Category: Top Dog

I have a ~6-7 month foster pup. He is excellent in the crate at night. Just sleeps right through. He even goes into and out of his crate throughout the day and sometimes chooses to lie down in there.

When we need to crate him in the evening though, when he isn't ready to go to bed but we can't be there in the room with him, he barks and barks and barks incessantly and will not settle down. We have worked to desensitize him to the crate itself, lots of positive reinforcement, and he doesn't fear it. He is also ok with being alone for short periods of time, no big anxiety. But combining them is just endless barking.

I don't know how to proceed with helping him be ok with crating when we cannot be around. Trying to wait him out to reward him when he is quiet takes a very long time and I think is making him too anxious. I'd love some advice.

Hey all, me and my boyfriend adopted a beautiful baby boy from a shelter 2 months ago. Since he is from the shelter we don't know his race (mixed for sure), but most likely a shepherd and a large breed mix. He is around 20kgs at 6 months to give you an idea. He is a very social and high energy puppy, getting along with humans and animals very well. But recently his biting and "witch hours" are especially struggling us and we need help.

We have 3 main problem areas but I think the root cause and the end result is similar so want to give you an overall picture.

1) He attacks me during our walks together if I try to get him back home. First I thought maybe I am cutting them short, or then I thought maybe too long he gets overstimulated. But no although he did all his business, the duration doesn't matter he starts jumping on me to bite me randomly, but I am talking about growling and nose scrunching type of bites to the level of hurting me for real. They don't happen on every walk but it started to get more often. He rarely does this with my boyfriend…

2) Regardless of if we fed him before, or at the same time with us, or giving him a distraction toy or activity. He started to went crazy during meal time. And he would give up after a few barks and jump attempts in the past but now he tries to bite us, jump on everything, even breaking stuff over the table. I questioned even if we are underfeeding him, but I do exactly by the instructions of his kibble. Dinner time is a hell and no one can enjoy food in the house anymore.

3) The classic witch hour before sleep started to turn into a nightmare. He jumps on us on bed to bite us when we try to go to sleep, and a good bite I mean. If somehow we prevent him barks nonstop (and neighbors already complained so it makes us even more nervous). He pants like crazy too. Nothing works: gave him a lick mat, no lights, sniffing game before, taking him out… I even feel like the lick mat gave him more energy.

I feel like my boyfriend is losing his patience faster than I do, because we argued a few times since he tried to put the pup in the bathroom if he gets too crazy during the sleep time, which is in no way okay.

Only for safety, we had to get a soft muzzle for him since any other method didn't work out and I had a few incidents where I got seriously hurt. I know this is not the way to solve this problem, we put it on when he gets crazy since for a few days while we find a real solution. And i know that muzzle stresses out more sometimes, due to the obvious reason, but I am afraid one of us will get hurt bad since I had to push him a few times to protect myself but he slipped once and I felt so bad.

I love him too much, I want to be gentle with him and him with me as well. I never had such extremes with my first dog so I really need your help. I have the biggest hope in me that we can solve it but I just am not sure how.

Note: We don't have a crate as our house is small, but now considering getting one. I don't want to get it until I am sure that the crate is "the" missing piece of the puzzle, since no-one I talked in the neighbourhood used crates and they seemed to be just fine (we are in Italy for context).

My dog likes to engage in playing when my partner and I "rough house" such as tickling, play slapping, and kicking around. She'll come over and start barking and bouncing around and we'll join her in and she'll grab a toy and bring it over and play nip every once in a while. This doesn't bother me as well as any adult in my family as she is very gentle with her play biting. The problem comes in with little kids.

My nephew came over for a gathering and was rough housing with my dad and my dog would go over and play nip by pulling on my nephews sleeve and the occasional bark and bouncing around, nothing aggressive or dangerous. His dad tho was very skeptical and nervous that my dog might accidentally nip his skin instead of his sleeve and accidentally hurt him, reasonably so.

This didn't happen thankfully, but it did get me wondering. In a situation where I have kids in the future and play fight with them, I wouldn't want my dog getting involved and accidentally hurting them. My dog is very well trained with recall and still improving. Also fully trained in down stay and place. I want her to be able to continue her playing habits with me and my family as she doesn't pose a threat to any of us, or even a threat to older kids. Its just toddlers that I don't want her to nip and accidentally scare them or pinch too hard.

What would be the most appropriate method to get her to undertstand to not enage with people play of any kind, unless invited. I feel this would be the best end goal as her playing isnt the problem, its controlling who she plays with. I want her to be able to play with me and kids, but only if the kids invite her to join, in which they would be aware of her play biting. (Wanted to emphasize, she doesn't only target kids and is not reactive. She treats everyone the same when it comes to playing)

TLDR: What is the most efficient method to train a dog to only engage in playing with people i.e play bite, bark, and growl once invited. In any other circumstance in which an invitation is not given, they ignore the play until invited.

I am taking care of my mom‘s nine-year-old dog for six weeks while my mom is in a facility for physical rehab rehabilitation. This dog typically spends most of her day outside un monitored with two other dogs, on a property that borders a forest.

I have her in my apartment, and take her out on a leash, which she is not familiar with. each time I do, instead of peeing all at once, she will pee 4-5 times spread out over the walk, just a little bit at a time. She never pees right away, and I usually have to walk her for a total of 35 minutes before I feel like she has peed enough. I was worried about a UTI, but it didn’t seem urgent so I asked my mom. She said that this is the her usual behavior. Allegedly, her and the other dogs have picked up these habits living ‘close to wild animals’. They will pee to mark their territory, just a little bit at a time, and usually pee right on top of one another. I have limited time in the middle of the day to take the dog out, so it would be optimal if I could train her to pee all at once. Additionally, when the weather is bad, it really sucks to have to spend 35 minutes outside to get her to pee. There have been times where I haven’t had time to do as long of a walk, and I worry about bladder distention or something from her holding her pee.

she is not trained very well, as my mom did not keep up her obedience aside from house training and not barking at or jumping on people.

How would you go about training her to pee all at once?

PS please don’t crucify me for not walking her for long enough. moms surgery was an emergency, there is no one to take care of the dog but me. i don’t think my schedule is great for a dog (which is why i don’t have one now), i can’t afford to board or hire a walker.

The players:

Buster – 4yo M English Setter 80lbs

Birdie – 1.5yo F English Setter 70lbs

Me – 7 months pregnant

Husband

Hi everyone and thanks in advance for the advice! We recently had to change our sleeping arrangements with the dogs due to my belly getting bigger and there not being enough room anymore in the bed. I put below our ideal scenario and where we are currently but I’m unsure on next steps. Also is this all for naught because everything will change again when baby comes?

Ideal scenario – Dogs on bed while winding down for the night, they get off on cue and go to their beds, they come up again around 7am until we are up for the day.

Current situation – Dogs on bed while winding down for the night, they are pushed off by my husband as they are stubborn, we close a gate that we put up surrounding our bed so they CANNOT get up, the youngest asks to come up a few times a night and we tell her to go back to her bed and she does, 7am we open the gate and tell them they are allowed back up.

Some other notes:

We crate trained both of them as puppies but phased it out once potty trained.

Buster likes to be able to move between his bed and the hardwoods to cool off which is why we are penned in instead of the dogs.

Baby will be in her own room so we will be moving around a lot once she is here and navigating a gate in the dark isn’t my ideal scenario.

Hello everyone. I want to start off by thanking you for your volunteer work here. I also want to say that I did read the guide for all issues mentioned below but I feel the combination of behaviors complicates things.

*we love him very much and we do not want to rehome him. We are dedicated to caring for him but are at our wits end*

Some basics:

Rescue Pomeranian (came from the street during a flood. Owners never found despite weeks of attempts)

Unknown age but certainly over 5. Possibly elderly.

Neutered. Up to date on all shots, vet has checked bloodwork and urine to clear the possibility of behavioral issues stemming from medical ones. NO teeth. When rescued his teeth were in such bad condition that they had to be removed. Which we are very thankful for because ⬇️⬇️

Issue number 1- aggression/reactivnes.

He barks constantly. At cars. At people. When we leave or come home. Also at my husband when he walks around the house or makes any sudden movements. He also barks at our cats despite not reacting to them otherwise (meaning they do not fight). He also is extremely aggressive when he does not want to do something. If I try and crate him for potty training, he will explode. Biting and thrashing, running and hiding, or even chasing us after the fact. He likes to be under furniture, and to get him out from under the furniture means you will be attacked. Even without having teeth it is still painful. He can no longer go to the regular groomer because she said he reacts to the point that she is afraid he will hurt himself or have a heart attack. Every day is a battle. Which leads us to the next issue-

Issue number 2- potty training. When we first got him, we noticed he had an issue with marking. We took him to the vet and he was neutered accordingly. However it is now almost two years later and he pees and poops everywhere all the time. He pees on our bed, on our rugs, poops on the stairs, on the floor, multiple times a day. Of course our first approach to this was the usual, a tight schedule. I began letting him out every hour and crating him in between. Not bringing him back in until he pooped/peed and then rewarded him. If I were to let him out of said crate for even an hour, he would poop/pee somewhere. If we place him in the crate overnight, he whines and whines and whines. He will poop in the crate. If we do not crate him overnight, it’s a race to get him out as early as possible in the morning because if you take your eyes off him for one second, if YOU want to go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, etc- he will sneak away and pee/poop.

Issue number 3- eating/chewing

This issue is the least of our problems but may be helpful for you to get a bigger picture of behavior. You would think a dog with no teeth would not have this issue, but this one loves to steal and gnaw on all things strange. Some favorites include dirty underwear, tampons/pads, Postpartum items, dirty diapers, etc and take them under the bed. When we do laundry we have to always battle him (he’s very possessive over anything under the bed) to get the laundry out.

We believe taking in an animal is a responsibility you can not just run away from when it becomes inconvenient and being his forever home was always apart of the plan- but at this stage my daughters things are being ruined, my husband can not get in bed without being attacked, and every morning comes with anxiety. Any help would be appreciated. I am open to any and all criticism, just please be gently as I am in a very vulnerable position.

Hello!

I have a house full of Australian Shepherds (8 year old male rescue, 2 year old male from a breeder, and a 3 year old female who was a recent rescue)

We have had the 8 year old almost his whole life, he is great, unproblematic.

We then got the 2 year old.. well, 2 years ago And he was very slow with potty training but eventually got the hang of it. Then a year later we added on the 3rd: she was a great addition, she fit in really well. But with her being in the shelter/being a stray she wasn't quite potty trained but she caught on fairly quick, BUT the young male saw her having accidents and then started having accidents inside, so fast forward she is potty trained and now the only one who isn't is our young male who was originally potty trained. He doesn't have any health issues, took him to the vet for this. He pees and poops inside, I have a bell, he uses and abuses it, (I think he's been using it as an attention bell?) I reward when they go outside, I reward when they potty outside. It only happens when we leave the house, it doesn't matter if it's 2 hours or if I'm at work.

I have a furbo nanny camera that shoots treats out and I discovered he was peeing on command when I gave them treats (associating treats with potty) so I don't feed treats via the camera anymore.

I'm just so exhausted, I feel like I've tried everything. My husband is the first one home daily so he is the one who always has to clean it up so I feel so awful.

I have a 1 year old Wirehaired Vizsla who is very high energy and extremely trainable. He’s also training as an assistance dog and really thrives on structured work and having a job. I’m a wheelchair user and I’m looking into adaptive joring now he’s getting older, because it looks like something both of us would absolutely love and he would excel at, but I’d really appreciate advice from people with experience!

I used to be an outdoor instructor so my priority is welfare and safety for both of us, and I’m very conscious of doing this properly and progressively.

In terms of setup: my wheelchair is a Ki Mobility Tsunami with cambered wheels and hybrid tyres, and I already use an electric Batec attachment, so I know my chair can handle speed and off-road conditions. That said, the Batec is far too heavy for joring even without the battery. At the moment my thinking is to start with a Freewheel rather than a full hand bike or recumbent cycle (I have some leg function), partly due to cost and partly to see whether it’s a suitable solution before committing to something bigger.

My main questions are around setup and training: – How to introduce joring foundations and directional commands before any pulling – Advice on safely attaching a joring line and pole/antenna to a wheelchair and Freewheel setup – Harness recommendations – Any safety features I might be overlooking – Any red flags specific to wheelchair-based or adaptive joring setups

At the moment my dog walks on my left side and already understands moving in front or behind me for tight spaces, but I haven’t introduced directional or speed commands yet. I don’t plan to introduce any pulling until he’s at least 18 months old and finished growing, but I’d love suggestions for commands and groundwork I can start teaching in the meantime!

For locations, I have a straight, quiet cycle path very close to me, which would only be used for short training bursts (I’m aware of the risks of hard surfaces for running a dog for long periods), as well as a large park with off-road trails slightly further away that I can get to.

If anyone has experience with joring, bikejoring, or adaptive setups, or can weigh in on whether my Freewheel setup sounds sensible, I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for you and what you’d do differently.

Just to pre-empt something I’ve encountered before: Yes, I’m a wheelchair user, and I’m very aware of the exercise, enrichment, and welfare needs of a Vizsla. Those needs are fully met through structured training, mental enrichment, off-lead time, on lead walks and input from my wider support network. Adaptive joring is something I’m exploring because my dog thrives on purposeful work and partnership, not despite my disability. I’m looking for practical, experience based advice on joring and adaptive setups – not commentary on whether disabled people should own high energy breeds.

hello all! i have a 10 month old poodle mix who im currently working on training to be a psychiatric service dog. currently we’re still working on the basics and manners as he’s still young, and i did work with a trainer for the beginning of the training but have fallen out due to losing my job. my problem isn’t in regards to his other training, as he’s very good on the leash, has a very strong heel, can sit and stay (for the most part, we’re still perfecting that) on command, has trained in controlled public environments, and has started with a few easier tasks. my question is how do you combat excitement reactivity? when he was 4-8 months he frequently hung out with other groups of dogs and frequently met new people, so now occasionally when he sees people or dogs he will get so excited he starts jumping up and down or pulling toward them. this is the only time he acts out, and he’s only recently started to do this. i have tried consistent exposure but it has had no effect so far. he has not broken the behavior at all for me to positively reinforce good behavior. any tips?