r/Dogtraining

Hey everyone! As the title says my partner and I have a dog who won't eat unless you stand near him and move his bowl, or put him directly above the bowl. When you do these things he'll have a few bites then sit and stare at you until you do it again.

A little background -- he has pretty severe anxiety he's been on prozac for quite some time. He's extremely loving and low maintenance around those he loves, but he's definitely a risk around others. My partner had him before I was in the picture and she's told me that when they moved in he had to be hand fed for some time before he would eat on his own. His sister is pretty mean to him and exacerbates his anxiety, but she doesn't interrupt him while eating so I don't think that's related other than making him generally more anxious.

I've done some amount of research and think I've ruled out anything medical like dental pain or a severe gastro reaction. He came back from an overnight stay at the vet for instance and ate everything we put in front of him for a few days. When you do move his food it seems like there's no discomfort eating. It looks like a behavioral issue to me.

What I've been doing is putting his food out encouraging him once and leaving it out for 15-20 minutes. I'll then stand there and push it once, but once he stops and stares I'll take the food away until the next day when we try again. I think we were struggling a little bit from I consistency between me and my partner, but we've straightened that out.

Are we on the right track or are there any tweaks/suggestions?

Just to note I do understand that we should monitor him to make sure he's maintaining his weight. We're being mindful not to starve him while trying to get him to eat on his own.

I was just looking into some insight into this behavior.

I have a 2 year old mini golden doodle who absolutely loves fetch. She always wants to play and returns the ball and drops it in-front of me with zero issue.

I usually sit on my stoop or on a lawn chair while I throw the ball to her, but she’s picked up a weird quirk recently.

After about 10 or so throws, she won’t return the ball and will just start gnawing on any type of stick, vine, or plant near where the ball is. As soon as I stand up and start walking over to her, she’ll pickup the ball and resume playing like normal.

Did I accidentally teach her that if she starts chewing sticks I’ll get up and walk to her? Haha.

My puppy is almost 5 months old and we’re working hard on teaching him good manners. My problem is when we run into people he likes they pet him even if he’s jumping or pulling on the leash. Do you have a script for well meaning people? I feel pretty confident with what I’m doing until other people enter the mix and my people pleasing kicks in. I don’t want to be rude. I like my neighbors and I like that they love my dog.

My two dogs (4F, spayed. Littermates, unknown breed, maybe poodle and terrier and chihuahua?) have started the terrible habit of scratching at our bedroom door and waking us up several times throughout the night. At first it started when they would just wake us up in the morning, around 6-7am (we normally get up at 7:30). We figured they needed to pee, so we'd get up and let them out and go back to bed. That wasn't that bad. Then it started that they'd scratch at the door after we went back to bed. They wanted attention; either to come in and cuddle with us in bed, or for one of us to go downstairs and cuddle them on the couch. Occasionally they'll listen when we tell them through the door to go to bed, but often they'll ignore us and keep scratching. They were often insistant in the morning so my partner got in the habit of going down to the couch with them. But now it has started that they'll scratch the door at all hours of the night. Last night it was 1am, 3am, 4am, and 6am! We let them out to pee the first time, but there's no way they need to go that often! I don't know what they want other than attention, and I don't know how to make them understand that they cannot have attention at 3am! I'm worried that ignoring them entirely will make them pee in the house (something that one of them has been having issues with already), and it's impossible to ignore them when they just Do. Not. Give. Up! I can't think of a way to redirect them to do something else (like when you reach a dog to go get a toy when the doorbell rings to make them stop barking), and neither dog is food-motivated AT ALL, which makes training extra hard. What do I do? I need to sleep!!

I have a 10 month old bull terrier, she's very sweet and affectionate, but when walking her I sometimes struggle to control her anxiety, especially when she sees other dogs.

She spots dogs from far away and it becomes almost impossible to get her attention back, she lies flat on the ground waiting for them so she can play. On top of that, since I live in a neighborhood with a lot of dogs, I barely get out of one situation before I'm already in another.

Also, I'm having a hard time getting her to understand the 'stay' command, she holds it for a few seconds but then starts moving again.

I follow a force-free / R+ approach (no corrections, no verbal scolding), just calm and consistent responses. Would love advice that fits within that framework, as well as any recommended resources!

First 8 months of her life she was an angel. She grew up frequenting bars, restaurants, coffee shops. Got loads of attention from many different humans and dogs. Always delighted with the attention. Always happy to play. Highly socialised

On vet’s advice, waited for her to have two heats before spaying her. After her first heat, things changed. She became a rebellious teenager, sometimes ignoring cues, but worst of all she started barking at strangers and even charging them. Mostly she seems to want to play, but to those that don’t know her, she clearly appears highly aggressive. Even when she sees one of her favourite humans or dogs, her initial hello is to raise the hackles and growl (at best) or scream bloody murder and charge to within one metre of them, after which she then reverts to an adorable, cuddly, playful puppy. She also approaches many dogs this way, but at least they are only terrified for a brief moment before they realise she just wants to play. Human strangere that know dogs well just ignore her for a few seconds, then will pet her and she’ll be delighted p, but for the vast majority of people she is at minimum annoying and loud due to her growling and barking, or even appears terrifyingly aggressive

Any noises she hears outside the house and she screams like crazy. Have tried “go to place”, “settle”, “watch me”, “look at that” all of which she understands fully and will respond to when below threshold (at least for a moment until there is further sound), but she goes beyond threshold from zero to 100 in an instant far too often and it’s impossible to anticipate/intervene preemptively at all times

Taking her to coffee shops or restaurants is (not always, but usually) a nightmare as I have to be on alert for anyone entering/leaving or walking by to intercept her and give her a command to prevent her from barking (which works most of the time, but only if I am 100% ready to intervene, which is horrible to have to constantly be doing). She is getting better in general it seems, but sometimes she is just shouting at anything and everything and nothing will stop her. Walks are maybe 80% fine, but most days there are at least one or two people she (seemingly randomly) will decide to just shout at and try and charge. Once every two weeks or so though, we’ll have a walk where it is almost everyone for the entirety of a walk. It is hell

She gets 1 to 2 short walks (10-15 minute) walks per day, and 1 to 2 long walks (30-45 minutes) per day. She gets to run around in an empty field or the forest almost every day to burn off energy. We do 2-4 roughly 10 minute training sessions at home every day. When below threshold, she knows a huge number of cues and does great with them. She is smart and highly food motivated (the problem is perhaps that she is also far too play motivated, including with strangers?). We work on training on every walk. We play fetch and tug and puzzle games at home every day. I take her to coffee shops or restaurants 4 to 5 times per week where we work on exposure and training. She goes to doggy daycare 2 to 3 times per week (and is apparently an angel there, other than barking at entrance sometimes). She eats very well. She is active. She is physically healthy. She is loved and cuddled to hell and back every day

Perhaps worth mentioning daycare staff are genuinely baffled when I describe her behavioural issues, as they claim to have never (or barely) witnessed them (leading me to believe perhaps these issues are not just motivation to play, but also her motivation to protect me?). She is fully off lead when at daycare. Fully on lead when we are out (trainer told me she absolutely cannot ever be off lead in public given her issues, which is really a shame as she used to be a great off lead dog in public places)

I thought after the two year mark things would improve. I am putting so much into working on her behavioural issues, trying to believe it will eventually pay off, doing everything dog trainers have advised me, but it is always 2 steps forward then 1.9 steps back, and frankly in past weeks far worse behaviour even than six months or a year ago. I need to see some improvement, or have some reason to believe she will at some stage improve if I keep investing as much as I am. I do not want to resign myself to her being “one of those scary ass dogs” that has to be left at home and never brought out around other people or dogs, but frankly recently I am seeing the way people stare at us and from the outside looking in, it must appear that is the only option for her

Grateful for any advice. I am sure I have forgotten to include relevant information without which perhaps it is not possible to advise, so please do let me know if you have any questions. There must be something I am doing wrong, or something I am not doing that I need to be

Hi everybody!

Me and my wife recently adopted a 2 year old, 8 lb chihuahua. We've had her for 3 days, she is really sweet and shy. All we know about her is that she was fostered for 2 weeks with her sister (or maybe daughter?) and that they were not a bonded pair. Her records show that she was a stray prior to that.

She is NOT AT ALL food motivated. We've only discovered that she likes chicken and that she responds great to praise. So it has been harder than expected to train walking and crate training. We are not doing open feeding, and have tried to hand feed her while training but it hasn't worked out since she only eats her meal if it's floating in chicken broth and water. She hasn't shown any interest in play or toys.

She's been slowly coming out of her shell. We live in a very busy city area so the first few days she had trouble during her walks but now she is more confident and it has been easier to get her started on walking. We started with giving her chicken as a treat but she is sometimes too anxious to eat it on her walk so we have just been repeating Yes! with a clicker and that has been working better.

Crate-wise, it has been hard. We have been dropping treats in her crate and have only been feeding her inside. She doesn't really go and explore it otherwise and we have attempted to get up and leaving her for a period of time in her crate by herself. We have also tried lick mats but she doesn't really pay much attention to them. She has gone 20 mins max in the crate by herself before starting to whine. She does sleep in the crate overnight without complains!

We know that it has only been a couple of days and that dogs take a while to decompress. However, day 5 will be the first day in which both me and my wife will need to leave the house and that she'll have to be by herself. We are anxious that she won't be able to stay in her crate for an extended period of time. We have been able to alternate being with her with our work schedule but we will need to start leaving her crated for at least 4 hours.

She spends most of the day sleeping and has been great at potting outside! No accidents have happened!

What should we modify? Any tips/ tricks/ or advice? What should we do so that she can withstand an extended period of time in her crate?

Just looking to do what's best for our baby! :)

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

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

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

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

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

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

Resources

Books

​

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

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

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

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety (archived page from the ASPCA)

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

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

Podcast:

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

Online DIY courses:

https://courses.malenademartini.com

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

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

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

​

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

we are moving to a rural area that is rife with coyotes. our 15 month Shih tzu is well trained but hasn’t had a lot of exposure to other animals so when we are walking, he goes bananas for any cat, dog, etc and wants to pull and play. he’s always friendly but mistakenly thinks anything on four legs is a friend.

I plan to continue to keep him on a leash but also want to figure out how to keep him safe from coyotes and get to the point where he can be trusted off leash as well. how is this best done before and after we move?

I'll admit I'm writing this while coming off the frustration of just having cleaned up an accident, so please bear with me as this is part vent post as well as seeking advice.

I've got a 1-year-old corgi that just doesn't seem to want to be housebroken. I know he can hold it, because he holds it whenever I let him out of the crate in the morning until I bring him outside, but for whatever reason midday he'll always have an accident. It's been a couple weeks of having accidents every other day now and I feel like I'm losing my mind.

I reward him heavily when he goes outside, I clean up accidents with enzyme cleaner, I've attempted to teach him how to use potty bells but it's been a few weeks and it still doesn't stick. I keep him on a schedule but he'll still go in the house randomly anyway. He doesn't seem to have any signals that I can pick up on, so trying to catch him before he goes has been impossible.

I try to restrict his freedom by crating him, but he's started to incessantly bark when I do and doesn't stop. It's weird though, he seems just fine with going in there when it's time to go to bed, but otherwise he will not stop barking. I live in a townhouse so I've received a number of noise complaints from my neighbors, so I'm trying to be careful with when I crate him to avoid trouble.

I've yet to try the tether method and I think that'll be my next line of action, but other than that I don't really know what to do. I feel like a failure of a dog parent and it's really bringing me down. Please help me?

We just adopted our first dog, a beautiful 63lb 5year old lab mixed breed. She's very sweet and clearly has basic training background but needs a refresher and lots of consistency.

I bought a sample of treats/biscuits at petco... She would not eat any of them. So.i have nothing to use on walks and training.

What treats have you found most effective for capturing attention and providing reward?

Pls only HEALTHY options

We are absolutely heartbroken with our situation. I just want to see if there is any hope out there for us.

We finally brought home our baby on Tuesday. He was at the hospital for 3.5 months due to being born extremely premature and requires oxygen. So, even more vulnerable than the usual baby.

My sister brought in our dog after we set up the baby at home. Our dog sniffed baby while I held him, he was wrapped in a blanket and extremely quiet. Dog didn't seem too bothered either way, which I thought was a good sign. We had been bringing in baby's laundry to sniff throughout the 3 months.

That same evening, I watch my dog sniffing the crib from the outside (he couldn't see inside it). The crib is pushed up next to the bed, my dog jumps up on the bed and approaches curiously from the other side, he can see baby in the crib. I watched my dog tense up and stare, and as I started to question whether it's more than curiousity, my baby does a little noise and wriggles, at which point my dog let out a short, low growl and stiffened more. I panic and tell him "No! Get down." (I know you are not meant to punish growling), he breaks the stare and gets down as he's told.

I wake my husband and tell him. My dog watches me feed baby and approaches to sniff every time he makes a sound. We didn't let him go near the baby, we locked him out of the room for the night. It looked like the dog was watching my baby like he would a deer outside, or a bird in our back garden - stalking.

The next morning, I am changing baby and we allow dog to get in the room. He sees me pick up baby and gets excited, "asking" me for him, pining, struggling to control the impulse to jump, showing his bottom teeth (he does this when he wants a ball or treat). We allow him to sniff baby's feet. I think phew, he finally realised it's our baby! I let dog approach and sniff baby as I feed him, to lick his foot once as well.

Baby finished feeding, I eventually put him down in the crib. My husband body blocks most of the crib, sitting on the bed right next to it. My baby fussed a little, making little groans. My dog immediately starts sniffing the outside and bottom of the crib intensely again. Dog then jumps up on the bed again and approaches from the corner, I watch as he stiffens, ears forward, hard eyes, mouth closed, slowly leaning toward the crib. I immediately tell husband to grab the dog and tell the dog to get down. We locked him out of the room.

We took the dog to the vet that same day on Wednesday for an evaluation. She says it sounds like he doesn't realise it's a human, gives us details of behaviourists and says we don't have to jump to drastic conclusions (giving him away). My sister took the dog to hers that same evening, he has been there ever since.

Yesterday, the behaviourist we contacted said she doesn't have space till June and "good luck". I phoned another one, waiting for a call back. Someone please tell me there is hope! Our dog is sweet, pretty well trained and has never ever had even an inkling of aggression toward humans. He is good with small kids (3ish upwards), he even obeys their commands for a ball!! We love our dog, we could have never ever seen this coming - is there anything we can do?

We just got a 9 week old puppy she absolutely will not go potty outside. It doesnt matter how long or how often we take her out. This morning I spent a whole hour outside with her trying to get her to go. She was in the bathroom all night and there was no pee or poop in there this morning, so I knew she had to go. I picked her up and carried her directly outside and we stayed out for an hour, I was telling her to go potty, trying to redirect her when she got distracted, giving her space so she didn't feel crowded by me. A few times I thought she would go because she started sniffing around a lot in certain spots, but then she would stop and run right to the door and ask to go back in. She did this 5 or 6 times. I finally gave up and after about 30 seconds of being in the house she peed on the floor. The only advice I keep getting is just "use positive reinforcement" but theres nothing to positively reinforce. We have had her for almost a week and she has not gone potty outside a single time since shes been here. I dont know what im supposed to do at this point to let her know that she needs to go potty outside and not in the house

Some context is that my 6 year old female German shepherd was attacked two years ago by a much bigger dog. She was physically ok afterwards but nearly had to get a stitch over her eye. She’s had professional training since she was a puppy and was perfectly behaved before this incident.

Afterwards however she had behavioral issues with other dogs on walks- particularly dogs who barked at her, ran at her or did anything that seemed like it could be a threat. I could tell sometimes the other dogs were actually being aggressive but on other occasions were just being normal dogs and my girl just took it the wrong way. In response however she’d bark down the other dog, try pulling my leash to get to them and I’d have to drag her out of the way. She’s never hurt another dog ( bar when she was attacked and tried to defend herself but she was no match for the Rottweiler) but if I hadn’t pulled her away after she’d be reactive with another dog I honestly don’t know what she would do.

We have another German shepherd at home who’s a year older than her and he and her continued to get along perfectly and playing together and he was an especially important part of reinforcing normal dog behavior. Even after the attack he and her were great friends and she was able to trust him perfectly.

The first year after being attacked was hard on her psychologically and we did professional training several times, she even stayed with them for a couples weeks a handful of times and it has been extremely helpful. She even went back for a while this summer while we were away.

While she is still an anxious dog and may do things like bark incessantly at home if she hears a neighbor she’s made so much progress- and now on walks if a dog barks at her she may flinch and be nervous or even sometimes ignore it but she doesn’t bark back now and we’re able to just walk the other way or let the other dog go ahead.

She’s even been able to make new doggy friends in the area big or small and has been able to play off Leash and meet new dogs (a big win).

After this summer when she was there for a couple weeks the trainers did say they’ve been pairing her with lots of other dogs and she’s been great but she’s a bit anxious at rest even when she’s not socializing and this could be why she barks at home at random.They said sometimes with anxious dogs like ours they take a low dose antidepressant to help with stress. My family and I considered it and I was in favor if it could help her but ultimately we went against it since she was and continued to be a good dog socially.

Two years ago my dog was particularly nervous and bark prone with smaller dogs- I think it’s because in my area people either have big dogs (like German shepherd, retrievers, greyhounds) that they train really well or really small dogs( like pugs, chihuahuas or dachshunds) where they’re less likely to train them or discipline them if they misbehave. This has been a problem noticed by some of our neighbors, a really sweet and kind big PitBull was mauled by a small dog (I think a chihuahua?) and needed stitches and he was never able to be the outgoing dog he once was again.

Now finally getting to the point. I was walking my dog today and we came across a pug. We slowed down to say hi and let the pug approach us and the two dogs were sniffing and getting along fine and the owner and I were just watching them and smiling. Suddenly though the pug barks at my dog when she’s right up in her face and my dog didn’t take it well. She tried to bark back at her and wanted to lunge at the pug. I was absolutely taken aback especially since it’s been so long since anything has triggered my dog. It takes me a tug or two but both our dogs are now a solid distance away from each other. They didn’t touch each other and thankfully nether were hurt but it was definitely distressing for everyone involved.

Now I 100% can see why any dog owner in this situation would be upset but this lady went straight to giving out to me from a distance. She kept saying “your dog just tried to bite my dog” over and over again and tried to blame my dog for what happened.

Yes my dog should have taken it better and should have stood back the first time I tugged the leash but she did soon after and stayed quietly by my side even though the woman and her pug were still giving out. She tried to say her dog never barks at other dogs when I said her pug started it but she wasn’t having it. I wouldn’t be in a good mood either if I was her because it was very distressing but I know her dog barked first because I saw what happened and I saw my dog react to it.

I suppose what I’m wondering is do I take what happened today as a step back or lapse in her behavior that’s been impeccable as of the last year or as a once off that only happened because another dog was in the wrong?

I’m considering convincing my family to put the dog on the antidepressant because other than that I don’t see what more we could do for her behavior that we haven’t already but I just don’t know if it’s the right move considering this one event would be the main reason

2 weeks ago I rescued a dog. She’s 4 and a corgi/Jack Russell mix. She is overall great except she whines or barks anytime my boyfriend gets close to me. She also only has herding behaviors only around him (nipping at feet and shoes). How do I help this? We try ignoring it, putting her in her crate to calm down, praising when she is calm, nothing works

I have a 4 month old puppy who at this point is 90% potty trained, but we have temporarily lost access to the yard (for about three weeks), and she is refusing to pee outside and had the first accident inside for the first time in awhile.

We got the Pet Loo (outdoor potty pad with a patch of grass on top of a draining system, a few inches tall in total) weeks ago and tried introducing it well before this point, but she was so scared if it she wouldn’t walk outside for the whole day, even when it was put out of sight.

We left it in an area she would walk past so she could get used to it, and she will tolerate it’s presence, but she will not go near it or step on it. I thought she was scared of it because it has a little give when you put weight on it, but she has an elevated dog cot that she loved almost immediately and she won’t go onto the lawn pad when it’s taken off the elevated drainage system. I think she might be scared of astroturf too

I’m not going to force her onto it and I understand it just might not happen, but she’s not going in the front yard or on walks, despite having gone places other than the backyard plenty of times, so seeking advice.

Basically, her whole potty routine is being disrupted and I’m open to whatever works to get her to go, but long term I would still like her to learn to use it.

Tried the spray to attract the dog to pee and luring with treats, but I think all the usual advice for potty pads is not super applicable considering the main problem is fear.

I have an Australian cattle dog. I’ve had her about 3 years, got her when she was 1 ish. She was a rescue from a puppy mill and was fostered by my aunt (a dog trainer) in like very rural PA for a few months before I adopted her and moved to Arlington, VA(a very city, city)

She has honestly progressively gotten worse behavior wise since I’ve gotten her. She is an absolute sweetheart, and truly a genius. I know she can learn things but she is so stubborn.

The main issue is bikes, motorcycles, scooters. Which there are a ton of all over Arlington. She goes insane. Ballistic. Just an embarrassing out of control full body bark and pull. We’ve tried exposure training, mainly my bf riding his bike around her and all that did was make her tolerable to him on his bike and no one else. We’ve tried several times of muzzles, a collar that made noise, and even a shock collar which she didn’t even seem to notice was going off. I believe part of her behavior issues are due to her lack of activity and a job, as I know I own a working breed. My bf and I are extremely active people and she could be coming out to do all kinds of stuff with us, but we can’t take her anywhere because of the bikes. I’m open to literally any suggestions. She is good about coming to me and checking in to a nose tap to my hand when there are other distractions if I click my mouth. She won’t do it for bikes/motorcycles/scooters

Please help

I had an eight year old blonde pit who was the perfect girl. Never barked, could care less about other dogs or people unless the people approached her (dog's were never an issue) She passed away in October from lung cancer, unexpectedly.

In late December I adopted my current dog, a male Catahoula mix. Now, I really wanted another female, but I was really drawn to this boy. He's a gorgeous Merle, and in my "meet and greet" he could care less that I was there, which I hoped would translate.

Turns out, it doesn't. He listens to my commands, but I had to switch him to a harness from a collar simply because he runs at people and other dogs. Not lunges, but runs to play. He's 60LBs so a dog like that running at you, is frightening. I don't necessarily consider him "reactive" as if I put him in a sit, knowing someone is about to turn the corner, etc... he stays in the sit (despite booty shaking like crazy). He just seems to love people and other dogs. No hackles, no growling, no fights.

Dog training is SO expensive, but the intention is to get him in to some intensive training as a whole, but I would love some "for now" guidance that i can start to implement prior to the training.

TIA for any assistance.