her suffering and I don’t understand how such a stable dog could collapse like this.

Please help me.

I’m on a waitlist for veterinary behaviorist, however I don’t think some anti-anxiety pills are going to cure how shot her nervous system is.

We adopted a 1.5 year old mostly husky/border collie mix (so lots of energy!) almost 2 months ago. We've been working with her on sitting and waiting at the doors and outside gates until we say the release word, since otherwise she'll bolt out of the door and into the street.

She's really great at that, but when we leave the house to go on a walk and I give her the release word she sprints full speed out of the door and it ends up hurting my arms since she yanks on the leash so hard. Otherwise once we're actually on the walk she walks just fine, doesn't pull on the leash very much, I think it's just the build up/anticipation of the walk.

I would appreciate any help/tips on getting her to walk out of the door calmly when I give her the release word. I didn't have this problem when teaching this to my pit mix, but he's pretty low energy so that's why haha. I'm still getting used to owning a higher energy dog, but she's a lot of fun to train!

My in-laws have been looking after our 2yr old husky mix since I had surgery a week ago. My father in law was in the backyard with her and he at some point fell and was on the ground, we're not sure how long he was there. My mother in law was out at the time and her friend called asking to go over and arrived at the house sooner than her and found my father in law. This person has never met our dog before. I don't know the full details but just knowing how my dog acts I can imagine she was barking. When the friend went to help my father in law up my dog apparently nipped at her arm/jacket. Not hard but still, enough to freak her out, understandably.

If someone had been there who knew my dog all they would have to do is direct her inside. I can't imagine if it was paramedics what would happen to my dog.

I honestly don't know how to handle this training wise or if it is something that could be trained? It was kind of a freak situation, was she just protecting her grandpaw?

My first dog is about to turn one, he’s been so easy in most ways, but there’s one walking issue im having trouble with.

I followed the standard advice about pulling, and it worked great! He never pulls forwards on walks at all and will usually walk either beside me or a little in front with occasional look back check ins. The problem is that when he finds a spot to sniff he hunkers down and refuses to go further.

I can get him to stay in a heel position on walks, but I’d like to be able to give him a bit more freedom without stopping whenever he finds something interesting. Any advice for on getting him to keep up with me without doing a heel all the time? Or am I being unrealistic?

Thanks in advance!

I have a 40 lb adult dog and Great Pyrenees puppy (close to 40lb at this point) and the adult dog is very harsh to him. She skips all normal corrections such as growl, snap, etc and goes straight to pinning him and sometimes thrashing him. The first few times I just pulled her off and thought pup had gone to far and triggers were obvious. 1st time puppy was investigating her chew treat way to close 2nd my adult dog had a sore foot. But the last two times her the puppy and my lab (60lb) would all be playing and she would randomly snap and go after the puppy. Her and the puppy act very timid around each other now but as soon as they warm up it feels like a ticking time bomb. What can I do to help them come to an understanding? What could be causing the issues? Why doesn’t she ever give him more moderate correction? Any help would be amazing TIA!

Edit: puppy is about 18 weeks old. Adult female is 4 years old.

does anyone know of any dog trainers in the southern maine/new hampshire area that are good at helping reactive dogs?

I have a 6.5-month-old GSP who I am having major issues with when he has to be crated in public. We started crate training when he came home with us at 8 weeks, and he willingly goes in his crate at home to rest, play with his toys, and sleep at night with absolutely no issues.

I assist in teaching classes at our dog club, and during those classes, he is crated. I have tried everything I can think of and training techniques that have worked with past dogs, but nothing is helping. He whines, cries and barks 75% of the session. We started out with just him in the crate with a frozen enrichment Toppl. He focused on eating for about 10 minutes, then went back to barking. The following day, we started using a citronella collar, which also offers the option of a beep and/or vibration. He was annoyed by the vibration at first, but after a week or so, it was no longer effective. I have tried covering the crate so he can't see me interacting with the other dogs, which again, works for about 15 minutes at the most, but then he is right back to it. I added a treat'n'train in the crate last week, which he could have cared less about. I have tried squirting him with water, bringing high-quality treats and rewarding even the briefest moment of quiet, and the list goes on. I have tried all of these methods separately, as well as in different combinations.

Since I am not able to step out of the ring every time he starts freaking out, I have started working with him outside of class time, but still on-site. I take him out of the crate when he starts to bark, tell him QUIET and put him back in. When he is quiet, I reward him with lots of praise, a treat and/or a bit of play with his tug toy.

What am I missing? Is there something that has worked for you that I am not doing? The older people in the club are very irritated by his noise level and have been making unkind comments, even though it's a *shocker* dog TRAINING club. I know it is annoying, and I am really trying to do everything I know how to help. But also, he is only six months old and is learning things for the first time.

I've been using a chrome-plated prong collar with my dog, and I've noticed that she occasionally seems a little uncomfortable while wearing it.

Sometimes she'll shake her head or scratch her neck during walks, maybe 2–3 times during a 30-minute walk. It's not constant, and it doesn't seem related to leash pressure or corrections. I've checked her skin several times and haven't noticed any redness or irritation, so I'm not sure whether it's some kind of metal sensitivity or just minor discomfort from wearing the collar.

I was considering trying rubber tips/caps, but I've seen some people mention that they can actually increase friction, catch on the fur, and make the collar less comfortable. Has anyone experienced this?

I'm also considering switching to a stainless steel or Curogan prong collar, but I'm unsure whether stainless steel would be enough if she's sensitive to the chrome plating.

I've also read some complaints about Curogan having worse durability and not sliding as smoothly as stainless steel or chrome-plated collars, which makes me hesitant to spend the extra money.

I'm not even sure my dog has a metal allergy, since there's no visible skin irritation and the scratching is pretty occasional. I'm just trying to figure out whether there's a better option for her comfort.

I'd appreciate hearing your experiences!

Our one year old lab/retriever mix loves to dig. She gets walks, exercise and activities regularly. She loves to dig and doesn’t differentiate from inside or out. What can I do to curb her or redirect her? My couch is in danger and she has literally dug a hole in my carpet!

My dog is 2.5-3 years old, 15-ish pounds, and has recently started peeing in the house. He has peed in the house previously, but it would be once or twice a year, with the occasional turd if he was upstairs for too long. However, in the past month, he has been peeing WAY more than usual. In the past 2 weeks, he went upstairs to pee on our guest bedroom bed sheets 3 separate times, and in the past 3 days he has peed on 1 blanket in my room twice. I know it's not a matter of not having access to outside because he has a permanent doggy door that leads outside and is almost never closed. The only time we block off his access to the outside is when it's after 9 pm, and he keeps barking after we tell him to stop. I also don't think it is a medical issue because no one has ever caught him in the act of peeing or pooping in the house; we only find the aftermath. When we do find his pee, he looks insanely guilty with his ears tucked back and his tail tucked behind his legs because he knows he's not supposed to do it, but he still does. Additionally, it seems rather odd that he is making his way upstairs and constantly peeing in the same/similar spots instead of randomly, like a medical condition.

We obviously wash and clean the affected areas when this happens, sometimes even multiple times, but this keeps happening. Not sure if this is relevant, but we also take him out of state once or twice a month to visit family 5 hours away, and he never has any issues there. We have been doing this with him since he was a baby, so it's not like it is a new experience for him. Any advice or possible reasoning is greatly appreciated because right now it looks like his little bootie is going to be locked in solitary confinement for 3 days if he keeps doing this.

I have a 6mo Miniature Dachshund male.

My hope is to get him neutered between the ages of 1 and 2 years old (preferably as late as is possible) to ensure full maturity to protect his back a bit more. He has already discovered his man dangle does more than pee, so im predicting marking will start soon.

He is fully house trained but im wondering if theres anything i should do before or immidiately upon him starting to make sure he doesnt get a habbit for marking inside. Especially as my floor is all carpet and untreated wood underneath.

HELP! My Aussie has recently starting peeing in various spots around our house. we bought our house a few months ago and the previous owners had 2 dogs, but thoroughly cleaned the whole house with an enzyme cleaner. The first 3 months here we had no accidents despite the change from having a yard to herself to having to be walked to go potty. She still knows where to go to ask to go out and does still ask to go out whenever she needs to. The issue is that we will come in from her walk where she definitely peed to empty her bladder, not to mark the grass, and then we will settle back in. but she will sneak downstairs while we’re upstairs, pee somewhere, then come back upstairs without us even noticing. Sometimes it’s a couple hours after we went out, sometimes it’s 10 minutes.

We’ve only caught her doing it once and she stopped as soon as we saw her, she ONLY does it when we’re not in eyesight. She’s never had an issue like this before, even when she had a UTI a few years ago. And it’s not a daily occurrence, it’s only once every few days so we keep thinking our methods of blocking off the areas she frequents and/or cleaning them thoroughly with enzyme cleaner is working until she finds a new spot and we’re back to square one.

She’s never been crate trained because it was frankly never necessary before and she also freaks herself out when she’s confined (EX: when we were moving she was put in a master bathroom and literally had a panic attack). She grew up with a PDA and had heart surgery for it 4 years ago and has been healthy since but even while actively having an engorged heart and fluid in her lungs for years she NEVER peed in the house like this.

She is a fairly territorial dog, and Nature’s miracle has been the enzyme cleaner we’ve been using. I plan on taking her to the vet anyway because i’d rather be safe than sorry, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any other reason this behavior could be happening?

We have a 3 year (fixed) old lab. She is a great dog but recently we’ve noticed she has a frantic like energy around my husband. She is obsessed with him. She screams when she hears his vehicle pull onto our street, and she cannot settle when he’s around she just follows him anxiously waiting for attention. I understand she loves him but it’s seeming a bit more anxious than sweet lately. He puts his stuff down etc before greeting her and makes sure she’s sitting calmly before saying hi and petting her but even when he’s home for the day she is still extremely anxious and frantic around him. Any suggestions on what we can do to make her a bit calmer or relaxed and not NEED his attention? It’s a lot.

My year-old Staffy's recall is still non-existent. I have been training with him since day one: indoors, outdoors, in the park, on his long lead, played and tried all the games, with treats he only gets outside the house. He is not off-lead yet because of this, I am always trying to be responsible, which is an issue in itself because he needs to get some energy out but his persistence can cause him to pull a lot on the lead. It's a never-ending circle: he can't be off lead to have fun and play and pulls on the lead, but needs to be off lead to practice properly, but can't be until his recall is better. He's dog-reactive but in terms of playing, not agression.

I have also been training calmness around other dogs but he's just so excited and playful it's hard, and dogs come over to us too which doesn't help.

It's okay if there are no other dogs around - I have also been training a "leave" command for when he is visually locked on to another dog in order to stop him trying to run over which works from a distance - but once he is playing with his friends and locked in it's completely futile. It's embarrassing, frustrating and also becoming an issue for his safety too, as he's too young to be neutered so has become a target for other dogs, yet won't leave them alone or come back to me when they are telling him off, I drag him away of course but he won't let it go. I don't let him sniff many dogs, avoiding 90%, only letting him say hi the ones we know like him and will play with him, but then he won't ever stop or come back to me.

I'm at a loss. Please advise.

EDIT! The video included is how she acts at her worst, and I am aware she is elevated in it. 85% of the times she walks much better. The purpose of the video was to show how she can be, to give a clear picture of her struggles 😁

First of all, I want to state that I do NOT want to be told to use a prong collar, nor an E-collar, as both of these are illigal where I am located 🤗

Hello! I am looking for tips when it comes to loose leash walking. My girl is a 6 year old spayed sledhound (primarly husky, vorsteh, GSP and greyhound).

She lived her first 4 years with her breeder where she lived as most sleddogs do, outside with their own housing in an enclosed area. So she has been a pet for 2.5 years, as long as I've owned her. When I first got her she would pull til she choked herself out, as she was not used to being walked on a lead. We have come a long way, but have stagnated this last year. She will run to the end of her leash, run back to me when I stop and do it all over again.

The first year I used her kibble to condition her to want to come back to me, as she would just lean on her collar. The strategy I use today is stop when she reaches the end of her leash, wait for slack and keep walking. But I would like for the leash to stay loose, and not have to stop every 2 meters 😅 Food of any kind seems to stimulate her even more, and she struggles more with her focus when I use that. She is also very easily distracted with her enviorment. I do not wish for her to walk in a heel, I just want slack on the leash without being dragged. We use a flat collar, occesionaly non-stops walking harness but she really views any harness as a pulling harness, so it is mostly when walked on the longline.

We walk 8-15km a day on average, and are outside every 5 hours during the day. We do both bikejoring and canicross a couple times a week.

Thank you for taking the time to read and (maybe) respond. I greatly apreciate it! ❤️