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Hi all, first time posting. My dog is a female 4 year old black lab border collie mix. We’ve got a big yard with lots of plants and bushes. She gets two 20 minute walks and a thirty minute walk every day and my partner spends time playing and outside in our yard with her. Sometimes when we play things like fetch or tug of war in our yard, she seems to get excited and rip all of the branches twigs and sticks off of any plant near her. She tends to bite them off at the trunk, then proceeds to break them into tiny pieces. She’ll do this in the woods and will do it if I toss her a stick as well. I’m not sure I can really identify why she is doing it. Is it anxiety? Is she overstimulated? I wouldn’t mind if my partner didn’t like the plants so much. I try to keep her away from the plants but if she gets the zoomies there’s not much I can do. I also don’t want her injuring her mouth with anything sharp on a branch

So my 2 year old dog's anxious behavior around going outside is becoming so confusing to me. She a nervous dog in general, mostly with loud noises and around men. When I first brought her to my apartment she was totally fine going out for walks, but about 3 days in started struggling a lot to walk out the door.

If she's not ready to go outside there's nothing I can do to make her get up. When she DOES want to go outside, more than half the time I'll open the door, she'll poke her head out, look back and forth a few times and then turn around and decide she doesn't want to go out.

OR she'll ask to go out and as soon as I get her leash she'll immediately go sit on the couch and not want to get up.

I've had her for a little under 3 months now (I am aware of the 333 rule) and I have really been doing a lot to work with her. Sitting with door open and giving treats when she relaxes. Giving treats and lots of praise when she walks out the door and rewarding her after coming back in from going potty. Everything I can think of. She doesn't always take treats outside if she's anxious and being hyper vigilant.

I've figured out she really enjoys car rides and going to the park. She's much more at ease walking around the park than around my apartment complex or dog park there. And anytime I get ready to go to the car she's out the door without any hesitation or issue. Like she's not afraid or anxious at all. Which confuses me. Why is she anxious about going out just a few feet to relieve herself but is completely confident when going to the car?

I'd love any advice on working through this because sometimes it doesn't even seem like anxiety and maybe some other behavior issue or possibly something I'm doing wrong. I'd just take her to the park every single morning except she's starting heartworm treatment in a couple weeks and I'm going to have to limit her activity and already have been a bit.

My family dog Lucky is overweight affecting his health. Im coming to my family home to stay for a couple months and want to improve his weight and train him a bit. (I've figured everything out about his weight and health with the vets). He needs to go on more and longer walks which is difficult with him being reactive. When i was younger i used to take in on walks and where we lived we could walk for 1-2 hours without meeting anyone. Now meeting people is inevitable and i want to train him to not be reactive to get my family to take him out more until i am settled in my own life and can take him with me. Please I've tried everything i could think of from YouTube to google to articles to studies but i cant figure out how to help him. I want to ask on her prior to trying a dog trainer due to personal lack of money at the moment but once i save some up im planning on doing that if Lucky is still reactive. So please any advice and tips would be great. More context below.

Early puppyhood – age of approx 5 . A bit more context. Lucky is 8 years old now (lablador x border collie). He wasnt socialised as a puppy or later on much due to my father (no my situation did not let me prevent much abuse from his side towards the dog but minimized it as much as i could) his way of "teaching" Lucky how to behave was hitting, kicking, screaming, isolation, staying outside. Luckily me and the rest of the family managed to bring this to an end now (as we've grown up) but of course it was horribly wrong.

About Lucky. •He is a smart dog, ive taught him sit, lay down, hop (on a chair stool), paw, stay, search(for objects/people). He taught himself to go between my legs and sit down looking up at me.

•He always likes to follow me around and prefers to lie in tight spots (between 2 armchairs, in the corner, between the couch and table).

•Food or toys dont motivate him when outside at all i tried treats, sprats, tiny cheese pieces. He doesnt even acknowledge food or toys.

•He is chubby and needs to loose weight for health reasons but walks are intimidating with his reactiveness. Once he notices another dog coming closer he'll do one of the following, 1. lie down on the side watching waiting or getting ready to lunge. 2. Start pulling towars them and then once closer barking/growling. 3. Be calm until they reach a certain perimeter around us which set him off to bark/growl. 4. Sometimes hes calm and just walks past with no reaction.

• Off the lead hes alot less reactive (used to not react at all unless the dog came up to him and wouldnt leave after "telling them to leave") we moved recently and he's gotten more reactive off the lead. What he'd do 1. Walk past the dog by my side if hes ignored. 2. Walk by my side and he'd start growling then i grab his harness. 3. (Least likely but still) lunge at the dog barking never touch the dog, come at him stop right before contact run off a bit and then again until i call him loudly or grab him. •He's very protective of my younger siblings (10,14) and me. Hes submissive to men but also highly strung.

Area we can walk. We live in a mostly quiet estate. Theres a walking path (1 hour walk around) area we go mostly. Theres also a dog park which id loop 3-4 times in different ways to get him walking around. The park is usually quieter. The path walk (which i do 80% of the time) i try to walk him at times where theres as little people as possible but its difficult.

Hi, I have a two year old gsd, she’s typically very friendly and playful and has always gotten along with other dogs and is especially gentle with puppies and dogs at her daycare. She can be a bit reactive on walks but other than that she’s amazing.

I recently had the opportunity to take in a shihtzu mix puppy when her owners could no longer care for her. And I figured my gsd would love to have a little friend, not to mention I’ve always wanted a lap dog to join the family.

At first their interactions were seemingly good, I would let them sniff each other and hangout with gsd by my legs and my shihtzu on my lap while they were both calm. sometimes my gsd would get too hyper and I’d bring shihtzu to a different room because I was afraid to have them play together until she’s a bit larger

I’d also let them always interact thru a metal baby gate splitting my living room in half, that way they could always safely see each other.

But for some reason after a month all of the sudden my gsd started showing her teeth when she sees the shihtzu and would bark and lunge at her thru the gate

My shihtzu is also starting to mirror my gsd’s behaviour which is really making things worse as they bounce off each other.

It’s gotten to the point where I can’t even walk by the gate with the shihtzu unless my gsd is in her crate. So now I’ve been alternating their crate time, yard time, and house time to avoid the barking and lunging.

Ideally I would like them to get along so I can take both on walks together.

I’m doing as much research as I can and am gonna find a trainer to work with. But I thought I’d ask here in the meanwhile.

Rehoming is 100% not an option. I’m not here to be shamed or dwell on what I should’ve done before. I’m here to do better and figure out what I can do to fix things. I’m not going to give up on either dogs as they are now a part of my family.

Really any help at all is so appreciated.

Hi all,

I just moved from a house + backyard in OC, California to a 625sq foot apartment in NYC. We brought our blind 15 year old with us and I can’t seem to get her to pee on her fresh patch. She wants absolutely nothing to do with it. We currently have it in our bathroom. I don’t want to be impatient with her but I find myself getting frustrated.

Leaving her behind was not an option. I’m being patient with her but I can’t help but feel defeated. She poops and pees every where but the one spot she’s supposed to. I’m open to any tips!