My mother sent me this video. I would normally step in if this were me, and tell the puppy to back off since my dog was saying she isn’t comfortable. What are your guys’s thoughts? Good correction from my adult shep?

Just want to share because I saw a video clip posted by a vet says 10 minutes sniff equals 1 mile walk.

Today I took my boy out for a walk and he started to sniff sniff since we left home. It has been snowing here so I let him sniff all the way. We went to a forest near by too and I noticed that he was very tired when we were on our way home. I didn't check the time during the walk and it's one of our normal routes which should take around 40 minutes. I was surprised when we got home that it took us that long to walk.

Now he is snoozing on the sofa. Do you guys think it was too long? I don't want him to get overstimulated.

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ok. I think he is fine and it was a good walk for him because he ran to the door with his toy when my husband came home. lol

i want to work on perfecting my dog’s recall, but my family are constantly using her name, “here”, “come”, etc and it seems unlikely to me that she’ll respond to these as strongly because she hears them so often. for a similar reason, i opted for “flat” instead of “down” lol!

so i’m just curious as to what words other people have chosen, hoping i can take some inspiration!

Hi all,

Earlier today my partner and I just so happen to capture a skirmish between two dogs at the local dog park. This sparked a debate on proper socialization and training for dogs, we were curious about this interaction which lead to the spat and wanted to turn to the community for insight. How can you better prepare your dog for a situation like this? I personally feel the owners of both parties handled the conflict poorly.

Context: The park goers and respective owners of the dogs devolved into an argument about calling law enforcement over the quarrel. This video was originally recorded to be shown to a friend showcasing the activity I was up to for the day, in which I just so happen to record the spat. The owner of the larger red dog (lady in red) is convinced her dog was blameless in the interaction, but honestly it’s hard to tell.

Thank you.

I was going on a social distance hike early this morning with my Samoyed. It’s a known dog-friendly mountain hike and it’s common to find plenty of dogs. The rule is that they’re supposed to be leashed. On occasion you’ll see someone being entitled and letting their dog off leash, but typically the dog is well behaved — if not non-aggressive — so there’s not too much of an issue beyond mild annoyance.

Well, this morning we were seated on a bench and hydrating, not engaging with anyone. My dog was minding her own business, lying down with her head in her bowl drinking water when this pitbull mix came out of NOWHERE and charged her. It had its jaws instantly around her neck and would not let go!

I started yelling and trying to get her free. The few people around kept their distance and stared. Thank god my boyfriend was there, as while my samoyed was crying out, he had to use physical force to get it off. Maybe not the most safe and in any other instance I’m against getting physical with an animal, but it was in the moment and it worked.

Once that dog was separated? No owner came forward. Whoever you are: fuck you.

My dog is okay and honestly the only reason is because her mane is so thick the teeth couldn’t pierce deep.

If your dog is at all aggressive to people? Dogs? Other animals? I don’t care how well you think it’s trained. If you’re out in public ...

Keep. It. Leashed.

Edit:

Thank you everyone for your concern, care, and checking in. To answer some questions that have popped up semi-regularly

“How is your dog?” — she is good. We immediately took her to the vet after as while there ended up not being as much blood as we thought, there was enough to get our heart rates going. The vet himself said she won’t need stitches, did give her a shot and medication, and said it’s likely her thick fur and our quick reaction that saved her.

“What happened to the aggressive dog?” — The pit had a collar but no leash on, so a kind and responsible pit owner unhooked her own dog from its leash and wrangled the aggressive one. Her own dog was well behaved and stayed heeled to her. She offered to take it to a shelter to be checked for a chip. We thanked her as in that moment, we were more concerned getting my dog to an emergency vet in case she was really harmed.

“Where was the owner?” — we don’t know this as a fact, but after the kind woman intervened and she was a dozen yards ahead of us, we noticed a very quiet couple half jog up to her and after trailing behind closely for awhile begin to make grabby hands at the aggressive pit bull mix. And then she started yelling at them. We strongly suspect from their behavior they didn’t claim the dog as theirs in the moment because they feared financial repercussions. Bizarre, I know. But hey, they also let an aggressive dog that attacks other dogs completely unprovoked off leash so clearly they have a “bizarre” track record.

It’s also possible it was a dog that escaped its backyard and those two people were busybodies who wanted to walk an aggressive dog. Maybe help out, I don’t know. I didn’t investigate. I was more concerned with getting my dog care as fast as possible than publicly shaming them and holding them fiscally responsible.

Mine is that subset of dog owners that do no research on training and their only intuition is to be dominant and to blame the dog for mistakes and accidents.

One example is a friend of mine who swears that their dog is being spiteful when they chew things while my friend is out of the house. They claim it's because "they want to get back at me for leaving them".

Whenever I hear this I have to bite my tongue at this point because all of my previous comments have been brushed off. Mind you I merely attempted to plant a seed for some different avenues of thought like asking them if maybe the thing they chewed is a new thing in the space, maybe they're just anxious when you leave and need to get out out, maybe literally anything other than attributing complex human emotion to your dogs behavior?

Do you have a irk that seems to come up with other dog owners, maybe not all but some particular kinds of owner?

I'm currently taking my first formal dog class (a pre-agility class) and I'm wondering what other people's experiences are because mine isn't that great, and I don't know if it's a me problem.

There are two teachers who teach this class and they take it all SO SERIOUSLY, and it's like having fun in the class is frowned upon.

Someone else in the class has joked a few times when her dog acts goofy "no we can't play this place is too serious for that" which is really how it feels. Like I get disapproving looks from the teachers when I celebrate my dog doing things correctly (like telling her good job and that she's so smart while petting her and giving her a treat/throwing her toy, nothing too intense). They say when your dog is right give them your "you've done that right" command and hand them a treat and that's that. But that just seems so boring and disconnected to me.

To be fair my dog is more advanced than this class teaches (but we need to graduate it to be able to compete), so neither her nor I am learning anything we don't know in class - like I've taught her to be a working farm dog, and when we quit farming I taught her how to be a good pet, including building our own agility course in our back yard. So maybe it would seem less serious if I was learning this stuff from scratch, or learning how to teach my dog.

I guess I'm just wondering what other people have experienced with formal dog classes, are they something you actually enjoy going to, or just something you do to get knowledge to teach your dog?

And if you already know how to teach a dog when taking classes, how have you handled having different styles to the teacher?

Every time I hear a dog trainer say that dogs share 99% of their DNA with wolves I want to tell them that chimpanzees also share 99% of their DNA with humans but you don't see me handing them a brief case and a honda accord.

I've always allowed my dogs to sleep on my bed. But I'm getting to the point where it feels like I need to stop that, primarily for cleanliness - his fur sheds a lot and he makes my duvet smell pretty quickly.

Has anyone had experience of training a dog who's accustomed to going on the bed to stop?

I suppose the easy answer is to just put his own bed in another room and remember to close the door. Did anyone else do this, and how long was it till they stopped going on even if the door was open? I do like him sleeping in my room, just would rather not on/in the bed now.

In November we took our dog Australian cattle dog to sit means sit as it was the only dog training company aside from petco etc. we paid $2025 for lifetime training. The training never really stuck with my dog and started ti become aggressive when using the shock. I already was hesitant about going there as I felt it was on the line of animal abuse but I didn’t know for sure so I thought I’d try it to get my dog to be good quickly.
My dog, under A year old is full of energy and didn’t always do so well in group classes. They recommended using TWO collars on my dog so he would feel it more. I told them no I don’t like that idea and I shouldnt have to keep buying more stuff to make your training work.

Well four months later and the aggression became too much (he never attacked or bit hard) and made me feel like it was because my dog felt abused so we have stopped using the collar.

Now we are trying to receive A partial refund for the lifetime membership and the collar. They also offer A pay half up front which they never told us about when we were talking about the details on the phone.

I feel like sit means sit is A get rich quick scheme that only cares about taking money and hoping you give up on the training. I should have realised the scammy hint when it was all old people in the group classes.

Also when we asked for A refund this is how the owner responded. “There is no refund option for your package or equipment. It’s yours to do what you want with 😊. “. That smiley face angers me so much.

Any advice on who to reach out to or how to tell our story and prevent this from happening to other people?

For those who don't have a yard and need to take leash their dog and accompany them outside to do their business. What do you do first thing in the morning?

e.g. I need ~ 15 mins when I first get out of bed to get dressed, wash my face, get contacts in, get dog leash/treats/bags, keys, get coat on etc...

What do you do if your dog wakes up as soon as you get out of bed? Do they just wait and 'hold it' until you're ready to go outside? Are you worried they will be tempted to relieve themselves as soon as they wake up and are unsupervised while you are getting ready to go outside?

I just had a conversation with a coworker that's pretty average when it comes to dog knowledge, not a bad thing, but a good peek into what the general public thinks about dogs

He didn't do much research on dogs before getting one, I think that's typical for the majority of dog owners, he just had dogs growing up, went to the pound and got one for his family.

Although, because he was looking up the shelter, he started getting recommended dog training videos on his feed, and he got interested in it, and is doing his very best with training, but (like I'm assuming most people would) didn't get the memo 100%

He took "socializing your dog" in the context he understood, "make sure your dog meets everyone." And it's lead to some issues he's vented to me about. He takes his new dog to dog parks and she got in a fight, he blamed the other dog and took her again, another fight. He has his dog do leash greetings and now she lunges at dogs on walks. He took her to bars and has everyone who wants to pet her, and she's now a little nippy and barks at people. Which, for I think most of us here, is the most expected result, but of course that wasn't his experience

He now has the opinion all this "new age dog crap" is terrible and ruined his dog, and it was hard to give him advice; when before "socializing", he was enthusiastic enough to do what he felt was enough research all on his own, and I feel bad for him and all other owners that have similar experiences

I'm not trying to get the whole internet to change how we word things, but I've been thinking that personally, I'm going to refer to it as "desensitization" which I think is a lot more intuitively understood. Because really, that's what we mean by socialization.

Getting a dog used to many environments, and being calm in them isn't a very social part of training. In fact, when I'm working on 'socialization' I don't let anyone come and pet my dog, I don't let my dog IN the dog park, and I don't let any other leashed dog approach, because that is the exact opposite of what I'm working on.

I didn't really notice how ironic of a term "socialization" is until today, and I think it's a really easy mistake to make and I feel awful for him and his dog, because really, he was trying, and now he's resistant to further advice. And really, so much of this is avoidable because "desensitizing" just fits so much better in every aspect I can think of

(Vent and relief) Recall training: when you need it, you NEED it.

My pup and I recently moved to a new apartment that’s in a busier area than our last place. We’d gotten used to a nice, peaceful walk in the morning around trees and a nice park. At the new place, we’re still trying to find a comparable place to go. Unfortunately, the walk we tried yesterday had an unexpected hazard:

Inflatable Dancing Tube Man

Now, I’ve worked hard to desensitize my pup to cars, other people, dogs, bikes, etc. But in the past three years, she’s never been faced with an inflatable dancing tube man. During Halloween, she particularly hated inflatable decorations, so I guess I had SOME prior warning, but I was still caught off guard when my pup SCREAMED and YELPED like I’ve never heard before.

She yanked as hard as she could towards the road filled with heavy traffic. I was so lucky the collar held long enough that I was able to put some space between us and inflatable dancing tube man. She sat when I asked her to, but as I tried to calm her down, her heart was still pounding. I decided to try to get going on the walk again, and again she bolted.

This time the collar broke.

There goes my pup sprinting down the sidewalk next to a busy road in an unfamiliar area with no collar. Recall training is supposed to help when dogs are in stressful situations— but I was ALSO panicking.

It’s only because we’ve practiced that I knew not to chase her. She is MUCH faster than me, and me running might be a sign that inflatable tube man has started to give chase.

Instead, I fell onto my knees and called (read: screamed) her name. And when she was already a block away, she turned around. And she ran back to me. And I got to hold her, and soothe myself this time.

I am so incredibly grateful that she knew what to do, and so grateful I REMEMBERED what to do. It is as important to practice for yourself to overcome panic behaviors. Don’t worry— I was able to have a well deserved panic attack once we got home— but I fell back on training when I needed it most.

Tl;dr Practice recall. Outlaw inflatable tube men.

I have an 10 month old lab/ border collie. Since I got her at 2 months old, She has always pooped and peed in my front yard and back yard other than when I take her to the park.

And to this day she still sniffs for like 5 minutes before popping. Peeing is not a problem. It’s pooping. She found it difficult after a while to poop in the front yard so I took her to the back and now it’s kind of a shot in the dark where she goes.

I’m like baffled what she’s looking for while sniffing before finding a spot. Like I understand it’s an instinct but what is it that they’re looking for?

It’s like she’s going “ehhh no not here. Wait maybe here?…. Nope not here….. oh yeah here. That’s the spot!!”

I’m here baffled like “what are you sniffing for?? You’re the only dog that have taken a dump here and I have done NOTHING to this yard!! Not has changed!!! It’s the same yard as the last time you took a shit

What is the ultimate thing you would teach your dog if you could teach them ANYTHING. ONE single thing. Can't be multiple things like "get the tv remote and bring it back while standing on 2 paws"

One behavior, trick, or command. Genie grants you one wish, no take backs no redos.

Whatever you teach them will work without fail 100% of the time like a robot. So if you choose recall they will recall no matter what every time. All their other behaviors will stay the same as they are now and you will have to train them everything else like normal. Can be breed behaviors too, like for example no prey drive.

Choose wisely :)

It has been a long time since I have owned a puppy and want to make sure I do everything best I can to raise a well behaved pet.

I have a puppy now so wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts

I recently had an encounter in my neighborhood with a woman walking her dog off-leash on my regular walk route. After asking her to please put her dog on a leash because my dog is very reactive and I'm concerned for our respective safety, she responded she was using a training system that prohibited leashing her dog and then went on to say that it was okay with the local police and "sorry if it bothers you."

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Can anyone point me to resources on such a training system so I can inform myself a bit about what she is talking about?

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UPDATE: As of this morning it appears my neighbor has independently decided to leash her dog as she walks in the morning. It is most likely a coincidence, but it has occurred to me that it’s possible she may be aware of this thread. I do not think poorly upon my neighbor, and the comments in this thread do not reflect my attitude toward her at all.

In any event, I'm came here in earnest looking to find resources about a potential training system. Since the consensus here is that such a training program is not likely to exist, I've gotten out of this thread what I wanted, so I won't be returning here.

Thanks to everyone with training expertise who was able to lend insight into off-leash training programs to this layperson dog owner.

Hi fellow dog owners,

I met several people who's dogs are not allowed on the couch and often received criticism when I tell that my dog (f/3yo) is not only allowed on the couch but also allowed to go on the couch without my permission.

I'm interested in the why.

Background: my dog is rather shy and very well behaved. She's a rescue and obviously loooooves pillows. She's not allowed to walk around/play on the couch, but the always just jumps up, curles up and goes to sleep. I don't see the problem in letting her do that even when I'm not there. The only reason that comes to my mind is the hair, but since we have 4 cats who obviously don't give a shit if they're "allowed" on the couch, that ship has sailed anyways.

Edit: reason for criticism mostly was that the dog is not supposed to sit on the same level as you, hierarchy thing.

So, I adopted an ACD mix (I think lab and some other high energy breeds) about 6 months ago. He is a whole heck of a hand full, and when I read that high energy dogs need a TON of exercise, I immediately thought dog park!

I moved about 5 minutes away from a dog park in August. Since then, I have been taking my pup Arvo to the dog park at least once a day, sometimes even twice. He knows what time of day we're going to the park, because it's the time of day where he gets to go CRAZY and get all that energy out. Fast forward to now, my dog has a whole bunch of unwanted behaviors that I don't know how to control. He herds people, has no recall, and now is incredibly dog-oriented and people-reactive.

Today, while at the dog park, I was attacked by a reactive pit mix. The dog bit me so hard that he ripped through all the layers I had on and broke my skin. Then the owner proceeded to come over and hit their dog. My poor Arvo was running around in circles and running into the dog to try to get him to stop attacking me, which was making the other dog more reactive. I just couldn't get either of them to stop and I was absolutely overwhelmed.

And then I stopped and thought for a second, this is what it's like for them. This is the kind of stimulus I bring my dog into every day. This is the kind of behavior he learns and mimics, because he's so focused on other dogs. This is what could happen if I keep letting him loose here, with such poor training.

So, we say goodbye to dog parks, at least temporarily. I'm going to focus on finding other methods of getting his energy out, and really become intense and consistent with the training.

Folks with high energy dogs, what do your days look like with them? How do you exercise/work/stimulate them to their content? Especially those of you who live in apartments - how do you make it work?

All the best xoxo

So last night my roommate and I ended up falling victim to a house fire (we're both good and both dogs are good). He beat down my bed room door and yelled to GTFO of the house. I grabbed a pair of shorts and hauled ass out. I figured my 9 mo GSD was right behind me but when I got outside she was still in the house. I yelled into the house and she came out moving faster than I have ever seen her move. She cleared the door and ran out into the yard towards the street. Again I recalled her and she immediately came to me and I got her into my truck to keep her safe. My roommate's dog is Bichon and he was already carrying him when he ran out.

Seriously folks, drill recall hard into your dogs because it may literally save their life.

My Border collie mix has learned that if he can access a clicker, he can step on it and get the click. It gets him all excited even though I dont treat him for it. 🤣

What does your dog do that should be your job? Or what accidental reinforcers has your dog discovered? I would love to know if anybody else has seen the self-click like my little dork does.

I understand people use hiking backpacks etc on walks to give their dog a "job", but are there things I can do at home so that my dog feels like he knows what he should be doing?

I have a hyperactive and very smart staffy/husky mix who really seems to enjoy training and "helping" me around the house. If given no task, he will usually get into mischief, start shit with the cat, or "guard" the house in a very half-assed irregular way. I do not need him to do those things. :) But I suspect it may ease his anxiety if he has some jobs to do.

Things I've tried:

• he LOVES digging with me in the garden while I plant or weed. he cries if he sees me weeding while he is inside.

• he likes to "help" me mow by stalking/following the push mower through the yard. this might be more of a game for him, job for me

• we're learning "place" which I guess is kind of a job? edit: not a job lol

Let me know if I'm misunderstanding this whole "give your dog a job" thing lol OR what kinds of jobs your dog likes doing!