u/Paigeqx

Hi guys. I have a 15 month old unneutered Spoo (waiting until growth plates close, neutering at \~18 months) who is struggling immensely. He's getting nice long sniffy walks nearly daily (2hrs max), sometimes we take a break day or two here and there and focus on mental stimulation and rest, lots of exercise, training, brain games and whatnot — but it feels like he's actually regressing in nearly every way imaginable.

He has been throwing himself at people, dogs, and things that seem 'exciting' to him such as poles or places that have a scent that catches his attention. He has never in his life done anything like this, really. Him throwing himself at people or dogs to greet/play with them is entirely new. He's always had mostly neutral interactions with dogs on leash (interactions as in, able to acknowlege and walk away without getting over aroused and approaching said dog) and I have always worked incredibly hard on training neutrality around people. On top of all of that he's mostly always been able to keep a loose leash and rarely tugged me along to a scent.

The way I'm planning on combating all of this is completely reverting to basics. I want to start impulse control games again, but I don't have many in my arsenal — so please, give me any and all impulse control game suggestions! Next, I plan on working on disengaging. I am going to start utilising my boot of my car, and doing neutrality training (again 🥲) around people, dogs and children. I am going to start working on loose leash walking in familiar places where he's bound for success, like home, our driveway and whatnot. And finally, I want to help teach him how to regulate his emotions, but I'm genuinely not sure how to do that. Impulse training should hopefully tie into emotional regulation..?

But please, any advice or help would be SO appreciated. I have always put my all into this dog, and tried so hard to build his foundation. He's always been incredible, (still is) and even while he's struggling you can see the effort I've put in shine through — but man was today hard, genuinely felt like my foundation I built so carefully crumbled away and like I was handling a whole different dog. Adolescence + hormones is genuinely so hard to navigate. Never had the puppy blues, but boy oh boy.. this might come close.

Hi guys. I have a 15 month old unneutered Spoo (waiting until growth plates close, neutering at ~18 months) who is struggling immensely. He's getting nice long sniffy walks nearly daily (2hrs max), sometimes we take a break day or two here and there and focus on mental stimulation and rest, lots of exercise, training, brain games and whatnot — but it feels like he's actually regressing in nearly every way imaginable.

He has been throwing himself at people, dogs, and things that seem 'exciting' to him such as poles or places that have a scent that catches his attention. He has never in his life done anything like this, really. Him throwing himself at people or dogs to greet/play with them is entirely new. He's always had mostly neutral interactions with dogs on leash (interactions as in, able to acknowlege and walk away without getting over aroused and approaching said dog) and I have always worked incredibly hard on training neutrality around people. On top of all of that he's mostly always been able to keep a loose leash and rarely tugged me along to a scent.

The way I'm planning on combating all of this is completely reverting to basics. I want to start impulse control games again, but I don't have many in my arsenal — so please, give me any and all impulse control game suggestions! Next, I plan on working on disengaging. I am going to start utilising my boot of my car, and doing neutrality training (again 🥲) around people, dogs and children. I am going to start working on loose leash walking in familiar places where he's bound for success, like home, our driveway and whatnot. And finally, I want to help teach him how to regulate his emotions, but I'm genuinely not sure how to do that. Impulse training should hopefully tie into emotional regulation..?

But please, any advice or help would be SO appreciated. I have always put my all into this dog, and tried so hard to build his foundation. He's always been incredible, (still is) and even while he's struggling you can see the effort I've put in shine through — but man was today hard, genuinely felt like my foundation I built so carefully crumbled away and like I was handling a whole different dog. Adolescence + hormones is genuinely so hard to navigate. Never had the puppy blues, but boy oh boy.. this might come close.

I got a Canon R10 two or so months ago now, and I’m really enjoying it! At the moment I mostly use the RF 50mm f/1.8 and the RF 100–400mm f/5.6–8, which both work incredibly well for me. I do a lot of pet, nature, landscape, bird photography + more as I'm a general allrounder and am trying to find my thing! I just feel like there’s a bit of a gap in the middle that I’m not covering.

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For those who aren't aware, my lenses are full frame, and my R10 is APS-C, so they effectively act as roughly 80mm for the 50mm and about 160–640mm for the 100–400mm. I have a RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1, and the base kit lens for my canon (RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3) as well, but I think I plan to sell them to help fund my next lens.

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Does anyone have any recommendations for a lens that would fill that space? Ideally budget friendly (under or just over 1k!), please and thanks! Am thinking of looking into reputable 3rd party lenses like Tamron. :)

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For me, it was learning not to be afraid of pushing ISO when I needed to. (I'm still a beginner and am looking to improve.)

My 1 year old male standard poodle is very food motivated and LOVES training, which is great, but he tends to build up excitement really quickly. He starts jumping around, getting sloppy, over offering behaviours, and seems almost frustrated/excited when trying to earn rewards.

For context, I use positive reinforcement based training and my main focus is on building trust and emotional regulation rather than relying on correction based methods (nothing against those methods, they're just not for me). What I’m trying to work on is calmer focus and more thoughtful engagement instead of high arousal “throw every behaviour at the wall” energy. I don’t want to dampen his enthusiasm at all, just help him regulate it better during training sessions. 😅

I’ve been using reinforcement games where he works for his food and I’ve already noticed improvements. He’s less barky in his crate and his overall training drive is becoming more structured. One of the games involves him holding a heel while I walk around with his food, and he absolutely locks in, calm, clear, focused, then gets his release cue. If I hold the heel too long while he’s off leash he eventually breaks position, which makes sense as we’re still building duration and impulse control. It’s been really encouraging because it shows he can access that calm, focused state. He just seems to tip into over arousal quite quickly, or possibly struggles a bit with frustration tolerance during training.

Would love to hear what helped your dogs learn calmer engagement during training, especially with high drive or very enthusiastic dogs. Thanks :)

Hey everyone, I’m thinking about adding the Canon RF 100–400mm to my lens lineup for my Canon R10 and wanted to get some opinions from people who’ve used it. I mainly shoot birds, wildlife, dogs, nature, and landscapes and am quite new to it all. I already have the RF 50mm f/1.8 and the RF 55–210mm f/5–7.1, and I’m looking to add something with more reach for distant subjects and better overall performance in that range.

From what I’ve seen so far, the RF 100–400mm looks like a really solid option for wildlife and bird photography on the R10, but I’d love to hear real world experiences with it, especially autofocus, sharpness, and general usability. Would you recommend it as a good addition, or are there other lenses in a similar range worth considering? I should add that I do have an EF to RF Adapter, so doesn't need to be just RF. Thanks all :)

BUDGET: $2000ish, flexible