Category: Top Dog

Does anyone have suggestions for good walking shoes? Mine fall apart from walking my dog so much. Id like less then $100 (I'm low income) and wear woman us size 5

I recently rescued a 1.5 year old boxer mix and still acts like a puppy. She has sensitive skin and sheds quite a bit. I used the brush I used for my previous dog with hard and soft bristles and bought her a new rubber one. I don’t know what to do my work uniform is black and her fur is a light blonde. I can only lint roll so much before she decides she wants attention again. Let me know if there is a way that I can train her out of it, she is incredibly smart and picks up on new things pretty fast. Has anyone experienced something like this? Any suggestions?

I have a 5lbs Pom-chi. She has short fur which is so short that dog brushes don't grab the fur at all. Even a furminator is too big. I've been using a toothbrush to brush the loose fur out as that's the only thing I've found that works. Looking to see if anyone has any better suggestions.

Even if I go outside for 5 minutes and come back my dog reacts like I came after 5 years. How do they show this much happiness every time?

I wish humans were like this too.

Hello! We have a lovely 6 year old sprocker, who until he was 4 slept downstairs on the couch, happily separate to us, 2 years ago we moved to a flat and he ended up in the room with us, in bed as he struggled with separation, all of us being on one floor, we were just too close I guess. That’s the background to our sleeping. We now have a 4 month old baby and while our dog is still in the room with us, he is clearly very stressed out by night time crying, we have tried leaving the door open, creating a safe den like space in the room, nothing works, if we put him in another room he now cries and howls all night, so we’re currently sleeping apart, not because of the baby, but because of the dog! Me in with the baby and my husband with the dog to reduce his stress. This isn’t a long term solution as we need the other room for the nursery eventually. What we need to do is transition the dog back to sleeping on his own in the living room.

Has anyone successfully done anything like this? We love him so much and to see him stressed by the crying is tough. He loves our baby so much that we joke about our son being his baby. During the day he tolerates the crying a lot better, and doesn’t seem bothered by it. Help, words of wisdom and shared experiences very welcome!

My dog is 18 months old, he’s a rescue and I’ve had him for 1 year. He hates going in the car and will whine/bark almost constantly. I had hoped he would get used to it but it’s actually got worse ☹️

He will not get into the car of his own accord (I know he is capable of doing it, he did it once and then never again 🙃), I’ve tried waiting him out, praising him when he goes near the car door, throwing high value treats onto the back seat…he just will not get in there. It’s making it impossible to work on any desensitisation. I feel I need to stop lifting him in there really as it would be better for him to choose to get in. Any tips?!

I have a 4.5 yr old bully x dutch shepherd x belgian malinois mix. as you can guess she’s VERY high energy, i can never tire her out (trust me, i feel guilty cause i thought i was getting a chill pit from the shelter lol).

Anyway – I bought her a herding ball cause she goes CRAZY for basketballs, soccer balls, etc. doesn’t care for tennis balls but goes absolutely feral for a larger ball. she loved it, chased it like crazy, doesn’t want to let go. I just want to know why?! What makes some dogs go feral for these balls? Is it their prey drive? I’ve never seen her act that way towards anything ever other than balls, she gets so excited.

Nitty gritty question: when you are training potty habits and training to a potty command to try to get them to go on command, do you teach them a word for poo and a word for pee or are they both called potty (or whatever your euphemism of choice happens to be)? My dog seems to have learned the word potty and outside, but I think we are far from going on command at this point and Im wondering if I just made it more complex than necessary?

I've started taking my friend's dog out for walks every weekday. He hasn't had much training, nor does he go out much aside from going to the bathroom twice a day. Once around noon, another closer to 6-8pm.

Since I love him a lot, I thought I'd try working on training him; at least his pulling. When I was with my ex, his dog was pretty well training to stay by your side. He said that clipping the leash on the front (with a full chest harness, not just a collar) should help keep the dog from pulling so much. While trying it on this walk, he wasn't pulling *as hard*, but he was still pulling.

I also have a little bag of treats I'm trying to train with. When indoors, he responds to his name and can sit, but when outside, even if I bring the treat in front of his face, he can struggle to listen. I want to keep him from pulling so much, and then especially when we cross the street, it is absolutely crucial that he learns to wait at the cross, look at me and wait to go, and stay by my side until we finish crossing.

https://imgur.com/a/c4MSSiF

Edit: This is a copy paste from one of my posts to r/dogs. It hasn't been approved in a few days and I need help.

Since that initial post (3 days ago) I've been doing more research. I was taught about the harness by one of my friends, who it worked well for. The harness also isn't mine, I didn't buy it, it's just what they have on hand and what I've been using.

I've since learned that Gentle Leader harnesses can be helpful. I've also heard some controversy surrounding it though, and want thoughts on it. I also know that training is a two way street, and I want to make sure I'm properly training myself as well.

Here's the current routine:

Put his harness on (gets it on well. I have him sit so I can put it on).

Have him sit and wait at the door, looking at me for permission. He used to bolt straight at the door the second his leash was on, but I've taught him that he needs to wait if he wants out. What usually happens from there is he bolts out the door once I fully open it. I have trouble with that, and how to stop it. What I did to train him to look for permission was as soon as he ran at the door, as it peeked open, I would close it and wait till he sat, following this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2yj2xtCo-k&list=PLXMViC9umr57McZZLQ3SwmaNX-7vUsrwh&index=3

From there, once he's out, he starts to tug hard. It's cause he's quite excited to go outside (cause his current caretakers frankly suck and they only go out for 5 minutes to go to the bathroom. I'm trying to see if I can get the dog from them).

The rest of the walk is a lot of tugging. After about halfway through the walk, about a quarter of a mile, he pulls a little less. Still pulls, sometimes hard, but noticeably less.

Indoors, in a low stimulation environment, he reacts well to his name and "sit". Outside however, I just can't get his attention. Another thing I was taught was to pull him right by your side and stand in front of him to block the distraction from sight. Once he ignores it, then reward him.

Hi! I’m seeking advice on how to unteach negative allelomimetic behaviors. My family’s two female dogs have previously been friendly with other dogs and people. Another family member’s male dog, whom is reactive towards strangers and other males, visits the house most weekends. He seems to have fear aggression as well as same-sex and territorial aggression. However he adores our family and close friends that are in his “circle of trust”, as well as female dogs and even most small male dogs. He gets along well with both of the female dogs in our family. We’ve had the females for a few years now, and the male has always visited on this consistent schedule.

The three dogs all get overly excited when someone comes to the door, enters the yard, or walks past the house. They’d probably all be barkers to an extent if they were alone, but they definitely seem to rile each other up and have a pack mentality when they’re together. Recently, the two female dogs have escalated from just barking at strangers to more aggressive behaviors (growling, snapping, etc.). These actions seemed to be learned behaviors from the reactive male, as this is how he behaves when encountering strangers.

It’s a really upsetting situation. One reactive dog has been a lot to manage for the family, but three is beyond overwhelming and an even bigger liability. It’s disappointing because the female dogs were always very social with even new people and other dogs. It seems to be a new development that they are mirroring the reactive male’s negative behavior, despite the three of them being very close for years. Even when he’s not around, they appear to be reactive in the yard and leash reactive (usually just barking but occasionally growling at unfamiliar dogs) on walks.

The females are still typically well behaved at the groomers and the vet. They love playing with their dog friends, especially the other regulars at their weekly daycare. They’re friendly when people they know come over, although they still bark excessively in a happy greeting. The older female has a very docile and gentle personality, so we are especially shocked by her mimicking the reactive behavior. The younger female is a cattle dog mix so naturally she is a bossy busybody, but we never thought she’d behave in an outright aggressive manner. The reactivity right now seems to be limited to being territorial over their yard/house with strangers and leash reactivity towards dogs on walks.

The male dog has received a lot of training to manage his reactivity, and he is always kept at a distance from his triggers for everyone’s safety. My family is planning on seeking help from a trainer for the female dogs as well. Additionally, we intend to do solo walks for the female dogs and slowly counter condition them to triggering stimuli. What else can we do to discourage the negative behaviors that have been unintentionally modeled by the reactive dog? There seems to be limited resources on how to stop a reactive dog’s anxieties from rubbing off on other previously friendly dogs.