Category: Top Dog

We welcomed a very crazy, energetic yellow lab in October at 8 weeks old. He came from a rescue where his momma and littermates were found dumped in a drainage ditch, one of the poor little guys got hit and didnt make it.

It's been cold in the Midwest since he received his last round of shots so we took our very first walk around the neighborhood today while the weather was cooperating. He was excited for all of 3 minutes.

I thought he was just a little fearful of car rides, I've had to pick him up and place him in the car while the poor guy was shaking on any necessary trip out. On our walk, I realized he was less excited about all the sights and sounds and just petrified of parked cars. His ears were back the whole time and he had to hide behind me at times. Moving cars he found more interesting than scary.

Im hoping with warmer weather we can try to take him to places he will like in the car and grab pup cups and all the things our older dog enjoys so much.

Does anyone have any advice on how to help him through this? I feel for him and hope we can resolve this through support and positive associations. I will nit be able to lift him into a car when he is full grown, he's 45 lbs now and Im already struggling.

I have a 4 month old Portuguese water dog puppy. She’s an angel besides the biting. Typically she’s been taking about 1.5-2hr naps every 2 hours or so throughout the day. This week she started sleeping sometimes 4 hours at one go. Is this a miracle and we officially hit a new sleep schedule or is she sick? Behavior is totally normal during the day and she did just get her last shots about 10 days ago so we’ve been going on walks around the neighborhood but no large exposures that she didn’t have before. She’s also teething. Just feeling anxious and need some reassurance 😅

I have a 9 week old puppy who loves to play.

The other day we were playing in the yard with one of those plastic/rubber soccer balls for dogs. I was kicking/dribbling it around and she was chasing me.

Well I went to kick it and she unexpectedly jumped where I was aiming, and the result was accidentally hitting her with the ball right in the face/head from about 5 feet away.

Yes, I should have been more careful and I obviously felt terrible about it immediately.

She yelped and ran away, but was otherwise uninjured. I felt terrible and gave her kisses pets, and tried to reassure her.

Her behavior after has otherwise been completely normal, no fear/cowering or anything like that and she is just as playful as ever with every other toy.

However, today when we were in the yard I knocked the ball (not towards her!) for her to chase like she used to, but she immediately started shaking and ran towards the door to go back inside.

I then put the ball away and tried to coax her back out but she didn’t even want to go outside after that.

Is there a proper way to overcome this so it’s not a long term issue? I’d love for her to be happy playing with the ball again like she used to, but I don’t wanna make it worse by trying to force the issue, so the ball is put away for now.

Anyone have any tips?

Naps have been relatively good up until ~5 days ago. We generally follow a 1 hr up 2 hrs down, and she’s been pretty great with it. Now we’re on day 5 of her absolutely hating naps. She’ll bark and cry and claw non-stop. We’ve been having to sit next to her until she falls asleep, but I’m worried this is the wrong thing to do and teaching her we will stay with her for her to fall asleep. But as of now nothin else has worked. I’ve tried going in so she can see me, then leave and come back 5 mins later. She’ll cry and bark the whole time. We’ve let her go 20 mins straight and she doesn’t let up. Any advice on how best to navigate this?

I am out of the house from 7:30am-5:30pm and I have tried to get my dog (9 y/o terrier mix) to play with some enrichment toys, but he won't. I've tried all kinds, (kong, frozen treats, puzzles, etc.) but as soon as I leave the house he won't touch them until I get home. I try to take him on daily morning, evening, and night walks, but I feel so bad that he is just sleeping all day. Any suggestions for types of toys or enrichment ideas?

ETA: I've learned a lot from these responses! Thank you.

I have a ten year old dog who currently lives with my grandma. My dog recently got injured and now he cannot lift himself up so he relies on my grandma to help him get up. However, my grandma also has back pain and she can't really put the effort into picking him up everytime he needs to pee or needs to walk around. They live in a huge plot of land where my dog can walk around and pee anywhere he desires. We did get him a diaper to pee and poop without having to move but he does like to walk around and it's heartbreaking to hear him cry everytime he wants to get up and walk around but my grandma couldn't help him. I was wondering if there is a tool to help him get up on his own and walk around without hurting himself and without my grandma throwing her back everytime he needs to go on a walk. Thank you in advanced for any suggestion.

I've never so much as lived with a dog before, so I'm starting at zero! What books (or other resources) would you recommend to a complete beginner? I'm planning to foster-to-adopt through my local humane society so that I can make sure having a dog is the right fit for my family (myself and my 10 year old), plus making sure the individual dog is a good fit for us, but I'd love to learn what I can before we have a placement.

I picked up a pair of the dog suspenders sold by Canada Pooch for my Golden Retriever. Literally, from package onto her and out the door for a hike, I was super stoked for this as she get's a ton of snow in her paws.

Over the span of an hour, I had to readjust her pants 4-6 times, including a couple where her paw just like… came out. After the first time I started figuring out why, and it turns out every time it happened the Velcro strap around her paws had come almost entirely undone, and was unusable due to snow in the velcro. I had to scratch the snow out of it to put the pants back in order, only for it to happen again not long after.

Contacted Canada Pooch who told me that when out in the snow it's important to keep the velcro snow free, along with lint and hair and etc.

…What? How? I tried pressing the velcro together in every kind of combination I could to get this to stop happening to no luck. What am I doing wrong?

I'm going to take a piece of hockey tape and wrap each one once or twice and see if that makes a difference, but still. I also can't return them, as they've been used/opened/box and tags aren't still entirely intact.

If I'm missing something entirely here and this annoyance is unjustified, I apologize.

Hey everyone! I’ve been thinking about getting those dog stairs that are available online, but I’m not sure if it’s really necessary. My dog is small, and sometimes struggles to jump onto the couch or bed. Does anyone here use these types of stairs for their dogs? Do you think it’s worth it, or is there a better solution?

Would love to hear your thoughts or experiences!

Also, if you have any recommendations for good, affordable options, feel free to share!

Hello everyone this may be taken down, I think it is ok but rules can be interpreted different ways and I apologize if I got my interpretation wrong. I need some input/advice. I have a new non profit and am trying to start an animal sanctuary and am raffling off a Jaguar convertible to raise funds but… I have put the info on a few Facebook pages etc. and there is no action as far as tickets to the raffle. How should I go about this.