Hi fellow dog owners; I am the owner of a four year old Australian Shepherd mix. He is reactive toward people, and generally a high strung guy with some other specific triggers. One of the main things that helped him learn to settle was doing Karen Overall's relaxation protocol. I am a huge fan of this protocol, and I was wondering if anyone has come across or created a relaxation protocol for other specific triggers?

For example, one of my dog's triggers is people touching/hugging, etc. When anyone in my house hugs, for instance, he barks and eventually jumps up, gets worked up, etc. I'm thinking of writing out my own version of Karen's protocol, but tailored to this trigger to help my pup tolerate it better, so that my boyfriend and I don't have to hug in secret anymore :/ But if anything like this already exists I would love to know and save myself some time. Thanks!

My boy needs boundaries around this one toy he’s obsessed with but I’m not sure myself what the rules should be.

Essentially- I’ve only found one toy that will get him to play which is mini soccer balls, and he’s obsessed (otherwise he could care less). The problem is that he doesn’t have a play off switch. He gets so hype with this toy that when we’re done he will jump and nip and try to get the soccer ball back from us super intensely. Usually we will correct by stopping him from jumping with the leash and say “no”- and then I’ll try to walk him away or do some other commands to break his focus. But he will go back at it again and again with the jumping/lunging until I get to a point of saying “all done” and then he walks in a structured heel until he’s calmed down.

I want to set some rules around the toy and also use that drive to shape other positive behaviors and need some advice. I should mention that he’s almost three and play is a new thing for him because he was so fearful/withdrawn until this point he couldn’t play.

What rules/commands are needed to enforce good play? How can I train an off switch?

Hi all,

My in-laws are asking for help with their little Bichon mix and we are stumped. He has a wicked bark that somehow tickles the interior of your brain, it is so high pitched and obnoxious. They are moving from their home into an apartment next year and there is no way they won’t get kicked out with his nonstop barking. He barks if you’re just standing there, not giving him attention. He barks at anything and everything outside. He barks if you hug my in-laws. He barks if you’re playing with our dog and not him. He barks as soon as everyone walks in the house. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason that we can see - but we are only there a day or two every 6-8 weeks.

My in-laws immediately do whatever they can to accommodate him or get him to stop. They pick him up, they baby talk him, they give him treats or table scraps. I’m assuming this is all reinforcing the barking. They do zero training with him and want to resort to using a shock collar on him (which I’m worried will only confuse him and make the situation worse).

Any tips, resources, or guidance you can provide?

We have an 8 year old german shepherd/ cane corso mix who suffers from fear reactivity. We have worked out most issues with a professional trainer but we have run into a different issue that we are a little stumped about. Due to her age we can see that her eyes are ever so slightly starting to get cloudy and low light/ no light seems to trigger her fear reactivity and if we bump her at night while sleeping she gets spooked. We accidently left a wax burner on one night while sleeping and noticed the extra light from it seemed to solve some of the issues so we continued with a night light for her and it has seemed to help. We haven't had a single issue since we started with it. Has anyone ran into something similar? I fear she may have cataracts starting. Is there any other way other then making her sleep elsewhere that has worked for others with aging reactive dogs? I guess I now have to adjust to sleeping with a night light again 😮‍💨🤷‍♀️

This is my friends uncles dog, he is a 6 year old Heeler Husky mix. My friends uncle recently moved and could not take his dog with him, and my friend does not live in a place where he can have dogs. Loki has 3 legs (gets around great) and is neutered. I have met him multiple times at my friends uncles as I stayed there for a while (about 3 weeks) on the couch and he slept with me almost every night. Long story short, my friends uncle got a divorce and his wife can’t have him right now either, I’ve stepped in to try and help with whatever they may need for him, help with foster, rehoming, exercise etc…

I’m unsure what exactly they are wanting to do with him quite yet, but I’m on here seeking advice. Maybe it’s the stress of the whole situation, but he has started growling at certain people. Tall men. And growls at people through car windows at stop lights. My friends brother tried to take him in but couldn’t keep him because his brother claims he tried to attack his father in law. I personally have never seen him bite people, I have seen him growl at the vet (who was a tall man)
My friend told me that his uncle abused him for most of his life by throwing controllers at him, and yelling at him. His ex wife was the one who took care of him the most and so when she left he wasn’t getting much care at all.

I know this may be a confusing post but I’m just not sure where the growling is coming from, is it from the abuse? How do I help this so I can possibly find him a good home? He’s very loving and affectionate with me, my boyfriend, and my friend. Pretty much everyone I’ve seen besides the vet. Any advice helps than you!

Hey guys, I’ve got a pretty mouthy pup who loves nipping/biting. I’m getting stressed out because I don’t know how to curb this habit. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about dog training collars and wonder if they actually work for bite inhibition? I’m totally new to this and open to all advice — positive-only methods, e-collars, anything you’ve tried. What’s your experience? Did it fix biting, or are there big downsides I need to know about?

I have a 13 week old Shih Tzu puppy that is crate trained.She sleeps in the crate overnight and whenever I put her in during the day without any barking or whining .However now that she’s potty trained and has free access to the house she never goes into the crate on her own even though her bed is in it.She will always lie on the floor.How can I make her go the crate when it’s not closed?Even if we’re not in the house she is still lying on the floor.

I literally have no idea what to do. We have a 11 month old ridgeback/ Staffy/ beagle wich we got 2 months ago. Since then we have tried everything to get the dog to get along with my 2 cats. However she is super reactive when she sees them. She growls, barks, cry’s… We’ve even hired a trainer to come out and assess the situation wich he then said there is 50/50 potential in them getting along but I’ll have to put her into obedience classes witch are $1000 a week and Im not wasting my money on that. I don’t want to get rid of her. My whole family absolutely adores her. She is everything a dog owner could possibly want she is literally the perfect dog , but I’m in constant fear everyday scared that someone will leave a door open and she will get inside to my cats and attack them. Both the dog and my 2 cats are inside animals. We are constantly rotating them and the dog. Half the day my cats are out with my family and the other half of the day my dog has the whole laundry and my large yard to herself until she comes in. My dog however has killed 3 birds and a wild rabbit all in the last 2 weeks while being outside and unattended. The weird thing is she doesn’t eat them and there wasn’t even blood on any of the bodies including the rabbit. She just throws them around until they’re dead and after seeing what she can do Im scared she’ll do the same thing to my cats. I need to put my cat’s safety first but I also don’t want to get rid of the dog as me and my whole family have built such a huge bond with her. Is there anyone who has trained there high- prey dogs to get along and stop reacting to their cats. If so can you please tell me what exactly you did and how long it took. Im honestly worried that even if I do get them to be at peace she might one day randomly turn on the cats. Should I risk it or should I rehome the dog

So, I finally got the husky experience in its fullness! (Maybe not its fullness.)

The thing is, my 3-month-old discovered she can ignore me when she is free in the backyard, because she is faster and I can’t do anything about it. More specifically when she is biting chunks of grass and digging. I call her, I say no, offer her some high-value treats and the only thing I get is her staring at me as if she is saying “watch ya gonna do about it byoitch?!”

I’m sure I did something wrong along the way. She used to listen, answer to recalls, when I told her “no” she would stop. But for the last few days she’s just ignoring me altogether.

Any suggestions?!

I adopted my dog, Luna, back in June 2026. She’s a rescue and we don’t have much background on her except that she’s about 1.5 years old today. She did, however, live with her foster family for over 2 months before I adopted her. They had nothing but good things to say about her — she was great with their family dog, great with their young kids, just needed some leash training.

Most of that still rings true. She loves playing with dogs and she loves visiting my mom and sister. But she gets a vicious bark/lunge situation when she sees my brother, especially if we’re inside the house. She also is horribly reactive with bikes and scooters, but not all the time. It’s hard to predict and I can never relax on walks — always need to be paying 100% attention to her cues for when she decides to jump again.

Today felt like the final straw — she loves doggy daycare but it’s a small hallway/reception area and she’s reactive there. I usually try to pay attention to make sure we’re never walking in right after or before another dog, so she doesn’t see/react. But today, a dog was coming in while we were leaving and she jumped right at it and its owner in this tiny hallway. I mean so aggressive, honestly a bit scary. I literally cried walking home.

I’ve spent over a thousand dollars on 1-on-1 private training (with me) and training walks (without me) . But we’re just not getting anywhere. I didn’t know I was getting a reactive dog. I love her and I’d never give her up, but I wouldn’t have chosen a reactive dog — I just know how much attention they need and deserve and I just wasn’t prepared for this.

What’s next? I’m tempted to try a board & train. A couple co-workers sent their dogs to one and have raving reviews. But then I look at reddit posts about board & trains and everyone makes it seem like you’re a horrible person if you choose that route.

We live in the city and I do think some of her triggers are related to the busy streets. My lease ends in February and it looks like I’ll have to move to the suburbs. I really don’t want to take her out of doggy daycare because I work long days and it’s already hard enough to leave the office early / come in late on the days when she isn’t in doggy daycare. But I also don’t want her to harm another dog.

I’d really appreciate any advice on what other training I can try. Is a board & train really that bad? If the 1-on-1 training isn’t getting us anywhere…..what do I do?!

Flirt pole is the only thing that drains this dog, so we do 2 sessions a day. Someone at the park told me hard cuts and spins are how young dogs tear a cruciate and that I should be thinking about insurance before it happens. I'd never put the training side and the insurance side in the same thought. Is there a way to run these sessions that's easier on knees or is this just the cost of owning a mal?

I used to give my dog little pieces of hot dog when he went potty outside, and it worked really well at first. Now he seems kinda over them and doesn't get nearly as excited anymore. Tried giving him some string cheese too, but he wasn't that interested in that either.

Hi guys! We have a Half Collie half who knows pup that is almost 4 months old. We've had him almost 2 weeks and as he is settling in he is getting pretty mouthy as expected. We redirect chewing on blankes and pillows with with his toys and giving verbal redirects with an occasional pull on his collar when nipping at people's hands. Most of our experience comes from older rescues with issues like resource gairding, so the puppy teething is one were lacking experience with. Is this a good approach or are there better methods? How long would you expect it to get results? We allready have potty training, sit, stay, come, and heel down pretty well.

I don’t know where else to go, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I adopted a little puppy about 6 months ago, and she was abused and abandoned before I got her. At first, it was hell because not only was I trying to potty train her, but she also had this crazy fear response that would trigger at the slightest thing. If I told her no, walked towards her, said anything in a semi-serious tone, called her towards me too many times, or if I was even just walking past her, BOOM, she goes limp on the floor and pees.
I had a dog growing up, and I’ve known plenty of people with dogs that have their little quirks, but it’s the combination of the two that gets me. She ends up lying in a pool of her own pee, and when I walk towards her to pick her up and plop her on a pee-pee pad so I can clean up the mess, she bolts as soon as I look away WHILE still covered in her pee, so she’s making a mess everywhere.
I’ve been very patient with her, and I’ve done everything I can to make sure she feels safe here. I want her to understand that this is just as much her home as it is mine, and for the most part, things have been great. We have a routine down, and I’m always taking her to the park so she can get her zoomies out. Then we come home, she eats a little, chugs some water, and passes out lol. She’s pretty much completely potty trained at this point, too, which makes the whole situation even more frustrating because the accidents aren’t really about potty training anymore. It’s this fear response that seems to override everything.
I adopted her at 4-ish months, and now she’s almost fully grown, and I just can’t anymore. The first two times, I felt bad for the dog, but this many times? Over literally nothing? I genuinely am losing my mind.
I asked the shelter where I adopted her from for help early on, and they said they’ve seen this a lot and to just leave her alone to calm down. I tried it ONCE, and it was ridiculous. She just lay there in her pee. Nothing different.
And the kicker is, she’s very happy. She cuddles with me, falls asleep on my feet while I’m doing schoolwork, lies down with me for naps, is good on walks, and is pretty much always attached to my side. But THE MOMENT she perceives anything at least a little scary, BOOM, everything is out the window, and she’s a dog trying her hardest to survive the monster that is me after saying “No.”

I have a 9 month old large breed dog, and I find myself getting extremely frustrated because he has not responded well to anything i have done to train him.

I find myself yelling and getting overwhelmed a lot because he is high energy and likes to mess with my moms older smaller dogs and it stresses them out.

Now, I can't exactly afford a dog trainer, and I work a lot to keep my life afloat, and because of this I think hes gotten restless and our energy isn't matching up.

I try to watch youtube videos but he has 0 attention span and everything ive tried doesnt work. I walk him as much as I can but where I live, it gets dark earlier for a lot of the year because of winter and I have a fear of walking outside at night due to trauma I have been slowly working through in therapy etc. its completely unrelated to me getting him as it happened after I got him, and its been tough.

He doesn't have any respect for me it seems and my last dog, i never had this problem he was a large breed and super trainable but my ex took him in our separation and I was left with a gaping hole in my heart for 4 years.

Ive tried training recall but he just runs around the yard and when i put a lead on him to try and recall train hes always pulling and he tries to fuck with me by running around me. 😬 Ive never had a dog this difficult and I grew up with dogs my entire life and theyve never been bad or non-responsive the way he is.

Can anyone offer me words of wisdom or any training advice? Ever been in the same position and found a way to help save the relationship between you and your dog?? Hes a boxer/mastiff/husky and hes never been an aggressive dog, just gets these stubborn moments where I just know hes challenging me and I am struggling to find the solution.

Please help.

I am saving money to bring in a trainer for a few sessions over a couple weeks but I'm overwhelmed with how difficult this is becoming.

Hello everyone. I’m kind of in a spot as you can probably guess by the title here. At one point, I had the dog leash trained. He’s just shy of being two years old now. Well, my boyfriend, who previously did most of the handling with the dog took a job 1,500 miles away. He seldom put the dog on a leash due to having a very large backyard for the dog to roam and get plenty of exercise. (I told him that was a mistake and he needed to be on it regularly but he didn’t listen.) I tried going through the same process I did when he was a puppy. He’s fine being around the leash. However when I clip it on him using a collar, he pancakes the floor/ground, pees, and rolls in it. He will NOT get up until it is removed. I know a harness is a bad idea but I tried that anyway and he was fine until I tried to get him to take a few steps. Of course I used treats to try to persuade him but it was fruitless.

The issue is I have to be able to get this dog across 1,500 miles in a couple of months. I’m at a loss. Please help me out here if possible. Aside from this issue the dog is a really good dog.

*\* Cross posted in Cane Corso forum.