My GSD is recently 1 yrs old and is a very reactive dog. He’s never bitten anyone but barks, hair on his back stands up, etc. He’s very protective to the point we’ve had to take him to training. During this training I’ve had to be very hard on him to take over the role he’s taken upon himself to have. Essentially over-dominating him. During our training course we’ve gotten a prong collar and DOES NOT hurt him and I work with him multiple times a day. Although we’ve seen tremendous progress when people approach and try to touch or pet him he doesn’t listen, won’t take treats from them, becomes very stressed, etc. He does this outside the house as well. He’s very scared all the time at everything. I’ve tried to desensitize him but am not sure how to do it without traumatizing him. Our trainer recently has told me to step up and “be the alpha”, She instructed me to step on his leash essentially right by where it connects to the collar to make him lay down when he doesn’t listen since it’s a submissive command and he’s doing it selectively. Today we were working on it in the neighborhood and he ran from me when I went to put my foot on the leash because he wasn’t laying. I have never seriously hurt him and do not wish to. Ever. But seeing him run from me makes me wonder if he’s scared or doesn’t like to be over-dominated? I feel like a mean mom to him because I’m strict compared to his grandparents. But he has to learn right? Especially if I want to take him out to other places with dogs and people. I hate muzzling him when I have to and I hate being ‘mean’ to correct him or make him listen. I guess I’m wondering if this is normal or if I need to try different approaches? He’s testing limits lately and not listening inside the house without the collar. But he is a really good dog overall just taking on the wrong roles. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated!

Some background:
So we have 2 dogs and one of those dogs is an 8-year-old pug we have had since she was a puppy. Our other dog is roughly 3 years old and was potty trained when we brought her home from the shelter. The pug belongs to my brother and he probably got her when he was 10-11 years old. I know they made an effort to potty train her but you can’t expect an 11-year-old to train a dog and even with my parent’s help they work multiple jobs and are just busy. She has had bathroom issues for as long as I can remember but everyone just ignored it until it became such a bad problem that we couldn’t.

She likes to pee on laundry, floors, carpets and most of all beds. She will not go on my brother’s bed or her bed but my dad’s and little sister’s is her favorite. I keep my door shut at all times so she hasn’t gone on mine but if she could I guarantee she would. We set up a little baby gate and gave her an area with toys, her bed, feeding area and a pee pad. She refuses to go on the pad. She is miserable being kept up all day. We can’t put her in the backyard unsupervised because she has found many ways to get out. Despite patching up the fence a million times she still manages to get out. She ran into the road and was hit by a car once when she was probably 2-4. She was small enough it just scraped her back and the vet said she was okay but people drive like maniacs on our road and there are several blind hills. People’s pets and animals get hit constantly.

I won’t lie, it’s been nice having her up. She torments our cats, chases/attacks them. Brother says she is just trying to play but I work with dogs now and that is not playful behavior. She sits in wait for them then chases them and corners them. Our other dog walks up to them and if they hiss she whines and moves on. I have noticed the cats coming out more and generally seeming more happy with her up. They are still a little freaked out by our other dog but I think are learning she won’t go after them because they have started even sleeping on the same bed as her. Our pug bites and it’s become a problem because she bites younger kids seemingly uncalled for. My sister loves to cuddle with her; she’s younger. I’ve seen them. The pug is just cuddled in her lap she isn’t holding her down or being rough just gently petting her and then she just bites. I have tried to tell my parents because a dog who bites can get put down but they just say she was probably being rough. I have never seen my sister rough with her. She has bitten me several times while trimming her nails or bathing her but we know that is something she doesn’t like.

If we put her outside she sits at the door and will not move or escapes. She will pee outside but will not poop. She poops inside every pet-friendly store despite begging outside for a while before. I’ve stopped taking her out because it’s embarrassing to have to go clean it up every single time we go in somewhere.

Long story short she has several behavior issues and we can’t just keep her outside and what we are doing isn’t working. (She has been seen by a vet recently and medically looks fine) Its not a secret that I do not like this dog but my brother loves her and I love my brother. I mentioned that I work with dogs. I don’t potty train them I just care for them but my mom has asked me to train his dog and so I will try.

I’ve got her in a feeding schedule, giving her a limited time to eat and taking her out about 30 minutes after. I don’t know if I should restrict her water too because the last time she went to the vet she was dehydrated. She said that was common in pugs. She currently has access to water all day. I’ve set up a few pee pads around the house with Go Here attractant but I truly have no idea what to do or if it is even possible. As much as I don’t like her I don’t want to see her miserable and she is. She barks non-stop. She always has but she never stops barking now. She just keeps getting more aggressive and if there is anyway for her to be able to be free roamed again that is the goal. I don’t know what to do. Please give any advice and let me know if it is even possible.

Sorry this post is long a lot of this information wasn’t necessary but I had to get it off my chest. I’m not allowed to criticize my brother’s dog or him and his mom will lose their shit.

Hi all. So I have a golden retriever, he's about 3 years old, we don't know his actual age because he was a rescue from a puppy farm so we're just going off an estimation. I want to bring him in walks, I do bring him on walks but bare with me as I explain everything. He's not too bad on leads but his recall isn't the best. He'll come when called but if he's scared or interested in something he completely ignores me, I've tried recall training but he doesn't really care for treats enough to train him with those, also doesn't care much for toys, I've trained him to sit but he only will if there's something in it for him. I've trained dogs things before and it worked for them, my boyfriend also trained dogs before but both our techniques don't work on my dog. I live by a main road and my dog hates cars, he hates them driving by fast so I can't walk him on the hard shoulder like we used to with our previous dogs. He hates being in cars, we have to drive him to the woods to walk him there and everytime he sees us getting into the car and trying to call him over he runs away, so my bf has to carry him to it and he will just wiggle and try get out of his grip, then when he's in the car he'll sit right on the mid console so I can't use my gear stick, I also have misophonia so the constant licking and panting really bothers me and I know that's because he's stressed too, so when we shortened the lead he basically choked himself the whole way and my bf had to keep pushing him back until he eventually sat down, but he doesn't ever get used to sitting down, he always tries to get into the front first so he is constantly choking himself every time. Now for when we get there, this dog is afraid of a lot of weird things, he's around machinery, doesn't mind the tractor or mini digger, but when we were walking a dad and his two sons came by on bikes and the dog freaked out, dragged me across the ground and got out of his harness, because his recall just does not work when he's scared I had to hold him down while the dad and kids walked their bikes past. I don't have a bike myself so I can't even try and show him it's ok, I can't afford one right now. He's not aggressive, he's never attacked anyone and only heard him growl when he was a pup and two other dogs approached him quickly. I want to bring him on walks but he's so stressed in the car, he never sees it as a good thing and he won't eat treats in or near the car so I can't do the method of trying to make it a good thing, he's just depressed in it. I want his recall to be better but no matter how much I try he'll only come over if he actually wants to because he's not interested that much in food unless it's food he knows he's not meant to have. I've tried different harnesses on him and he got out of them all, I've tightened them and he won't walk if it's too tight and immediately tries to get out, and he succeeds. I don't know what to do because at the moment it's just safer for him to stay at home, we have a big garden and he'll run around for a bit, he won't play fetch, he doesn't like bringing things back because he knows I take it, even though I've tried training him with that too. He sometimes plays tug of war so that's something. I just feel bad because I know he's bored and he wants to go and do something, he doesn't spend much time outside anymore because he pretty much knows the house off by now, and he does like going for walks, he's just so scared of things that it's safer to not have him out because I'm terrified he won't come back, when he's scared he just wants to stand back and bark but when I try come over to him he goes away from me. I don't know what to do, I feel horrible and I've tried Google but I can't find a method that will work for him, he's a lovely dog and everyone that meets him loves him, I just don't want him to get hurt or stressed so I don't bring him anywhere.

What can I do?

My partner and I recently adopted a 7mo male puppy. For context, my partner grew up with dogs and I did not. This is his first dog as an adult, but my first dog ever. I love dogs but am not sure if my expectations are unreasonable since I didn’t grow up with them.

The puppy’s foster said he’d been sleeping on her bed, but when we brought him home, I only had to redirect him once or twice before getting him to sleep in his dog bed or his crate. He sleeps comfortably in either and doesn’t really try to jump on the bed anymore. I would eventually like for him to sleep in our living room, since I am a light sleeper and would prefer for our bedroom to be pet free (we also have cat who is not allowed in the bedroom). My boyfriend said this would stress the dog out and is not fair to him. I feel like since he’s young, I would assume we can still train him to feel comfortable sleeping separately but I also don’t want to do anything that would hurt him. Is this a reasonable training goal?

I'm trying Train my boy to stop chasing animals and i feel like there is way too much information to filter through on the internet, so I bought "Chase!" By Clarissa Von Reinhardt and "Hunting together" by Simone Mueller. If you have used these, which did you have the most success with? Or did you combine them or have no progress at all? Really, I'm just looking for some hope during a stressful training experience.

Welcome to the fortnightly loose leash walking virtual workshop!

Join us as we compete with the squirrels, cats, other dogs, fresh urine scents and things that go zoooooooom!

Resources

Articles (All have videos embedded)

• Train Your Dog For Perfect Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco. (With links and descriptions of several great videos, which we'll link to below.)
• Loose Leash Walking Tips by Casey Lomonaco
• Silky Leash by Grisha Stewart (blog post + videos.)

Youtube (Many of these are videos which are embedded in the above articles)

• Silky Leash intro video with an excitable puppy
• Clicker Training Loose Leash Walking by Casey Lomonaco
• Loose Leash Walking II by Casey Lomonaco
• How to Train Your Dog Not to Pull - Loose Leash Walking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Dog Training Tip- Leash Walking: Go Sniff and Marking by Emily "kikopup" Larlham
• Choose to Heel by Loridressage
• Loose Leash Walking by Stacy Hiebert Greer
• Clicker Training a Heel by Amy Norcal
• Shaping Loose Leash Walking With a High Rate of Reinforcement Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by Helix Fairweather and Lynn Martin. (Read the text below the videos too!)
• Loose Leash Walking by Turid Rugaas

See our page on leash reactivity for help managing and training dogs that bark and lunge while on leash.

Hi I am a new owner who got my Anatolian Shepherd mix just a month ago and he is about to turn 2 in December. Overall he has been pretty damn good for most things. The only big problem is sometimes when in a park (any typically when we are leaving the park) and it's just us with no one around he seem to want to play. And in his mind play is him biting the leash playing tug of war and sometimes will spin around with it. There are times where happens so suddenly he rips the leash from me and just runs around with it. And if I call for him he will run at me jump on my and bit my sleeves (never causing any issues). After 10-15 minutes of this he returns back to normal for the rest of the walk clearly needing to burst out energy or something. Which even when he spends 30 minutes with another dog with running he will still do that. Any help from you guys will be grateful.

I've recently spent some time working on my gardens and applied fresh garden soil to the flower bed/veggie garden.

Everytime my dog (2yr old mixed medium breed, also a rescue) is unsupervised outside (never for any longer than 5/10 minutes) she eats mouthfuls of soil. I raise my voice using key words like "trouble", "naughty" and no' then put her straight in 'time out' (the lounge room alone for a few minutes.)

Everytime i catch her she knows it's naughty but she can not help herself. There is no way for me to make the garden soil fully inaccessible to her, I have already put chicken wire around the edges but she still gets to it. She is a rescue so had a rough upbringing being a stray so I know the likely reason why she has these behaviours, however it is a habit we cannot break.

What can I do better to train this behaviour out of her? I know I am probably not going about it the right way so I would love some tips, I really don't want her to get sick.

Thanks!

Our dog (70ish lb Golden Retriever) has gained a nasty habit of tearing through the blankets and sheets on our bed. He’s been through at least six sheets and around 4 blankets. We’ve given his toenails a trim already and they are dull and rounded, but he still manages to dig in just the right way. We think he may be chewing them a bit as well, so we are always afraid he’s going to ingest some of the fabric. We have to leave the bedroom door open during the day because he’s afraid of loud noises and our closet is his safe spot, otherwise we’d just keep him out of there entirely. Also, allowing him on the bed at night when we are also in it is a must.

As a short term solution, can anyone recommend a mattress cover or something we can put on the bed to either prevent him from effectively digging. Or keep him off it completely?

As a long term solution, how do we train him to not dig at or chew the bed? I’ve heard providing him with his own bed to scratch at might work?

We’re experienced pup parents but admittedly stumped on this one. Our 3 month old puppy keeps peeing in her kennel and drinking it. We’ve never ran into this before and don’t know how to stop it. She’s never in her kennel for more than 3 hrs (besides when we’re asleep) and it doesn’t feel like she’s even trying to hold it. She hates the kennel so it almost feels like it’s out of frustration, but we’re doing everything to create a positive association. We’re getting her tested for a UTI tomorrow to rule that out, but if that’s negative what do you advise we do? The pup seems unbothered.

We have a 2 year old pit bull mix that we got in July. We were having trouble getting her potty trained in the house so we decided it would be best to have her crated at night and when we are gone from the house. It’s gotten to the point where if we’re gone for more than an hour or two (for example, when we are gone for church it’s usually around 8-12) she is pretty consistently making a mess in her crate, which has included pooing, peeing, and tearing things up. Her crate is on the larger size but we put a divider up to make it a little smaller and we have also tried giving her a dog melatonin before leaving for an extended period of time and nothing has helped so far. Would love some pointers on how to, at the very least, keep her from soiling her crate.

TL/DR: We need to introduce a new dog to our farm guard dog. Advice needed to integrate slowly.

The long version: Our neighbor got a job out of state, so we've been feeding his dog (R). The job turned permanent, so we asked if we could take his dog. We live on a farm; there's plenty of space.

We also have a Pyrenees (H) who has been chasing off coyotes and other neighbors loose dogs (not R) for 3 years. Prior to that, she played with other dogs until she started resource guarding the dog park.

R has been chained outside since he killed a neighbors chicken (not ours, but you know). He was found in a ditch a couple of years ago. So he's maybe 4? not fixed, not housetrained, some kind of medium shepherd-y mutt. (He'll get neutered first thing)

H is about 5, gotten from a shelter at about 1, from a bad situation, we've been working on her fear aggression and resource guarding for 4 years. She's like a different dog now, and I don't want her to backslide.

The Plan: Starting in a neutral area, short leashes, far away from each other. Slowly close the gap until they're well onto this property and can sniff each other. Many parallel walks, getting closer to the fenced yard. R enters the fenced area first, then H; parallel perimeter walks. Gradually longer leads until they're both calm. Always fed and housed separately, but allowed to play in the yard together. I figure it should take about 3 weeks, with lots of salami treats.

Once R is in the yard, we can start training him to a muzzle, the farm perimeter, the livestock. We have an electric netting around our chickens, but we'll still keep him away.

We have never had 2 dogs, always one at a time. Open to suggestions!

We have a dog who easily gets stressed. Specially loud noises - but only outside. After a very loud aircraft, he is now reacting to airplanes he have been used to since puppy. He feels so unsafe outside, it’s hard to even get him to poop.

*— I’m looking for advice if someone had tried something we haven’t thought about. —*

Because he is so worried, it’s problematic for him to poop, as he most times wants to go home before. I feel we tried everything and really respect his signals.

We do everything by the book: no pressure, he can signal which way he prefers or if he want to go home - we say yes to whatever he wants.

We go out when he is ready/he signals. Wait with open door, takes it chill outside the door.

Extra good treats.
Calm voices, lots of calm praise.

Our vet knows and we will soon try anxiety medicin, but we still have to figure out how to train him (outdoors) with sounds we can’t control.

I’m trying to invest in a better crate for my 65 lb fox hound/lab (I think) mix.

He has escaped the wire crate and does very poorly in an airline style crate.

Important details: I don’t think he hates being in a crate so much as he is anxious when I leave him and he hears a noise outside and panics because he wants to know what’s going on which leads to him trying to escape***

It’s not a problem getting him in the crate when I’m home. But as soon as he realizes I have left for work he freaks out, throws a tantrum. This lasts like 5 minutes then he falls asleep. But then through the day he hears things outside and panics and tries to escape. He is also very scared when new people come to our house. But interestingly he’s very social when I take him in public to the pet store.

Anyways. I noticed he did better in the wire crate likely because he could see what’s going on around the house. When I tried an airline crate which allowed minimal view of his surroundings he has a really hard time. Maybe it also just makes him feel more confined???

So anyways everyone raves about impact and rock creek crates but I worry he will still feel really confined in there with the minimal view of his surroundings and potentially be unhappy?? Should I just do a heavy duty steel crate like pictured below??? What are people’s thoughts???

And yes I play the tv and a white noise machine. It helps but it does not eliminate the problem.

https://www.wayfair.com/Tucker-Murphy-Pet%E2%84%A2--83l-Heavy-Duty-Dog-Crate-Extra-Large-Modular-Kennel-With-Divider-and-Mat-For-Large-Breeds-X220074303-L1068-K~W119963292.html?channel=GooglePLA&ireid=440377848&fdid=1817&refid=GX712222798548-W119963292&device=m&ptid=2436117842128&network=g&targetid=aud-2419306361990:pla-2436117842128&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=660818872&gbraid=0AAAAAD9ISC7kht_4W8jGa-pxvzrvHlkOw&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrvHWBhDKARIsABmp7h26kogbvrNjF6tugt2tepgIrKdBekYIqw3NVNgVBkeOhd_d4nOUzAEaAva-EALw_wcB

https://rockcreekcrates.com/products/aluminum-dog-crate-new-design-with-optional-side-door

I made a post a couple weeks ago about my dog being a frustrated greeter who gets overstimulated by everything outside. We had a suggestion to follow BAT, which boosts your dog's confidence by giving them a choice of where to walk instead of you making them walk a certain way.

Since following this, it's like I've got a new dog. She will now reliably walk past humans without any reaction, dogs are easily manageable but still working on it, and birds manageable on-leash but not off-leash.

Since we're still working on it, I want to continue to give her the freedom to choose direction when we walk, as she'll mostly choose not to meet unless they give her attention.

However, as a result I'm being much less strict about walking with a loose leash, and I'm not really sure how I can keep a loose leash while also allowing her to direct us. It seems like if I stop walking or walk the other way, that increases her anxiety and she gets stressed again and more likely to start reacting. I don't care about it being at heel, but I just want the leash to not be tight. Any suggestions to maintain both at the same time?

I love my darling girl but she is very lazy and slow. I love to bring her places & am planning on spending a bit of time solo travelling with her but the problem is it takes us so damn long to get anywhere.

Some background: she’s a very anxious girly after the shelter. When I got her (a year ago) she couldn’t even see or be on a leash without freaking out big time. She’s gotten soooooo much better but still freaks out on the leash a little sometimes. She hates tension on the leash so I have to concentrate a lot to make sure the leash is always loose. If we are walking and I try to tug on the leash or even walk too fast and she trails behind so the leash goes taunt, she will freak out (eyes go white, pulling, tail between legs etc. just fully freaking out).

Off leash, she’s a little bit faster but not much. I’m not kidding when I say she never runs. Occasionally a little trot but nothing FAST.

We will go for a walk in the morning (not that she ever wants to I have to force her) off leash maybe 30-45 mins but we don’t get very far due to speed. She will sleep on the couch the rest of the day.

I don’t want to take her on super long walks, I just want to be able to get down a block of shops without it taking forever.

A bit of info about our boy: a little under 2 years old, some sort of terrier/hunting dog mix, intact. He was surrendered because he is too submissive and in his last home the other dog was bullying him. He's lived with us now for a little over a week

He is a sweetie and loves walks. However, he is terrified to go over the threshold to leave. Part of me believes it is because he's afraid of stairs (2 flights, we're working on it) but he doesn't even want to go out to our landing.

It's progressed from freezing when the door is open and shaking to actively running away and peeing in fear when picked up to go down the stairs. Once he's actually outside, he is thrilled and loves walking. He has no issues coming back inside (other than needing to be carried up stairs still.)

He is food motivated but during these episodes, food cannot sway him. Calling or soothing him does not help. We don't force him with the leash, we try to give him the chance to get up and go on his own first.

Any ideas? He's regressing already and wanna nip this in the bud

Hi all,

I’m looking for some training and desensitization advise for my ~2yo rescue shepherd mix. I’ve had him for ~1.5 years and he has come super far in his training and confidence. I’ve worked quite diligently on his leash reactivity to other dogs (which he is great with off-leash), and to build his confidence around new things as he is scared of quite literally everything. For example, I’ve enrolled him in an intro agility class, frequently take him to dog-friendly stores and make him lay down to watch people go by, etc.

The problem that I’m having and seeking advice for is his fear (and reactivity?) to strangers. I understand the breed and I am OK with aloofness - what I am not OK with is him barking at strangers if they come up to me to chat. When people ask to pet him, I always say no because he’s nervous around new people but tell them that if they’d like to help me with training, they can let him sniff them but to not look at him / try to pet him.

I thought we were making a bit of progress but today I had a bit of an incident that is making me question whether there are other things I should be doing instead. We were at a park and he was on a long lead. We were playing fetch with a stick and the lead got tangled so I dropped it quick to fix it. During this time, a man that I didn’t see walked around a tree and my dog ran towards him and barked. I grabbed my dog immediately and everything was fine (and please don’t berate me for this - I know I’m in the wrong here and it should never have happened in the first place), but I’m really starting to get discouraged that all my ‘stranger’ training isn’t doing anything for him.

I don’t need him to be the Walmart greeter but I would really love to get him to the place where he isn’t barking at people or feeling the need to do what he did today at the park. I’m planning on driving across the country next summer to visit family and will be brining him with me. He’s never met these family members and so I’d really like to get this under control over the next ~9 months.

For what it’s worth, he’s had a lot of other behavioural issues that we’ve more or less worked through and so I feel fairly confident that this is something we can improve on as well… I just don’t know how.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

My dog is a great car rider and has quite a bit of experience in the car from weekly trips to doggy day care and long road trips. We go everywhere together. When we get in the car, she lays down and settles in, but when we get into our neighborhood coming home or sometimes when we get close to day care, she starts whimpering like this.

Tail is wagging and ears are mostly up, and I know she likes home and daycare. Is this excitement? It just sounds so sad and breaks my dog momma heart. I usually talk to her when she does thing but didn’t in the video.

Thanks in advance for the help.

My sister, who I live with, has what we believe to be a Belgian Malinois/ shepherd mix called Artemis, a little under 2 years old and from the shelter. Obviously very smart and needs a lot of stimulation. It’s her dog of course, but I live with the dog and I’m her babysitter when my sister isn’t home during the day, as we have opposite schedules. Plus I love spending time with the dog anyways. We have the physical part down I think, as we take her on long runs and to a nearby field for fetch. Suggestions are very welcome for this as well. My sister has a few puzzle games for her. But we are having a very hard time with training her to do tricks. She can do sit and shake perfectly. But when asking her to do a trick that is more recently introduced, like sitting beside us while standing or between our legs, or “place”, she often messes up. We don’t yell at her and don’t change our tone if we repeat the command. She seems to just freak out when we don’t reward her with a treat or “Yes!” since it’s not the right action. She’ll drop to floor, get on her back and show her belly. She either goes rigid there on the floor and won’t move or she’ll skulk to her bed and stay glued there thumping her tail in a short arc very fast. We will call her back to us, and sometimes she comes, but if she does, she goes immediately back to her bed when we say another command. Subsequently it’s impossible to get anything new trained. She does this for both of us. I have literally no clue what the problem is, and why she’s afraid. She’s not afraid of us any other time, unless she’s torn something up, but that’s rare. All advice welcome!

also posted this in /puppy101 but thought I’d shared here too—
puppy turned 10 weeks yesterday and he’s honestly pretty chill. He only wakes up twice at night and can hold his bladder for quite a while. However, this is actually making potty training harder!

I live in a city so I want him to be a pavement potty guy, and since he’s not fully vaxxed yet I take him to our courtyard. At night he goes straight from his crate to the cement corner, pees, and comes back inside. But during the day, the second he sees the leaves, rocks, dirt, and weeds, it’s over. He just wants to frolic (like Abraxos from TOG) i want him to explore and sniff, but he gets so distracted that he won’t pee then goes randomly later.

Indoors is just as confusing. I take him out after naps, meals, and playtime, but sometimes he doesn’t go at all. He occasionally uses the pee pads in the corner of my office (pen is in the office so it’s not far from pen to pad but I usually keep the pen closed) but other times he pees on the hardwood or does tiny tinkles on my white bedroom rug. I’ve switched his pen flooring from soft puppy blankets to foam squares to discourage accidents, but I can’t trust him loose in the apartment yet.

I’ve seen recommendations to keep puppies on a leash indoors but he’s starting to dislike the leash because of the distraction outside which makes him pull and me pull and he can’t get what he wants. Like now he doesn’t even like getting the harness on...

It’s all becoming a bit of a vicious cycle. And now it’s raining, so he comes inside absolutely covered in mud from his little green patch adventures when I do allow the sniffs. 🫠

I’m wondering whether I should introduce an indoor potty spot for rainy days, but how do you even teach them to use one when they just wander off the pad? And how do the differentiate? Like the ability to pee whenever, even if it’s on a pad, seems like a bad habit to me.

He actually settles himself pretty well for naps and is doing great in many other ways, so I know I’m probably putting too much pressure on myself to train him quickly.

Any advice on getting a distracted puppy to pee outside + figuring out his potty schedule when he holds it for ages, or whether I should introduce an indoor potty option? Also I see ppl on here constantly talk about regression at some point so I worry the inside potty will build bad habits. Idk!!!! Help

Hi everyone!

I have a 1.5-year-old male Border Collie who, until about a month ago, was always incredibly friendly and happy whenever someone came over. He never reacted negatively to the doorbell, people knocking, or visitors entering our apartment. In fact, he used to get really excited to greet anyone who came in.

However, over the past month, his behavior has changed quite dramatically.

Now, whenever someone rings the doorbell or comes into our apartment, he becomes extremely anxious and fearful. He starts barking, sometimes growling, and tries to hide from the person entering. This is completely unlike him, and I'm struggling to figure out how to help him feel safe again.

There are two things that happened around the time this behavior started, and I'm wondering whether either (or both) could have contributed.

1. His hormonal implant is wearing off.

About six months ago, we decided to try a temporary chemical castration implant rather than immediately opting for permanent neutering. We wanted to see how his behavior and personality would be affected before making a permanent decision.

The implant is now wearing off, and we've noticed physical signs that his testosterone levels are returning. I'm wondering whether these hormonal changes could be contributing to his increased anxiety or reactivity.

2. A very stressful incident happened at our front door.

Shortly before this behavior started, we had a really upsetting situation involving a family member we are no longer in contact with.

She showed up at our apartment completely unannounced, repeatedly and aggressively rang the doorbell, and forced her way inside despite being told to leave. The situation was extremely loud and confrontational, and our door/lock was actually damaged in the process.

My dog started barking intensely at her, which was understandable given the situation. Unfortunately, even though I explicitly told her not to approach him, she got right up in his face before I managed to move him into another room.

Once he was separated from the situation, he calmed down, but the whole experience was extremely stressful.

Since then, his reaction to the doorbell and visitors has completely changed.

I'm worried he may have developed a fear association with the doorbell and people entering our home. I also don't know whether the hormonal changes happening at the same time might be making things worse.

What I'm looking for advice on:

• How can I help him rebuild a positive association with the doorbell and visitors?
• Should I start by desensitizing him to the sound of the doorbell without anyone actually entering?
• How should I manage visitors in the meantime so that I don't accidentally reinforce his fear or push him too far?
• Has anyone experienced increased fearfulness or reactivity when a temporary hormonal implant was wearing off?
• Are there any specific training exercises or resources you'd recommend for this situation?

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a qualified behavior-focused trainer who can come to our home. There are puppy classes and general obedience trainers in my area, but not much support for this kind of issue.

I really want to handle this properly and avoid making things worse. I'm not expecting him to love every visitor again overnight, I just want him to feel safe and comfortable in his own home.

Any advice, similar experiences, or recommended resources would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!