r/reactivedogs

Hello!

I could really use some help. We rescued a dog from someone who found him abandoned.

He has a lot of health issues that we are getting addressed. The woman who initially took him in said he was great with dogs, kids, and cats.

We have now had him for a week and when he first saw our cats, he barked but stepped back. I would correct him. Now it is escalated to him barking and lunging for the cats, and today he chased them under the bed. I am worried for our cats especially because he is a larger dog.

Has anyone ever had this happen? Where a rescue dog can be good with other cats in one environment but not good with cats in another?

Has anyone had success with a rescue dog stopping this behavior?

Any and all advice would be amazing! Thank you!

For reference:

He is 4 years old.

Newfoundland mix about 65 pounds.

The house he came from had 2 children, multiple dogs, and multiple cats.

We have a 4yr 100lbs Irish wolfhound neutered male and a 15yr 40 pound collie mix female. Second fight, 1st was over a dead ground hound no blood drawn, this time puncture wounds across the throat and face. Pretty sure he would have killed her if we weren't outside.

He's always been a nervous dog which we've done behavior training. But this resource guarding aggression is escalating. We don't want a dead dog in the yard or worse a child. Is he too far gone? He's usually the perfect big dumb sweet dog. It's killing us this is happening.

Hello everyone,

I urgently need your advice.
My female dog (1.5 years old, spent 1 year as a street dog and 1 month in a shelter/kill shelter) has been on Floxyfral (Fluoxetine) for 3.5 weeks now, taking 25 mg at a body weight of 17 kg.

After two weeks, we initially experienced an extreme loading phase (initial worsening): she was more reactive than ever and lunged at everything and everyone. Now, after a good three weeks, she is better behaved than ever before. Her reactivity has improved incredibly over the last few days! She barely reacts anymore, is super attentive, and shows an extreme willingness to learn. She is also settling down much better and is finally sleeping through the night.

My plan was actually to start working with a new trainer in about 6 weeks—someone who focuses on reactivity and works a lot with rescue dogs. However, she has now urged me multiple times to stop the medication immediately, claiming that in her experience, dogs on it become "untrainable."

On the other hand, my behavioral vet and current scientific research say the exact opposite: combined with positive training, the medication is an excellent support system. The claim that dogs undergo a personality change, become lethargic, or lose their ability to learn also contradicts everything I have read in user reviews so far.

Since these conflicting statements are making me feel totally desperate right now, I wanted to ask you:
- Are your dogs also on Fluoxetine (perhaps even long-term, as in for years)?
- How do they experience everyday life? Are they still trainable and motivated, or do they seem lethargic and fundamentally changed in personality?

(Quick extra info: My dog also suffers from separation anxiety. And her reactivity stems from frustration, insecurity, and territorial behavior.)
I am really looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

I’m looking for some advice on how to control excessive barking.

We have a 4 year old mix, he’s about 50lbs. He barks excessively and to be honest, it’s a horrible way to live.
He is crate trained, he doesn’t bark when we leave, but when we come home, he barks non stop, we let him out of his crate within 5 minutes of being home (once he’s calmed down).

When he is outside, sometimes he’ll just bark and bark and bark. If we didn’t know our neighbors well, they would definitely call animal control.

I’ve tried bark collars/ training collars. (Both cheap ones from Amazon) one had a remote with three settings, beep, vibration & shock. We never used the shock on a high setting & only used it if the beep and vibration did not work. It work eh, ok, but not great.

The bark collar had great reviews, but it’s awful. I feel like it makes it worse. It beeps, vibrates and shocks. But I don’t think it actually shocks because he doesn’t pay any attention to it.

I’m wondering if there is another collar out there that would work better.

Would it be best to get a good training collar with a remote and training him to not bark excessively using that, or to get a good bark collar that works on its own?

I understand dogs bark, I don’t want to take that away completely, but the excessive barking is getting out of control and at this point causing issue within our house.

TW dog attack

I'm sorry this is so long and I know I really fucked up. I am not sure where else to post I am really upset.

I have a 40 lb Southeast Asian Village Dog. He is an ex street dog and has an absolutely insatiable prey drive. He has zero contact with other animals because he cannot be trusted. This is fine, he is a dog, it's not moral or emotional for him and he prefers being solo.

There are a ton of feral cats in the lot behind mine. I have sealed every gap in the fence and I trap/neuter/release, but I have neighbors that feed the cats and want them to have kittens every year so they can catch them and then set them free again when they get too big to be fun (I hate these neighbors).

Before I let him out to the backyard, I walk the perimeter of my yard with a hose to scare any cats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, possums, etc every single time. At night my dog goes out on a leash with me.

The only animal I have ever let him chase is rats; I have a vegetable garden and compost pile so I am happy for him to give them a scare.

Little did I know the rustling inside of my compost pile this time was a litter of KITTENS and not rats. I tell him "go get the rats" and he catches a fucking tiny kitten.

He is in a complete frenzy and refuses to let her go. The kitten is screaming and bleeding and I am screaming at my dog and trying to pry his jaws apart but they are locked and won't budge. He is thrashing and trying as hard as he can to get away from me. I scruff him HARD and he does not care or notice, I grab his throat, I bop him hard in the head and on the shoulders with my hands and he doesn't flinch.

I am freaking out, I know he is going to kill the kitten so I start kicking him in the ribs to get him to let her go. I have to kick him 3 or 4 times before he even reacts. I'm 105 lbs, wearing tennis shoes and not strong but I am trying. He drops her, tears away from me and grabs her again so I kick him AGAIN, he drops her again and that finally gives me enough time to grab him, pick him up and put him inside. He didn't yelp, he isn't limping, he is acting completely normal and is being as sweet to me as he always is.

That kitten is fucking tough. She was alive, I rushed her to the emergency department at the humane society and because she was alert and up they said she will probably be ok, but I don't know if she will. Because she's feral they won't update me either way.

I am just so upset. I have been crying for hours. I feel like the absolute worst dog owner in the world. A kitten got hurt and I kicked my dog. I don't know what else I could have done if I wanted to save the kitten; there was no hose within reach and he was way way way past his threshold of listening to commands or bribing him with something else.

At the same time, he is just a fucking dog - how is he supposed to know the difference between a rat and a kitten? There is no difference to him, they're both prey. I am the one who assumed it was a rat. Fuck I am the one who told him to GO GET the rat. Dogs don't have morals or ethics, all he knows is that he likes to hunt and it's in his literal DNA.

I feel so guilty. My dog seems unaffected and I don't know what else I could have done in the moment but I don't know if the kitten made it and it's all just so horrible.

I will never, ever ever assume rustling in the trash or compost is a rat ever again. I didn't know there were kittens in there. I tried to check everywhere in the backyard. I am so sorry kitten. I am so sorry to my dog for failing him. This is horrible.

I am canadian, lived way up north in the woods for a very long time, moved down to the city for work, and it seems a whole lot of people immigrated to canada the past while. I don't care, but my dog is so terrified of anyone Indian, to an embarrassing degree. What do I do? He is a dachshund/Jack Russell mix. People ask to pet him, and he is always so excited, but the second someone Indian walks by, or tries to pet him, he is terrified. It makes me feel awful. This reaction is only with Indian people! What on earth can I do, this is so weird.

I like being in the dog training spaces and love seeing people go to training meet ups. Im feeling left out however, because no one wants to meet up with someone with a reactive dog. Which I understand but its really isolating. We used to have training friends but we dont really talk anymore and our other friend moved. With just a day of working with my dog he can acclimate to being comfortable with a new dog. He used to have excitement reacitvity but after a couple of attacks its turned into fear reactivity. Ive gotten him used to multiple other dogs and just really want that again. We used to do training outings with our friends weekly, trips out to places like Lowe's, petfriendly stores downtown, pack walks with like 7 dogs, play dates in their yard with 8 dogs when someone else they knew got a little husky puppy and quickly got my dog used to it to. etc....

Hanging out with my dog is what I want to do in my free time. Making friends that arent involved with dog training even just isnt working out because thats my main interest and has been for years :(

Hi all,

I'm writing as a 21 yo whose currently living at home with my older parents. 2 years ago, my parents rescued a dog from the shelter who we discovered was a Cane Corso after a DNA test. I've grown up with big dogs my whole life, and I've never been scared of any of our dogs besides him. If you know anything about CCs, they have an extremely powerful and dangerous bite.
Our CC had no record of biting when we adopted him, and to be clear he has never drawn blood. However, I'm not sure what to do anymore because I think he is one small slip up from someone getting seriously hurt.

He bit my sister (ripped her jeans but missed her skin) after he came up on the counter to lick the side of a bowl and she told him off. No growling -- just snapped at her.

He has bitten my mom twice (but not broken skin) after she's accidentally nudged him while he was sleeping with her in bed. No growling again.

One time I was petting him while he on the floor, and he decided to get in my face and snap at me very aggressively. No warning growl. Today, he was laying in my bed and I was petting him when he snapped at me out of nowhere. No growling once again. I genuinely cried after because I was so disappointed and upset because I love him so much, but now Im be scared to even pet him.

My parents are older, and the CC is very protective of my dad, especially when my mom is around. My mom is incredibly nervous around him, and my dad excuses his behavior because he loves him so much. My parents are only getting older, and his behavior today was seriously alarming to me. He has so many triggers that we've tried to work around and then he bites out of nowhere. I'm also worried because my mom has parkinsons that will only continue to progress. And what if that becomes a trigger too? He'll go months with no incidents, and then something will happen. I can't even bring my friends over to the house because I don't trust him not to bite them out of nowhere. My mom and I went on a trip recently (without him), and when we were leaving she actually cried because she didn't want to go home to him. And I don't blame her, because I too constantly feel on edge with him.

I don't know what to do. I've told my dad he needs to sleep in a crate at night because of his history of aggressive behavior in the bed but my dad disagrees and says something along the lines of, "he slept in the shelter for all those months he deserves to sleep in the bed." Listen I love having my dogs in my bed, but not when they growl and snap out of nowhere. and ultimately it's not my decision as he doesn't sleep in my bed at night. But I feel so bad for my mom who is constantly terrified of getting bit by this dog.

Today seriously scared me along the lines that I thought he needs to leave our house completely. And I really love him and it breaks my heart, I just have that feeling that something really bad is going to happen eventually to a guest at our house or to my mom. I don't even know if rehoming him would be ethical though, considering all his triggers and biting history. Any advice or input is welcome. TYIA

Not the classic triggers like doorbells, barking, sirens, and ALL of the animals. What about the completely bizarre stuff?

Gus’ most bizarre trigger? Anytime Zack Galifianakis comes on screen, movie night turns chaotic. I think it's the beard...

What can't you watch because of your dog?

new dog: 12 years, girl, pitbull mix
current dog: 11 years, girl, pitbull mix
weekend dog: 2 years, girl, bernadoodle

over 6 months ago an older family friend died and we took in a 12 year old pitbull mix. She was very very sweet when we met her and still is sweet to people, but not to most dogs. we know that she was rescued at 3 years old from an abandoned warehouse and it’s obvious that she had been bred. from what we know and have seen she was abused in some way and possibly could’ve been made to fight other dogs.
we did not introduce the new dog and our current dog correctly and just brought her into the house. however they got along great from what everyone saw and we just took her. right around the time we got her there was one incident where our current dog snapped at new dog and got her ear, it happened while current dog was eating. we’ve kept eating separate ever since and didn’t have an issue.
there is a 3rd dog that comes on the weekends. we also did not introduce them correctly. she is people aggressive and doesn’t always socialize great with other dogs but she doesn’t usually attack them.
the weekend dog and new dog have had many issues and it usually starts with new dog going after weekend dog (no bites usually growling, snapping, jumping on her) weekend dog will growl if any dogs are near a bone or her food but she doesn’t attack. new dog will seemingly attack out of no where but we’re obviously assuming there are micro interactions we’re missing between them. they are both scared dogs. current dog and weekend dog usually ignore eachother and have had minor issues in the past but no fights. new dog seemed to love current dog and would follow her everywhere.
unfortunately today new dog fully attacked current dog. we have never been scared of having them together, since adjusting their feeding routine they seemed great together. i have done what i did today many times before with no issue. new dog has a lot more energy than current dog. i usually give current dog treats first bc she is calm. i then made new dog lay to get her treat and that was it. i closed the bag put it down, they were both done eating and i turned around.
next second, new dog was attacking current dog, bit her under the eye and on her mouth, very deep punctures. i pulled her off and put her outside. current dog was crying:( it has never been like this before. obviously we knew there were dog aggression issues and we were trying to work on that but they hadn’t had an issue since her first week here, it was always other dogs setting new dog off. new dog also hasn’t actually bit or drawn blood until today. current dog is very docile and just happy to lay around, she usually disengages when things get rowdy. i do not want to immediately give up on new dog but she got current dog pretty good. we’re worried. a muzzle has been ordered and she will be in her crate a lot more now :( we r in our 20’s living with family so any advice is helpful:) i know that putting her down and rehoming her are options but i love her and would like to try and work this out. i will try to answer any other questions if needed:)

Some dogs would fight the whole world for their owner…
Others hear one strange sound and disappear faster than WiFi. 😂

But deep down, every dog has their own way of loving and protecting us. 🐾

Be honest

what would YOUR dog do in a dangerous situation?

This is the third time my boyfriend's dog has bit me. I have been bit by a dog ONCE in my life, and now I have been bit three times in the past two weeks. My boyfriend's dog has reactive issues, he barks and charges at random. The first instance, I coughed loudly and he charged at me, biting my arm and hand, leaving large bruises but thankfully not breaking the skin. I was very upset, told my bf that I don't feel safe and I didn't stay around him or his dog for over a week. He told me many times he was trying to figure something out in terms of training or mitigating the behavior, but then last night it happened again. We were having a lovely time, laughing and eating dinner and then I sneezed and his dog charged and bit my foot. I got very upset, removed myself from the situation and called a friend to talk and decompress. My boyfriend and I had a conversation about what happened and what is disappointing me the most is that instead of asking me if I am okay or tending to me, he just sort of keeps explaining the dog's behavior. I stopped him and explained that I understand perhaps why the dog is acting out, but that I would appreciate more concern for my well-being and he was like, oh okay, I'll figure it out. I'm sorry you feel unsafe.

Please help with some sort of advice on how to navigate this. Be kind.

hi everyone! Im currently sitting for my downstairs neighbor's reactive dog while they're out of town. He is (from my understanding) mostly a super scaredy cat - he barks like crazy at anyone within 50 feet of us on walks which sucks because we're in a city. He also has p bad separation anxiety.

yesterday was our first day together without his owner. he's definitely amped up because he's a big dog but mostly he barks when he gets excited and also if he hears any noise that's not from me or him. he also rolls over and lets me scratch his belly a lot, and I can get him to do tricks like roll over or high five with treats but he is v smart and I can't trick him into eating trazodone.

I have to sleep in the room with him or else he gets really anxious and barks all night and I've been very nervous - I grew up with big dogs and love them but I also know that they can decide they want to eat you in a second so it was hard for me to sleep last night, especially because the next door neighbors were loud and he got really scared and kept barking randomly whenever he heard something. he eventually just slept on the bed next to me chilling but I was still worried. does anyone have any suggestions for keeping him calm at night and keeping myself safe? should I play tv all night and keep the lights on? I'm also going to have to leave from 9-11 tonight and I'm worried if I come back late when it's dark he'll try to eat me.

Does anyone have tips for stopping mouthing?
I have tried redirection, toys in mouth, and throwing treats on the ground…
Sometimes I have to care for his hygiene, like cleaning his ears and I end up bruised and hurt. Anytime I go to touch him this happens. He’s only 8 months.

Any tips or experiences would be amazing. I’m at a loss and sometimes regret getting him because I don’t feel safe

I have been posting for advice since my baby was 11 months old the new behaviors are snapping at people who get too close when he’s resting , snapping if we bump him in the bed , growling if we make eye contact while playing tug for too long , snapping sometimes when petting too long , if we play with a high value toy and move it the wrong way he growls and snaps . If we reach for that toy when she is playing by himself he snaps . He is intact and I am hoping someone can tell me if they have ever experienced this behavior . He is very good otherwise and a sweet boy . Listens most of the time etc . I’m can put my hand in his food bowl etc . The behavior is very unpredictable and doesn’t happen everyday which is the most frustrating part. Will neutering him fix any of these issues , with maybe a behavioral trainer or do I have an aggressive dog I need to adjust to . Tia please no judgement because he is very spoiled and well loved we are home 24/7 with him etc .

I adopted my dog in October when he was around 4 months old, and he’ll soon be a year old. His breed is unknown, but we think he’s a pitbull/husky mix. He was abandoned at the shelter after spending two months with his previous owner, where he spent most — if not all — of his time in a crate. At first, he was very afraid of the crate and had separation anxiety. Today, he can stay in the crate and usually cries for 1–2 minutes after we leave, then settles down.

With my partner, he’s an almost perfect dog: very calm, and he doesn’t follow him everywhere around the house. He’s very energetic, even reactive, but not aggressive toward other dogs, and that’s something we’re working on with a trainer. With me, it’s different: he follows me everywhere, gets overexcited, and shows undesirable behaviors. My partner works outside the home 4 days a week, so I’m alone with the dog most of the time.

The problem is that he does everything he can to get my attention and wakes me up in the morning by getting into trouble around the house. I work evenings, so I leave for work from 3:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. At night, I spend an hour playing with him, we go for a walk, and I feed him. I usually go to bed around 2:00 a.m., and he generally needs me to direct him to his mat at the foot of the bed so he can calm down and fall asleep.

In the morning, around 8:30 a.m., he wakes me up: he licks my face, paws at me, and often rings the bell to go outside. If I don’t get up, he starts chewing or eating various objects around the house (clothes, blankets, tissues, shoes, etc.), which he never does when supervised or when my partner is there. Recently, I started putting him in his crate after letting him outside (after he wakes me up). I then get back up around 10:30 a.m. When I wake up, whether he’s in the crate or not, he starts again: grabbing different objects or eating forbidden things, then often comes and sits directly in front of me. When I try to take the object away, it obviously becomes a game to him, and he runs around the house so I’ll chase him to get it back. For the past week, I’ve kept a leash on him in the house so I can catch and correct him. Before going to work, I spend at least an hour playing and walking with him, in addition to feeding him with interactive toys and giving him chew toys and bones freely available.

At other times, often during play or when I correct him, he tries to nip at my hands and sometimes jumps on me, which he never does with my partner.

I’m at the end of my rope: tired, exhausted, frustrated. My life revolves around this dog, and I feel like our relationship is suffering because of it. The most frustrating part is that he’s not like this at all with my partner: he doesn’t wake him up, stays calmly on his mat, and isn’t destructive.

I suspect he has dominant behavior. I’m not expecting a perfect dog, but I can’t take being woken up anymore or not being able to sit on the couch with him calmly relaxing in the house.

If you want more details about certain aspects, feel free to ask! Just to note, we see a dog trainer about once a month.