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Hi all! I have a seven year old Australian cattle dog mix who I rescued when she was a little over a year old. She was found by animal control tied up in a back yard. Over the last couple years she has been getting progressively more anxious and aggressive when we go on walks and when we meet new people or dogs. She’ll bark hysterically at dogs on a walk, and snaps if anyone tries to pet her. When strangers come in the house she takes a while to warm up and will bark at them and bite if they come too close. She also is possessive of me when it comes to my husband showing affection. Not sure if all of these are related, just at a loss for how to help her feel more comfortable and correct these behaviors.

I have a 9 month old Border Collie (spayed) named Harley. She had never shown aggression as a pup and is a loving, cuddly dog that enjoys her training sessions and playtime. Harley is adept at all the regular commands – heel, sit, down, roll over, crawl, twirl, drop, come by, away, walk up, stay, wait, play dead, look at me, drop it, leave it, etc. etc. I regularly do “find it” and other scent games as well as targeting. She is a wizard at dog puzzles, name recognition and puts her toys away in her box. She has been doing all the exercises and brain games the Brain Training course suggests for months already. However, about 3 months ago she started to show a reactive aggression (?) toward a tree. It started out with just one particular tree in our fenced yard. The minute I started to play ball with her, she bolted to a large Maple tree barking, yelping, twisting, jumping 4 feet in the air, blinded by aggression toward a branch. Not sure if this was a result of eagles, ravens, seagulls or other birds flying overhead, but this behavior kept repeating itself every time she got near the tree. Trying to get her away was very difficult because she did not know I existed and grabbing her often resulted in her twisting out of her collar and twice I was bitten. Left alone she would have continued the behavior until she hurt herself or someone as her adrenaline escalated. Before the incidents, I typically walked her at least a couple hours a day plus gave her runs off-leash along the beach. Her recall was good and she was friendly to other dogs and people. Lots of mental stimulation with trick training and brain games in the evening at home. To help desensitize her to the tree, I worked with her on-leash, gradually allowing her to look at the large Maple tree in our yard from a distance. At first I could get her to walk under the tree and relax at a sit or down. Other times, no matter how far away from the tree we were, it was chaos. I cut off all the lower branches of the tree to no avail. Finally in desperation I fenced the area around the tree best I could. However, when off-leash she immediately jumped at the fence and almost impaled herself trying to get at the tree, which was as far away as I could get it from the fence. I took down the fence to prevent injury. I continued hours and hours of on-leash DSCC work with Harley and practicing relaxation with lots of treats. Just when I thought I was making progress with the Maple tree, Harley began reacting to a different tree in another location of the yard. Then another and another….. So I decided avoidance was the best method in the hopes she would forget about the trees. That meant I could no longer let her loose in the fenced yard to play fetch, practice her agility training or have play dates with other dogs. She was always leashed even for bathroom breaks for 4 weeks. To help Harley release some of the pent-up energy she was suffering from, I tried to let her run at the beach, which was her favorite thing to do. However, no sooner I started to throw a stick for her she ran to the nearest tree and started her frantic, out of control barking, spinning and jumping. No game or toy would distract her from heading to a tree. The same thing happened at a neighbor’s yard. Shortly into playing with another dog in the fenced area, she ran to a tree and was completely fixated in twisting, barking and leaping at a branch. She jumps and flips so hard that she often lands on her side or head before I can get her under control. She will not accept treats or listen to commands once this reaction happens. She even became aggressive to the puppy she was just playing with. Trying to calm her after an episode is near impossible. So for the past 3 months Harley has not been off-leash and allowed to run so cannot possibly get the amount of exercise a young Border Collie needs. I live in a remote area with lots of trees and no large fields, playgrounds, dog parks, etc. A narrow road is the only area to walk and she has now taken to barking and lunging at passing vehicles. Although there is not a lot of traffic, it is impossible to get her beyond threshold distance when a car drives by because there are no shoulders, only dense bush and trees. When there are no cars, I ask her to sit and wait on the road (for impulse control) but often find her focusing on distant overhead trees, pupils enlarged, lips quivering, high tail set and on the edge of an explosion. I then try to distract her with “look-at-me”, touch and lots of high value treats in an attempt to distract. I am willing to put in the time and effort needed to help my puppy but have run out of options on what to do next as she is still wanting to attack trees. The vet says she is healthy. I have been giving her trazodone for a couple of weeks now hoping that the medication will temporarily help in her behavior modification. Will Harley ever be the relaxed dog that can run off-leash through the woods, play on the beach and live a happy life in my area that’s the very best natural paradise for dogs. As an energetic border collie, the thought of spending her life on a leash breaks my heart.

I have two dogs Yoshi (a 2 year old puggle girl) and Roo (an 8 month old Australian cattle mix girl) and they just don’t get along all the time. Sometimes they will fight given certain circumstances (like going for the same toy, being on my lap and being territorial, one being in the bed before the other, or Roo biting yoshis ankle trying to play and Yoshi not wanting to play) how can I train them to stop fighting and not do this to each other?

I have a Pyrenees/Anatolian/Catahoula mix who just turned a year old a few weeks ago. When he was still very young, he often exhibited playful aggression (i.e. jumping and biting, sometimes quite hard, but with playful body language) while on walks. I tried to train it out, and as summer came and he grew older the behavior stopped. Quite reasonably I think, I believed he'd simply grown out of it. Evidently I was wrong. It's gotten chilly again, and he's gotten aggressive again, although he still appears to be having a great time tearing me to shreds. It's become quite a serious problem, as he's an 83lb dog. He never bites strangers or other dogs, just me and my immediate family. I've tried ignoring it on the grounds that its attention seeking behavior, but he's quite large and, to put it frankly, it hurts. A lot. I have absolutely no idea how to handle "extremely painful weather based play biting." Thoughts? Resources? Please god help.

Back story:I have the sweetest calmest 7 year old Pomeranian named Brewer who is "that once in a lifetime" special bond for me. I've had dogs my whole life, but Brewer has been different. He was a great puppy. Without much experience in dog training, I managed to crate train him and even now he will go to his crate when he is tired or if there is some stress, like when we travel. He is a great travel buddy. He rarely barks or cries when we travel and he has to stay in a hotel room or Air Bnb. He loves people and our cats. He doesn't have much interaction with other dogs other than observing (mostly my fault, I was over protective). He has stayed at friends homes who had other dogs but not for extended periods. He still has quite a bit of energy and fetch is his absolute favorite followed by tug of war. His fetch skills are pretty amazing and he understands drop and will even put the ball right back in my hand. He knows all his basic commands but can be a little stubborn. Now for the reason I bought Brain Training for Dogs...we recently got a puppy. An adorable full of life, no fear, confident, little female Pomeranian named Gigi. Brewer is really questioning his mom's decision making skills. We are on day 4. I've kept them separated during the night and while I am not home during the day. When I am home, Gigi is confined into a pet corral in our kitchen so Brewer can see her. The first few days he would growl, bark, snarl, and snip at her. Those have diminished in intensity. We are now able to walk both of them on a leash around the yard. I'm doing all I can to ensure Brewer is top dog. Gigi gets her playtime when Brewer is ready for bed. Last night, Brewer really only had one episode and that is when we came in for our walk. While walking Gigi to her crate we had to turn a corner and Brewer's new toy was there and he snapped (Gigi didn't even see it). I know this will take time and I feel like he has got quite a bit better since Saturday. His behavior has improved quite a bit back to his fun loving playful self. Last night I worked quite a bit with him on his commands with Gigi right there in the kitchen observing from her crate. She actually seemed entertained watching us. What I noticed is the the more I worked with Brewer then less anxiety he seemed to have with her there. That is why I purchased Brain Training for Dogs. I am hoping that I can take Brewer's motivation to learn and please to the next level which will help his jealousy and agression towards Gigi. Gigi, bless her sweet heart needs help in the puppy knows-no-bounds category.

I adopted my little 14 pound chihuahua mix from a shelter about 8 months ago.. when we first got him he was extremely scared he sat in the corner of my kitchen for 3 days shaking and crying. After a lot of patience and told he finally came around. Carter is now what I can extremely emotionally attached to me. He is also extremely aggressive. I have 4 kids. Sometimes when Carter is in a bad mood and one of my kids walks by him he growls and lunges at them in attack mode. He has done this to everyone in the house including me. He is untrained in every way except he is potty trained. He has bit houseguests before just for standing up after sitting on my couch. I have tried almost EVERYTHING and nothing is working.. I LOVE him to death but he is a safety hazard to my family

We adopted a lovely cross labrador in April (now is November). He was 1,5 years when we came with us. Zapote has a splending personality and he is extremelly well behaved. His previous owner spent evidently a lot of time training him (he got sick and had to give the dog in adoption). Zapote is known to be sweet and playful and everyone. Dogs and persons who meet him melt for his sweetness. However, in our presence Zapote was attacked twice by other dogs. Once we made the mistkae of throwing a ball in front of another dog at a park, and Zapote suffered from it as the other dog attacked him to take over zapote's dog. There was blood in his ear and a short vet visit. The second time was out of nowhere, a dog came from behind against him in the forest. We learned 2 weeks ago that Zapote attacked a smaller dog during Zapote's walk with his beach pack. The dog walker tells us that Zapote is insecure and that he picked on this outer dog to prove himself to the pack. We can't believe that our sweet playful dog would do this. While we are looking for a trainer and behaviour support we witnessed last week a 3rd attack against Zapote. A larger dog was blocking him from playing with a third dog. Zapote avoided the larger dog repeatedly yet the larger dog insisted. At a point of tension zapote grawled and the larger dog went to his neck. No one got visibly hurt but the fight lasted long. it was horrible. Yet the large dog owner told us that his dog had never attacked anyone. So now, I am afraid that Zapote's attack against the little dog was a result of his past attacks. I am also worried that he is not able to better communicate to tell dogs off and prevent these horrible incidents. Thanks for your advise.

Hi All, Shamus is a 1 year old, 18 lb terrier mutt rescue that we’ve had since about 12 weeks old. He has been a great dog, except when he began showing barking at the window to people going by, getting worse as guests (known and unknown) come into our house. I hit the “enough” point last night when we had friends over and he barked all evening, even nipping my male friend in a way that was not playful. I understand at this point that we don’t have enough control over him and he’s running wild trying to protect his territory (?). Barking at people/dogs/bike riders is also an issue on walks. So I don’t know where to begin with correcting him. Here are some details. -I am a first time dog owner, so trying to follow loving instincts with how I treat him but realize I don’t know what I am doing. I am overwhelmed by so much conflicting training advice so I hope this can be the one gentle loving course that will help me train him :) -He took a puppy course at 6 months and is decent with come, sit, stay (sort of on stay). -He is not crate trained and sleeps with us. -There are 4 of us in the house and it’s hard to have consistency with how he is treated. Me, husband, my mother, and my daughter who is 6. -Because of the above, training hasn’t moved beyond basics and those commands aren’t given consistently every day. -I work out of the house 2 days a week so he is home with my mom, who will never be a consistent or strong leader for him. -Obviously we need to be able to leave him home alone without barking however I have strange feelings about creating an animal for several hours. It doesn’t feel right to me. -I believe he shows me respect by sitting in my presence, being calm when I come home and waiting for me to greet him, waiting to eat until I say it’s ok. But he doesn’t show anyone else the same, and it’s very hard to redirect him once he’s worked up from the anxiety of a person coming in our house. Thank you for any help on getting me started. And I realize I have done many things wrong...feeling very badly about that. Ashamed almost :(

Hi, I did read the post on aggression around toys and possible resource guarding but wondered if my dogs aggression needed to be dealt with differently. 6.5mth border collie aggressive towards other dogs (lunges and barks). No idea why. My dog obedience trainer suggested it was because he wasn't walking on a loose lead which caused tension and therefore aggression and that he would be a different dog off lead. I went on a group walk with other dogs from my basic obedience class and their owners and let him off lead. He was fine yet extremely submissive when any dog approached him to the point of wetting himself. Since then I have taken him to a dog park to let him off lead, I had kept him distracted by throwing a rope toy and trying to keep away from other dogs with no incident. Three weeks ago I took him to the same park to meet a friends dog for the first time. We entered the park from opposite sides, things were fine then it was like he just snapped, he attacked the dog and started running at another. We ended up walking the two dogs together on lead for 20 minutes and by the end of it there were no more incidents. He is now after another couple of visits at home able to be around this dog. Usually if big dogs approach him he will submit tail between legs wee himself and grovel although yesterday at the park he ran at a larger dog threatening and barking. With little dogs he will try to attack them straight away. he ran at and attacked a cavalier yesterday at the park, unharmed but both the owner and I were in shock. It just seems so out of the ordinary for a 6.5 mth old. It doesn't seem normal to me. I bought him from a breeder and there have been no incidences of him being attacked by another dog. I wont let him off lead at a park anymore, possibly not even walk him on lead at park, this behaviour is unacceptable to me. But it leaves us both a little depressed when we can't have the freedom and fun at the park. I'm really not sure how to deal with the issue. It has been said that he doesn't see me as the pack leader and is pushing his boundaries (aggression seems to extreme for that?). I thought maybe it was in his breeding? I don't know. I first noticed this behaviour when he was about 3mths old, he snapped at another puppy and also barked at another adult dog while on a walk. Is this kind of aggression fixable? It restricts us from doing a lot of social things. Manida