Category: Top Dog

What software do you use to manage your business day to day?
Booking, payments, reminders, client and dog profiles, etc.

I’m also curious where things still feel clunky and what you wish worked better….such as tracking progress, session notes and follow ups, scheduling or cancellations, payments or packages, client communications etc.

Thanks!

I have a 3 year old, 60 lb dog who loves to pick up and chew on the smallest objects. She will occasionally chew on appropriate chew toys that I’ve bought for her, but she absolutely loves finding the smallest things (like buttons from clothes, the plastic ends of strings, small, flexible metal) and nibbling on them.

She is very well trained on dropping whatever is in her mouth on command, but then she looks for the next small thing to chew on.

Any suggestions on toys or other safe chewing alternatives that could maybe mimic the satisfaction she gets from chewing small items?

TIA!

My boyfriend's 8-year-old Beagle just moved in with us 3 months ago. She was an outside dog for all 8 years, being tethered outside during the day and in a kennel in the garage at night. She has had no training until I came here.

When my bf moved into his apartment, and I moved in soon after, we went and got her. Our landlord made it very clear that the house cannot smell like dog/dog excrement. There was a brief moment where her anxiety spiked for 2 weeks; she was put on meds (she hasn't been on them for about 2 months), and everything was fine. She would go outside fine, eat fine, everything was fine. FOR A MONTH IT WAS FINE.

For whatever reason, she has stopped pooping outside. She will do everything but poop. She'll pee and pull on the leash like she's trying to choke herself out; she'll freak out at rabbits, squirrels, other dogs, and kids on bikes. Worst of all, since she's a Beagle, she'll find a track she likes, and she will actively choose to keep sniffing over pooping. She'll go 24+ hours without going, and then wind up pooping in the house while we sleep.

I wish I were kidding. Not to put too fine a point on it, but she will start pushing, just go to squat, and then decide that the scent is more important, and keep walking, meanwhile its 10 pm, below zero with 25 mph wind, I've been outside for 30 minutes, and I'm about to lose my mind.

No, anti-potty spray in the house does not work.

No, she is not sick

No, it's not anxiety. It's the same walk on the same route at the same time 3x a day every day.

No, it's not her food. She gets fed 2x a day, once in the morning, once at night, a cup of Healthy Weight dog food. She's had no adverse reaction to it, and she was on it the month that she was acting fine.

No, she's not stopped up. She has no issue going when she finally decides to go.

No, my bf can't really help, he works 12-hr shifts and doesn't get home until late, so it's really up to me to actually train her.

Yes, I have tried treats, but she has no interest in me or the treats while we're outside. This dog goes nuts for chicken in the kitchen, but once we're on a walk, she ignores me like I'm a creep following her on the street.

Yes, I do drag my feet when we're outside to the point where I'm out there 45 minutes per trip, and she still doesn't go. She'll pee, but that's it. Other than that, I'm fighting to keep my shoulder in its socket and hoping I don't chip a tooth tripping over her.

It's to the point where I'm in bed, hearing her wander around the living room, and I'm making myself upset because I'm worried I'm going to wake up and there's going to be dried dog poop all over my living room again. If I'm doing something wrong, someone please tell me, but I'm just so frustrated and overwhelmed.

TLDR: My 8 y/o Beagle wants to sniff everything and scream at squirrels instead of pooping, and I don't know how to fix it.

Edit: changed one word because reddit says this post was hidden but won't tell me why. Idk how this website works

Hello everyone!

Thank you for this wonderful forum. I am starting my 3 yr old dog on some noise desensitization techniques using recorded audio that I place around the house (a la some of the advice from the Kikopup videos and others).

For folks who have succeeded in reducing / eliminating reactivity to sound, I have some questions as I am ramping up that were not quite answered in some of the videos — any / all advice would be hugely appreciated.

1. How do you manage a noise desensitization scheme when the noises are random — e.g., the dog isn't responding to a door bell, but to a wide range of noises that the dog will hear outside a house or apartment. Do you just collect as many of those noises as possible, or is there a twist on the desensitization scheme that you implement?
2. Where do you place the audio? Do you place it near the dog, or near where the provocation would usually occur? (e.g., closer to an outside wall or door)?
3. What non-adversive steps do you take if the dog does start to bark?

Any tips from those that have gotten to the other side and seen it work would be fantastic — even if just by way of encouragement to someone just getting started.

Thanks!

In October I took in my neighbors 8 y/o dog she had since 6 weeks old. She was very over weight, becoming incontinent and needed help walking up and down the 2 steps on the porch. I figured it was kind of a Hospice situation and was happy to help since my neighbor was moving 9 states away.

Well, long story short we discovered via a few vet visits that she has severe hypo-thyroid is and a few pills a day and we are losing weight, continent, going for lengthy walks, and living our best life together now. Which puts me in a weird spot now.

I did zero research really before taking my baby girl in. And she does respect the yard boundary. She is very respectful and polite on a leash. She is housebroken. Basically she’s a really good dog, but she is easily bored because she’s a very intelligent dog. I’m just not really sure with her age and you know we do have some joint issues because of trying to lose weight still, What kind of training I could actually do with her. I am really wanting to just get some ideas of what anybody thinks or should I just kind of let her continue living life as is and try to figure out some puzzle games or something to entertain her with. She is eight years old and with her breed mix 8 to 12 is about as far as we should expect. The vet however has stated that she is so healthy now they wouldn’t be surprised if we get much longer than that. I would like to have her living a fulfilled life, especially since she has one now when the last 4ish years she has had zero drive, joy or motivation due to the undiagnosed thyroid issues.