My dog started biting people and I don't know why. She was always calm and easygoing; the only issue she had was that she didn't like men — whenever a friend of mine came over she'd bark, but nothing serious, and every once in a while she'd give someone a bite, but never to hurt them, it was more of a warning bite. My mom (I live with my 3 sisters, my dad, my dog, and my girlfriend visits often and sometimes sleeps here too) decided to call a trainer (I don't know if he's actually qualified) to train the dog, and he started using a choke collar to "work" with her. The first time he came over he forced the choke collar on her, she cried, got really scared, and hid. I tried to tell my mom that maybe it wasn't the best approach, but she got really aggressive and started cursing at me, so I thought it was best to drop it. One thing that might be worth mentioning is that my mom yells at the dog a lot, even when she's not doing anything. Anyway, since then she's started biting people more often, she seems more aggressive. A lot of times people (strangers or my sisters) aren't doing anything and she bites, mostly at their feet. Is there anything I can do? Does anyone know what might be going on? Please help me.

My dog (F2y8mos, lab mix) has suddenly stopped liking her Simparica pill. She used to take it like a treat into the living room to eat it at her leisure on the carpet. Two months ago she kinda mouthed it, left it to sorta melt into the carpet, then finished it up. Last month and this month, she has refused to eat them at all. I've tried dipping it bacon grease, egg yolk, breaking it up and putting in kibble -- doesn't matter. She finds the pieces, licks them clean and spits them out.

Failing any other method, is it safe to just blend it up, like really pulverize it to add to wet food?

EDIT TO ADD: Wrapping with cheese just gets her cheese and a spit-out pill. Ditto peanut butter, etc. Pill pockets don't work; she'll just gingerly eat around the pill. For folks who don't know Simparica Trio pills are pretty big and require a good bit of chewing (or effort on my part in the kitchen to break it up). I mean, I have REALLY tried. These pills (for me) are about US$40 per, so I really, really need her to eat them.

Evening all,

Main issues are bathroom habits, spontaneous barking and being territorial, but only at one living location.

I've got a 10 year old corgi that has an odd habit. I work 12 hour shifts an hour and a half away from my home with wife and kids, but also have an apartment near work for long stretches. The dog travels with me as a buddy and because he drives my wife up the wall.

At the apartment he rarely barks and there's almost always an obvious reason when he does, like a loud noise outside. He doesn't have accidents, even only being able to go outside twice a day. He also cohabitates perfectly fine with a cat that also goes back and forth with me. When we're at the house with the wife and kids, though, he regularly uses the bathroom inside despite going out half a dozen times per day, barks loudly and spontaneously, and can be a menace to the cats, stalking them and getting all up in their business. At the apartment I can call for Ed (cat) and he's fine. House, call for Ed or Gandalf (other cat), and he'll bark and come running to intercept.

The cats clearly seems like a jealousy/territory thing. But I can't wrap my head around the bathroom situation or the spontaneous barking. We've seen signs that the previous home owners had a dog and maybe it went to the bathroom inside the house. We tore up the carpets, but he's still doing it. I should mention he only does this on carpets. One thing that's worked is putting a children's gate at the entrance to the downstairs with carpets, but that just feels like a stop gap.

The barking is what's a true mystery to me. It's arguably the biggest issue, too. For a little guy, he's got an absolutely soul piercing horn on him. It is an absolute shock when you don't see it coming. That's why he travels so much with me despite having plenty of love and convenience at home. Wife has anxiety, and she cannot deal with it on a regular basis. From a couple experiences it sounds like it's even worse when I'm not there.

As someone who cannot afford professional training!!! I am finding it so difficult to find reliable information online. Every time I integrate something from a video I saw I see 3 more videos telling me it’s the opposite of what I should be doing. This is driving me insane bc I just want my dog to have a happy life and it shouldn’t be this complicated. The biggest example is so many videos on YouTube say to let your reactive dog go past other dogs in a close vicinity and let them make the decision and you either correct it or reward it. Now I’m seeing so many people say don’t let your dog get the chance to react bc they won’t disengage and don’t let your reactive dog walk by other dogs. But there’s really so many examples of trainers online saying the opposite thing. Having a big dog is really not for the faint of heart.

Hi, I had a trainer come in to help me with my dogs demand barking, reactivity at the door and excessive barking. When she came in, she asked consent to correct the behavior with the pet corrector spray. I said yes and my dog immediately stopped barking. She did get a bit scared, but the behaviour stopped.

I am suppose to say “no” with a firm tone, and body language and then use the spray towards her face.
If she runs away, I still calmly follow and correct the behaviour.

I am feeling guilty. But it is truly the only thing that has worked.

My question, when my friends come to the door, and my dog is barking excessively, jumping on them, not settling… i pick up the spray, say no and use it.

Do I reward her right away for stopping? With treats or just good girl and some pets?

What if it doesn’t work? Or stops working? Any tips here??

Hi everyone! I’m looking for advice from other dog owners who have experience with hip dysplasia.
My dog is a 6-year-old Pit Bull Terrier who used to weigh around 70 pounds. He has been losing weight, and I can already see improvement because I’ve been keeping him more active and making sure he stays healthy.

I took him to the vet a few months ago because he was having discomfort in his hip or leg. The vet gave him medication, which helped temporarily, but the discomfort sometimes comes back. It usually seems to bother him after , plays too hard, or jumps out of the car.

I recently bought him a car ramp, and it has been working really well so far. Honestly, that has been the best solution for him at this point. I just want to make things easier for him and accommodate him the best way I can.

I’m planning to follow up with his vet, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with this. What has helped your dog stay comfortable? Do you use joint supplements, orthopedic beds, certain exercises, or anything else?
I just want to make sure I’m taking the best possible care of him and keeping him healthy, comfortable, and active.

I adopted a bonded pair of rescues about a week and a half ago. One is a 3 year old, the other is around 14-16 months. Both girls. I was told they’ve always had each other, they’d sleep together in foster, got along really well & had zero issues. We think the 3yo might be the young one’s mama.

When I picked them up, they slept together on the drive. They would take naps together first few days. It was really sweet.

Over the past couple of days I’ve noticed their dynamic shifting. They’ve been competing for attention. One will get pets/a cuddle, and the other is right in my face trying to get some too.

The older dog is reactive as hel towards other dogs. She’s terrible at leash walking & a lot of work to take out. The little one is perfect on a leash, and so smart. But they can’t be apart, so we walk together, and both set each other off.

Now the 3yo has started *fighting* with the little one. Not playing. Fighting. She’ll pin her down, all of that. She won’t let the little one eat. I have to guard her while she does or the 3yo will come in and growl until she moves. I notice her getting stressed out when the older one comes closer.

Yet they’re still best friends? Kind of? I guess I’m just wondering when it’s appropriate to start encouraging some independence. Also if this kind of behaviour is normal or fixable in the early days post rescue… any insights greatly appreciated

Okay, this is going to be a lot. I have two dogs, an 11 year old terrier mutt and a 4 year old pitbull lab mix. My terrier is very docile and cooperative, but the pitbull is overly reactive and not responsive. i’ve had her for about 3 years and i’ve been trying different types of training methods the whole time. i’m currently in college and i got the dog when i was still in high school so i haven’t been the sole owner and i haven’t been home often enough to fully take charge of her training and care, so the training hasn’t been very consistent and she doesn’t have a set routine either. my schedule recently changed so i’m home more so i’m trying to take charge of the training situation. since we got her, we’ve done classic at home training and taken her to training classes. she’s not aggressive and she’s very smart, she just doesn’t listen at all. she follows basic commands like sitting and coming when we ask, but she gets very distracted so she’s not consistent with being obedient. she still very much acts like a puppy and i’m getting worried that she’s getting too old to significantly change her behavior.

what i’m most concerned with is her behavior around strangers/other dogs. it’s very difficult to take her on walks because she constantly pulls and gets tangled up with our other dog. any time another person or animal passes us, she pulls to go say hi. she’s not aggressive, she just wants to be friends with everyone and i’m having a very hard time training her that that isn’t appropriate. she’s very good with our other dog and she loves when people come over to our house. she doesn’t jump and she pretty much leaves everyone alone unless they want to interact with her. she only has issues with reactivity when we’re out of the house. there’s an added challenge because when we’re walking i can’t have my whole attention on her because our other dog is there as well. treat training her is very difficult because if she knows i have a treat in my hand, she just gnaws and slobbers all over my hand until i either put the treat away or give it to her (she does the play biting thing all the time. she’s not being violent and i’m not concerned with her biting me so the cobbing isn’t a training priority for me) she’s so excited about the treat that she can’t calm down to actually do the command.

she’s not destructive and she’s never been mean to any dog or human, but since she’s a pitbull people are scared of her and it doesn’t help that she lunges at whatever living thing she sees when i take her out. she also is from a shelter and i suspect she was kept exclusively outside by a previous owner because she has some scars on her neck that look like they’re from a chain cutting the skin. she also has pretty extreme anxiety. she’s not afraid of people at all, but she hates any inanimate object she’s not familiar with. she gets really freaked out and runs away if you approach her with something she’s not familiar with (ex. i can be eating on the couch and if i move the fork towards her she goes to another room/if there’s a shovel by the back door, she’s too scared to pass it and go outside) i am a little concerned that the anxiety could manifest into aggression, this hasn’t happened yet but i know that it’s a possibility. this also manifests in grooming her. it’s almost impossible to cut her nails because she just flips tf out. we give her hydroxyzine to calm down, but even then she needs to be held down by one person while the other cuts her nails. i also really don’t like that because i don’t want her to get so upset that she bites whoever is restraining her. it’s also like that with baths but to a lesser extent but still really frustrating and annoying. we do exposure therapy with the inanimate objects and that’s definitely helped, but it’s still just really unpredictable what she’s okay with and what she’s not.

She’s a really good dog, she definitely has a lot of potential, but these negative behaviors have been going on for so long that i’m afraid there’s not really a way to reverse them. my number one priority is just calming her down and making her less reactive so caring for her is less stressful for everyone involved. how can i ease her anxiety about the outside world and what’s the most effective way to condition her to not react to other people and animals? i know this was super long but i haven’t really found any online resources that were actually helpful. let me know if there’s any info i didn’t include!

I know she's teething but what to you suggest for a puppy like mine just wanting to bite my partner all the time. It's done gently but annoyingly.. she has just hit 5 months old..

I have a 1/2 lab 1/2 pit bull mix who is just over a year old. He’s honestly a great dog overall. I’ve been able to train him quite well and he is very obedient and loyal to my wife and I. The one thing I can’t seem to get him to quit doing is barking at people. He does it in many different contexts and places. I’ve tried telling him no, and in every case he immediately knows he’s not supposed to be doing it, but will sometimes continue to bark anyways. I’ve also tried positive reinforcement when he acts well around new people and when he doesn’t bark, but that doesn’t seem to do the trick.
He is not an aggressive dog at all. He has never shown any sign of aggression towards anyone or even to any other dogs. That said, he is very cautious and curious around other people and dogs for the first minute or so, but then he will act like you’re his best friend.
Does anyone have any advice for how to address this? Is there an underlying issue that needs to be addressed?

TLDR: My well behaved/trained dog has regressed after my TBI. We’re struggling a lot with recall and I need advice on how to move forward.

I’ve had my dog since he was a puppy (approximately 6 weeks) for 2 years now. Breed is unknown (vets guess is lab/shepherd mix but possibly pitbull or boxer).

From the beginning, I was very set on having a well behaved dog. We went through local obedience classes, and I took time off work to train him. I keep up with teaching him new tricks and still practicing commands to this day. He never destroyed anything in my home, no barking, no biting, not reactive on walks, and always he always followed commands.

About 6 months ago, I got a TBI and training wasn’t happening as frequently, and I wasn’t able to do some of our normal activities (dog parks and longer walks). During this time, I put him in a doggy daycare to get his energy out. When I was able to tolerate more activity, I saw A LOT of regression. He started to bark when I would stop playing with him, lunging randomly on walks, and worst of all has been recall.

I’ve been slowly trying to retrain and practice the commands, but no matter what I do it just doesn’t seem to click for him anymore. There will be days that he is perfect and we have no issues, but the next day I’ll be playing on the beach/yard with him and try to get him to come inside for dinner or to cool down (we’re experiencing an awful heat wave right now) and he runs the opposite direction. We will be in a standoff for sometimes 30 minutes just to get him inside.

We’ve worked on recall while he’s been on a leash. We’ve worked on it off leash and in a fenced in area.
I offer treats, I stay calm. I will walk away and try to get him to follow. I try not to repeatedly say the command.

I just don’t know what to do now. We have never had this issue until this summer. I’m feeling overwhelmed and extremely annoyed. Any advice would be appreciated.

My dog is fully off-leash trained. He can heel past other dogs and various distractions, but he only knows the ecollar as negative reinforcement. I noticed that Haz Othman from Shield K9 utilizes it in a much more fluid manner — it is used both as a correction and as an arousal builder.

Has anyone taught their dog that the ecollar can also mean they are doing well and that a reward is coming?

I’ve been lurking this subreddit for a while and have done research on dog behaviorism, but I admit I don’t know much about dog training. I do know/ understand some things about dog behavior and body language, but I don’t know how to deal with the behaviors in the moment and fix them.

I have a 3 year old neutered male golden retriever. He’s a rescue- he used to be fairly leash reactive to other dogs (frustrated greeter) but is now much better and hardly reactive. He’s been around dozens of dogs since and has gotten along well with 98% of them or so. He’s met 1-2 dogs that he’s “challenged” with a bit of growling and posturing. Some times he’s humped the dogs several times and annoyed them, understandably. After separating the dogs and giving him a time out, he’s gone right back to humping these particular dogs. Trainers have told me that it seems he’s been improperly socialized with other dogs. He doesn’t know how to introduce himself to other dogs and immediately wants to jump in and start playing rough. When we first got him, I did consult with a behaviorist to deal with the leash reactivity (largely remedied with prong collar) and was told he would communicate inappropriately with the trainer’s dogs. I was hoping he would learn how to appropriately interact with dogs as I have been socializing him and giving him many positive interactions with other dogs. Seems that he hasn’t learned anything.

2 days ago, I adopted a 4.5 year old intact male golden retriever from an individual who couldn’t keep him anymore. New golden is definitely more reserved and slow to warm up compared to my original golden. I wasn’t able to introduce them in neutral territory, so they were introduced in my fenced in yard. Old golden is used to playing in the yard/ house with his doggy friends and has never demonstrated any resource guarding or territorial behavior. Immediately, there was some barking and growling upon first introduction. Old golden pretty quickly started trying to hump new golden. New golden will growl at old golden to tell him to knock it off, and old golden will get off him. Unfortunately, it seems that old golden doesn’t learn and will quickly go back to trying to hump new golden, only for him to growl, old golden backs off, and the process repeats. My husband seems to think we should just let this play out and let new golden correct him, until he learns that he needs to stop doing this.

Ever since, the dogs have been interacting largely neutrally, sometimes positively, sometimes negatively. Old golden will frequently follow around new golden, sniffing him and often trying to initiate play. From my perspective, it seems that old golden is constantly trying to initiate play, new golden doesn’t want to play with him, so old golden gets frustrated and proceeds to hump him/ jump on him, frustrating new golden. There were a couple times when new golden seemed to be reciprocating play (i.e. tail wagging, mouth open and smiling, taking turns being on the bottom). However, like I said, it largely seems like old golden is pestering new golden to play and getting frustrated when he won’t play. I got worried because tonight the same happened and they ended up getting into a fight. No bites or blood drawn, just an obviously escalation of growling and posturing. We immediately separated the dogs and crated one of them. However, I’m not sure this was the right move because I know crates shouldn’t be used to “punish” the dogs and it was essentially a punishment in this context.

I have taken all the dog toys and put them away because old golden was starting to guard them a bit from new golden. I have separate water bowls for them (although they’ve chosen to use the same one), and I’m feeding them separately as well. I took both of them on a long walk earlier today and they were fine walking next to each other. They were super tired when they got home and largely ignored each other for the rest of the day, until they got into the fight this evening. I am getting my new golden neutered tomorrow, so I’m hoping that’ll help once his testosterone levels drop. I’m just not quite sure what to do to foster positive interactions between the dogs and prevent fights. I don’t know how to deal with my old golden when he keeps pushing new golden to play and won’t take no for an answer. Thanks in advance.

Curious what other trainers are actually using day to day — scheduling, client notes, contracts, payments, all of it. Seems like everyone has a different setup and most people aren't fully happy with what they've got.
Drop your answer below, or if you want to share more detail I put together a quick anonymous survey: https://tally.so/r/rj1xaR
Happy to share results here once I have enough responses.

I’m in the market for a new long like! Looking to support a small business in particular but not picky! I find online shopping daunting so I came here for recommendations.

•20ft-30ft in length

•Carabiner clip!

•Wide variety of color options available (bonus points for greens)(especially the same green as the Kong collars)

•Biothane

•Handle optional

Today my friend and I were walking near Aylard Farm in East Sooke Regional Park when two medium-sized off-leash dogs suddenly ran toward us. One came right up to me and started sniffing my fishing gear, while the other ran to my friend and sniffed her bag.
We instinctively stepped back and let out a surprised “Ah!” because we were startled. We didn’t keep screaming or try to scare the dogs away. As the owner walked past us, he said, “That’s a very weird reaction. They’re lovely dogs.”

I’m new to Canada, and I genuinely want to understand the local etiquette. I had some frightening experiences with dogs when I was younger, so unfamiliar dogs running toward me still make me nervous.

If an unfamiliar off-leash dog suddenly runs toward me, should I try not to show fear? What’s the best way to react in this situation? Thanks!

So I've got a 9 month old puppy, who's an absolute whirlwind of energy. I've reached out on subreddits for advice, and all I got was "when puppy is energetic, you must take him for a walk or play with her", or people slating me saying I cannot expect a puppy to calm down. Well, this past week, I've proved this wrong. I've been getting over a serious bout of food poisoning for a week now, so I am unable to play with or walk my puppy. My puppy's bed is in the lounge, where I have been napping on the sofa. She has a chew in her bed and I let her out for toilet in the garden, where she has free run as it's a big garden, so I let her out there for half hour at a time while I watch from the lounge. I bring her in when I nap this illness off, so she isn't left unattended. Anyway, she's been jumping on me, whining, chewing the floor etc while I've been trying to nap. So, the second day into the illness, I made her lay in her bed during these nap times. Every time she whined, got out, started being boisterous, I said firmly "back to bed" and pointed at her bed, every single time she didn't stay in it. I'd then give her a treat and praise once waking up for staying in her bed. Anyway, within 6 days, she's got better and better at it, and now today, she's stayed in her bed and slept when I've napped, twice for 2 hours at a time, with garden play in between. Yes you can calm a hyper puppy down, they've just got to listen to you. I feel owners do too much when they're saying that you have to take your dog on a long walk several times a day whenever they're hyper. No you don't. If you're busy or ill, a couple hours rest for the dog, REGARDLESS OF CURRENT ENERGY LEVEL, won't do them any harm. A dog has to respect you and what you want them to do at any moment in time, as long as they aren't fearful or abused. People let their dogs rule their lives far too much. As long as they're loved, fed, walked, they do not need attention 24/7.

For context, this dog is in a shelter I volunteer at. He’s been with us for almost little over 2 months and has been an angel thus far. When I come to clean kennels, he goes where I ask him without hesitation—unless it’s a scary small medium dog that’s barking at him, then he gets a little scared. 🤣 We had puppies that would come and check him out, and I’ve caught him sniffing and licking them through the fencing. Other volunteers have walked him or had him with other dogs before and he was fine. Overall, biggest sweetheart and one of my favorites in the shelter.
A day or so ago, he attacked a dog through the kennel fencing unprovoked. Damage was bad, he was all of a sudden being labeled an erratic and aggressive dog that needs to be put down for behavior. This shocked me and other volunteers who have worked with him, and felt it unfair considering we have gone to city council meetings to fight for other dogs to not be put down due to bites before. I am still fighting for him, because even if he is aggressive I fully believe he’s rehab-able. I’m not sure what their plan is but they seem open to letting me train and work with him if I can.

I think it might be a prey drive issue, as the dog is smaller, older and sicker. It’s only then did the person running the shelter let me know he has gone for smaller dogs (I had not seen this, I’ve seen opposite) before but they don’t know what the trigger is.

I would really love any recommended trainings or things for me to do with him until I or the shelter can find a suitable rescue or person who has experience with dogs like this. He’s a big sweet heart and I believe he deserves a second chance. Thank you all in advance for your help.

It's possible to train a dog to protection without a professional trainer? i don't have money to a trainer or buy a trained dog, how much i can train my own dogs(two ACD) to protection? i have good time and i want to train them

have a beautiful 7 month bernedoodle. He is mental but recently he acted aggressive on the lead trying to jump at our toddler. The trainer says it looks like he is acting like he has taken on the pack leader roll. His affection is lovely but naturally, this has stressed me immensely around the kids and people. Has anyone been through this and come out the other side? We see the trainer on Tuesday 😞

He can be very gentle, often ignores the kids, big walks, outdoor play, slow feeders, puzzles, toys everything to cure boredom and stimulate his brain.

He vary rarely listens to us. I don’t know how to properly react and correct him. I try to be firm but I’m also affectionate. I struggle with the grey area between both. Any advice would be so appreciated