Category: Top Dog

I have a 5 year old poodle, and he is aggressive to both humans and other dogs. I live in an apartment, and he barks at the door whenever he hears someone outside. He can’t get along with other dogs; he lunges at them and tries to fight them. He doesn’t even get along with me. He bites and growls at me all the time, and he scratches my door constantly. The only time he seems behaved is when food is involved, but even then he will try to steal food from me. How can I change this behaviour?

This greyhound beauty just came off the track. It’s a boy. Right now his name is Viper. We would like to have a good name for him, maybe something softer. Also, maybe something associated with Christmas since he’s coming to his new home on Christmas Eve.What recommendations do you all have?

Hey everyone, ive been thinking about getting a puppy for a while now. So I could have a little companion so I’m not fully alone, but I really didn’t want a really young puppy, i get too worried for really young ones, so I preferably wanted one around 4-6 months old, but I was worried if it would develop separation anxiety, I don’t want to distress it or make my pet sad or upset, it hurts me to hear puppies whine and howl when they’re alone (I experienced this when I was at my bfs house) it makes me sad so I want to avoid it

We rescued a dog around 3 weeks ago, overall he’s a saint. He listens, sometimes less when distracted, but nothing that we can’t fix. Is comfortable staying alone, doesn’t go nuts in the home, is friendly with all dogs, but… he chases all cats he sees, barking and behaving so differently I’m losing hoping that we can train it out of him.

He’s 2 years old, lived 1 year in a crate and 1 year on a farm from which he was kicked out after smothering 7 chickens. He’s a mixed breed, not castrated yet, medium sized and loves to smell everything around, he seriously sticks his nose deep and can spend even 30 seconds smelling 1 spot. Which I guess might be some hunting behaviours?

Is it even possible at all to train the dog not to react to cats at all? Right now he’s going completely out of control only on this aspect

hi all! we are first time dog owners and recently (6 days ago) adopted a korean rescue dog. he was with a foster in korea for a few months prior to being flown here, and that foster described him as exceedingly independent, not craving human touch, and able to be alone in a crate or outside of a crate for several hours at a time.

when we brought him home, we decided to make his “safe space” our bedroom, because it had the least wires on the floor and was the easiest to close off. we put a crate in the the bedroom. when he arrived, i let him sniff around a bit, and he immediately gravitated towards our bed. we don’t mind having him on the bed, so we let him on, but now he is extremely attached to it. he can only be truly calm when he’s there, and the real issue is that he needs us to be on the bed with him in order to calm down. he appears to be very fearful of the crate. we are working from home for the next few weeks, and so are around, but we can’t clean the house or use the kitchen without him freaking out. by “freaking out” i mean he begins to shake and pant very intensely. he doesn’t really have “accidents” or do anything destructive.

we’ve started sort of “pushing through the pain,” which is to say, we’ve been using the other rooms in the house for 5mins-1 hour at a time. because he’s not doing anything destructive, this hasn’t resulted in anything bad happening to the house, but we’re sort of accepting the panting and the shaking as a necessary effect of this approach. are we pushing him too hard? should we continue this approach? any advice would be welcome!

I have an 8 month old dog who I have never once let on the couch. He knew to calmly sit on the floor next to me if he wanted attention, and that even putting his paws on the couch meant he would be getting completely ignored. He’s been perfect at this since he understood the rules months ago.

But my issues began when my roommate let his friend crash at our house. He knew the rules about the dog, but he let him jump up on the couch anyway. And now all my couch training has been ruined. He just jumps onto the couch whenever he wants, and idk how to stop him. I don’t do any negative reinforcement beyond ignoring him when he’s misbehaving. But he likes lying on the couch more than he dislikes me ignoring him.

What can I do to stop this behavior? I wouldn’t personally mind him hanging on the couch, but he’s a big dog and all that jumping up and down will wear on his hips eventually. And that’s what I’m trying to prevent

I have a little bit of an odd issue. How do I train my dog to go the bathroom outside my yard?

She's about 18 months old golden retriever female and I have a really hard time to get her to go to the bathroom outside our yard and it's starting to create some issues.

I was taking her for some good walks during the spring through fall, but I live in a cold climate so we've been trying to find a nice middle ground for walks (I get hives from the cold and she HATES the cold). We were doing about 2 miles a night for 6 months and in all that time she peed once outside the yard and the entire time she looked like she thought she was going to be in trouble. I praised her and gave her treats and made a huge deal out of it because it had been something I was trying to get her to do. I thought it was a break through but it was literally the only time it happened. I even took walks with friends and their dogs specifically so she could see the behavior modeled for her. No luck. I took her on a road trip to a concert when she was about 4 months old, she refused to go potty, held her pee for the first 24 hours and refused to poo until day three. She just won't do it.

We went to my aunts cabin in the woods for thanksgiving and she drank two bowls of water and had some extra treats for the holiday but when I let her out to go potty she would go to the car and tap it in an insistent way like "I want to go home". Eventually we left and when we got home it was literally the first thing she did. We're going back for Christmas and I just need some advice on getting my dog to go potty in the woods. Or right off the deck, I don't care, I just would like her to do it so I can praise her and maybe get her used to the idea of it.

She never goes potty in the house, not since she was tiny. She potty trained in about a week of us getting her and she's so good about going in the yard.

I have a gorgeous 11 week old border collie X poodle.

She's been great, practically potty trained herself, she's eager to listen and learn. She still has her crazy shark attack moments, of course!

I also have an autistic 3 year old, so it's really important she learns good manners around him. He can be easily overstimulated by jumping, nipping and barking.

she will also need to be familiar with how his body language is different from your average humans, and that his behaviours can often be confusing and loud.

His pretty great with animals when his regulated, often better than other toddlers his age. Plus I'm very used to knowing when he isn't regulated and when he shouldn't be trusted to be gentle with others.

The problem is he hasn't been around many animals that are so enthusiastically motivated to play with him. We have chickens and cats, who are extremely tolerant of him, but his able to initiate all of these interactions himself on the most part. When his not in the mood they leave him alone. The puppy on the other hand tries very hard to play with him, and his just not interested in that kind of play.

If she gets too pushy with him and she isn't respecting that his pushing her away, he'll hug her close or try to run away, which obviously isn't great for her training/socialisation. I don't want her to become frightened of children grabbing her. His learning to say 'help' or 'I don't like it', then waiting for me to intervene.

Of course I'm always close by when they interact and any incorrect handling is immediately addressed by me.

At the moment I'm mostly keeping her on a leash when they are in the same spaces, so she can't get any access to him in the first place. He loves running with her, playing tug of war and playing with water/sand together, and I can control the distance between them with the leash so they aren't able to touch.

Does anyone have any good suggestions of helpful commands/behaviours to teach pup to let our toddler initiate any interactions, and to prevent behaviours that trigger his sensory sensitivities when near him? Should I just focus on 'leave it', and avoid touch between them until she's older and has more self control?

I'm also trying to book with local trainers who have experience with assistance dogs to support me in this ☺️

I have had dogs my entire life. My (deceased) older brother was a dog trainer, and I have successfully potty- and leash-trained all of the dogs I’ve had since childhood. I’ve had: Airedale, Schipperke, English Lab, Pomeranian, Beagle, German Shepherd, Chihuahua and a few mixed breeds (Shepherd x Beagle, Poodle x Maltese, etc.) All shapes and sizes.

I am at a loss with Gina.

I have two female puppies: Gina, a 10-month-old mix, and Kaycee, a 5-month-old chihuahua.

1. Gina, my 10-month-old mix (“super mutt” including terrier, Husky, Pom, GSD, Boxer, etc.) is about 18 lbs and super smart with many things. Unfortunately, potty training isn’t one of them. ⁃ She will not go on leash. Ever. Not even during long walks (30-60 min) right after eating. ⁃ Now, it’s winter. She HATES the cold and will not engage/walk outside. ⁃ She also hates the rain. ⁃ She will go outside first thing in the morning IF I take her into our (fully fenced) yard and stay with her while she sniffs and goes both. This takes anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. Easy peasy. Except that is the only time she will potty outside except for random times. I have tried standing out there in the rain, the cold, etc. Nothing, just like leash walking, except for the occasional random triumph. I use verbal cues. They only work in the morning. ⁃ House: She never goes in a random spot. She always goes by the front door/fireplace, and I have always put pads down since I work (mostly from a home office but am on conference calls all day), and I wanted to make sure they didn’t ruin the floor if not with me since she was going there at three months old. She was also supposed to be chihuahua-sized…but nope lol. ⁃ I have two (teen/adult) boys who live with me. Both dogs sleep with them. I intercept Gina first thing in the morning to go potty outside. They walk her all the time and she never “goes” for them, either. ⁃ We have an open floor plan and cannot block off the living room. 

I am having company for Christmas, and there are decorations on either side of the fireplace, with pads in the middle.

I am fed up and just moved the pads to the back door this morning. I brought her there and said “NO pee pee poop” in the front, and said “good girl” by the back and let her sniff. I am soaking the front area with dog enzymatic solution.

What else can I do?? I know this is my fault for allowing this to continue, but every time I tried to move them and take her out 15 times a day, she wouldn’t go outside and still snuck over there at her first moment of freedom to go by the door.

I really don’t know what else to do with our dogs and would love some input on our anxious dog that appears to be starting fights. This is kinda long as it includes a lot of what we’ve tried already and what’s happened but please help if you can.

Basic backstory: We have 3 dogs, 7 year old female spayed German shepherd, 5 year old neutered male German Shepherd, and 4 year old neutered male lab/pit mix.
I have had the two Sheps since they were pups and have put a ton of training into them, they’ve been well socialized and have previously gotten along well with all other dogs/cats kids/people they have met. I’ve had multiple roomates in the past with different breeds of dogs and they regularly come with me to visit family and their dogs and have never had an issue but were properly introduced to each of the dogs. They have heavy obedience and do not resource guard food or toys. The male shep does bark at the window at people walking by and for that reason is always crated when i leave to discourage that behavior. The lab/pit mix my partner has had since he was a puppy but was not heavily socialized. He did grow up with another older pit the first 8 ish months of his life. He then had several spats with my partners roomates dog attacking him (older Pyrenees) he then was an only dog for the last year or so, but occasionally stayed at his friends house with her dog when he went out of town and had some resource guarding issues with her dog. I don’t know the circumstance exactly as I didn’t know any of them then. He is behaviorally good in the house but has a ton of anxiety. When I met him he would anxiously shake and then pee if furniture was moved in the house or he was yelled at or you attempted to look at a scratch on his body. He excitedly peed when people came in. He knew basic commands but never went on walks. He played ball/tug some but mostly ran from the window to the backyard fence barking at dogs that walked by. When I tried to walk him the first time, he was very mildly reactive to other calm dogs on walks(whined and pulled).I worked with him first to be able to go on walks outside and to the park etc so he could be walked on leash. We spent a year slowly introducing my two sheps and the lab/pit. We started with walks for a month or two and they were going well. Then we moved to the backyard at his house or my house. They did well in both settings and the two boys played some. We had backyard sessions for several months and then brought the two sheps inside the lab/pit mixes house. The lab mix was immediately stiff and and visibly anxious. We worked on positive reactions for him with the sheps in the house and had them lay down or in a crate off and on so they didn’t seem overly threatening to him for any reason. We also did one shep at a time off and on. This seemed to be going well until the female shep approached one of his toys and he went after her, no one was hurt mostly just yelling. We recognized the issue and immediately went backwards. We spent a lot of time doing some resource guarding work and creating positive associations. We removed the high value toys completely and altered food situations so he never needed to perform the behavior. During all of this the two males never had an issue as the male shep only plays with certain toys, none of which were interesting to the lab/pit mix. This worked very well and we had multiple more meetings over several months that went very well. We combined houses last year by buying a house together and moving in and things seemed to be going well. My partner travels for work and the first 2-3 months I had all 3 dogs alone at the house. Then my partner got home and we started having issues. The lab pit/mix has always shown anxious behaviors such as hackles up and shaking and prowling around when things were moved around or adjusted slightly. Something as simple as the trashcan moving a few inches seemed to set him off. When my partner got home, the lab mix started getting very stiff and approaching the male shep everytime he seemed to be anxious about something. The male shep lays in random places in the house and the lab mix will not walk around him or through a doorway if he is too close to a door despite the shep never growling/stiffening or reacting in any way to him. All 3 dogs bark at the door, and can do so all together without issue, but if the male shep makes any noises while playing with me or with the female shep, or in general (he’s a vocal dog) the lab mix immediately got anxious and nervous. If my partner or I for any reason “yell” or talk sternly to any of the 3 dogs the lab mix also shows the anxious behavior. This can be something as simple as an “ah ah”. We took the lab mix and both sheps to the vet, checked for any pain or issues and there were none. We spoke to a trainer and the vet and started the lab mix on Prozac as well as working on confidence building and continuing positive associations. We have long stints with no real fights with either dog. Then we have a random bout of anxiety from the lab mix. Sometimes we can figure out what it is, sometimes we can’t. When this happens fights between the male shep and the lab mix occur. Female shep avoids the situation entirely and will go under the bed. Known triggers that we have seen to cause anxiety in the lab mix; my partner going out of town and coming back, any form of verbal correction even simple ah-ah to any of the dogs, the two humans arguing at all, a box near the trash can or moved/new objects in the house, packages being dropped off at the house, the male shep being near a door way at all. However, he often gets very anxious from triggers we cannot seem to find. We try to avoid these as much as possible. I will call the male shep away or stick him in a room for a second when we let the lab mix in and out, avoid moving things etc. The male shep is almost always at work with me or if I’m away for a few hours he is crated, so there is no possibility something has occurred that I haven’t seen between the two of them. They are out together when I can watch them. They have good weeks, the lab mix is still anxious but not fighting with the shep. Then every other month or so the lab mix will have a particularly anxious day or something will happen that’s unavoidable and he will start a fight with the shep mix. We immediately split them up every time but the most recent time the lab mix actually had an injury to his ear and the shep to his tail(no injuries prior to this) we are still doing all the management techniques and the confidence building with the lab mix and he’s on his Prozac, it just seems worse rather than better. The female shep is regularly irritated by the lab mix approaching her and excessively licking her face when he’s anxious or hides when he prowls around hackling and just avoids him. The male shep also avoids him often, but follows me around constantly as sheps do so interacts with him a lot more simply due to this. The lab mix will also put himself in doorways or actively come up to the male shep whenever he makes noise or is coming near a tight space (hallway, doorway, etc) Has anyone dealt with something similar or had an anxious dog with unavoidable triggers that they figured out a way to stop fights like this? We can avoid a lot of them, but some are impossible to avoid and I feel like we’ve already tried the normal things. I’m concerned it’s going to keep escalating and really don’t want to fully crate rotate (we have short term several times) but that was the trainers most recent suggestion and we really don’t want to rehome anyone or crate/rotate forever.