Category: Top Dog

Whenever I mention my dog bringing me joy in other subs I get downvoted and comments from people saying dogs are dirty and smell and that they would never let one live in their home. Does anyone else experience that? When did Reddit turn so heavily against dogs?

I’m in kinda of a dilemma. Is it okay when you can’t pick up after yourself, ex: your dogs was really soft one basically like water or you are sure your dog pooped but not sure where, you pick up someone else’s? I’m sure it sounds dumb and for some reason my brain is saying bad but not sure where?

I have a 4-month-old puppy. She's a French Bulldog. He wants to play with people's hands all the time, but he bites while playing.

https://postimg.cc/fkLxzG9V

I bodybuild and eat lots of proteins. with turkey breast these are trimmings I dont eat. it also has that tendon part in it but also some fat and also some breast meat.

is this ok to cut up, cook and feed a dog?

Im wondering as seems a shame to throw it out.

or maybe its just not good enough for a dog?

I see wolves and such eat everything so just wondering.

I’ve been dealing with a reactive dog and honestly found walks pretty stressful at times.

I’m thinking about building something specifically for this — not another generic training app, but something more practical for real life.

The idea is:

• a really quick way to log walks + how they went
• track triggers and actually see if things are improving
• simple, realistic tips (not overwhelming)
• eventually finding quieter / lower-trigger walking spots

I have been to see a trainer etc. but feel like i lose track when i am walking the dog again. The idea is to have an app with real time advice etc

Would something like this be useful to you?

Or what would you actually want instead?

I have a German shepherd husky and it's that time of the season where I could start making 4 fur coats a day from him. I'm wondering if there's a good spray for my dog when it comes to brushing since the humidity where I'm at makes it a pain to brush, the dryness and static in the air just makes the brushed hair cling to everything even with a vacuum brush. In the past I've used a waterless shampoo spray to help with the brushing and kept the fur from flying everywhere. What's a good brand of spray to make brushing easy so I don't turn my new home into a fur lined house?

Our lab mix is 19 weeks old, we got her at 8 weeks.

We just introduced her to the gentle leader and… are having mixed results. Sometimes she’ll walk ok, but she’ll lay on the grass and rub her face on the ground constantly, mess up her leash by pawing at it, and otherwise seem uncomfortable. She also never uses potty while wearing it.

Thankfully, we fed her treats through the nose loop and she is fine putting it on, but once we’re outside it’s overstimulation city

I know it’ll take time, and it’s only been a few days since we started, but I’m hoping to get an idea of how long it took y’all’s pups to get used to it.

Is using it every time outside the best option, or should we do it only once a day then work our way up?

i have a 1 year old dachshund who is highly, and i mean HIGHLY anxious. he has had this high level anxiety for a lot of his adult life and we noticed It around 4/5 months. we have worked with several trainers and he is always ok in the sessions but still has such a high level of anxiety on a day to day basis. his main issue around anxiety is when It comes to two things: going outside and being triggered by the outside world (especially in nyc) ie other dogs, people, sounds. he is so fearful of his surroundings outside of our apt. the next is fear and lack of trust of anyone besides my my partner or i. we cannot leave/go on vacation let alone have a dog sitter take him out as he will stay in his crate and not eat, use the bathroom, or come out. he is in complete fight or flight mode until we come back and payin money to have him walked is useless bc he will not come out.

we are at the point where we have invested in a vet behaviorist and he is trialing an SSRI: paxil – to help with his baseline anxiety so that we can continue training and get his anxiety down so he can actually learn from the sessions. it’s only been 2 weeks on the meds and i haven’t noticed much of a change at all in his anxiety.

i lost my first dog a year ago tragically. today while on a walk, he was spooked by another dog in the distance and tugged/ran and the leash fell out of my hand. he ran away from me into the street and was running from those trging to catch him. thankfully and i don’t know what god was watching over me, but he was able to be caught and unharmed. i am a complete wreck as this experience could have ended much, much worse and i don’t know what i would have done with myself.

he is so uncomfortable outside of my apartment but he has so many great qualities. he just has such bad fear and anxiety that not only is difficult for him, but is difficult for us too as we are not only trying to work on this with him but are also still grieving the loss of our first dog alongside this.

if anyone has any advice or tips for a situation as extreme as this that would be much appreciated. at this point, i’m not sure what he needs. whether a board and train, daily sessions with an intense and very particular trainer, or something else. i truly feel like i need a very specific, best of the best trainer in NYC area that specializes in extreme anxiety and fearfulness. if anyone has suggestions please leave them below.

TL;DR – my dog Merlin is defensive towards my brother and is very aggressive towards him when he walks into the house, but avoidant when my brother is in the house. He is not aggressive towards anyone else in the household to this degree even though all of us live together full time. We need help on how to socialize him with my brother.

I have a dog (Merlin) who is a terrier mutt and is TERRIFIED of my brother and only my brother. The dog came from a very traumatic past (hoarding situation) and is fearful of new people, especially when they walk into our house. He has grown accustomed to myself and my parents since we live here, but somehow he has not reached that same level of comfort with my brother. This is to the point where if he comes into the house, Merlin with growl and bark and even try to bite at him. We have no idea why he hates specifically my brother so much, nor how to increase their comfort together.

For some additional context:

– once in the house, Merlin is fearful and avoidant of my brother—not defensive

– He only becomes defensive when my brother walks into the house (even if he leaves and walks in again a minute later, he still has the same fear)

– Toys/Treats have not helped him very much to create a positive interaction when my brother enters the house

– My brother lives in the house full time

– Due to being a terrier, Merlin also expresses herding behavior towards people which may explain the defensiveness

It is putting huge stress on the household to have them at odds for seemingly no reason. Our current theory is that Merlin had a traumatic past with someone who looked like my brother. We have tried to get help, but their tips weren’t the most effective (eg. Having my brother feed Merlin didn’t change much since he still shyed away).

Does anyone have any resources to help with this?