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I've started taking my friend's dog out for walks every weekday. He hasn't had much training, nor does he go out much aside from going to the bathroom twice a day. Once around noon, another closer to 6-8pm.

Since I love him a lot, I thought I'd try working on training him; at least his pulling. When I was with my ex, his dog was pretty well training to stay by your side. He said that clipping the leash on the front (with a full chest harness, not just a collar) should help keep the dog from pulling so much. While trying it on this walk, he wasn't pulling *as hard*, but he was still pulling.

I also have a little bag of treats I'm trying to train with. When indoors, he responds to his name and can sit, but when outside, even if I bring the treat in front of his face, he can struggle to listen. I want to keep him from pulling so much, and then especially when we cross the street, it is absolutely crucial that he learns to wait at the cross, look at me and wait to go, and stay by my side until we finish crossing.

https://imgur.com/a/c4MSSiF

Edit: This is a copy paste from one of my posts to r/dogs. It hasn't been approved in a few days and I need help.

Since that initial post (3 days ago) I've been doing more research. I was taught about the harness by one of my friends, who it worked well for. The harness also isn't mine, I didn't buy it, it's just what they have on hand and what I've been using.

I've since learned that Gentle Leader harnesses can be helpful. I've also heard some controversy surrounding it though, and want thoughts on it. I also know that training is a two way street, and I want to make sure I'm properly training myself as well.

Here's the current routine:

Put his harness on (gets it on well. I have him sit so I can put it on).

Have him sit and wait at the door, looking at me for permission. He used to bolt straight at the door the second his leash was on, but I've taught him that he needs to wait if he wants out. What usually happens from there is he bolts out the door once I fully open it. I have trouble with that, and how to stop it. What I did to train him to look for permission was as soon as he ran at the door, as it peeked open, I would close it and wait till he sat, following this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yj2xtCo-k&list=PLXMViC9umr57McZZLQ3SwmaNX-7vUsrwh&index=3

From there, once he's out, he starts to tug hard. It's cause he's quite excited to go outside (cause his current caretakers frankly suck and they only go out for 5 minutes to go to the bathroom. I'm trying to see if I can get the dog from them).

The rest of the walk is a lot of tugging. After about halfway through the walk, about a quarter of a mile, he pulls a little less. Still pulls, sometimes hard, but noticeably less.

Indoors, in a low stimulation environment, he reacts well to his name and "sit". Outside however, I just can't get his attention. Another thing I was taught was to pull him right by your side and stand in front of him to block the distraction from sight. Once he ignores it, then reward him.

Nitty gritty question: when you are training potty habits and training to a potty command to try to get them to go on command, do you teach them a word for poo and a word for pee or are they both called potty (or whatever your euphemism of choice happens to be)? My dog seems to have learned the word potty and outside, but I think we are far from going on command at this point and Im wondering if I just made it more complex than necessary?

We have a dog, 1 yr and 1 month old now. In another month or so we’ll have had her for a full year. Potty training early on was ok, we eventually got into a good groove, to the point where we have her on a long lead so she can go to her spot (sometimes with a little direction on where to go). We hit a couple road bumps as the season changed (snow, leaves, no snow, no leaves).

However the past few weeks have been extremely frustrating. She has been very difficult to get her to pee and poop when we take her out. She didn’t pee for 12 hours during the day despite being taken out multiple times. She’s been waking up my girlfriend (she’s a light sleeper) every night to pee/poop since the we cant get her to consistently use the bathroom before bed.

We’ve switched to a short lead the past couple days which has helped a bit, but still difficult to get her to pee/poop (especially poop). No accidents in doors at all at least as far as we could tell. Driving is kinda crazy at the moment. Any suggestions/tips?

Hi! I’m seeking advice on how to unteach negative allelomimetic behaviors. My family’s two female dogs have previously been friendly with other dogs and people. Another family member’s male dog, whom is reactive towards strangers and other males, visits the house most weekends. He seems to have fear aggression as well as same-sex and territorial aggression. However he adores our family and close friends that are in his “circle of trust”, as well as female dogs and even most small male dogs. He gets along well with both of the female dogs in our family. We’ve had the females for a few years now, and the male has always visited on this consistent schedule.

The three dogs all get overly excited when someone comes to the door, enters the yard, or walks past the house. They’d probably all be barkers to an extent if they were alone, but they definitely seem to rile each other up and have a pack mentality when they’re together. Recently, the two female dogs have escalated from just barking at strangers to more aggressive behaviors (growling, snapping, etc.). These actions seemed to be learned behaviors from the reactive male, as this is how he behaves when encountering strangers.

It’s a really upsetting situation. One reactive dog has been a lot to manage for the family, but three is beyond overwhelming and an even bigger liability. It’s disappointing because the female dogs were always very social with even new people and other dogs. It seems to be a new development that they are mirroring the reactive male’s negative behavior, despite the three of them being very close for years. Even when he’s not around, they appear to be reactive in the yard and leash reactive (usually just barking but occasionally growling at unfamiliar dogs) on walks.

The females are still typically well behaved at the groomers and the vet. They love playing with their dog friends, especially the other regulars at their weekly daycare. They’re friendly when people they know come over, although they still bark excessively in a happy greeting. The older female has a very docile and gentle personality, so we are especially shocked by her mimicking the reactive behavior. The younger female is a cattle dog mix so naturally she is a bossy busybody, but we never thought she’d behave in an outright aggressive manner. The reactivity right now seems to be limited to being territorial over their yard/house with strangers and leash reactivity towards dogs on walks.

The male dog has received a lot of training to manage his reactivity, and he is always kept at a distance from his triggers for everyone’s safety. My family is planning on seeking help from a trainer for the female dogs as well. Additionally, we intend to do solo walks for the female dogs and slowly counter condition them to triggering stimuli. What else can we do to discourage the negative behaviors that have been unintentionally modeled by the reactive dog? There seems to be limited resources on how to stop a reactive dog’s anxieties from rubbing off on other previously friendly dogs.

My 2.5 year old maltipoo Scottie has recently started snapping/growling at night when he’s falling asleep or half asleep. He and I lived in Florida the first 2 years of his life and he had no issues with sleeping or snapping. He’s very silly and normally even tempered. We moved to PA in September and now live with my fiancé. The past few months sleep has been a nightmare for him (and us). He started off by randomly growling, barking, screeching, and occasionally snapping in his sleep. Sometimes it would be when he was falling asleep and sometimes in the middle of the night. It seemed to typically happen when my fiancé or I in the bed would move so I thought maybe he was getting startled. But it’s recently escalated and happens when it’s just Scottie and I in the bed and I’m awake so I know I’m not moving.

Last night he was in some sort of a twilight and he snapped. I tried to pet him to comfort him and then he looked at me, sat up, and started to attack and bite my hand. He seemed out of it. About a month ago I started encouraging him to sleep in his own bed on the floor – sometimes I would put him in it in the middle of the night when he’d start growling and then I started just telling him to go in it before we all went to bed and turned off the lights. It seems to help some, but he does still growl/snap/ bark occasionally even when he’s down there. I took him to the vet and they said he is physically fine. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain and he’s completely normal when he’s awake.

Has this happened to anyone else? All I can think of it change of environment but I’m not sure what to do to help.