I have a 1-year-old Shih Tzu mix, and I’m honestly struggling to understand how to help him.

He’s been high energy / highly aroused since very young, and it feels less like normal puppy energy and more like he’s constantly “on edge.”

The positives

• Fully crate trained since ~4 months
• Sleeps well overnight (12–8) + consistent naps in crate
• We ignore barking in crate (needs always met), and it works ~95% of the time
• Very playful, social, and loves interacting with people and dogs
• Has been to daycare and seems to do well there (though I’m not present to observe fully)
• Made huge progress with grooming (wasn’t touchable at first – still work to do, but much better)
• Healthy weight / body condition
• Super expressive and honestly a very fun/funny dog

General Behaviour

• Rarely relaxes outside his crate – always sniffing, exploring, biting fabrics/carpets
• Extremely curious but never settles on his own
• Feels like his brain is always “on” (almost ADHD-like)

Resource guarding

• Started around 3 months old
• Mostly with food, chews, and stolen items (tissues, etc.)
• I now always trade (high-value treat like sausage) – never take things directly anymore after getting bitten once around 10 months
• He knows “out,” but:
  • Often vocal/growly during toy play (we’ve assumed it’s just expression?)
  • Takes ~1–5 seconds to release ~90% of the time

New Behaviour:

• Instead of eating chews, he paces, hides, and guards them
• Gets hyper-aware if anyone moves – runs back to the chew
• More manageable when on leash during chew time

Reactivity / Outside Behvaiour

• The second we step outside, his arousal spikes massively
• Lunges + cries at:
  • Dogs (very intense)
  • Cats (extreme)
  • Some people (less intense)
• Inside:
  • Barks at noises, TV, outside sounds – hard to interrupt

Leash walking / scavenging

• Wants to sniff/eat EVERYTHING (food, trash, cigarettes)
• “Leave it” works:
  • ~90% indoors / low arousal
  • ~20% outdoors
• Pulls a lot – I’ve started turning away when he pulls
• Tried a muzzle (flat face makes it hard) – he paws it off

Seperation Issues

• Barks/paces when I leave him (even just leaving the room)
• Has almost never been left alone (family household)
• Only truly calm when contained (crate)

Balcony / scavenging issue

• Uses balcony for potty (no easy outdoor access)
• Instead of going calmly:
  • Chases leaves
  • Eats debris
  • Bites plants
• Any reaction from me seems to make it more exciting

What I’ve tried

• Positive reinforcement consistently
• Trading instead of taking (resource guarding)
• Food-based redirection
• Puzzle feeders / structured feeding
• Basic commands (leave it, out, etc.)

The problem:

It feels like I need to manage and redirect every second of the day, which is exhausting.

Main questions

1. Does this sound like chronic over-arousal / anxiety, or just temperament?
2. Should I be focusing more on teaching calm/relaxation, and how do you actually do that?
3. For resource guarding:
   • Is lifelong management (trading) realistic, or should I be doing more?
4. For reactivity:
   • Is exposure helping him, or making him worse?
5. How would you structure training so I’m not trying to fix everything at once?

I’m fully committed to working on this – I just feel like I’m missing the “big picture” and spinning my wheels.

P.S. Tools were used to help write this/gather my messy notes, you don't want to read those. Feel free to go through my history and see my complaints throughout my journey lol.