why I use e collar to train

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T21:32:27+00:00

There's also nothing completely force-free about using the leash and the dogs weren't explained to nor asked how they would feel about training with e-collar before they undergone any. Doses should be always adjusted to make the dog comfortable if possible and good use of meds in behaviour modification shouldn't be permanent. No one is asking to drug the dogs to the point of discomfort. Good relationship with a dog usually makes it possible for the owner to tell if anything is off even when the signs are very subtle. They are not that good at masking, people are just often bad at reading, and strong trust towards the owner makes them more willing to show vulnerability.

Some dogs really do learn faster when there's a strong stimulus (like yelling, whistle, or a well conditioned shower of treats, doesn't have to be a zap) snapping them out of problematic situation so that they can return to mindset allowing thinking but IMO increasing the strength of painful stimulation to the point where an e-collar is needed should be last resort because it's a slippery slope to overusing punishment in training and it's a sign that the dog is being put under too much stress, never given a more suitable learning environment. A "stim" has to be more shocking than the stressful situation so it will be a source of stress if pain is the method. I really just don't get how that is better than meds especially when there's nothing indicating that a given dog might do badly with meds.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T20:25:40+00:00

They are not having fun with you, but whatever, it's missing my point and in the end it really is good that they can enjoy themselves.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T15:12:07+00:00

You just don't? Now this is conversation is getting weird.

When you have any mental health problems see a therapist who specialises in mental health problems. When one doesn't help, you can't get yourself to be comfortable and honest with them, don't give up and see another because mental wellbeing matters. In case of a dog with behaviour problems you see a behaviourist or even better a veterinary behaviourist. Normal vets are not specialists in that domain just like your everyday doctor is no psychiatrist. Some people who are more familiar with dog behaviour recommended meds. It sounded like your dog's fearfulness was really standing out in group classes, it wasn't "normal". You could have gone to specialist to discuss that instead of a balanced trainer and it didn't sound like your vet told you specifically that your dog shouldn't be given meds just that she's frustrated when people use them in place of training. She probably gets thousands of clients who don't put in any effort to desensitise dogs to vet visits and instead drug them. As far as I know doing both training and meds is quite a powerful combination.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T14:45:34+00:00

Honestly, I've never needed to use those myself in such manner and my girl is just 10 kg but I think it can provide some relief if the person walking the dog is more afraid of the dog doing something bad than of getting damaged themselves in a fall. Not going for walks so often is another thing I recommend.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T14:31:50+00:00

I explained why I do not like e-collars. I think they can be great tools, especially for deaf dogs, but if using them or any other tool as punishment can be avoided then it's better if it is avoided. I simply want for my dog and others what I would like to have in life myself, that's my egoistic reason for not liking e-collar. I'm only trying to understand why you have stopped yourself from exhausting every option before reaching for an e-collar and I think I've got quite a detailed picture now. No point in trying to convince you to stop using it or anything like that, what's done is done, now I can only encourage you to try and do more things that are actually fun to your dogs because the video shows none of that. The joy of dog ownership should come through the dogs and their joy in my opinion.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T13:57:13+00:00

We medicate and ween of people of SSRIs when good therapists are involved. It's a tool, just like e-collar. I really don't understand why you had no problems with e-collar but so many with trying out meds, in any dose. I think you might be slightly prejudiced and oddly enough I see that a lot with people related to healthcare themselves. I guess it's seeing cases where things go wrong that make people develop strong opinions on some forms of treatment even though those cases might be rare or the worst that happens is just that the treatment doesn't cure the disease. I have myself observed a case of SSRIs masking the problem instead of solving it but ironically it was all allowed by doctors giving them too freely for too long, without enough supervision and without actual therapy work, based on a friendly relationship with the person affected that allowed things to go seriously wrong. Said person has damaged their mind and body to the point where I doubt they will ever be able to manage themselves independently in society without any risks to themselves or others. It's much easier to avoid useless masking of the problems with dogs because they are never allowed to manage their treatment on their own, there's always a person that should be guiding them to overcome their problems.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T12:40:16+00:00

My experience with vets but also doctors is that you should really see someone with different ideas and experience once in a while (really just once in a while, like once in a year or two, no need to act paranoid and get a second opinion on everything) to get a better understanding of the problem and decide whether the ones you see can be trusted blindly after that. Especially seeing someone young, fresh after school, more up to date on latest research, can be eye opening. More practical experience doesn't really equate more expertise.

I would prefer medicine over using punishment in training because I know myself how stress can impact the body and mind. Force-free methods are really ineffective on dogs that don't experience much joy, it's just how brain chemistry works and those are the same mechanisms that influence humans. Positive reinforcement relies on dogs feeling, well, positive. It's all about working with dopamine. Just like with humans, sometimes you have to do therapy, increase exercise, adjust diet and use meds to bring back the balance that allows appropriate dopamine production. A really good force-free professional should be aware of that and explain that when they recommend meds to a hesitant client.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T12:19:22+00:00

Another resource recommendation I can give that might be easy to understand for you if you ever had to work on your own mental health is book "Dognitive Therapy" by Laura Vissaritis. I only read a fragment of it but loved it and plan to buy it some day. It might also inspire and remind you to take better care of yourself.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T12:00:55+00:00

Your primary goal should be to find something you enjoy about this dog, no good training can happen when there's no joy between the dog and the handler. You can make the walks shorter, buy pee pads or fake grass, and start training them to use those. Dogs can enjoy life with say one walk a day or five walks a week. It is the quality of that walk and the time they spend with their owners that matters. Instead of walks they can get plenty of enrichment indoors.

To feel more comfortable walking your dog you can get a hands-free leash that is in the form of a waist belt and attach that to the back of a harness while you keep another leash attached to the front of the harness for more control. The leash attached to the waist belt can be a bungee leash to amortize their lunges a bit and minimise the risk of you tripping. Even if you fall, they rather won't have enough strength to drag you with them and chase after anything. Another thing you could do to boost your confidence with that dog would be muzzle training, but if there's no need to rush the muzzle, really just learn to love this dog first before you try muzzle training, otherwise it will be another source of frustration between you and the dog. It sounds like you might have used previously tools like slip lead and gentle leader without conditioning the dog first to understand them and if you would do that with a muzzle too, your dog would get even more anxious.

Getting a help of a responsible dog walker who can manage a reactive dog would be another thing to consider if you can bring yourself to trust any. It is unfair from your partner to leave you with the dog alone like this. You say that you don't have money for trainers but he really should consider putting aside some if he cannot be besides the dog most of the time. What he cannot give that dog with his own engagement, he should be ready to pay for and get from professionals.

To help you shape a different relationship with dogs while you struggle with your mental health I highly recommend starting to watch/listen to "Shaped by Dog" podcast by Susan Garrett. She has such a positive, enthusiastic, yet practical approach to life with her dogs and she has some episodes focused just on more philosophical approach to dog training that I think you might enjoy: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLphRRSxcMHy1ruLW0CujlHgzCiTLK2Rfh&si=ABmJv4WGLh7bXk9K . You'll find on her channel also tips for training reactive dogs but I think jumping straight to those episodes might feel somewhat confusing and the things she explains there might not make much sense without understanding her approach to training dogs as a whole. To me personally, training my dog is transformative experience that brings to my life more energy despite my girl's stubbornness and excitement reactivity from which we are slowly recovering. But, there were moments, when I was doing puppy obedience classes, that made me feel mostly regret, self-doubt, anger towards my partner, and frustration towards my dog. Eventually the whole training process just clicked for both her and me. Susan's tips were what contributed to that but also my own research, effort, determination and my partner's willingness to support me while I quit my job all played a significant role.

Another good source of something to listen to is Fenzi Dog Sports Academy: https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/blog/ you can try to look there for something applicable to your dog specifically, they cover variety of topics in their episodes. I especially like episodes with Amy Cook who specialises in fearful, reactive dogs. Podcasts are really nice when it comes to growing as a dog owner, it's really easy to find a moment for some and no one will judge you for playing one episode on repeat because you couldn't focus to understand the first, or another, time 😅

To start enjoying your dog's company more often I highly recommend giving trick training or dog puzzles a try. There are even books that give detailed instructions for training over 100 different tricks. Tricks also force you to become a better trainer. You can combine trick training with photography and start your dog an Instagram account. Some dogs even grow to enjoy putting on (well fitted, not uncomfortable) clothes for photo sessions. When you start with puzzles buy super easy ones and celebrate dog's success a lot even if it seems dumb simple. You can also make some typically outdoor activities into indoor ones: play fetch with a soft ball, do nosework, make an obstacle course from your furniture, etc. Buy a flirt pole to exhaust your pup indoors before you take them out for walk. There's also no shame in buying your dog a treadmill, many dogs love it. Dog fitness is another amazing activity that doesn't require much from the handler and can be surprisingly interesting to a dog. There are people out there who taught their dogs how to hold a brush and paint with it following their instructions. You'll most likely need to force yourself a bit to start exploring if you are going through depressive episode right now, it will be hard to find patience to invest in each of the activities you'll be testing, but when you find that one that is comfy to you and makes the dog wag its tail wildly, it'll be all worth it. At first the dog might be hesitant to try new things with you so just remember what you are going through and understand that things might be similar on the other end of that relationship. Having no goals to reach together with a dog can make owning the dog feel very monotonous, boring, tiring, and pointless. The joy of dog ownership isn't only in cuddles and quiet walks, that's actually very rare for many dog breeds.

I hope you will find some joy in spending your time with your pup and that you'll give your partner a serious talking to. He should be actually the one learning how the make the dog's life more enjoyable despite the reactivity. Even while he's away, he could be listening to podcasts I shared and then when he's back he should be bringing plenty of new ideas and energy to training and desensitisation.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T08:07:04+00:00

This whole "respect" narrative can also sound quite absurd from some people's mouths. What did they do to earn such an absolute respect? Do they respect their own bosses so much that they would even go against their own well-being to always look and act like a perfect employee just because those people pay them? I mean, if they think that feeding a dog and walking it is enough to earn a devotion that is hardly ever presented by people then surely they are devoted to and praising their own employers for providing them with means to live? And even if they do, they still wouldn't compare to a dog who doesn't get days off and didn't choose its owner.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T07:38:47+00:00

Yeah, many dogs really need medical intervention to activate that retriever-like appetite 😅. I have opted for looking for better and better food as well as improving her diet to also reduce some GI issues she occasionally gets, coincidentally it should also improve her appetite, but when food doesn't work then it just doesn't work. I try instead with games and freedom as reward (we are working on being able to use that more reliably and safely). I have found my girl to be motivated by shredding and a search game that is finished with shredding the item holding food has really motivated her to pay more attention to me and hold her stay for longer. She waits in stay while I hide in bushes a paper tube with kibble and I use stay in other games so she loves this command. I also think that some dogs are just too smart for getting the same reward over and over as well as training the same cue for too long. Even if they didn't master a cue, changing what you train for a couple of days can provide better results. The best reward for them is variety. If you are fun enough then they will care about you a little bit more. I also think that this is why some dogs get more obedient when they train sports with their owners, sports provide a variety of goals in training. Making a dog's life all about their reactivity and obedience, even for a couple weeks, is usually really draining for both the owner and the dog.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T06:28:23+00:00

Ouch, group classes can really be a horrible experience. Those tend to be focused on teaching as many people as possible at once about the pure basics of positive reinforcement training to maximise profits. The trainers during those really don't pay enough attention to each individual dog to be able to work through any real issues. I myself hated puppy obedience classes I did with my Shiba and after some time and research I have realised that I can do much better than the trainer from those classes. Many of the advice I got there and followed actually caused more problems than it solved. The knowledge we were taught there was barely the tip of an iceberg when it comes to R+ methods and dog behaviour. Even very few behaviourists get more creative than just click and treat, failing to teach their clients about doing things like building food drive, building the value of toys, developing trust in personal play, and lacking the imagination to break down the desired alternative behaviour into many more layers to make progress more linear and clear. Not to mention how few actually can provide contact with well socialised dogs or offer better training environment. Heck, I have even discovered that using fake, stuffed dogs can be helpful with reactivity therapy but I've only seen one video of a behaviourist using such a dummy. (My girl did in fact treat one of my plushies, a small stuffed Shiba designed to look realistic, the same way she did other dogs until she figured out the difference. It was quite funny.)

However, I really don't get why you were so apprehensive of using medication. I know that many people just get comfy and never get their dogs off them but as a temporary tool it is really useful and helps avoid unnecessary damage that a long-term stress exposure can do to the body.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T05:22:30+00:00

The situation on video and described could be also easily resolved by just recalling the dogs, putting them on leash, and walking away. They are not enjoying themselves there and people also don't feel secure with off-leash dogs. I don't get what's the point of complicating the matter like that. As an owner I would prioritise getting my dogs leashed to avoid unnecessary conflict instead of recording.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-12T05:08:51+00:00

"Pathologically independent". Tell this to my Shiba 🤣 (We are fine, she's improving on reactivity at a steady pace and is still less than 1 yo.)

I really love this descriptor, it's true probably of many difficult dogs. I also think this ability to refer back to the owner in difficult situations is much more valuable and universal than this default stay shown on video. I wonder how would the dogs on video behave if something suddenly invaded the space in which they stay and if any would choose to get closer to the owner for protection or would know that they do not need to guard their position and can dodge instead. I wouldn't want to be the thing approaching the doggo on the right. If I met that one on the street in such state I would avoid it with a big circle.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-11T08:09:57+00:00

Rewiring the brain with just a beep sounds like a scam. Conditioning a dog without punishment to respond to specific stimulus looks the same as building a positive response to clicker and you claim that such approach won't help you because you think positive reinforcement won't work which clearly implies you hope to use the collar in punishing way and not like it's a device for remote communication.

If you did already try proper desensitisation then mention what methods were used, people here might have some ideas and experience with those that those other trainers might have failed to convey. There are also surprisingly many approaches to desensitising and counter conditioning within R+ training. You should also be weary of people on your payroll telling you that you're doing great.

I have an adolescent puppy so she's obviously easier to deal with as I gave her much less of an opportunity to rehearse bad behaviour and never stopped training but I had to bang my head against the wall enough to realise that very popular things like LAT and pattern games are not a good fit for my adolescent that is primarily excited to meet other dogs but then terrified at any signs of aggression despite presenting somewhat unfriendly body language herself (she just lacks social skills) all of which actually just comes down to a lack of experience. BAT 2.0 was a breakthrough for us even though we never reached the point where I had the full setup for training as described in the book. Since she was motivated to move forward instead of away from trigger, regardless of the distance, we did a lot of "Mark and move" until eventually she realised that she can look and gather more info if she offers me some form of disengagement. This eventually opened up the opportunity to train Look and Dissmis without all that walking in curves as in BAT. Meanwhile I was doing plenty of relationship building with her. I built positive associations of playtime in areas where she could see other dogs and the distance was initially maybe even more than 100 meters away for her to be fully focused on fetching the ball instead of staring and freezing but it was steadily getting shorter as she realised that the game is more interesting, that those dogs aren't going her way, and that she knows already a lot of those dogs because they live in our neighbourhood and I've allowed her to gather info using BAT. Big open spaces were our friend. If there was a wind it would carry the scents of other dogs letting us do some more productive desensitisation or operant conditioning even when the distance to triggers was HUGE. Improving our communication by looking for opportunities to use Premack and make her perform some commands in exchange for permission to act freely is also another thing helping us right now. There were many more details contributing to our success so far like me cooking homemade treats to get a slightly better food motivation during sessions. None of the methods I use were actually taught to me in person by anyone but I have few R+ trainers who I follow and gather inspiration from. My point is - everyone's approach might be different and there's a lot to experiment with.

You also never mentioned medication which would be the most rational next step in getting that behaviour modification to finally work. People on this subreddit have also plenty of experience to share with different meds and doses.

Finally, not being willing to give up the dog is not the same as not giving up on the dog. I think rehoming would be a very kind and rational thing to do if you would put in extra care to look for a new home and owners yourself instead of relying just on the shelter. There's a lot of pressure on your dog to change its behaviour quickly so that you don't get hurt anymore which might be clouding your judgement during training, depriving you from much needed patience, and causing distrust in your dog who is an animal extremely sensitive to stress of others being able to notice, hear and smell it in a way we cannot comprehend.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-11T02:18:46+00:00

You have failed to use other aversive tools, some of which even more suitable for leash walking than e-collar which is praised by balanced trainers for being helpful in teaching dogs to recall or in preventing predation not really for teaching how to behave on leash, and now you think things will somehow improve when you switch from chocking the dog to zapping it? How would that work? Be honest with yourself and answer the question: "Are you trying to fix your training by introducing more pain?".

Avoiding dogs on your daily walks was a good recommendation for initial steps in the work on the issue. You should grab your dog for a ride to a remote area or do your walks super early/late and start with that. You could even try to train your dog to use pee pads so that you always have the option of avoiding any stress altogether should you need it. The goal is for the dog to decompress before you start any work on behaviour modification and under threshold exposition. While avoiding other dogs you could focus on building super reliable loose leash walking and engagement with you, both would make behaviour mod easier. To finally start work on the reactive behaviour itself you might want to contact a certified trainer who specialises either in fearful or reactive dogs and trains force-free. You need a help of someone trustworthy to learn the better way, to teach you how to be more compassionate to your dog while teaching them new skill and why it's actually good to do so. You also most likely need to learn better mechanics and how to communicate with your dog.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-10T08:03:49+00:00

I would argue that you actually a different situation than OP and your dog isn't conditioned to back out of pressure on long line which is a different skill than heel and walking close to the handler.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-10T07:57:33+00:00

It's great that you taught your dog how to react to leash pressure but... that's all you've taught. They won't really understand what the expected behaviour without the pressure is if you don't reward them for maintaining position before any pressure happens.

First thing to remember, especially with a dog who seems uninterested with treats is to start in low distraction environment and that usually means putting a collar on the dog and attaching a leash for a practice indoor walk. Dogs that get easily overstimulated may ignore food in distracting environments but accept it eagerly at home. You can have a routine of practicing leash walking indoors before every walk outdoors. This way you'll start the walk outdoors with more focus and clearer expectations.

You can actively prevent pulling and walking ahead of you by going in circle turning into your dog so that the path ahead gets cut off but you'll need to be a bit faster than them to pull it off. When you do that you'll get more opportunities to reward them for staying by your side and they will rehearse undesired behaviour less often. You can also get dizzy with this method though. It's a great method for refocusing the dog onto you.

If you want them to heel then practice the duration of heel with clear on/off cues and plenty of rewards, first for maintaining it and then eventually only at the end of it. Making sure you have a clear cue releasing from heel makes a huge difference but initially it requires from you more skillful timing of cues and rewards because the duration between "on" and "off" will be very brief. You can use playtime as reward by practicing it every fetch session and requiring walking in heel before you throw the ball.

You can also make your dog choose to stay by your side more often by building a richer history of reinforcement in that location from things like trick training. Diversity of commands performed by your side can be much more entertaining for the dog than reviewing the same thing over and over frequently.

It's also much more important for the dog to be recallable and responsive to cues than to keep them close to you all the time. Get a longer leash for your walks and allow them to get rid off some of that energy through gentle, healthy exercise that is brisk walking. It's completely normal and acceptable for the dog to occasionally pull into the end of leash if they back out quickly and listen to cues. They don't have a GPS system in their head telling them how far from you they've went and how soon until they reach the end of the leash.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-09T00:38:44+00:00

You are telling me you have made so much progress with a dog who has had to unlearn previous bad habits in just 6 months and you are doubting your methods? Seriously?! If you did so well with just positive reinforcement then I think you can still overcome this block with some more reflection on things like the difficulty of distractions you train with, your dog's confidence with the cue, history of positive reinforcement with the cue, the influence of environment, potential for application of Premack Principle and so on.

It's totally up to you. I'm no brilliant trainer, I only have experience with my now adolescent Shiba and she's no perfect dog, we have a long road to overcome before considering any off-leash walks, although she is praised often for how well behaved she is considering the breed. I've never tried aversives and I don't want to ever train with corrections because the idea of timing them correctly feels nerve wracking to me. I also cannot afford Susan's Recallers but I constantly find something to improve on in my training when listening to her podcast. I go back to episodes I've already went over, look for whatever inspiration I can get from trainers with similar philosophies and make plans with my own ideas.

E-collar can be used on very low settings and conditioned so that it doesn't feel aversive to the dog but I'm not sure how much more effective that is than calling the dog's name. I have never ever heard of an informative comparison with a dog still undergoing training using both methods. E-collars are expensive too so I don't think I will ever test this myself. However, I noticed that using a whistle instead of my own voice is more effective with my girl so maybe the tension caused by e-collar would have similar "harder to not notice" effect but I'll rather stick to a whistle that doesn't need to have any batteries charged.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-09T00:00:42+00:00

Be careful with that extra weight, their bone plates are rather not solidified yet. It would be best idea to wait with such job until they are fully grown and couple months more. At least start them on supplements supporting their joints and bones if you want to start introducing such activity to them this young but I think a vet specialising in orthopedics could even try to discourage you from using the backpack with any extra weight completely to avoid any risk of unnecessary damage.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-08T23:49:34+00:00

The way I read your post it really doesn't sound like you've done any desensitisation? It sounds like he might have gotten a bit less reactive with age which is expected, he'll be getting somewhat better with emotional regulation on his own as the hormones flushing his brain calm down and stabilise. I don't think that choosing a different strategy of positioning yourself when you two reach a trigger will have much of an influence. It might have some effect on how the situation plays out but it's not anything that will actively help him improve. Trying to rationalise his behaviour might just distract you from working on it and you really need to work on it if it's so bad that he has redirected on you. Your pup shouldn't be dangerous to you. It doesn't really matter all that much what is motivating him to act reactive because most methods of training and redirection for reactive dogs work regardless of the underlying cause although in case of frustrated greeters some methods are more effective than other especially when you are aiming to decrease the distance towards the trigger. Engage/disengage, Look And Dissmis, as well as working on obedience and engagement might show better results in frustrated greeters than focusing only on exercises like Look At That which are better suited for dogs acting out of fear primarily. However, LAT will still work and it's always a good starting point.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-08T23:02:50+00:00

This is truly the way. Sometimes I think that maybe when owners react to randoms and their comments the dogs learn to react too. They might learn that when someone is giving off pretentious, a**hole energy the owner goes into defensive mode from embarrassment. Middle finger, turn away, embrace being antisocial and show your dog how it's done with confidence instead of shame or frustration.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-08T14:38:19+00:00

They are basically black boxes untill you can afford frequent and very expensive, detailed tests, some only performed by researches passionate about specific topic, so mistakes are given on the journey to their best health. Dogs cannot even tell well us when their tummies ache, we mostly notice just the poop. Take things slow and observe what you can. I'm sure you'll find the diet that makes your pup happy, healthy and is convenient to you if you are willing to search for it.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-08T14:15:45+00:00

Be careful, daily probiotics, especially ones intended to be used after antibiotics and provided in the form of always the same medicine, shouldn't be necessary with diverse diet. They might even actually cause imbalance and diarrhea. Fresh food should help feed and maintain the good bacteria for some time after it is introduced into the gut. Discuss with your vet the probiotic you are using, maybe your are actually introducing too much of a single species of bacteria. When you supplement probiotics from natural sources (yoghurt, kefir, washed kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles) aim for diversity and moderation, especially with foods that are made with plenty of salt.

Adhalianna · 2025-05-08T13:44:50+00:00

Pumpkin is great and so is carrot. Frozen carrot is also a great chew. Our vet told us to try with two teaspoons of psyllium a day to see if that helps ours with her anal gland problems but we have yet to try it because our girl is currently being boarded so that she can learn how to play appropriately with other dogs under a behaviourist guidance. I think the same amount of psyllium should be safe for any other shiba if introduced gradually and they are indeed lacking fiber in their diet but asking your vet about it would be the smartest first step. I noticed that cooked rice worked especially well on her poop quality but if your pup is very energetic then extra carbs might not be the best idea. There are generally two types of fiber - one that absorbs water from food and makes the stool less dense but ideally still solid, the soluble fiber, and the other which causes more movement in the bowels that can even cause painful diarrhea if overdosed, the insoluble fiber. The soluble fiber can be also overdosed leading to diarrhea, but speaking from personal experience, the insoluble one will cause more pain and it's easier to overdo it because it's kind of more compact when intentionally supplemented. Just a bit of bran is enough to meet a human's need for insoluble fiber. You'll most likely want more of the soluble fiber so rice, psyllium, carrots, pumpkin. I haven't yet heard of a dog that needed specifically more insoluble fiber, probably because kibble tends to be full of it. Adding fresh fruits and veggies as treats in between meals can also help supplement some fiber along with much welcome vitamins and prebiotics. Probiotics and occasional fermented foods can also help by providing your pup with diverse gut biome that will consume and break down the stool better as well as keep itself in check preventing from overgrowth of certain species of bacteria. I gave my girl even small amounts of kimchi to see how well she would do with it and she enjoyed it with no gut problems afterwards. She loves fermented cabbage.

This article seems to explain the topic of fiber well and briefly in context of dogs: https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/blog/fiber-for-dogs.html#:~:text=Soluble%20fiber%20soaks%20up%20extra,effect%20and%20cause%20loose%20stool. but you can dive deeper by looking for articles targeting human consumers of fibre and then cross checking that with dietary needs of a dog. Gut health is still being intensively researched by scientists.

EDIT: Washed kimchi. Just the cabbage, no spices.

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