I started a new job and I work from 7:45 to 4:30/5ish Monday to Thursday with an hour for lunch and I always go home on my lunch break to let her out and make sure to spend some time with her. But I feel bad going to the gym. I feel like I’m leaving her home a lot by her self. I’m trying to go to the gym at 5am in stead of 6pm so that way I have the full afternoon w her when I’m not working.
Here's my Armenian Gampr NOT exploding at the fenceline!!
We were attacked by a loose pitbull in our neighborhood six weeks ago. My guy handily beat back the attacking dog but every bit of his 14,000 year old guardian DNA was activated. We have been using industrial parks after hours and Sniffspots since then to reset his cortisol while waiting for his custom BigSnoof muzzle to arrive.
We booked his favorite Sniffspot yesterday which has a hillside and boulders and trees and dirt to dig in. We've never even heard other dogs there. And the Sniffspot listing says there are no dogs visible from the property .But yesterday was different, July 4, and the neighbors were having a pool party. And their guests brought dogs.
My guy was up at the top of the hillside when he saw dogs in the yard next door. He came flying down so fast I thought he was going to hit the fence. And of course the neighbor dogs charged.
Then .... nothing happened.
Everyone politely sniffed each other and then my magnificent boy turned his back and trotted away!!!
I CRIED.
Someone was asking about snake aversion training with an ecollar and I basically commented about the HUMANE type for the snake where they are muzzled rather than defanged, and Reddit sent me this? From real Reddit, not the mods in this sub. Can we not talk about e collars anymore? Or snake training? Maybe they were worried about the snake being harmed?
After reviewing, we found that you broke Rule 1 because you threatened or encouraged violence or physical harm. Reddit is a place for creating community and belonging, not for threatening or encouraging violence. We don’t tolerate any behavior that threatens, encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual, groups of people, places, or animals. Any communities or people that threaten or encourage violence towards an individual, group, place, or animal will be banned.
As a result, we’re issuing this warning, removing the violating content, and asking you not to break this rule again.
Hello everyone I need some advice on what E Collar I should look at purchasing for my dog. I had one I got from Amazon (~$40) that I didn't really use except for when I wanted my dog to behave outside. I took my dog to the beach and he swam for the first time ever. I checked the package and it said IPX7 rated and had gotten wet before but after this swim tripit was probably fully submerged for the first time. It no longer will turn on.
My dog is a 75lb pitbull and is usually a good listener and well behaved so I wasn't using the old collar for training or anything like that. I really just used it in situations with a lot of distractions/potential issues like dog parks.
I never have to shock him, he usually responds after a few beeps or a buzz but I like having that shock functionality just in case. I've read people's recommendations to not go cheap and get the mini educator or a dogtra collar but with me only planning on using it at dog parks or beaches I just have a hard time validating a $250 E Collar.
I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations of waterproof E collars in the $100-$125 range.
I don't mind spending the $250 if that's the direction I should go but I'm interested in other options.
Thanks
Edit for title: Off leash dogs that are out of control **
My dog can be pretty nervous around unknown dogs, and unfortunately when out on walks at local parks 9 times out of 10 the dogs we pass rush over to us. I am trying to train him to be able to walk calmly past other dogs, but unfortunately since most dogs come over to us, we are at a stand still with our training. Generally these dogs aren’t just strolling over, they are running up to us in what I would think is in quite a rude manner. My dog then gets nervous when he sees them approaching and can’t follow commands. This has then led to him showing the same behaviors around dogs who just walk past, because he doesn’t know they aren’t coming over and is anticipating them coming up to him. I would be happy if he could even ignore just the dogs that walk past nicely, but I don’t see how that’s possible if he can’t distinguish between the two situations. He doesn’t know if they are leashed or not!
On the bright side, he does awesome in training sessions, like at our local dog training club or out in a busier town setting. Generally in these places, unlike at the park, dogs don’t come up to us. So he’s so good at passing by, even if they are half a meter away, he just trots on through, even creating space which is awesome! I think because he knows we are training, and he knows that in those places dogs hardly come up to him, he’s more calm and doesn’t focus as much on the other dogs. Unfortunately that isn’t something we can do everyday, and isn’t fun for him to do day after day, he loves running around at the park and being silly. But that comes at a cost :/ Now days he’s recovers better from dogs rushing over, he’s quick to get back on track to sniffing, although sometimes he can stay worked up for minutes. Which is unnecessary stress on him! There’s even a person he spots and now immediately tenses up because on how many times the dog has rudely rushed over. Thankfully she has recently started leashing her dog when she sees us!
I try to always stay calm in these situations, I don’t shout or make a big fuss, I just try to encourage him along. But that doesn’t seam to have much affect on the situation! I’m unsure what to do. I want him to be well trained, I want him to be calm around random dogs at the park, but it seams like an impossible situation. How can I train him to stay calm and not worry about other dogs, when they all rush over to him! I have occasionally tried talking to the owners, and I’m either met with a rude look and being ignored, or an argument. What else can I do? Is this a matter of more training, although I’m not sure what? Or do I need to try and deter other dogs? I have tried body blocking, which has had no effect so far, and the owners don’t care so??? Should I try a light weight bright yellow vest with “nervous” on it? Would that get people’s attention? Usually we are pretty far away from the owners when the dogs rush up, so will they even notice it? This happens at all parks, so unless I don’t walk him, I basically have to go. He’s the kind of dog that loves the environment, and it fulfills him more than anything else, so I don’t want to take that away from him!
He’s actually a really friendly dog, and he wants to say hello, but when they rush up like that it makes he very nervous and unsure. He probably goes through 2 or more greetings a day, sometimes less, depends on the day! But he hasn’t made any improvements in terms of staying calm, so I don’t think more exposure will work. I try my very best to avoid other dogs, but generally most places we walk have paths or tighter more head on tracks we have to walk through to get to more open areas, and that’s where the interactions usually happen. Should I pick him up when I spot a dog that I know is coming over? Obviously this isn’t ideal for training, but it will avoids the interaction. I wouldn’t do this with a big dog, but small dogs that can’t reach up to him? I don’t wanna look like an idiot, but I also don’t want all this stress on him. He actually has a medical condition that for some dogs has been worsened and has triggered attacks due to even small amounts of stress, and although I’m not sure if that will be the case for my dog, it’s not something I want to happen to him. So I really would like to avoid a lot of these stressful interactions. I think his way of dealing with stressful dogs can look like play to someone who doesn’t know his behaviors, so maybe some people think he’s playing? Could the other dogs think he’s playing and that’s why they chase him around? Or are they just rude? Honestly I’m so unsure of what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi all! It is the second day that my puppy is using E collar. Larry Krohn has an amazing YouTube playlist on how to properly use the collar. Before I did any research on this tool, I really didn’t want to use it because I thought it was painful, but I used it on myself before I put it on my puppy and it just feels like a light tap on the lowest perceived sensitivity level which was level six for me. There’s a total of 100 something levels I think.
I’m planning to teach my dog off leash recall for when I want to go biking together. He still loves the swirly slide and he hardly ever gives me any chance to use the Ecollar because he learns so quickly. I make sure to give him treats every single time I use that ecollar. It’s really amazing to see him always come when I ask him to. Enjoy!
I’ve had my puppy for a month now she currently 14 weeks old and I feel like she does not like me
I make sure she has everything she needs I train her, play with her, try to be fun and interesting but i don’t think she likes me, I feel like she just tolerates me because I feed her
When I haven’t seen her for a while she does get excited but when I sit down or start to play with her she just does her own thing, which is great bc I don’t want her to become really anxious when I leave to do things but at the same time I feel like she loves being around my other family members so much more
It’s just really upsetting as I love her so much and I want to be her favourite person but I don’t know how I can do that for her
I know she’s a puppy still and a bond takes time , but i feel like the bad guy when I’m disciplining her not because I do it a mean way it’s just I say “no” to her and take anything away anything which she’s not ment to have bc no one else in my family does and now she never wants to be near me every time i go near her or give her a toy she will sit away from me and sometimes not on my bed anymore ( i have stairs so she can get on my bed )
I’ve been trying to hand feed her near me and treat her when she sat on my lap but I don’t know if it’s helping much
I feel so confused as I keep comparing me and my puppy to me and my sisters and her puppy loves her and sits of her laps,
Plays with her and her puppy even gets excited to see me and sit on my laps
I know puppy’s are all different but I wish she could be a bit more cuddly or even give me a bit more attention
Hi, I recently adopted a 1 year old rescue dog (Speculated to be a Staffy-jack mutt), and I’ve been researching ways to train him. He’s not a bad dog, but he has some problems we have been working on.
As I’ve been researching, I’ve come across a lot of different opinions about different ways to train, and sometimes it confuses the heck out off me. So far, I’ve been sticking to positive reinforcements, but pretty much all of my other family members believe in a more traditional approach to training, however that’s not the point of this post.
One thing that I’ve seen a lot of conflicting opinions on is how to walk a dog. I’ve seen some people say to keep a very structured walk, only let the dog sniff and go to the bathroom on your accord, and they must stay in a heel position the rest of the time. However, I’ve also seen the opposite too, where you should let your dog sniff wherever and go potty wherever because it’s good enrichment for the dog and they can just be dogs.
As of right now, I let my dog sniff where he wants to sniff and go potty where he wants. I’d say he’s quite well mannered on the leash, since he doesn’t pull majority of the time, and when he does feel any leash pressure, he will come back to me or wait a little (if he’s ahead) and continue walking. I still set the pace and direction, stop when I want to, and practice some training while we’re outside.
As I keep going on my journey to training my dog, I really appreciate any advice that can help me either improve or understand my dog better.
(Sorry if this post is confusing at all or if I made any mistakes in writing, Im currently writing this past midnight)
TLDR: Should I keep my dog on a tighter leash when walking or let him continue to walk unstructured?
​
Sorry this is a long one.
Hi. I really need some help with a dog we have just rescued.
Here is some background and information on the dog
\-name Atari
\-age 2years 9months
\-breed cane corso mix (unsure with what we think some kind of bully/pittie breed)
\- acquired her from a rescue
\- she was rescued as a young pup found as a stray ( around 6-8month old)
\-she was in the rescue for 300 days before we took her home (the rescue referred to her as institutionalised as she had never had a proper home)
\- usually such a well mannered, polite, well behaved corso
\-weary of strangers (expected she's bred to be)
\- a tiny bit fearful of barking/growling/stiff body language dogs (guessing from bad experience as a stray) also fearful of things that sound like dogs (car exhaust pops, low engine growls)
So, when I take her on a walk and let her off the lead to let her have more freedom she seems to go crazy and start biting my arms, clothes, jumping at my face and recently she's ever started to bite legs and ankles.
To give a more clear example this is what happened this morning.
\- taken for a walk at 6:20am on a slip lead
\- walk her to a quiet grassy spot with no one around.
\- drop the lead on the quiet grassy spot and start walking away to get the dogs attention.
\- she follows in a heel.
\- I tell her to sit, she sits
\- I scatter treats, she goes to find them.
\- we practice sit and stay.
\- put her in a sit, walk away, she stays I come back with a treat
\- do a few reps of this.
\-last rep I come back to give a treat, she goes wild starts jumping at me and biting.
\- maybe she wants to play tug, I pull her rope from around my neck.
\- will not redirect.
\- stops for a second after being told no.
\- try to redirect again with rope
\- ignored rope and bites arms and hands instead.
\- im now cut and bleeding from her bites.
\- will not stop, will not be redirected, will not listen to commands.
\- she rips the pocket off of my jacket
\- I'm forced to physically restrain her by grabbing her head and mouth to get my arm out of her mouth.
\- goes to re-bite, I'm forced to pin her for my safety.
\- grab the slip lead to control her and let her up
\- she starts biting at arms and hands again
\- forced to pull up on the slip lead to choke her off my arms
Now I don't like being this physical with my dog, I hate it, I know it can damage the relationship with her and she has let out a little yelp when I had to pin her. It hurts my heart so much but when she is pulling my skin (my clothes are replaceable, my skin hurts a lot more) and ripping it, unfortunately I don't have much other choice because she won't listen.
I try everything everyone says. Redirect, ignore, scatter treats, turn your back, cross your arms, walk away. It just doesn't work. If she starts getting bitey in the house she redirects with a toy quite well.
We have worked with a "trainer" who has said "oh this is an easy fix" but everything we have been told to do but her doesn't work and I'm not willing to stand there whilst Atari is biting me waiting for her to get bored a smaller dog maybe but not a 30kg corso with a bite force stronger than a lion.
Please any advice would be great and yes I know pinning her is not recommended I really don't want to do that so please don't tell me it's wrong, I know. I had no other choice. Please I need other alternatives which aren't the previously mentioned methods.
Hey everyone,
So let me introduce my 13-month-old corgi, who's an absolute sweetheart. He's playful, cuddly, and obedient. He does really well both in the city and in the countryside, he's pretty curious, and of course, like any good corgi, he loves to eat. The problem is that for a few months now (three months exactly), he's become extremely reactive toward intact (uncastrated) dogs. Even though he isn't neutered himself, he's always super playful with females and neutered males to the point where he won't even react if he gets picked on. But whenever he meets an intact male, he kicks off almost instantly and completely loosing it.
My wife and I take care of him every day, and I know he's never had a bad experience, he's never been attacked anywhere, even though he sometimes ran into unfriendly dogs, in which case he'd just walk away and never look for a fight. On top of that, he grew up with two neighborhood dogs he sees daily, a Shiba and a corgi, both intact males all well behaves. While he's never had an issue with the other corgi, he does get into fights with the Shiba every now and then, seemingly out of nowhere.
It's really striking because he's always been so gentle, and this sudden ultra-dominant shift toward other males happened literally overnight. These days I don't really dare walk him off-leash anymore, and I avoid parks where he might run into other loose dogs, because I know he'd start a fight instantly.
I imagine the logical next step is to neuter him, but I'm worried I missed something in his training and that neutering won't change anything. To be honest, I still don't know what the right reaction is when he meets a dog and starts getting tense. Should I correct him firmly, reassure him, or just let them sort it out? Even at the risk of my dog's health and the other dog's?
I adopted my 3 months old dachshund a month ago, and wasn't able to train him well at all for mostly doing his business outside and biting me (but wait- he can seat!).
I was looking for a course online and saw Ethan Mcmahon a lot on Instagram and loved his videos.
I saw that he has a complete puppy training course but I saw it costs **150 dollars.**
Because of what I consider a high cost I searched for reviews online but didn't find anything.
Anyone tried this course and has any opinion?
Do you have any other recommendations? it's really tough and I am really desperate.
Thanks
Im venting here... but it has to go somewhere. I run puppy classes and I am amazed and burned out from the numbers of first time dog owners, or just average people who have kids, a fulltime job and normal lives, choosing to buy a puppy that was designed to work.
It is common for issues show up before 6 months and a huge amount of my time is spent explaining the genetics of a working cocker, or working line retriever and how to direct them into a retrieve while they are young and why!
I have owners taking on patterdales and not having a clue what they were designed for or how to fullfill a terrier through play and a substitute job.
The problem of education does not seem to be improving. Breeds do matter. Focusing drive early does matter.
If people researched properly what would suit their lifestyle, a show retriever or lab would be fine for an active home.
First post here, so please forgive me and help redirect me if there’s a more appropriate place for this post.
I’ll preface with my experience, followed by a ton of context, then my current problem:
I’ve never participated in hunt-test games, but I have trained a few dogs to fairly high levels for being a casual/novice trainer, and am fairly fluent in training lingo/behaviorism, and I’m what you’d maybe call a “balanced” trainer. I’m fairly confident in saying that any of my dogs could pass a Seasoned/Senior test, and maybe even some of the Finished/Master setups in the HRC/AKC games I’ve seen… with the exception of one of my dogs.
I have a Boykin Spaniel, currently 18 months old, who was a precocious little guy who was on track to being a star. A marking fool, and was well on his way through a lot of the “advanced handling” yard work by eight-nine months, and retrieving Canada geese as a 33 lbs little nugget.
Late last summer we had an incident in the water — I don’t know what — where he got spooked. Little guy was doing a ≈65 yard water mark (2 inch white dummy for reference), got within 5 yards of it, noped out of the retrieve and came back to me. I lined him up, sent him again, and the same thing happened. I lined him up a third time and he gave me a no-go, so I picked him up right then and there so as not to reinforce “no-going” on marks. For reference, we were on private training grounds that the dog was comfortable and familiar with, so novelty wasn’t the issue. I’m fairly convinced there was something environmental that spooked him (submerged branch, sudden water temp change, snapping turtle, big fish, who knows).
Two days later we went to a public, but low-traffic park with a nice clean, shallow pond to do some water work. No hesitance to get in the water. Retrieve number three and a big GSP came out of nowhere, hopped in the pond and went after the little guy. Owner shows up and manages to call their dog off long enough for my dog to gtfo before the GSP went after him again on land. No good. I separated the dogs, picked my guy up, cussed the owner out and we gtfo of there.
Couple days later we went to a neighbor’s pond where no one else was around, and he wouldn’t get in the water. Understandable. We make it short and fun, and we stop as soon as I get him to just dip his toes in the water. We go back a couple days later and he’s swimming pretty quick, but promptly got tangled up in a hose for an aerator/fountain thing that I didn’t know was out in the middle of the pond… no bueno, I know. I should have checked the water more thoroughly.
Anyways, three bad incidents in a short period of time right before little man’s first duck season, and he was AFRAID of water, but we worked hard, made it fun, and got through it in time for him to have a hell of first duck season.
Flash forward to this spring and we start water work up again and he doesn’t want to get in the water. No surprise. It’s taken a couple months but now he’s back to enjoying the water, and “asking” to go swimming AND IM SO PROUD OF THE LITTLE BUGGER
SO: HERE’S MY ACTUAL PROBLEM: He used to retrieve objects with his mouth fully out of the water. Now, he keeps his nose up, but mouth down and he fills up with water. I figured if I start having him retrieve bigger and heavier things he’ll work harder to keep his head up, but that hasn’t helped either. When he’s just swimming he’s fine, it’s only when he’s retrieving that he has his mouth open and under water. After some long retrieves he sometimes throws up because he’s so full of water. Not ideal, for obvious reasons.
So, how can I train him to keep his head up? I’ve tried bigger objects, and I’ve tried getting out in the water with him and “luring” him to keep his head up with little success. I really try and keep our sessions short, and conflict/pressure free because he’s had so many shitty experiences in the water (and they’ve largely been my fault, I know).
Given all of the above, do any of you have any advice for this? Should I just roll with it and hope that he’ll figure it out on his own? He’s back to enjoying water work and I want to keep it that way, and want to minimize anything that might compromise that. I’ve never had a dog with this problem, and I’m certainly a little out of my element on this.
Woof. Long post. Anyways. Thank you so much for your help.
Hello!
My girlfriend and I recently adopted a 6 month old puppy. We have had him for a few months now, and have seen a ton of progress in his behavior, intellect, tricks, etc. One thing we have noticed/were told about him is he has a bit of a herding dog species mixed in him. He loves to sprint circles around us at the park, is concerned when someone is leaving a group of people or a certain area, and appears to “nudge” our cats around with his snout playfully. So, the herding aspect of his breed mix makes sense and shows in his personality.
I’ve been wondering if there are cool tips or tricks anyone has found to entertain or provide a comfortable atmosphere for a dog with traits like this. Or rather, how can we allow him to exercise his herding traits without actually having a herd of sheep for him to chase around?
He is sweet and curious about everything. Since he is so young he can get overstimulated with new experiences. Overall, he has been doing so well though. We would just love to continue to provide him new and effective ways to train him in a positive environment. We recently discovered having bones, toys, or something to chew on is helpful in stressful moments. So any and all tips for anxiety, excitement, and general dog care would be great!
My ~6 year old red heeler erupts in a short fit of barking/howling whenever someone arrives at or enters the house. Sometimes she even does this when someone leaves and re-enters the room she’s in. This happens not only in our house, but also when she’s in someone else’s house, or even outside sometimes if someone appears unexpectedly.
It also doesn’t really matter who the person is, or if she can even see them. It could be me, a family member, a stranger, a knock at the door, or someone coming into the house, heard from another room.
Overall, she’s not a super anxious dog, but the barking does seem to be out of temporary fear/surprise. It‘s always a loud fast bark that often turns into more of a howl, like the dog equivalent of “OMG OMG AHHHHH OMG”. It happens regardless of whether she’s got a lot of pent up energy or she’s completely wiped out from a full day of activity.
She approaches whoever is entering somewhat timidly with her spine hairs raised, while howl barking, but almost always ends up happily greeting the person and then running to find a toy to bring them. She‘s never been aggressive towards someone entering, past barking at them in a defensive way temporarily.
She’s a very smart dog, and pretty easily trained when it comes to doing something on command, but teaching her not to do something has proven much more difficult. Not sure where to even start with training her out of this. I’ve tried redirecting her to a toy or treat, but she refuses to acknowledge the distraction till she’s fully completed her barking fit, and then it feels like I’m just rewarding her for barking a bunch and then coming to me.
I‘d greatly appreciate any advice from more knowledgeable dog trainers.
…and approaching most dogs like that’s the case is a recipe for disaster and will inevitably harm dogs.
Learning from such a trainer is a mistake for any trainer who doesn’t have strong foundations.
If your training skill set isn’t diverse, flexible, and open-minded, you’re severely limiting yourself as a trainer.
A strong trainer can meet owners where they are and adjust their approach within reason.
Seeking enemies in the training community is actually harmful to dogs.
Ego is bad for dog training.
Focusing on the most aggressive dogs doesn’t serve the greatest good as it limits the capacity to help more dogs.
This is especially true in the shelter setting. Overpopulation, dogs not moving, limited staff and limited skills can make euthanizing for resolvable issues the correct move as it allows more resources to go to more dogs.
I’m seeking some assistance or advice.
I have a 14-week-old golden retriever, and he’s incredibly adorable. However, whenever he’s around my children, he consistently jumps on them and attempts to bite them. I’m at a loss on how to train him to refrain from doing this to other people. He doesn’t exhibit this behavior towards me or my husband, it’s solely directed towards the kids. My children are 16, 9, and 4 years old. He follows a sleep schedule, and I have been actively training him or allocating sufficient playtime for him. The moment he sees the kids, he jumps on them and bites their clothes.
Despite my efforts, he has mastered almost every command I’ve attempted to teach him, except for this particular issue.
Underground parking garages! If you live in a city, give your scardy dog a fun, tiring day while the sun is up, then go for a quick drive underground to wait out the noises. I’d highly recommend parking near the fan and setting up a WiFi camera for peace of mind if you’re going to go watch the fireworks yourself, but the risk is very low considering underground parking garages don’t overheat even if it’s hot out and have good airflow.
One of my dogs is terrified of fireworks and nothing has helped to alleviate that. Even drugs. She was adopted and was an outdoor dog in Oklahoma as a puppy so we think she probably experienced thunder and fireworks repeatedly to the point that counter conditioning has been extremely difficult for her despite success with all of our other dogs. We’re in a World Cup host city so there have been fireworks nightly for the past month, I can’t even hear it since it’s far away but she has been cowering and hiding in the bathroom nightly. She’s incontinent and when she’s scared she won’t go outside so there’s been accidents as well. It hurts my heart.
Last year we came up with the underground parking garage idea, and she slept through the night last 4th and was even comfortable enough to go on a night walk after so we doubt she noticed the fireworks at all. There actually were multiple other cars with dogs down there so it’s not an original idea at all, but I thought I would share.
I don't really know why I'm writing this, I think I just need to say it to people who actually get it.
My dog is Kira, she's a 4 year old Malinois. I found out after getting her that she came from one of those breeders just pumping out puppies for money, no thought to temperament or socialisation, so she started off behind before I even met her. I didn't even really understand what "reactive" meant until I was already deep in it.
The thing that's slowly breaking me is off-leash dogs with no recall. That's my nightmare. Because when it's on-leash I can manage — I scan ahead, I cross the street, I do my u-turns, I walk at weird quiet hours so we don't run into anything. But an off-leash dog that won't leave us alone? I'm helpless.
There was this one time with a poodle. Off leash, just coming at us, and Kira started lunging and barking and completely losing it. I'm trying to get space but the dog keeps following, right up in her face, and I'm basically yelling at the owner to please come get his dog — and he's just… strolling over. Slowly. Laughing. "Oh he's friendly!" Like it's nothing. Meanwhile Kira is so far over threshold she could've actually bitten his dog, and it would've been on ME. That's what makes me insane — I'm the one doing everything right, and I'd be the one in trouble, because some guy thinks "friendly" means his dog gets to run up on whoever it wants. I was shaking after. Kira was a wreck for the rest of the walk.
We've tried, by the way. Almost two years with one trainer, one on one and then group classes — she got okay with the same dogs that came every week but strangers in the real world, nothing changed. Then a second trainer with a lot of corrections and tools that just felt wrong and didn't help, so I stopped.
I've mostly stopped expecting her to become "normal" and I just try to make her days easier now. Some days are still awful. But some are quietly okay, which two years ago I didn't think we'd get.
Anyway — how do you all deal with the off-leash "he's friendly" people?? Genuinely. Do you say something, carry anything, have a line that works? Because clearly yelling isn't it and I'm losing my mind out here.
I've started documenting our journey a bit too, it's in my profile if anyone wants to follow along — but mostly I just needed to get this off my chest today.