Category: Top Dog

we adopted a 6 month old puppy two weeks ago. not sure what he is as he is small but basically looks like a mini GSD/malinois but is only 22 lbs so obviously a mutt of some sort (DNA test currently at lab for breed analysis!). anyway he bonded HARD to me right away. super velcro dog but gets really anxious when Im not in the room- he jumps baby gates to get to me, freaks out (though getting a bit better??) when he is crated during the day though sleeps fine in his crate at night And if I’m in the room, he settles and sleeps right away Vet,rescue everyone says it’ll get better but I’m not sure how much to let him decompress vs trying to correct unwanted behavior

I KNOW we are still in 3-3-3 the decompression period and some things are getting better (somewhat) anxiety wise. My issue is this, he won’t walk for my husband, he doesn’t want to leave me if I’m home and just tries to get back in the house refusing to walk and often not doing his business. He is a high energy pup and my husband is home with him so he isn’t getting the exercise he needs since I am busy working or with the two young kids. Don’t get me wrong, the dog was my idea and I love him (still a bit worried about the mild separation anxiety) but I need help giving him what he needs and as I said my husband is home and the one we planned to help largely with it. i also want to add that he often doesn’t takes treats etc on walks with husband which leads me to believe it’s more anxiety related. He seems pretty comfortable with him otherwise just won’t leave my dang side!

we’ve tried my husband giving him constant treats (randomly and on walks), he feeds him all his meals, tries at least initially to take him on his walks and potty breaks and when we are together he holds the leash and the dog walks totally fine as long as I am there. I try to completely ignore him on walks like that and try to tamp down my affection/attention/play more than I’d like for the sake of lessening our bond and making room for my husband

im not sure how much of this is stubbornness (he prefers me to walk him for whatever reason) vs anxiety and how to make it better. We are starting to have behavior issues (he is getting very mouthy and jumpy, with me especially and constantly suddenly chasing our poor cat who does stand up to him at least…)) due to or enhanced by his pent up energy and it would really be great to have some help. my husband doesn’t have a lot of dog experience so not sure if dog senses his hesitation/uncertainty or what. And he isn't the most patient and I worry he isn’t trying as hard as he can to work on it…

pointers welcome!

Hey all,

TLDR: will a dog whistle be heard by my dogs over multiple dogs barking? Any experience with those ultrasonic bark deterrent devices?

I have 2 dogs. One likes to bark at everything. He barks at the neighbors, but I honestly think its for attention. He barks at people walking by, he barks at the neighbor dogs, he barks when he plays. He really doesnt mean to be aggressive, he genuinely seems to think it is a fun thing to do and his body language is happy and super waggy tail nearly all the time.

Second component here is that one of my neighbor's dogs is reactive, territorial, and somewhat aggressive (they even put a muzzle on him when they take him out). If ever all the dogs are all out at the same time, my dog's barking sets off the neighbors dog who thinks my dog wants to fight. We have a woven wire fence, so it is very see through and we often end up with a cycle of barking and the neighbors dog trying to get to my loud idiot. My 2 dogs and 2 of their dogs (they have 3) are 50+pound dogs, so not easy to get them to knock it off.

My dogs have good recall except for when distractions are present. I am also a pretty quiet person and am not very capable of getting loud enough for them to hear over all the barking. So if I get a dog whistle, and of course work on training them to know the whistle is for recall, would they hear that over all the barking? What kind of whistle? Would the silent dog whistle be acceptable or would it not be loud enough? I am also considering one of those ultrasonic bark deterrent devices just for this situation as I saw a video of a guy who turned one on and the neighbor dogs ran away.

The neighbor did say they plan to rebuild the fence later this year, but they didnt say what kind of fence they were building (hopefully solid or wood). If that is not the case, or even if it is, I plan to plant some privacy hedges to keep the dogs from seeing each other.

i want to work on perfecting my dog’s recall, but my family are constantly using her name, “here”, “come”, etc and it seems unlikely to me that she’ll respond to these as strongly because she hears them so often. for a similar reason, i opted for “flat” instead of “down” lol!

so i’m just curious as to what words other people have chosen, hoping i can take some inspiration!

Hey there.

Long time lurker, first time poster!

Anyways, I have a frenchie who just turned 6, she has moved 3 times with me in the past (I’ve moved for work 2x) but I’ve noticed this time she’s had a harder time adjusting. She’s not a dog that makes a lotta sound or barks a lot unless someone knocks/ rings doorbell. I don’t have any other pets it’s just me and her.

Shes been barking A lot.. I moved Tuesday and it’s Saturday now. I am thinking of writing my name & info down for new neighbors to introduce myself anyway but I think now I’m going to include a “thanks for your patience with the barking”. One concern I have is- I work nights so I don’t know if she’s doing this at night either.. the other main concern (nobody has actually complained) I’m not exactly sure how soundproof this apartment is.

Does anyone have any advice? I’ve kept her on her same routine, same time we usually go for walks, where her food and water sit in my room (she’s a free feeder), her same blankets on my bed, her bed in the living room etc. I don’t think she’s been this bad in the past adjusting so I feel bad but I’m now sure what to do. She barks when the AC kicks on😅 I almost feel like she’s jumpy?

If you’ve made it this far thank you! And any advice/ suggestions is helpful.

My current puppy only works for high value treats when out of the home. In home I use a different flavor kibble. Out of the home use freeze dried liver, real meats, cheese. My current adult dog is extremely food motivated so I never need to use the typical high value ones and can use whatever . If I am using chicken thigh, for example, outside lf the home, will my super high value treats eventually become low value to the puppy?

My concern is with training, I will eventually run out of treat options that are high value enough for him. Toys are hit or miss depending on the day. He really has to be motivated to want to work which is completely unlike my current adult, despite being closely related. Tips or thoughts?

We got training for my dog back when we got her two years ago and she's pretty decent with all of the basic commands, including "leave it." But, following "leave it" as a permenant command to "never touch that thing again" is a different story. I'm just not sure how to work up to that though? Especially since she automatically assumes that anything on the ground is fair game to interact with and start to chew on if she finds interest in it (To be clear, she never resource guards, so I highly doubt that'll be an issue).

So far, this hasn't been much of an issue since we don't leave stuff on the ground. However, we're about to have a kid in the summer. I both want to enforce a pretty strict bubble around the baby when they arrive + account for the fact that as the kid grows, they might be more prone to leaving stuff around the house. But I'm unsure of how to enforce "leave it" in my dog's mind for longer periods of time, especially with heavily desirable items (i.e. a stuffed animal). Any tips?

Hi everyone, not sure this is the right kind of page to post this question but seeing if anyone has any insight or possible ideas to what it could be. Training or something else? My 2 year old dog (cavalier mix) pees extremely frequently. I take her out to pee every three hours and even that’s not enough. I feel like my whole life revolves around her peeing! It’s ridiculous. And the biggest problem is she STILL has accidents in between me letting her out. Today I let her out at 11am, took a nap until 2:30 (set my alarm to 2 bc I knew I had to take her out to pee) and I snoozed from 2-2:30 because I could see her laying down. Went downstairs and took her out and she peed right away. Then came back inside and as I was going to take off her harness I stepped in a puddle of pee. It’s so frustrating! And this is such a common occurrence. She has ruined our carpets over the last year and a half (got her at 6 months) and idk what to do. I’ve spent thousands at the vet and specialist trying to figure it out and besides one uti as a puppy everything has come back normal. This has always been a problem and I’m at a loss now. She’s been on oxybutin since April of last year which has helped her go from going every hour to every 2-3 hours. Anyone have any ideas?