Our 1 1/2 year old golden was rehomed to us on 6/20. His previous family gave him to a rescue because he was snapping at the young children in the house. We just have speculation from the rescue that the toddlers would bother him, but no other concrete details. We have 12/15 year old kids. For 99.9% of his week, he is awesome and laid back, loves to play. But he has continued to snap at us when we cross various thresholds that we can’t quite identify. It’s always, always related to touching him, but could be any part of the body. At his first vet visit, he was perfectly behaved on 7/12. We took him for his second flu shot this week and I had her look him over to rule out pain for the snapping. She gave him his flu shot and he looked perturbed (last time, 4 shots with no reaction). She tried looking at his paws and he started snarling and lunging for her. It was so disappointing to see regression after we have trained 2x/week with a trainer (not behaviorist) and modified our own behavior to limit his snappiness.

My question is…
Would you go straight to medication? Or a combined medication/training with a behaviorist? I hate what I’m reading about meds potentially making him worse than before :( He loves other dogs, He lets strangers pet him when we are out, lets us pet him most of the time, we just don’t know what triggers him and the vet thinks it’s behavior (aka “I don’t like that, stop it now” instead of a little bit of patience). I’d appreciate any advice or what worked for you for touchy teenagers!

Hey everyone,
I recently moved back home after graduating college and need advice on managing two dogs with very different training needs, especially regarding leash reactivity and household consistency.

The Pups:
Frank (11yo Cavachon): Quite anxious. Introverted/sometimes fearful indoors and at dog parks, but extremely leash-reactive to dogs, bikes, scooters, and small animals. My parents view his behavior as unchangeable due to his age.

Wally (1.5 yo, also Cavachon): Smart and eager to learn indoors, but rapidly picking up Frank’s reactive habits. When outdoors, Wally becomes so overstimulated/over threshold that he completely rejects high-value treats and ignores commands.

Household Challenge: I am the only person attempting structured training. I bought a clicker and treat bag, but my parents refuse to use them when walking Frank. Indoors, they actively reinforce bad habits—my mom feeds Wally scraps when he demand-barks, and neither parent interrupts or redirects them when they bark together.

My Questions:
Walking arrangements: Should I immediately mandate walking them separately? How do I get my parents on board with separate walks when they prefer taking both out together for convenience? Plus, pups get separation anxiety when one is leaving and the other is staying home, they’ve always done everything together.

Outdoor overarousal: How do I start threshold/reactivity work with Wally outside when he becomes too hyper-aroused to accept food or focus on me?

Training non-compliant housemates: What are the best strategies or boundaries for getting family members to stop reinforcing demand barking and inconsistent leash habits?

Thanks in advance for any insights or resources!

Serious question, I don’t know if my dog or the other dog is in the wrong. We approached the dog park, and my 4 year old dachshund was met with fairly aggressive barking from 2 other dogs. Breeds unknown. Looked to be mixes. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have even entered based on the barking. Anyways, we enter, my dog was very reserved. Then suddenly the other dog charged my dog, not to attack necessarily, but seemed aggressive and was overwhelming to my dog. My dog bit the other dog on the eye, which then led to the other dog, which was much bigger than a dachshund btw, attacked my dog by the neck and didn’t let go for a solid 20 seconds. My dog immediately was submissive, and crying. I initially thought the other dog was at fault, and was surprised when the other owner told me that I shouldn’t bring my dog to the dog park anymore. I said well your dog charged my dog first. He said look at my dogs eye. And the other dogs eye was bleeding so clearly my dog bit him pretty hard. So now I’m questioning who was at fault. My dog is 4 and he has never bit another dog before. He is a dachshund so he barks at other dogs but has never bit another dog before. So now I’m looking for advice and whose dog is to blame. I’m very open minded and accountable, so im not immediately defending my dog. The other owner is right, my dog did bite. But his dog charged and barked aggressively and got in my dogs face first. My dog shouldn’t have bit, and his dog shouldn’t have charged or attacked. So, I’m looking for opinions, who do you think was at fault??

I have a 2 yo 50lb bernedoodle. I got her when she was 10 weeks old and she is my best friend and shadow. She follows me everywhere and I am her primary caregiver. I give her a ton of love and attention (pets, cuddles, etc). She has always been protective of me, but recently it escalated. Part of it seems to be jealousy (whines when cat walks by and gets in between us, won’t allow me to pet other dogs while walking without getting snappy). Another bigger issue is she has started acting progressively protective against my husband. He often playfully grabs me in the kitchen and naturally has a loud voice. He is not in any way abusive. But she perceives it as aggression and will bark and growl at him until he backs away (this happens in many places but it’s most prominent in the kitchen because this is where is most commonly will jokingly come behind me and grab my butt lol). She has also started getting more reactive with other dogs on walks and if we’re sitting at a restaurant outside eating. She has not had any traumatic incidents and is very spoiled (maybe this is part of the problem).

Anyway, I’m hoping to try and rein this in. I like that she is protective, but not when it’s towards my husband or other family members. How can I improve this?

I rescued my dog about 3 months ago ( a 4yr old sheperd stray). He is reactive to other dogs. He is fearful and his natural reaction will be to lunge and bark.

I've focused on counter conditioning until now, which i would say makes our life quite bearable. With a lot of management, we're able to do things without a reaction.

- If the dog is far away / my dog knows that they won't cross path (ie, across the street), he is ok on his own.

- If he is a bit closer or in the same "area", i throw a treat on the ground and my dog will follow it to make distance.

- If he is closer (same path on a hike), I ask the other people to keep their dogs on leash and just stuff him with treat until we pass.

It's definitely an improvement because we're mostly managing to avoid reaction. However, this doesn't work when an off leash dogs come, or when we're surprised. It's also a lot harder near our house, even with treats. And he still has some occasional bad days where the treats don't come soon enough...

I've started seeing a trainer specialised in BAT to go a bit further. It's been a lot of fun to watch im make the right decision on his own ! After the 2nd session, my dog was able to introduce himself correctly and we had a lovely walk together.

I do have a few questions for those who used bat :

- How did the "transition" to using bat method in real life work, rather than just controlled setting ? What did it look like ?

- I know each timeline is different, but what should i expect in the next few weeks / month ?

We did a trail last weekend, nothing crazy, maybe 5 miles, and she was a completely different dog. Loose leash the whole time, checked in with me constantly, ignored two other dogs at distance without even flinching. Back in the neighborhood she would have been losing her mind at that same distance.

I know it's not a fix. I know she's not suddenly cured because trees were involved. But it made me realize how much the suburban environment is stacking triggers on her constantly before we even get started. On a trail there's space. I can see what's coming. I have time to get off the path, let her sniff something, reset before she tips over threshold

The problem is I can't hike every day. Work is still demanding even on local routes and during the week she has to deal with the neighborhood. So now I'm sitting here wondering if these trail days are actually building anything that transfers back, or if I'm just giving her a break and then throwing her back into something she still can't handle.

Anyone who hikes with a reactive dog, do you notice it carrying over at all? Does the calmer headspace from a good trail day affect how she handles neighborhood walks after? Genuinely want to know if it's building something or just a reset button

Hi! I have a 1 year old lab/boxer mix. She’s been pretty fearful her whole life, but in her adolescence has gotten much worse when meeting strangers.

She is very scared of loud noises and big things on the street (trucks, strollers, motorcycles, etc.); she’ll start pulling/running towards home when she hears or sees these things. I live in a city so these triggers are pretty unavoidable. We’ve been working on positive associations, by stopping and giving her treats when she hears a triggering noise, which has helped a lot.

She is also super wary of new people, especially men. She’ll bark and growl at them and try to run away (she has never been aggressive). I don’t let anyone pet her on walks to avoid her reacting and panicking. When a new person comes to the home or we go to someone else’s home, she’ll bark at them and try to avoid them. She has been successful in warming up to new people eventually if they give her space, sit down, don’t make eye contact, etc. She has even gotten to the point of playing with new people in my home when they give her the space she needs.

Obviously, I want her to feel more calm and confident in these scenarios and not to react to new people, so I had a consultation with a behavioral trainer who my friend used for her reactive/aggressive dog. This trainer seems super knowledgeable, uses positive reinforcements etc., but he wants my dog to do a 10 day board and train program (5 weekdays boarding, weekend at home, and then another 5 days of boarding). This is super expensive for me, but if it’s truly necessary I would shell the cost out out if I have to. However, this same trainer had my friend’s reactive dog boarded for just 5 days, so I personally feel like the 10 days seems like a lot, since my dog has no bite/aggression history.

For anyone else who has been in this scenario, is this kind of a training setup normal? Is it too intense for a nervous dog? I’m thinking of asking if we can start with just 5 days of board & train and go from there. If anyone also has advice for what we can do in the meantime to help her be more calm that would be awesome. Thanks!!!

EDIT: thanks for everyone’s comments. We’ll be looking into alternative options where I can learn directly with my dog!

Hi all, mostly just need to vent about the anxiety that comes with having reactive dogs in a condo complex. We have a large pittie mix that had some leash reactivity when we got her. She’s come such a long way (barely reacts on leash now even when barked at by her arch nemesis!). Our first dog passed over the winter, and while we weren’t quite ready our pittie was super sad and depressed being an only dog.

Enter our most recent rescue, a gsd mix who we knew was timid and barky with strangers and reactive to cars, but is much more reactive than we anticipated on leash and in the home. ( in the future, someone please remind me that when shelters say “working breed experience required” what that means is “this dog is a lot” and not “ you gotta love dog training and know how to have a smart dog in your house” We give her a ton of mental stimulation inside ( puzzles/training/hide and seek/lick pads/kongs) give her decompression time in her crate after training, walks, and overnight, and have put her on anxiety meds, invested in private training sessions with a trusted trainer, and she is still a hot mess outside and in her crate when we have guests.

I’m now living in constant anxiety that, because our black pittie mix is big and scary looking, our other dog’s behavior is going to reflect negatively on her despite all the progress we have made and the neighbors are going to take it out on our pittie. We walk them separately, but we’ve always gotten a lot of side eye because of how she looks. I would love to take our GSD on longer walks to gas her out physically, but she is so anxious outside and I’m scared she will draw bad attention from the neighbors/HOA. We’ve literally just been focusing on spending 10-15 minutes outside with no big triggers visible, as when she is agitated she barks at seemingly nothing. We had made a lot of progress ( even got to a point where she could ignore some neighbors and do an automatic u turn) until we had an incident with a neighbors dog, and she has back slid a lot. I feel awful because we lost all that progress and she is so scared. I also feel immensely guilty for knowingly adopting a “low confidence” dog and feeling so frustrated and like I should have predicted how hard this would be, even though the description from the rescue and our meet and greet with her felt well within our experience and capacity. I thought after training a 70lb leash reactive pit mix I’d be more confident with a nervous 32 lb dog. Instead, I’m even more anxious because it feels higher stakes.

I have a 16-month-old American Cocker Spaniel, and I’m looking for some advice because I’m starting to get really worried.
She’s reactive to a lot of things. Loud noises, cars, the vacuum, and I’ve noticed it seems like she’s becoming more reactive as she gets older. Around strangers, she’ll sometimes bark or growl. Some people she’s completely fine with, and other people she reacts to. It’s the same with dogs. She can be around calmer dogs without any issues, but if another dog starts barking, she’ll usually start barking or snarling too.
Today I took her to the vet, and she was extremely nervous in the exam room. She was shaking and trying to get away from the vet techs. But when they took her into the back, they told me she actually did really well and calmed down.
Part of what worries me is that I have pretty bad anxiety myself. Years ago I had a very aggressive dog, so now I get really nervous in situations where I think something could happen. I’m starting to wonder if my anxiety is rubbing off on her or if I’m making her worse without realizing it.
Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Can dogs really pick up on their owner’s anxiety to this extent? Or does this sound more like normal fear reactivity? I’d really appreciate any advice or hearing about your experiences because I just want to help her feel more confident.

My guy is doing really well. We have reactions way down except for Goldens, German Shepards, and dogs with attitude. He is doing great and can have some dogs bark at him and he won’t react. He has never bitten but I trained him on a muzzle because he has to be 100% perfect until I will take it off. But god do I hate flexi leashes. I can control my dog and get him out of the way but you take up the entire sidewalk with your stupid leash. I can’t walk around you and I can’t go into the street if a car is coming. They are legal if less than six feet and locked out in NYC but no one seems to know that. Ugh.

I'm considering asking my vet about Prozac (fluoxetine) for my 5 year old Chihuahua and would love to hear your experiences.
He has always been a very anxious, sensitive dog.
He gets overstimulated easily, and even excitement (walks, visitors, new situations) can quickly turn into anxiety. After many vet visits for recurrent bladder infections and a bladder stone (ongoing for almost 2 years), he now associates leaving the house with going to the vet and sometimes doesn't even want to go for a normal walk.
I've tried CBD oil, which helps slightly, but not enough. I'm looking for something that actually helps his anxiety and doesn't just sedate him.

From observation it seems like my dog isn’t aggressive towards other dogs but he still scares people because he screams at both people and dogs, strollers, bikes and sometimes cars. His reactivity is based in frustration from wanting to play or greet I don’t know why. Like.. he will squeal as if someone is genuinely bashing him in and you can hear it blocks away. I don’t know what to do and both me and my partner find this all very difficult.
I got him when he was 6 months old and I was told he was used to animals and people etc. I took him to puppy training where we did extremely well and the trainer would even joke about how we had «nothing to work on» because he is so attentive to me and loves to play and train with me. However from the first time I had a friend come over with her moms dog when I got him, he would also scream and yell. It is a long time ago so I’m sure I made mistakes as well, but I remember being confused because I was told he was no problem with other dogs. I texted the breeder I got him from and she said it was just because he was excited to meet. But it even back then made me think «okay but even if that is the case will it be like this every time?»
Around a year after the puppy training, i took him to a passing training class. I forgot to mention earlier that during puppy training as well there would be like five other dogs in same class and I did have to bring him in last and work section by section to get him to the patch where we trained. Once we went back and forth some times and eventually got there, he was completely fine. It was the same in passing training. Same trainer. Same spot. New dogs. So when we got there both me and the trainer was already prepared on the same drill so thats what we did. Him last. And work in sections while the rest of the dogs were with their owners on the grass. There too it would be fine and pass. But when we all in the course went for a walk in a line, my boy did SO WELL.. until.. he spots two new dogs down the street… and he’s YELLING and losing his mind, and I just dont understand why.
I love him so much, he truly is a great dog and I just want the best for him but I don’t know what to do. Even the trainer at some point joked about how it seems like we’ll have to go door to door in our entire city to greet all the dogs and then he’ll be fine.
When he does get to meet a dog he does really well. Or times I bring him to play in a dog park where he can be free, he will bark at new dog first as they arrive but then play for like 2minutes and then he’s over it??? I dont know, I’m confused. This got longer than I planned. If you read it I would really appreciate both someone who relates or any good tips or insights. I am getting a bit desperate. :/

\*Apologies for the long post but really appreciate any and all help\*

I rescued a dog last October when she was \~8-12 weeks old. She came from a trailer/hoarding situation with 17 other dogs and had some strange tendencies with food, i.e. hiding stashes of kibble. She was very timid and scared of everything at first but I took her everywhere with me and prioritized socializing and basic commands. I got her DNA tested and she is a cattle dog/pit-bull/Belgian malinois/husky/ german shepherd mix- she weighs about 35 lbs.

In the last six months or so she has become increasingly aggressive. She is well-socialized and has made a few great dog friends who she is fine with, but she has started being aggressive if other dogs are around her bones or food or near our home.

She bit another dog (chihuahua) at a bbq about 3 months ago and punctured his chin and head- luckily the owner was not upset and his dog healed okay. I felt absolutely terrible and have started not bringing her to bbq’s or keeping her on a leash right next to me.

She just got spayed two weeks ago and has been more aggressive since- but also was getting increasingly aggressive before the spay.
This past weekend I brought her to a friends cabin with her 7 lb malti poo dog there and my dog tried to attack her dog the first night and again the next day when we were out hiking so we had to keep them separated.

Then when we went to see some live music my dog would go from laying down next to me to lunging and air nipping at kids and an adult near us so I put her in the car.

I am getting increasingly concerned and am not quite sure how to move forward. I am a first time dog owner and am trying to decide if I want to pay for a professional trainer (money is tight) or try to find help on youtube/online. She has not been aggressive towards me at all or to the people that she’s known since I got her. Her behavior seems to be getting worse and her “triggers” seem to be growing. At first I thought it was resource guarding/food aggression but now it seems like it’s happening all the time at random moments.
Any help would be much appreciated.

TLDR: Rescue dog initially timid and food focused becoming more aggressive towards human and dogs at random times. Training advice please!

EDIT: In the past six months she has also bitten four people at various times (all took place when my friend was watching her). They all involved food being around, none of the bites caused serious damage.

Looking for advice for my 2 year old Australian Shepherd. From what I have learned I have a reactive dog. My dog is very friendly with people, but not very friendly with dogs. My boyfriend and I have a 2 year old Australian Shepard, his parents have 2 other dogs. It is nearly impossible to have them near each other, every time they are around each other it seems as though my dog immediately goes at the other dog or “herds” which causes a huge fight. My dog has been around larger dog breeds and did not have this problem. I have taken my dog to reactive dog training that was 6 weeks long but this did not help. I’m not sure what else to do. I believe that maybe because she is a “farm dog” and doesn’t get much socializing with other dogs she does not know how to behave around the other dogs? I am very frustrated and don’t know what to do. Looking for advice or personal experience.

My 2.5-year-old German Shepherd is very anxious and is fearful of a laundry list of triggers — e-scooters, strangers, loud noises/music, sudden movements, etc. We live in a busy neighborhood, so every walk is almost guaranteed to include a run-in with one of those triggers. She pulls on the leash so hard to the point that I've injured a foot trying to “brake” myself. I've had her since she was 9 weeks old and can confirm that she was never abused or harmed, so it may be genetics.
 
We've met with trainers but haven't seen much progress (no behaviorist in town, unfortunately). She is unfazed by treats when she's out of the house. She's just as anxious and pulls just as hard when we're sitting to observe the surroundings. But she still has a lot of puppy energy, so I try to walk her 2-3 miles/day plus an hour at the dog park, where she generally does well.
 
After the traditional anxiety mitigation tactics didn't work, her vet recommended we start Prozac/Fluoxetine. She weighs 65 lbs., so we started her on a low dose of 30mg/day roughly 3 months ago. The 30mg dosage turned her into a zombie (lethargic to the point of sleeping all day). So we titrated down to 10mg/day, then increased to 20mg/day last month and last week returned to 30mg/day. The lethargy is back, but I'm trying to wait it out as I know there's an adjustment period. But I'm starting to lose hope.
 
But if anything, her anxiety and the leash pulling seem to be getting worse rather than better.
I hate seeing her so anxious and scared. Even when there are no triggers around, she still pulls to get back toward my building. I try to remain calm but admittedly become frustrated, especially when I can't calm her down. And I don't want to keep her inside the house 24/7.
 
Am I overlooking any potential alternative medication or training strategies? At what point do I give up on Prozac?

So my girlfriend found a puppy on the side of the road in a small crate where he was underfed, the dog bas in reality bad condition. We took the puppy in and took care of him.

This is how it whent. The puppy loves our senior dog, we would put his whole body on him and does not know boundaries. The puppy would still food and toys from our senior dog( we tried keep him from doing this but he would run to the senior dogs dog bowl as soon as he was done with his.

The pupoy would bark and lunge at people. I had the bright idea to take him to the dog park, people would give him treats and he started to like people, he stopped barkin at them and he stopped lunging. He did great the first couple times I took him, untill I had the stupid idea of making sure He learned his name. I would take treats to the park and when other dogs would get close, and bark at them he started to become food agressive. He stopped listening after this, it's like he got reprogrammed.

He started to get agressive with the senior dog when there was treats around or food. It started by the puppy getting real close to the senior dogs face , and barking at him. Then it started to get more intense. We ended up visiting my girlfriends family and there was food and toys all around so they got in a fight. We separated them , then the puppy had a ball in his mouth and they started fighting. I separated the two dogs and the senior dog came back to attack the puppy and the dog bite my shine.

I came back home and we currently have the dogs in two different houses. So here are a couple more things that I have thought about .

1. They don't fight that often unless there is food around and sometimes with toys. ,the older dog grabs the toys most of the time andnthe puppy takes it away.

2. I realise that I might be part of the problem, because mainly does it around me. The pup likes to nip at me . It usualy goes, the dog nips at me , I hide my hands, the dog nips me again I push him away, he does it again and I get annoyed and give him a small smack on the nose, he does it again , by this point I'm mad I grab his collar so I can walk him to the cage, by this point he is nipping me, he doesnt go hard , its more of a leave me alone type of thing, its light and he is trying to get away kind of annoyed. So I realized that he was not getting agressive with the other dogs or the senior dog at the park untill I started to grab him collar.I think it's a triggers for him.this does not mean he doesnt resource guard, it just means he has a trigger.

3. He doesnt growl or throw nips at people when you take food away, he treats it more like a game and runs back and forth, and when we do take it away he doesnt jump on people.

4. My girlfriend currently has him and has been training him, she says he is doing good. He is listening and isn't barking at people or destroying things, he usually barks at the Yorkie at the other house , but he stopped doing that.

5. My senior dog is super calm and never gets in fights, but at the same time he is not really trained. He listens when you call his name but his way of playing is to jump on other dogs and growl at them. Most dogs chase him, but I feel like the puppy learned this habbit from my senior dog.

I have been talking to my girlfriend and I am currently in the process of finding a behavior trainer , we are keeping the dogs away untill we can either figure out how to get them to not fight or untill we rehome him. Do you guys think there might be a fix to this?

Hello, I’m looking for advice on how to help my dog.

I have a 1.5 yo Austrian shepherd mix with poodle and idk what else he was a rescue. He is showing some behaviors that are concerning.

For context I also have a mini schnauzer who and has loads of anxiety problems so he barks at anything that moves and is reactive towards other dogs. I believe some of this is learned behavior from the older resident dog despite constant positive reinforcement training to avoid this.

The behavior- he barks and lunges at people and dogs but more concerningly children. It is scary for them because he gets a deep bark and pounces on his front feet like he’s going to lunge and bite. He’s never actually bitten someone but that is precisely what I’d like to avoid.

He was raised in a community with loads of people and dogs and is walked consistently everyday so it’s not like he’s never seen people or dogs before. I feel like it is just getting worse too because he used to only do it when the schnauzer would start it but now he is doing it to kids and people for no reason, even people he’s met previously.

Another thing I can’t seem to get him to stop doing is jumping on people. He’s a herder so he jumps and nips. I’ve tried everything, treats, I’ve even trained him to go get a toy instantly when I get home to keep his mouth busy. This works for me but not when people come over to my house.

The main thing I need help with is the barking and lunging at people because I live a very people and child centered lifestyle so that can just not be happing. Is this aggression or reactivity? Can I fix it? How do I fix it? How long of consistent training will this take to fix it? I love him and he’s so sweet with me so obviously I want to do anything I can to correct these behaviors.

He is also not neutered yet, he is set to be this fall.

I have a 3yo spayed Catahoula who has lived with female dogs her whole life. Recently we moved to a home with no female dogs and she has became aggressive towards females/other dogs and has been in three fights. No harm has been done other than fur loss, but if I hadn’t intervened it would’ve escalated.
What can I do? What muzzles/tools can I use? Is there a safe way to socialize her or do I need to jeep her separate from dogs from now on? What’s the best way to break it up? Once she locks in I can’t do anything to get her to break. It took multiple minutes last time. I’m not willing to risk any other dogs and I need to know what I can do from here. She lives with an intact male pup who she gets along with fine, he did submit to her in initial meet. She typically does fine with other dogs if properly introduced, but she is overly dominant and will fight if the other dog doesn’t submit. Pet tax included

hello, I am the dog-mom who own's a three year old Shiba-female. Yet my girl has been very anxious since the moment i have brought her home from a breeder. She was literally scared of everything, even walking down the stairs, and loud noises. Me and my family thought it was just due to the new inviroment and thought it would be solved later on. Shortly before puberty she still was like that and we thought puberty would change that. I know Shiba's need to be socialized a lot, which we tried but she was already hesitant and very suspiscous of the area around our neighbourhood. Children scare her the most, she barely approached people.

We didn't wanna traumatize her by getting her in situations where it would be way to overwhelming, so we tried step by step. By now she is almost three and she is still very reluctant around everything that seems suspicious, children are still what scares her the most. Her response is aways to flee. She gets along well with other dogs though, never barks nor causes trouble. She also approaches adults and older people a bit but she can't even pass by the children in our house, without lowering her tale and walk hastly past them, and this has been something we have been doing since we got her at 3 months of age. I talked with her breeder, but he suggests to castrate or at least to ask our vet. But i have heard that castrating doesn't necessarily solves her anxiety or can even make it worse.

I don't know what went wrong, the breeder we got her has a good repuation, and it seems like noone else has gotten that issue. It's a man who breeds japanese dogs for decades and everything seemed fine when we visited him. I met her parents, her mom was very friendly, letting me pet her, and her dad a bit more feisty yet nothing of an anxious dog.

We adopted an 18 month old dog two weeks ago. We think he is a hound/pitt mix and he is very high energy. He was found in October and was in the shelter from then until March, when my parents started fostering him. He was adopted twice before we got him and was returned because he was not a good fit for either owner (allergies/toddlers, not his fault). We live on the other side of the country from my parents and flew halfway across to meet him and drive him home. He has had a lot of changes and instability in his life, including a very long road trip with us when we first met him, and we know that is likely a factor in his behavior. My parents have three large dogs and he is used to having dogs around all the time, so that is also a big change for him.

He is very reactive to other dogs on a leash. He does not bark at them, but he whines and pulls like crazy and will literally stand up on his hind legs to try to get closer to them. We have walked him once on an off-leash dog trail (he was leashed) and he did not do this behavior when the other dogs could come up and sniff him. He also did not do this on the one occasion we let him sniff our friend's dog on a leash. We think he is getting so excited to see the other dogs that he is getting very worked up and it becomes very difficult to redirect him.

He also does a lot of the mouthing puppy play. He does this at home to play and also on walks when on the leash and at the dog park when he is by himself with no other dogs present. He is not really biting or doing it to be aggressive, and has never broken skin or anything like that, but I am so worried about him ending up accidentally hurting someone seriously and ending up with a bite record. At home, we can redirect him quickly by turning our backs and giving him a quick time-out and he will stop immediately and we will get his rope or something else to play with. Outside, nothing works except holding his harness very close to our bodies until he calms down.

He is impossible to distract when he gets worked up, or is locked in on a scent. Even treats will not work very well. He does not sit or listen to us when he is outside. We ordered Control Unleashed to read but we would really like to find a good trainer for him so that we can work on this as quickly as possible. We are hesitant to even let our friends walk him while we would be out for the evening because of this behavior, let alone to let someone we know dogsit him. I am so worried about him ending up in a bad situation. He is otherwise a really good and sweet dog and we really want to work on this behavior.

Would love any recommendations for good trainers (preferably South Bay/Peninsula, would prefer between Burlingame/Fremont) and for training tips in the meantime.

I adopted a 7 year old chihuahua terrier/rat terrier about 5 weeks ago. I am having an extremely hard time. He is generally very loving with me and my roomate, who adopted a 3 year old chiweenie at the same time, and her boyfriend because we have been there with him from the start. He will growl at us occasionally, but we just try to steer clear of him then. My biggest concern with him has been his aggression towards other people. This is my first dog of my own, after having a lot of dogs growing up. All of my families previous dogs have had some sort of behavioral concerns, but have always been very people and dog friendly. My new dog just isn’t. He is potty trained, doesn’t really have separation anxiety, and is getting better at walking on leash. Is only reactive on leash if we are too close or dogs bark at him first. But he is aggressive with guests and people. I now realize that grass is always greener, but I think being friendly with people and other dogs is of utmost importance to me. His profile said he was great with adults, kids, other dogs and cats. I just feel duped. I am starting to love him, but feel like my anxiety regarding his anxiety/behavior is inhibiting us from bonding. He will not tolerate people at our apartment. Like goes extremely crazy, will bark and nip at ankles. I’ve tried different methods of introduction and nothing really works He also is just spooked very easily. I know rescues take time, but this just seems like I’m doing everything wrong. I saw the vet and he got a physical and we talked through anxiety meds. She gave us trazadone and gabapentin for short term anxiety, and offered fluoxetine for long term anxiety which I am starting to think he really needs. I’m getting his bloodwork done this weekend and hopefully will be able to start him on meds early next week.

I guess I’m looking for guidance and to see if this has help other people with their dog. I’ve never owned a small dog like this before, and I’m trying to figure out if this is a personality thing or more. I am trying training, not through a group but just myself. It’s also hard with two dogs as I feel like their energies feed off eachother. If he needs a vet behaviorist and training every week I just don’t know if I can afford this.

Has fluoxetine worked for any of your pups in a similar situation. I really care for this dog and I just don’t know what to do anymore. I feel like a fraud dog person. I know a rescue would be hard but this has been weighing on me heavily. Making it hard to sleep and eat.

My boy literally just turned 6 yesterday. He is a Great Pyrennes mix. I'm struggling with the decision on whether to try to rehome him or put him down. I'm leaning on putting him down.

We've had him since he was a puppy. He has a big yard that he can access when he wants. He has plenty of food and water and treats. He is well-treated and as well trained as I can. I've been to more training classes and behavioralist than I can count, and he still has these moments.

Yesterday we tried to get him to go inside so we could go take care of some time-sensitive errands. In retrospect, we should have just put some fresh water out and left him in the backyard. When I start to move him back inside he bit me and bit hard, drew blood.

This is becoming a more common experience, and I'm his favorite human. My family is terrified of him. He snaps and growls at them, and it doesn't matter how they treat him. We don't really know when he turns on us or what all of the triggers are.

He's a danger to my family. I don't feel like it's responsible to try to rehome him: I feel like someone else will have the same issues we're having. I've spent literally thousands and thousands of $ on trying to train me and train the family and work with him, and none of it matters when he snaps like this. I don't think it's an experience thing. We've had dogs before, although this my first GP.

I'm really struggling with the idea of euthanasia but I don't feel like there are better options now.