My parents who we live next to, adopted a 10 week old puppy last year and I thought our big male moose baby of a dog would be so happy to have a play mate after having to put our other dog down. Cut to - he was so not into her and we were BUMMED. I combed this subreddit and talked to our trainer and we moved VERY slowly with integration. Lots of physical boundaries, pack walks and so much patience. We were so careful because he’s so much bigger than she is. About 10 months into having her, he finally started to show some interest. He’s very vocal and I think some of his barks were possibly wanting to play but we still erred on the side of caution. Anyway, after about a year of work we are finally here and they are besties. Just wanted to say there is hope! (Please excuse the hair we also have a chow mix and I was getting ready to vacuum)

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

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Pet Harmony's Enrichment Activities for Dogs with Separation Anxiety

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

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

Podcast:

Home Alone... and comfortable as HECK! with Ally Verba

Be Right Back! The Separation Anxiety Podcast with Julie Naismith

Online DIY courses:

Malena DeMartini Separation Anxiety Mission Possible Self Paced Online Course

https://www.betternaturetraining.com/separationanxietymembership

Julie Naismith Heros Be Right Back Training Julie Naismith BRB App

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

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

Pet Harmony's Webinar on Separation Anxiety

Dr. Pachel DVM, DACVB, CABC Webinar from Instinct Dogtraining on Separation Anxiety: Tailoring Interventions to the Dog and Household

This list has been updated as of 6/16/26. If you find broken links, please submit a message via modmail and we'll fix the broken link to update it or add additional resources.

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!

I’m honestly at a loss at this point. I’ve looked through the resources for loose-leash walking, but I seem to be having the opposite problem. Our dog used to pull quite heavily, but we’ve mad some pretty good progress on that, so it’s not really a big problem anymore.

What is a problem though is another thing she’s been doing ever since we got her, and I simply have no ideas left to fix it. When we walk towards an interesting destination or in a direction she likes, everything is fine, she behaves quite well.
But as soon as we walk somewhere she doesn’t want to go (usually towards home, or away from somebody she likes because we said bye) she will simply refuse to walk. She sits or even lays down, she stands around, or if she does move it’s super slow and again stops after a few paces.

What we’ve tried:
- Waiting: This does nothing, she is way more patient than us, in fact she’d probably rather stand there all day rather than go in a direction she doesn’t want to go.
- Treats: These get her to come towards us for a few steps, but that’s it. As soon as we want her to actually move for them, she just loses interest and goes back to standing.
- Pulling: Obviously I don’t mean dragging her with us. We’ve tried gentle but sharp tugs, as well as a constant tension to make it clear we want to go. Neither works, in fact they make the problem worse.
- Leaving her: We normally walk her with a 1.5m leash, but we also have an 8m long flexi leash. We’ve tried to pretend to leave her, she doesn’t care.
- Making it exciting: She loves to run. We sometimes ask her to run with us in the direction we want to go. This occasionally works, as long as her mind isn’t too set on the other direction.
- “Pushing”: Standing close to her or physically blocking the way she wants to go sometimes annoys her enough to get her to move the way we want.

And that’s about it. I really hope some of you have ideas, I’d be happy to answer any questions. For added context, she is a 3 year old yorkie/bichon havanese mix, with a generally anxious/fearful disposition, but not to any kind of pathological degree.

We adopted an 8 month old Pit Terrier mix 2 weeks ago. She’s a rescue.

I work from home, and my dog tends to get overly excited and want to play while I’m working. She will start chewing things she’s not supposed to and barking which she can’t do since I live at an apartment complex.

I can get her to settle for a minute with lie down and settle commands, but after I turn my back to work she starts going crazy again. The thing that works the best is putting her in my lap for a bit and holding her until she takes some deep breaths. But I assume I shouldn’t be having to hold her to calm her down.

She’s the sweetest normally and we’ve already bonded but when she gets these bouts of excitement I don’t really know what to do when I can’t take her outside to sniff it out.

I take her on two walks a day and have multiple outside sniff breaks throughout the day, but she can’t seem to settle unless she’s asleep. Treats and puzzle toys and things can distract her while I work, but I don’t want to be overly reliant on just feeding her.

Any help with getting to be calm while I work would be greatly appreciated!

Just moved into a new apartment with my 3 year old Shih Tzu. She seems totally comfortable here when I’m home and isn’t showing any signs of stress.

We spend a lot of time together as I take her to work with me but she’s always been fine home alone for a few hours if I’m out and about.
However, now that we’re in a new environment, she’s barking if I go outside the main door at all.
I’m just wondering if there’s such thing as training her to be home alone here too early?

Have any of you moved home with your Shih Tzu? When did you start leaving them home alone after moving in? I’m doing small bits, like standing out in the hallway to see how she is and giving her treats when I come back in if she’s been quiet.
I just don’t want to rush it when she’s still settling in and figuring out this is her home now etc.

How did you guys find it?

Hello everyone!

We recently adopted a rescue dog from South Korea and he's been at our house for three days now. Yes, he hasn't had much time to acclimate yet, but what was described to us as "a slightly shy and timid dog" turned out to be a very anxious small bean who won't even let us touch him.

He's three years old and has spent his entire life at a shelter in Korea after he was found in the streets at the age of two months. The past four months he spent at a foster home, one of which he was somewhere in the woods because he had run away after a collar malfunction and a loud noise. After he was found, we were told he was fine both physically and mentally (our mistake, we should have questioned that). He came here by plane.

Long story short: He is here now and absolutely nothing like the dog we were told about. He is hiding in the bedroom and only comes out two to three times a day to relieve himself before immediately making a run for the bedroom again. We can't go for walks with him or take him outside at all because he won't let us put a leash on him. Getting a collar on him was a nightmare.

It's only been three days, so we know it's very early, but we have zero experience with anxious dogs and he is our first rescue. Mistakes were made, the rescue isn't helping, and now here we are.

We are thinking of waiting four weeks to see if there's any improvement by allowing him space and letting him calm down before reaching out to dog trainers. Is that too late? Do we risk more damage by putting it off?

Thank you so much for any advice in advance!

We recently borrowed a dog for a day to see if he was a good fit for our family. His was an absolute delight. Almost too good to be true and I’d love to hear some input, suggestions, or ideas on what to do next.

Quick background, family with kids aged 5 and 8. Kids are really safe and respectful around dogs (not going to poke, annoy, or accidentally do weird things a toddler might). But obviously living with a dog will be a different story. We have a chance to adopt a rescue, a shepherd/mix. They said he’s 3-4 years old but he was found on the street and he really seems like a puppy. He’s also very malnourished and thin. He’s been at a friends house who’s fostering him for a month now (friend has other dogs and kids, he’s been great with them). Apparently lately though, he’s becoming more destructive. Chewing kids toys, cushions, etc. it really sounds like boredom and probably lack of exercise.

Here’s the interesting part… we recently borrowed him for a day to get to know him and see how he is with the kids and in our house. We took him for a walk and he was very calm. Dogs approached, squirrels ran by, nothing bothered him, not even a bark or a pull. Didn’t wanna play with balls or toys, very calm and relaxed, just wanted to sit on our laps or be near us (cried at the bottom of the stairs when one of us went up). Is this an anxiety thing? Do we just need to have him for a while to see how busy he actually is? We’re active, we want a dog we can run with and take for long daily walks. We’re willing and ready to spend the time and money on proper training. I’d just love some advice or input or other experiences people have had because he seems like the perfect fit. But he’s also a malnourished rescue dog from the streets and I don’t want to ever put anyone at risk if there’s some danger or red flags about this whole thing.

I have chronic pain/fibromyalgia and last night it became evident that I might need my dog to be able to run and alert my husband on command. She did go and find him when I asked but she wasn’t able to alert him of a problem. I’m thinking about how to harness that behavior and enhance it so she can go get him or someone else around if I need help (say, on a walk or something). She’s BIG though so it needs to not be scary. Any tips on how to start?

Hi everyone! I adopted a 4 year old female Pomeranian mix (think she’s mixed with corgi) yesterday and am needing some advice.

I also want to preface by saying she has very little interest in treats - I’ve tried a few different kinds, so treat based reward training might not be effective.

The first main issue I have is that we can be outside for an extended period of time and she won’t go poop. Her foster said she was housebroken - that she only had one accident on day one and that was it. But that’s not true for me. I’m learning her potty cues and she hasn’t had many pee accidents. However, it does take consistently 15-20 mins outside before she’ll go - and even then she might not go and I have to take her out again 10 minutes later - repeat a few times until she goes. I have to work tomorrow (I wfh) and this just isn’t feasible to go out this often/this long.

I also don’t have a yard/place I can tie her up to do her business. I have to actually go out with her.

Also, we can go outside and she will pee and I’ll give her extra time to poop , but as soon as we come inside, she’ll be pooping within 10 minutes. I’ve tried bringing her poop outside to show her where, but that doesn’t help either. I’ve been looking for cues, but she doesn’t seem to have any. She’ll be in the middle of playing with a toy when she squats down. And she goes so quickly that I can’t catch her and bring her outside in time.

The other issue is the roughhousing. I have given her a few toys and try my best to redirect her to them, but she often ignores it to try to “attack” my arms and hands. It’s playful “attacks” but it does still hurt a bit. And if I ignore her attempts to get my arms or try to redirect her to a toy, she starts crawling on me and nips at my face. A small note of importance is that I am autistic, so the roughhousing and constant stimulation in this is very overwhelming.

I have a training consultation with her in a few days, but if anyone has any advice until then, I would greatly appreciate it.

We have two terriers (14 and 3) and recently adopted a cat (6mo, we adopted him at 4). The cat was fostered in a home with dogs so he’s used to them. The dogs have been around cats in the past, but never lived with one. Our older dog really likes cats. He gets a little barky with them around but he really just wants to be pals.

It’s now over two months, and every time the younger dog sees the cat he absolutely loses his marbles. He charges at the cat and barks hysterically, scaring the cat away.

We’ve been doing everything right - scent swapping, keeping them separated and giving the cat his own spaces the dogs can’t access. We’re letting the cat take the lead and move at his pace. We’ve had a few sessions with leashes on the dogs where the cat can wander. We’ve done treats for both the dogs and cat to try and get them more comfortable around each other. The cat is very affectionate and it’s clear he wants to socialize, but the younger dog goes nuts and scares him. The younger dog has also had a couple of incidents of marking places where he knows the cat has been.

I don’t think our younger dog is trying to hurt him. There have been two instances where he got away from us and in the cat’s face before we could stop him. Both times he’s just barking like crazy in his face. The cat also isn’t trying to attack, he just hisses and runs away.

I know it can take time for dogs and cats to acclimate, but I’d think at this point our younger one would be somewhat more comfortable. It still feels like day one with him, and the marking is really concerning me. Should I talk to my vet about some kind of anxiety meds for my younger pup? Is there anything else I can do before resorting to that?

Hey All. First time posting here.
I just had an issue, while camping with a friend, that kind of blew up into a fight. He is essentially a traditional dog training type person (someone who has owned dogs his whole life and just figured out what works for him and his dogs, over the last several decades, never read anything on the subject, watched Ceasar Milan a bunch of times and…. Has really well behaved dogs.)

I, on the other hand, am new to dog ownership, though I’ve had several conversations with people over the years. I never wanted a dog because I consider myself a responsible dog owner and, having never had the time to properly raise and care for a dog, I just avoided having them. Recently, (last few years) I’ve got a lot more time, a sufficient yard, etc, and so I’ve had a few dogs. (One dog I don’t have anymore… super long story that but, he was the most substantial era of my research into training. (now I’ve got a three year old frenchie (talk about difficult training..) and a one year old chocolate lab.

So I’m camping with my “traditional friend” we’re in the middle of nowhere, not a soul within 30 miles around us so, our dogs are off leash, having a great time being dogs.

I feed my two dogs separately as always, because the lab won’t stay away from the frenchies food otherwise. They finish their food. All is good except they are both still a little hungry cause the vet has them on diets. (Too many training treats!!)

My friend feeds his dog out in the open. His dog does not eat. So there is a bowl of food just out in the open, easy for my lab to get at.

You guessed it. My lab is HYPER focused on trying to get his dogs food.

I’m kinda used to being on top of this “stuborn” dog. He’s got instant recall, he sits. Lays down, stays, and does all kinds of other basic cues but… he also likes getting into stuff and tunes me out when I try to stop him.

I try to work on a lot of positive redirection. (Here, do this instead) but, a lot of time it’s just endless. “Hey!” “Stop It” “leave it!”

A lot of times this works and he’ll stop. But…. A bowl of food just sitting in the open… at a campsite….

I don’t want to tell my friend what to do with his dog bowl so, I was on constant vigilance management mode.

Every minute or so, I’m telling my dog to stop trying to get the bowl of food. He stops as cued… but then the second I look away, he’s back at it. I tell him again. He stops again. I look away. He’s back at it.

In retrospect, there was no way to stop this food drive other than to remove my dog, which would have resulted into never ending demand-barking…. And, who wants to put their dog away while you’re out camping anyway… or, we should have removed the food.

But my friend felt that he should have been able to leave the food out and I should have been able to better control my dog from trying to get it.

He was very specific… as a guy who knows everything about dog training… that I need to command my dog with the word NO!!

I responded that I had been taught by several trainers and a lot of reading that “no” is not a great tool. Often times I’ll learn something and internalize it (so I’ll don’t use the word no) but I’ll kind of forget the details as to why.

So my friend is insisting that I use the word no, like any good dog trainer and, that I’m too wishy washy.

He demonstrates. “NO!!” The dog responds exactly as he had to me, every time I used any other cue. And as soon as we weren’t looking, the dog is back to the food. (Not once did either of us consider removing the damned food!

Well, this all blew up into a huge fight about me feeling like I don’t need to be told by another person how to raise my dogs and, generally feeling like I am seen as being weak and ineffective and inexperienced without any respect for the intense energy (not to mention money!) and reading, and working with professionals and by myself, that I’ve dedicated to my dogs.

At the end of the day, my friend is frustrated with me because I won’t listen to him and “the majority of dog trainers” and just teach my dog this simple command, “NO!”

And I’m left feeling like my dogs are out of control and won’t obey my every command because, perhaps, I’ve chosen to follow a wishy washy line of thinking, where it’s bad to use certain words on dogs. Like…. Why is it okay to say “leave It” or “ah ah” but not, No.

At the same time, none of these words would work anyway because hungry lab is going to hungry lab. So does this leave me as a terrible trainer whose dogs walk all over him?

I’d like to know what the community thinks about saying “no” to your dog. And, what would you have done in a situation where there is food on the ground that my dog is not allowed to eat but, we’re out camping and, leashing him would be begging for demand-barking which I’m actively working on curtailing.

Lots to address here? Ignore away if you want. Maybe I’m just trying to vent. But any feedback or advice would help me settle my mind a little.

I should have asked to remove the bowl but I chose, instead, to be on management duty and just continue to keep my dog away from the food. Should I change my thinking and figure out a commanding NO cue

Thanks in advance.

I (19f) just adopted my first ever dog today. Beyond sit, lay down, stay, and wait to eat, are there any other obedience commands I should teach him? I also want to teach him shake, spin, and fetch, alongside "hug". I want him to be able to hug me lol. Does anyone have any tips? I know about rewards and positive reinforcement.

We have a 5-month-old Cocker Spaniel puppy who is doing really well with most aspects of her training, but we're really struggling with her lead walking, particularly around traffic.

Off the lead, she's brilliant. Her recall is excellent, she listens to us, and she's generally very responsive. However, on the lead, especially on our busy home street, she's a completely different dog.

She's always been nervous around cars when walking, despite being perfectly happy travelling in one herself (she usually just falls asleep). When we're walking alongside traffic, she seems genuinely frightened and becomes very frantic, pulling extremely hard against her harness.

We've also noticed that she seems to anticipate the walk and becomes anxious before we've even left the house. As soon as we get her harness out, she'll sometimes retreat to the sofa, lower her head and look visibly worried.

The strange thing is that this behaviour is almost entirely limited to our home street. Once we get onto quieter roads, she starts to relax, responds to us again and engages with the loose-lead training we've been practising.

The biggest issue is the journey home. For approximately the last 40 metres of every walk, immediately as we turn back onto our home street, she becomes incredibly frantic, pulling as hard as she can towards the house. It's always at exactly the same point, almost as though she's desperate to get somewhere she feels safe. At that stage, she's so overwhelmed that we can't get her attention at all.

We've tried various approaches to improve her lead walking, but nothing seems to be helping in these particular situations. We're beginning to wonder whether this is less of a lead-training issue and more of a fear or anxiety response to traffic.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their puppy? We'd really appreciate advice on how to help her become more comfortable around cars and traffic without overwhelming her further.

We're particularly interested in how to approach those final 40 metres home, where she seems to panic regardless of what we try.

The gremlin, an almost 6 month old male Newfoundland puppy, has a habit of dumping his water bowl, and his sisters. He will literally “dig” the water out of the bowl to spill it on the floor and then just lay in it.

I know he’s a puppy, I know he’s still learning and everything, it’s just becoming a slip hazard and I’d like to see what yall think.

Here’s what we’ve tried:

-water fountain bowl (made it worse)

-block of ice with minimal water (fine until it melts)

-leaving towels by the water bowls preemptively (tripping hazard)

-water in a salad bowl/plate (older dog was NOT a fan)

-picking up the water bowls and putting them down at specific times (older dog was getting less water, puppy was inhaling water and as an XL breed I worry about bloat and dehydration)

He is going to a boarding trainer soon, we can ask him to work on him with it, but what can I do in the meantime to keep everyone safe?

Advice is greatly appreciated, I know this is probably a stupid question, but nonetheless, thank you all in advance!

Question for you dog trainers out there. How do you become a "real" or "official" dog trainer? It's something I want to do in life, but I have no idea where to start. For some background (just so you know, I'm not going into this blind with absolutely no experience), when I was 15, I started an internship at a dog training facility. I was there for only a short time though because I didn't like the group lesson training. It was too chaotic, too many untrained dogs in one area with owners who knew little to nothing. There were a few close calls with dog fights, 5 people all needed help and had questions all at the same time, among other things, it was just a lot and not my vibe. Prior to my internship, I had gotten a GSD at 13, raised him myself, and trained him myself. I watched endless YouTube videos, read many books, and spent a lotttt of time and effort on that dog. I successfully trained him to perform many commands.

Examples: He was obedient and trustworthy off-leash. Knew "heel" for a right-side heel and "foos" for a left-side heel. He knew "focus" like a champ, emergency stops, "bow", "sit pretty", down-stay, all the basics, boundaries (I trained him not to cross the curb unless I told him to, which evidently saved his life once when he was chasing a ball that bounced into the street right as a car was coming) He could hand me his leash or pick other things up for me. And bonus training included some service dog tasks just for fun. I trained him to alert to high heart rates (i was having medical issues at the time so I took advantage of that for some scent training fun), he did amazingly in pet-friendly public access, he could recognise and interrupt symptoms of stress/anxiety, and much more but i dont want to go on too long. He was my all and I absolutely love training. Ive also training our family husky and other gsd that we got after my lovely boy passed away but ive only done basics and party tricks with them. And helped train a few friend's dogs as well.

It's been a hot minute since I have been in the training era of my life. My GSD passed away when I was 19, i moved out at 18 and unfortunately had to leave him at home, and I'm in my early twenties now. I want to get back into training but I really only want to help people one on one and more so just basics... The more advanced tasks/commands are so much fun but they take much more time and I dont really want to do long-form training programs. I'm thinking more like 6-8 week basics programs. Sit, stay, down, recall, leash manners, and proper socialization. (there are too many people out there getting dogs and not socializing them properly, if at all) So if I am to seriously get into this, I assume I can't just start racking up clients withought certificates and such. So how do I go about becoming an independent official dog trainer? I don't want to work under someone and have to follow their training programs/rules long term, my desire and goal is to be an independent trainer working out of my backyard lol. Give me your wisdom!

I am requesting a gut check on how I'm teaching my dog to be ok doing nothing in my home office. My husband and I both work from home. I feel bad that he's in his crate from 9-1, despite us being home. I think it's important to note that he doesn't really seem terribly bothered by this. He goes in and goes right to sleep 90% of the time. However, I would like to move to him being able to sleep on the chair in my office or under my desk, the way that my previous dog did.

About my dog
He's an 8-month-old Miniature American Shepherd (AKA mini aussie). He is not neutered, and I don't plan on neutering him until he's 18 months old. He has pretty solid obedience and knows many tricks. We do a lot of training for mental stimulation.

What we've done in this situation

We've worked on practicing doing nothing and capturing calm. He's doing ok on the couch in the living room, where my husband has been able to be very consistent with him during the day. I'm struggling with generalizing that to my home office. I've tried using the same techniques, but he usually won't settle. He bites my feet, chews on unapproved things like my chair and the baseboards (despite having many other chews available), and demand barks. He clearly wants attention, so I've defaulted to putting him in his crate to keep him (and my stuff, let's be honest) safe.

I think he's struggling to generalize because we didn't just switch locations; we switched seating arrangements. He can't be next to me because I'm in an office chair. I've tried giving him project toys, including freezebones, chews, and puzzle toys with varied success. This morning for example, I gave him a collegen chew and he walked around with it, whining, unsure what to do with himself. He only displays that kind of distress with the chews in the office.

I'm worried about not giving him time to practice good behavior in this room, but i'm also worried about giving him too much opportunity to practice unwanted behavior in here. I think this is complicated by the fact that I can't give him 100% of my focus, because I do have to do my work.

Our morning routine

We wake up between 7:30 and 8. We either go for a 30-minute sniff walk or we do 30 minutes of training for his breakfast. Right now, he goes back in his crate at 9 so I can get to work, and he usually sleeps until around 1. I'd like to transition him to sleeping in my office instead.

Should I stay the course or try something new. I've been working on it this way for 6 months, and we've made progress other places, but we're really struggling in here.

For context: our dog is a 2.5 year old male & we rescued him at 4 months. He is a mix of Great Pyr, Anatolian Shepherd, and Pitbull - around 80lbs. We live in an apartment in a busy city, with upstairs neighbors who are relatively noisy, the usual stomping and dropping of things throughout the day.

While he has always shown minor signs of anxiety, we haven't had significant issues until this past 4th of July. One of my neighbors lit off fireworks on our block, and since that moment we feel we have fully lost him. Most of the day, he lays in our bathroom with no intention of coming out. He rarely eats, and if he does it's typically one meal a day. When he is in this mode (which is increasingly common), he does not accept treats. He doesn't play anymore because if the toys make a sound, it frightens him. Any sound at all, no matter what it is, he looks towards the sky in complete fear. He also has developed a fear of the dark and will not go out if the sun is starting to set, which is becoming a bigger problem now that the days are getting shorter. He commonly will go 18+ hours without going to the bathroom. When we do go on walks, he is wildly distracted and jumpy. It's hard to tell if he is excited to be out of the house, or completely overwhelmed and stressed - but my gut is the latter.

Our vet has prescribed him 30mg of Prozac which he started in July. We have seen no improvements.

Today, we are at a complete loss and don't know what to do. It is devastating to see him living in such distress. Hoping to hear any relevant success stories, tips, advice - thank you in advance!

I got my dog a little over a year ago from a shelter. She is the sweetest thing to ever walk the earth. When I first got her, I worked at a dog daycare and boarding facility so she came with me everyday and never had any issues. She loved all the dogs as well as all the people. Swear to god, she acted like she had no idea there was anything bad in the world. The roommates I lived with at the time weren't home a lot and when they were things were really tense and they were weird toward her. Not long after, we moved from a trailer in a rural area to an apartment in the city and she's been weird about the neighbors ever since. When I take her out to dog parks or to socialize, she's fine! She might take a sec to sniff someone and make sure they're cool, but after that she thinks everyone is her best friend. Even when I'm walking her around the neighborhood, she's fine meeting people. It's JUST in the building that she gets weird and barks/growls at people. We've been working on desensitization and recall training. I've taught her to pay attention to me when she isn't sure about someone because I'm there to protect her, not the other way around. But even when someone is so friendly and she clearly WANTS to be pet, she jumps up on them (we're working on it) and then starts barking at them like she's telling them to fuck off.

I'm desperate at this point for advice because it's such a niche issue. Any help would be amazing.

Our 2 year old mixed hunting breed (setters, german wire haired pointer, etc) dog will cry endlessly if she doesn't get her way. We have always ignored it, or given a sharp no, and gone back to ignoring it. But she will not stop until she gets her way, and will slowly escalate louder and louder, sometimes turning into yelping at us. When I say she won't stop, I mean, she recently had to wear a cone and stood staring at us and crying for 7 days straight. It wasn't pain, she just wanted the cone off and would stop the moment the cone came off. She would cry any time we were in the same room and stop as soon as we weren't in the same room. In the evening, she knows it is exercise time, and she will cry until exercise starts. If we wait it out, she will just cry for 4 or 5 hours until we go to bed. So it is very hard to not "give in" in the sense that she has to get exercise so she eventually gets it while crying.

Things we have tried: endless ignoring, saying a sharp no, giving treats when she stops crying or doing the activity she wants when she stops, very gently holding her snout while she cries and looking at her saying no and walking away

I have never met a dog who has this kind of stamina for crying, literally 7 days of crying. She is also extremely stubborn in other training e.g. will only do things if she likes the treats we have and isn't all that food motivated, exactly zero toy motivation. She truly just wants to only do what she wants to do. We have another dog now and a dog in the past that both were very well trained, so I don't think it is just a problem with our training.

I will take absolutely any advice because I am very close to removing my own ear drums.

Hi all, my husband and I have a 6 month old golden retriever who will often stand, sit or lie down while on walks. It's usually connected to him wanting something, e.g. he's seen a dog or he's picked up a stick that he'd like to stop and chew. Usually we can coax him on with toy or a treat, but increasingly one of us has had to carry him for at least some distance until he's forgotten why he's stopped. He's started doing this consistently in the last month.

We've taken him to the vet, they gave us the all clear and suggested it's behavioral. I don't think he's tired, as he does this even when he's excited to go out for a walk and we're only just outside the house. He also tends to show more energy again after he gets started. When he's offlead, he doesn't do this at all. He knows heel, and heels fairly well offlead and onlead except when he's doing this.

I'm finding this incredibly stressful, as he particularly likes to stop in the middle of the road while we're crossing. I'm also worried about taking him further than the distance I can carry him for, which is restricting his walks to very close to the house, or to walks that we drive to.

Reddit:

Hi, first time posting on Reddit so be nice to me :)

My boyfriend and I adopted a dog together 3 years ago. He is very affectionate and gentle with us both and happy to be walked by either of us - at least that was the case until 3 months ago. Since the 4th, he has refused to go on walks unless I am there. It feels different than typical separation anxiety because he is happy as a clam when it’s just my boyfriend at home. It just seems to be that he only wants to walk when I’m there. There were two sets of fireworks and a thunder storm the week of the 4th and we think that the loud noises back to back made him associate that trigger with my boyfriend because he was walking him when both things happened.

Since then, when my boyfriend tries to walk, he refuses to go and it takes a lot of encouragement to get him out the door and off the front porch. It’s even to the point that he won’t keep walking unless my boyfriend is gently guiding him by the handle of his walking harness. When he finally gets going, he is on high alert the whole time and stops immediately with any loud noise and tries to turn around to go back to the house, which is difficult because we live on a main road and there’s constant street traffic. My boyfriend has tried introducing high value treats but our dog turns his head and appears disinterested.

This worsens when I work from home and I’m WFH 3 days a week. When I’m working from home, it even takes a lot of coaxing for him to go outside and use the bathroom unless I am downstairs with him. When I’m in office, I work until late which makes the usual retraining techniques difficult to implement like having my boyfriend join on walks with our dog to rebuild comfort.

Wondering if anyone else has been here or has suggestions that could work? Thank you!

My Malinois is starting to figure out how to play with toys. We’ve started with the tug, but he’s confused and has grabbed onto my forearms (not enough to hurt) and I just say no then show the tug and when he gets it, praise. BUT we were playing in the yard he likes to chase me and we run around, then he grabbed my calf (it hurt a little, but obviously not an actual bite).

What’s the best way to make it clear to him he doesn’t use his teeth with me, only with toys?

Hey all, I need some input and suggestions about getting a dog. We were set on getting a puppy for our family. However, we recently came into a situation where a friend is fostering a dog and we’re considering adopting it. However there are some possible red flags I’d love some opinions/insights from this community.

First of all, this was a dog that was scheduled to be killed and saved by a rescue company. He’s 2-3 years old, big mutt, mostly shepherd it seems. He’s super friendly and loving, with no signs of aggression. He has the saddest/cutest eyes that look at you like he knows you saved his life. He’s also very high-energy, jumpy, running around, crazy. And very malnourished and thin (he was rescued from the streets).

We have small kids and my wife can be intimated by jumpy, high energy dogs. But she loves him too.

The concerns… he’s been at a friends house while they try to find a home for a month now, apparently as he’s become more comfortable he’s become more destructive. Chewing couches, shoes, tables, everything. We’re willing to put the work and money in for proper training.

Obviously you don’t know the dog and can’t answer for sure, but my questions are, is this a big red flag? Is this trainable? Are there more problems and issues we might run into? What else should I be looking for?

I’d really appreciate any suggestions and help!