r/OpenDogTraining

I sent my dog to board and train for almost 2 years. I pulled him out after witnessing some questionable things the trainer was doing.

For example, the trainer was trying to teach me a training technique to keep the dog behind me while I walk in tight spaces by kicking up my back feet and encouraging me to kick harder if the dog didn’t understand. This made me uncomfortable.

The trainer would slam the kennel doors in the dogs’ faces to teach them boundaries. I don’t mean lightly tapping, full on slams in the face. This made me uncomfortable.

This trainer excessively used AI for everything including her training techniques, daily life, and would even just talk to it for fun. This made me uncomfortable.

I witnessed this trainer throw metal dog bowls full force at dogs’ kennels when they were whining on multiple occasions. This made me uncomfortable.

I volunteered a lot and watched my dog and others in the facility sit in kennels for 10+ hours a day only to be let out to go potty or get water. This made me the most uncomfortable.

I could go on.

I took my dog back and immediately saw that he knew practically nothing. He could barely stay in his sit. The worst part about this is that he’s extremely nervous. We do conformation and he just melts to the ground every time. He’s great in conformation class, but if he doesn’t know you, he doesn’t want to be touched.

I have tried everything. Literally everything to fix his nervousness. It is not genetic, I have had multiple professional evaluations and am in contact with his littermates and know his lines well. This is learned behavior. I am so worried that he’s broken.

I need help, I need to know if he’s going to be like this forever or if I can do more to help him realize that the whole world isn’t going to eat him just because someone is approaching to touch him for 2 seconds in the ring.

I put him in a different program to see if that would help and it did a little bit, but today, we had a friend over that he had never met before. I set him up in a stack and asked the friend to approach and just like every time in the ring, he melts, won’t let him touch, etc.

Afterwards, I let him meet the friend and then he’s just fine. Set him up again, friend approached, absolutely no reaction. Stood for the friend nicely, let him examine.

I am at my wits end. How do I help my dog? Should we give up showing?

We adopted my dog 2.5 years ago. From what we know he was about 4yrs old when we adopted him. He’s a pretty anxious dog and doesn’t seem to have been socialized much during his early years.

After about 3 months with us he started aggressively barking at my husband in the middle of the night. After a few nights of it happening we thought it was because he was bothered by how my husband breathes while he sleeps. We bought a white noise machine and the barking at night stopped.

However, the aggressive behavior with my husband continues and has worsened. If my husband is working at his desk and I’m on the couch he will randomly start aggressively barking at my husband. If my husband goes to the bathroom in the middle of the night I have to cover my dogs faces for him to be able to get back in bed without being barked at. If in the morning when we wake up my husband gets up from the bed while my dog is still on the bed he starts aggressively barking.

It’s never as bad if I’m not home, but even then he’s goes through periods of time where he won’t let my husband grab him to go outside. We find it weird that this behavior occurs considering he spends a majority of his time with my husband as he works remotely. While my husband gives our dog a lot of love and attention, the aggressive barking has created a very unpleasant environment for my husband. He feels like he can never be at peace in his own home and cant even walk to the bathroom or around our house in peace. Not only is this frustrating for us, but we do worry about the future if we have kids how our dog will be.

Any advice on why this might be happening or what we can do to improve it would help.

There are a lot of dogs that bark and lunge behind fences in my area, so it's basically impossible to avoid them. When I take my puppy (4 months old) out on sniff walks, I keep moving and encourage him to continue walking with me. He's not naturally the most confident around other dogs, but he'll walk past them without barking or lunging himself. Once we've passed the barking dog and created some distance, I'll click and treat, and he usually takes the treat and goes back to sniffing. This approach seems to be working so far, but I wanted to check whether this is the best way to handle it. I really don't want to inadvertently cause reactivity, but I also don't want to avoid passing these dogs either.

Hi all, I have a Malamute/Samoyed boy, 7.5 months old. I need real stories of people in the same situation as me (happy or not so happy stories). My situation:
- we got him when he was 2 months, been with us all the time
- his first encounter with another dog was with a very sweet well behaved lab and since then his brain just got wired that a dog is the best thing is his life
- been to puppy training and teenager training when he was 3-4 months. It was very hard for him to concentrate on me with other dogs around, but it was also a bit easier for me to hold him back then...
- he stops and stares at the other dogs on walks and if he is close enough he would pull, regardless if he chokes himself
- when he was a puppy we took him to the doggy forest, he would play a lot off leash with his friends, but he wouldn't care if we were there or not, his whole world were the other dogs
- he never had a bad experience with a dog, he was never aggressive with a dog
- I am working with an online trainer currently. My strategy is the "usual one": keep enough distance so he can focus on you, reward when he looks etc. I have been doing this for 4-5 months, but I can't say that things improved, we still need at least 15-30 meters for him to react a bit to me (depending if the other dog is interested in him too)
- at home he is a good dog, we train, he can be home alone, we play, I can take his food, I go first out the door, he is okish with loose leash walking etc. He is a bit of a teenager lately, but nothing that we cannot manage

- we stopped going to the doggy forest, now he plays with his friend maybe once every 2 weeks. His brain is completely off when he knows he will play (we drive there)

- we stopped greeting other dogs when walking, we greeted 3 dogs in the last 4-5 months and that's because they were right around the corner....

I have read tons of articles, talked to people, currently working with the trainer etc. The general opinion is that he should socialise but he cannot say hi when he is out of control and pulls like that. What I need is not advice from trainer or advice from a book. I need real stories in situations like mine and how they developed (and real timelines, even though I am afraid of what that could be...). Thank you!

We have an almost 10 week old golden puppy and she is a MENACE. She's a field line and she is the working pick of the litter. I work with dogs and I'm pretty skilled, especially with older puppies, but this girl is a whirlwind. She is probably the most confident puppy I've ever met and she is soooo smart.

What are the best things you did with your high energy pups? What do you wish you'd done? What are your favorite games, activities, and enrichment ideas for a dog this age?

I have a 12-13 week goldendoodle. He’s a dream in every other department besides sleeping in his crate.

We have good nights and bad. Naps are typically a shit show but it’s easier to stick to my guns by staying busy with some air pods in my ears during. He falls asleep eventually but it’s still with 15-30 mins of barking.

I’m not sure when it’s appropriate to rough out the 1am, 3am, 4:30am wakings though. He goes to bed at 8:30 easily. Typically sleeps until the hours above. Sometimes he does 8-4:30 so I know he can do it. The barking makes my skin crawl and there’s no escaping it in my house at night. I’m not sure if I’m encouraging the night wakings by taking him out. I keep it boring and quiet and he goes right back in no barking after so that’s easier than just having him cry it out but I’m still tried as shit. I’d compromise and even love just one night waking at 1am for an age appropriate potty break.

Long weekend is coming up so I’ll have 3 soild nights where I don’t have to worry about getting good sleep for work and able to try some things.

Info: eats dinner at 4pm, water up at 7pm. He’s in my (walk in) closer with a cover and white noise. Not sure if moving him close to my bed would help but if it doesn’t I’m screwed for the night.

Any suggestions?

So basically I adopted my dog a little over a year ago. He is such a good dog, but since I’ve gotten him, he is OBSESSED with people. Like has no concept of personal boundaries and is on top of everyone all the time. He is 70 lbs, so not an ideal lapdog for everyone.

ALSO: I HAVE TWO ROOMMATES AND HE SCRATCHES/BARKS/CRIES AT DOOR UNTIL HE CAN COME BACK IN. HES A VELCRO DOG SO CVILL ON ME

That said, I was wondering if anyone has ever had issues with your dog being very invasive during intimacy. It makes dating so hard. He jumps on the bed in the middle of intimacy, and it’s so hard to get him down. I have to stop a handful of times to get her down. I literally don’t know what to do and it’s an awkward thing to get training for. Has anyone experienced this? If so, any tips PLEASE

I (19, F) have a 3 year old Shih Tzu/Bichon Frise mix. He's bit me before, but it was when he was a puppy and he never broke skin. It was my fault because I grabbed him in a way that I never grabbed him before, but I didn't think he would bite me.

Tonight, I was exercising in the living room for the first time in a while and he stepped on my new mat. He scratched up my old mat and had a couple of accidents on it when he was a puppy, so this time I tried to tell him to stay off the mat. It was a new command for him, but he kept walking on it and sitting on it, so I picked him up and placed him on the floor. The first time I picked him up I think he thought it was a game, so he sat on the mat again. The second time I picked him up I grabbed a little bit too low (my right hand was on his ribs like normal but my left hand was below them) and he bit my left wrist. When he bit me in the past, he used to just snip at me but this time he growled and held on for longer. Like his top teeth basically grazed my hand and I have two bloody punctures from his bottom teeth and one from his top (3 level 3 bites I think).

I know it was because he was in pain, but after I yelled at him because I don't want him biting anyone else. My mom's always had some anxiety with dogs which is why we got a little one, but since he bit me so hard she wants to give him away. I'm in college right now and she just went back to in-person working about a year ago and she's talked about how hard it is taking care of him before but I'm not ready to give him away.

I've always wanted a dog when I was a kid and now that he's mine, I don't want to give him away. He's always been really good at listening and following directions and he's never been violent. Even when he bit in the past it was always when he was playing and he stopped doing that pretty easily. My mom's not gonna support him going to a trainer and I don't really have the money for that anyway, so I want to learn how to fix this while I'm home this summer but I don't know what to do.

Hi all, I have questions about how to encourage my puppy to practice a healthy play style. We got our Basset baby Possum around 3-4 weeks ago(10 weeks old) and introduced him to our two adult bassets. The intros went well, they each warned up to him in their own ways over the last couple weeks. What really surprised me was that our more docile lady basset was the only one who really wanted to play with him at first. He loved it. And the only issue is now he won’t take no for an answer every time she walks by. She will growl and yell at him and nibble him, all with the body language “I don’t want to play right now”. But without actually hurting him it doesn’t seem to click for him and as soon as she lets him up from the correction he will bounce and bark right back at her with his tail going crazy. It’s clear she doesn’t want to play sometimes but he doesn’t get it. Now our other basset boy wants to play too, but not as often, so he doesn’t get pestered as much. Should I be stepping in and advocating for the adults? They are correcting him, he just doesn’t seem to get it. On another note, we took him to visit a friend’s nice dog for the first time a couple days ago and it went very well, until that dog was tired and Possum wouldn’t stop trying to play. Just chewing on her, bouncing, barking, trying to encourage play, when she was done. I distracted him and let the other dog have some space until we left. I know he’s young, but I’m concerned that uncorrected this will turn into a more bullying style of play that I have seen in other dogs in public parks before. As of right now he isn’t fully potty trained so he is tethered near me most of the day or out in the yard with his toys. When he is tethered I make sure that it is so that the adults can get some space from him. And half of the time they will come to him and initiate play. What should I be doing? We love to train and teach tricks here so if there is anything I can be teaching him here to help I will try! Thanks!

I have a 2 year old mutt, Lucy, who is extremely food motivated to the point she only focuses on the treat and not what I’m teaching her. This causes me to get frustrated and give up on training sessions all together. I want to be a better owner and teach her basic obedience and commands but she won’t focus on anything but the treat and refuses to listen when I don’t have one. She isn’t motivated by her dog food and I can barely get her to eat breakfast most days so I don’t think using her food instead would help much. I’ve tried not showing a treat while asking commands, I’ve tried using one hand for commands and the other for treats, I’ve tried using her food. I don’t know what to do and feel like I’m failing her because I can’t teach her anything beyond sit. There are no trainers in my area, I’ve looked. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Update: thank you all so much for the advice! I just finished a training session with Lucy and neither one of us was confused or frustrated!! I started by calling her over and waiting for her to come to me, then asked for a sit, clicked, rewarded. Then when she was staying sat with her attention on me, I waited for eye contact then clicked and rewarded even for small glances. By the end of the 3-5 minute session she was consistently looking at me instead of the treat. I’m still going to try other suggestions and see about an online class. Thank you all again so much, I hope you all have an amazing day/night!!

My 10 month old puppy has chewed up his bed tonight. I was curious if he would actually understand that the reason he doesn’t have a bed in his crate (it’s a wooden solid base crate, no uncomfortable wires or anything) tonight is because he’s destroyed it? It’s the third bed he’s destroyed since we got him. He’d been going really well with this one for a few months before this incident

​I am seeing this over and over again in my dog school and also read it here on reddit and social media:

​People take classes, only to act surprised when the dog reverts to their old behaviors the moment they walk back through the front door. There is this way of thinking that a dog school is there to "fix" your dog.

​A dog school (or a trainer, or a YouTube tutorial) doesn't fix your dog. ​The purpose of a trainer is to teach you. It’s a place to learn the techniques that you then have to go home and practice, over and over again.

​The most profound change in your dog doesn't happen during that one hour of class. It happens in the daily 15 minutes you do in your living room, when you consistently reinforce a calm behaviour throughout a normal day, even when it’s annoying to do so. People should stop viewing training as a chore and start viewing it as normal, default thing that happens when you decide to get a dog, it is the only way to strengthen the bond between you and your dog.

​In my opinion, if you aren't doing the work outside of the dog school lessons, you aren't training your dog.

I have a four yr old WGS. I will be getting a wgs puppy in four weeks. My older dog is male. He is a very well behaved boy. I am wondering what to expect with the two of them. I want them to Be great together. What is the best way to introduce them so they both feel comfortable together? Sounds like it should be a no brainer I’m just worried one will be jealous of the other. Any advice?

At breaking point with our dog, he’s 8 years old and we need some advice/support for what to do. Our life has changed, we have a 1 year old and since the child has come along my wife has been asking that we get rid of him, I’ve always said no but recently it’s become a lot. He has always been anxious, constant whining, but I’ve always said he’s ours and will never get rid of him. We had a trainer come a few years ago and gave some loop lead training and got him to sleep in a crate. Also tried some training to make him not reactive when people knock at the door but we couldnt get that to stick. Since our child has come along it is difficult to get alone time with the child, we can never really play with him unless the dog is put in another room as he always interrupts, barks, can’t play with a ball or any toys. Then if put in another room he whines and scratches the door. It’s not the dogs fault that our life has changed and I feel guilty constantly because of it. But also guilty that my child’s life is being impacted and has been this whole time.

I would never want to get rid of dog but the stress is getting worse. My wife has started an at home business with people clients coming to the house. Trying to keep the child happy and the dog from whining/barking is a nightmare and usually results in the child crying, dog screaming and me feeling stressed and losing my temper then with the dog.

It’s not the dogs fault at all, I want to keep him but I don’t know what to do.

I’ve seen an anti barking device online, are they worth it? Do they work? Is it harmful for the dog?

8 year old cockapoo

Looking for practical advice, not judgement as that's unlikely to help.

I’ve made mistakes with my 2 year old dog in the past where I lost patience and handled her badly a few times. That stopped a year ago and I’ve completely changed how I approach her, but I’m not seeing much of an improvement. If anything, she seems to have become more sensitive in close interactions over time.

Current behaviour:

• At home / close contact: she sometimes cowers or trembles when I approach or try to touch her. This is inconsistent, but seems to be happening more frequently over time, and I struggle to understand the triggers
• On walks / play: she’s the opposite - very excited, demanding games, high energy, engaged. However, literally as soon as she's back - you can see the anxiety creeping back in
• With other people: she can approach me and interact, but shows some submissive / cautious behaviour

I've tried giving her treats as I walk past, she tolerates that, but as soon as that stops, anxiety triggers return. I've tried ignoring her, or looking past her. Those attempts have lasted around a month each, and resulted in no improvement. She seems to anticipate a reason to be anxious, and any positive attention that's later withdrawn is perceived negatively. Eg. me shutting the study door when at work is treated as a rejection and hence - results in fear when I emerge from the study.

Would anyone have any suggestions on how to go about restoring the trust? Feels like we're both walking on eggshells. Rehoming is not an option.

I know I contributed to the problem, and am trying to fix / improve, please offer constructive suggestions.

I have a German Shepherd who already knows heel pretty well, but he struggles with maintaining position consistently. He doesn’t pull on the leash, but he tends to slowly creep ahead of me while walking.
What helped you teach your dog to stay in position instead of forging ahead?
I’ve been rewarding when he’s in the correct spot and stopping/changing direction when he moves too far forward, but I’d love to hear other training tips or exercises that worked for you guys.

I want him to keep a invisible line and don’t go further.