Category: Top Dog

Hey! I was wondering if anyone here can give me a help in a very annoying behavior of my beloved and otherwise perfect dog 🙂

His name is Koda, he is a border collie, 4yo.

He loves swimming, on the beach and in the pool. And he is a very calm border collie

His problem is: whenever he is outside of the pool, and someone is inside the pool, he barks a lot, and doesn’t stop until he jumps in the water. When he gets inside, he keeps “eating” the water and swimming.

It is noticeable that he is obsessed with the “little waves” that appear whenever the water is moving in the pool.

I know that it might be impossible to break his obsession with the pool water, but I was wondering if it might be possible to make him stop barking…

Does any of you have any experience with this?? How do I train him to prevent this?

I have already tried to calm him down whenever he is near the pool, training with treats, on a leash.

But no treat has greater value than the moving water 😅. If only he stopped barking, it would be great!

My mini goldendoodle was traumatized (mishandled and injured) by a bad groomer, now he runs, hides, and flinches when we need to harness him to go out. Very very early on we switched from collar to harness to minimize discomfort.

We've been trying to desensitize and use positive reinforcement for over a year, but it's been hard. He almost always flees whenever my partner or I grab a harness. Between outings, I try to stay below his fear threshold, but at some point he does need to go out, so I need to get the harness on him. I'm worried this is setting us back, every day.

He is now sometimes willing to approach and touch the harness with his nose, in exchange for small pieces of steak, but flinches if I so much as twitch while holding the harness. He's otherwise very well-trained and well-adjusted; not really any other anger/fear behaviors, very loving with unfamiliar humans, children, dogs, he trusts us. It's just the harness.

Really need some advice; he's our first dog, and it's hard to find good advice for this specific situation.

Should I stop bringing him on walks until this is resolved? Leave the harness on 24/7, but use a second harness for training purposes?

We have a small patio with doggie door, where he can do his business freely. He can get an hour or more of exercise playing fetch with us indoors. We've tried using clickers, without much benefit over a verbal "Yes!".

I’m a single dog owner raising my 4-year-old dachshund completely on my own. He has severe separation anxiety. When left alone, he barks, howls, and paces nonstop. I live in an apartment and have already received noise complaints, so this is not sustainable as-is.

I have no family or friends nearby who can help with care. No partner, no roommates, no backup. I recently left an abusive home environment and am rebuilding my life independently. I have to go into the office three days a week for full 8-hour days, no exceptions and no WFH flexibility.

I’m also under significant financial strain and cannot afford additional paid care such as sitters, daycare, or boarding. My dog is not comfortable with strangers, which makes outside help especially difficult even if it were financially possible.

I feel incredibly stuck and overwhelmed. I’m trying to do right by my dog, but I don’t know what is realistic anymore under these constraints. Has anyone dealt with severe SA in an apartment while working full-time alone? What actually helped? Training, medication, management strategies, anything?

I’m open to honest advice. Please be kind — I’m doing this entirely by myself and genuinely trying.

I regularly take my dog to an enclosed park where interactions are generally positive. She has many respectful friends, but occasionally she's targeted by other dogs who follow her, bark, and crowd her space, even when she makes clear she doesn't want it. I try to remain objective about my dog’s behavior, but I do think she's very good at respecting boundaries. She disengages if another dog is overwhelmed or shows disinterest, or if I call her over, so I don't understand her to be the instigator in these situations.

The park today was busier than usual. My dog is 50 lbs and very athletic, so she can assert herself when needed, and she’s excellent at modulating her play style. She'll play more frenetically with larger, younger dogs who match her energy levels, and will hold back with smaller or older dogs who want to play, but can't necessarily keep up with her size or speed.

However, a specific group of dogs began persistently harassing her by barking, nipping, and being generally hostile. Their behavior escalated until she began hiding between my legs and under the bench I was sitting on. I hoped they would desist once it was clear that she had disengaged, allowing her to return to her other more respectful friends.

After I gave her a few minutes to cool down, she tried to play again, but the same dogs immediately came after her, and soon she was hiding under me again. She began to growl (she has never growled before in this context and is very rarely vocal) and her hackles went up. I decided to leave immediately, though it took a minute because one dog wouldn't stop barking at us as we exited, forcing her back under the bench. When I asked the owner for help, he was smiling and a little dismissive, seemingly unbothered by his dog’s behavior.

I’m going to stop using this park because the stress on my dog is unacceptable. While this has happened before with single dogs, today a whole group seemed to focus their aggression on her, and most of the other owners seemed unbothered. Only one came over and physically removed their dog from the park. In the past, it hasn't seemed to me that problem dogs are typically doing the same thing to other dogs in the park. Today was a little different, in that this group of problem dogs was menacing a bunch of dogs, though mine seemed to receive the brunt of the attention and aggression.

This leaves me wondering:

• Is there a reason she is being targeted?
• Is there some temperament or training issue I’m missing, or are these dogs just poorly managed? My dog is pretty respectful when it comes to play, and though she's young, is mature enough to know when she's bothering another dog, and to disengage.
• Perhaps it's just an attention bias since I'm focused on her, but she does seem to receive most of the attention when there are problem dogs at the park. Could my dog be contributing to that somehow?

Hi all, I’m hoping to apply for my CPDT-KA before the deadline this month and had a quick question for you all about the attestation statement.

I currently work in the same building as a veterinarian and did ask her if she’d be willing to sign, but she’s extremely busy and hasn’t had a chance to get back to me yet. I’m getting a bit nervous! There also aren’t many CPDT-certified trainers active in my area, and while I’ve worked alongside other trainers, they don’t hold this certification.

For those of you who have your CPDT-KA how did you go about getting your attestation signed? Did you reach out to someone you hadn’t worked closely with?

Thanks in advance!!

Hi there, I’ve got a 4 month old lab pup he’s absolutely awesome has picked up on commands quite well and is really well behaved. He’s not scared of me or anything for that matter loud noises vacuums other animals he dosent ever flinch. But every time I try to give him affection he pins his ears back wags his tail low and fast and then rolls over. Every single time I go to touch him he turns into a wet noodle. It’s making it very difficult to teach him to lie down, shake etc as he won’t really focus without just flopping onto his back because I’m close to him. Is there anything causing this or anything I can do to prevent this behaviour

Potty Training — Backstory

I have two toy poodles, both female: Pumpkin and Billie. One is older, crate trained, and rarely has indoor accidents (this is Pumpkin). The other one, however, is 2.5 years old and not crate trained (this is Billie).

This post is about Billie, the younger dog. I got Billie after our other dog, Dee-Dee, passed away… because Pumpkin was really depressed without Dee-Dee (so was I). I was working a lot at the time, so I left Billie in the company of Pumpkin because she (Billie) was really attached to her (and yes, I did wait until I knew it was safe to leave them alone together). So it was very difficult to consistently do anything, and I know I should’ve crate trained her, but in all honesty, I just didn’t do what I should have done from the beginning. I certainly regret that now.

Billie is trained to use a potty pad, but she’s always gotten bathroom breaks outside too (with the older dog).

What I need help with

We just moved into a new house, and this is where things get complicated. All Billie has ever known is hardwood floor/tile (and often mistook our rugs for pee pads). The new house has carpet EVERYWHERE, so I have to keep an eye on her at all times.

What I’d like to know is: can I train her to stop doing the unwanted behavior (peeing/pooping on carpet or rugs)? And, can I train her to let me know when she needs to go outside? (I’ll mention my training tools at the end of this post)

So far, I’ve only successfully trained Billie to hold it significantly longer than before, and this happened pretty quickly by using treats each time she goes potty outside. Now she’ll pee almost immediately each time she goes out, whereas before, it was kind of hit or miss if she would go or not since she was conveniently using the pad indoors.

Am I attempting the impossible? If you have any advice to give or if you know of some good resources, I would really appreciate the help.

I’ve purchased a clicker and a “Mighty Paw Smart Bell 2.0” so if you can help me understand how to use these properly with a dog that’s NOT a puppy, that would be fantastic. All of the research I’ve done seems to be exclusively for training puppies

Sorry for the novel, and thank you in advance for any contributions 🙏🏼

Hi!

My friend's dog is a corgi, about 5 years of age. I try to learn more about dog behaviour to understand what dog's want, but this dog truly baffles me.

If I come over (I do about weekly), he will immediately start barking up a storm jumping at me (which, normal, fine!). Once I take off my shoes, I'll bend down to try and pet him to give him the attention I'm assuming he wants, and he'll just start gnawing on my hands and continue barking/jump (in which case, I stop, although most dogs are satisfied by petting or will move away/leave I find if they don't want to be pet? He will continue jumping at my legs?). If I sit on a couch/chair he'll jump up and crawl onto my lap (okay, great) but then he'll look up and just start barking at me more. If I go to pet him, he'll gnaw at my hands. Does he want to be pet or near me or what?

I figure let's not reinforce the barking behaviour, so stop petting/paying attention to him altogether. He does not like this and will continue barking up a storm.

What does he want? If I throw a toy, he'll sometimes go and grab it, walk it somewhere else, drop it, and then immediately come back and bark/gnaw at me. A lot of times he just ignores the toy altogether. The biting isn't hard by any means, it's just slightly annoying, but the only way I can get him to stop barking is if I pet him/fight around him trying to bite me. Otherwise, he will bark into infinity (or like, at least the first half hour, he may stop temporarily until somebody makes any movement again). If he does chill out, he is a big snuggler/likes being pet indiscriminately, but you must not move for an extended period of time to have this happen (heaven forbid I get up to get a glass of water lol).

My friend will usually just ignore/yell at him to stop barking (he does not listen lol). Is this just a corgi thing that he is a little demon who just wants to bark in my face? Does he just want to try and bait me into petting him because he enjoys the taste of my flesh?

Obviously I don't want to make him uncomfortable, but I'm always looking at him like WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?