Reactive Dogs Push Owners Toward Rehoming

“uh I have a sprocker spaniel ive spoken about him on here before. uh he went from not reactive to incredibly reactive in lIke 2 weeks. uh we were already considering looking at a behaviourist for his like prey drive to try and figure out something that im not gonna add. but he just also has no recall and stuff and it’s just a lot. im a minor so tje dogs mu moms but I do all the training. Uh we know the reactivity isnt from the training due to the fact he was reactive as a pup but we trained him”

“I’m struggling and feel like I’m a terrible dog mom. I (28F) just adopted my sweet angel of a dog. She is a 1-year-old Sheepadoodle, and we don’t know much about her background. I got her from a rescue that said she was surrendered by an owner they believed to be a breeder. They think she may have been left over from a litter and never purchased. She is genuinely an amazing dog. She is incredibly loving and is glued to my side most of the time. She can be mouthy when she gets excited and will ju”

“Sooo I got a cute little sassy reactive female miniature Australian Shepard. She has come such a long way, but is a full time job and everyday I work hard to help her feel safe. So I connected with a friend of a friend who also has recently adopted boy Australian shepherd from 8 weeks old. This friend tends to leave their puppy alone for long periods (over four hours at times because we drink socially and I will ask him don’t you need to check on your less than a year old dog) At one point he le”

“I made a post here last week (you can see my post history if you want the full story) but long story short my 6 month old dog that we rescued about 2 months ago lunged at/nipped my child’s face due to resource guarding a shoe. After a lot of deliberation and a few more close calls with guarding we decided to surrender the dog back to the rescue. We prepared my kids, explained why we were rehoming the dog and they were able to say goodbye. They were not home when the director of the rescue came t”

“Hi Internet - I have to get this off my chest. 2 weeks ago my wife and I brought a 14 week old Cobberdog (labradoodle) into our home. We have two young children (5 & 3). We are first time dog owners, first time puppy parents. And I truly think overall he is doing great. Is very willing to go outside to go to the bathroom, and accidents are pretty infrequent all things considered. He is great with our kids. Has been super friendly when we’ve brought him to socializing events with more people.”

“I feel so bad for thinking this, but ever since having my baby (12 week old girl) I’ve started to dislike my dog. I got my dog (american bully) just before her 4th birthday. When I got her, she had just been attacked so she had stitches and was left with scars. She’s 5 now. For the most part, she’s a good dog. Pretty lazy overall, she’s good with people and the baby, and used to be great with walks. Since having the baby, my dog has been jealous. She’s not aggressive with the baby at all, (she w”

“I have a 6 month old chihuahua/shih tzu mix that was given to me by a coworker two months ago. I can admit that it was an impulsive decision. I'd just, two weeks prior, moved into my own apartment and was still adjusting to living by myself. My coworker was looking for someone to take the puppy, I said yes, went and picked her up, and we've been together ever since. And my dog is really not a bad dog at all - it took me all of 3 days to potty train her. She sleeps in bed with me all nigh”

“I posted a vent the other day but things have gotten progressively worse. I adopted a 9 month old Belgian Mal on Wednesday of last week, I’m familiar with herding and working dogs. I had an ACD previous to her. My friends and I have worked her into the literal ground, we have played, she’s played with my friends Belgian Mal, she has used puzzle feeders and I’ve made shuffle pads for her. She is getting PLENTY of stimulus and exercise. I was told that she was crate trained and potty trained, she”

“This is my first Reddit post and I’m ready for the judgement. I’m just so conflicted and I need help from real people. I rescued a pup about a week ago. He is ten months and a true backyard pup though I suspect that his primary breed is Rottweiler. He is ten months. Y’all- this dog is perfect. He walks like a dream on the leash, he understands commands, he sleeps through the night and doesn’t have a huge energy demand. He just gums his toys and let me put my whole hand in his mouth when he ate s”

“my boyfriend and i got a puppy about two weeks ago. he will be 10 weeks old on wednesday. i no longer think i even want to raise this dog because he is genuinely driving me insane. he is an australian cattle dog that we adopted from a shelter in michigan. he is precious, very intelligent, can be very sweet, but he is A LOT at times. i wanted a dog to have as a companion and so i didn’t feel so lonely when my boyfriend is gone at work, he works and i mostly stay home with the puppy. banjo is a bi”

“My dog isn’t the hardest to deal with but I have little support. He barks/lunges at strangers whether in the home or out and about. Barks/yelps when left alone. He was crate trained but we moved. I used to live with my mom who was home all the time but moved out with my partner and now leaving the dog is an issue. My partner thinks I am miserable cause Im anxious leaving the dog alone…We are trying to look for a place to live but his vaccines aren’t up to date and he doesn’t allow vets near him.”

“I’m not even sure where to begin but maybe just posting to get some support that I’m not alone and not making terrible decisions. My dog was adopted from Mexico, she’s a little brown mutt with no survival skills and was probably in a hoarding situation. She’s my 4th pup so I’m relatively experienced. She is very timid, hates large dogs, and really prefers minimal attention from strangers. We live in a city where a certain amusement park had nightly fireworks in the summer and she absolutely is t”

“I realized I can’t provide for my dog anymore in comfortable level. I have multiple dogs, two. At first I was fostering puppy, then she grown. The further it goes the more anxious she became. At first I tried to work it out with training with professional. It gave positive picture. Sometimes she was good dog with only few anxious behavior, sometimes it was degrading to worse. But I had hope I can overwork that. Then it got bad again one day I contacted the person I got her from, they couldn’t pr”

“i understand i’m gonna get a lot of pushback or even hate for this, but my husband and i are at our wits end. i’ve owned dogs my whole life, trained them from weeks old and i’ve always loved having a dog in my home. we adopted bean in november of last year from the shelter. she was 3 months old and quite easy to train in the beginning. while my husband was doing a training in Norway, she stayed in florida with my in-laws so that she received the same amount of attention she would get when both o”

“Hello, I would appreciate if everyone would be kind and understanding as this is a very sensitive subject for me at the moment. I would also appreciate no comments on our living situation, it was incredibly difficult for myself and my husband to go through and was our only choice to avoid homelessness. My husband and I have owned a Doberman for the last 4 years, and she is 6 this year. She showed almost no signs of reactivity when we first adopted her, but within the first year after adopting he”

“Hi all. I’m at my wits end. I have had a lot of dogs but this is something I have never experienced before. Cattle Dog/Great Pyrenees mix. She’s about 7 months old. Rescued her when she was six weeks old. Spayed on 7/20 did great, no complications except she had an adverse reaction to Tradazone and I stopped it. About a week ago she would be walking and just peeing in the house and she looked just as shocked as I was lol. She was/is potty trained and goes to the door when she has to go. I have a”

“Hello pet lovers of Reddit, I’m in need for some advice on my beloved pooch and his behavior issues. I adopted a 3.5 year old “Shepherd Mix” from the humane society a month ago. His name is Zeus, he’s very goofy, loyal, smart, and pretty much just does whatever I do when I’m home with him. I have a full time job, my work days varying between 8-10 hours. With that being said, he does spend some time in his kennel. I live with my parents currently, and my mom works from home 3 days a week. So, he”

“Hi all - looking for some advice on how to proceed after a recent incident between our new foster-to-adopt dog and resident dog. About three weeks ago, we brought home Indy, a 1.5 year old border collie/shepherd mix foster-to-adopt from the local rescue shelter. She was then spayed one week in and her recovery went really well. She has some signs of separation anxiety (howling and be destructive while we're away) but we're confident we can manage that issue. Where we're at a bit of a”

“I saved a dog who was literally living on the side of the highway about 8 months ago. He was trapped in a small area in between 2 major highways in a huge city so I think he was dumped there. It took me 10 days of dropping off food for him to earn his trust enough to leash him and get him off the road. I wanted to take him to the shelter or rehome him, but my husband adores the dog and wants to keep him. I regret this so much. We have 4 kids and 2 other dogs. He mostly fits in w the other 2 dogs”

“This isn’t me asking for help as I’ve already reached out to the vets and we have a plan in action, I just needed to vent out my problems with the situation. I have a 7 month old doodle puppy and he loves to run around and slide up to people to stop himself before sprinting off again. We usually have no problem with this, he just gives us a little bonk and off he goes again. But this time things got a little out of hand. He ran into the back of me and completely knocked me over. I fall and hit m”

“I truly don't want to, but I'm the most depressed I've ever been. It's only been one week, but I'm doing this alone and I haven't been able to eat anything substantial the whole time - I've lost seven pounds. I have a history of depression and anxiety, but haven't had anxiety like this in years. I thought I was ready, but I'm just so exhausted emotionally and physically. He wants to play constantly and refuses to settle, he hates his crate (unless it's nig”

“Hi folks, a month and a half ago I adopted a half pittie half mountain cur. Shes a very good girl and came fully house and crate trained. Before I even knew she was mountain cur I quickly realized off leash would be tough given her prey drive, so when I got the dna results back I was not shocked. I’ve tried to do consistent training with her on a long lead etc with mixed results. I was up in New Hampshire hiking with her and other dogs on long lead and she did very well so I let her off leash gi”

“Hoping someone can help and offer some advice. My friend rescued a dog a year ago from a family. After she arrived at the house it was apparent the dog never left the kennel and was left in her own mess. Terrible state but she took the dog because who could leave an animal in that condition. Anyway the year has been quite the joruney to say the least. This poor dog (approx 2-3 years old) is so anxious of everything, will scratch at herself if shes left alone until she draws blood and has recentl”

“Ok so I have had several fosters, and a couple of them have even been strays but this is my first really super fearful foster. Like she immediately went into her crate and cowered in the corner. Whenever I glance at her, she cowers. I’ve had some experience sitting with shelter dogs this fearful, and getting them open up to me so I am not worried about that part I know she will come around & I have all the time in the world to sit patiently with her and let her grow accustomed to me. The onl”

“i have an aggressive dog who is reactive with people but not other dogs. i’m still fairly young and was lied to by the people rehoming him on facebook. originally, he was supposed to be a service dog prospect. once i got him and realized he was aggressive (never with me or those i live with, but pretty much anybody over 25 years of age or any male), i put him into training for aggressive dogs right away. however, it has not helped and i do keep up on the training even though the classes and boar”

“Hello. I am doing this on behalf of my very stubborn sister as I cannot stand by her dogs being like this any longer and I need other opinions to (hopefully) make her listen, but also for any advice you can give me regarding this matter. sister has three house dogs- a male Pomeranian/Chihuahua mix , male Papillon mix (quite unsure what he is mixed with), and a female Frenchie. She's had the Pom mix and Papillon mix for about 3/4 years now and the Frenchie for a whole year with August coming”

“My dog Bear is a 3 year old malamute/gsd cross that I adopted as a 5 month old from a now defunct rescue that told me he was a border collie mix. I have owned dogs all my life, including other gsd mixes, and live a very active life in the country so I was up for the unexpected 85 lb dog I got instead. Or I thought I was. About a year ago, the serious problems started. Bear got into a fight with our other dog (13 yr old 50 lb mixed breed) and killed her. He also bit a friend who was visiting out”

“Hi everyone! I’ve just adopted a rescue dog from abroad and am completely in over my head. He is approx 18 months mixed breed (maybe shepherd, collie, spaniel in the mix). He was previously a stray and then spent 6 months in foster with 20 other dogs. He was not noted to have any behavioural issues and he supposedly knows his name, come here, did and be quiet. Unfortunately he is not responding to anything at all. In the house he will not settle unless he is completely exhausted. I have tried li”

“Hello All, In search of any resources to rehoming a 8 month old Shepard Lab Mix. We had our pup for 2 months but we’ve struggled in having them pair with our older dog. He continues to show signs of resource guarding. We’ve been back and forth taken them to training classes and spoken to behaviorist. We just have lost our patience with him and know it’s no longer a good fit. He honestly is a good pup, he trains real well. Great with agility and good on walks. If anyone knows of any resource of r”

“I screwed up. I knew better, but instead of adopting a dog from a reputable breeder, the humane society, or a good shelter… I fell in love with a puppy on Craigslist. She’s a golden retriever. From the moment we got her, we could tell something was wrong. The breeder wouldn’t show us her parents or her litter mates. She weighed well under what she should have. When we reached out about it, the breeder said she might have gotten her birthday mixed up. Just red flag after red flag… and then she go”

“I am writing this because I genuinely do not know what else to do. I adopted my dog from Agoura Hills Animal Care Center in California and brought him all the way to New York with me. Only after the adoption paperwork was completed did I learn that he had previously been involved in a serious attack on another dog. I was never given the chance to make a fully informed decision before taking responsibility for him. And they are not returning my calls or emails, shame on them. Now I am in New York”

“I’m writing this because we are starting to feel a bit desperate in our search for a suitable place for our dog Noor. We have already contacted several organisations and rescue centres, but so far nobody has been able to help. I’m hoping someone here may know of other options or specialised organisations, preferably in Belgium or the Netherlands. Four and a half years ago, my then-boyfriend and I adopted Noor from Greece. She was about five months old when she arrived. After we separated, Noor s”

“Three weeks ago we adopted a 2 year old dog from a shelter in Montenegro. For context, and why our current situation is complicated, we are traveling fulltime in a van. I know many people here will say, rightfully so, that is a stupid idea. We figured as we are not working during our travels, we can spend infinite time training this dog. It can't be much better than that we thought, in a year we may live stationary but we will be working 8 hours a day. We thought this made sense. And we also”

“so i have a Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix named Kash. He’s 4 years old and i’m at the point where i’m about to be forced to surrender him to a shelter. Kash isn’t an aggressive dog towards my intermediate family members (mom, dad, sister and nephew) but he will bark at anyone else whether it’s family or strangers. with that being said, he has bitten 3 people so far. he lives at my parent’s house and i live with my girlfriend (we have cats, which Kash is aggressive towards). my parents can’t have”

“Hi everyone my family recently adopted a retriever mix from our local shelter she’s about 9/10 weeks. We’re coming up on 2 weeks of having her home with us. I’ve posted about her behavior before she is very bitey like will latch on and shake her head snarl etc. we were making good progress and putting her in her crate when she did that and trying to enforce naps and I thought it was getting better. She even had a play date with some of her siblings from the shelter and it went great! Obviously i”

“I had a frenchie who was rehomed to me and was the love of my life for 894 days. He was very dog reactive, so I can deal with that- but I could pick him up and put him in air jail bc he was ~19 lbs. he died on Halloween and a few months later I volunteered to foster with a local bulldog rescue…this foster had been with an emergency foster for about 15 days- who had another dog and she said he was good with her dog- but a little bit territorial with attention. (He’s ~ 60lbs so I can’t pick him up”

“Hello, me and my boyfriend have recently been given his dog from before he left for college. His dad got to sick and was transferred to a skilled nursing facility and while me and my boyfriend were waiting to get approved to have Ona (the dog) in our apartment he was staying with one of their family friends. This dog is an ANGEL so sweet so polite and ive been working with training him better but theres one behavior I cannot figure out how to train out of him. He nips at me or my boyfriend when”

“We just moved away so I can understand a sudden shift in scenery/routine/etc can throw everything off, and it has mostly been my fault letting her sleep on her bed on the floor next to us in our empty apartment, but even before our move, she has not been liking being in her crate. We cannot leave her alone at home free roaming, so she needs to be in her crate when we’re not home. We have a 8+ year old chihuahua mix dog that has not bonded with her and doesn’t have socialization skills and can be”

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“My sister couldnt take care of their 4yr old Black Lab anymore. He has separation anxiety and has been very close to me, so I didnt want him to go to a shelter. I took him. Now, I live in apartment with a balcony. My dogs go there to potty when we are at work. The Lab used to go there to pee when i dog sit. But i think because someone gave him shit for peeing right beside their feet, he wont go there anymore. Nobody can bring him outside except for me. So from the time I go to work (130pm) until”

“I really need help I think I tried everything but he just goes feral every freaking time he is awake. I am desperate. I tried calming him myself, by caressing singing, then timeout zones where he doesn’t have stimulants. But he always comes back and always want more play, always chasing my feet trying to bite me like I am some pray of his, he has cool off periods of course and then he act like an angel But his zoomies are so frequent and so tiring I am beginning to lose it He is a isn’t a specif”

“Hey so yesterday i rescued a 2 month of german shepherd mix and he is lovely, i had thought it thru alot and me and my mum had spoken about it in depth and made sure it was the correct choice. But puppy blues have really hit me. I live in a bottom floor flat which we own and its been so stressfull. Hes extremelt nervous which we were informed of before hand but didnt realize how nervous, he barks at every noise even if i do something like close a curtain. We have a cat who is ok with dogs and rh”

“So, I have made a post on here before about the same dog. I'm going to explain the situation and what I have been thinking. My pomeranian mixed small breed puppy i've had since he was 8wks has recently over the last few months developed pretty severe reactivity towards other dogs, children, adults, people talking outside etc. I live in an apartment and have raised him here, I have gotten noise complaints because of his barking. It use to be from seperation anxiety - which is now pretty m”

“My heart is broken because deep down I know the answer. We adopted our dog from a rescue at 4mo old, she’s a poodle, coon hound, Great Dane mix. This is our first dog too. The rescue made the claim she was kid friendly and she was the sweetest girl at our meet and greet. We did not have kids at the time but always knew we would try eventually. She’s now 3 1/2 years old. Throughout this time together we have seen her have very anxious/reactive behavior in general but specifically with men and chi”

“I feel like maybe it's puppy blues already but I'm not sure...I completely regret getting this puppy. I prepared, I saved, I got everything ready. I've been waiting for the perfect pup for years and I found him...I thought. He doesn't sleep for more than 45 minutes, he goes out to potty every 45 minutes. Crate training was going good the first 2 days...until it wasn't. Now he yelps and cries. I leave him there because I know he's fed, pottied, clean, and taken care of. I&”

“\--- I want to start by saying that I love animals, especially dogs. My boyfriend has two dogs. One of them is older, and I don’t mind him at all, he is adorable, he’s always happy to see me and wags his tail although he is blind and deaf. The other dog, however, is the most difficult dog I’ve ever encountered. I’ve known him for about a year and a half and have been living with my boyfriend for around eight months, but he shows no affection toward me at all. He never greets me or seems happy to”

“Hi, I know the word force will be doing a lot of negative heavy lifting here but i mean more forcefully encouragement. Our rescue hasnt left her bed for 10 weeks except to toilet, drink and eat at night. She looks fairly calm looking at us from her bed. We approach and give treats and she seems happy with that. But is there a point we pick her up on put a lead on and take her into the garden? I am concerned about muscle wasting from being sat on a bed for so long. submitted by /u/His”

“My partner and I adopted a French bulldog almost two years ago. We had been fostering him at first as a trail run and didn’t run into any issues. His description mentioned he would need time and love but no mention of bite history. I found out he bit after I adopted him. They also mentioned he had separation anxiety as well. The first incident was when someone tried to hold him and he bit their ear, the bite broke the skin. I’ve never had a reactive dog before so I assumed it was because the per”

“You’re going to want to surrender them to a rescue. They deal with situations like this all the time. Just Google rescues in your area and start calling. Sorry for you and your son’s loss.”

“Shelters for abused dogs are highly location specific. You'd need to search around your area and see what's the best shelters. I would worry less about the people being "judgemental" and more worried about the welfare of the dogs. We're all adults. We can handle people being disappointed in our behavior. Let's do right by these helpless animals and take the judgement if necessary”

“I’m posting this from a place of complete exhaustion, guilt, and tears. I really need some honest advice, perspective, or just to know if anyone else has been here. I’m 23, recently brought home my 2 month old (now almost 3 months) Australian shepherd puppy, and I’m doing it all alone. I thought I was prepared. I did the research, I saved up, and I wanted this so badly. I’ve always wanted an Australian shepherd and my coworkers Aussie was having puppies and she’d give me one for free (I still kn”

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“I just adopted a dog. She was re-homed. For context: she is a 4-ish yorkie mix. She was rescued by a family and she had so much trauma and anxiety from before being rescued. They re-homed her because she wasn't doing well with the kids. I got her home yesterday. She is very attached to me. Won't leave my side. I even had to leave the bathroom door open a tiny bit. She is very leash reactive and barks at people and dogs. She lived in a home and now I live in a high rise apartment. Every t”

“Hi. I'm really struggling with my 4 month old, 18 week pomeranian. I don't like him and regret every day getting him. I feel nothing for him. Everyday is a struggle. I yelled at him this morning as he keeps waking up before 5am and won't go back to sleep. He keeps chewing on things he shouldn't and only likes hard chews which I know can be bad for his teeth. He doesn't ever settle so everytime he is awake I have to entertain him. Trying to teach alone time but have only gotte”

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“In October of last year, I adopted a shar-pei/pit mix from a no kill shelter. Prior to adopting her, I considered the decision for about one year because I wanted to be certain. I'm a single guy who lives alone and everyone in my life thought getting a dog would be good for me. When I met this dog at the shelter, she seemed perfect for me. The shelter workers told me she was a "behavior level 1" and that she "gets really excited around other dogs." I was looking for a rel”

“Buckle up, this will be a long one! I so needed to find this community; I adopted Bijou, my 3 y/o fluffy pitty from a shelter when she was 9 weeks old. She has always been a very sweet girl, but not particularly interested in being touched and given attention from strangers from a pretty young age. She didn't seem to have any real discomfort around other people and was raised the first year in a house with 3 other dogs, so she loves other dogs (which is part of the leash frustration reactivi”

“I adopted a stray dog from Aruba through an independent rescuer a month ago and we're all struggling. She technically came to me as a foster, but bonded to me very quickly and I chose to adopt her. I think her rescuer could have been more upfront with me about her challenges, but I also could have asked more pointed questions and should have been less trusting. In the end, this dog is afraid of her world and sees me as a place of safety. I'm committed to helping her, but this is exhausti”

“I look after a velcro dog that literally won’t leave me alone wherever I go. I feel a bit mean but I can’t have it sleeping in the bedroom with me because it wakes me up multiple times at night by licking/barking. It will whine and scratch at the door for 30 mins or more. Am I being cruel and doing harm or is it fair enough? submitted by /u/Scary_Many_9325 [link] [comments]”