Category: Top Dog

(BOOK= Control Unleashed Reactive To Relaxed by McDevitt Leslie)i own a GSD,im planning to buy this book, to give me my dog offleash training, is it a good book? , or does it serve a different purpose?

I have a 5-year old GSD I got earlier this year — all of my dogs have been neutered before, but he’s a rescue so he came intact. He was having some health issues so our vet suggested putting off sedation so we could figure out the problem. He’s done really well with training and his confidence has improved a lot, he’s super eager to learn, but he also has some pretty obsessive behaviors (especially with other dogs) where he’s less focused in training or straight up tries to ignore me

He’s still a sensitive guy and I’ve seen some people say their dog’s anxiety ended up worsening or they seemed depressed.

I will be talking to vets about it, just wondering what people’s experiences are with chemical castration, and thoughts are on neutering at 5 years?

My dog (almost 5 y/o golden retriever) has never shown any aggression to animals or people. My husband was on his lunch break at work when he saw a car pull up and dump a cat in the parking lot. If the two get along we are interested in keeping the cat. Don’t fret – I have a vet appointment set up to have the cat checked out and to see if there is a microchip present. My dog has been around cats before. Her first encounter was when she was a puppy going to obedience training an the trainer had a cat there who was very confident and comfortable around dogs. My dog did well with this cat (sniffing, licking, play bowing). When my husband brought this cat home we placed him in one of our bathrooms where he has his food, water, litter box, and a bed. We have allowed the to sniff each other through a closed door and that seems to have gone well. The first day my dog would stand/lay outside the bathroom and seemed very interested about what might be in there. The next day she showed some interest in the door but quickly moved on and did not lay outside the door. We have allowed the cat to come out and explore and to sniff around.

We let them meet face to face for the first time tonight by placing our dog in her crate (that she is very fond of and comfortable in) and allowed the cat to free roam in the room where the crate is. The cat, from what I can tell, did well (no fluffy tail, no hissing/growling, purring, flopping over and rubbing on the floor and us). The cat did approach the crate a couple times to sniff but other than that seemed disinterested in our dog. My dog was sitting in her crate and appeared relaxed at the beginning (relaxed ears, no panting) but she was staring at the cat. She would occasionally paw at the crate door. We did this for about 5 minutes when our dog started to pant lightly and was frequently licking her lips. I will say if the cat moved quickly, our dog when also make a quick motion toward the crate door.

What are your opinions? Is this behavior from our dog normal? Is it prey-drive? Again, she has never once shown any form of aggression towards anyone or anything.. but I know that doesn’t necessarily mean they will get along.

I have recently started seeing someone new after many years. Due to this, there are some nights that I come home late or early the next morning. I live with family, so there is always someone at home with the dogs.

That being said, I would like to start training them to sleep in their crates while I’m away. I’m just not sure how to go about it. Currently, they sleep in dog beds in my room with me at night. When I’m away at night, my mom will hang out with them in the living room until I get home. I feel bad about this because she should be able to get proper sleep even if I’m not home.

One of my dogs (10 lbs), would likely be okay because she sleeps in her crates when I am out of town and there are usually no issues. My other dog is much bigger (120 lbs) and usually goes to a boarding facility when I am away, so he’s not used to sleeping in his crate at night while at home.

I know that if I were to try and crate them before I leave or if someone else crated them when they were going to bed, at least the larger dog would whine/bark, keeping everyone awake.

They are crated during the day when no one is home or if they cannot be properly supervised with not much issue, but the larger dog has not been crated at night since he was 5 or 6 months old.

What would be the best way to navigate training for the nights I’m not home? Should I get my mom to crate them when I’m gone and hang out in the living room until they get used to it? The crates are in the kitchen/living room area. Should I start sleeping in the living room every once in a while with them in their crates?

(Trigger warning, sexual content)

We have had our 3yo berniedoodle for about 7 months. He is not neutered. He sleeps in my 10yo son’s bed. Recently he has been mounting my son incessantly, especially in the evening and at night. He often gets an erection while doing this. It is very difficult to redirect him. He also obsessively sniffs my son’s crotch during this behavior.

Twice, I am mortified to say that he has actually ejaculated near my son (once in my son’s bed, the other time on the sofa). Both times it was because my son was very focused on a book or video game and doesn’t really notice the mounting, and then before he realized it, something was wet and he said the dog “kinda peed but it isn’t pee” (because he doesn’t know any better). We have tried tiring the dog out with long walks and outdoor play, but nothing is helping.

We are at our wit’s end, please help!

Over the summer, My mom decided to get a puppy as a gift to dad after our old boy passed away. At first it was okay, we figured he was just a puppy, and it will be easy enough to train it out of him. Right???

Not at all.

I'm not being dramatic when I say this dog is TERRIBLE. I know he's just a dog, that he doesn't mean to hurt me, but man are we all losing our patience. For reference, he is a Coon hound, I'd say maybe about 50 pounds. We have a big yard for him to run in, but the issue with that is 1) I dont want him to kill our chickens, and 2) if he starts running, he's probably going to never come back.

This dog will absolutely MAUL me, and I don't really know why me and not the other humans in the house. I never hurt him, and im scared to really yell at him or have him get scared of me. I've bled from scratches and bites from him, and he has attacked other people in our home that come to visit. He does really well in public though, for some reason.

We have this older dog that is deaf and almost blind, he's also really submissive and refuses to fight back. Our hound will jump onto him from the back and start biting and attacking aggressively when the poor thing has done nothing wrong. Our cats' behavior has also dramatically changed since he came around. It's the older dog I'm really worried about- he's already been hurt by him, and its nearly impossible to avoid conflict.

I think my dad is just about ready to get rid of him for everyone's safety. I mean this dog has knocked over my almost 80 year old grandma, for fucks sake! I've talked to my parents about getting a dog trainer, but we're broke enough as it is, and they seem to think my mom being an ex vet assistant is training enough. Is the only option to take him to a shelter? My only thing is that I would feel horrible, especially if he ends up getting put down for aggression. I don't know, please help. I'm pretty desperate for this to end.

Hello all! I recently adopted what they think is a 1 year old labradoodle (60 lbs) about 48 hours ago. I wanted a dog for a while, and my boyfriend was hesitant but agreed. Backstory on my girl: in September she was found tied to a pole with no food and water, super skinny. A rescue took her in and adopted her out after she got to a healthy weight. Not exactly clear on why they returned her Dec 22 but they because of family health problems. We are now January and I adopted her after being back at the rescue for about 12 days. Before adopting her out they trained her and crate trained her but who knows what the previous family actually kept up with. When I met her she was super chill and perfect for my situation. I’m a dental student my boyfriend is a pilot so we wanted a dog that could be active when we want and chill when we’re home. After mental and physical exercise of course. So… first day she was great, calm, I could tell she didn’t really listen to “come” “uh uh” anything like that but knew “sit” “down” and will easily go and lay down in her crate if you throw her food in there or a treat. She has SEPARATION ANXIETY. She follows us everywhere, not a problem. She doesn’t want to be alone when we’re here, not a problem. But today I had to go back to school and we tried kenneling her for about an hour and she BARKED and would not settle. We practiced positive reinforcement, she goes in there no problem and eats her breakfast and lunch in there with the door open. I think she isn’t afraid of the crate, she’s afraid of us leaving her. I even put a blanket over, an indestructible toy, and calming puppy music on for her. I also noticed she is lunging towards dogs on walks because she wants to play. I know she’s friendly with dogs and wants to say hi but I don’t know how to correct any of this behavior and I am feeling SEVERELY overwhelmed and just need some reassurance that things will get better. She also is as tall as the counter tops and tries to eat the food off the hot stove even when I block her and try to get her to lay down. I haven’t slept in 2 days because she wants to sleep in the bed but she kicks in her sleep and takes up the whole bed. If i crate her she will bark all night, if I leave her out she jumps in the bed after I put her back into her bed and she keeps me up all night. I feel like my boyfriend is going to resent me. I have no problem training her but I want her to be okay with being alone sometimes when I’m at school for 6-8 hours. I can come home mid day but was hoping to not have to do this every day when my boyfriend is flying. She settles amazing in the evening when we’re not moving around but I just don’t know what to do. Did I make the wrong decision? I’m very overwhelmed. Please don’t make me feel bad about this, I’m already dealing with the anxiety of school plus worrying about her.

Hello! Does anyone have any suggestions on what games or new tricks I can teach my hyper dog? I'm usually pretty on point with her daily routine of play time, training, teaching her to settle ect. however right now im very burnt out and sick with absolutely 0 energy or motivation to do my usual routine. I've prepared lots of mental stimulation for her however I need a game or trick involving movement that I can use just as something physical for her to do, i usually do a lot of tugging and such but i quite literally don't have the strength or energy to do that right now! I would just play with her in the garden however she's reactive and sometimes she's to overwhelmed to play outside (I am working on her reactivity she's doing amazing 🫶). Any tips on what games i can play with her?

For people who opt to get hunting dogs, do they pretty much require a fenced yard if you want to let them out unleashed and mostly unattended? Do they have prey drive tunnel vision compulsion too severely to typically ever just chill out and relax and hang close by?

Does this go for most hunting breeds, or primarily only dogs that you actually use and train to hunt actively (obviously most americans who have hound breeds or gun breeds aren't actively teaching their dogs hunting skills and going hunting in the 21st century. Curious if it hinges on that)

I am thinking a chain link fence since they're cheaper than wood and vinyl, tall, last a long time, can bury some of the metal mesh so the dogs cant dig/burrow under

Thanks