Solutions for common dog behavior issues, including housetraining, excessive barking, reactivity, and separation anxiety, are available from Your Dog’s Friend. Your Dog’s Friend provides free workshops as well as paid classes in Rockville, MD. A list of trainers in various counties is here. These trainers are certified in the use of gentle, low-stress techniques (primarily positive reinforcement, reward-based training), so will not recommend or use any harsh physical punishment. We strongly recommend that you avoid any methods that cause your dog to experience fear or pain (with the most obvious signs being yelping, cowering, ears back, “whale eye,” tail down or tucked, or flinching). While pain- or fear-inducing techniques might work, at least short term, they have the potential to degrade the bond you share with your dog and can cause or contribute to the development of aggression in some dogs. Trust us: fear aggression is a much worse problem than excessive barking, reactivity, or pulling on the leash! If you consult with a trainer whose methods make you uncomfortable, no matter how convincingly they assure you that their techniques are humane or effective, trust your gut and say “no thanks.”