Category: Top Dog

Hi all! My dog is a white German Shepard, and she’s on of those dogs that sheds so much you wonder how she still has any hair. It’s is impossible the amount of hair that comes off this girl!

Curious if anyone has had any experience with de-shedding treatments and/or professional brushing. Is it effective? What can I expect with a dog that shed A LOT. Am thinking about getting one done every 2-3 months and supplementing with brushing in between.

Thanks in advance!

He's eating everything, including furniture! Idk what to do!

Hello all! My 8 month old pembroke corgi was just neutered yesterday, but only one of his testicles had descended around the 7 month mark making him cryptorchid, and the procedure was much more invasive, like a spay. Although he’s doing OKAY, I feel like the pain meds we were given are wearing off hours before the next dose is due, and it’s causing him noticeable discomfort. Usually about 4-5 hours prior to when his next dose is supposed to be. We are still following the every 12 hours but I was wondering if it’d be worth it to call the vet tomorrow and see if he needs something stronger? Or is that silly?

Hi everyone. I’m a first-time puppy owner and I could really use some advice because I’m feeling overwhelmed.

My long term boyfriend and I recently got a plott hound/lab mix puppy who is currently about 9 weeks old (almost 10 weeks). We got him at 8 weeks from a rescue. Originally we didn’t even want a puppy, we wanted to adopt an older dog from a shelter or a rescue so we wouldn’t have to deal with potty training and the full puppy phase. But the household we live in pushed for getting a puppy instead.

He’s sweet but he’s definitely in the typical puppy phase right now: biting everything, chewing everything, getting into things, trying to hump everything and having accidents.

The situation is complicated because of the household dynamic. I live with my boyfriend and his family. My boyfriend is at school most of the day and sometimes works until 9 or so at night. His parents both work full time. I take classes online from home and work part time. Before anyone asks -yes we are financially stable enough to own a puppy, yes we have money for vet bills, toys, treats, and everything.

His parents practically forced us into getting a puppy so that they wouldn’t have to assume the responsibility because it’s “ours”, and also because they wanted a playmate for their not well behaved 2 year old maltipoo, and instead of respecting our wishes of getting an older dog that we knew for a fact we could handle just fine on our own, they went forth with making us adopt a puppy, and will not help AT ALL, and even undermines our training in practically every way possible.

Because I’m home during the day, the puppy has basically become my responsibility most of the time. I’m the one constantly supervising him, taking him outside, cleaning accidents, redirecting biting, and trying to teach basic commands. I’m trying to do this while balancing online classes and zoom meetings, homework, household duties, and my job.

Another issue is crate training. I’ve been trying to crate train him because I’ve read it helps with potty training and prevents separation anxiety. However, my boyfriend is very against using the crate during the day when I’m home, which makes things difficult because sometimes I just need to shower or focus on taking care of my daily responsibilities.

There’s also inconsistency in the house. For example, one day I had to go to work and I specifically asked my boyfriend’s sister not to let the puppy out of the crate except for potty breaks. When I got home, the puppy was running around because she let him out anyway.

The puppy also wakes up a few times every night to go outside, and I asked my boyfriend to be the one to take him out at night because between school, work, and constant supervision throughout the day I am exhausted. Plus he never really takes care of the puppy when he is home anyhow. And I think it’s only fair that during the night he take the puppy out since I take care of the puppy all day. My boyfriend complains about this, but I honestly don’t know how to confront him about it more than I already have.

I’m really trying to raise him properly, but it feels extremely difficult when I’m the one responsible most of the day, other people in the house aren’t consistent with training, I’m balancing school and work at the same time. Yes, there is always rehoming him, but I feel that would infuriate the rest of the household (despite their unhelpfullness) and we’ve grown an attachment and really want to make this work.

So I’m hoping for some advice from experienced puppy owners. I have a few questions I’m looking for specific answers to, but please feel free to expand and give me your best general puppy advice.

Heres my questions:

1. What’s the best way to potty train a puppy when multiple people in the house are inconsistent?
2. Any advice for handling the biting/“land shark” stage?
3. How do you prevent separation anxiety early?
4. How should I approach discussing with my boyfriend how I feel about him taking out the puppy at night?
5. If I become so overwhelmed that rehoming becomes the only option, how should I discuss it with the household in a way that doesn’t seem like I’m saying “you guys are screwing up my training and I can’t handle it anymore so we have to rehome him”?

I love him to death and really want to raise this puppy right, but right now I’m feeling overwhelmed and like I’m doing everything wrong. I’m not looking for any type of negative criticism, everyone has their first puppy and does things wrong, and has their ups and downs, and negativity literally won’t help anything, I’m really looking for genuine advice and support.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

About a month and a half ago, I adopted a then-8.5mo Alaskan Husky/Lab Retriever mix (~60lbs) from a local humane society. He's such a friendly pup and hasn't shown any outwardly aggressive tendencies (barking, growling, etc.), but I've had a really hard time getting him to stop jumping on people. According to the wiki, he would be a "frustrated greeter", but I've been able to get him to progressively pull a little less on walks by crossing to the opposite side of the street or turning to go a different direction when we see other dogs in the neighborhood (still working on that, but it's a separate issue).

When it's just me at home, not reacting to him or stepping out of the way so he "misses" his jump has mostly worked, and he usually only tries once or twice before he stays on the ground. I've also been trying to teach "sit" as his default response to wanting something, with some success when it's just me.

However, these improvements seem to go out the window when a visitor comes over, and he jumps on them for the first several minutes before eventually calming down, and during that time it's like his ears completely stop working. No response to commands, no response to trying to distract him with treats or a toy (which might be the wrong thing to do/reinforcing the behavior?). Most of my friends have also had puppies so they don't take offense to it, but I'd really like to get this under control.

I know this is him being super excited because it's a less familiar person, but I feel like if I don't rein it in soon he'll continue to do it indefinitely. It's especially been an issue when he first comes in from the yard, and his paws might still be a bit muddy despite my best effort to wipe them off when he first comes inside.

Thanks for any input.

My 7ish year old neutered male Shihpoo is potty trained and knows he shouldn’t pee in the house. However, when someone comes to the door, or he sees a dog walking by, he loses it and runs to the wall in our entryway and lifts his leg and pees. We have tried crating him, but he literally sounds like he’s about to have a heart attack.

I have no idea what to do to get him to stop.

We have tried dog diapers, but he can take them off.

Help

Hey all,

I have a 7-year old German Shepherd who has a love/hate history with cats. She's more or less pretty good with them but every once in a while gets a little obsessive. My boyfriend and I just moved in together and we had taken a good 3-4 months introducing her to the cat, lots of rewarding and redirection, and very limited time together. About 2 months ago they started being around each other full time with no issues, even moving towards playing together. The cat could walk all over her/run around and she would just chill on the couch or in her bed, not even staring her down like she did in the beginning.

In the past week, the GSD has started lunging after the cat and stepping on her/trying to squish her almost? She isn't growling or biting but I've seen her get there in the past with smaller animals she didn't like. Is there a way to curb this behaviour? They were doing so well!

Hi, I have a few questions about resource guarding and when it's appropriate or not.

I have a 1 y.o. male corgi (neutered). He's very friendly, loves everyone, everyone loves him. He never starts fights, but he hates when another dog comes too close when I'm feeding him/giving him water or playing tug. And by "too close", I mean, clearly intruding in his personal space.

He growls a bit and if it doesn't work, snaps at air to tell the other dog to get out and usually, the other dog gives him space, my dog shifts his focus back on me, gets his treat and goes back to play and there's no hard feelings.

When he does this when another owner is giving treats/water, that's when I step in and scold him.

My trainer and a few resources online say it's okay for dogs to guard their food/owner as long as there's no aggression. I've been told to not scold him for this. But sometimes, the other dog doesn't tolerate him snapping and escalates. They start fighting, we separate them and after a time out, they go back to play like nothing ever happened.

So my question is : should this "snapping at air" behavior be tolerated ? The escalation doesn't happen a lot. Maybe happened 10 times since I got him at 2 m.o.. but fights are always a bit scary. Should I book my trainer again about this ?

A few other things that might be relevant : he never growls or snaps at people who get near his food/toys/favorite humans. This mostly happens at the park (which is a big open area where dogs can avoid eachother, not your classic tiny dog park) but he also does the snapping at air thing indoors sometimes.

Thanks in advance, have a nice day.