Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group! The mission of this post is to provide a constructive place to discuss your dog's progress and setbacks in conquering his/her separation anxiety. Feel free to post your fortnightly progress report, as well as any questions or tips you might have! We seek to provide a safe space to vent your frustrations as well, so feel free to express yourself. We welcome both owners of dogs with separation anxiety and owners whose dogs have gotten better! NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY? New to the subject of separation anxiety? A dog with separation an ..read more

Hi guys! The trainers I’ve been working with are at a loss, so I’m hoping to find some guidance here if possible! TLDR: I fostered a dog for 7 months and he was a complete sweetheart. He got adopted and after 3 weeks they returned him because he was non-stop snarling, growling, nipping, and lunging at them. With no prior history of this, I’m at a loss on how to help him! ———————————————————————————- So…. 7 months ago I started fostering a sweet pup. He was 6 months old, and came from a different foster home that couldn’t control him. I am NOT a dog trainer, however I had a more suitable setup ..read more

I have a 2 year old staffy boxer mix that I rescued a year ago. When we first got him he was friendly with all dogs even when aggressive to him he would run away. He got attacked by a bigger dog and as a result had a really bad injury it was a slice that went all through his ear honestly looked like something from a horror movie it was terrible. Ever since then he has bit 50/50 with other dogs he never attacks or bites but at random will start growling at other dogs and due to his breed this can be terrifying for other dog owners. (with dogs bigger than him or even slightly resembling the dog ..read more

Hi there, I've been doing reading and watching videos on separation anxiety and the whole desensitization thing. But I have a few questions. I live in a studio apartment so there's no separate rooms to train with. She does and will work on her frozen kongs (filled with wet dog food) but once she's done, she will go and stand and stare at the front door. I'm at about 40 mins (20mins kong and snuffle mat and 20 mins standing at the door), but I have not tried longer. She used to bark and howl immediately. Currently she doesn't, other than stand right at the door and stare at the door. I have no ..read more

I have been taking my 1 1/2 year old springer spaniel to a field to play fetch. It is a common place for dog owners to take their dogs off-leash, so there are dogs always coming and going. Lately he has been displaying aggressive behaviors with other dogs that come to say hi. It does not happen every time but when it does his hackles come up and he will growl and nip. I think he is either resource guarding myself or the ball. After much research online I have not been able to find strategies to fix this particular issue. Many of the resources I have found only discuss issues with food, comfor ..read more

My dog, who is one year and four months old, has recently developed a habit of staring out the window and whining incessantly, especially when I'm on calls for work sense I work from home. I've tried various strategies like closing the blinds and even using CBD, but nothing seems to work. It's becoming overwhelming, and I've even resorted to putting him in the crate to stop the whining. I suspect it might be related to separation anxiety, as it happens more when either I or my partner are away. I'm open to any recommendations to address this behavior, including considering dog daycare as an o ..read more

I have had my dog for about 6 years now and he has never really had a high prey drive at all how he’s been introduced to other dogs before is we took them a couple streets down and walked them back to the house and that usually goes smoothly I recently got a kitten they have been kept in separate parts of the house for awhile and I’ve now just started to introduce them through a baby gate my dog is whining and if the cat gets to close to the gate he starts to get more unruly I’m wondering if these are signs it may just never work with them or I need to give it time we have only had the baby g ..read more

I’ve searched the sub and haven’t found exactly my issue, so I figured I’d see if anybody has any ideas. My 9 y/o Borzoi is incredibly lazy. She limps for a bit when she gets up (we’ve spent thousands on tests, everything comes back normal - at this point we’re thinking a possible nerve issue/maybe her leg falling asleep before it sorts itself out after walking a bit). She is walked everyday, but doesn’t like to go too far and we aren’t pushing her due to this mystery on/off lameness. Vet says she’s otherwise in great health, we don’t know. We try to stimulate her mentally with licky mats and ..read more

Hello All! I have a three month old puppy and we’ve been attempting potty training for a bit. As the wiki recommends, I call her a good girl and give a small high quality treat when she poops/pees outside to reinforce the behavior. I also take her out after every meal and EVERY hour. She’s also crated at night to avoid accidents. The issue I’m having is we walk outside, stand out there for about 10-20 minutes, and she just runs around and sniffs things, tries to catch bugs, etc, then she goes to the door to go inside. Within two minutes of getting inside she uses the bathroom on the floor. It ..read more

My 2yr old Shepperd-mix dog is a model dog when it's just her and I. Walks great, tail up, no anxiety and I can tie her up in front of a coffee shop for a few minutes with no issues. When I'm with a friend (someone specifically who's been to my house) she's super anxious, walks stiffer, whining, obsessing over the other person, walking too close to them and on on their toes and jumping on them. When I tie her up in front of a coffee shop she will immediately bark and whine and won't allow to be left alone. She's been like this since day 1 when I got her at 6 weeks old (yes, way too early but ..read more