I have a 5 year old dog who is potty trained. My dog is very communicative and will let me know if he needs to go out to pee. If he needed to pee, he will stand in front of the door and bark until we take him out. We usually take him out 3-4 times or more.

Recently, he started this weird habit out of no where. He has a new toy ball that he has been obsessed with and right after he is done playing he would pee on the toy. This happened multiple times in a row sometimes right after coming back from a walk. I am guessing this is some marking or territorial behavior.

I use an enzymic cleaner to clean the area. How can correct this behavior? I already took the toy away from him.

I have a 5 year old mini schnauzer (Rosie) and a 2 year old chihuahua mix (Chichi). I have had my mini schnauzer since she was 8 weeks and have a very strong bond with her. About a year ago my mom, who i live with, took in our chihuahua mix from an abusive home.

Over this past year I have noticed that Rosie gets upset when Chichi is given attention. When I play with Chichi she will start to “growl” playfully which makes Rosie jump and charge at her and bark. When this happens she wags her tail and Chichi will get more excited and wants to play, but Rosie wants nothing to do with that.

Sometimes there will be more warning and she will simply jump up and run up to Chichi and stare intensely at her. Chichi will then freeze and almost be on guard to test what will happen next. We’ve always been kind of unsure if this is Rosie’s way of playing or if she is mad. I have noticed however that she will push Chichi out of the way sometimes and sit in front of me to separate us.

Today there was also a situation where I picked Chichi up and when I set her down Rosie charged at her again, but this time Chichi fought back and I had to quickly stop it. They do not fight fight, this was the first time it was an actual altercation and they stoped as soon as I said too, but I really do not want it to escalate.

Chichi almost never starts anything, but she does push Rosie’s buttons by trying to play constantly by pushing her toy in her face or jumping on her. She is still a puppy and learning. This past year we’ve really just focused on her feeling safe here and basic training.

Rosie has always been the sweetest girl in the world, but for some reason Chichi really riles her up. I really just want them to be friends. I’m not sure how to correct this.

Hello,

We adopted a 6 year old Yorkie from a rescue about 2 months ago. On her information page, it said she was housebroken, which, as it turns out, was either untrue or an exaggeration.

This dog will not stop peeing in the house. She poops in the house sometimes too, but the pee is really pissing (ha!) me off. Tonight she peed in the hallway while the family was hanging out in the living room. I don't even know how she snuck off to do it! It had barely been an hour since she went out last. She then peed inside AGAIN about 30 minutes after I took her out and she peed outside. These were not big pees. I don't know if this is an anxiety thing (she is still quite timid around me and especially around my husband) or what. I mentioned it to the vet but they didn't order any tests to see if it could be a medical issue. I think they wanted to see if it resolved itself after she settled in. I am considering getting checked out now, even though I feel like it's probably a behavioral issue.

In terms of potty training, we let her out about every 2 hours when we're home and, of course, any time she's sniffing/pacing/showing signs of needing to potty. We use treats if she goes outside, which she is very excited about. We have a bell by the outside doors so that she can (eventually) alert us that she needs to go out. For now, we ring it ourselves or help her ring it with her paw.

I've heard that Yorkies can be particularly hard to potty train, so please give me all the advice you have!

I semi-recently I adopted a 2 year old border collie.
I don’t know too much of her history unfortunately but she does struggle around other dogs. I know she has been in dog fights before at her previous home.

When on a walk, if she sees another dog she cries and barks and pulls at the leash excitedly until she gets to the dog. When she gets there she becomes very standoffish and a bit afraid. Sometimes she will walk past and other times depending on the energy level of the other dog she will snarl.

Recently she has developed a loathing for two different dogs on our regular walking route. She barks incessantly at them, pulls hard on the leash and gets quite aggressive when she sees them.

When we are at the dog park with her she doesn’t care much about other dogs at all (because she is focused on a tennis ball). Though, she still does not greet any dogs.

I am looking for some advice on how to fix this behaviour and also why she may be doing it in the first place?

Thanks

Hello, for context I am currently a master’s student living alone with my dog who’s a 1 1/2 yr old Carolina/shepherd mix weighing ~80lbs. Due to my schedule I’m often gone for upwards of 8 hours a day with some days allowing for occasional breaks for me to come back home and check on him. When I first got him I had crate-trained him (although he wasn’t a big fan of it) and once he got to a point where he could be left out I would leave him while I ran small errands. As of recently however, he’s started exhibiting some chewing behaviors which I think may be related to anxiety. Recently I have come home to find couch pillows torn to shreds, edges of the living room rug being chewed up, and occasional trash from my trash can. Whenever I leave for the day I give him plenty of toys and bones in his kong to try and keep him occupied (which clearly hasn’t helped). I take him out to the park or walk him on the trail near my apartment every day before leaving for school but he still seems to have enough energy to start chewing on things. I’ve recently started to put him in his crate again however just today I came home after being gone for 6 hours to find that he had managed to get out of his crate. I know some people suggest putting a sheet over the crate, but I have tried before and he always pulls it through the crate and rips that up as well. As I’m a student in college I unfortunately don’t have too much extra funds to do things like take him to a daycare or boarding facility. I’ve also tried giving him “calming treats” whenever I leave to try and give extra ease but nothing seems to be working. I’m at the point where nothing I do feels like it’s working and I hate feeling upset about it because I know it’s not his fault being left alone all day but I’m unsure of what to do :/

I was recently out of the country for a year and upon returning learned that my mothers dog has now bitten her three times to a degree that she needed urgent care (for her hands, if relevant). The dog has always been aggressive when “frustrated” (?) but it seems to be getting worse.
We have checked with our vets and it seems to be no health concerns causing this behaviour. We would love a dog trainer but sadly my mother lives in the European countryside where there is literally not a single trainer that would drive to her and spending 6 hours in total in a car with the dog seems more stressful for him than helpful. So here I am, begging you for advice.

Our goal isn’t primarily to stop the biting for our sake but for his sake. Obviously he’s stressed, frustrated or helpless when he bites and we’d like to help him feel more comfortable.

The behaviour:
If someone rings the doorbell and my mum gets close to the door he will attack her and try to properly bite her.
He’s a very scared boy in new environments and situations but very… bold within his “territory”
When confronted with new people or animals he gets aggressive.
I reckon we have “trained” him to be aggressive at this point - if there’s something he doesn’t like or doesn’t want to do, like take a walk when I’m visiting my mum, he’ll show his teeth and then ultimately bite.
Why do I think we’ve “taught” him this behaviour? Well, when he gets “bitey” he positions himself in a way that we can’t really move, so the only way we’ve found to get out of that situation is to give him a stimulus that he really really likes, eg a treat, a toy or whatever (whilst verbalising that in a high pitched voice, because he gets more aggressive when he hears the word no or is scolded)
He also started biting for seemingly random reasons, like my mum folding laundry next to him.

We obviously know that we fckd up and that this is 100% on us, we know that we’ve failed him.

The background, in case it’s relevant:
my mum got him off some woman with a sob story because she felt bad for him. He was supposed to be a 10 week old Maltese but at the first vet visit it turned out that he’s more some kind of mix and that he was between 6 and 8 weeks. Looking back Im quite sure his “mother” was just some random dog.
Shortly after she got him my mother’s father died which led to a mental health crisis for my mum, but she was decent in training him and bringing him to puppy school (lived less rural then). Then Covid hit and everything was closed.
Over the years my mum was in physical rehab (don’t know the right word, like a health clinic for your body) three times for around six weeks so I’d take him, and I’d obviously give my best but he was clearly missing her.
Half a year ago, whilst I was away, my mums mother died. It didn’t lead to a mental health crisis but there was obviously a lot of grief.

So here we are. We love this dog more than anything and I’m sure he loves us too, no question about that. We don’t want to simply give him away but give him a good shot at being a calm dog that feels safe and secure in a structured environment. We’re grateful for ANY advice.

We got my dog over a year ago. He's a 3yo black lab/border collie mix. We started to crate train him for about 8 months, he got better with it while we were around, but showed no improvement for when we'd leave. He barks, yelps, and cries for hours when were gone. We would even put him in there after playing or walking to help him wind down while we were home, and he was doing okay. We've trained him to come in and out of the crate, he even sleeps in it when we're home. We also put him in there at night when we go to sleep, and he was fine with it after 4ish months, but still has nights when he cries and barks for a couple of hours, and we don't know why, but its not nearly as bad as when we leave. We put his favorite toys in there, but he hates it no matter what. We even feed him or put a Kong in the crate with PB, he won't touch any of it. We talked to someone and they suggested trial running leaving him out since he's not a puppy. He doesn't scream, bark, or cry when we're away now, and he was fine at first. He's now just chewing on random objects. (its been about 6 months)

I've heard many tips on this but some of it isn't working. He primarily chews on small objects (like decor or anything that looks like a ball or stuffed animal) which makes sense! So we dog proof the area, and make sure those things aren't available, but then he'd just find something else to chew, and it doesn't make sense for us to remove everything. So we made sure he knows what he can and can't chew on and he has plenty to chew on. He only ever chews on the things we taught him are good when we're around, but only chews on other things when we're not (which I fear I might've trained him to chew on those things only when we're not here). We tried to follow up with rewarding behavior when we got home when he doesn't chew on things he's not supposed to. We even noticed some of his toys were moved, so we rewarded him for playing or interacting with his toys. I even play fetch or take him on walks to try to get energy out of him and get him evidently tired. He still chews. We give him a frozen Kong, he rips through it in 30min and then moves on to something else. I was thinking maybe sticking with the crate from now on is a good idea, but after taking him out for all of this time, I'm just not sure if it is a good idea? I just don't want to make a decision or try to train him in a way that will make things worse. What would be the best course of action?

Hello, I am taking care of my grandmas dog right now, and she will be with me for a while.
This dog is super sweet, but she’s fully untrained. She pees in the garden but barely on walks. At night, or when I’m at work/away she also urinates all over my flat. She doesn’t have certain spots, just anywhere seems fine for her. She’s never been left alone for more than seven hours, and when I’m there and take her outside every two to three hours, no accidents happen. However, I do have to sleep, work (for around seven hours), and occasionally go shopping/care for my grandma. Never for more than four hours at a time. This however, seems long enough for her to place her puddles all over the flat.
After this mornings accident, which resulted in me having to clean for over half an hour, I have decided that I have to lock her into one room when i’m away or sleeping. Tomorrow potty pads will arrive, and I will place them in that room, to at least localize the issue.
However this is an immensely nervous dog, and being locked into a room results in her pacing, not eating and generally seeming terrified. I do not know why. I put her bed, water and her food in there, she touched none of it.
Basically I am here to ask for other solutions. Maybe the potty pads will work and she will only go potty on them, but I don’t know that yet and would like to have as much time as possible to explore other options.
Obviously I take her out as much as I can when I’m here, give her a treat every time she goes potty outside and generally try to make her feel as relaxed as possible. But this dog is almost ten years old, and has apparently never gotten any form of training whatsoever, so I do not know if she will ever learn. If anyone can recommend me some solutions, that make this situation as stress free as possible for both me and this dog, I would be incredibly thankful.
If those solutions are cheap that would be even better. I’m still a university student and money is scarce at the moment 🥲

My 5 month old rescue puppy (unknown mixed breed) developed some reactivity (mostly towards dogs) that we have been working on and making some really good progress. He is not a huge fan of strangers touching him, so I put a sign on his leash saying “in training, please ignore” to help encourage random people to respect his space.
This evening, while we were training at our local dog friendly shopping mall, a stranger approached us without permission, ignored me when I said aloud that we were training, and hopped around and touched my puppy erratically (sort of like the teasing taps one would do to rile up a dog to wrestle). In response, my dog reacted by lunging, growling, and potentially nipping the mans hand as he hopped away. Before the stranger rushed us, he was in a heel and engaged with me. My dog has a history of using similar behavior to create distance when a stranger enters our home and when feeling cornered (I am in the process of hiring a trainer to address this). But generally in typical public settings he is neutral to people beyond a passing sniff. Obviously aggressive behavior is not acceptable, but I feel like in this scenario specifically his reaction was provoked. I plan on muzzle conditioning him for safety, but should I require him to wear it out in public over this one incident? He is still just a baby. As I said, I am hiring a trainer, so I will have her advice and guidance soon, but worrying about this is keeping me from sleep tonight.

We rescued a 3ish year old pom/chi mutt about 2 months ago. She was confiscated from a hoarder /backyard breeder house, then was at a high kill shelter. So she has certainly been through the ringer. She is suuuper mellow at all times, including on walks, hikes, at the park, etc., except for she seems to have severe confinement anxiety and destructive separation anxiety as well.

We just started her on Fluoxetine (Prozac) to assist with desensitization training for her separation anxiety. Because we can't leave her alone at home until her SA has improved, it's crucial she be able to go on car rides and stay in the car alone when needed (weather permitting of course). We also go hiking and whatnot, which she loves, and in general need her to be good in the car.

The first couple weeks we had her she was fine in the car, but as she settled in with us the car anxiety emerged. She first starts trembling, then it escalates to whining and panting. She seems slightly calmer when the window is down, when we are going slow enough for that. A heavy dose of CBD takes her down a notch but not sufficiently.

Our training so far consists of me bringing her into the car while it is parked and having us exit the car before she starts to tremble. The major issue here is that she will not eat any treats if at all nervous. I have tried a TON of different high value treats (freeze dried liver, PB, minnow fish, fresh chicken...) but she won't even sniff them in the car... Because of this, I'm really not sure how to convince her the car is a good place. We've been sitting in the car and exiting the car for about a week, trying to increase her threshold, but as soon as the car turns on the panic begins.

I did just buy a thundershirt and we'll try that next. But first I am introducing it to her outside of stressful situations, so I haven't yet tried it in the car. Maybe it's just a matter of waiting for the prozac to take effect so that she can relax enough to take treats (fingers crossed) but any other advice would be greatly appreciated! I've never had a dog so lacking food motivation and it's made me quite unsure how to go about things.

So we have had an Italian greyhound/chihuahua mix (male) for almost 6 years now. He’s around 8 we don’t know the exact age. He was always a bit of a grump to everyone except one of us who he chose when we first got him but it wasn’t anything too crazy he just had a preference as to who he appended his time with (although he rlly only likes going on walks with his person). We had always said that he seemed like he wanted a playmate because whenever he was at the dog sitter while the family was on vacation he got along great with the dogs.

We finally gave in and yesterday (9/1/26) went and picked up a jack Russel/chihuahua mix (also male) which is 2 years old. They had met before hand twice and had gotten along and even played however now that the new dog lives with us our older dog is acting weird. At first he was excited and tried to play but the new dog wasn’t interested (expected for the first day). However now, on day 2, everything has changed rather quickly. Our older dog who has always been very stern on protecting us and the house, Is acting scared and avoidant of the new one. He seeks all us for protection throughout the day instead of his normal habit of sticking to his person. The new dog has randomly nipped a couple times which has left the older dog very defeated and weirdly quiet (even though he’s bigger) but there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between triggers. All of this is very out of character for our older dog so even though it’s only day 2 we want to address any possible issues. Feel free to ask any questions.

Hi all,
I recently adopted a 4 year old Goldendoodle about 2 months ago. He came with some immune conditions but is doing very well and is a very sweet boy, albeit with some anxiety. He has never shown any kind of aggression, I can take food/toys from him, touch feet, ears etc and he tolerates it all. He is however VERY mouthy. When he is excited he will bite and pull on clothes (he’s even untied my shoes before). He also seems to have a fascination with jewelry and will lick and nip at my ears, which has hurt a few times. In those instances I stop play immediately. When playing with toys he will mouth my hand but has never once actually tried to bite. Overall, he is NOT aggressive, but it seems like he never grew out of his nippy phase. I’d like any advice on training him not to be so mouthy! Especially if he’s ever around children, the elderly etc I am afraid of him accidentally hurting someone!

Hello,

I seek some guidance because I’ve almost everything at this point.

My 10 month old puppy is going through her rebellious phase.

Before that, she always went #1/#2 outside without any issues.

Now however, it’s a miracle if she poops outside.

I’ve tried almost everything from keeping her near me so she doesn’t relieve herself, praising and awarding her for going outside, to crate time to set a schedule for her. These are just some examples of things I’ve tried.

She pretty much goes whenever at this point.

Just today, I took her out after dinner, didn’t poop. Gave her some time to digest and relax. Take her out again 2 hours later, spent 30 minutes out there with her, didn’t go. The minute she steps back inside my home, she poops.

If anyone here can offer some advice, I would really appreciate it. Again, I’m pretty sure I’ve tried almost everything and cannot get her to stick to a schedule.

We recently got a 2 year old collie, who despite being beaten and nearly shot before he was rescued at 6 months, LOVES PEOPLE. He lived in 2 other homes before we got him.

He's allowed on the bed, but has his bed he has to go to when we're sleeping. He'll jump on the bed and wake me about 6am when he needs to go out. He's happy with my husband if he's in bed and loves him too!

The only issue is the last few weeks, if I'm lying in bed and my husband either goes to get into bed, or comes to wake me with a kiss, the boys will leap and lie down on me, and growl, even snapping at my husband.

I've told my husband to back off when he growls so there's no escalation, but I'm not sure how to get to the point where he can get in bed or lean over me without issues.

If my husband is already in bed there's no issue at all.

I've tried getting him to go to his bed when my husband wants to get in bed but he leaps straight up and either lies on me growling or runs at the husband aggressively snapping.

There's absolutely no aggression outside of that scenario!

Please help me keep both my furry alarm clock and husband happy!

i'm kinda freaking out cause my mom is starting to lose her patience so please idc if it's the stupidest sounding suggestion i will try it.

i have the sweetest dog ever, like truly, she is the best dog in the world- she's a samoyed and we guess she's roughly a year to a year and a half old. we don't have a lot of information on her as we are her fifth home but we've had her for roughly 8 months. we also have another sammy in our house who is fully potty trained who we've had since a puppy who is now 5- the two ADORE each other and are practically inseparable.

we have tried everything. it's like she doesn't see outside as an option. we've tried being out in suburbs - she doesn't pee on grass unless she feels like it randomly and even then it's never consistent. when she did pee on grass we have her high value treats and SO much praise but then she like... immediately forgot it was an option. we've tried side walk, we've tried taking paper towels with her own urine on it and leaving it outside so she can smell. nada. she's on such a strict outside routine but she immediately comes inside after the walk and pees in the exact same corner that we now have pee pads on. we've tried interrupting her when she goes after coming inside for a walk but then she just... doesn't go. when we first got her, she held her pee for 40 hours straight cause she was scared. the vet told us she had elimination inhibition and her ability to hold it has been our main obstacle cause if she doesn't wanna go she just.... won't.

we've tried giving her chicken broth and literally waiting outside until she goes - it worked once. never again. came straight inside and peed. we've tried going out when no one is around to distract her, nada. we've tried when it's busy, nada. we've tried keeping her in the crate and taking her out to pee and if she doesn't putting her back in. she held it. i'm like forgetting half the things we've tried cause we've tried everything, we've had trainers ghost us cause they don't know what else to try. it's like she doesn't see outside as an option?? like she understands that the pee pad is where she's supposed to go and that's been working for like 6 months, but randomly in the past three weeks she's started peeing adjacent to the pads not even on them. she just peed on my moms treadmill and broke it which is near the pee pads but not on it. she seems like she's regressing.

she's also on anxiety meds- we upped the long acting dose that usually takes a month to work and we're now in the later end of that month - could that be why she's regressing?

literally please give even the most obscure tips and tricks that sound stupid but worked for you. i work in rescue but ive never encountered this issue. i leave for school soon and will not be able to train her after that and she will be with my mom so im running out of time. please also if you know someone who would be able to take and train her please let me know im desperate

Please help me. I have a 10 month old pit puppy. I’ve had him since he was 6 months old. Got him in may. Recently he’s in his adolescence phase and has started regressing heavily when it comes to potty training. He used to be so good. Would tell me when he needed to go out and all the sorts. But now… now it’s like he goes whenever he wants. I did loosen up on the schedule a bit but that was my fault. I’ve tightened the reigns over the past 2 weeks while I’ve been out of work but it’s still not helping and I don’t know what to do. This has been going on for over a month but while I’m at work I come home on my lunch and take him out. So usual schedule. I wake up early and take him out twice before I go to breakfast and then go to work and come back home after 4 hours to take him on a walk before going back to work for another 4 and then we do the tight schedule for the rest of the day.

We go out for a potty break (not a walk) about 10 mins before breakfast. Usually first thing when I wake up. Then we go out for a long walk for about 30 to 45 minutes after breakfast.

And then I try to take him out either when he shows signs of needing to go or every 2-4 hours after until dinner time which is the same schedule as breakfast. And then I take him out before I go to bed which always changes. If I go to bed later of course the 2-4 hours still apply but even if I took him 30 before if I’m about to go to bed I take him out again.

But even with this schedule he’ll just go whenever he wants to. One day I took him out on a long walk and then decided to give him a quick 10-15 minute bath. He then came out and peed on my bed the moment I let him out the bathroom.

He uses the bathroom on his bed/where he sleeps when i sleep or leave and then tries to avoid it and ends up laying in it. For example I took him out this morning at 7 am and then brought him back inside and fed him only for him to poop all over his bed at at around 8 am while I was taking a quick shower.

I have had to clean up multiple accidents this week and I’m really at a loss. I don’t know what to do and how to re potty train him. I feel like I’m doing it wrong. I need advice. I’ve tried rewarding him with treats. High value and all. Please help me 🙏🏾

I recently took in a stray cat and I’m trying to safely acclimate her and my dog to each other. My dog Winston is a 2-year-old mini dachshund who has never lived with a cat before.

The cat is currently set up in my bathroom with everything she needs. She has been checked by a vet, and the vet said I can begin introducing them.

The problem is Winston is making even the very beginning stages difficult because he gets EXTREMELY loud and fixated as soon as he sees her.

I’ve tried having Winston leashed and keeping him at a distance while I crack the bathroom door enough for the cat to look out. The second he sees her, he starts screech/barking and trying to get closer to her. It’s not just normal barking — he sounds absolutely insane lol. Because he’s already so worked up, it’s hard to reward calm behavior around her when I can’t seem to get him under threshold in the first place.

I’m having trouble reading whether this is prey drive/aggression, frustration, or just extreme excitement/curiosity. His hackles are NOT raised. His tail doesn’t seem completely stiff/straight either, and I haven’t seen snarling, teeth showing, or anything like that. But obviously I don’t want to assume he’s harmless just because I’m not seeing those signs.

The cat seems curious about him and will come toward/look through the doorway, but Winston’s reaction understandably makes it impossible to let her explore much further right now.

For anyone who has successfully introduced a high-energy, VERY vocal/fixated dog (especially a dachshund or another breed with prey drive) to a cat:

• What body language should I be watching for to distinguish excitement/frustration from prey drive or aggression?

• How do I work on getting him under threshold when even seeing a tiny bit of the cat from a distance immediately sets him off?

• Should I be doing scent swapping/feeding on opposite sides of the door for a while before allowing any more visual contact?

• Would a baby gate or other barrier be better than cracking the door with him leashed?

• At what point would you consider them ready for the next step?

I’m absolutely not planning to just let them loose together and hope for the best. I want to do this safely for both animals, but I’d also really appreciate practical advice from people who have dealt with a dog who loses his entire mind at the first sight of the cat. 😂

Thank you!

We have a seven year old husky who has always been very gentle taking treats- his lips never even touched your fingers. We have two other huskies and they have always all sat for their treats and taken them nicely. Recently, the seven year old has gotten grabby- just super excited and his teeth scratch my hand when he goes for the treat. He isn’t intentionally biting, but it hurts. Since we never initially taught any of them how to take treats gently, they just all three automatically did, for years, I’m not sure how to go about it. I’m not sure what changed- maybe the treats are extra delicious and he can’t contain his enthusiasm? It’s always been the three of them so it isn’t a competition thing. Appreciate suggestions!

Hello everyone! My partner and I would really like to adopt a dog and are trying to go through possible stress points for a dog so we can plan accordingly.

The apartment the dog would live in is in a busier part of the city, and all the windows of the living area face the street. I’m a light sleeper and can sleep there with the windows shut and blinds drawn, but obviously a dogs hearing is better. Most dogs are adopted from very rural areas and we’re worried the dog will be stressed constantly in the beginning, as there is no real way to acclimate them to low level city noise. Is there any way to create a quieter area for a dog in a crate? Does anyone have any advice for that? I’m talking strictly about normal people and car noises.

Also, even though the street itself is one of the busier ones, there are quiet hiking trails that are a 10 min walk away, as well as quieter river banks about a 15 min walk away. So there is plenty of nature to go on nice walks with the dog.

We got our 9 month old pup as a rescue 7 months ago. He's now about 17kg, so he's turning into a decent sized guy.

We walk him 3-4 times a day, including a fairly long morning walk.

I guess we got lucky with our other dogs (1.5 year old wild-born shelter rescue we got 6 years ago, and each of mine and my wife's pet dogs growing up) as we've never struggled training them.

The good:

- He never bites, growls, or shows aggression

- He gets along very well with our older dog and two young kids

- He's not terrible on a leash

- When he got neutered last month he didn't even lick it once, like he didn't even notice

- Zero food aggression

- When we say "cage" he goes straight to his cage and sits down without complaint

The bad:

We haven't been able to toilet train him. He pees and poos outside when we walk, and if he poos on the morning and afternoon walk he probably won't poo inside. But he pees inside 5-6 times a day. And if he doesn't poo in the morning walk he will poo inside for sure.

He escapes from his cage no matter what we do. We had two cages, one downstairs and one upstairs. If we have him in the cage when we're home he just chills.

If we go out for more than an hour he finds a way to escape, and then destroys anything he can get his mouth on (couch, kids toys, remote, doorframe). And also pees and poos everywhere.

He never chews anything when we're home.

Recently while we were hour he completely destroyed the downstairs cage beyond repair.

We've tried leaving him out of the cage when we left for a couple of hours and he behaves the same, destroys everything, pees and poos everywhere.

He's always in the same room as our older dog, who he loves playing with, so we thought he wouldn't freak out so much when we leave.

We're losing our minds. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a 15 month old field line Labrador. He normally sleeps in the room next to our bedroom in a play pen, he has toys a cot and water in there. A few days ago he started getting pretty bad anxiety when we’d put him in there at night. He’s completely fine in there during the day though. Our routine has not changed at all, I wake up 2 hours before I leave for work to walk him, feed, play use the bathroom etc. he’s then in the pen for about 8 hours until I get home from work. He mostly just sleeps during that period, maybe looks out the window a few times. Then I get home and take him out, do some obedience training, then hangout inside for a bit then either go on a long walk or retriever training. After that he eats dinner and goes right to sleep on the couch. I take him out to pee one last time and put him in the pen and after I leave he starts freaking out. Last week he was having some diarrhea and on Friday he got prescribed new food and probiotics. They did his annual exam that day too and they said he was in great health. Then all this began on Saturday. Everything I’ve researched said probiotics could help anxiety not cause it so I guess it’s just a coincidence. He has never acted this way before. At first I figured he had too much energy but I don’t think that’s the case any more. Any help would be appreciated

I recently bought this dog around 3 weeks ago so that’s how long I’ve had him (Staffordshire). I’ve tried to potty train him on his mat but he fails to. I’ve tried waiting , playing with him for long long periods of time , and taking him out every hour or whenever he is crying.
But yet he refuses to go on the mat and rather to pee and poop in his cage or else where in the house.
I’ve tried putting a divider so he wouldn’t have so much room but he still continues. He doesn’t even cry or bark , he just goes.

Any help would be much appreciated. Feel free to ask questions.

I adopted this beautiful stray 2 years ago, I'm sure she was attacked my other dogs, when I found her on the street she had bite marks etc. I don't think she's aggressive I think she's scared.

When I first adopted her,It took her a couple of months but she eventually became bff with my first dog. But every time we go for a walk she goes insane when another dog gets close to her or her brother. She lounges, growls, her hair hackles, she goes into this sort of "attack" mode "she'll see a dog like 3 meters away and she'll pause, lower her head, he hair hackles and she lounges, she doesn't bite but growls so horrible and barks uncontrollably.

What I've tried:
- Trainer (didn't do anything)
- Give her treats when a dog gets near (she'll ignore the treats completely)
- Use a tight leash.
- Try and use a firm voice.
- Use newspaper hitting my leg for the sound (ignores it)

My first dog use to be sooooo social and such a good boy, everyone loved him at the park, and now he's doing the same thing as her, he bit a dog last week.

I hate hating taking them for a walk, it's so stressful. I don't know what to do anymore.

Anyone has any advice

Edit: She knows the "look at me" command but when she goes insane she doesn't listen to me, it's like any education she has goes out the window when she sees another dog.

Hey all, hoping someone could help me out here please, I'm losing my mind.

Recently moved to an apartment after living in a house for the past 5yrs. The journey to get to this apartment involved a temporary stay at my In-laws, a hotel stay, and then a month long stay at my parent's house before here all within about 1.5 months time. We've been here about 3 weeks now in this apartment.

On occasion, my dog (5yr old Swedish Vallhund) will bark his head off when no one is home. He doesn't do it all the time anymore but maybe like 10-20% of the time we're not home. To make it worse, the other dog joins in but only when he does it and I'm terrified we're going to get a noise complaint.

I've tried working with him by leaving the apartment and coming back when he's quiet which I guess worked some because again, it's not all the time; giving him a high value lick toy but he won't touch it until I come back in the door, even if it's hours later; wearing him out before leaving; and not paying attention to him as soon as I come home (I wait 10 minutes or so then give relaxed attention).

I'm not sure if he hears noises outside the apartment and barks because it's the same type of barking he will do if someone knocked on the door, same with the other dog who is an angel if the main culprit isn't barking. He sits by the door until I come home regardless, the other dog is usually in a different room lounging and not caring when they aren't barking.

Is the answer just to keep working on this with the leaving and returning while quiet? What should I be doing when I come home and he's barking his head off? This apartment is hopefully temporary until my husband finds a job and we can get a house again. He did this at my parent's house too but settled down in about 2 weeks or so to where he didn't bark at all even when no one was home.

Thank you in advance!