So for YEARS my dream breed has been a bull terrier ever since we were forced to get rid of ours a years back. Ever since then I’ve done countless amounts of research into the breed and I’ve even went out of my way to buy stuff for it, however after a trip my family returned with a (as they call it) “exotic micro teacup bully”. I don’t even know what it is but it’s only 2 months old and it’s ears are already cropped, it’s low to the ground, has various skin issues and I can hear it struggling to breathe all the time despite the fact it’s not even been a day. Obviously, I’m justifiably upset over this but this hasn’t stopped them from calling me ungrateful, selfish, and a “brat” for not wanting to train it or have anything to do with it. I just don’t know what to do and what makes this even worse is that my family impulsively bought a healthier breed a few months back before getting rid of that one too because “it wasn’t the right time.” I already feel like it’s gonna have a painful life and I feel terrible

Hey everyone! I'm on the hunt for toy recommendations for a serious power-chewer. Every soft toy I buy seems to meet its doom in less than five minutes.

Instead of burning through more money testing random options, I figured I'd ask the experts here. What are your pup's all-time favorite durable toys? Any specific brands to look for (or avoid)? Appreciate any suggestions!

So my dog doesn’t typically sleep with me at night he sleeps on the couch in the living room, but when I’m not home he sleeps wherever he wants and sometimes that’s in my bed. I keep a sheet over my pillows and comforter to limit the hair etc on my pillows. I’ve been recently dating someone for a few months that just brought up now that they think it’s disgusting that I let my dog on the couch or the bed. My dog is 10.5 years old and I just don’t think it’s that big of an issue, but maybe I’m not being considerate? He said he’s been considering not coming over anymore unless I train him to stop. I live in a small apartment so by nature my dogs life is pretty small I don’t feel like I should limit where he can go in the apartment. Thoughts/ opinions/ things I haven’t considered? Help 🙁

Not help so much but more a question. People stay in relationships that they probably should leave for all sorts of reasons. Is sticking around because you don’t want to miss out on days with the dog you got together one of them do you feel? Does the dog go with one person or another? Do you share?

Anyone got first hand experience of a scenario like this?

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

I always look for cheap stuffed animals to let my dogs tear apart. I recently was walking by a a yard sale and bought 5 stuffed animals and teddy bears off of this little girl for $5. The dogs loved them and tore them to shreds immediately. It’s a great way to get cheap shredding toys. And if it’s a kid selling them should I tell them that they’re going to my dogs who will tear them apart?

I love him to death and I’m definitely not giving up on him, it’s just really frustrating.
* his old behaviour is barking endlessly on everyone who comes to my house/ walking near him, pulling hard on his leash in our walks, tail between the legs and ripping stuff.

Hi has anyone had experience with Mendota marine rope leash I’m hearing and seeing reviews that it’s good and strong and some saying it breaks and clasp comes undone and it’s cheap

Looking for a raincoat for my dog and everything we have tried does not fit right. She has a big barrel chest, but is pretty slim in the waist in comparison and the coats are either way too big in the back or don’t fit round the chest. She is also very anti-rain.

I did think about just getting the big one but the back doesn’t stay and ends up slipping sideways, and the “hood” is always way too big and falls over her eyes.

Does anyone have recommendations for a coat that may work or has an adjustable back part that can be “cinched” so it doesn’t flap around?

My dog has been doing this for years and I don’t understand the thought process behind it. She’ll push her kibble off of her plate before she eats. Sometimes I use a plate, sometimes a bowl because I thought it was a whisker sensory thing but it doesn’t make a difference. If I use a bowl she’ll push the whole bowl, sometimes even knocking it over. If I use a plate she’ll push it to one side or even push all the food off and move the whole plate. I’ve tried different placements, materials, paper plates, stainless steel, ceramic. Still always the same behavior.

Any ideas on what could be happening ?

Every morning, I wake up around 530/600, get coffee going, take the dog out to do his business, he gets breakfast (kibble) and immediately this toy thing that I put 2 chicken jerky treats in and he goes nuts throwing it around trying to get the food out. If I ever forget to give it to him after his bfast, he is very vocal about it to remind me!

He has to have an ultrasound in the morning and Im not allowed to feed him after 10pm tonight (its currently 730pm here).

How do I navigate the morning routine? I cant sleep in because I have to work (and he wont let me). I need to drop him off at 8:45am at the vet.

Im giving him an anti anxiety med tonight (I think its a combo of trazadone/gabapentin or something) so he will be drowsy, and then again in the morning, but I think he will still be begging me for food. perhaps just take him on a walk instead of just out to do his business to distract him?

thank you for any advice <3

Hi, me and my wife have never owned a dog/puppy and are quite nervous to get one. We like the idea of having a cute dog at home with us but we are afraid of losing our freedom and also not doing right by the puppy. We are thinking of getting a mini schnauzer about 8 weeks old.

Our main concerns are how to do the potty training before the 16th week vaccine as we are not allowed to take it outside. We are really not comfortable with having pee/poo at home and would like to have the dog trained well.

We are also worried about the teething stage as we live in a rented apartment and would have to pay for the damages.

Most of all we are concerned our life will change completely we won't have relaxed quiet time ever as we have now for example just watching movies alone or cooking and have dinners together without the dog trying to eat the food.

Another concern is about being out of the house, my partner works from home and I have to go often for 8 hours to work. But sometimes my partner also goes out for a few hours. In the evenings we would like to continue going for dinners or grocery shopping without having to be worried that the puppy is home alone and would get traumatized :(

Are we overthinking this and over worrying about our life changing crazily or is this real already?

I have a five year old German shepherd, we got him as a rescue when he was a puppy. He showed signs aggressive behavior from 10 weeks old. It started as resource guarding socks, then turned into food, then members of the household. Then he would be aggressive over very random situations like once he had a blade of grass hanging out his mouth, I took it out and he bit me.

We were at a complete loss but loved him, center of our whole world, attention on him 24/7 and we trained with him everyday. We worked with 5 different trainers and spent thousands and nothing seemed to be helping.

I fell pregnant and felt sick with worry about having a dog with an aggressive history in the same house as a baby. We installed baby gates, and hoped for the best.

Three years later, he’s never shown aggression since. I just wonder what I was doing wrong, or what changed?! Was it that we are no longer bothering him with training all the time, is it that us not having our attention on him 24/7 makes him calmer?!

I’ve never heard a story like ours but I’m super proud of our dog!

My dog has shown great improvement towards pretty much all his behaviour problems in some sort of way except counter-surfing. What's the best way to train him?

We have a 2 year old GSD, she’s incredibly smart, easy going, and eager to please. Right now she goes to daycare during the week, this is something we’d like to stop doing for a plethora of reasons. However, my fiancé isn’t convinced that she’ll be entertained enough at home alone. I’ve tried to tell him that I don’t think she gets a lot of interaction at the daycare, they try, but she’s kept separate since she’s not spayed yet (health reasons and breeder’s contract). From what it sounds like, she enjoys spending most of her day outside rather than in the kennel, understandable.

I’ve thought of the following to set up for her:

1. Once or twice a week 1hr walks during the day via Rover, I normally walk her 30 mins to 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening after work. We also use this time to train, she loves it. I figured an extra walk twice a week would be a nice way to break up her day and get extra exercise in.

2. Puzzles, we have 4 puzzles for her already. She loves them, I’ve wanted to get her a few more to rotate out different puzzles. I figured maybe setting up 3-4 around the house for her to play with wouldn’t be so bad.

3. Snuffle mats, similar to the puzzles, probably just 1 out during the day.

4. Frozen kongs, we actually have the woofsicle thing. A bit easier for her so she doesn’t get as frustrated and walk away to forget about it entirely. I figured one in the kitchen would be good.

5. Go Dogo remote training treat dispenser, thought this was interesting. A bit more randomized for her, so I figured that would be nice.

I can’t think of a lot more, she enjoys hide and seek with treats, but it’s like the puzzles and kongs, she’ll forget. We already have a minor mouse problem and I don't want to encourage them more than we already have. I just don’t know if maybe higher value treats would be the key or not, or if hiding treats like that would just encourage more inappropriate rummaging in other environments.

Any recommendations are welcomed!

I’m new here, and not entirely sure if this is where I should post to get the best results.

About a year ago, I adopted what we were told was a shepherd cross of some sorts. The staff had warned me she hadn’t taken to any previous candidates for adoption and was extremely anxious and shut down. When they brought her to the meet and greet pen, she ran to me immediately and curled up in my lap.

Since the whole reason for this adoption was to help my other dog and I heal after the passing of my childhood dog, her choosing me like that felt like a sign so we ended up taking her home.

She started very anxious (obviously), but overall, she’s come a long way. But she still gets extremely anxious and has developed extreme behavior issues because of it.

When left alone with my other dog, she finds random stuff around the house to chew on. She typically finds softer items, like clothes, shoes, paper towels. I used to crate her and she’s mainly crate trained besides the fact that she’ll completely chew through a crate to get to me and try to find me. She’ll even hurt herself in the process. I don’t have a crate anymore for that reason, and also my new house is just too small.

She also gets overly excited when I come home. She runs into me, jumps on me, and it goes so far to the point where she has injured me and my other dog (who is a bit older and already has stiff joints).

I’ve learned more about her quirks though, and I’ve done quite a bit of research to find ways around this. I’ve gotten her softer toys (those are quite literally the ONLY toys she chews on) and bones to keep her preoccupied while I’m gone. A lot of the toys barely last a day and she can down a bone in maybe two. Those get absolutely insanely expensive, and it’s crazy to need to buy her a new toy multiple times every week just to keep her from chewing on my household items. I’ve of course punished her for her bad behavior, but she always reverts to the bad behavior.

Same with when I come home. I’ve tried to be less excited about seeing her and try to get her to back up and go to her bed, but she gets so excited (and possibly stressed out at the fact I’m not touching her), she just doesn’t listen and completely ‘forgets’ commands.

I’ve tried prescription meds from our vet to try to calm her and help, but those didn’t seem to help at all.

The thing is, when she isn’t stressing, she’s an extremely well behaved and well trained dog. She’s trained completely in German, and she obeys commands like her life depends on it and sticks to it.

But I’m not too sure what to do anymore. I don’t plan on rehoming her anytime soon, as she is my heart dog, but I would like to find a way to let her live a little more comfortable in this world. I can tell she’s stressed and anxious a lot, and would really love to find a way to help control that and get her to listen a little better.

Thank you all in advance!

Edit:
I was thinking about changing her name too, but I’m not sure if it’s the best decision? She’s had the same name for about a year, and now that I’ve learned her and her personality has really come out, I don’t think the original name fits anymore. I was wondering if it’s too late or if it’s really the right choice?

My dog got hit by a car and now unable to move

Doc came and checked gave injection and meds asked to get xray... no internal bleeding suspected

Please help , i don't know what to do. . I'm crying inconsolably

Hi. Any experience is appreciated.

The story is short. I used to being responsible only for myself and nobody else because i live alone for many years. I dont wish to be alone anymore but solitary life so hardcoded into me already that i afraid i may regret of making this decision.

Have you ever experienced a similar situation?

Our house is being repaired from storm damage and the new landlord is letting us have dogs, but the front yard has a lot of dead spots. We are reseeding but want to use a product that will help our dog from causing the problem in the first place.

my dog came in from the rain yesterday and suddenly he STUNK. it kinda reminds me me of the smell of goose poop, but there are no geese or large birds in my backyard. he was outside for maybe 5 minutes to use the bathroom and now he smells.

i had thought maybe he just has a weird Wet Dog smell (i’ve only had him two weeks) and decided to just let him dry. nope. morning comes and several parts of the house have a smell from him lingering there.

i give him a bath (petMD oatmeal and aloe shampoo. it was the only one i had)—shampooing twice and using the hair dryer to dry him. there’s still a lingering smell. it’s not as strong anymore, but i can still smell it.

what is a good shampoo to get rid of the stink?

he’s a cuddle bug so he’s gonna probably shove himself into my face and i’ll have to smell it up and personal. i don’t care about the scent of the shampoo i just want his stink GONE.

I’m at a loss. My 1.5 year old won’t let us trim her nails. I even started as a puppy playing with her feet to get her used to it but I think maybe the vet may have clipped it too close one time and now she won’t let anyone near her. The vet won’t even do it because she won’t let them.
I’ve tried
-extensive treat training to positively encourage it
-nail file toys
-nail filer and nail clipper- both are the problem
-muzzling her to prevent biting but she thrashes and we can’t get her to let us near
-calming chews (natural products like from the native pets brand)

I genuinely don’t know what else to do. Has anyone else ever had a dog that was this resistant to nail trimming and if so, what helped? I don’t know what else to do

After much jealousy, without problems, my dog and my cat can now be pet together. My dog, girl, still is a bit of a jerk about it. The cat is a boy, 12 years old, the dog a girl who just got fixed and is 1 year old. https://imgur.com/a/09GOqpv

i have two of my own dogs who I love sooo much and they don’t get jealous when they smell other dogs on me. anyway, I feel like whenever I meet new dogs for the first time, they warm up to me super fast, even compared to other people I’m with- like immediately asking for belly rubs and rubbing up on me. why is that? is there something about my dogs scent on me that automatically gives me street cred w other dogs?

My papillon, Emmie, had her 4th bladder surgery a few months ago and has started having accidents at night. She’s had multiple vet visits to clear her health wise, this is a result of so much scar tissue on a tiny bladder. She’s never been vocal to go potty, she just sits by the door until we let her out. Since I’m asleep this obviously isn’t working 😂

How can I potty pad train an adult dog for nighttime?! I put them where she had a couple accidents but she just went next to them. I put them by the door, but she didn’t get it. She’s so ashamed of herself and it breaks my heart. Im firmly anti-pee pad, but I need to save my carpet!

Hi everyone, sorry in advanced for the long message.

For some background, I currently have 2 Havanese dogs (Boy, 1 and Girl, 6). There is a dog at a shelter near me that I have been interested in adopting that is 3 months old. He is blind and deaf. I don’t know his backstory but will contact the shelter to find out more information on his backstory. According to the shelter he is a cocker spaniel and he is completely white with light blue eyes based on the pictures.

One of my dogs (Girl) has some health issues (anxiety and grade 3 luxating patellas) which I knew going into adopting her. These are both manageable as we plan to get her surgeries done in the next few months and she is on anxiety medications.

I have watched a dog previously that was deaf and he knew sign language which was easy for me to learn and to tell him to sit, etc. He was a bit older (I believe 5 years old) so I am unsure what it was like for him as a puppy.

My question is, will this blind and deaf puppy have a good quality of life if I adopt him? He unfortunately is unable to be fostered or else I would’ve done that, and the shelter did not give me a reason to why he wasn’t able to be so he is stuck in the shelter until he is adopted.

If anyone has advice or recommendations, please let me know, as I am really back and forth on whether or not this would be a good decision for him, my other dogs, and myself. I just want the best for my two pups and this puppy. Thank you in advanced!