r/reactivedogs

I see so many people seeking advice. So many questions and stressors, so many what ifs and fears. And it’s so understandable. We reactive dog owners go through so much to keep them safe, healthy and happy for a reason. Because we know they have such a sweet, precious side to them. And I wanna see it! Show me your babes when they’re in their safe place! Here’s mine in the comments!

And no, we don’t just dress her up for the fun of it! She’s 14 and has lost a lot of weight due to a medical condition, so she gets very cold, very easily. Backyard photo was taken in 60 degree weather and green jacket photo was taken in 45! Not that it would matter, she LOVES wearing her jacket. The second she sees it, the tail is wagging and she’s putting her own head against it. lol

EDIT: Remember the new rule guys! Read the rules before you comment. I’m missing out on so many precious babes right now because the bot is removing them! 😭

First time dog owner here. Adopted a fearful, anxious reactive rescue dog 3 months ago. Been making huge progress with her since then, she went from having a full blown crash out seeing another dog across the street to now being able to walk side by side at the same distance with no reaction. She can even tolerate another dog barking and lunging at her, which is huge. However she still startles easily and doesn’t do well with surprises.

Which leads me to my point of frustration: off leash dogs. I am so incredibly angry at how many people have off leash dogs with ZERO recall. My poor dog was charged by an off leash golden retriever the other day at a large park. It literally ran almost half a football field distance to get to my dog so we weren’t even anywhere close to it. My dog was minding her own business sniffing around (my bf was holding the leash) when I saw the golden charging towards us. I tried to put myself between them, but the golden was too fast and ran around me to get to my dog. The owner was nowhere to be found. The lady finally came to “get” her dog after what felt like an eternity of me running around to get the golden to go away, and my poor bf trying to guide our panicked dog away. The owner of the golden had zero urgency, was walking at a snails pace, and I didn’t even hear her attempt to call her dog. My bf and I both were screaming at her to please get her dog and she just said “can’t you see I’m trying? He’s just a puppy”. She was not trying.. And having a puppy is not an excuse. If he is not trained he shouldn’t be off leash period. The park also had a huge sign stating ALL DOGS MUST BE LEASHED. As we were leaving the park we saw her allowing her dog to go up to another dog to say hi.. -face palm-

And a less serious but still annoying situation is when walking by houses in our neighborhood the amount of people who leave their dogs in their backyard to bark at people through the fence is so frustrating. There is one house we noticed whose owners even cut a part of their fence and replaced it with a see through gate so the dog could bark at people passing by. It’s so startling for our fearful dog and now I make a mental note of which houses will have these “surprises” so I can stay ready. Oh and yesterday we walked by a house with a barking pitbull who literally stuck its head out of a hole in the fence to try to get to us. My poor dog was startled and so terrified. I immediately turned her around to walk the other way. I understand some people maybe do this to prevent intruders but still…my bf doesn’t see a problem with this and thinks our dog needs to be exposed more to these “surprise” situations so she can become more resilient. Idk 🤷‍♀️

Anyways, rant over. If you are an owner of a reactive dog you can’t control, please don’t ever take them to the park off leash. And please don’t leave them in the backyard with holes in your fences to bark at people and dogs. If you have to leave them, please at least have the decency to fix your fences or install privacy so your dog can’t see other people/dogs walking by. From one reactive dog owner to another, I feel you and it’s a tough journey but we’ll get through it. Thank you for reading if you got this far🙏

Edit: Thank you all for your honest responses and feedback. After reading all these comments I understand now the title is misleading and over exaggerated. Obviously no physical harm was done to my dog or the other therefore it shouldn’t be “my biggest fear”. But in the moment it was terrifying and something out of my control. My apologies if anyone felt offended by this post. Also regarding the barking dog through the fence: yes it is annoying and frustrating and though I wish owners could fix their fences or not leave their reactive dogs out like that I do understand this is something both her and I have to live with and I’m working on overcoming it ❤️

I was walking with my dog at 5 in the morning. She is a 25kg working line GSD. I have her on an escape proof harness from truelove and I always double check if I have clipped everything properly. When she was having a reaction suddenly the leash came off and she bolted but thankfully came back to me. I thought the leash broke but it didn't . I don't know how that even happens. Can bolt snaps fail like that?

My brain has gotten numb since then and I keep thinking what might have happened if it was a busy road.This was my nightmare. She is not a biter but I'm sure anyone can get scared.

What kind of leash is more secure for reactive dogs? I'm definitely using a backup leash from now on.

So I went to weigh my 10 month old puppy at petco ( he looks like me a cross between a malanois or German shepherd mixed with a bully breed )and I was about to pay when this lady appeared out of nowhere. The lady walked towards the pup and I, and told me that he was such a beautiful puppy. I told this lady that the dog is reactive and that I have been working on his reactivity. I also told this lady that the dog is this way because he was found in a crate underfed and with faces on on him, and that he weight 15 lbs when my girlfriend found him( he now weighs 50 lbs) .

This puppy was scared of the world and two months in he would lunge at people, dogs and anything with wheels including cars. I have been doing a ton of training and he stopped lunging altogether( he doesn't lunge at dogs , but there is more work to be done about that.) He likes people now and loves when people pet him , he stopped lunging at cars. I have put a ton of work, and he is doing a ton better( he still needs work)

Well this women proceeded to get on one knee and rubbed her face to my puppies face, this women then proceeded to pet him all over and grab his paws( he doesn't like his paws touched, we are working on that.) Im happy the puppy did not have a bad reaction, but in my mind 1. This women was just told the dog is reactive, 2. Why would you rub your face on a random dogs face and touch his paws while your his is rubbing on his face. I wanted to tell the women to back off, but I did not want to show that I was made because that anger might show and the dog might have been confused and it could have possibly ended in a bite.

My mom has a Great Pyrenees named Pearl who is about 2 years old. She has had her for around a year after adopting her from a rescue. We don’t know much about Pearl’s life before the rescue, but it is very clear that she had a difficult start and has some significant behavioral issues as a result.
Pearl is reactive, guards her food, and can be unpredictable around people. My mom has gotten pretty good at recognizing her cues and has worked extremely hard to manage her, but Pearl has still snapped at people seemingly without much warning.
Unfortunately, things have escalated. Pearl has now bitten my stepfather multiple times, and most recently, she bit him multiple times during one incident. At this point, my mom is genuinely afraid that someone could get seriously injured, and she no longer feels that she can safely keep Pearl in the home.
My mom has tried **trainers, behavioral specialists, therapy, and numerous other interventions**, but unfortunately nothing has been successful enough to make the situation safe.
After the most recent incident, my mom contacted the rescue she originally adopted Pearl from to see if they could help. They told her there was nothing they could do and that, because of Pearl’s bite history, taking her back would be unethical.
**We absolutely do NOT want to euthanize Pearl.** She is still a young dog, and my mom loves her very much. At the same time, we understand that rehoming a dog with a bite history comes with serious ethical and safety considerations. We do not want to give her to someone who is unaware of her history or put another family in danger.
So I’m hoping people here may have some advice.
Are there any **Great Pyrenees rescues, sanctuary programs, behavior rehabilitation facilities, or other organizations** that specifically work with dogs with serious behavioral issues and bite histories?
Are there any other options we should be considering besides euthanasia?
We are located in **Massachusetts/New England**, but we are willing to travel if there is a legitimate organization that could safely take her.
We are being completely transparent about Pearl’s history because finding a safe and responsible solution is our priority. We just want to exhaust every possible option before making an irreversible decision.
Thank you to anyone who has experience with this or can point us toward an organization or resource we may not know about.

Just here to vent. I feel like a horrible person and like I’m failing my dog. My dog is an Australian cattle dog, I got him at 21 and I didn’t have a ton of knowledge going into the adoption.

I have spent the last 6 years, spending thousands on training, toys, vet appointments to help him. But he is just always anxious and has the cattle dog genes which make him stressed.

I started working full time in my career (dealing with addictions and mental health) about two years ago. And I’m just burnt out, I get home and the last thing I want to do is training. Even going for walks is a nightmare because he is barking so much before we can even leave the door. Then on the walk he is anxious and just wants to get home. There’s nothing relaxing about the walks.
So instead we just sit at home and do nothing cause I’m too tired to deal with it. And I’m failing him in every way.

I’m considering rehoming for his and my sake but it’s close to impossible to find him a home that is knowledgeable of the breed and would be able to give him the life he deserves. While also working on his issues. But then I’m also just giving up on him.

I feel horrible and I don’t know what to do. His trainer said due to the complexity of him being a cattle dog (so a strong jaw) mixed with anxiety. We may have to look at behavioural euthanasia since responsible rehoming is going to be hard and it’ll prevent him from being bounced around from home to home.

But also like who am I to take his life. I’m not necessarily looking for advice, just venting my frustration

My 60lb BMC is extremely anxious at the vet and will not allow anyone to come near her. This makes it very difficult when it comes to administering vaccines. She has her yearly check up tomorrow and requires 2 shots. The vet prescribed 600mg of Gabapentin and 200mg of Trazodone to be taken two hours before the appointment. She’s already on 40mg of Fluoxetine daily. This seems like a lot. Does anyone have experience with meds for situational anxiety? Does this dosage sound right?

Hi! I am in Houston Texas and trying to find a place to put down my aggressive reactive dog. It has just become to much and have had both of our trainers suggest this. I even had a family member pull me aside and suggest this because of the mental toll it’s had on me. I have emailed numerous places and have either been told they cannot with a behavioral dog or not responded. So if anyone can suggest some in Houston or I’ll even drive to Austin. My dog is aggressive to men so finding women has also been a challenge

Does not for behavior:

Safe haven

Elite animal hospital

Gulf coast veterinary specialists

Montrose veterinary clinic

Places I never got a response back:

Nottingham animal clinic

Vergi 24/7

Woodlake vet

Heartstrings in home euthanasia services

Panther creek pet clinic

Champion forest vet

Willis emergency animal clinic

West Alabama clinic

Cawlm veterinary hospital

Heart strings in home euthanasia service

Angel oaks

I have heard from but the price is so high I’m trying to find other options:

West Davis vet - over $600 for euthanasia + cremation

Found some in Austin but would rather somewhere in Houston but will drive out there. So for my Austin people these do work with behavioral dogs

ATX animal clinic (range was $200-$700 including cremation)

Pet smart veterinary services $120 for exam and euthanasia

Just curious how everyone here does it.

My last guy was very dog reactive but LOVED people. All people were just friends he hadn't met yet. He was the love of my life and I only had him for just under 4 years, but I tried to make those years fun, full of love, and deliciously full of cheeseburgers. When we went for hikes, my only concern was people with unleashed dogs. We could encounter toddlers or seniors or anyone in between and he would see excited to meet them all. He was such a happy boy. I miss him dearly.

My current foster is very different. I wanted a dog with good energy. I was fine with some reactivity as long as I could take the pup on hikes and not have to worry. This guy could absolutely run circles around me on a hike, but he is so darn reactive to everyone and everything. Thankfully his last foster family muzzle trained him (they adore him and would have stayed with them if there wasn't a resident dog that didn't mesh well with this guy). I'd love to take him on hikes and we have the muzzle and he is small enough at ~50lbs that I can lift him off his front legs with his harness so he can't lunge too easily, but he is still just so much. I'd love to take him on hikes to get more energy out of him but I'm so concerned that even though he is muzzled he will scare people or someone with a dog not properly restrained will hurt him because I'm the one being responsible but the dog will react badly to my guy's reaction.

Do you all take your pups out? Do you look for more secluded spaces? Or do you just deal with the reactivity since it's not every second? Or do you not take your dogs out because it's best for their stress levels to just stay in what they know?

Ive been living at an apartment complex for the past 3 years with my reactive dog. In these past 3 years I have managed to get my boy to be less reactive to humans and cats but the occasional dog he sees drives him crazy.

With that being said, there's a lady that lives all the way across the complex (completely on the opposite side from me) who knows my dog is reactive, but she purposely goes out of her way to walk her dog near mines every single day..

I understand I do live in an apartment complex, and people are allowed to freely walk their dog wherever they want.. However, i can be alone in my own yard, and she will still walk across 3 different parking lots with her dog just to come near us and set my dog off. Sometimes while I'm walking my dog, if I notice her, I will actively try to go in the opposite direction just to avoid a reaction but she will still end up following us the entire time. There have even been times she has brought her dog directly up to my sliding door just to get a reaction out of mines and it clearly stresses out both of our dogs but she just will not stop. It's even more frustrating considering she doesn't even live on my side

Im not really sure what to do in this situation anymore tbh. Im still working with my dog on being less reactive to other dogs, but it feels impossible when this lady quite literally brings her dog to my door sometimes. I've even tried confronting her before but she just ignored me and I feel like bringing the issue up to the landlord would just get my dog kicked out. Any advice?

So around 2 months ago, I moved in with my partner and their 3yo dog. To preface this vent, he is a very good boy 90% of the time and awesome in the house/untriggered. I feel it’s also important to mention that all my previous dogs I got as puppies, and thanks to my father who has quite a bit of dog training experience which he’s passed onto me, they’ve all been very solid citizens with no/very limited reactivity.

Now moving in together I knew that the dog was going to have some issues (terrible leash manners, reactivity on walks, blowing off his recall) as I had spent a lot of time with him previously, and tbh most of these we worked through pretty quickly.

My issues as of right now is his threshold for dealing with triggers is so lowwww. Dogs he’s gotten a bit better with, and to be clear his reactivity is due to excitement, not aggression or fear. If I have him sit as the dog walks by or go to the other side of the street he’ll stay neutral and I’ll reward him for interacting with me. But if we’re say crossing the street and I can’t get distance or stop him, his attention is out the window and best believe my arm is halfway out of my socket.

But here’s the real issue. The MF SQUIRRELS. Omg I did not hate squirrels before having this dog, but best believe those are now my mortal enemies. Not only does he lunge at them at close range, but if he sees one across the street, he’ll start stalking it even if it’s 50ft away, and he will literally search the trees as we’re walking to try to find one in there. Once he’s laid eyes on one, there is absolutely nothing I can interest him in to redirect his attention. The only thing that seems to work is forcing him to sit until the squirrel is far out of sight or literally just dragging him away. It’s also very difficult to get him to come down off the excitement of seeing one.

My partner is very much aware that they have kind of ignored these issues as they were able to exercise him off leash for the majority of his life and/or is OK just dealing with the pulling.

So yes, he has definitely gotten much better at some things. But I feel like we have hit such a block, and I am tired of being on high alert every time I take him out of the house. Not to mention how embarrassing it is to have your dog dragging you around town.

Anyways, this is mostly just a vent. I do plan to continue to try and stay under his threshold and reward him for his attention, but I think this is just one of those things where he has too much prey-drive and not enough training as a puppy :(

While I would not call this a success story, it is a small win and I'm so so so happy and needed to celebrate it with people I knew would understand! I rescued my dog five months ago. We've worked through dog-reactivity quite successfully but have struggled more with visitor's reactivity in the house. He does great with people outside, but barks and lunges at anyone coming into the house, even if it's someone he's met before many times. He's a big dog, so it's scary. And I haven't had him for so long, so there is always the fear he might bite (he's never tried to, but I don't know if it could escalate at some point).

It's incredibly stressful, and knowing the building's doorman/handyman was coming over to perform some house work today kept me up last night in anxiety. Of course, this is not a total stranger: he sees him in the building lobby at least 3-4 times a week, but it's the first time he's seen him inside our home. But still! He barked when he first entered the house (not aggressively that I could tell, just kind of acknowledging his presence I guess) and then proceeded to lay down on the couch next to where he is working and fall completely asleep. The man has been walking in an out of rooms, carrying a large portable scare, moving stuff around... and my dog is just... there.

I'm so happy I feel like I'm gonna burst.

I know there's still so much work ahead of us, but this just gives me hope! Thank you for reading and letting me share :)

We have a dog, Pete, that was abandoned on our road late last year and we adopted. Pete is an 84lb Pitbull, Anatolian Shepherd, Cane Corso, Black Lab mix. Pete has come a very long way with body handling and likes being pet and loved on. He get along well with people, other dogs, cats and all creatures. He's about 18 months old.

Unfortunately, Pete reacts strongly to any intentional care, especially if it causes pain such as we had finally gotten to where I could clean his ears, then get got an ear infection and it hurt when I hit a sore in his ear. Now I cannot approach his ear without lip curling and growling.

Which brings me to, Pete got an ear infection. I could not get the medicine in his ear, even when he was muzzled. Because we could not treat his ear infection at home, Pete had to be sedated and had the ear deep cleaned with a long acting medicine added. During the vet visit, Pete had to be muzzled and there was a scuffle to get the muzzle on where Pete's eye and maybe jaw or a tooth were injured. This was 3 days ago. Pete won't open his mouth, he is hungry and not willing to eat, yelped when he ate a soft treat this morning and is not drinking enough which makes me suspect the jaw or a tooth was injured in addition to the eye. I am waiting for the vet to call back. This will likely mean another visit to the vet, sedation, an x-ray etc. This whole thing has not been good for Pete's reactivity or our bonding.

How to you manage your reactive dogs and the vet? Is there someway to sedate before you go and avoid the struggle?

Pete has one level 3 bite in his history - a resource guarding case where we both went to grab to guarded object at the same time. I got the object, he got me. When Pete reacts, he usually goes after the medical object/medicine/muzzle/etc. and not the people. We are trying hard to prevent anyone getting bit and also from Pete getting injured. He warns, lip curls, growls and air snaps before biting and we always, as much as possible, respect the warnings.

Has anyone ever gotten their resource guarding dog to stop being so resource guardy? I've been fostering pitties for about 8 years and currently live with 3. My husbands dog is a lagotto romangolo The pits are lambs. The Lagotto is extremely difficult to manage. He is a singleton. I had no idea how difficult singleton dogs could be. Anyway. He's bitten every member of this family and two of the dogs. Yesterday, he was enjoying a treat. He apparently didn't finish the treat in the 3 hours I let him have it alone in his little separate room where we feed him. My senior male pit bull was standing right there when the lagotto came out and dropped his treat right in front of my other dogs. I went to kick it out of the way in case the lagotto decided to attack the pit. Well. I took 4 level four bites to the hand. He reflexively bit my hand even though I kicked the treat. We've tried behavioral meds. He's currently on fluoxetine. My husband came home early from work and was in tears thinking he needed to immediately take him to the vet and it was his last day. I told him to not make any emotional decisions. Has anyone succeeded with changing dogs this reactive or do we basically just have to manage around him? He's now started guarding us if we sit on the couch. At least I can chuckle because the pitties are angels and the fluffy 35lb $6,000 pure bread truffle dog from grand champion stock is a menace to society. Trying to figure out what to do with this little guy 🫠

It suck's because the breeder completely failed him. She should've found a surrogate litter for him or at least gotten him some intensive puppy socialization so he wouldn't think biting for what he wants is acceptable. We've contemplated sending him back to her but she's now charging $7,000 for "trained adult Lagottos" and I have a sneaking suspicion that's what she'll do with him.

Where to start… our dog is about 13 years old. Pit mix. Always struggled with anxiety and is animal aggressive, but for a long time, we were able to manage it by keeping him away from other animals and avoiding his anxiety triggers (used to just be beeping noises). Keeping him away from other animals was the most difficult part. There have been times when I’ve been drug across concrete as he tried to attack another dog, and he’s accidentally bitten me when I got between him and another dog (immediately released me).

About two years ago, his anxiety got much worse. I think it coincided with beginning to lose his hearing as he is now mostly deaf. He began to shake at random times of the day for no discernible reason. He sometimes shakes so hard his teeth chatter. He also now seems to have severe separation anxiety and has torn up doors and other parts of the house and has left blood marks. We use a crate now.

He also barks and lunges at strangers who come in the house. I used to be able to talk to him to call him off, but now he can’t hear me.

All of this we could probably still manage if it were just my husband and me… but we now have a child, and a severely anxious dog and a child don’t mix.

We keep our toddler and dog separated at all times. Our dog mostly wants to stay away from her, but as she gets more mobile, I’m concerned about what might happen. He attacks our other dog every once in a while (no blood has ever been drawn and it’s usually very very brief - 99% of the time, they get along fine).

He’s recently started to get severely anxious when we move him from his preferred spot in the house (living room), which we do to keep our kid and dog separate. We’ve tried trazodone, fluoxetine, and gabapentin, and while they help, he still exhibits this anxious behavior. He usually just stands at the gate, trying to get in, while shaking.

This past weekend after he destroyed something in the house and had severe anxiety all weekend, we came to the decision that it was time for BE. He’s having more bad days than good days at this point, and there’s the potential he could harm our daughter.

It’s heartbreaking. I keep questioning myself… but he is mentally suffering and we can’t help him anymore. If I’m honest with myself, I am also mentally exhausted from the hyper vigilant state I am always in trying to keep him separate from our daughter and away from other dogs. Still, when he has good moments, i question myself again. My husband is in a much worse state of mind because this was his dog originally before we got together.

Has anyone else gone through this? Any thoughts?