Category: Top Dog

Maintaining a list of dog related items

  • My dog hates being inside

    I got a new dog about 5 days ago (he is a 6 month old) catahoula leopard dog)

    and he won’t explore the house at all which is understandable since it’s a new environment, he just stays in his kennel all day (won’t even come out to eat) or sometimes he’ll leave the kennel but only to come to my bed and lay with me (kennel is in the same room as me)

    the biggest issue though is he refuses to come inside when outside, outside he is a completely different dog, he is so happy and playful and runs around a lot. Which is amazing! But he refuses to come back inside unless I pick his 50lb ass up and force him to. Which is not fun for me since I’m a very small female.

    I can’t leave him outside because we have predators and I have no fence outside so he would just run off. Is there anything I can do? I’ve tried luring with treats and that never works he just runs from me and I have to chase after him and grab him by his harness to pick him up and carry him inside.

    Is this something thatll get better with time? I do not want to rehome this puppy but im also at a point where im sick of bringing him outside for walks because i know he’s gonna give me hell to bring him inside

    submitted by /u/Unhappy-Syrup-3832
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  • What dog breed is my dog?

    Hello! I'm a new dog owner and I cannot figure out what dog breed is my dog! He's currently 5 months old and is about 30cm in back length. Please help me identify the dog breed, thank you!

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aetnV8fgRo3FTJ74465dCiNPLR3MAKLc/view?usp=drivesdk

    submitted by /u/6glsrblx
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  • Separation Anxiety Is Killing Me

    Hi all,

    I have a 2yo male Akita that’s been regressing with separation anxiety recently and has been peeing/pooping in the house. We’ve made progress working through it before, but for some reason he’s regressing and the last week and a half has been especially difficult because my partner is away for work. He was regressing before my partner left, but this has sent him so far over the edge that I’m at my breaking point. I called out of work for the next two days (when my partner returns) because I can’t take coming home to multiple pee puddles and poop piles in the house. I’m at my breaking point and I don’t know what else to do besides cry. It seems to mostly be when we leave for work and he knows we are not in the house. I know it’s not an issue of holding it because we had a strong streak (over a year) of him being perfect when we were gone. The only change I can think of is that we had to put our senior dog down the beginning of this year. During the day they would be separated since he had puppy energy and she was too old to keep up 24/7. I believe this is what set off his regression since he adored her but I don’t know how to help him.

    A little back story on him – we got him as a puppy, but we were his 3rd home within 6mos. One family got him for his girlfriend but the girlfriend didn’t want a large puppy, second family the boyfriend was beating him and left him outside. So we took him from that family and work so hard to build trust with him and he’s a great boy, besides this.

    Our normal routine:

    Husband wakes up ~5am

    Husband feeds him and lets him out

    Husband leaves for work ~6am

    I wake up ~7am

    I take him for 30min-1hr walk

    I leave ~8:30am

    Husband comes home ~4pm and lets him out

    I come home ~7pm and feed him dinner

    I play with him for 30min-1hr, depending on what we’re doing (treat puzzles, tug rope, fetch, etc. im spending time with him outside of that, but I set aside time specifically for just me and him)

    Myself or husband let him out ~10pm then we go upstairs to bed

    Our modified routine (husband comes back in 2days so will be back to normal then):

    I wake up ~5am to feed him and let him out

    I take him for a 30min-1hr walk ~7am

    I leave ~8:30am

    I come home ~7pm and feed him dinner

    I play with him for 30min-hr

    I let him out ~10pm then go upstairs to bed

    What I’ve tried so far and doesn’t seem to be helping:

    Longer walks – we’ve tried longer in the am and adding a night walk

    Extra play time in the am

    Crate training – we tried when he was a puppy but he would continuously hurt himself on the crate so we opt now to contain him to a room

    We’ve tried containing our cats in a room during the day and letting them free to see if it makes a difference

    I have a pheromone diffuser

    I put a pheromone collar on him

    Play white noise

    Special treat he only gets when we leave – he will not eat it while we’re gone

    Calming support powder added to his breakfast

    submitted by /u/GarlicTights
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  • Dog Afraid of Things We Can’t Avoid

    tl;dr- My dog is afraid of new staircases. Familiar ones are totally fine. I have to move into a 3rd floor apartment in a month so we are both on a deadline. So far she has simply refused stairs even when extremely high value treats are offered. Info below:

    My dog is almost 5. I have had her since she was a puppy. She was raised by both me and my longterm partner equally, in a rental house with a yard. He recently left us both with no warning and I’m having to move into an apartment because I literally cannot qualify for anything larger on my income.

    She has always been anxious in general. I’m sure I have not been perfect, but I have done FAR more work with her than the 5 dogs I’ve raised previously and she still struggles. The vet literally told me “your dog is neurodivergent.” She barks at other dogs even inside the house, pulls on her leash when she sees animals or people, and pants/whines in all new environments. She loathed doggy daycare. She’s never been aggressive but she is definitely reactive. I’ve made strides by being very consistent with bringing treats on walks, doing clicker training, keeping my distance from stressors while rewarding her, but progress has been very slow. Like, measuring progress in years rather than months.

    She does not demonstrate separation anxiety behaviors at home (just sleeps and eats and wanders around while I’m at work) and she doesn’t startle at noises like thunder or fireworks.

    Obviously I have several concerns about apartment life for her. But both for my sake (I love her deeply and don’t want to lose my entire “family” in one blow) and her sake (she is deeply bonded to me and seeks me out for comfort, and she hates change and isn’t comfortable with strangers) I very much don’t want to rehome her unless it’s truly impossible for her to function.

    She has been on new anxiety meds for about three weeks and I have observed a noticeable decrease in anxiety, but frankly all her issues at 70% intensity are still a lot. The meds should reach full effect in about a month.

    So, when she was a puppy, she hated stairs. Our house had several staircases, but we let her explore as she felt comfortable, gave her treats, carried her up and down, did all the fear-free stuff and over time she eventually acclimated and got used to running up and down the stairs. I had honestly forgotten to even consider stairs an issue.

    My parents have been out of town and I stayed over to watch their house. I brought my dog so we could practice spending time in a new environment and sleeping in a new room. She was anxious for the first couple of hours, but I sat with her and comforted her and played with a bone, and she relaxed and ended up sleeping on the floor for a long time. Hung out with me the rest of the night with no issue.

    When it came time to go to bed, I could not get her to go upstairs. Could not. I placed chunks of butter (her favorite thing in the world) and torn pieces of brisket all along the stairs and she just……wouldn’t go up. She was salivating over the treats and would circle back to the stairs, put her two front paws up, and then it was like she couldn’t figure out how to get all four limbs to move in tandem. She’d lift a back paw, hesitate, lean forward and backward, and then run away from the stairs before returning of her own accord. Rinse and repeat.

    She weighs 80 pounds now, so picking her up is out of the question. Eventually I helped her “walk” her paws upstairs—I’d been told to only let her sleep in her crate in my room, so I couldn’t leave her to free roam, and I’d agreed because it didn’t occur to me that she would be terrified of the stairs. So I felt like I had no choice but to help her get upstairs even though I didn’t want to force her or make things worse. Once upstairs she was fine—she’s not afraid of being up there. She napped on the guest bed with me and slept in her crate without distress.

    She has always been VERY food motivated. Toys and praise are not nearly as important to her as food, and I used the highest value treats I could think of. it was like she literally could not understand how to use stairs even though she was trying really hard. Going down is not an issue at all, just going up.

    I also left butter at the top of the stairs the next morning while I got ready for work, cooked, ate breakfast, and packed lunch, thinking she might relax enough to succeed if there was no pressure. She made several attempts to go up the stairs but gave up each time.

    I know this can be a pain indicator, but she still runs up and down the stairs at home without issue, so that’s not my first guess.

    So. Thats a lot of context. But I’m supposed to be moving to a 3rd floor apartment in a month. Living on another floor is not an option. This is the one available unit and it was a special discount of $300 off per month. I have truly exhausted every option for living alone and this is it. (I also think a 3rd floor corner apartment will be BETTER for her other issues as she’ll hear a lot less noise and won’t see other pets at eye level.) I’ve been bringing her to visit the premises every weekend and walking her through the show apartment and it’s been helping her calm down a lot. The stair thing hadn’t even occurred to me. But I can’t just…..let her go up the stairs to our house, where we live, whenever she feels comfortable. Somehow she is going to have to get into that apartment multiple times per day.

    I don’t want to traumatize her or make her feel unsafe. How can I teach her to cope with these brand new stairs? I’m going to go back this weekend and ask if there are any empty units or show units above ground floor that I could show her to see how she reacts to these particular stairs, but I’m not holding my breath.

    What do you guys do when your dog is afraid of something that you CAN’T avoid? I’m fine going at her pace to reduce dog anxiety, stranger anxiety, etc even if it takes years, but the apartment has a set move-in date.

    submitted by /u/MelancholyCobra
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  • Shelter trip training + dog stroller

    Let's start with the obvious. I choose the wrong breed for what I want in a dog. At least I can fulfill his needs when I'm sick. I do positive reinforcement.

    I am getting tired of leaving my dog home alone because I want to walk 10-15 km. I have a French bulldog that pr breed can't walk more than 45 min witch for me, barely counts as a walk. It's just boreing to walk without him.

    So I brought a dog stroller. I have tried putting him in a wheel barrel, and he just sat and enjoyed the trip. (I do a lot of random stuff to desensitize him) He loves his doggy backpack or being put underneath the jacket like a puppy and carried that way. But it is just not a good idea for his hips or my back. Also when he gets old, the buggy will be the solution so he still can get out and get his adventures 2-3 times a day.

    I don't expect to be any problems in training him to be in the buggy. (I really expect just to throw treats in, close the door and go) But what do I do if this isn't the case? How do I train him if he starts to scratch/dig to get out? Should I maybe just walk him tired and then offer him to get into the stroller?

    I also want to take him on shelter / stealth camping trips. How to i learn him it can be a thing to sleep on "the walk". I can't seem to make him settle. He wants to walk and don't get the hint we are staying at the spot.

    submitted by /u/LuzjuLeviathan
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  • Desperate for help – 8.5 month old golden won’t stop barking

    My dog Teddy is about 8.5 months old, and up until we moved apartments he was fairly well behaved.

    We go on a 45min walk before I go to work, then I work 7-4, and when I return home we go to the park for 2 hours and head home.

    Before moving, this was usually enough to calm him down so he’d relax and play with toys or chew his bones. But now all he does is pant the second we get inside my new apartment and bark at me if my attention is not solely on him. He stops panting when I go to bed, but resumed when I wake up.

    He seemingly doesn’t want any of his toys, I’ve tried playing with him, he either just wants to be pet or to go outside again.

    I spent yesterday outside from 5-9pm in negative 10 degree weather because it’s the only way he’ll be quiet. I’m exhausted.

    He’s fine when I’m at work, sleeps and plays with toys all day, and when I’m in bed he’ll entertain himself.

    Is something wrong? What should I do?

    I’ve called trainers and they tell me to ignore him until he stops. but I can’t ignore him or my neighbors will get upset.

    submitted by /u/Niarah
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  • Encouragement for excited greeter reactivity?

    Hello! I’m looking for a little encouragement/tips on working through reactivity.

    My dog’s a 1yr old Aussie who’s super friendly but

    pulls, cries, barks when he sees other dogs on leash. I’ve worked with a trainer who helped me understand the basics, and I’m about 2 weeks into practicing LAT and some BAT setups.

    I know it’s still early, but it’s been a mix of small wins and setbacks and I’m starting to feel a bit discouraged. I would really appreciate hearing if others saw progress with consistency and what helped things click.

    submitted by /u/Additional_Dirt3802
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  • Senior Husky with new puppy help

    Hello everyone. I have a 10 year old husky male, and we just recently (yesterday) added a new 10 week old English mastiff male puppy to the family. The husky has never been excellent with other dogs, but he seems to be doing OK with the new puppy. Has only growled a couple times, hasn't snapped yet (hopefully never) but I think that's just due to super close supervision between them. They haven't really "played" yet and my husky isnt really a player.

    When they are outside, though, my husky just doesn't seem to know how to play or let him be a puppy. Every time he slightly moves faster than a walk my husky gets laser focused and tries to run after him, it almost looks like prey drive. I stop him every time I see this. He will also try to hump the new puppy as well which we stop as soon as we see. Just today the husky knocked him over after chasing him and kind of ran over him, which made him yelp and then the husky kind of ran away a bit with his ears down and didn't continue any sort of aggressive attack.

    Its confusing because his tail will be up wagging a bit, he will bark a couple times, but then he will stare intently and paw at him seemingly try to instigate him to run just so he can chase him. How do I stop this stalking chasing behavior? Am I doing things correctly stepping in at these moments?

    TIA just trying to make everyone comfortable in the house

    submitted by /u/Beautiful_Gas_1214
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