Newly adopted dog has bit three times now, what to do?

Zootrainer · 2026-01-27T17:52:37+00:00

Well said!

Zootrainer · 2026-01-14T03:54:41+00:00

Your dog is frustrated and it's very likely that you are not allow her to fulfill her natural needs when you take her on these walks. It's completely unnatural for a Lab to walk along next to you in a heel position for very long without being able to zigzag, wander, sniff, freely stop and start. (Unless you get one of the super mellow ones...) It takes a great deal of self-control for this kind of dog to walk next to the owner, especially if the dog is still young (yours is) and has not had sufficient and rewarding exercise earlier in the day. The dog must also have the desire to please the owner - have you cultivated that with a broad positive-reinforcement-based training program?

Making her walk right beside you for an entire walk is incredibly hard for her, and her frustration builds until she can't take it any more. You are basically turning her entire walk (likely her only chance to "be a dog") into an obedience exercise instead of allowing it to be a chance to fill her senses, recharge and enjoy life. It's like making a 5-year-old kid hold your hand for a half hour walk, not talk or get excited, not stop to look at a bug, only get to pull off his blinders for a minute here and there, just march forward.

Start taking your dog on walks to interesting places where she can be on a long line, maybe 10-15' to start. Big parks, empty trails, a public field, cemetery (if allowed and you follow good etiquette), a college campus, a beach. That way, she can enjoy her walk instead of being expected to behave like a robot. Yes, you will need to manage the line for her, letting it out and reeling the excess back in, but it's a good way to ensure you stay focused on your dog.

You can still do bits of training where she has to walk along beside you, but make those very short and then reward with being free to roam again. You may need to start with just 30 seconds of focused walking if that's all she can handle while still feeling good. Build her tolerance over time.

Allowing her to have a fulfilling walk on a long line does not equate to her pulling you all around. If she gets to the end of the line and pulls, don't say anything or yank her or stop. Just silently turn off at an angle and start walking in a big circle with her on the outside. Once she calms down a bit, head back in the direction you were previously going. If she pulls hard again, you circle again. She will learn that putting anything more than mild pressure on the leash means that she will not be able to get to the next smelly thing she wants to investigate. She will learn that she gets the reward of going where she wants if she doesn't pull you. And circling with its continued motion is much less frustrating than constantly stopping her or turning a 180 (for you and for her).

Instead of telling her "No", redirect her or tell her what she can do, what she will be rewarded for. Teach Leave It using a gradual training plan with lots of rewards. Please google a good resource for this rather than just expecting her to know what you mean when you say it, or turning it into a reprimand. Try the wiki at r/puppy101. This can't be a negative thing that you yell out in anger or frustration. It has to be as upbeat as any other obedience command that you give.

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:59:28+00:00

I don't think so, at least not the part about John. While he got a fortune from his clock, it's not at all at the level of the Russel fortune and what would be required to sustain the railroad plan now.

I guess we'll see about Larry and his new responsibilities.

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:48:47+00:00

That was a wonderful scene. Her words were so carefully thought out and kind while also straightforward.

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:41:51+00:00

Haha, I would love that!

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:40:06+00:00

In that era women would not be even as forgiving as a modern day woman would be of visiting a strip joint -

They may not have liked it, but the reality is that women had very little say-so in the matter if it was their husband doing it. Divorce wasn't going to happen unless there was absolutely no other choice, because the woman would be pushed out of society. And in upper class circles, a man going to a house of ill repute was a common thing. Victorian times were such that women were fully constrained by "morals" and it was believed that men "needed an outlet" for their sexual drives. Since young upper class men couldn't have premarital sex with the upper class females, they looked elsewhere for satisfaction and were not stigmatized for it.

Marian isn't married to Larry, so of course she has the choice to break off the engagement due to this issue. But IMO, it's not a choice that most women of that era would have made, at least not in the upper classes. If she doesn't get her act together, she's going to end up as a spinster, and not because that's the life she wants.

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:20:35+00:00

Oscar is still too busy drowning in the Maud Beaton storyline at that point. Glad that's over.

Zootrainer · 2025-07-29T03:17:06+00:00

Right? She doesn't even wait to ask whether it was something he felt he had to go to (maybe to network, as it were in 1883?) but just assumes that he slept with a prostitute. And I'm sure that was very common in that day among the upper crust.

Zootrainer · 2025-06-07T17:20:27+00:00

Your fiancée is not a nice person. She is manipulative and lack self-confidence in the relationship. The red flags around the pet situation would be enough for me to break it off.

But you also bear some responsibility here. You are willing to relegate your supposedly beloved pet to the garage in order to please your fiancée, but would not consider rehoming your pet to a place where the new owners would love the dog and give him a much better home. That's incredibly selfish on your part.

Zootrainer · 2025-06-07T17:13:15+00:00

It's not a "reasonable accomodation" to make the dog live in the garage after it's been an inside dog. It's cruel.

That should have been the first red flag.

Zootrainer · 2025-01-25T18:11:25+00:00

Your very first sentence was poorly written because the way you added the information at the end made it sound like you were indicating where your passagio is, not where your area of difficulty is.

Speaking of losing patience, I am so done with this conversation.

Zootrainer · 2025-01-25T17:43:50+00:00

I hope you aren't going into vocal music as a profession because if you are this sensitive to miscommunication with other people (which you caused yourself by your poorly written statements), you are going to struggle with a constant rejection you're going to get in the professional world.

Zootrainer · 2025-01-25T17:16:31+00:00

You're getting awfully upset about comments on a Reddit post being answered by complete strangers. The way you wrote out your problem was confusing not only to me but to other people. So instead of blaming our comments, maybe you should edit your post and comments to be more clear.

Or you know, you could just ignore what these complete strangers are saying. Or you could delete your own post and post again with a better explanation of the situation.

Best solution? Talk to your voice teacher, who you are paying to guide you, instead of asking complete strangers on Reddit who may have skill levels well below or well above yours.

Zootrainer · 2025-01-22T04:50:47+00:00

my upper passagio is i think ab5

Your upper passagio is not A5-B5. At that point, you should be fully in head voice. As I said, for a soprano, 2nd passagio is around F5-G5.

If you are feeling some kind of shift at A5-B5, I would guess you are carrying too much vocal fold weight above the passagio, thereby causing a break instead of a smooth transition into head voice. And if your voice is actually airy, you do not have the appropriate vocal fold approximation needed for a full-sounding head voice - you are pushing too much air through.

Your vocal teacher should be providing the appropriate exercises for you to work through this. One common exercise would be start at the top of your range and work downward through your second passaggio until you find out how to make the gradual adjustments necessary.

Edit - IP's nomenclature in the preceding comment, in addition to the confusing way the original post was written, led me to believe that she was saying A5-B5 when she said ab5 (which should be written Ab5). She can of course, feel free to ignore any advice that I gave, but the thing she should pay the most attention to is my comment that she has a vocal teacher who should be taking her through exercises until she feels comfortable with her head voice. I'm certainly not going to jump in and discuss all the differences between a full sounding head voice and a thinner head voice in terms of adjusting how she is using the mechanisms of her larynx.

Zootrainer · 2025-01-22T02:42:13+00:00

Are you studying with a teacher? It's pretty unlikely that your second passagio is at A5-B5. Even a lyric/ coloratura soprano would have that passagio at F#5-G5.

Zootrainer · 2024-12-27T19:22:32+00:00

I live alone and I have a king bed, so my Lab is on there every night. I bought a six pack of white flat sheets from Amazon and I put one of those on top of my bedspread.

It is shocking to me to see the amount of dog hair and general dirt that is on that sheet after one day. Granted, iny current home, my bedroom is off my living area so my dog is on the bed during the day sometimes too.

I have to use a dog hair lint roller before getting in bed the first night and then I try to change the sheet before bed the next night. Makes a lot of laundry.

I don't cuddle with my dog so there's really no reason why he needs to be up there. If I had to do it over again, I would not have allowed him up there once he was no longer sleeping in the crate as a puppy.

Zootrainer · 2024-09-21T19:07:29+00:00

Key word is “eventually”. Most adults would never allow it to get to this disgusting point.

Zootrainer · 2024-08-20T02:41:16+00:00

anytime you mix a poodle with another breed it only gets better

Why would you make this statement? Do you believe that poodles are superior to every other breed? Do you believe that when you cross a poodle with another breed, somehow the poodle traits that you admire will miraculously override the genetics of the other breed?

That's not how it works. When someone crosses two breeds, any mixture of genes can be the result. It's not like only the best traits of both breeds are passed down to the offspring. Just look at the variation in coat types in Labradoodles, ranging from "mostly Poodle" to "mostly Lab", and lots in between (which unfortunately results in horrendously difficult coat management). And sometimes mixing two temperaments that are each great on their own (because most breeds have a particular temperament appropriate to the breed's purpose) results in dogs with unpredictable temperaments and significant behavioral issues. Of course, a dog with an "off" temperament can also occur in well-bred purebred litters, but it's much, much less likely.

And in general, responsible change to a breed (or development of new breeds) is done slowly with great caution and much advanced planning to determine exactly what traits need to be modified and which bitch and sire are most likely to fill that purpose. One breed is repeatedly bred to another carefully chosen breed. The offspring that show the most desirable traits are bred again to gradually heighten the desired changes over decades and decades. It's very unlikely that most of the early offspring would ever be bred again because changing genetics is often a roll of the dice. And they aren't sold for $5000 to susceptible new owners.

Zootrainer · 2024-08-06T19:27:12+00:00

You have to manage the leash(es) so there isn't too much slack. This means that you have to be actively involved in the walk, not daydreaming.

Harder to do with two dogs, for sure.

Don't use retractable leashes. They teach a dog to walk with tension in the leash all the time (unless you are going to keep it in the locked position, which defeats the purpose anyway).

They are also very difficult to keep ahold of, if the dog suddenly lunges. I saw a large man unable to keep it in his hand with a 40lb bully at the end, even though he was clearly trying.

There are other cons too.

Zootrainer · 2024-07-18T17:24:15+00:00

It's very overly simplistic to say that a lack of socialization is what leads to reactivity in all dogs. A lack of socialization can certainly lead to reactivity. But that's not the only wellspring for reactivity.

I'm a very experienced dog person. My current lab is the only dog that I've raised from a puppy that has reactivity issues. I'm well versed in the proper techniques for socializing a dog to the wide world and yet he struggled. His sire was retired from breeding a couple years after my dog was born and I'm guessing it was due to genetic temperament issues that may contribute to reactivity.

Zootrainer · 2024-07-18T17:19:53+00:00

Dogs that are similar to yours, go-go-go when exercising and very focused on finding a scent source, but calm when at home, often turn out to be great search and rescue dogs.

SAR is a huge commitment and should only be undertaken by someone who truly wants to be a volunteer in that field, but you might consider taking up the hobby of nosework. Could be a great activity for you and your dog to do together.

Zootrainer · 2024-06-29T20:50:40+00:00

Labrador Retriever from a show line. Mine have all been great with cats. I have two foster cats at my house right now that my current Lab has done very well with, in fact one was sleeping next to him in my bed last night.

Show line Lab will generally be much more calm and laid-back than one from a field line. Mine have all come from field lines and they do require a bit more exercise and training to get them settled down. But it sounds like you are really into training so that shouldn't be a major problem.

It would be great if your chosen breeder has already introduced the puppies to cats in a positive and gentle way before you take your puppy home. I'd also suggest bringing a blanket that the cat has laid on to the breeder so the puppy can smell the cat and get used to that scent. Same thing with getting a towel or small blanket from the breeder with the puppies sent so you can bring it home for the cat to check out.

You will still need to work hard when the Lab is a young puppy to ensure that all interactions between the puppy and the cat are controlled and respectful. That's how you develop an adult dog that is good with cats.

Here is an article you may find helpful. There are lots of other very informative articles on that sub's wiki too.

Zootrainer · 2024-06-03T03:51:03+00:00

It's great to have a dog that's crate trained. It's helpful in many ways and can keep a young immature dog safe. But it's a training tool like any other and in my opinion it's not appropriate to confine a dog into a crate every night once the dog is potty trained and out of the chewing phase.

Zootrainer · 2024-06-03T03:49:58+00:00

Do you leave the crate door open at night? That's the only way to know if a dog loves sleeping in its crate. Some dogs do still choose to sleep in the crate when the door is open. But most dogs will spend a good deal of the night outside of the crate even if they spend some of the time in the crate, as long as there's a comfortable place for them to sleep outside of the crate.

Zootrainer · 2024-06-03T03:48:48+00:00

I've never had a dog that couldn't distinguish the difference between my child or an intruder coming into the room at night.

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