Category: Top Dog

Hi everyone. I have a 4 month old Catahoula mix who’s been doing really well on leash, and we’re just starting to walk in areas where we regularly encounter other dogs.

Unfortunately, almost all the dogs in my apartment complex are reactive. Many bark from patios, and if we pass them on walks they lunge and bark at us. Most are small dogs and the owners usually just drag them away. I have not let him meet any of them yet because he just got his last vaccines plus I don’t want him to start reacting like they do.

My puppy’s reactions so far:

Sometimes he’ll lunge back (tail wagging, no barking) Most times he’ll sit and watch

When he sits, I reward heavily. My thinking is that I’d much rather reinforce an auto-sit when he’s overstimulated or unsure than have him escalate into barking or lunging. Is this the right approach, or could this accidentally reinforce fear?

There’s also one specific dog I’m more concerned about: a very reactive German Shepherd. Even before I had my puppy, this dog would lunge extremely hard and bark intensely at people walking by. The owners only seem to walk him at night.

Obviously I try to avoid them as much as possible, but occasionally we do run into each other. When that happens, I usually: Create as much distance as I can Have my puppy sit and wait Reward calm behavior Stay until the other dog is mostly out of sight I don’t usually turn around and fully change direction, I mostly just keep a respectful distance.

My questions: Is rewarding the sit in these situations the right move? When encountering the very reactive dog, would it be better to immediately turn and walk the opposite direction instead of stopping? Is there anything else I could be doing to help my puppy feel safer and prevent him from associating all dogs with chaotic reactions?

My biggest goal is to keep him neutral and confident around other dogs, especially since this environment isn’t ideal. Any advice is appreciated!

(disclaimer: I wrote a summary of the situation and what advice I was looking for and had AI reword it. I can provide pics of my puppy if that helps prove this is from a human!!)

Hi here!

Recent puppy owner here! She's a great dog in general, if only a bit stubborn (stops in the middle of the street and refuses to move) but she's been getting better around that too.

I'm dealing with potty training right now, and it's going as it goes, in waves. She knows perfectly when she's done either business, as she comes very happy and jumping to me already.

However, there's an issue with picking her up in the morning. She sleeps next to us, and she's a saint since day 1. When I wake up, she gets all excited, and as soon as I grab her to get her down to the street, she pees a bit. It's not the full bladder, but it's not just a few drops. The same happens if my daughters go and greet her. She gets super excited and drops a bit.

Is there a way to ease this, or will this just vanish with time?

Some immediate family members got a dog this year, now one year old. I visit three or four times a year.

I’m not a dog person and its behaviour is making it difficult for me to enjoy visiting and is causing some simmering tension. The dog jumps up on me to greet me most times I enter a room. It also bites (not aggressively) / licks my hands a lot, including at the dinner table. My family members responsible for the dog are not too bothered by this behaviour and, I think, just see it as part of having a young dog. As a consequence I spend a lot of time turning my back to the dog, with my arms crossed or leaving a room suddenly to wash my hands. Overall it means I’m just constantly a bit stressed and can’t really enjoy being with my family. I also think they are a little irked that I appear to dislike/reject their new family member.

Is there anything I can do as an occasional visitor to get the dog to leave me alone? Ideally I would have a good relationship with the dog, but short of that, I’d just like it to ignore me. Or do I just need to ride this out until it grows up a bit?

My friend has a new rescue dog(W), estimated at just over a year old. She's very timid and submissive. My dog(S), about 3 years, is not a reactive dog and matches the energy of dogs around her or just ignores them. She also very much loves/is connected with my friend and gets excited to see him. She and his dog get along really well. My dog doesn't push W, respecting her space, etc. Basically close to ideal interactions.

At the dog park, we were the only ones. Then another person comes with their two dogs, both a bit taller than S & W but not by much. One of them rushes up to W, not in any aggressive way to be clear. Very much Hey! Friend?? but with W being so timid, she shyed away. The dog followed, and S (who was about 10 feet away) booked it over and growled, nipping at the new dog's shoulders/back of neck. I recalled her, had to twice with a more stern voice before she came back. But when the new dog looked like they'd come close to W, she ran to do the same thing but stopped when I recalled her. This all happened in a span of 5 minutes, maybe. Since we'd already been there for quite a while and wedidn't want to put any of the dogs in stressful situations, we left.

While it's "cute" that my dog is protective of W and seems to consider her a pack member or whatever, I obviously don't want her being so protective of W that other dogs can't play with W.

To be clear, she was only like this with the one dog who approached W and didn't respect W's clear rejection of interest. S didn't care at all about the other dog.

What is the best way to help S be less protective/dog police of W? The only thing I can think of is high value treats and recalling her to me the moment I see any sign she's going into bodyguard mode. Since she's so food motivated, my hope would be to distract her and hopefully get her focused on something else.