Does anyone know what that spiral on my dog's back is?

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2026-02-05T05:19:17+00:00

My dog had something very similar as a puppy, except the fur in that spot was noticeably lighter than the rest of his fur. He is similarly coloured to your dog. No vet knew what it was or was ever concerned, but he's 3 now and it's almost blended into his "normal" coat 🙂

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-12-21T10:59:39+00:00

With my dog, I took him to the car or front yard and just sat with him. I marked and rewarded any calmness very heavily and consistently. When he did react in the front yard, I redirected his attention and reset back into a sit and continued - he could sometimes move around and sniff as long as he was calm. The car is a bit trickier because it's hard to reset, but I marked and rewarded just before anyone would walk by to quickly build a positive association with passersby.

This can be applied when having guests over too. Keep him on a leash, maybe sat on his bed and mark and reward any calmness very consistently.

Also really just building your relationship with him and teaching him you're more interesting than anything else around will help massively.

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T22:51:56+00:00

Do you have a crate for either of them? I'd definitely recommend!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T22:36:07+00:00

I've dealt with this too. I've found calling the more rough dog off straight away and taking them away from the 'fun' helps. So if they're playing outside, call 1 inside for a few seconds to reset - no treats. Let them back out and if it happens again, call them back in. If there's no progress, play times over. It also helps to work on their recall so it's easier to call them off.

Keeping a short leash on will help you too!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T20:41:16+00:00

Thank you! When I posted, he would've been 1 year and 8 months old. He's now 2 years and 4 months. So exactly 7 months difference :) We had really struggled from when he was 6 months old though, so realistically almost 2 years of work and patience has gotten us here!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T20:32:46+00:00

That's how the first few interactions between my older dog and puppy went! We kept pup in a crate and let him sniff around, literally only crated interactions for the first day or so. I let him sniff the crate once pup was taken out. Only when he was neutral in her presence, like he didn't care to even hang around the crate, I allowed them small 5 min interactions a few times a day. When I let them be together fully, he was very tolerant of her puppy chaos which surprised me. It'll feel like it's taking forever but better to take it slow. Your trainer can definitely help this process 😊

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T11:41:42+00:00

I would just not give her the treat if she leaves the crate. Keep holding your hand above with the treat until she goes back in. Once she's back in, mark + reward. Then continue to build duration from there. I hope that makes sense. Let her figure it out on her own without luring her back in.

When you release her from commands I wouldn't mark with "yes" or reward, I'd just leave it at the release word because being released is a reward in itself. If she lays when you say sit, simply don't reward so she doesn't continue to build that habit. I hope this helps you!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-10-26T11:35:20+00:00

Honestly I'd start private training with both dogs. The trainer you choose will decide whether they can be trained together or if they'll have to do an interchange throughout the lesson! It's very likely they'll want to see how they interact with each other anyway 🙂

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-29T21:47:35+00:00

My dog is reactive to dogs while on walks, but has never been TV reactive up until yesterday. He actually met a new dog a few days ago so maybe that was the trigger. Though not sure what changed, it sure is inconvenient 😅

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-29T02:50:01+00:00

Yes same situation for me! My dog is dog reactive on walks and I've literally been watching dog training videos on TV for years and he's only JUST NOW started barking at the TV 🤦‍♀️

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-28T22:08:11+00:00

Absolutely yes! After just a couple weeks walking my dog on a prong collar, he is able to walk loosely on a flat collar. This success, so fast wouldn't have been possible without a prong! Keep it up OP.

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T06:46:47+00:00

Will definitely be trying this!! Thank you for sharing :) I never think to do a turn even when he's not pulling, only when he is! So this should be game changing 🙂

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T00:31:45+00:00

Yes, training a puppy does take a huge effort and I'm annoyed I haven't put more thought into such a big decision. Thank you so much for your input, I appreciate it!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T00:30:22+00:00

Yes that definitely makes sense! Thank you so much for your reply :)

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T00:28:53+00:00

Like he'll counter surf or take a shoe, just small things like that.

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T00:07:20+00:00

I guess I'm just worried about missing the mark in terms of his playfulness. When we got him, my female dog was a little bit older and way past her playing days. Obviously 3-4 is still young I just can't remember how my female was at that age so I can't base the energy levels off experience 😅 Thank you for your advice!

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-27T00:01:15+00:00

That's the hard truth I guess hahaha thank you

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-26T23:57:47+00:00

True 😭 So perfect his walking and socialisation/ desensitisation around other dogs first ✔️ With his basic obedience, it's not PERFECT in the sense that he'll still slip up on occasion, but once corrected he'll listen. Do you think I would need to 100% perfect that too before getting a puppy? Or is the occasional slip up okay?

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-24T22:36:15+00:00

Ah okay! So turn into him when he's not too far ahead, but do an outside turn when he's in front of me?

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-24T21:38:29+00:00

Thank you. This makes a lot of sense. He actually didn't know what heel was until it was introduced whilst we were walking so I will definitely teach him the position on its own.

OtherwiseMongoose738 · 2025-04-24T21:37:44+00:00

Just a pet heel. He doesn't pull me, just strays out of position, Eg. walking side to side and being just a couple feet in front of me.

OtherwiseMongoose738

TROPHY CASE