u/Artistic-Unit8965

my partner and i adopted our dog (2 yr old rescue cattle/pittie/collie mix) about nine months ago and it’s been a tough year with lots of ups and downs. the first two months she was an angel (dog friendly, human friendly, cuddly) and then when she got settled she became dog-reactive. we live in nyc in a neighborhood with lots of dogs so this made it extremely stressful every time we left the house with her. we started working on training in december and it got incrementally better but we only saw real progress after sending her to a 3week board and train.

we’re now a month out from the b&t and we’ve seen huge improvement. she can now pass other dogs calmly on the street, walk on a loose-ish leash, and settle outside for an hour or two without being frantic/hyper-vigilant/whimpering. this has been amazing and has opened up her world. we take her to more places now, hike with her, and just took her on her first camping trip. all of this is great news and yet i still can’t shake the feeling that she has “problems” i need to “fix.”

she has little to no interest in playing (she’ll tug a bit in the house but won’t engage in tug/fetch/anything when outside). she spends a lot of her indoor time under our bed. she doesn’t run to the door when we get home. and she pants often. she’ll often come up to us for pets but then when we start petting her she’ll pant quite a bit and then after a minute or two abruptly leave.

all these signs make me feel like she’s still stressed/anxious and i just don’t know how to help her. and on the worst days, it makes me feel like she doesn’t like us :( i see other dogs at the park so engaged with their owners and playing fetch and being so happy-go-lucky and it makes me sad that i’ve never experienced that with my dog.

we try so hard to make sure we’re doing her training things and keeping her fulfilled and exercised but also well slept and with boundaries but also with lots of love. sometimes i just feel like nothing will work or that it’s never enough.

I adopted a cattle dog pit bull mix last October and have been working on her dog reactivity the last few months with mild progress. we’ve lowered her threshold to when she gets riled up/barks but we still can’t pass another dog on the same side of the street.

she’s extremely calm and a huge cuddle bug inside but as soon as we get outside she’s on high alert and seems wired. she’s constantly scanning and hunting, peering into neighbors lawns looking for squirrels, rats, etc. This wired/erratic vibe also contributes to the reactivity because she’s already halfway to blowing up before even seeing a dog.

we do a lot of counter conditioning and also tethering/“watching the world go by” but after 6 months she still can’t even sit in the park for 5 mins without crying, whimpering, pulling to leave and continue hunting. shes also so wired when outside that she won’t play w toys (she takes treats when outside but won’t fetch/tug even though she loves that when indoors).

Any advice? i want to be able to bring my dog to a picnic in the park and have her chill or even just be able to actually play outside with her.