Dog Owners Frustrated by Reactive Behaviors

“Okay so, my spoo, male, 20 months old doesn't like children (specifically, toddlers), like in the slightest, im wondering if I should pull him from PA for a little while. He doesn't growl, bark, anything like that. He just moves away, and sometimes tucks his tail. Hes only had 1 semi-bad experience with a kid, where they like ran at him to pet him. He didn't lash out, just moved away. We've got to the point where kids can walk past like a certain distance and he'll just watch”

“We rescued a dog (3y puggle) a few years ago go from getting put down. We heard she scratched a young child and the child needed stitches. The grandparents of the child called CPS and told the owner/ mom that the dog needed to be put down or re-homed. So that’s how we got the dog. She is so sweet and cuddly, doesn’t like other dogs but not reactive and doesn’t really bark. 1 year ago I had a baby and my husband and I have tried very hard to make the dog comfortable but she growls at our now 1 ye”

I’m posting here because I literally have no idea what to do. Basically I have a 5 year old 15lb chihuahua dachshund mix who is extremely aggressive, anxious and has a history…

“I recently adopted a cocker spaniel (~5 years old) from the shelter. He had not been in the shelter too long and has been a good dog. I've had him almost a month now. He is not well trained, had no chip, was not neutered, no collar --- so his history is hard to guess except maybe he was a stud dog. He came to me underweight so I've been working to have him gain weight and he is crazy food driven --- will eat anything and is always begging even though I have been feeding him as advised by”

“Okay first a vent and then a question- looking for shared experiences and honestly validation, and advice. My dog has fear based reactivity/aggression- and I feel like we are working on it all the time. I’m constantly thinking about him, trying to learn how to train etc. so naturally, we went to get another trainer today to try and learn and get some help. It was..good- but felt like bitch slap after bitch slap. The gear is wrong, the commands aren’t the right words, why aren’t you using a click”

“My dog is scared/reactive (just barking and following behind a lil) towards people in her territory (I.e. home and company office). (I’d like to add that I’ve since let her stay with me in the office with door closed when there’s customers). When she’s in places she’s not familiar with or not in her territory dictionary, she’d be in a corner or stuck close to us. No barking and such. Basically, she won’t get close to strangers. However, she went towards a patrol guard on electric bike and follow”

“We adopted a terrier mix about 3 months ago; she is currently 6 months old. We’re practicing positive reinforcement with her, but we’re finding it difficult given the realistic needs of our lifestyle. My husband works from home, so she isn’t spending much time alone on an average day. However, sometimes we both need to be out of the house, and she’s just not at a place where we can leave her without worrying about her barking. We have a downstairs neighbor who tells us when she’s barking; I get”

“Been enjoying and loving helping my five-year-old female rescue pup gain back her confidence and love for the outdoors again. (she was formally abused and discarded by backyard gr$$ders) Her reactivity to other dogs was caused by over-arousal / poor impulse control / and a sprinkle of anxiety. I had tried R+ with two separate trainers with zero improvements for an entire year before researching an experienced balanced trainer in my area who properly used and educated all of his clients on e-coll”

“I adopted a 2 year old ACD mix that is very fearful of most things. I’ve had him for a month and from my understanding his previous family kept him mostly crated and he had very little experience on a leash as he would just run into their backyard. At first he did ok on a leash but the longer I’ve had him the worse it’s gotten. Now he pees a little when I bring it out and if I put his harness on he freezes tucks tail and won’t move. I’ve had intermittent success leashing him in the morning for a”

“This is my first time posting here, I read the rules and hopefully used the correct flair and I apologize for how long this is. I have a 4 year old border collie that I adopted as a puppy. He’d always been anxious, excessively so. He’d had an awful experience at his first vet at 14 weeks so I’d found a fear free behavioral veterinary clinic where he was getting happy visits and sedated annual exams since 18 weeks old. He is on Gabapentin and has been for years, to varying degrees of helpfulness.”

“My family had just decided to get a boxer around last winter, she is the most complex dog we’ve ever had. This is our 5th boxer, we’ve never had one with biting and impulse problems. She can’t control herself she’ll jump on top of the couch and start biting people trying to walk past. She won’t retain any training that is taught to her. I want to take her to a professional to get their opinion but my Mom refuses. We found out she’s severely inbred and we suspect she might have learning disabilit”

“Me and my boyfriend just moved in together and we just got a 9 week old chihuahua-corgi mix about a week ago.. not our greatest idea and the puppy blues are definitely hard! We know it will get better when shes fully vaccinated and we can take her on walks and let her run around at the dog park.. but thats still like a month away which feels like an insanely long time We dont crate or pen train. We have a play pen, we put her in there very occasionally but she sleeps in bed with us and roams aro”

submitted by /u/PawsInTheSand [link] [comments]

“Hey guys, my 13 weeks old Jack Russell is doing great on potty and crate. The forced naps are going well too. I've been trying to make him get calm in some interactions but failed miserably: - When I lay to connect the lead he just don't stay sit and starts to jump, so I get distance, ask to sit, and do all again. Eventually, I lure him with a treat so I can reach the harness and clip the lead. - When playing with toys, he do a great job on biting only toys and not our hands. However whe”

“So my brother (21) got a bull terrier about 2 months ago. Her name is Molly she's crate trained, intact, my brother walks her daily, and is 2 yrs old (turns 3 on Oct 31). She was mostly fine and even affectionate since we got her but recently she's bitten me 2 times in a week. HARD. The first time two days ago, I was napping with her, but when my brother walked in, she shuddered growled then bit my face (but didn't break the skin), the second time was unprovoked, I didn't touch h”

“I’m at my wits end. Me and my family adopted two female puppies in August and they are currently three months old. We keep them outside as my parents don’t allow dogs in the house but their crate is in a shaded patio. They sleep in the same crate and play together most of the time, which is totally fine. But there seems to be an issue where when I separate one of them, the other one starts whining non stop. I’ve tried using a few seconds of silence and rewarding but it doesn’t seem to work. Ther”

“Hey I just adopted my dog from a rescue shelter about a week ago. She’s overall a good dog. However she’s kinda mouthy. I’m trying prevent her from biting me or it getting that far. I’m on a tight budget right now, I can afford a trainer. submitted by /u/DocumentUpstairs4607 [link] [comments]”

“Hi everyone. I’ve posted here a couple times regarding questions on my now 5 month old red heeler girl. I am so deep in the trenches it’s not even funny. I’ve had dogs my whole life, and was thought I fully prepared for the stubbornness and anxiousness that comes with the breed, since she’s my first cattle dog. I was so, SO wrong. She’s sassy, she’s extremely anxious, and she’s SO HARD TO TRAIN. We picked her up at 3 months and since then we’ve been able to teach her to sit, lay down, stay, high”

“I'm looking for some shared experience and advice about how to address nipping by Aussies. I have a 1.5 year old male, fixed Aussie. He's trained (3 obedience classes and 1 leash reactivity class). He listens very well. He has a lot of energy. We exercise and we play games. He has a good life and is a good dog. We're in Treibball class for funsies and he's come a long way with leash reactivity. BUT THE NIPPING. I know he is still young, but we're dealing with nipping in certa”

“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 fe”

“Hi all, this is very much mostly a vent but also seeking reassurance. I adopted a Romanian rescue pup about 5 months ago. He's now 10 months and the bane of my existence. I've also come to love him very much but whenever people mention that their dogs are the love of their lives I know that we're not there yet. 😔 It's been a long journey for us and he's come sooo far but it's also still exhausting every day. He is overall a dog that's basically constantly overaroused”

“Have a 2 and a half year old female GSD. Had her since 8 weeks old. Came from a certified breeder. Met her mum and dad and visited her at 5 weeks before taking her home at 8 weeks. Tried to do everything right. Took her to puppy classes, took her out in a sling before she was vaccinated to get her used to the world, took her in the car to observe people and dogs. Never let her meet dogs on leash, had her make some dog friends who she hangs out with. Despite everything she is reactive. Taken her”

“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 wante”

“Sorry if this is the wrong flair. Feeling very hopeless about our ACD mix that we rescued when he was 4.5 months old (in the shelter for 2.5 months). Looking for any encouragement or similar stories. He is 14mo old now (65lbs) and in the house with my husband and me is the best dog ever. No food aggression/resource guarding whatsoever. On walks, he listens very well, watch dogs go by, walk past them, and mostly ignore them (he will turn his head; we're working on this!), great loose leash wa”

“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”

“I walk a reactive senior dog three times every week, she’s not reactive to humans, just animals (anything from other dogs to birds). (she has no bite history as far as I’ve been notified) Despite being a senior dog she’s always excited to go out and very energetic! She’s actually very well trained and sweet but it’s like I don’t exist when another dog walks by at a certain distance. I try to walk with her in less crowded places but meetings are inevitable as where we live there are a lot of dog”

“I have had my rescue mutt for 4 weeks. 1st 2 were spent on a leash in yard recovering from surgery & detoxing off trazadone he was given at the dog pound. About 2 weeks in i panicked & called a trainer. We had our 1st session with an e collar Tuesday night. I hate it. Let me start by saying he made great strides in the 2 weeks we were waiting to start training. The main reasons I wanted the training was to stop digging & for leash pulling. Hes so strong I cant walk him. I have a larg”

“We rescued a dog about a month ago. He has very intense leash reactivity/aggression towards both peope and dogs. Inside the house he is friendly to people but barks at every noise. I really wanted to be able to have a dog I could take on walks, hikes, etc… Every time I try to walk him, it is extremely stressful for me. I already have a mental health condition, and now with these behaviors it is getting much much worse. Everything I’ve read about reactive dogs is that it’s a lifelong management p”

“Hi all, I just need to get this out there. Almost 3 months ago now, we adopted our 3yo GSD/BC. We realized very quickly she has some fear-based reactivity from her life beforehand, and immediately took up training, and I'm so proud of how far she has come. She has made leaps and bounds of progress, is highly motivated, and loves to learn. The issue comes from the fact that I have felt so trapped in our house, not even because of her reactivity, but because of behaviors of other dogs in our n”

“I have a 4 year old rough collie. She can be very sweet, and she is wildly intelligent. Training her as a puppy was quite easy, however as time has gone on it feels like she keeps developing new behaviours despite all our efforts. Once we solve one problem, new ones occur. She has always had some food aggression/resource guarding issues so we feed on a schedule and feed our dogs separately. She will also resource guard toys so we do not allow free play with toys in our house. She has attacked ou”

“Weve brought in a trainer for our 8 month old cockapoo because the last couple months her reactivity with people and dogs has gotten much worse. The trainers theory is that shes super frustrated and bored of the same routine (i hold my hands up to having a strict routine with the same enrichment and walks) BUT her suggestion is to let her off lead a lot more to work off that frustration, so i did that today, and ended up having to sprint after my pup because she got way too far away chasing bird”

“I am a first-time dog owner, and my dog has been showing aggressive behaviour. I do not have much experience with dogs, and honestly, I feel lost. I do not know what is causing it, how I should respond when it happens, or where to even begin with training. I want to help my dog, but I am scared of doing the wrong thing and making the behaviour worse. I am hoping to hear from people who have dealt with something similar, especially anyone who was new to owning dogs when they first faced this prob”

“He’s like 4/5 months staffy x he only misbehaves on walks (really badly) with me but not with my boyfriend. With me he’s completely awful. Stops and won’t move unless he’s going the direction he wants to go in. Tries to slip out of his harness so he can go down the street he wants to go down. Fixes onto other dogs (he’s friendly just way too excited) and will try and pull me in the direction of them. Won’t take treats, won’t listen to commands (obviously) and is just a complete nightmare. With m”

“We adopted my 10mo rescue 6 months ago. We were told she's likely a jack russel or foxie mix, but as she kept growing we knew that was wrong. We got a DNA test and she's basically half and half border collie and pitbull, with a bit of random mix in there. She's a super lovely and friendly dog overall, hella cute and nice. However, she's very anxious and reactive to anything that's not me, my partner, and my living room. By reactive I mean that she gets way too excited by it a”

“We adopted my 10mo rescue 6 months ago. We were told she's likely a jack russel or foxie mix, but as she kept growing we knew that was wrong. We got a DNA test and she's basically half and half border collie and pitbull, with a bit of random mix in there. She's a super lovely and friendly dog overall, hella cute and nice. However, she's very anxious and reactive to anything that's not me, my partner, and my living room. By reactive I mean that she gets way too excited by it a”

“Hey, I am a student and was wondering if some people could take my very short form about how your dog handles medication and play. If you have an avoidant or anxious dog and/or struggle to administer medication to your dog, please fill it out. submitted by /u/Tasty-Mention-2248 [link] [comments]”

“Our dog is a rescue that we adopted a couple years ago now and she’s currently around 3 years old. Shes lovely once she gets to know you and I love her very much but she’s definitely got her fair share of problems that we don’t know how to help her with. She’s always been really stressed around new people, every time someone new comes into the house, she barks, growls then hides and doesn’t come out for hours. Even when we first got her, it took 2 weeks of being in the same room as her to get he”

“So I have a kind of reactive corgi. Sometimes he’s fine. Sometimes he’s not fine. It just depends on the day and situation. Anyway, the weather finally cooled off, so I’ve been taking him to the local parks. He has a leash and collar. We move out of the way for other dogs. If we see a dog up ahead, we move to the side and practice our sit and look till it passes. It’s usually just fine. Yesterday, we went to the park early in the morning, as it’s usually not too crowded. I noticed an older man w”

“TL;DR: Use positive reinforcement when we see a stranger. My dog goes from barking when a stranger asks, "Aren't you rewarding your dog for barking?" to not barking after I explain why it works (aka amazing things happen when strangers are nearby). The timing couldn't have been better. We've been working on a lot of things with our reactive girl. Deep down, she is a friendly pup, and since we started, she's made leaps and bounds in how quickly she gets comfortable, and”

“I have a 7 yr old beagle with extreme hyper social reactivity. He won't back off even when snapped/snarled at. We trained HARD for two years. He learned to stand behind me quietly when other dogs approached. But in the last month he's severely regressed after visiting family. He got used to having a buddy around 24/7 and since coming home he's lonely. It's making his hyper socialization worse because he SO badly wants to make friends. It's gotten to where I have to pick him u”

“I bought my dog from a puppy. He is a staffy and he is the cuddliest most loving little boy. He is for a sure a Velcro puppy. He’s pretty good at home, very good at commands etc. He has a few family dog friends which he grew up with and he seems to get on well with them although can play a little boisterously (which we interrupt). Unfortunately, I do think we didn’t handle the meetings the best way when he was a puppy and this may have contributed to our current problem. The downside :( He is ve”

“My wife and I recently rescued what we think is beagle/bulldog mix. It was guessed by the rescue that he is one years old. We've had him about 2.5 weeks. He is 34 lbs and has not been nuetered YET. On the very first night we had him he backed out of a harness (our other 2 dogs have never done anything like this) and ran away. I foolishly tried to chase him. It was instinct as we live a block from a busy road and I was scared he would find his way there. Our yard is not fenced, but that's”

“I love my Frenchie so much, but man, having a reactive dog is exhausting. I feel like people who don't have one really don't understand how much it affects your everyday life. We have a baby and a nanny who comes to our house, and we literally have to keep our dogs upstairs while nanny and baby are downstairs because of his reactivity to new people. When it's time to take the dogs out, we actually have to carry our Frenchie downstairs just to get him past the nanny safely. It's a”

“I have a 6 year old medium sized mutt and he has a long history of fear based reactivity with 2 level 3 bite cases. It was more manageable last time but for this past 6 months, it's been hell. Even little things are setting him off and he's constantly stressed out and tense even at home. Brought him to the vets last week and they recommended to feed him gabapentin 2 hours before his appointment so we did that but he freaked out so badly during the vet visit, wouldn't let me put his m”

“Hi everyone! I recently found out I am pregnant with our first, and have been having pretty severe stress about my reactive Aussie around our child. She is 5 years old, great with people she knows, pretty bad with everyone else. She is very reactive to people entering our home, as well as other dogs while on walks. We have started training with a local trainer, but I feel like I haven’t seen any progress. I feel a bit hopeless and frustrated that this is something I am so stressed about while pr”

“Hello!! I have a female dog that is turning 2 in November and our challenge is very strong anxiety towards environment. We adopted her with my partner when she was 12 weeks old so one could say it's ideal - but she was saved with her sisters and mother from bad conditions with small contact with human and then was totally quarantined for two weeks until we got her. Back then I was sure she's a puppy, she will learn everything no issue etc. We live in mid-large city, not in the very cente”

“i have a 2.5 year old mixed breed - best guess border collie, aussie mix (definitely herding breed). we have done a ton of training with her but she’s in general very anxious and we just can’t seem to get any traction with leash reactivity. we’ve done SO much LAT work and it feels like we are stuck? sometimes it seems like telling her to leave it helps more? but i know that’s kinda counter-productive to LAT sooooo any advice is welcome. we are going to look into anxiety medication as she is also”

“After one year of pure hell, I finally found a "solution" for my dog (White one) basically, it's conditioning. Conditioning was the first thing I thought about when it became a real problem, but because I couldn't predict what would make him bark, I was simply unable to do it at all. I even tried to provoke the barking and failed every time, so we couldn't work on it. Now that I know him better, I can spot when he hears something that is going to make him bark, and we have”

“My year-old Staffy's recall is still non-existent. I have been training with him since day one: indoors, outdoors, in the park, on his long lead, played and tried all the games, with treats he only gets outside the house. He is not off-lead yet because of this, I am always trying to be responsible, which is an issue in itself because he needs to get some energy out but his persistence can cause him to pull a lot on the lead. It's a never-ending circle: he can't be off lead to have fu”

“We’ve had our dog for just over 4 years now. We got her from a shelter where they did not explain to us her issues with other animals. We lived in an apartment and while living there she got into it with a neighbors dog. Luckily, their dog was not seriously harmed. Due to this situation we spent months trying positive reinforcement training that never worked for our girl. After this, we decided to buy a home with a fenced in yard so she’d have somewhere to safely run without feeling anxiety. On”

“Living with a reactive dog can be challenging, especially when you’re trying to understand what triggers their reactions while also helping them feel safe. I’m interested in hearing from people who have been through this journey. What small changes or positive-reinforcement approaches have made the biggest difference for your dog? Was it creating more distance from triggers, changing walking routines, building confidence at home, or something else? I know every dog is different, and progress isn”

“Hi, I have a 3 year old pitbull terrier mix who’s extremely dog aggressive, she loves people but dogs are such an hit or miss. After 2 years of managing her behavior, I finally decided to start her on medication & training. She’s prescribed trazodone & gabapentin for situational events & then fluxotenine for daily . So far it’s only been like a week & I’m just losing hope. My whole thing is I’m aware that training is linear but has anyone in the chat successfully seen their dog b”

“I have a 2 year old heeler mix that Ive had for almost 2 years. Shes excitement reactive and generally does well with dogs if she knows the dog. Today we had a dog run up to us, a kid probably about 13 let 2 medium to big sized breeds off and one of them ran up to me and my dog before I could get us out of that situation. We were backed against a bench and couldn't move. I was yelling at the kid to get his dog because my dog was now growling aggressively and barking aggressively which she ha”

“Hi, please help with my Whippet puppy, I’m desperate and I honestly don’t know how much longer I can take. He’s close to 16 weeks, we got him with us 2 weeks ago. I feel like we’ve tried absolutely everything as far as crate training goes, and I’m at a loss. I don’t know what else to do and this is affecting my mental health and my relationship. He still can’t go outside for walks, it’s minimum one more week before he can because the breeder messed up his vaccination schedule and so are confined”

“My boxer puppy (aged 8 months) just doesnt seem to learn. Back story we had 2 boxers when the puppy arrived Brady (the puppy) was 5 months old when my oldest boxer was pts. Brady was put of his crate refined to the kitchen with the other dogs at this time with only the odd pee happening in the night. After my oldest was pts he started destroying things and pooing and peeing in the kitchen on a night so was put back in his crate. He was fine for a while with the odd accident again and has recentl”

“We adopted a dog from a shelter, a small (under 20lbs) dog who was a "breeder surrender" according to the shelter. They said he would need help socializing. He was docile and just sat next to us at the shelter and let us pet him. We adopted him and brought him home. He was fixed the day before and was still on pain meds. We got sent home with 2 pills. When we got him home he was the same way. Very docile, sleepy, and just wanted us to pick him up and put him on the couch with us. We sp”

“hi all!! my boston terrier is 5 years old (turning 6 in march) and he recently started exhibiting signs of agression in which i believe are attached to the anxiety he's had since we got him. when he was a puppy he was very playful and nippy, something which he had begun to grow out of as he got older. however, my parents had hired a trainer to come to our house to help him learn to go to the bathroom outside. the woman had good reviews, but the first time she met with my dog she used many me”

“Hello! My first time posting here and I’m a bit nervous, but reading through this sub everyone seems very kind and understanding. I have a 5 year old pittie mix that I love so much - he’s playful, happy, and generally takes to obedience training. However, his separation anxiety and aggression seems to be getting worse with age. As a puppy he was very submissive, and slowly became reactive in dog parks. We quickly avoided dog parks and began extensive training. He definitely improved with constan”

“Hi all. Looking for advice on how to move forward with an aggressive foster after a severe biting incident. submitted by /u/notmyredditaccount94 [link] [comments]”