Category: Top Dog

Hi guys, so I have a 4 month old female Shih Tzu puppy. She is very food motivated just as any dog may be, however, there are bad behaviors that are hard for me to shape with treat training. There’s two annoying habits that I want advice on. The first one is when I take her out to potty or for a walk, she feels the need to put ANYTHING in her mouth: sticks, rocks, random garbage, duck poop, etc. And this has me stressed out because I worry that she will ingest something toxic and harm herself… and not to mention that I would have to foot a medical bill that could have been avoided if she would just behave. I’ve read numerous reddit posts about this type of issue, and one reddit post I read had a response that said I should tell her to “drop it”, and IF she drops it, I reward her with a treat. For one, this doesn’t work because she almost NEVER releases it from her mouth without me having to reach in and take it out myself. And two, she will literally drop it to get the treat and then proceeds to put the bad item back in her mouth. Furthermore, the second annoying habit is when she has a tendency to bark in her crate early in the morning (she knows my work schedule, so that’s part of the reason) and sometimes it’s because she has to potty. Most of the time I’d go ahead and get up out of bed to take her out, but it’s sometimes not even that she has to potty, but simply because she just wants to play outside…. and this frustrates me so badly because it cuts into my sleep before having to clock into my stressful work from home job. It’s not like I don’t play with her on breaks or throughout the day when I have a lot of time to spare, but she still tends to bark either throughout the day or early in the morning before work sometimes for that very reason still. And I even tried the whole “just ignore it and give her a treat when she’s quiet” thing that other redditors in the community have suggested, but she starts right back up again with the barking shortly afterwards…. Pretty much this is all to say that I’m kind of at my wit’s end with what to do about these issues. I love her, but my patience is honestly wearing thin….

Anyone have any advice for getting your puppy to go to the bathroom on walks?

We live in an area that gets coyotes often and my neighbors have always warned me so late nights/early mornings I’ve always done in the yard. My puppy is 7mo (had him from shelter since 2mo) and has been amazing with going in our little front yard (in his favorite spot though…) and he used to be awesome at pooping on walks but always preferred to pee at home.

I tried praise and treats if he randomly would pee or poo on a walk, but now it’s gotten really bad. He basically refuses to poop or pee at ALL while on a leash, I’m sure he thinks he’s not supposed to.

We took him to a national park for some walking and he peed at 4am and not again until 3pm even though we were outside all day, cueing “potty”. He literally had dribbles coming out until we finally found an area we could get him off leash and he went.

I’m feeling terrible and really lost in how to help him now! He obviously is fine when he’s off leash and he always goes right after our walks but if I walk him for longer until he goes, it just never happens.

This thread is where to get emotional support with all things related to death and illness with your dog. This is also a thread where you can seek assistance with deciding whether it is indeed time.

This is not a thread to seek anecdotes with medical care. All rules involving medical questions and anecdotes remains the same for this thread.

If your dog has passed, you can still post here for emotional support or you can create your own thread tagged with one of the RIP flairs. Be sure to review the rules of our flair guide. It is up to you how you choose to grieve.

Hi guys I just came to the realisation that I’ve never brushed my dogs teeth before so I googled and google said I should be doing it DAILY?? Am I supposed to be brushing their teeth? Does everyone else brush their dogs teeth and I’ve been left out of that piece of information?? Someone please help me LOL!! Also my dogs would probably bite my hand off if I brushed their teeth 😂 (I give them dental chews and stuff so is that like a substitute orrr…?)

I got my dog Maximus from ksl (like facebook marketplace but in idaho,utah, nevada, and Wyoming) on the 1st of this month. I tried texting the guy i got him from on the 6th. He said he'd contact his ex to get all the paperwork. He says he got max from the local humane society. I dont know how long he had him or even an accurate age guess. Post said a year guy said 1-2 years. He gave me literally everything for the dog. Crate, bed, food, gravity water. And he seemed to really care for him. I need to be able to get his microchip switched over and proof of vaccinations/neuter so i can add him to my apartment lease and get him licensed. Issue is its been over 2 weeks since i asked. I texted again on the 7th offering to text her for him and got no reply. Texted again this Tuesday checking in incase he forgot. He did mention he was working quite a bit. I just need advice on what to do. I read that you need to have the microchip manufacturer and call them to switch the information over. Should i just take him to my vet and see what they can do? maybe go to the humane society and see if they still have his information? I'm really at a loss here. Im trying not to bug the guy too much but this is getting ridiculous!

We recently adopted a puppy and he chews through every. The rescue would not let him have a blanket or toys in his crate because he chewed them and ate part of them. So far all he has is a matt in his crate when we go to work (a family member stops over to let him out and play mid day) Today he chewed his matt and the stuffing was all over when I got home does anyone have any advice on what to do from here?

Thank you

Headed out to a cabin vacation for 4 nights and my dog will be accompanying us for the first time. She can be very excitable and anxious, and this will be a longer than usual car ride. She will also be in a new place and might be alone for short periods of time. I know she'll love the woodland setting and all the exploring we'll do, just want to help her relax and enjoy the experience. She's a 12 pound yorkie, we've tried busy butter and other calming chews without much success. Thanks

Hey all.

I used to give my dog bones a few years back but she chews them WAY too hard and she broke a tooth. Now she has a yak chew which has been a lot better but I can tell she doesn’t like it as much. She likes hard things, if ever someone leaves a hair clip or something hard and plastic on the ground she will chew it up. I gave her a soft rubber toy and she destroyed it within an hour.

The yak chew has been good and has lasted a long time, but does anyone have any other recommendations? I want her to have a bit of variety as she’s always been a spoiled brat lol

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.