Category: Top Dog

I just got my first dog and I’m realizing how easy it is to mess things up.
What’s the one thing you wish someone warned you about early on?

I am a first time dog owner! My dog is 9 months old.

Example 1: When we are about to go out for a walk and i open the door, i walk out first then he comes rushing right besides me and keeps going forward so i cant close the door without needing to pull the leash back with force.

Example 2: When outside and he finishes pooping and i go to pick it up, (i put the leash between my legs to have control of him) he walks further around sniffing pulling on the leash making it difficult to do what i am doing

Example 3: When we come home from walk and after we go trough the door and into the hallway he always rushes further into the house. I need him to wait for me to take off my shoes, take off his leash

Btw i understand dogs dont automatically know they need to wait and that its something they need to be trained to do. I just havent had it as an issue before bc he is a puppy and he has gotten hella strong now lol

I was in the park yesterday (England) with my dog which had his lead on as well as a harness with a retractable lead. Two dogs came over, a sausage and red setter and the red setter was aggressive to my dog. There wasn’t any physical contact, but as my dog pulled I slipped on the icy ground and slightly injured myself. I was cold, wet and a little bit peeved about this. The owners said sorry, put their dogs back on a leash and walked away. I accepted this, but Im just wondering what else could I have done? Would I get into trouble if I was physical against the other dog?

TL;DR: was visiting family with my puppy for 3 weeks. We came back home recently, and she’s since been scared of every man that tries to say hi to her.

Hi all! I have a 5 month old lab. I live in a busy downtown area, so she grew up meeting all kinds of people (and being super happy about it) and learned to desensitize to her surroundings really quickly. I recently went home (to the suburbs, so a lot less busy) for the holidays with her, and we were gone for around 3 weeks (one week she was with a female dog sitter, because I was on vacation). We got back to the city a few days ago, and I’ve noticed she’s a lot more skittish than usual. She used to love whenever anyone would ask to pet her on the sidewalk, but she’s now very weary when people try to say hi. If it’s a woman, she warms up very quickly. If it’s a man (or even a group with just one man in it), she’ll refuse to move any closer, even trying to run away and sometimes even letting out a small bark. This has even happened with men in my apartment building who she has met and been excited to see in the past.

Does anyone know what could have triggered this change? Is this something that will likely fade away as she transitions back to city living?

we've tried so much and it just isnt sticking, our dog pulls alot on lead, its just eager to go everywhere, collie breed, about 1 yr old.

as soon as we leave the house, its constant pulling, just to leave the road im on that should take 2 minutes can take 15 with the stop and sit any time there is pulling, and always as soon as we got theres pulling again. hes just not learning, or knows better and doesnt have any self control. as a collie i find it hard that he wouldnt know after months of this.

its definetly worse when passing people, seeing other dogs,and specifically a fenced area we play ball herding in is the worst.. they lunge hard for these, always in a playful way, never aggressive, but even with no triggers they pull very hard, they actually got free the other day as the harness front clip broke off.

really at a loss for what to do.