Category: Top Dog

I have a 15 week old Small Munsterlander. We've had her since she was 9 weeks. She is a wonderful dog and the whole puppy experience has been great. Came pretty much potty trained, crate training took 5 nights, has been sleeping through the night for weeks, and clicker training is working really well.

I work from home so I am the primary care taker. She has definitely bonded closer to me than my partner, although she loves him too. She will often fall asleep on me on the couch in the evenings, and our morning routine is couch time while I drink my coffee, snuggles, and then she falls asleep on my lap.

What I am curious about is her excessive licking of my face. She will come inside from being out in the backyard, or getting settled in for the night, or just hanging out, and she will jump on me and lick my face for minutes. I will be sitting or lying on the couch, she will jump up, crawl up to my face, and put both paws on my shoulders. Then she will lick my face for at least five minutes. I try to put my hand in front of my face, but she gets mad and gets a little bitey (we are working on that, but she is a puppy). It feels like a grooming thing. My face is breaking out a little more than normal despite all the face washing. She often times falls asleep on me immediately after licking the you know what out of my face.

Is there anything I should know about this behavior? Will she keep doing this more and more if I let her? Can I enforce making her stop?

I have a 19week old German shepherd mix. I have had him for over two months now. Recently he started having soft stool. Not watery but not logs either. It can either be the entire stool, or he'll have a few firm logs and then end with a string of this mush. He's been on the same large breed puppy food for weeks now. He has a negative fecal test from about a month ago, and it doesn't seem to be related to treats in any way. What could be causing this?

She’s a rescue. She’s likely some combo of Australian shepherd, Australian cattle dog and border collie. We got her this past Monday evening. So we’ve had her 5 days. She was not potty trained at all. The puppies just had pee pads in the crate. We take her out every time she wakes, after eating, when she’s sniffing the floor, looking at the door etc. She probably goes out at least every 90 minutes. And almost every time, she pees or poops, or both. We praise her a lot and give her training treats. She is confined to 1,2 or 3 rooms at most. We do put her in her crate on and off during the day. Our eyes are on her pretty much all the time when she’s not in the crate.

She loves playing with our 7 year old. dog. They roughhouse (they don’t hurt each other) and chase each other. We’ve noticed she will frequently pee in the house 2 or 3 times after these play events. Even if we take her out right when she’s done playing, and does pee out there, she still comes in and pees. She definitely still has accidents otherwise, but not near as much.

Has anyone ever experienced this? Any ideas for us??

I have an 11 week old pit/lab mix male. And a 3 year old pit/lab mix female. I wish I could post videos here because I’m constantly stressed if the “playing” they’re doing is appropriate. Older dog has always been chill and quiet, even as a puppy. But my little dude is constantly growling when they play. We’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old (got him from the shelter) and he’s always been like this. We monitor them every second they are together. But it’s been 5 weeks and he still growls and bites my older girl constantly. Both tails wag while they play and it seems like they’re having a good time, I just don’t know if I’m encouraging the growling and biting by letting them “figure it out” for a few minutes. (He’s also on a strict crate nap schedule so it’s not because he’s overstimulated, it’s just how he plays). I guess I’m just looking for validation that he’s not going to grow up to be an aggressive/reactive dog

I just recently had my baby in February and my 8 year old Golden/Aussie Mix has been somewhat disinterested in the baby. Even when the baby is fussy or screaming there isn’t much of a reaction from the dog.

However when my husband leaves for work (he’s gone for two weeks at a time) the dog starts growling and trying to show teeth towards the baby.

Today he came over to snap at my baby’s hand when he was just laying here not crying just moving around.

I thought he was coming to lay in front of us since there was no growling or any sign of aggression from him. I kicked him away in time before he could make contact.

I’m scared to death since my dog is 110+ pounds and very quick. He has bitten my niece before years ago but we were rough housing and she screamed which I think is what triggered him.

He’s shown aggression towards strangers and other dogs before which is why we were an only one dog household and put him up when company comes over.

What are my options? What do I do?

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to figure out the best way to fly my dog from Europe (Cyprus) to the United States (Boston area) sometime this summer, and I’d really appreciate any advice from people who have done this before.

My dog is a large breed, so flying in the cabin isn’t an option — it would have to be cargo or a pet transport service. I’ve been researching airlines and relocation companies, but it’s honestly a bit overwhelming and prices seem to vary a lot.

A few things I’m hoping to learn from people with experience:

• Which airlines allow large dogs in cargo on transatlantic flights?
• Are there any pet relocation companies you recommend (or ones to avoid)?
• What ended up being the most affordable option for you?
• Is it cheaper to book the dog directly with the airline cargo department vs using a pet shipping company?
• Any tips for summer travel (heat restrictions, best routes, paperwork, etc.)?

I’m also wondering if it’s easier/cheaper to fly into New York and then drive to Boston instead of flying directly into Boston.

Any tips, experiences, or things you wish you knew before transporting your dog internationally would be super helpful. I just want to make sure I do this safely without spending way more than necessary.

Thanks so much in advance!

Rafa

I read the wiki and it did not have the answer to my specific question. I'm trying to house train my 8 lb, 2 year old Shih Tzu mix. I built a dog door with the eventual goal of letting him have free roam of the house and yard whenever I'm not home. Right now, I have a large 48×30 crate for him butted up against the dog door, so when I'm not home, he has full use of the yard plus a small area inside the house. I also have a smaller crate which is a more appropriate size for crate training. I live alone, so my options are limited. I work nights and sleep during the day. So I have a couple options and am wondering which is the best option:

Option 1 is to crate him in his small crate during the day while I'm sleeping and let him out intermittently so I can monitor his peeing and provide treats when he goes outside.

Option 2 is to let him have the yard and small house area during the day, and just restrict my house training efforts to my days off (I have 3-4 days off a week)

Which would be the best option for my dog's house training? This is just temporary and my hope is that he'll be trustworthy enough to be able to do whatever pretty quickly. ​

Hi all! A while ago I bought a dud of a clay paw print kit and since then I’ve been searching for an actually decent one. I just thought you should know that, if you’re looking for a good clay for a paw imprint, I cannot recommend Sculpey iii enough!

I have a 1 year old yellow Labrador retriever and I am not sure if he has separation anxiety or if he is still just being a puppy.

When we leave the house sometimes we don’t put him in his crate and we will gate him in our kitchen/basement area. However, every time we do this he messes multiple times. He probably makes like 5 different piles of poop. We make sure he goes on a long walk and gets play time in before we leave but he still does it. He never messes when we are at home or when he is in his crate, only when he is outside of it and alone. We always leave his toys out as well so he has stuff to play with. I feel like it doesn’t even matter how long we’re gone, even with a quick run to the store he still does it. I would like to be able to eventually let him free roam, but at this time that is not even close to happening.

Has anyone had experience with this? I was assuming it is due to separation anxiety. Would calming supplements help? Or how can we fix this?

I’m new to dog sitting. I do have experience with dogs, I‘ve owned many myself my entire life. I’ve now got the opportunity to dog sit, their requirements are 2 drop in visits in the morning and night, 2 walks in the morning and evening for 2 small dogs. How much should I charge them per day? They want me to look after them for 5 days while on holiday, I’m from the UK.