r/OpenDogTraining 23h ago

She gets a little excited

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27 Upvotes

Whenever I’ve asked her to take left side, she always gets excited and jumps INTO me on her way there. 😂 Cracks me up. She doesn’t do this for center or right side.


r/OpenDogTraining 4h ago

Is my dog playing too rough?

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14 Upvotes

Mine is the brown dog. I thought she was too pushy, husky owner said it's fine.


r/OpenDogTraining 6h ago

Dog doesn't care I'm on the other end of the leash

4 Upvotes

My dog will NOT pee or poop when the neighbors cat comes in our yard. He's immediately fixated on the cats and no matter how much I walk him around or carry treats he gives 0 shits I'm on the end of the leash. He'll lose his mind whimpering, barking, pulling toward the cat. I'm reaching my wits end on how to train him.

This happens on walks and hikes too, where it seems like he does not care I'm the one walking him asking him to do things. Even if theres no other animals it's like I'm not even there on the end of the leash. Please help ;-;


r/OpenDogTraining 8h ago

Barking- Tried Everything!

3 Upvotes

i have had my rescue dog for about five months now, and, despite all my best efforts, I cannot curb her barking. It seems to be borne out of restlessness? She really struggles to exist as herself. If I am not interacting with her, she is sleeping. Which would be fine if I knew why she was barking at me, but it is a struggle to interpret what she wants!

I genuinely could not tell you what her barking it is about most of the time. She has food, water, went to the bathroom, I try to give her attention/play- none of these things help. So, I thought maybe she was under-stimulated, so I have taken her on sniffing walks, done inside mental stimulation with sniffing, played tug with her, etc etc. That does not help, and half the time, only seems to rile her up more.

Then I thought it was maybe an attention thing (even though she does not seem to really want attention when she barks?) so I tried reverse time outs, regular time outs, ignoring her (all at different times and for at least two consistent weeks per method)

Throughout all of this, I have been trying to practice the rewarding calm techniques, to try and encourage her to relax. This has done very little. She sleeps a bit more I think, but when she is awake and running, it’s right back to the same old barking at me and my partner for an unidentifiable need. To try and figure out what she wants, we started using button communication. This curbed some of the barking, but I think it was the novelty of the buttons that distracted her, because she has caught on to the buttons and their meaning but the barking had ramped back up again as the buttons became routine.

Any and all help is appreciated. I am really trying to avoid any aversive measures but I am struggling to find a method of curbing this behavior!!! I hate being frustrated at her, because it’s not her fault, but the barking is incessant and I feel like I have tried so much.


r/OpenDogTraining 9h ago

How to train dog to use hooded dog bed

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3 Upvotes

Hi! I have a Boston Terrier that LOVES being curled up in a blanket. He’s very attached to me as a work from home so we’re working on him having other safe spaces in the house that aren’t right beside me.

We recently purchased a hooded dog bed (one with a soft blanket on top) and we’re hoping we can get him to figure out how to get under the blanket part on his own. My other dog uses his head to nudge blankets and can figure out how to get under without our help, but our Boston just paws at us. Because of this, he’s just kind of scratching the top of the blanket (bed) and not understanding that he needs to use his head to get underneath it.

He seems to like the bed and has been using it, but he just lays on top of the blanket part. We started with putting treats in there guiding him, but he kind of looked at it like a snuffle mat he couldn’t figure out and tried to flip it😂

Any advice???


r/OpenDogTraining 3h ago

Reactive Dog

2 Upvotes

I have a gorgeous 11yo male long haired dachshund and he has always had mixed reactions to other dogs. Lately though he is reactive to all dogs and our walks are filled with barking. His sister moved away about 3 months ago so I don't know if that's what's made it worse.

He is more territorial and spends his walks pulling me in directions to sniff and pee on everything (even though he is long been neutered).

I don't know quite how to teach this old dog manners bu at least ignoring other dogs.

Any suggestions appreciated 😊


r/OpenDogTraining 19h ago

12 week old puppy resource guarding

2 Upvotes

My 12 week old ridgeback cross puppy has been good since we got him. Just the usual biting from teething but the other day he started resource guarding a hoof and bit my hand hard and aggressively. Since he’s still young what should I be doing right now to prevent this from being a problem in the future.


r/OpenDogTraining 5h ago

"Victoria Stillwell Doesn't Understand Punishment"

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1 Upvotes

r/OpenDogTraining 7h ago

Advice Appreciated: Taking a Trainer Job

1 Upvotes

Hello,

I am new to professional dog training but not training dogs itself. I showed dogs in 4-H for a little while and did plenty of training and teaching my own dogs. I am in need of finding a job and was hired as a dog trainer. I am not sure if it is the best place and would love to know more about people’s perspectives with training dogs or working with trainers.

The owner has 10 dogs who most do not get along with the client dogs. Some of the owners dogs have to wear muzzles or be leashed while around client dogs because they will attack/step on/bite other dogs. Many client dogs do not like coming into the yard because of them. The owner and other trainer are aware of this and just don’t seem to do anything to mitigate that specific problem.

While training dogs, the owner will not always use the dog’s name. She and the other trainer said that they have to consciously say the dog’s name or they will call it the nickname that they determine for the dog. Which would lead me to believe that the dogs don’t truly know their names, which is detrimental to every other aspect of training (in my opinion). She says that they don’t train for competition levels. She doesn’t train “stay” as a command with sit or down, but will train stay while going through a gate, which doesn’t make sense to me. As they aren’t competition levels, I believe training the stay would be more beneficial for families (that’s not the point besides it being contradictory, because the gates shouldn’t need a stay either). The head trainer is the only one who takes her dogs outside to do training. They sometimes seem to prioritize dog tricks over basic obedience.

She can’t keep staff and has only had one consistent dog trainer for 4 years. From what I have gathered, no one else makes it past 2 years. She is trying to set up daycare and is taking daycare dogs, but doesn’t have a daycare attendant. She talks badly about past staff right in front of me and I only just started.

I would love to know more from other people’s perspectives of training and working with a trainer. Thank you!


r/OpenDogTraining 12h ago

My dog has become extremely aggressive attacks me like 4x a day

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1 Upvotes

r/OpenDogTraining 18h ago

12yo mini dachshund with IVDD keeps climbing into our bed at night.

1 Upvotes

Our 12 year old miniature dachshund was just diagnosed with IVDD. She’s crawled into bed with us for years and won’t stop now. I’ve tried to crate at night, which gets 45+ minutes of crying and howling before I cave. Currently working on daytime training to make her own bed a positive place, with high praise and treats. I’m open to suggestions on how to get my old girl to stop coming to bed with her humans.


r/OpenDogTraining 3h ago

Reactive Dog

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0 Upvotes

r/OpenDogTraining 15h ago

My new 9 week old puppy is failing potty training.

0 Upvotes

So I recently got a new 9 week old “German shepherd / Lab mix” (Not a hundred percent sure if it’s accurate waiting for dna results to come back.) she is terrible about going to the bathroom; I take her out every hour, after playtime, after naps, 30 minutes after she eats, and 20-30 minutes after she drinks water. The only issue is, she will NOT go outside. She will hold it in until she takes herself back upstairs to our apartment, I take her to the same spot outside EVERY SINGLE TIME. And she almost never goes. When my partner takes her out, she cries whines, and pulls / bites at the Leash to take herself back up 2 flights of stairs to get herself inside to pee/ poo on our carpet. I’ve tried using potty pads, literally covered the entire carpet in them, she won’t use them, she lifts them up and goes underneath them. She will pee on our clothes ETC. She whines when she has to go poo so that’s when I know to take her out, but she won’t go. I’ve asked my vet, and she said it’s normal puppy behavior, I have her in puppy preschool and she’s still doing this behavior. Any Advice? I’ve literally contacted 3 different trainers. Have her in school, talked to a vet, take her out more frequently, and nothing is working. In need of desperate help to get this sorted out.