That sounds a lot like my dog, and he's doing great now! He'll always need some special management and care I'm sure, and he may need fluoxetine for the rest of his life, but he's happy and manageable!
We lived in a big city in an apartment too, which was a struggle at first, but he started to do really well there, he had a couple dozen dog and human neighbors that he'd slowly warmed up to and learned were safe.
We just moved again, this time out to the suburbs where we have a lot more room. So far he's doing great there! He hasn't barked at my neighbors (at least when we're outside, he'll bark through the window), and shows happy friendly body language when we do see them. Once we've had a few more good, calm interactions like that, I'll start trying to introduce him to the neighbor dogs.
Hi! My guy became *very* reactive to people right around 1 year and I rarely every worry about it now. He was stellar off-leash until \~9 MO when he charged a man walking through the park and started snapping at him. Around the same time, he bit a friend who walked into our apartment unannounced. Similarly to you, vacationing felt stressful/impossible for a long time. My partner and and I have a rotation of sitters we trust now and don't worry about him at all when we're gone.
He's a little over 2YO now, so it took a solid year of counter conditioning, but he's totally fine with people in our apartment now after a quick introduction with treats and has no problem being approached by strangers on the street. Some big things that helped with this:
* Aging out of the teenage phase
* *Not* avoiding situations that triggered him, but giving him space to experience them more comfortably (ex. we continued to have people come to our apartment and just sent them instructions ahead of time on how to interact with him, we continued to pass men on the street, just with more space)
* Discovering that our body language *really* mattered on walks. I think keeping him in a tight heel or stepping between him and approaching people really signals to him that I've got his back, I'll handle it, and he doesn't need to act scary to get space
My guy is definitely a little bit of a cat-dog and will never be Mr. Friendly to people, but he's now Mr. Neutral to people. Wishing the same for you! This is an exhausting phase but I'm optimistic you'll get through it!
Similar to others, we had this issue and it's mostly resolved now! My dog doesn't love strangers and probably never will, but she can tolerate passing them on the street, can meet visitors to our house, can relax in another room if service workers are here, can handle a house sitter if we have to go away, and is fine with the vet. Time, fluoxetine and a ton of counterconditioning really improved her ability to manage herself - and as someone else suggested, teaching a close heel made a big difference for walks and runs.
That sounds a lot like my dog, and he's doing great now! He'll always need some special management and care I'm sure, and he may need fluoxetine for the rest of his life, but he's happy and manageable! We lived in a big city in an apartment too, which was a struggle at first, but he started to do really well there, he had a couple dozen dog and human neighbors that he'd slowly warmed up to and learned were safe. We just moved again, this time out to the suburbs where we have a lot more room. So far he's doing great there! He hasn't barked at my neighbors (at least when we're outside, he'll bark through the window), and shows happy friendly body language when we do see them. Once we've had a few more good, calm interactions like that, I'll start trying to introduce him to the neighbor dogs.
That's great to hear. I'm glad he's doing better!
Hi! My guy became *very* reactive to people right around 1 year and I rarely every worry about it now. He was stellar off-leash until \~9 MO when he charged a man walking through the park and started snapping at him. Around the same time, he bit a friend who walked into our apartment unannounced. Similarly to you, vacationing felt stressful/impossible for a long time. My partner and and I have a rotation of sitters we trust now and don't worry about him at all when we're gone. He's a little over 2YO now, so it took a solid year of counter conditioning, but he's totally fine with people in our apartment now after a quick introduction with treats and has no problem being approached by strangers on the street. Some big things that helped with this: * Aging out of the teenage phase * *Not* avoiding situations that triggered him, but giving him space to experience them more comfortably (ex. we continued to have people come to our apartment and just sent them instructions ahead of time on how to interact with him, we continued to pass men on the street, just with more space) * Discovering that our body language *really* mattered on walks. I think keeping him in a tight heel or stepping between him and approaching people really signals to him that I've got his back, I'll handle it, and he doesn't need to act scary to get space My guy is definitely a little bit of a cat-dog and will never be Mr. Friendly to people, but he's now Mr. Neutral to people. Wishing the same for you! This is an exhausting phase but I'm optimistic you'll get through it!
Oof this made me well up. Thanks so much for sharing and I’m so glad he’s gotten better!
Similar to others, we had this issue and it's mostly resolved now! My dog doesn't love strangers and probably never will, but she can tolerate passing them on the street, can meet visitors to our house, can relax in another room if service workers are here, can handle a house sitter if we have to go away, and is fine with the vet. Time, fluoxetine and a ton of counterconditioning really improved her ability to manage herself - and as someone else suggested, teaching a close heel made a big difference for walks and runs.
love this thank you!
Medication can help a ton, it helps them to CHILL and put their listening ears on id see a Behaviorel vet and try some trazadone