Dog Owners Fearful of Reactive Behavior
44 posts across 7 communities in the last 30 days; 64% from r/reactivedogs.
“This is Apollo. We got him from a local animal shelter in August of this year. He’s 2 years old and overall a good dog. He’s high energy but very cuddly and lovable. He gets along fine with our other dog, Tala. They play together, relax next to each other, etc. The only thing…”
“My BF has a German shepherd lab mix male that’s almost 2 years old. The dog is trained and has good recall, the only issue is that he’s pretty reactive. He knows how to “leave it” and won’t even eat his food unless given the go ahead command. However, my bf told me that he has…”
“Hi, I'm looking for advice on a situation. I’m house-sitting for a client with a big German Shepherd, and I’m totally at a loss on how to deal with his wrestling. The second I get down on the floor, whether I’m cleaning up a spill or just picking something up, he sees it as an…”
Owners of reactive dogs are experiencing frustration and emotional distress due to their dog's aggression, fearfulness, and unpredictable behavior. They seek guidance on training methods, feel isolated in their struggles, and question future breed choices.
SOURCES (60)
“Hello - I need some help figuring out what is a realistic adjustment to behavior for a dog that is reactive. My partner and I introduced our dogs - ill call his A(husky pomeranian mix) and mine B(Min Pin). They did great for a month…”
“This is Apollo. We got him from a local animal shelter in August of this year. He’s 2 years old and overall a good dog. He’s high energy but very cuddly and lovable. He gets along fine with our other dog, Tala. They play together, relax next to each other, etc. The only thing that’s sticking around and becoming a continuous issue is his food aggression towards Tala. When we first got him, we noticed the issue on day one. He growled and snapped at Tala during their dinner. I’ve since been feeding”
“My BF has a German shepherd lab mix male that’s almost 2 years old. The dog is trained and has good recall, the only issue is that he’s pretty reactive. He knows how to “leave it” and won’t even eat his food unless given the go ahead command. However, my bf told me that he has food aggressive tendencies and may even nip at someone trying to take his food if it’s not my bf. I haven’t experienced the food aggression myself, but I told my bf that food aggression isn’t good and could escalate if tha”
“I am currently dealing with an aggressive and reactive dog, and am at a loss what to do at this point. For some backstory: My dog is an 8 year old 75lb female pitbull mix. She is incredibly sweet, cuddly, and overall a lovely dog… towards people. We also have a 10 year old husky. Both dogs frequently get into bad fights. My pitbull is food aggressive, toy aggressive, attention aggressive, etc. My husky wouldn’t hurt a fly but I find her always having to defend herself. The fights have ended pret”
“Hi, I'm looking for advice on a situation. I’m house-sitting for a client with a big German Shepherd, and I’m totally at a loss on how to deal with his wrestling. The second I get down on the floor, whether I’m cleaning up a spill or just picking something up, he sees it as an invitation to play. He’ll lunge at me, grab my waist or hips with his paws, and try to pin me over. It’s not aggressive; he doesn’t actually bite hard, though he does bark, growl, and nip a bit. The problem is, he weig”
“Hey hope this is allowed, I struggle with an aggressive reactive dog, and come to this sub for discussion, to relate to others and for advice. I’m noticing most of the threads I relate to about having an aggressive dog (in which I truly do need advice and support, and also want people to know they aren’t alone) are a sea full of deleted comments as people don’t have another subreddit karma. I am a frequent commenter and poster on this sub, and I also get my comments deleted on these posts. I was”
“I adopted a dog, Sparrow, (GSD) 8 days ago. He is great in almost every single way except that he is aggressive towards my roommate, the first instance I felt was fear, it was a few days ago he barked at my roommate and she decided to go up to him and he grabbed her hand, didn't draw blood but I guess it could be considered a bite, then this morning he barked at her when she was on the couch, at first they were fine together but I guess when she got up he started barking. Then once I got hom”
“I have an adolescent male (14 months old) WL German Shepherd. He’s a great dog. Incredibly smart, driven, confident, strong willed. But, he’s a bit of jerk to other dogs! A teenage dirtbag, if you will. Online, it seems like everything is either reactive or not reactive. Well, my dog isn’t quite either. He’s not fearful. He’s not over excited. He can be excellent around other dogs in some circumstances. Just the other day in our obedience class, he held a down perfectly next to 2 other intact ma”
“I adopted a reactive dog 4 months ago. He was abused by former owners and now he has to deal with all that fear.. he is very agressive with humans and dogs.. Sometimes it's very hard, life kinda stop, everyday is stressful Do you have any Happy ending stories with reactive dogs to make me believe in our future ? submitted by /u/Hefty_Builder8537 [link] [comments]”
“This is Riley. 6yo Rough Collie I adopted >1 year ago. She is a retired show line breeding dog from rural VA. Riley was the greatest dog. Gentle beyond measure, friendly to everything, great on week-long road trips, could take anywhere with you. Truly what you picture as the “american dream family dog”. She started the phases of becoming a therapy dog & she was always the most complimented & calmest during group visits. We live in Chicago & her first 4th of July here changed every”
“I have a 6 month old chihuahua mix puppy. I adopted her 2 months ago and she was quite fearful of the outside world. We’ve been working on that and I’m proud to say she does great now walking around my neighborhood. I want to start getting her accustomed to going places like the park, pet store, non-crowded patios, etc. What are some indoor places you would recommend taking my puppy to for desensitization? Unfortunately I work M-F so I really only have time to take her to new places on the weeke”
“Hi everyone. I have a 2.5 year old male dog, border collie mix who is reactive to people. He has never gotten aggressive with anyone, he’ll just growl and bark at them, while trying to find somewhere to hide. He’s a very anxious guy and in short, it’s my fault. My uncle’s dogs had an accidental litter and I selfishly decided to take one (my now dog) in when I was grieving the death of my mom, and I didn’t socialize him with more people like I should have because I was to depressed to leave the h”
“Hi all, my husband and I adopted a then-9-month-old poodle/pointer mix from the local shelter, and have had him 3 months tomorrow. He's very sweet and snuggly, but definitely becoming more reactive and difficult to manage. We crate trained from day 1 as his previous owner had indicated they did the same (we later realized he was definitely NOT crate trained and we spent weeks trying to encourage him). He was doing MUCH better until last week, when he became extremely panicked and busted out”
“First post here, although I could have written a million in the three months we've had our puppy, who appears to be a mix of cattle dog, husky, GSD, and heat-seeking missile. She is, to the best of our knowledge, around 6 months old and I believe has her adult teeth now. Which has done little to curb her mouthiness. Everything, but everything, goes into her mouth: she picks up objects in passing, pulls on everything that isn't nailed down, shakes to death (predatory-sequence-wise) anythi”
“So I think I posted here once many moons ago, but under a different account as I can't now find it. Long story short, we adopted a rescue German Shepherd from Cyprus (Kelly-Jessie, aka KJ) who, despite seeming like a sweetheart on first meeting, as she settled into her new home, quickly turned reactive to most other dogs, and some people, making walks a nightmare, and life difficult when trying to have people over. Cut scene, two years later — we've made such good progress. We consulted”
“First time dog owner here. Adopted a fearful, anxious reactive rescue dog 3 months ago. Been making huge progress with her since then, she went from having a full blown crash out seeing another dog across the street to now being able to walk side by side at the same distance with no reaction. She can even tolerate another dog barking and lunging at her, which is huge. However she still startles easily and doesn’t do well with surprises. Which leads me to my point of frustration: off leash dogs.”
“I see so many people seeking advice. So many questions and stressors, so many what ifs and fears. And it’s so understandable. We reactive dog owners go through so much to keep them safe, healthy and happy for a reason. Because we know they have such a sweet, precious side to them. And I wanna see it! Show me your babes when they’re in their safe place! Here’s mine in the comments! And no, we don’t just dress her up for the fun of it! She’s 14 and has lost a lot of weight due to a medical conditi”
“I have only had experience once many years back with an English bulldog. My memory is foggy. I do recall him being a bit stubborn and growling a lot. I'm being asked to watch another English bulldog and I have seen some red flags already. The family didn't want me to meet him in the home first. They wanted me to meet him outside my home so he could know me before I go to their house. At their house he apparently growls and barks and is protective. I wouldn't be walking him, this woul”
“Okay so we adopted a dog. She’s a mutt mixed with corgi, Aussie, doodle (idk what kind that’s just what we were told), and who knows what else. Shes about 19 pounds and full of energy. We’ve had her since she was 9 weeks old, she is 10 months now. We have her on a schedule. Have used a leash regularly since we got her. She has always slept in a kennel. Is kenneled or on a runner when nobody is in the house. Has always been around kids. Has lots of toys. Here’s the problem.. everything is a probl”
“Hi y’all, I’ve made a couple posts here about my crazy Great Dane (who is probably like 60% of the way to perfect now that we’re back to balanced training). I also have a little Labrador who has always been mildly nervous and just generally all over the place. We introduced her to the e collar when she was younger and I was taking her to a balanced trainer for her basic obedience training classes, but I never really continued with it and kinda just stuck to the positive reinforcement for her wit”
“Me and my husband have had our Sable Working Line GSD for about 6 years now. He is human friendly and dog friendly. Recently we moved to a new state and after a few weeks of moving in he is starting to show signs of random aggression. He has never in his life been toy aggressive, food aggressive, or possessive in any way. We have a 3 month old GSP and they get along very well. No issues, no complications, they love each other. Our German shepherd eats his dinner in the kitchen and the GSP eats i”
“This is Sadie and she’s a 12 year old Rat Terrier. Sadie is extremely dog reactive. But as she’s gotten older, she has become reactive to men. I don’t let anyone pet her anymore and she has two clips on her harness stating “Do not pet” and “reactive”. People still insist on trying to pet her. Even if I say no. What are some things you say to people when they try to pet your dog? submitted by /u/caninexx [link] [comments]”
“My male lab just turned one last month, he has never shown signs of aggression until then. He is so loving, goofy, loyal, and my favorite man. We have never had issues until a month ago. Anytime he meets a new dog he immediately growls, his hair raises up, and he starts to bark. It’s just new animals, he has so many dog friends he LOVES but he met them all as a puppy. It seems like his reactivity has potential to be bad if we didn’t intervene and keep him away from other new animals. Im worried”
“Hello, first time posting here... Short version- medium breed jumps a lot on people, howl at night while feeling separate I suppose and is aggressive towards other dogs. Thank you! Long version- I really wanted some advice... there are multiple things happening here. I have soon to be a 2 year old Australian Shepherd Cookie Cream Calimero, Red Merle, male. I truly love him to the bottom of my heart, it's my third dog ( I have 2 Jack Russell Terriers). There is aggression towards other dogs t”
“a few weeks ago i made a post about my reactive bite risk dog making 3 new friends in the span of 10 days, i’m happy to share that he’s been making much progress lately with one of these new friends (the Basenji), so much that we were able to take off the muzzle for multiple walks, he even entered the house for a few minutes (my other dog, the staffy, was there as well) we’re currently working on not charging at his friends when they’re play growling or communicating, because he has an habit of”
“(Specifically without a yard!!***) New dog owner here! My dog is 1.5 standard poodle. This sounds bad but I wouldn’t have adopted him having known how bad his reactivity is. I say that just because I don’t have a yard for him :( Because of his leash reactivity, we try and keep him under threshold on walks (though we aren’t always successful since he gets triggered even by smelling a dog that previously walked by minutes before). he’s walked 3x a day 10-20 min each He really loves fetch and so we”
“Hey everyone, I’m losing a little bit of hope and I know theirs probably more then one of you that have gone through this situation. So my girlfriends dog is dog aggressive from being attacked at a younger age by another dog. He only ever got along with one dog which he grew up with from a baby. So fast forward couple months down the line we want to try introducing them (not face to face at a distance) which the dog does good with!! Her and my dog will even occasionally walk right next to each o”
“Please be kind - we are genuinely unsure what to do and have looked at many routes and would like some advice from other that’s may have had experience in this. 16 month old mix male neutered - big 3 are staffy, pitbull, husky We’ve had him since he was 3 months old and have taken the time to train him, socialize him, and do all the things they say to do. We never put him in any formal obedience training, just our own at home. He is fairly obedient but definitely has his “rebellious” moments as”
“I’ve had my dog for almost 6 months now and I hated how excited she gets when she sees another dog. She’s a doberman and if anyone understands the struggle of having a reactive dog that looks mean, people will give you the side eye. I’ve been training so hard on being less reactive and exposing her to more dogs without being near them. For the past month, she’ll stare at them, stare at me, whine, and then continue staring at me. Sometimes she’ll break out of it and try to lunge and get to them (”
“I have this reactive dog that aggressively barks when he sees anyone, it's the type of bark that can actually scare people. He also nibbles on visitors feet or more accurately the Achilles heel which naturally scares any visitor. My parents want to give him up but my heart cannot fathom just giving him up but Ive tried monitoring his behavior with treats like saying "quiet" Then feeding treats but it doesn't seem to stick. submitted by /u/WildmainDen [link] [c”
“hi, do you guys have any tips on how to not be afraid of “scary” dogs. i am good with the basic dogs such as retrievers, spaniels etcetc. but as soon as its a large dog with an unfortunate stereotype i feel myself start to panic a little. i grew up with a g/uard dog and that was good for the most part except when she barked lots at me before she realised who i was. i was also around a lot of strays in a village we had a house in but i was never good with them because they like to bark lots. my f”
“hi! casual discussion opener, would love to hear anything like the following or anything else you’d like to share: - how has your life changed? - what has your emotional experience of the journey been like? - what has surprised you? - what do you wish you could tell past you? - what would you tell someone who has recently obtained a dog that is displaying reactivity? - what do you wish the general public knew about (reactive) dogs and their people? - what have you lost, what have you gained? - w”
“hi everyone, im posting in the hopes of hearing some success stories with your reactive/aggressive dogs. i have a 2 years old reactive dog who has had a few scary instances of aggression and the thought of this not getting better really stresses me out. for background, my dog has a history of resource guarding me and it’s gotten pretty bad this year. he has bitten one person (my family member) once and he has tried to bite a friend recently. the context of the first bite was he was on my bed (i”
“Jasper: 5mo large mixed breed with blue heeler, GSD, dobie, lab, and "supermutt" we have had since he was 15 weeks. ~53lb when weighed the other day. The last couple of days, he's been WAY more reactive to seeing other dogs, trying to chase rabbits, and pulling. Seemingly right after we were seeing progress and "click" moments on how to act on leash and out in the world. But also, it's just worse than it's been before. Full lunging and ending up on his back legs a”
“Just for camaraderie more than anything else. I know that each reactive dog is different and two dogs of the same breed/heritage will act the same. I guess I'm thinking our village dogs, often brought from overseas with an unclear history, have that shared experience that is likely to have contributed to their sensitivities and defensiveness. My girl is 7, we got her at roughly 10 months after being brought to the UK from Romania, two foster placements and a failed adoption. She's doing”
“My dog is 8 years old, indie. She's had a reputation of being unpredictable but in the last week it has increased, yesterday she attacked my dad for picking up a fallen biscuit on the floor. Usually she barks slightly grabs hand once we all raise our voice or something she goes under the bed. But yesterday It felt like almost a minute it is very scary. Ever since we shifted our house (1 year and 4 months ago) she's been different. I'm the only one who walks her but I have an ankle fr”
“Hello! We have taken in a 1 year old small terrier mix in 2 weeks ago on a trial to see if he would be a good fit for our family. He has been wonderful to have besides some unwanted traits that I'm willing to work through, but just don't know how. Two things: - Our cat is very fearful with this new dog as he has higher energy than my other dog, every time she comes out he bum rushes her. The previous owner had cats and they played a lot. We currently have a baby gate separating her so sh”
“My reactive dog has been a big issue. We did behavior training one on one when I first adopted him because he was really aggressive towards other dogs and people walking by. He was snapping, growling, lunging and he was only six months old. He has not improved in that aspect. The trainer deemed it as fear aggression so she said it will take time. When I was visiting my grandmother in June, my aunt walked into the kitchen and he randomly just jumped up and bit her on the stomach, leaving bite mar”
“My dog is 8 years old, indie. She's had a reputation of being unpredictable but in the last week it has increased, yesterday she attacked my dad for picking up a fallen biscuit on the floor. Usually she barks slightly grabs hand once we all raise our voice or something she goes under the bed. But yesterday It felt like almost a minute it is very scary. Ever since we shifted our house (1 year and 4 months ago) she's been different. I'm the only one who walks her but I have an ankle fr”
“I’ve been on a journey with my own dog to get to dog neutrality. For a while, I felt somewhat alone in my struggle. It seemed like every dog around me was “neutral”, right? But recently I started really paying attention to the dogs I see out and about everyday and realized 95% (maybe more) of them are not ACTUALLY neutral. When you’re so focused on your own dog, it’s easy to dismiss every non-barking non-lunging dog as neutral. And it can feel discouraging when you feel like your dog is the only”
“I’ve been on a journey with my own dog to get to dog neutrality. For a while, I felt somewhat alone in my struggle. It seemed like every dog around me was “neutral”, right? But recently I started really paying attention to the dogs I see out and about everyday and realized 95% (maybe more) of them are not ACTUALLY neutral. When you’re so focused on your own dog, it’s easy to dismiss every non-barking non-lunging dog as neutral. And it can feel discouraging when you feel like your dog is the only”
“Hello! We have taken in a 1 year old small terrier mix in 2 weeks ago on a trial to see if he would be a good fit for our family. He has been wonderful to have besides some unwanted traits that I'm willing to work through, but just don't know how. Two things: - Our cat is very fearful with this new dog as he has higher energy than my other dog, every time she comes out he bum rushes her. The previous owner had cats and they played a lot. We currently have a baby gate separating her so sh”
“Good evening. I apologise in advance for the length of this post. It has been a long journey, and I therefore feel there is a lot to say that may be relevant. I feel as though I’ve scoured the internet for people in the same situation as me, but I haven’t had much luck. I’d really love to hear from people who have had dogs that were reactive to almost everything . I have a 2½-year-old Shetland sheepdog. I’m 25 and chose a Sheltie because of my renewed interest in agility. The thing is, my dog ha”
“NOT MINE FROM A FB GROUP I need advice, please, and no judgment. About a year ago, we adopted an Australian Shepherd, purebred as far as we know, about three years old. He was a lot more aggressive than I expected him to be, but I thought it was just how he had been raised, that he was still pretty much a puppy and we could get a trainer for him. No big deal. He also wasn't fixed, so I thought that would calm him down too. We got this. So I made the appt for him to be neutered. However I tho”
“Hi, it's my 2nd time posting here and i just want to start with a trigger warning as i'll be discussing topics of abuse and euthanasia included in the discussion of my dog, and I haven't found any threads at all of people in my situation, so hopefully if someone ever finds this they know they're not alone because god do i feel it. If anyone saw my last post regarding my boy Obi you'd know i've been struggling to cope with the loss of him, he was put to sleep in may due to”
“Is he scared of big dogs? Does he like to be alone with his ball? He can be reactive towards other dogs especially bigger ones or young puppies who are very excited. But he happily played with his ball alone in the private yard that only a small dog like him could enter. His dog was wagging happily while there were many dogs around. submitted by /u/Evening-Compote8730 [link] [comments]”