Category: Top Dog

Hi!! Recently foster failed a 7 month old dachshund/terrier/poodle mix, my first dog of my own! My last dog was my childhood yellow lab, big girl and very smart! My new puppy isn’t food motivated no matter what high value treats or rewards I try to use. Shes also very independent, which is one of the reasons I fell in love with her because I don’t like a clingy dog. But because of that, she’s easily distracted and it’s difficult to maintain her attention even during short training sessions. She has mastered sit, down, and shake, and knows stay pretty well but when distractions are present she couldn’t care less what I’m asking of her.

I live on a couple acres in the country and I really want to be able to not worry about her being off leash walking in the yard. Looking for any help or tips in this area. Do I just need to teach recall/how best to do that with a small dog? Or how do I teach her to stay in the yard or within a certain distance from me when off leash? We are signing up for puppy training classes next month to work on following commands when distractions (the other puppies) are present, but I think the class itself will just work on basic commands and leash walking which she already knows, not focus on my particular training goals.

Another point, she is 11lbs and just came up from Georgia a month ago. So she SHIVERS when we out in the Wisconsin cold. Which isn’t ideal for any kind of training or desensitization that I would like to be doing at this age.

I got my husband a dog for Christmas (but we got him in September), a corgi mix from the pound. We had been planning on adding another dog (he is our third) for about a year so, it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. Anywho, he is sweet, was potty trained on day one, picked up sit, lay down, and come very quickly, he's a pretty good dog. He does have a bit of chewing problem, but so did my girl when I first got her, and it was just about finding a toy she liked, so I think once we find a toy he enjoys, we can easily train that out. Our biggest issue is the peeing. Every time we say no or just look at him funny he pees. We don't ever hit him our do anything like, we take a very gentle approach with him, but even just a "no licking faces buddy, get off the toddler" and he's peeing everywhere. Just now I told him, "get away from the litter box, eating poop is gross" and he jumped up on the couch and SOAKED it. Im kind of at the end of my rope, no matter how sweetly we repremand and try to redirect him, it's just urine, everywhere. I can't handle that, I'm 6 months pregnant, and I have started nesting. I don't want pee everywhere. Help please

We have 2 dogs, both female (fixed) from Romania. The eldest is 5 years old, the youngest 3 years old. The eldest is quite scared of loud noises and big trucks and stuff, so also fireworks. She is also quite dominant, so she has issues with a lot of male or dominant dogs. She has attacked a dog before because they charged her, but she didn’t bite through the skin. She mostly pressed the dog down and kind of held it on the ground.

The youngest is not really scared, a bit of people, but mostly she’s fine. She is very submissive so there never have been any problems between our dogs. Sometimes a bit of a quarrel but never really a fight.

The past few weeks our elder dog has been attacking our younger dog, we have witnessed this a couple of times now and we are sure our youngest is not instigating anything or attacking the elder one. We have no clue why it happens. They are both healthy. She has peed inside a couple of times. We thought it was because of stress caused by fireworks, but she has actually been doing quite well with the fireworks and it has been a couple of days since new years. She also has had enough playtime and sniff time to decompress.

She doesn’t actually wound the youngest but the youngest is very shaken up and scared after it happens. After a few hours the make up and start kissing on the couch again. They also love to snuggle up together. They are best friends most of the time. If anyone has suggestions on what it could be or how to stop this from happening, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Hello! We adopted our dog in late 2024, and have had quite the journey with her. We went to a balanced dog trainer, which we quit because I was uncomfortable with the results, and did some one-on-one consultation work with a force free behaviorist, which we have felt better about.

Our dog can be polite on leash, ie not pulling on a 10 ft lead, and responds to trigger management outside the house (ie we are reaaaallly good at doing U turns and crossing the street) but I was hoping for some outside insight.

When someone opens their door, or appears from behind a corner, or opens their garage, our dog is immediately alert, and if the trigger is too close, she will immediately bark and lunge. Ie a neighbor coming outside 30 ft away is too much, but she can remain within threshold watching someone in their active garage 50 ft away.

We're also working on her reactivity to people outside, if she hears the neighbors door, sees someone walking past, a car stops in front of the house/in the street, etc. she will bark at them, sometimes a low warning bark but other times full explosive barks where she expresses her anal glands. We've gotten to a point where she can see/hear something, let out a small bark, and run to her crate and wait for a reward. Better than washing the couch every week, but I want her to not be scared of doors, garages, people etc. She should feel secure in our house, and that a door opening/closing is not a threat. To build confidence we've been engaging in ACE free work, and encouraging freedom in our home, and consistentcy with our rewards and actions. We have done target/box training and a lot of 123 counting > reward.

Sorry for the long ramble, it comes down to: 1) should I invest in better trigger management inside the home to reduce exposure to triggering noises/sounds? We already block the window, have a purifier going (and occasionally white noise) and give her daily anxiety meds, a new addition after consulting our vet. Should I better soundproof the house so she can fully relax?

2) Am I understanding my dog's behavior correctly? I am ascirbing her being startled/scared when she hears the neighbors door close, but is her barking and lunging at the same triggers when there's no physical barrier the same thing? Is this her being hyper vigilant?

She got startled and bit our dogsitters hand when we were away this past November, it didn't break skin but it was enough for us to cancel our January plans out of fear of that happening again. I want to ultimately feel confident in her reaction to scary things, and that she won't bum-rush people she thinks are issues.

Thank you so much!

Why are dog trainers so expensive?!? There a few people I really admire on instagram that do great work with dogs and seam to have awesome methods, but gosh they’re so pricey!! I know it pays out in the long run, but how can anyone afford them! I can’t afford $1000 every couple weeks 🥲 but then, finding all the training methods on your own just seams impossible. There is endless information!! Which is going to work? Which won’t? What methods are worth putting months into, and which are just going to get you at a dead end!? Idk I just feel so lost as someone who’s trying to train their dog on their own. And also not to mention if you buy a course, that might also not work even when they claim it “works for every dog” 🥲🥲🥲

For context on that $1000 every couple weeks. It was based of a trainer who wanted that every second week for like 6 weeks. it was an online program, money back if it didn’t work out. But still, just feels like a lot of money to fork out, even if you do get guaranteed results or money back. All the information is free out there somewhere, so I’m really just paying for someone to piece it together and lay it out for me.