Category: Top Dog

Hello everyone!

I'm desperate for some help with my dog, who has recently become very fearful and apprehensive on solo walks with just the two of us.

TL;DR: my 2 year old chi mix has recently become quite fearful on walks, even though we used to walk miles together daily without issue. We've ruled out pain, and she walks happily with other dogs and people in the group, but solo walks are hit or miss. Any suggestions for getting back to normal?

The details –>

About my dog:

• ~2.5 years old
• Chi mix
• Owned since 10 weeks
• No fear/anxiety on walks previously, she has always enjoyed daily walks and likes a lot of activity in her day

About the behavioral situation:

• Started about 2 months ago
• A few things happened all at once:
  • One scary trip to the beach where there was a lot of activity and she got overwhelmed
  • I sustained a back injury and wasn't able to walk her for a few weeks
• After these instances, when we tried to get back to our 'normal' walking routine, everything we encounter sends her into an anxiety attack

The behavior:

She wants to go for a walk, we leave the house, make it a few blocks, and then inevitably, we'll encounter some noise, person, etc. that will trigger her. She then wants to rush back home and has a difficult time coming back down from that anxiety.

What I've been trying:

• Short, slow, sniffy walks around the house with lots of treats, ending on a high note
• Walking with other people and dogs both in my neighborhood and away from home (again, she's basically fine/normal when other dogs and people are present)
• Resolving pain – she has luxating patellas, I've been advised against surgery, but we are doing a course of NSAIDs to rule out the impact of the discomfort
• Chatting with a trainer – she recommended ruling out pain, but didn't have any other additional suggestions

I don't want to go the route of permanent meds at this stage, as she's not generally an anxious dog.

Any help or advice you all can provide would be so appreciated! I feel so bad for my little dog, I hate that she's going through this and would do anything to help her, but I just can't quite figure it out.

He's not jumping or doing anything dangerous or anything. He just stares, really, so it's easy to ignore, I just find it extremely odd that he keeps asking for food that he spits out if you actually offer it to him. And then he asks for more? Even if he spat it out?

Any possible reasons my dog does this?

We adopted her in November, she's a 6-year old chihuahua mix. I knew she was fearful when we adopted her and that's fine but her foster didn't disclose the peeing and now I feel like I'm stuck. Every time she gets slightly afraid, she pees. If we continue with what we were doing to trigger her she cowers and flattens and eventually rolls over to expose her belly. She pees if we pick her up (or even reach to pick her up), call her name, tell her she's a good girl, pet her too much, or use "baby voice" at her like you would a regular dog. Recently she's started peeing when she's happy, too, like when we come home after being away.

She was previously adopted as a stray at 8 weeks old, and then her new home had to give her up when they were moving out of state after 6 years of caring for her. I have no idea if there was trauma or abuse in either situation.

We've taken her to the vet. It is not a medical issue. She's been put on Zoloft and so far (after about a month) it's not doing anything to reduce her anxiety. She is also fully housebroken, as in, she is physically able to hold it and knows to potty outside when she's let out.

Aside from this she's a wonderful dog and so loving. We've been waiting for months for her to be more comfortable with us and she is, for the most part, but is not improving on this. She approaches us to be petted, runs to greet us when we get home, loves sleeping next to or on us on the couch and overnight, and gets jealous when our other dog is being petted. I just don't know that I can take 10 years of this and I have no idea of how to train her out of this if it's even possible.

So I get incredibly annoyed by pulling. I walk a lot of different dogs and have tried lots of methods and none have worked.

Be a tree: if the dog is a heavy puller, it just keeps pulling even when you are standing still. You end up waiting an eternity for the dog to give you slack. You can take a step back to create slack, but the dog usually just gets right back to pulling every time you move. So you end up stopping every 2 feet for the entire walk which sucks for both you and the dog.

Giving treats for being near you: the dog may pull less and try to be near you more, but if it sees a squirrel, smells something interesting, or just has a lot of energy it’s still gonna pull.

Turn around method: this usually results in the dog just getting slingshotted back and forth. You turn, they pull that direction, you turn back, and they pull the other way immediately. In the process you get the dog even more amped up which results in more pulling.

Gear (front clip, gentle leader etc.): makes pulling less annoying but doesn’t actually teach them not to pull.

I’ve tried these all many times, and they basically never work. I’m really curious to see if anyone knows of any methods to stop pulling that are humane and don’t take months or years to take effect.

I need some help. I've had my cat for a while, and due to some circumstances with my crazy uncle, now have his sweetheart of a pitbull. Its the first day of having her

She already snapped at one, smaller dog at my normal uncles house before she got here, but I wasnt there so I dont know how exactly it happened, only that she's (little dog) timid and I think they said that could've done something for her?

Knowing this, I put my cat in a kennel we've had for dog situations before so she could come in and not immediately go hunt, then I introduced them at the kennel, then let my cat out. He's not very fond of the dog, as he's used to dogs shoving their faces into his, but I noticed that she was staring at him over intently, and unless I kept calling her name, she wouldn't stop. Wouldn't drool, but I still figured its predator behavior, which

And then I call my cat closer to pet him while I'm holding her leash and harness where she is. This is the closest the two have gotten, being just about face-to-face, and turns out I was right and she saw him as prey. He ran, no injuries or even contact, but she went crazy after him so I immediately kept her from her bone and put her in the same kennel (I dont really like using kennels, I actually hope we can keep them both out of the kennel entirely, but its the only way to reprimand her that I know, that isn't hitting which, hell no I'm not gonna do)

I'm wondering a few things, but mainly: is this even feasible? She's spent a lot of time with quite frankly, a bipolar drug addict, though she's sweet as all hell to humans, but with her being grown enough to be a mother by now I'm afraid of it being too late, and that she may always just see cats as food

There was one interaction that she paid no mind to him, when my mom got home and she was getting excited to meet whoever just came into the house. My cat was outside my room door, blocking the path, and when she got close, he went to scratch her cheek and kinda did? But she was focused on the noises downstairs so she hardly even registered him being there. They were as close to eachother as when she snapped at him later

We are looking at a rescue dog to add to our family. We already have a 4 yr old spaniel, the new dog is a similar age…. But currently has the exact same name.

I know that people often rename dogs, but I would imagine this much harder when the renamed one keeps hearing their old name. Has anyone been through this, and what advice do you have?