beckyboop28
New member
Hey everyone. I’ve read a bunch of posts about other peoples’ reactive dogs, but my situation has a couple of specifics I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere that I’d like advice on.
I have a 4 year old Shih Tzu that I got 2.5 years ago. The previous family had gotten him from a breeder as a puppy; when he was just over a year old, he had an accident and lost his hind left leg. They reported that while he had not shown any serious behavioral concerns, they had several small children and other dogs and they could no longer attend to the increased attention it seems he needed after the accident. I took him home and while he had his moments of “diva-ness”, he was fine for a long time. He came home to a house full of people and other pets, and he soaked up all the love and attention he received from everyone.
1.5 years ago, he moved into an apartment with me, my sister, and our cat. My sister and I stagger our schedules so that there’s always someone home when he normally needs to go out; he can get 3-4 walks per day.
In the last 8 months, he’s become an unholy terror to have around. Some of the issues were present before; he has what we call FOMO and none of us can be in a room without him without him screaming at the door to be let in. Our apartment neighbors have reported he’s fine while we’re gone, and when we come home he doesn’t even move from the couch to greet us, so it doesn’t seem to me like it’s a separation anxiety thing, but I could be wrong. He loves being outside so like I said we take him out on several walks per day, but we have a balcony and he will sit at the door to the balcony and scream endlessly until we let him out, and then in again 5 minutes later, rinse and repeat. (I keep saying “scream” because that’s what it is. He’s not just whining, he’s damn near losing his mind in agitation.) A guy moved in below us with his dog, and every time he takes his dog out for a walk, mine goes insane and barks at them while running in a craze around the apartment for 10 minutes.
My partner is moving in, and he works from home. I’ve already been worried about these issues since he’s extremely distracting for someone trying to work during the day. Recently, however, his reactivity to everyone but me has gotten worse. He’s started lashing out at my sister, my partner, or my other family members when they see him. It’s like a switch flips and without any provocation, he flips out and bites them on the hand, and wont let go for several seconds. He’s left marks, and the frequency of these incidents is getting worse. He has done this a few times in the early days of us having him, but not to this extreme and not this frequently.
I’ve tried every training solution I can think of. Rewarding him for being calm, teaching him and rewarding him to do something else when he starts barking at noises in the building, he knows basic commands well. I’ve tried crate training him and he does go to the crate when commanded, but I can’t keep him in there with the door shut for long because he starts screaming and freaking out. I’m worried it’s going to disturb our neighbors and the other dog in the building, so I can’t keep him in overnight because he just will not stop being demanding no matter how much we train against it. I’ve spent so much of my time training and almost 0 of it has ever stuck with him.
His behavior is getting worse and his ability to follow directions is becoming less and less. His reactivity scares me for the people that live in the apartment with me, including the cat, though they haven’t had issues yet. The solution might be to go to the vet, I’m just in a bad spot right now after my car was stolen and I don’t have a whole lot of funds to sink into any potential treatment. I guess I’m looking for any advice possible, encouragement, or suggestions for what to do. This dog has been my whole world for over two years and I don’t know what I’d do if I had to rehome him or worse. Thanks in advance.
I have a 4 year old Shih Tzu that I got 2.5 years ago. The previous family had gotten him from a breeder as a puppy; when he was just over a year old, he had an accident and lost his hind left leg. They reported that while he had not shown any serious behavioral concerns, they had several small children and other dogs and they could no longer attend to the increased attention it seems he needed after the accident. I took him home and while he had his moments of “diva-ness”, he was fine for a long time. He came home to a house full of people and other pets, and he soaked up all the love and attention he received from everyone.
1.5 years ago, he moved into an apartment with me, my sister, and our cat. My sister and I stagger our schedules so that there’s always someone home when he normally needs to go out; he can get 3-4 walks per day.
In the last 8 months, he’s become an unholy terror to have around. Some of the issues were present before; he has what we call FOMO and none of us can be in a room without him without him screaming at the door to be let in. Our apartment neighbors have reported he’s fine while we’re gone, and when we come home he doesn’t even move from the couch to greet us, so it doesn’t seem to me like it’s a separation anxiety thing, but I could be wrong. He loves being outside so like I said we take him out on several walks per day, but we have a balcony and he will sit at the door to the balcony and scream endlessly until we let him out, and then in again 5 minutes later, rinse and repeat. (I keep saying “scream” because that’s what it is. He’s not just whining, he’s damn near losing his mind in agitation.) A guy moved in below us with his dog, and every time he takes his dog out for a walk, mine goes insane and barks at them while running in a craze around the apartment for 10 minutes.
My partner is moving in, and he works from home. I’ve already been worried about these issues since he’s extremely distracting for someone trying to work during the day. Recently, however, his reactivity to everyone but me has gotten worse. He’s started lashing out at my sister, my partner, or my other family members when they see him. It’s like a switch flips and without any provocation, he flips out and bites them on the hand, and wont let go for several seconds. He’s left marks, and the frequency of these incidents is getting worse. He has done this a few times in the early days of us having him, but not to this extreme and not this frequently.
I’ve tried every training solution I can think of. Rewarding him for being calm, teaching him and rewarding him to do something else when he starts barking at noises in the building, he knows basic commands well. I’ve tried crate training him and he does go to the crate when commanded, but I can’t keep him in there with the door shut for long because he starts screaming and freaking out. I’m worried it’s going to disturb our neighbors and the other dog in the building, so I can’t keep him in overnight because he just will not stop being demanding no matter how much we train against it. I’ve spent so much of my time training and almost 0 of it has ever stuck with him.
His behavior is getting worse and his ability to follow directions is becoming less and less. His reactivity scares me for the people that live in the apartment with me, including the cat, though they haven’t had issues yet. The solution might be to go to the vet, I’m just in a bad spot right now after my car was stolen and I don’t have a whole lot of funds to sink into any potential treatment. I guess I’m looking for any advice possible, encouragement, or suggestions for what to do. This dog has been my whole world for over two years and I don’t know what I’d do if I had to rehome him or worse. Thanks in advance.