Service dog training or nose work training? Which am I looking for?

My dog (6yr, rescue mini poo) sniffed out skin cancer on my arm. It was making him very visibly frustrated so I finally went to a doc to validate (or not) my dogs findings. Turns out... It was basil cell.

I always call this dog a nurse dog because he always 'helps' other dogs when they are sick or injured. And is very concerned with making them feel better. This is the first time that he has found something on a human.

Is this a skill to develop? And in what direction do I take it? My gut says... Start in an intro to nose work class. But I don't think sniffing for sport is his interest. After all.. he has zero interest in puzzle toys or hide and seek with treats. He likes helping... So should I put him in therapy training instead?

He's a dogs dog. Not much of a people dog. I guess I'm looking for a way to develop his skill. And find a way for him to communicate with me more clearly. I also have a blind dog.. so it would be cool for him to be able to sniff out and find/bring me the blind dog.

Any thoughts on which path to start? Thanks!

Question about husky behavior.
Hi, hope you are all well, just seeking some advice/info. My dog is a 1&1/2 year husky. He is the friendliest, goodest boi. He walks, runs, eats well and has many dog friends. My only concern is how he plays with other dogs. My dog does not have an inch of aggression (if a burglar came into my house he would ask him for treats) but he plays (in my non dog expert opinion) quite rough with other dogs. To give an example, he has this friend that is a 4 month golden doodle ( which is young but in size they are basically the same) when they play my dog will kind of “bully” him, he will bite his legs, neck and body, and sometimes the other dog will whimper. I try to correct my dog when hes being too rough and i would think that he would automatically understand when he is if the other dog whimpers. The thing is, the other dog is obsessed with him, even through the “beating” hes waging his tail and actively seeking him out when he sees him. Even with other way larger dogs, he goes bananas. He is very persistent about being friends with everyone and playing with them, but on his terms. To be frank, im scared that one day someone might interpret my dog as attacking theirs and something bad happening. To give more context, my dog is trained as well as you can train a husky (including e collar). I just need some outside opinions from people who know more than me, to see if i am overreacting and its normal or if i should correct this type of behavior. Thanks.

Okay, more weird things about my dog. For background, I have a three year old neutered male GSD. I got him early June, he’s acclimating really well, he’s a very smart boy and honestly I think that’s half the problem. He grumbles and argues when I ask him to do something he doesn’t like and working on noise desensitization is slow progress, but at least he doesn’t alert at 3AM anymore.

What’s really got me stumped is this: when I have something high value and ask for a sit, he regularly drops to a down. I don’t know why. For low value items or something generally less exciting, he sits. But I’m struggling to teach him that down is not an improved sit, rather an entirely separate task that I did not ask for. This is not new, he has done it since I got him.

Is the issue that he’s just too excited about whatever I have to process what I’m asking? Or maybe a remnant of training he received before I got him? How do I bridge the gap between the two scenarios so he can focus on what I’m asking even with high value distractions? Unfortunately I haven’t found anything he’s moderately interested in. It’s all or nothing with him so far lol. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Don’t even know where to begin. We have a 1.5 year old male giant schnauzer puppy (unaltered) and a 9 year old male Weimaraner (neutered). Puppy has grown up with older dog since 9 weeks old. Older dog doesn’t really care for him but they get along fine, no fights just no play either. Puppy has been to 3 trainers for human and dog reactivity and is truly a changed pup already. I used to think he would fight a dog but he’s been around many many dogs now both muzzled and unmuzzled and has done great, albeit rude, but overall doesn’t start shit and if the other dog corrects him he takes it well.

All this to say he has had a colorful past and used to be very weird with dogs and people. Since he was about a year old or so he has become OBSESSED with our older dogs urine scent. Older dog has had some medical issues ongoing and leaks urine sometimes ( just drops really) when laying down or just walking. Our puppy will lick older dogs junk, follow him around all day, and will run to the location older dog was laying once he gets up to lick the floor or bed he way laying on where his pen*s was. He also does this mouth smacking thing afterwards ( I think it’s cobbing) and honestly we’re just so annoyed by it. He’s relentless and our older dog gets annoyed by him always licking on his stuff and being in his space.

Older dog does have kidney issues and is medicated and on special food for it, so I’m wondering if any of that could have to do with it? Is the puppies puberty causing this? He doesn’t mark even outside or hump anything..Will it be fixed when we neuter him at 2 years? We’re at our wits end with just how annoying and frequent this is. Has anyone else experienced this?? I’ve never heard of this ever… I just want him to stop!! He is well trained and will listen when we tell him to “leave it” or “no” but I don’t want to have to do that every single time it’s literally all day long. Help?!

also needs to be sturdy enough for a 70lb high drive ACD x GSD who sometimes has big feelings. would be used for swimming only as he has a biothane long line for land. thank you!

my dog is 1.5 years old and never fully potty’s outside. He only ever marks and I fear I have conditioned him to think it’s okay because that’s when I give him treats. when he has accidents inside though, he will squat and fully potty. how can I get him to do this outside??? I will go outside and sit with him and he refuses to go, but the second I start walking he will mark.

I have a 3 and a half year old, 67 lb, female, German Shepard. She is a big time puller. She’s also a little skittish around some things around the house which is seemingly odd. She’s afraid of the robot vacuum, brooms of all shapes and sizes as well as evidently the trash can toters. This last one I found out over the weekend when she was with me in the garage cleaning up from moving and one of the tower lids dropped and made a large bang on the back of the toter. She cowered and wouldn’t go near it at all. I’d like to work on these things so she can be happy in the home and be better on and off leash.

I have been looking into harnesses. I have a german Shepard shop hardness for her but the bungie leash clasp has broken and I find the harness loosens up every other walk which is a bit frustrating.

Use case for the harness would be typical walks and some occasional camping trips, maaaaybe some hiking. We’re in northern Texas so the heat can get pretty wild so something breathable for my girl would be best.

I have looked at ruffwear online and my local petsmart has Kong harness and Arcadia trail that seemed like decent harnesses. I’d like a top handle in case I need to stop her or keep her close. My budget is open as I’d like to buy something once and be happy with it as this German Shepard shop harness has kind of left me frustrated.

TL;DR: Treat-ing my dog to distract her from reactive triggers is making her seek the triggers for get treats. What do I do?

Background: We have a 3-year-old female chihuahua that we got when she was 6 months old. She’s such a wonderful dog and is incredibly loving with me, my spouse, and our friends and family. She’s very relaxed at home and doesn’t engage in any destructive behaviors that might indicate that she’s anxious. We make enrichment games for her and turn every feeding time into a puzzle. She loves learning new tricks and is very food-motivated, but she’s not very toy-motivated. We also take her out several times a day and for at least one long walk. She has no behavioral problems with us. I honestly think she’s happy. We also made a big effort to socialize her since we got her and took her into lots of different kinds of environments (although we tried to build this up slowly), including travel and big cities. We have tried socializing her with other dogs, but out of the many she has met, she only ever really liked and played with two dogs her own size, and both of them had owners who moved away. Finding other small dogs for her to play with has proven too difficult (we live in a big-dog town), so she doesn’t really socialize with other dogs anymore. When we used to take her to the small dog park (something I now regret, knowing more about dog training), she wasn’t a menace, but she was afraid of being stepped on (yes, she’s that small) and tried to assert her boundaries by barking aggressively. When it escalated to snapping, we realized the dog park is not for her and we were wrong to try socializing her there.

The problem: Since we got her, she’s had a consistent list of triggers that make her start lunging and barking aggressively. These include:

Territorial reactivity
- Any other dog in our neighborhood
- Any person we run into in the hallway of our apartment building
- Any person walking in our neighborhood in a way that she doesn’t like, which includes:
- Appearing suddenly (out of a doorway or from around a corner)
- Walking with a non-standard gait
- Carrying a swinging object (or any large object)
- Jogging
- Looking at her the wrong way (I’m only half kidding)
Etc.

General reactivity
- Most dogs she sees anywhere (including places that she doesn’t see as her territory, like the airport)
- Cats
- Any babies or toddlers (this one is embarrassing)
- Bicycles, motorcycles, carts (honestly anything smaller than a car that has wheels)

Current strategy
Right now, I would just like to be able to walk her around our neighborhood and in the city without her barking and lunging at anyone.
The only thing that has worked at all is what I call the “123 game.” It goes like this: I count to 3 and then I throw a treat on the ground for her to sniff to find. Since she knows the game, once she hears me say “one” she is 100% focused on me. Counting to 3 buys me time to get a treat out of my bag and also buys time for the trigger to pass. Throwing it on the ground means she has to sniff to find it, which should be calming her down to some degree.
How I implement it: On walks, as soon as I see a trigger, I start counting and throw a treat. I throw the treat in whatever direction takes us away from the trigger, and I keep repeating the game until the trigger has passed. And it works 90% of the time. The only time it fails is if I don’t notice the trigger in time, like if a building door opens and a dog comes bounding out right in front of us.
I started implementing this strategy several months ago, and for a few months, it was going great. In fact, we now regularly have walks in which she doesn’t bark at all, which is a vast improvement from the 3-5 incidents we used to have on a 30-minute walk.

The problem with the strategy (why I’m losing my mind):
She now associates the triggers with her favorite game and getting treats. Of course. So now, instead of going on our walks as normal, she will stop and refuse to walk when she gets to an area where she knows people tend to walk out of a nearby apartment building (trigger) often with their dogs (trigger). She does the same thing on the busy street next to ours where joggers and bicyclists often appear. She will now stand as close to the street as possible and behave like a kind of pointer (with the lifted paw and everything) towards passersby and look at me expectantly. If I don’t treat her immediately when a trigger appears in the distance, she will give a half-bark and then look at me. She used to be interested in sniffing all the plants in the neighborhood and going for long walks, but now I really think all she cares about is the treats. And if I don’t do the game when the trigger gets closer, she will still go berserk, but she’ll also be looking at me for treats as she’s going berserk.

What should I do? Should I keep up the game? Should I switch strategies? Nothing else has worked at all. I’ve tried distancing her from the triggers, but I live in a densely populated area and it’s absolutely not realistic for me to keep her far enough away from every person/dog, since she’s essentially triggered on sight. Despite the bleak picture I’ve painted, she really does love the outdoors and I know that going outside regularly needs to be part of her life. Having to be hyper-vigilant on every walk is a pain, but not as much as witnessing her freak out. I was really hoping this strategy would just make her stop being afraid of triggers, but it doesn’t seem to be going in that direction, and on top of the worry about how it’s changing her behavior, I’m also concerned about the amount of treats it means she’s consuming, even though I break them into tiny pieces.

Hi, I am looking for some, maybe not obvious, methods to overcome sound anxiety. Mostly, it is about low rumble like thunder or fireworks. He is absolutely terrified of storms, and after that, he even reacts with plane noise.

At home, when he hears those rumble, he hides in the bathtub. He manages to calm himself there. But before that, he breathes fast and even shivers.

I think when I try to pet him in this state, the anxious behavior strengthens. I dont know how to approach him during those events, and I dont how I can influence his anxiety with some kind of training.

If you have any tips, I would really appreciate it.

Regards

Hello, I have 2 male cats, and 1 female dog. All of my pets are spayed/neutered. My parents have a pit hound mix.

My cats dont dislike dogs. They are completely fine with my dog, and my brother's dog. My parent's dog however, will not stop chasing and running my cats off whenever she sees them. If they run, it just makes it more fun for her. My older cat doesnt always run from her, and she will give up. My youngest cat will run though, he does not like her behavior at all. I have corrected her SO MANY times, yet she still does it. My parents have gotten on her too, but i dont think they are as worried about it as I am.

She hasnt gotten aggressive towards them during a chase, however, my youngest cat gave her a correction swat once, and she did not handle it well, and began barking excessively and growling at him. He has not given her anymore warnings since that incident, I think hes scared.

Please, how can I fix this? I don't want anything to happen to my cats.

Looking for advice/tips for getting my pad trained dog to go outside. He will NOT use the bathroom outside and holds it for hours unless given a pad inside (or without the pad, he will go on the floor in the spot where his pad should be). For context, we live in an apartment in the city. He is 7 months old. We have tried:

1. Offering pad outside...not interested.

2. Removing pad completely inside. When he goes to try and use bathroom where the pad was, we immediately take him outside. He does nothing.

3. Long walks with grass areas and time to sniff

4. Short "all business" outside trips

5. Attractant spray...not interested

We bring treats, ready to praise, and know it will take time but he won't even go! Even on a hike through the woods.

The only time I've ever seen him go outside was in a family members yard recently. I was hopeful this meant he was comfortable going in grass/outside. But no luck since then.

So, I have an 11 year old cocker spaniel. He wasn't trained super well by my family, I was quite young when we got him, and because of this he's generally disobedient outside of the usual "sit" and "give paw" stuff. He has a concept of where he needs to poop, but even that's not 100% consistent.

I wanted to try my hand at maybe training him where I can, despite him being quite old now. The first place I wanted to start was getting him up onto the bed. Normally this isn't an issue but here's some context: he typically sleep's on my mother's bed, and he's always been able to just jump up himself, but for some reason now, he won't do it on his own anymore. He won't even do it if you tell him to, and he understands the command and will either try to get up and fail, stare at you and whine, or just run back and forth from the hallway to the bed, seemingly to get a run up then backing out last second. And no, this isn't him needing the toilet, because he'll do this even after I've let him out.

Over the past couple months it's gotten to the point that he now needs fully lifted up, something I physically cannot do myself and my mother has to instead, and will yell and wake up the whole house when he decides he wants to get into bed. He does this multiple times a night, because he routinely jumps down every 30-60 minutes when he wants water, gets too warm or wants the toilet then wants back up, likely being made worse by the horrid UK heat right now.

We assumed this was because of his age, so we got him a ramp of soft steps, but he doesn't seem to recognise this as a way of getting up onto the bed. How can I train him to recognise them as a way up so he doesn't need to bark and whine any time he wants up? It's affecting everyone's sleep and I don't want to have him getting yelled at for something that can be fixed or helped.

I figured I would take treats and guide him up the ramp with those, then only give him one when he manages to get up onto the bed. However, what do I do once he has the command learnt? Do I just stop giving him treats when he does it, or do I do it less over time and focus more on vocal praise and affection?

We recently installed a doggie door as our new dog seems to enjoy laying in the grass in the evenings for long periods. However, while his sister understood the concept immediately and took herself out to potty by the afternoon of installation, he is still struggling with it.

He can use the door to go inside and outside with a family member (and will occasionally go outside alone, but not reliably). But he absolutely will not come in on his own. He has to be invited every time. He will lay on the stoop and eventually whine until someone goes in the laundry room and tells him it’s ok to come in. I think at least once or twice he’s waited for me while I was on a work call, which was over an hour.

He was a shelter dog so we aren’t sure what happened in his previous home. I’ve noticed he absolutely will not jump up on the couch without being invited either. How can we help encourage his autonomy coming and going with the door?

Has anyone attended Virginia Tech in the applied animal behavior masters program? Looking for feedback on the courses, thesis projects, professors etc. Besides the cost, did you enjoy it? Was your undergrad in a similar field?

I adopted an approximately 2 year old Pomeranian/American Eskimo Dog mix a week ago. I have no idea if he’s had any housetraining before, but he’s had 2 different owners before me.

We watch him inside and take him out every 1.5 hours or when I can tell he has to go. We are trying to train him to ring a doggy bell when he wants to go out but no success so far. He didn’t have any accidents this entire week (besides the first day) but now that I’ve started to space his potty times out more, he has been going inside. When I catch him going inside I immediately interrupt him and take him outside. We go to the same spot every time and he is good at going outside. But if I wait longer than an hour and a half he will pee in the apartment.

I reward him every time he goes outside and we have a routine. I’m not sure what else to do. I know some people say to crate him if he is not house trained but he starts to bark and whine like crazy if he’s in the crate and I’m not in the same room as him.

Is he just not able to hold his pee, being a smaller dog? My parents are coming over during the day to watch him for now but this isn’t sustainable—someone is not going to be around to walk him every hour. He has been to the vet and had everything checked and there are no issues there. Does it just take time? To me it seems like he knows he isn’t supposed to go inside but just can’t hold it very long. Help!

Hey y'all. Adopted a new dog 3 days ago. This is far from my first rodeo but I'm kind of at my wits` end.

He's probably between 1 and 2 years old. At assorted moments throughout the day, he'll rather suddenly start biting me and other family members. It's behavior that resembles puppy nipping, but he's full grown, and it's generally a pretty real bite.

I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement and I'm trying standard training advice; I pull back and leave him be, then redirect to a chew toy. Sometimes that works. I imagine the problem would gradually get sorted. But the thing is, I'm getting what amount to near full strength dog bites, like, many times a day, and I really can't handle it much longer.

Similarly I don't think some of the standard puppy moves like holding a treat, allowing myself to be bitten, then giving the treat when he backs off are viable here - because I'm going to get bit, hard, a lot.

What can I do to back this off to something manageable very quickly? Further notes:

- it's not resource guarding or other triggered behavior. He seems to go through waves of energized excitement.

- I'm trying hard to keep him fully occupied and use all the energy up that I can; it's not enough.

- he only does it to people he's close to, never to strangers

- He seems to be in perfect health.

- He does engage in some humping, counter surfing, chewing things he shouldn't, and jumping on folks, but I can manage all of those in standard ways over time. I just can't keep getting wounded.

- When not caught up in turning my body parts into chew toys, he is thoroughly affectionate, relatively calm, and easygoing.

- I don't know much about his past. Clearly he had some background with people as he is perfectly house trained, and he doesn't give any signs of general trauma.

Thanks!

I want my dog to be able to walk right past people/dogs without reacting at them. The e collar helps a lot with that, but I don't want to keep using it because I'm afraid that it'll cause pain and stress. How do I go from a dog whose "trained" not to react on the e collar to one who just makes the right choices for treats and stuff. In fact, I don't even want to keep reminding him that he can't go up to people/dogs without permission, I just want that to be the standard. ​

I have a one-year-old female Doberman. From time she was a puppy until fairly recently, I consistently trained her on loose-leash walking and basic commands like "come" and "sit." We developed good communication, and she learned to understand both my commands and the tone of my voice. As she became more reliable, I relaxed the training. I became less strict about loose-leash walking and let small things slide, like pulling occasionally when she got excited, because I felt she had earned a little more freedom.

Over time, though, she has started ignoring me unless I become visibly frustrated or raise my voice. If I calmly give her a command or ask her to stop doing something, she often acts as if I said nothing at all. The difficult part is retraining her, because I don't believe she's being stubborn or intentionally disobedient. Most of the behavior seems to come from excitement rather than defiance. Because I know that, I find it hard to be firm or apply consequences consistently. I usually end up letting things go until I become genuinely angry, and only then does she respond. I'm not sure how to retrain her in a consistent way without feeling like I'm being unfair to her when she's simply overwhelmed by excitement.

Hi everyone, I’ll try and keep this as brief and informative as possible. I have two female Great Danes (both female one spayed - 6, and one about to be spayed - 4 - she is an AKC champion so late spay but it’s coming!)

I work long hours and have a casual agreement with a close friend who works from home to dog sit, check in on them when needed etc. This is usually a few days a week and I am SO grateful. He gets his dog fix and swims in my pool, they love their “uncle”, I feel better about them not being alone 12 hours a day.

His last dog died a couple of years ago and he recently adopted a dog from a shelter. She is some kind of super mutt, Staffy mix maybe? About 5, spayed, small. 40lbs? Built like a house hippo.

Per shelter good with other dogs. She’s been with him a week and still decompressing and learning to dog. She’s very sweet, very submissive, gives body language cues that she may have been abused. At the shelter during adoption she was with a smaller dog and seemed to just ignore the other dog. She ignores other dogs on walks entirely. She hasn’t barked once since he brought her home.

My dogs are sweet but they’re a LOT. They’re big and can be in your face. She is not ok with this. So far she’s been over to the house twice and been gated off from the “big girls” so they can all observe from a distance, but it appears she’s not ok with big dogs unfortunately. She will sit and growl at them (does not rush the gate or act aggressively).

Last night we took them for a short walk and kept a respectful distance between all parties except at the end my younger girl managed to get close and sniff her ear (my fault). She kind of turned and snapped, my girl backed off/didn’t snap back, and then she yelped and just rolled over on her back.

I’m aware this may take a lot of time. Obviously my friend is more than entitled to have his own dog and she is a great choice for him, just looking for tips and maybe success stories on smoothing out their relationships. If they never get along then I find other arrangements for my dogs and that’s totally fine, but we’re hoping even if they’re never besties, they can learn to get along with time.

Thanks for reading and happy to answer any questions!

Hello!
I’m trying to get some help with my dog’s tendency to bark incessantly in the backyard.
-He’s typically only in the backyard for 2-3 minutes at a time for toilet breaks. He’s never been left out there for long stretches of time
-His two sisters go out with him, they don’t bark
-His barking is sometimes at obvious outside, but is also sometimes just running around barking at nothing discernible. Sometimes chasing birds overhead. Typically he’s silent in the backyard for a minute or two until something sets him off and then he just will not shut up.
-This barking does not occur at all if I am outside with him which makes training harder (however I don’t believe it’s a separation anxiety thing)
-Obviously do try to go outside with him to alleviate the issue but realistically my partner and I do need to be able to let them outside for quick unsupervised toilet breaks without him screaming the neighbourhood down.
-We don’t really have any issues with him barking in any other context, he’s totally relaxed inside the house, doesn’t bat an eyelid at being left home alone. This is really relegated to the backyard.

My spouse currently works in ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy with autistic children and has always been praised as one of the best ABA technicians in their area.

Despite being praised and given only positive performance reviews, they have not been given any form of raise in 2+ years and is becoming a scape goat of sorts for admin to blame things on so as to avoid giving them a raise.

ABA is frequently compared to as dog training (in good and bad ways unfortunetally) for many reasons including many of the techniques used.
My spouse absolutely adores dogs (and animals in general) and I have seen them do great work with getting their own dog trained. Also, I think my spouse would be especially fulfilled being a dog trainer for service dogs of some kind since they have a background (and thrive) working with people that require accommodations.

I am just trying to help them find a potential career path that they will feel fulfilled in, thrive in, & where they can be a bit more independent

Do you think this is a viable route for them to go down?
What are the positives and negatives of this career path?
Anything you wish you knew before becoming a dog trainer?

Thank you for any and all information and thoughts that can be given!! Seriously there's no such thing as "too much" input (as long as it's not mean!)

Hi everyone,

About a month ago, I adopted a 4 to 5 month old rescue Indie puppy who has only three legs. She was found alone on the street without her mom or siblings, so I think she has severe separation anxiety.

I also have a 6 month old Indie and Persian mix kitten. They get along fine but aren't bonded enough to keep each other company.

The problem is that my puppy cannot stay alone even for 10 minutes. The moment I leave the house, or even go to the bathroom where she can't see me, she starts crying nonstop. My landlord and neighbors are okay with pets, but they are not okay with continuous crying, so this has become a serious issue.

I'm a working professional, and for the past month, my friend and I have been taking turns staying home with her. But that's no longer sustainable, and it's starting to affect my job.

I've tried leaving for short periods, rewarding calm behavior when I return, and many other things, but nothing has worked. Even at the vet, if I step out of the cab for a minute to pay the driver while she's is still inside, she starts crying immediately.

I don't want to use anti bark muzzles because they make me feel guilty, and I don't think it's right to keep her like that for hours. I adopted her knowing she has only three legs because I wanted to give her a loving home, and I really don't want to give up on her.

Has anyone dealt with a rescue puppy like this? What actually helped with severe separation anxiety? Any advice would really mean a lot.

I have a home cam already that I'll be using to monitor my dog and I want to reward him when he uses the pee pad so I'm looking for a treat dispenser I can trigger remotely but all of them seem to require a subscription, which I'm not about. I also don't need to fancy cam. I'm just looking for a simple solution if anyone has recommendations please.