Blog

Hello – I am an animal shelter volunteer and I am searching for a specific leash. There are a few dogs who prefer this leash to the standard climbing rope slip leashes. We have only a few left and are looking to get more.

It is a leather slip leash on one end and has a loop handle on the other with a clip. On the slip leash side, there is an O-ring that allows it to loosen and tighten easily and a D-ring that allows the clip to be attached so that the slip can be loosened. I am attaching photos with the post.

Several of us have done online searches and found similar styles but it is typically missing the clip and D-ring. Would greatly appreciate your help in pointing me in the right direction so that we can acquire more to use with the dogs. Thank you!

PIC: https://imgur.com/a/q7U3H3B

Hi everyone,

I’m taking care of a farm dog who absolutely refuses to walk on a leash. He either panics and bucks around or lies down and won’t move at all, he’ll literally fall asleep in place before he moves anywhere.

For some background, I work on a farm off a backroad where people often dump unwanted dogs/cats, or sometimes hunting dogs get lost. Since our place is the only farm for miles, they usually end up here.

This particular dog showed up less than a year ago. As far as I can tell, he’s never worn a collar or been on a leash before. He’s very wary of new people and spooks easily. He’s extremely attached to our farm manager, follows her everywhere and chases her truck all day. He doesn’t trust most people and usually refuses high-value treats unless he’s feeling comfortable (if the other dog is around) and even then, only if you’re not looking in his direction.

Over the past month, I’ve been feeding and playing with him more to build trust. He’ll now take treats from me, most of the time without hesitation (though sometimes he’s still cautious). There’s another older farm dog who’s very firendly, and when that dog is around, the shy one relaxes and interacts with me more, I think there’s some level of “jealousy” when the older one gets pet and loved on.

I’ve been trying to get him used to handling because I have a vet appointment scheduled this weekend to get him neutered. I’d really like for him to be able to walk on a leash by then, it would make transport and recovery a lot easier for me.

Last week, the farm manager and I tried putting a collar on him, but he freaked out and avoided me the rest of the day. Yesterday, he was back to normal, so I tried again with a slip lead. He spooked again, but I eventually managed to get it on. He bucked and struggled for a while, but I got him into my car and brought him home. I gave him a bath (he was full of fleas and smelled bad), then fed him and let him rest. He ended up sleeping through the night on my bed I don’t think he likes being next to me, but he definitely likes the soft bed.

I don’t plan on keeping him long-term, he seems happiest running around the farm, chasing pigs, and following the manager’s truck. I just want to make sure I’m not doing too much or stressing him out unnecessarily. Should I stop trying to leash-train him before the appointment and just keep him kenneled at the vet and after surgery while he recovers?

I have been taking him with me to and from work each day, he’s very excited to get down from the car, but shuts down as soon as he realizes im not going to let him run loose. I keep him in my office, but as soon as we arrive in the parking lot, he freezes and lies down when I try to walk him from the car to the building.

It’s easier for me to take him everywhere I go since I leave early, get home late, and sometimes go to class or study at my local university afterward (dogs are allowed). However, if it is better for him to be left kenneled at home during the day away from the farm I would be open to that.

Any advice or training tips would be really appreciated, especially from anyone who’s worked with nervous or semi-feral farm dogs. Sorry for the long post, TIA!

Hello! I’m looking for some advice or perspective on how to keep progressing with my two dogs’ integration.

I have a 4-year-old pit mix (Aria) whose personality has always been calm, cuddly, and low-energy. She’s not had much dog interaction in her life, she tends to get overwhelmed by overly energetic dogs.

About a month and a half ago, we adopted a 9-month-old Cocker Spaniel (Penny) from a shelter. When we first brought her home, she was anxious, shut down, and slept a lot. Early on, she couldn’t even see Aria without barking, lunging, or stiffening up.

We took things slowly: • Started with visual exposure only. • Moved to short parallel walks. • Then controlled yard sessions on leash. • Eventually off-leash yard time, which now goes well. • Added calm garage sessions until both could coexist off-leash there.

Recently, we’ve started bringing them inside together, and that’s where things get trickier. There have been about four fights total since adoption, always short and loud (lots of snapping and growling) but no one’s ever been hurt or latched on. Each incident seems triggered by different stressors:

1. The first two happened early on when Penny was still overwhelmed by her new environment and Aria’s proximity. 2. The last two have been the opposite, Aria starting them. One involved Penny entering the kitchen (a space Aria seems to guard), and the other involved a high-value toy that had been left out. 

We’ve removed the toy trigger and are managing the kitchen carefully, but I’m unsure how to train through this phase versus just managing it.

Both dogs can now: • Spend time together in the yard off-leash with no issues. • Walk side-by-side calmly. • Coexist in the same room for long stretches on leash.

But the household tension, especially around the kitchen, makes me nervous that Aria might be resource guarding space, or that Penny’s nervous energy is keeping her on edge.

Has anyone dealt with something similar where the established dog starts guarding spaces or reactivity resurfaces after initial progress? How do I safely work through this next phase inside the house?

Any advice or perspective from multi-dog households, trainers, or behaviorists would be hugely appreciated. I feel like we’ve come so far, but the home environment still feels fragile.

Hello everyone, I'm looking for help understanding my roommate's dog's behavior so we can treat it better.

Dog is 5yo hound mutt. He hyperfocuses and chases my cat. He's made great progress with using the "look at me" command and high-value treats, but I've noticed his "lock in" and chase only happens when my roommate, his owner, is home.

I get home from work first, and will put the dog on a leash and take him into my/the cat's room. He doesnt care about the cat, he just wants pets. I sit on the floor and give both animals treats, the dog with the look at me command, but I hardly need to. They've sniffed noses and hung out with zero issues.

When my roommate is home, the dog is on alert. He watches the stairs for the cat to come down. He'll chase, though he's getting better every day with stopping or holding himself back since we started training every day. We train by having me hold the leash and practice the look at me command with treats while my roommate goes into my room to pet and love on the cat (with breaks to give the dog love and treats too).

We noticed this extends to other dogs as well. My parents dog sit him, and when my roommate is there, the dog will lock in and stare at a smaller dog, occationally going up to it to bark at its face. When my roommate leaves? His dog barely even looks at the other one. Not a care.

So whats going on? We think its protection, but how to we address it? Does anyone have resources we can read, or what we may need to look for in a trainer?

I was expecting my 3 month old poodle to start acting out/testing boundaries at puberty so I'm surprised to see he's doing so already, I believe.

My mother picks him up off the sofa when he tries to climb on, he's now big enough to jump onto it. When she does, he always bites her once. Same when I did it – he'd bite me once once I'd picked him up.

When I hold him back and make him calm down before greeting a guest, he start biting me.

I've seen teething behaviours on him before and this dosent seem like that because he's just biting once or twice and applying force not a nibble. It seems deliberate, like he is testing boundaries.

In the case of guest greeting, his biting me when I hold him back and ask him to sit and calm down is quite hard. Not enough to bleed but it's not playful and seems quite deliberate.

He hasn't displayed these behaviours in the past – of course teething and biting gently but not deliberate bites if he's annoyed.

Also, he has developed selective hearing. He definetly knows his name, as he pays complete attention to me while I have his food, but on walks, he ignores me calling for him even though I have a treat. He also ignores me if im calling for him while he's playing or something, or if he's hyper trying to greet someone.

Is testing boundaries this early normal? He's been with us for a month now and has gotten quite comfortable so maybe it's a normal phase? I'm quite worried about the new biting behaviour though. It does get better after walking him but he still does it when he's annoyed at me.

We adopted a chihuahua mix puppy at 3 months old and for the first few months we made sure to socialize her a lot and invite people over so she could get used to guests. However in the past month or two she’s become extremely scared of almost anyone new entering the house, near inconsolable for about 20-30 minutes. She barks and hides behind us but never bites or snaps.

We designated a “place” for her to lie down and chew on a bone when guests come over and it’s works alright. I’m just at a loss as to why she backslid so much when she was initially doing fine with guests.

She is otherwise really sweet (though a little nervous) meeting people on walks and at other peoples’ houses. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

Hi , as the title says i’ve been thinking about getting a puppy for around a year now but i'm not sure if it’s “doable” in my situation. For context I have 4 dogs at home, so i’m used to the puppy stages.I plan on getting my puppy before Christmas break so it can be around my other dogs at home (all vaccinated and regularly checked at the vet), and have an accessible backyard(I will be home for a little over a month) However, after that month I will be taking it back home with me, I live in an apartment with no balcony and no puppy area…meaning I would have to take the puppy up and down to use the restroom. I am free most of the day except for later in the afternoon due to night classes and on Wednesday’s from 8-4. My questions are: 1)Is the transition from an accessible back yard to my apartment going to ruin potty training? 2) Has anyone tried having a grass pad in their apartment? If so has it worked/ does it stink? 3) Are there any recommendations, breeds you suggest for a medium sized apartment, or tips that helped you? I’m willing to pay for training or any other resources that could help this transition. Thanks so much in advance.

Hi y’all, I’m looking for an explanation or advice with this. Recently, when I take my dog out for a walk in the evening (between 5pm – 6pm so I can start with some daylight still out), we don’t get far before she’s pulling back to the house with desperation. It started gradually as we made some distance at first before she’d suddenly pull back around, but today we didn’t even make it out of the driveway before she was pulling back to the door frantically, even biting the leash when I didn’t immediately move.

I’ve tried going different ways as well. Maybe she’s hearing something I’m not. She doesn’t do this during morning or afternoon walks and was excited to go on a walk tonight when I indicated it, so I have no clue where this abnormal behavior came from. I’m not going to force her to walk when she seems so panicked, but I’d love to know if anyone else’s dog has done this or why my dog is doing this in the first place. Thank you in advance!

my Welsh Springer Spaniel puppy (7mo) absolutely loves to steal paper towels/tissues and shred them. i know this is probably a long shot, but can anyone recommend any toys that might satisfy her enjoyment of shredding? thanks!