Category: Top Dog

As the title states, my puppy smells like fish when he comes in from outside… Why? He doesn't get into anything rotten or fishy (I accompany him to be sure). Tried giving him a bath, but as soon as he goes out and comes back in – fish! It lasts maybe 5-10 mins or so before the fish odor dissipates. My other dog smells fine.

What do dogs think about when they’re just sitting around?

Hello, our 8-month old golden retriever has suddenly started focusing on one random dog at each dog park we go to – he is not yet neutered, just turned 8 months, and will find a random dog at the park that he won’t leave alone. Any size, any breed, not sure of their sex. But he follows them around. He won’t leave them alone. Today he followed a little terrier on top of a picnic table multiple times, keeps trying to play, refuses to pay attention to anything else. It’s going to become a problem. What can I do?

Which pet insurance is best for you? Are there any that may cover your dog's current treatment? Did your dog get injured during the waiting period and want to know if you're covered?

Here's the place to ask.

Do know we cannot help you here with medical concerns, and lying or not disclosing things to the insurance company is illegal so we don't allow that either.

Hello

I have recently began fostering a dog that’s been crated every single day all day for the last five years of her life. Which as you can imagine, has led to some problems.

Biggest problem, she chews the wires to the point she destroyed her teeth. A $3,000 surgery later, and her mouth is cleaned up and all she has remaining is one (very weak) canine and some back molars.

I have tried leaving her gated in the back room so she’s not restrained to the cage, however she has either managed to scale the gates with no problems, or rip the gates down (they’re pressure mounted), or go through the small cutout in the drywall (window height) that leads to the living room. The issue with this is that she pees and poops in the living room when we’re not home. Even if she’s let outside while we are at work midday (about 4 hours into us being gone). Definitely anxiety related.

Ideally, the end goal is to make it so she can spend her days while we’re at work out with the other two dogs, however that will not be able to happen until she stops peeing and pooping on the floor. She has 0 accidents while we’re home, and I know she can hold it for 8 hours because she holds it while in the crate and for about 8-10 hours at night in the bedroom, however she loses her mind and tries to chew on the crate for that 8 hours we’re at work. So far we’ve managed to reduce the crate chewing by putting a cone on her while in the crate, however she has managed to figure out how to get it off and I don’t want her to destroy her gums or the few remaining teeth.

Has anybody tried soft sided crates with a dog like this? I’m hesitant because I feel like she’d destroy it relatively easily even without many teeth. I’ve also looked at the rufflands but the door concerns me (getting her tooth stuck). I do not have the money for an impact, even though I’m sure that would be ideal.

I’ve thought about repurposing the spare bedroom for her, however that would require a lot of work (carpet and she loves to pee/poop on carpet specifically), and I’m not sure if that would cause more anxiety locking her in there during the day, even if she’s uncrated.

Most sweaters that fit my dog's chest are way too short, and if they fit his back they're too big on his chest. His chest is 16" and back is 18.5 inches. He weighs ~13lbs. I have to keep him shaved short and he's always getting cold.

Any recommendations for cute sweaters that don't cost a fortune?

I need advice for a good nail clipper. Something that glides through the nail easy. My almost 12 year old dog has arthritis and me cutting his nails I know is tough on the joints because of how much effort the clipper has to cut it. I bought a highly recommended one a year ago that didn’t work that well

I have a nearly 14 year old Italian greyhound, and for the last year or so she's more or less stopped responding when I call her, ask if she wants to go potty, or any other 'are you ready?' type commands. I have slowly convinced myself that she's deaf or going deaf because she won't even move her head when I call her name. This is true for my wife as well.

Today while sitting at brunch I was eating steak and eggs. I turned to my dog, very calmly (and pretty quietly) told her to lay down. She immediately did it because she knew there was steak on the line.

It's amazing that steak is about the only thing in the world that will convince my dog to listen these days. I had tried previously with all sorts of treats to no avail to get her to look at me, respond, or acknowledge that I was talking to her. She just had no appetite for most foods, and she's never been one to play with toys.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with older, grouchier dogs? Did you ever find a solution or did you just ride it out?

My dog (6 year old lab/german shepherd mix) is suddenly scared of the food and water bowls he’s had for years. He does eat and drink from them, but he’s very apprehensive when approaching them, he acts a little jittery while eating or drinking, like he’s constantly ready to flee, and he sometimes gets startled by seemingly nothing when eating or drinking. This started a little over a week ago. Everything else is normal, I haven’t noticed any odd behaviour when he’s walking, playing, sleeping, anything really. It’s just the bowls he seems to be scared of. I’ve already put them in a different spot, his bowls used to be next to a trench convector which makes more noise during the cold days so maybe that scared him, but I can’t really think of anything else. He doesn’t wear a collar, so it’s not something clanking against the bowls that scares him. The bowls are reflective stainless steel, and I’ve read stories of dogs being scared of their own reflection in the bowl, but I don’t think it’s that either, because he’s had these bowls for years now. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this?

Asking here because I couldn’t cross post from ask Reddit