Category: Top Dog

I grew up with Rottweilers and Boxers as a kid. Those are really the only two breeds I’m familiar with. I have cats, but have never had a dog as an adult.

I’m at a point in my life where I want and am able to properly care for a dog. Schedule wise and financially.

I’ve always wanted a Dalmatian, but I’ve been doing research and everything I see says that due to inbreeding these dogs are incredibly hard to train and very aggressive. I can handle the training, but I want to know if anyone has experience with these dogs being highly aggressive?

First time rescue dog owner looking for advice on potty training: I just adopted a 1 year old rescue on Saturday and she seems warmed up to me and my apartment. She has no issues eating & drinking and we’ve been having fun playing together…however she is too anxious to leave my apartment and enter the hallway/dog run. I understand this will take time to build confidence, and I have pee pads in the interim, but she has not used them yet, so she just looks for places to pee/poop. Should I continue trying to get her to go outside, her it being so anxious in a new environment? Am I supposed to let her pee wherever she wants in the apartment and then try placing the pad there, even if it’s an inconvenient location (a kitchen)? Any recommendations on next steps or places I can look for guidance? I feel a bit lost because while I understand I need to take things slow, I don’t want her peeing on my floor for potentially weeks or months (if the 3-3-3 guideline is what I’m going off) either.

hi!

looking for some info… my dog 2 years ago was deemed aggressive when he was woken from a sleep from a toddler lying on his head and he sadly did bite the toddler.

I have gone through so many trainers and behaviourists and all professionals say he is a sweet dog who might be insecure and acted out of fear. I also see no aggression in my dog. he lives with other dogs, he is around children (I muzzled him in the beginning since I was also scared for his behaviour, he is so good with kids! he of course is comfortable with the ones he knows) he did not know the child who laid on him.

its been 2 years and I have spent close to 10k with trainers. is there any way to move forward to have his aggressive title revoked in canada BC

My dog was spayed by the shelter at only 3 months or so old. I know that can have so many risks with it. I feel miserable now. I love her so much and I don't know what to do. I mean she's been fine, I just don't know if there's something I should be doing. She's 5 months old now. She's a wire haired dachshund mix.

I adopted a boxer mix and we live in a rural area. She’s obsessed with baby animals and basically steals them. She’s not trying to eat them. She seems to genuinely want to take care of them. She’s brought back and put in her bed baby squirrels, rabbits, kittens and even a puppy she found. She’ll guard them and try to play with them. Anyone else have a dog like this? What did you do about it?

Hello,

I have a dog I rescued a few years back that has some serious water issues. Not in the same way some dogs drink too much water when hot and throw up. It is his biggest fixation. We think he was left outside for extended periods of time based on some other physical and behavioral traits and developed a habit of drinking ALL the water available when it was around. He also seeks water anywhere like drinking from puddles and toilets, obsessively consuming snow, sniffing out peoples water bottles and even the water mains in the ground on walks. When provided an open source of water he will tucks his tail and drink until it is gone, licking every last drop. When we used to provide water like this he would drink it so fast his body couldn’t absorb it. He would pee for 40secs to a minute straight, leak pee even if he peed a couple hours before and wet the bed during the night. We had him tested for diabetes but he came back negative and has no other health issues that would indicate something else is wrong. We have since had to limit his water intake by calculating how much water he needs, storing it in a bottle and providing it periodically throughout the day. Since then, his urination habits have normalized and it’s working well overall but I would really like him to have a source of water when we are out of the house. We have tried one of those water bowls with a floating insert for “messy drinkers” thinking less visual water would help but he does the same thing. We’ve tried blocks of ice but he licks them till his tongue is raw. I’ve even resorted to trying a hamster bottle but he just stands there and, again, licks his tongue raw. I’ve looked online but can only find gravity water dispensers and fountains which would worsen the problem.

If anyone has any recommendations for how to provide him a water source when he is alone without allowing him to drink too much too fast, like something with a timed release, I would really appreciate it. Or if anyone even has some medical idea of what’s going on and wants to provide information I can bring to the vet, I’d love that too. I’m even down for a Rube Goldberg machine at this point if anyone has ideas.

Thank you!

TLDR: Dog drinks too much water too fast and can’t absorb it, leading to pee problems. No obvious medical conditions. Want to provide a limited water source and need help!!

We have a crawling baby and three dogs; this is concerning the youngest who is a 2yo 25lb sheepadoodle.

For context, we had been having issues with the sheepadoodle attacking our senior dog, usually resource related when the senior wanders into a high value location. But sometimes it’s so sudden and unpredictable, for example once the senior dog was just in a playpen doing nothing and the 2yo jumped right into the playpen and attacked him. He has drawn a tiny amount of blood but has never seriously injured the senior dog.

He has an anxious and reactive temperament. We have him on max dose Prozac and also hired a trainer with unfortunately no improvement.

Until now, the dog has never shown any attention to the baby since he was born, just didn’t seem to care about him, which was a relief. Everyday we let baby crawl around the room while the dog is in his crate and he seems pretty chill. Still, we set strict separation protocols between the 2yo dog, our other two dogs, and the baby, and they never have access to each other.

We have the 2yo dog in a room behind a 7ft gate, then we have the other two dogs in the living room, and then lastly the baby in a playroom separated by another gate, so two layers of gates between dog and baby.

Today I accidentally left the baby’s gate open and he crawled into the living room with the two non aggressive dogs. Baby is usually never in the living room. The 2yo dog started freaking out, jumping super high trying to get out, and barking. He usually acts this way when our 3yo dog has a ball that he wants to play with.

After I calmed the situation I tried letting baby crawl in the living room again and he was very focused on the baby, licking his lips, and his body was rather stiff but he was slowly wagging his tail which was slightly pointed down. He seemed to get more stressed if I let the 3yo dog be near the baby versus just the baby by himself.

Does this sound like predatory behavior towards the baby? Anxiety? Jealousy that the other dogs got to sniff baby? I’m so stressed because my husband loves this dog and we’ve been so careful with keeping them separate but I don’t know if I can feel safe if he thinks my baby is prey.

He has never been aggressive towards humans except once when a friends toddler was over and acting rowdy he did growl. He has never growled at our baby or any adults.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have a female dog who we are having some issues introducing to our new kitten…but not in the way you'd expect. She is a nine year old female who came from a puppy farm rescue. She was spayed when she was around five and we're not sure if she ever had a litter but I'd say it's likely from her age when she was rescued and her absolute obsession with puppies. We got our younger two dogs as puppies and she adopted and raised both of them as if they were her own. When she meets a puppy out on a walk or at the vet she goes mental.

The good news is she's not wanting to chase the cat, she's not over threshold, she's not fixated, she can move away when asked and take food. She's just beyond excited in the same way she was with the puppies. She wants to lick the kitten all over and play with him but she's 14kg of solid muscle (Staffy) and will crush him if she just goes into him like a bowling ball.

We've tried having her on the lead with the kitten loose but the restraint seems to make her worse and more frustrated. We've also tried holding the kitten and letting her loose and she's better this way but the kitten eventually gets bored and wants to run around. We've also tried her with a muzzle but the issue isn't really her getting to bite the kitten but wanting to press her whole body into it and/or wrestle with him.

We're seeing some small signs of progress like she's stopped crying constantly to see the kitten if she hears him moving around and we're making sure meetings with the kitten involve treats for everyone and end on a positive note before anyone gets too fed up.

I should probably also note the kitten is absolutely unphased by anything she or any of my other dogs do. He came from a breeder who had a dog so just sits and looks at her when she does anything and isn't bothered by her licking him. My other dogs are more normal and we've just been doing standard cat/dog intros with them which are progressing as expected.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this or tips. I feel so bad for her because her heart is in the right place and I know she'd be a brilliant playmate/surrogate mother for the kitten, its just helping her find how to interact with someone who isn't as robust as a puppy!

My 6 month old puppy (female, cattle dog- catahoula mix) is very mouthy. She doesn’t hurt me, and if I correct her she stops in the moment. For any dogs she’s played with and does it, she hasn’t gotten out of hand to the point they correct her. She’s not only a puppy (so exploring the world with her mouth), but she has pretty strong herding dog instincts overall in other behaviors, so I understand it’s natural. Now that she’s getting her adult teeth, however, I’m worried because her bite is feeling harder, and I don’t want her to hurt anyone. Like I said, when I correct her, she stops briefly. It doesn’t stop her from doing it again, though. How do I start with a plan from getting her to stop completely? In most training guides and advice, they say to yelp. That does not work, even after weeks of consistently trying. So any other help is welcome! I just wanna get ahead of it before it becomes a legitimate issue.

Also, not sure if it matters but – what prompted me really seeing this as an issue is that I live near a school and have been trying to get her to slowly meet more kids (fine so far). But the thought crossed my mind of “dear lord, what if she bites at them and hurts them?”