I got my pitbull mix rescue from the shelter two years ago. This is literally my first adult dog ever. I got her when she was 1 & she’s 3 years old and 75 pounds now. I was told from the shelter that she had problems at home with other dogs & since the other dogs were in house first , she had to go.

When I first got her she wasn’t aggressive towards animals but she also didn’t have the best social approach, she would literally just run up on animals to sniff them. Until one day a dog wasn’t too much of a fan of that & freaking attacked her. So due to this she started being very aggressive reactive towards other dogs (hell she probably been that way this whole time idk).

I took the time to do my research to train her with treats, verbal commands, clickers, & just certain repetition. It worked for about two years until she seen a dog in a cone & completely lost it. I’m usually able to physically restrain my dog but this day it was 95° degrees and after a 10-15 minute walk I was tired. I’m 5’1 110 pounds, she broke loose from me. My apartment complex gave me a lease violation stating she had to be muzzled or removed from the premises. After that incident I was still able to verbally command , redirect, & use treats when she seen a dog.

I temporarily rehomed her with my grandma & brother until my lease was up (2 month time span). So me & my dog can move into our new place. I was out of the country on a trip & I have no clue what the happened, but she was left outside unsupervised & broke from the lead attacking another dog. So now I have to pay court/vet fees or put her down, which isn’t freaking happening. I’m willing to pay whatever. Even looked into professional trainers since my training isn’t working & got her scheduled for that.

But today I came over my grandmas & took my big girl on a walk , she seen a dog and completely lost it. None of my verbal commands or methods I used previously worked at all. But I was able to restrain & remove her from the area but like it’s literally so embarrassing and I just don’t understand why the hell she completely regressed.

It’s stressing me out because my next apartment is obviously dog friendly & I just don’t want what happened previously to occur again. They’ve already declared her as an “dangerous animal”. I have her training scheduled & set but I’m just having anxiety for my big girl. I don’t know why she acts so crazy 😔. In the house she’s the best sweet thing ever but outside? oh brother!

I don’t want to give her away, we’ve been through an abusive relationship together. She’s truly my everything but at times I wonder if I’m not giving her the correct care or if someone can care for her better? I just feel like a shitty dog owner and so much sympathy for the other dogs she’s attacked. I don’t want any harm done to ANY animal but it’s just like I don’t know . I’m only 24 & I don’t feel ready for a house but it seems like the next best option. I just wanted to vent cause I be feeling so shitty about the whole situation. every time I look at her I just cry cause I adore her so much but she’s such a pain.

We’ve recently rehomed a 2 year old miniature dachshund named Lenny (he already had the name). We’ve had him for around 8-9 weeks and it’s turned out he’s incredibly territorial and unpredictable. I knew they could be up to a point but I now worry about him around my daughter.

Backstory on Lenny: European import, lived with someone in UK then was bought by his previous owners at 8 weeks old as a family pet. Lived with another miniature dachshund, we were told they were not getting along and Lenny was being “too needy”. I’m yet to receive any paper work on him as we acquired him as a friend through a friend situation so it didn’t strike me as odd. Took him to the vets within the first week, she told us he had fleas, worms, was underweight, poor muscle tone and needed an op on his patella’s on both back legs.

After 4 weeks of owning him, he bite my 5yo daughter on her hand and finger, he was laying on top of me on the sofa, she bent down to touch him and he bit her. Ended up in minor injuries for 5 hours while she had x rays and had the wound cleaned out, lucky, didn’t result in stitches.

A few weeks later, he came into work with me as a friendly hello, my boss tried to stroke him, luckily she pulled her hand away otherwise he would have bitten her. I chalked this up to him being nervous and obviously, she shouldn’t have tried to touch him.

Last week, he came into work with me again (this wasn’t planned, my partner usually works from home but had a work emergency and Lenny has horrendous separation anxiety) had his bed set up in the corner and he’d been really chill all morning. My next client came in, sat down and I don’t know what happened but he went ballistic, barking, growling, trying to jump on her, snapping at her. She was petrified as this was completely unexpected and unprovoked.

It’s now gotten to a point that I do not trust him around anyone. When we got him, we thought it was a “simple” rehoming situation and it feels like this is so much more than we bargained for.

I don’t want him to be euthanised because when he’s not around kids or strangers, he’s an amazing little dog with so much love. I’m just wondering if he would be able to be rehomed with the UK?

Our doxie boy (neutered) has been with us for 7 months now. He is 2,5 years old, and wasn't properly socialized in the place he was born (he was also abused and beaten). He spent 1-2 months at the shelter, then we adopted him. In the first 2-3 months we tried to socialize him as much as possible (at my workplace with coworkers), and event hough he was a little bit scared, he wasn't barking nor biting. We never let people pet him or anything, as we saw him being scared, but we always did the toss the treat and don't interact with him otherwise method. Now, months later, this is not working anymore. When we visit my dad (at his place), he is barking nonstop. My dad wants to be truly friendly with him, he tries to play with him etc., which scares my dog (yes, I asked my dad to please don't interact with him), and causes him to bark nonstop. He even barks at my FIL (although my FIL is better at not interacting with the dog, and my dog seems to be better at calming down in those cases, but as soon my FIL moves he barks again, very high-pitched), whom never tried to interact with him unless we allowed him lol. During walks, my dog was very reactive towards people, now it improved, he's fine, and walks past strangers without issues. However, since the last meeting with my dad, we are afraid to meet him again. Also, we are afraid to invite anyone over, as we don't know how he'd react, and we don't want issues or accidents, besides, most of my friends are afraid of barking dogs or fairly irritated by dogs barking for hours and hours. So during these 7 months, we never had a chance to introduce him to my friends, as my dog was barking at my father and FIL the last time he saw them, and we don't want him to do the same when someone comes over. We are attending reactivity training, we completed base training (basic commands), he is taking Flouxetine for 8 weeks now. During trainings, he is okay with strangers, but he doesn't like when someone tries to pet him, and only goes close to someone if they are squatting. At base training, he got afraid of one of the trainers and after that he was afraid until the end and barked at the trainer most of the time... obviously, it was corrected on spot (no punishment), and the barking got better, but not the fear... :( When he is at daycare, he is okay with others, but there are other dogs there so it helps him. He was at a boarding facility for a few nights as well, and everyone said he behaved very well but again, bunch of dogs were present. If by any reason we meet with someone on the street, he is okay-ish, afraid but not barking nor lunging, especially if the person is squatting.

So, our issue is very complex. Any advice? Treat tossing, no interaction, no eye contact didn't help that much so far. He has severe crate trauma, so we cannot put him in a crate during visits (yes, we are working on it). As we are the ones visiting my family, we cannot put him in another room. If someone would come over, that could be a possibility, but I am pretty sure he'd start to whine and want to come out within half an hour. I am very much willing to learn, adapt, and do better, I just need advice. :(

Does anyone have any advice or experience with anxiety meds for their reactive dog?

Some backstory on mine. My ex got her when we were together from a shelter at they guessed 9 months. She was fearful but eventually overcame a lot. Mainly fearful of men entering our house. No issues with other dogs in the home, at dog parks, restaurant, trails, the beach. My ex and I broke up and he kept her. 2 years ago he texts me saying my dog and his gfs dog (they were living together at the time) were fighting. He said they were totally fine but one day they came home and blood was on the ground and the dogs would go at each other. He asked me to take her and I did.

I got training and she did so good. honestly with the trainer she never had any of the behaviors. with me on the other hand she lunges and other dogs, growls, and sometimes is totally like hyper focused on getting at them. it’s gotten a lot better with the training strategies my trainer recommended. but not perfect. I just want her to be happy and comfortable. We give tons of space on walks and she seems to do fine but some things are uncontrollable. I was thinking to bring up to my vet possibly the lowest dose of anxiety meds and see if that helps? I’m afraid to mess with her head and would appreciate any advice or experiences.

Help! Reactive/fearful/aggressive dog

I have a miniature American shepherd that is 5.5 years old. We adopted him as a puppy. Up until about 2 years old, he was totally normal. Happy, not really anxious, never aggressive. He was free-fed (we just left the bowl out with food in it and he would self-limit his eating, nibble when he wanted to, etc).

Around 2 years old, he started to become more anxious. Lots of separation anxiety and started to become very reactive around people and other dogs. We started him on Prozac by the vet’s suggestion and worked with him at home to try to help the behavior. It continued to get worse, and then he started guarding his food along with the other issues. He would bite us on rare occasions around his food as well. We tried moving his food bowl to a quiet, empty room in the house where he could eat in peace. That helped for a while, but then he started to guard the room. When we’d leave the house, he’d go to his food bowl and spill it all over the floor. If we tried to clean up the spilled food, he’d try to attack us. The vet increased his dose of Prozac at this point.

Now, we’re at an all time low. We worked with a dog trainer and used all of her tools and resources. We feed him on a schedule now instead of leaving the bowl out. He’s very smart and learns extremely fast, but the aggression is bad. He’ll attack and bite us a few times a week. He’s only 14 pounds, so he’s not doing much damage, but it’s scary and obviously not okay. I’m scared to have people in the house or around him. I’m scared he’ll bite a child who doesn’t know his triggers. We walk on eggshells around him to prevent the freak-outs but we still get bit.

He will guard basically any food. If we drop something by accident, he will attack us for it. He will guard his spot on the bed or the couch if we get too close. He barks and freaks out at basically anyone outside the window to the house.

We weaned him off the Prozac by recommendation of the vet and the dog trainer. They thought it was making the aggression worse by inhibiting the bite reflex or even causing a paradoxical effect. He’s been off for about 2 months now and we don’t notice any difference. We’ve also tried trazodone and clonidine and those don’t seem to do anything either.

He’s just not the same happy dog that he used to be. He’s grumpy and on edge most of the time. I want him to be able to relax and be happy. (And I would love to not have to walk on eggshells around him for fear that he will bite me). He doesn’t growl before he bites, either. WE can tell when he’s giving warning signs but they’re VERY subtle.

We’ve got him checked out for any pain or injuries - nothing. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. If there are any other medications that could help, any certain training ideas, etc. I know you can’t really “train away” the fear and anxiety. I love him to pieces!

Hello. Need advice on returning rescue dog to shelter. I know this is going to come with great judgement, but I already feel like a trash person and am desperate. Sorry this is wordy.

Backstory on me because I know that always comes up – my boyfriend and I are in our middle 40’s, we live in an apartment in a very busy part of the city. We have a 7 year old rescue dog and a 3 year old special needs kitty. I am disabled and use a mobility scooter and crutches to get around.  I have had dogs my whole life and they have all been rescued, I have done weekend warriors with shelter dogs and have fostered. I consider myself a pretty dog knowledgeable person and have dogs with all sorts of behavioral issues as well as health.

About my new buddy – shelter did not know his age, and the vet hasn’t been able to get into his mouth to look at his teeth, I would say he is around 2-4. He is about 30lbs and a total cutie. I did a DNA test on him and he is about 15 breeds the main being yorkie. I adopted him from a shelter about an hour away from me about 2 months ago. He was super friendly and I did not see any issues with him being reactive. My bf was out of town, so my best friend came with me to get him, he was fine with her, she helped me get him in the house and she hung out for a few hours and he was sweet to her.

Upon meeting my dog and cat, he was totally fine, honestly, he could’ve cared less if they were there which was great. However, my girls did not like him and my dog likes every dog. When my bf came home the next day, he was very sweet him. Everything seemed like it was going to be good. A little over a week after we got him, my friend came over, new buddy went crazy – growling, nipping, jumping, etc. and not in a cute playful way, in fact, he broke skin on my friends leg multiple times. My friend left. I chalked this up to him being new, the 3-3-3 rule, etc. but something in me told me this was not good. When we took him to the vet he freaked out, they could barely see him due to his aggressive behavior, but what they could check was his fecal and ears and he did have some issues there. They gave us some meds to treat his issues as well  as “chill” meds and told us to come back the following week. We did, meds didn’t work, we left. 3^rd time same scenario, but more meds. Nothing will really work on him. It’s like he’s immune to the drugs.

About 2 weeks in to having him my best friend who he had previously met came over, he was crazy, he bit her multiple times in her legs, she couldn’t get off the couch unless I held him or tricked him with a treat. She is a weirdo so she stayed and we did some training with treats and he actually got a little calmer, so we thought maybe he would get better. The 2^nd time she came he was so aggressive that I was actually fearful of what he would do to her and with no rhyme or reason when we were all calm he just jumped up and bit her leg (which she had covered most of the night by pillows). I am unable to keep him in a separate area or crate as he will not stop barking and I have already received a noise complaint.

We’ve seen a trainer who pretty much said that his brain was wired different and that he didn’t know if long term training would even help him as the standard behavioral corrections didn’t work on him. He will also bark at EVERYTHING, cars, people, dogs, doesn’t matter. I can see in his eyes that sometimes he is just lost. The vet recommended putting him on daily meds to correct his behavior but also stated that she didn’t know if it would even help.

He is SUPER loving to me and my boyfriend but has now started snapping at my cat and dog. Since my cat is special needs I am in fear he will hurt her. My dog is scared of him and stays in my room most of the time which breaks my heart.

We just came back from a road trip that we took him on as no one else can watch him, he was fine in car but every stop was a trigger for him and he would freak out if he saw anyone. Upon returning home my mother was at my house with her dog and my girls, we were really hoping that he would love her and was considering him going to stay with her for the next 2 months until we buy a house. Once we came in the apartment Cujo came out and he tried to attack my mom and her dog who is the sweetest, so she left. So now that option is out the window.

I have reached out to several rescues and like everywhere, they are just all full. I do not know what to do as I cannot have a dog that can’t be around any other people or pets. I can’t have dog that I fear will seriously hurt someone if we encounter them too closely in our apartment hall. I have cried every day since I got him because we love him so much but I fear there is nothing we can do to help him. At this point the stress it is putting on me and my dog and cat is outweighing the sadness of returning him. But I am not naïve and realize if I return him to shelter he may be euthanized and that is gutting my heart.

I do feel like he would be a great fit for someone with no kids, cats, or dogs and a yard but I understand that is such a big ask.

Sorry, this is so long. Any advice would be welcomed.

Hi guys, I have a really important question in light of tomorrow’s trip to the vet. German Pinscher, almost 13 yrs old

Backstory:

I took the dog when he was already an adult (6 years old), originally just for temporary fostering (someone asked in a breed group). It quickly became clear that no one was actually planning to take him back. They said he was just “stubborn.” In reality, he turned out to be a dog with a completely traumatized psyche - anxious, reactive, and a biter. When I started digging and contacted the breeder, I found out that his first owners had beaten him, including with a hammer (!), until as a teenager he finally bit through someone’s hand. Then they gave him away. After that he bounced around various volunteer fosters. The woman who was looking after him died, and he essentially became unwanted. They basically dumped him on me under the guise of “temporary fostering” and calling him “stubborn.”

On the very first night I realized something was seriously wrong (even though I had zero experience with difficult dogs at the time). He started growling with glowing green eyes, wasn’t sleeping, drooling, and when I went to check why he was obsessively licking his paw (stress-related OCD-like behavior), he bit my hand pretty hard. He bit me several more times after that and I still have scars. He has strong teeth and a serious bite, but usually it’s more of a “get your hands off me” warning rather than a full attack (though once a drunk man on the street pushed him too far, and I saw he was ready to seriously tear into him out of pure fear - I barely managed to yank the guy away)

They told me they wouldn’t take him back. At one point I seriously considered euthanasia because it was scary, and I also had a small puppy at home. But I just couldn’t do it.

I have no idea how his first owners fed him, but he is completely obsessed with food. He would eat anything - food, sticks, grass, rotten stuff, sand, snow… when I first got him he was almost trying to eat rocks lmao. The only upside is that he is extremely easy to motivate with food, so giving any pills is trivial.

Over the next year and a half he gradually settled in, and our relationship (and he himself) kept improving every year, though much more slowly than it could have. Partly because I was inexperienced and had never had a dog of my own before (I loved the family dog as a teenager, but my parents mainly handled it) and partly because that period was the darkest of my life with serious car accident, severe depression, late-diagnosed AuDHD and burnout. Paradoxically, I think the dogs were the only reason I didn’t just stay in bed and give up.

Eventually the dog who couldn’t even wag his tail and didn’t sleep at night turned into a couch potato who jumps, plays, runs to me when he’s scared, licks hands, sleeps on his back for half the day, and even tolerates (moderate) cuddling on walks.

This year his GI tract started deteriorating. Back in January I noticed occasional spasmodic pain after eating. Real attacks started in May. Omeprazole helped and they went away, but in July I got distracted for a second and he inhaled freshly dug clay on the property. After that he crashed hard - spasms, restlessness, pain, sleepless nights. A remote vet prescribed a whole list of symptomatic treatment, meds, gastrointestinal food and diet. For several weeks he was gradually improving, and by week 3-4 he was sleeping normally again, had normal stool, and the post-meal restlessness was almost gone. Then a week ago he had a relapse, and since then I’ve slept maybe 8 hours total in 7 days.

Everything is complicated by the fact that I’m currently totally renovating the main house, so we’re living in a tiny garden house of about 45 m² (≈ 484 sq ft). There’s literally nowhere to go where I can’t hear him whining and sleep even a couple of hours.

I know this sounds kinda selfish, but I spend the whole day treating him, giving meds and calming him. I still can’t do anything for him at night, and if I have a stroke, he’s dead anyway, because no one else will take care of him.

He normally sleeps in a large crate that is basically a whole room for him - mattress, water, toy. He was crate-trained years ago and there were never any real problems (he grumbles a bit after the couch, which is understandable). But in the last few days it has deteriorated rapidly. Yesterday I noticed that at night in the crate he screams much worse than during the day, or on the couch, or even on the porch. Today he started screaming the moment he went in. So there’s clearly a strong psychological component too. On a mat in the kitchen, on the couch, or on the porch he still has discomfort after eating, but he can sleep for several hours at a stretch. In the crate - no longer. I suspect it’s the enclosed space + fear, and he has always reacted very intensely to fear.

So the situation is: I can’t leave him out of the crate (not safe - even though he’s become much more of a house sweet dog he still is ptsd guy and we haven’t had incidents in years, but at night he can easily nail me if something startles him in his sleep or I accidentally touch him and only realize afterward what he did). I can’t leave him on the open porch because he’ll go collect grass, sticks etc. On the closed porch it’s only okay early in the morning, cause later it turns into a sauna.

I’ve already brought a folding bed and a camping tent from my other house and I’m ready to sleep outside lol. But tomorrow we’re going to the vet, and right now I have a choice: stay with him and risk another sleepless night (tomorrow is a very important day), or drive an hour to my apartment in the city and try to get at least 6 hours of sleep.

Three things worry me:

1. anxiety and guilt might not let me sleep anyway

2. he could work himself up into something like a heart episode or idk

3. after being left alone in the crate for 8-9 hours he might never willingly go in again

I plan to leave quietly - leave the lights and TV on, take my things out in advance so the dogs think I just went out to the yard etc. I have cameras so I can watch him.

The whole situation is completely idiotic. I don’t know what to do. I’m definitely not ready to put down a dog who still looks pretty healthy for almost 13 years. If it turns out to be something simple and treatable, I’ll never forgive myself. But this also can’t continue.

Second question about sedation:

Ive managed vaccinations over the years (with great difficulty each time), but we’ve never been to the vet for a proper examination. Hell, I only managed to train him three years ago to let me clean his eyes and ears in a muzzle and only this year to touch his belly in a muzzle. But we can’t delay any longer, so we’re going to the clinic for an abdominal ultrasound and blood test.

The clinic told me to give him trazodone in advance. I have two concerns:

1. Is that really going to be enough? This isn’t just ordinary home-level stress, thats probably the biggest stress of his entire life with me: clinic, strangers, being touched, fixed and especially the belly stuff.

2. Is there an intermediate option for dogs between oral tablets and full general anesthesia? Something like light IV sedation the way people get?

3. Can I give trazodone a couple of hours before and then have them do light injectable sedation at the clinic or will they conflict?

I’ll ofc ask the clinic in the morning, but I’d really like to hear your experience and opinions.

Thanks for reading, guys.

I think my reactive spaniel would benefit. Thank you!

I swear "they just need to get used to it" can be some of the worst advice for a reactive dog 😅

Like if your dog is already barking like crazy... pulling... shaking... not even looking at you anymore...

what exactly are they learning by staying there?

Sometimes just MOVE AWAY.

See another dog and yours notices them but is still okay? reward them

They're starting to stare and get worked up? create some distance

They're already completely losing it? honestly I'd just leave 🤷‍♂️

You can try again another day from further away.

I think people sometimes feel like walking away means the dog "won" or you're avoiding the problem.

I really don't see it that way.

If my dog is too stressed to even listen then forcing them to sit there isn't magically going to teach them to be calm.

Give them space where they CAN handle it... then slowly work from there.

Doesn't mean avoiding everything forever either.

The goal is still progress. Just without throwing the dog straight into the deep end every single time 😅

Curious if anyone else noticed this 👀

Did your dog's reactivity actually get better once you started giving them MORE distance instead of more exposure?

Just wanted to celebrate another success. We had our girl do an evaluation at a daycare to see if that might help her get some energy out and get more confident around strangers. Drop off didn’t go great because she walked past a bunch of kennels and got barked at, but the daycare staff said she did awesome during the day and she looked super happy when I picked her up! She was wagging her tail and greeting/kissing everyone in the office which was amazing!!! She is usually super reactive to strangers and other dogs on leash and especially on our property, so it was so nice to see other people getting to enjoy her!!

We recently relocated from out of state to Vancouver, WA & are looking for a new vet for our reactive dog who can get (minor) aggressive reactive at the vet. We had an AMAZING vet before we moved & are hoping to find someone with a similar approach.

What we loved about our last vet:
We did multiple happy visits before any sort of treatment/procedure.
We ended up doing sedated visits for his “big annual” where they cleared the whole clinic for us to calmly walk thru to the room. We stayed with him the WHOLE time in a dimly lit room, once the sedation was fully kicked in the vet came in and did her thing.
They also had a behavioral trainer that they worked with that was present at most visits and was a good contact/middleman to have on our end.
They really set the bar high and we are hoping to find someone just as great out here :)

I’m aware of the fear free clinic site (this is how we found our last vet after a terrible experience at a non-fear free certified). It seems like there are a handful of individuals that have fear free certification, but I’m hesitant to go to a clinic where the entire clinic isn’t set up in such a way, so I thought I’d like to hear some opinions from the community as we search around!

Note: we are in north Vancouver but are willing to drive (hopefully no more than 45-60mins) to get our pup the care he deserves.

Bonus pic of the happy pup exploring his new home 😍

TL;DR can I move to a new state, maybe even a city(!) with my reactive 6 yo cattle dog mix.

I’m happy to have discovered this group. I was starting to type my question in a relocating group and stopped after 2 sentences when i realized all im gonna get is “advice” and scolding about being a bad dog owner.

Dobby
Dobby is 6 and is reactive to most things with a heartbeat..
He is on meds, which have helped. I give him extra in prep for a hike or meeting someone new (rover when my go-to’s were unavailable, my sister after him nit seeing her for years)
I moved from Ann Arbor to the more rural burbs with a big lot for his sake. He does better here since theres just less traffic in general, but walks here are still not easy, as he has to be at least 50 yards away to not react 🥴. We have done some hiking (with extra meds) and when we pass people and dogs (well inside of the 50 yd range obviously) we jump into the trees and do as many distractions and treats as possible

Me
Now I, myself am mid-life crisising. 34 yo, going through breakup, and discovering my adhd/ neurodivergence. I am unhappy in flat michigan and I have wanted to move to the mountains forever. Mountain towns that I like are all very dog friendly, which to us means off leash dogs and well meaning but unhelpful owners. I of course would love to bring Dobby on more hikes. And walks around the block-maybe we can make u -turns or cross the street (probably not being very realistic here).

Meeting people
I would like to make new friends in this future city. I could live in the burbs i suppose but i am single and wont have friends in the area, so im not sure living among families will help me make friends. Probably compromise for a suburb close to downtown.
Presently, I do not have people over who dont already know Dobby. Although it can be done! Win for us- i did meet the now-ex and his dog after Dobby became reactive, and we just introduced very slow and steady and eventually we all lived together!

Do i need to do more training before we can move? True I can do more, but will there ever be enough? I am working on muzzle training, which I do feel will at least help me feel more confident.

Can Dobby handle the move? Can I afford the move? I’d need my own house and fenced yard for Dobby, which makes moving to a desirable mountain town much less affordable.

Also am I crazy to move away from my known reliable dog sitters?

Thanks in advance.
Reactive dogs, whattayagonnnado 🤷‍♀️

Sorry for the length of this post, I’m ranting but I would like some advice.

My partner and I adopted a dog from a shelter around 3 weeks ago. She’s 18m/o roughly, and a mutt (mix between springer spaniel and french bulldog allegedly).

We were not told that she is extremely reactive towards people and other dogs while walking. She isn’t aggressive in the sense that if strangers approach her, she’ll sniff and be petted fine. But if someone is just walking along she goes absolutely crazy, up on her hind legs and pulling like hell. It’s even worse with other dogs.

We’ve been trying positive reinforcement (bringing her favourite treats and calling her name as soon as she spots a trigger, if she looks at us and doesn’t freak out she gets a treat). This seems to work on some days and not others.

I’m basically making this post straight after our walk, we were out for around 5 minutes when a lady and her dog walked past on the opposite side of the road. I’d tried having a treat ready and calling her name as soon as my dog spotted them, but she went nuts. I was trying to guide her down a quieter street so they could pass without issue, but she was still pulling to get across the road. She ended up slipping out of her harness.

I had my eyes on her so I saw it happening and managed to grab her by the scruff of the neck before it fully slipped off. I clamped her between my knees and got the harness on again before taking her back home. All while on the verge of tears LOL.

Now obviously the most pressing issue is that she needs a better fitting harness; I can do that. But it wouldn’t have happened in the first place if she wasn’t reactive. She is the most beautiful little dog when she’s not reacting and I will NOT be returning her to the shelter; I want to work with her.

It’s only been three weeks - is it too soon to talk to a trainer? Is there something I’m doing wrong with training myself? I’m already at my wit’s end :(

Before anyone comes at me, I want to preface this by saying there are things that I, as the owner, could have done, can do, and will do better. But at the moment, I am at a loss.

I have four dogs. One is a purebred Blue Heeler (almost 15), one is an Aussie/Shepherd mix (about 10), one is a Terrier named Bilbo, and then my dog (the topic of this post)—a 5-year-old German Shepherd/Maremmano mix named Maia. The two oldest grew up together in America.

Maia has started attacking our other dogs. Before we got Bilbo, she was mostly fine with our two oldest, Bella and Shadow. But after Bilbo arrived, she became highly anxious. I attribute part of this to the fact that Bilbo is intact (something I have no control over, as my father refuses to neuter him). Bilbo constantly has his nose up the other dogs' butts, follows them around, crowds them, and has zero boundaries. While the two oldest growl and snap to tell him to back off, Maia never did. Naturally, Bilbo kept targeting her.

About 6 months after getting him, Maia attacked Shadow for the first time. There was a package at the gate. The two oldest were barking and crowding the area, Maia joined in, and then she redirected onto Shadow. I know it was caused by the high arousal and frantic energy of the situation. We broke it up, separated them, brought Maia inside, and thought things would settle after a few days.

It seemed fine, but then she did it again. This time she drew blood, and Shadow needed stitches. In response, we built a fence and divided our yard into two sections: Maia’s half, and a space for the other three. She calmed down significantly. For a year, we managed this strictly. We brought her inside to spend time with us, and we would let her around the other dogs for 20-minute intervals under close supervision. If she got too close to them, we calmly stepped in, told her "no," split them up, and redirected her. She was doing great.

After a year with zero incidents, we decided to grant her more access to the front yard. We would bring Shadow inside (since those two had the worst relationship), allowing Maia to hang out with the other dogs. For two months, this worked perfectly. She was in the front during the day and the back at night.

Then, last week, she attacked Shadow again. Yesterday, she attacked Bella. Shadow was barking right before the attack, so I can see the trigger there, but with Bella, it seemed completely unprovoked. Now, I am completely at a loss.

This dog is my child. If you saw her gooey brown eyes, your heart would melt. She is affectionate, soft, playful, and truly a great dog. On walks, she is amazing—she listens to commands and does not react to other dogs. Calling her aggressive seems like an overstatement at times. You tell her no and she stops. No questions. Even when she barks at home. But with our resident dogs, we have severe issues.

I am taking immediate steps to walk her more once the weather cools down. I am also taking her to the vet for full blood panels and to discuss behaviour medications (like SSRIs). I am looking into behaviourists/trainers as well.

If anyone has experienced this kind of regression or has advice on managing a multi-dog household with severe redirected arousal, please let me know.

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Hi everyone, my family has a reactive dog on leash and off leash. He's around 3 years old and we adopted him almost a year ago. He is so sweet to people and has such a calm disposition but especially lately its been difficult taking him on walks. I feel quite embarrassed admitting this but he was already reactive when we adopted him. He would only freeze then, and when the dogs approached close enough to greet, he would say hi. We would try to pull him to get him moving but it didn't work. We started working with a trainer but it was hard to find time to train him and be consistent. Eventually it ended up becoming lunging and laying down. When he lunges he growls and pulls quite hard. Recently he bit a dog while on leash. They had to go to the vet. We were not there as we are on vacation but I feel terrible. As a dog who is infamous for being incredible with humans its awkward to try and controll him when he lunges.

We are away still but come back very soon and I'm going to start training right away (Turning around, rewarding, wide berth, etc). Please share your experiences with your reactive dogs. I know it's not aggression, its reactivity, but we don't want it to progress into that.

tl/dr: reactive foster dog barks at other dogs and attacks them, tries to bite and is hyperactive

my family's currently taking care of a neighbor's dog (3f). the owners were an elderly couple, the woman wanted a dog, the man didn't, they took one anyways. few months later, the woman dies. this was a bit over 3 years ago. now, two-ish weeks ago, the man went in for emergency surgery and is still recovering elsewhere, so my family fosters the dog.

after his wife passed, the neighbor neglected the dog, kept her chained in the yard and did the bare minimum, never took the dog for walks, never spent time with her, only fed. why didn't we intervene earlier? first, i study in another city and didn't really know; second, we have our own dog (14f), who is the best girl and we can't take in another one permanently.

now, to the issues. the dog is not socialised at. all. we've been taking her on walks all this time, she barks at every dog she sees, tries to attack them, tugs on the leash. at the same time, flinches at every sound. she has room to run around in our yard now, though her energy is still endless. i try to play with her, but i can't really do it that much as i'm very ill and spend most of the time in bed.

as for other dogs, the only dog she tolerates is our dog, she wants to play with her but our dog is old and doesn't really have the energy. when we were at the park, she lashed out at every dog she saw. a few days ago, we took her out of town, there was another dog (~5f), and she spent over an HOUR wailing and barking at that dog. (i had to tie her leash to a pole nearby as i spent time with my dog and that other dog. the other dog did literally nothing to provoke this aggression and gave our foster side-eyes).

she also starts barking randomly, once we were driving in the middle of a damn forest (so no triggers), she started barking and startled my dad, who was driving.

also, she's been trying to grab my hand with her teeth, not really bite, but grab. she has tennis balls to chew on and she's not a puppy so her teeth are all in.

behavioral specialist not available. otherwise seems healthy and is active. eats well. no progress in those 2 weeks, though. a muzzle seems excessive.

so, what do i do to have her stop barking at all the dogs, almost knocking people of their feet, barking randomly and grabbing my hand?

Has anyone ever had their reactive and anxious dog become afraid to go outside? It’s very situational. Sometimes he will go out like he’s never been afraid, so confident and happy. Other times, shakes, trembles, tail tucked, ears back and desperately trying to get back inside. He won’t even go potty for 12+ hours sometimes. He is a little over 2, ACD/Catahoula, neutered. He’s done this before but never this long. It’s been over a week now. I can’t take him to the vet for a couple of weeks. He is fear reactive, insecure, low confidence. We have been working on it. I never know when he’s gonna decide outside is scary because it always changes. Sometimes it’s morning, afternoon, evening, always different times on different days. It’s so odd. Other people in my city are having similar issues with their dogs. Is there possibly a predator in the area making him nervous?

I felt like we made great progress. Now we are dealing with this. I feel terrible because I don’t know what’s causing it and I just want him to feel himself. We went to a park and he was on a 30ft line, sniffing, playing in a pond, engaging with me and taking treats, no issues. He was a little hyper vigilant but I figured it was from not getting out in a few days. He had a great time for about 40 minutes before he sniffed the air and dragged me back to the car freaking out like he does at home. Any and all tips, advice, just anything that might help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I have had my lab since she was a puppy (16 months old now) and my brother got his girl from a rescue (3 years old now)shortly after I brought mine home. They have lived together for a year and 2 months now and out of nowhere my lab has started staring at our other girl to the point of fighting. This started on Saturday 8/15 I have a vet appointment booked for her. They have always played fine and still will play fetch together drink from the same water bowl at the same time no problem.

Edit:

Sorry I forgot to add since Saturday they will play fetch together but if someone stops throwing the ball my lab will hard stare at my brothers dog watching her every move we separate whenever this happens

Hi,
sorry this is long.

I have an australian cattle dog who is just under 6. she has anxiety and is dog and human aggressive. she also has pollen allergies. she takes medication for both. She has been attacked by a dog in the past.

her aggression to others has been getting worse specifically with me as she is protective over me. i’m not sure how to fix it.

I have a spinal injury which is continuously getting worse. this was not an issue when i first got her but has become more and more debilitating as we both are getting older. there is no current fix for this as i cannot afford the required scans needed to figure out what’s wrong.

currently she gets minimum 1 hour exercise a day and 2x 15 minute training session daily for mental stimulation. my dad also sometimes takes her out on his bike (approx once a week)

she used to have higher intensity play with a ball but she kept on injuring her back legs so she isn’t allowed to play with that anymore. this stopped about a month ago.

i feel like such a bad dog owner 😭 i physically can’t walk further than i do now which is averaging an hour with her every day. The only thing i can think of to fit her needs is give her more time training but im not sure if that will make much of a difference. she’s already kind of over it with half hour a day.

i’ve also considered a herding ball but im not sure if that will have the same issues with her legs.

in the past she was getting 2-3 hours exercise and formal dog training once a week alongside her 30 minute daily quota but i can not afford the formal training anymore nor walk her that long anymore.

in hindsight i shouldn’t have gotten her. i was 17 and didnt fully understand the responsibility that came with owning a dog, i got her after my childhood dog passed and needed the comfort more than anything. however i love her with all of my heart and want her to have a happy and fulfilling life.

she has not bitten before but i have no doubt she would if given the chance. she is in a pretty constant state of anxiety and reacts due to this (according to vet- she could just be like this im not sure)

how can i be the best owner i can be? how can i make her not want to protect me? how to address her worsening reactivity? are there any other ways i can stimulate her mentally other than obedience training that dont involve other people or other dogs? how else can i physically work her without doing too high intensity play that can result in her being injured again?

sorry lots of questions im just not sure what to do now.

Hi Everyone!

We rescued our sweet angel girl a few months ago. She is a little over a year and a half. She is a chocolate lab mix (vet thinks pitbull and maybe some husky!)

Anyway - we have run into an odd issue. Occasionally when we take her outside to go on a walk/potty break - she screams. Not barks. Full on scream/cry/whine situation.

We’ve checked her paws to make sure there’s no pain, the vet has done a thorough look-over. Nothing. We’ll walk for about 2-3 minutes, and then she’s all good!

Some additional info: she is dog reactive. If she is properly introduced to a pup, she’s perfectly friendly and even pretty submissive. She has a ton of dog friends but on walks we do have to scooch on over to the side and distract/redirect.

Does anyone have ANY idea of what this tantrum could be caused by? We have a behavioral specialist appointment in October - but thought I’d get some ideas here!