Blog

I got a new puppy that will be living in my yard.

I couldn't teach previous dog to poop on specific place and now I don't want to make the same mistake.

Anyone got any advice or experience with training outside dogs?

BTW dog is 2month old labrador and we have really big yard and he just poops wherever he wants, thankfully only on grass.

Hi all,

I need some help. My 4 year-old golden lab is the sweetest boy ever at home and with most other dogs. He greets people very politely, he loves attention and strangers, and with most other dogs, he's polite and doesn't exert himself too much.

The problem is, every so often he'll bark and snarl at other dogs in a very aggressive way. Sometimes he'll start pulling really hard on the leash when he does this, and I have to physically pull him away. Just today, he was off lead in a park, and ran over to another dog that was on a lead and aggressively began chasing it around the owner until I had to physically grab and restrain him.

I don't plan to let him off-lead again any time soon after that. What I want to know though, is does anyone have any idea why this might be happening? I looked up a lot of different causes of dog aggression, and couldn't find anything that really explained why he's so randomly aggressive towards some other dogs. It doesn't seem to be based on size, he's done this to dogs bigger and smaller than him, and it seems totally random, like he'll be fine with 4 random dogs he meets then suddenly act super aggressively towards the 5th.

As far as I can tell he doesn't seem to be trying to attack these dogs, because with the one today all he did was chase, but there was a lot of aggressive barking and snarling that alarmed both me and the other owner. Does anyone have any insight into why he might be behaving like this and what could help get him to stop?

Thanks in advance.

My 8-month-old Pinscher puppy had a bad experience on his first walks because a woman let her dog off-leash corner us and bark. Now he barks at other dogs, and even at people at night.

Well, I recently spoke with his vet, who recommended that for better progress, I should prioritize socialization. We should spend 10 minutes on our walks just sitting and watching people and dogs go by (my neighborhood is full of strays). He also recommended rewarding him with high-value treats when he sees stray dogs and doesn't react. We've been doing this for two days now, and he's improved a lot.

The thing is, until now, I had only used high-value treats for potty training. He knows the "go pee" command, and I take him out every two hours to avoid accidents. He would pee every time at first, and then we would walk for 5-10 minutes. Well, now that he's getting treats for watching dogs, he's simply lost interest in obeying the "Go pee" command. He focuses on looking at anything even slightly distracting and then stares at me, waiting for a treat, whether there are people/dogs around or not. He can hear a leaf fall or a bird sing and still look at me, waiting for a treat. What can I do to prevent this? I already give him several treats for peeing/pooing, and I praise him a lot to make it more exciting. Should I use different high-value treats for each thing? If so, what healthy and tasty treats can I give him? His current treats are very small pieces of sausage.

My partner and I recently adopted two dogs (M & F, ~50lbs each) about four and six weeks ago. We’ve had great success with 1:1 training using standard methods (reversing direction, stop-until-slack, high-value treats). Around the neighborhood, they are becoming "pro" walkers.

The Problem: The "Lead Dog" Syndrome This completely falls apart when we hike together. We are avid hikers, and on single-file trails (95% of them), the dog in the back becomes obsessed with being in front.

• The behavior: Whichever dog is in the back will pull, lunge, and whine the entire time.
• What fails: Standard 1:1 techniques have zero impact here. Treats are ignored. Reversing direction works until we turn back around, then the "race" resumes immediately.
• The "Fake Calm": Today we tried a "stop every step" approach for two hours. The female dog eventually learned to pretend to be calm just to get the "OK," at which point she’d launch like a rocket to try and overtake the lead dog.

It feels like the presence of the other dog creates a competitive drive that overrides their training. Most resources cover one person walking two dogs, but we can't find much on two people walking two dogs in a line.

Right now, our "family" recreation is pretty miserable. Does anyone have tips for breaking this specific "must-be-first" mindset or drills for group hiking dynamics?

Looking for advice and some perspective.

We brought home a 10 week old brown lab puppy two days ago. We also have an adult cat who previously had full run of the house.

They’ve had two controlled meetings so far.

The first time, I was holding the puppy and when he saw her, he gave a low growl. She was just sitting there, not moving.

The second time, he was on leash on the floor. They were on opposite ends of a long hallway that’s gated. He saw her, barked, growled, and tried to run toward her. She then ran away, and we immediately created distance. He has never successfully chased her.

So clearly he’s going to need desensitization and impulse control work around her.

Right now we have strong separation in place. Her safe space is our bedroom, which is gated and completely off limits to him. He’s mostly confined to the living room, and there’s a large hallway separating the two areas, also gated. There are no surprise encounters.

It’s only been two days, but she is clearly scared of him and is barely leaving the bedroom unless he’s fully secured. I honestly feel worse about her stress than anything else.

Plan right now is to keep them fully separated for a while, let her regain confidence, and then do very gradual exposure at a distance where he can see her and stay under threshold.

For those who have integrated a puppy and a cat:

• Is this type of reaction at 10 weeks something that can resolve with proper training?

• How long did it take for your cat to feel safe again?

• Any early mistakes I should avoid?

I’m not trying to force a friendship. I just want calm coexistence and for my cat to feel secure in her own home again.