Category: Top Dog

Hey all,
I could really use some outside perspective because my brain is fried and I honestly can’t tell anymore what’s normal vs what we might be messing up.

We adopted a Border Collie mix puppy about a month ago. Her age isn’t 100% clear (we were told 4–5 months), but we’re guessing she’s around 5 months now, since she still has her two upper baby teeth. She’s super smart, curious, and playful baby.

Shortly after coming home, she was diagnosed with Giardia and just finished her first 5 days of meds, so we’re still very much dealing with that.

Our vet initially advised us to sleep on the couch with her to help her feel safe while slowly building positive crate associations. Later, again on vet advice, we stopped letting her on the couch and moved her bed next to it, which actually worked pretty well. She mostly prefers sleeping on the floor anyway.

During the day, she goes in and out of the crate on her own and sometimes naps in it. At night though, it’s different. She can mostly sleep in the crate as long as we’re in the same room, but the moment we try to move back to the bedroom, things get hard. The vet suggested slowly increasing distance, but she gets really unsettled when we’re not nearby. Nights are inconsistent, and she often gets a weird energy boost late at night.

What were already doing:

Longer walks in the morning, shorter ones in the evening

Training and mental games during the day

Puzzle feeders/l icking mats

Trying to keep evenings low-key

Between the Giardia (lots of night potty breaks) and her still adjusting to a new home, I’m struggling to tell what’s normal and what we might be doing wrong.

Main questions:

• Are we pushing the crate too fast?
• How do you build a routine that actually helps a puppy rest?
• Should we pause crate-at-night expectations until she’s fully healthy?
• Or stick with structure even if it’s messy right now?
• And specifically for Border Collies: what helped you manage the herding instinct in a healthy way without overstimulating them?

Not expecting perfect sleep, just trying to set her up for success and not accidentally create anxiety.

Would really love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with crate training sensitive pups or Border Collies in general. Thank you so much!

Hi! I'm currently looking for a mini dachshund, any dachshund breeder recommendations?

I have not gotten a German shepherds yet but I would like a German Shepherd and I have a couple questions first of all I would like to trade my dog to respond to a whistle and then a command so first I blow the whistle and then I give the command the dog will not respond to the command unless I blow the whistle first second I would like the dog to come to me if I blow the whistle and have no command to give third I want the dog to be able to play fetch so how can I achieve these things and also how loyal are these German Shepherd dogs and how do I make them super loyal (disclaimer I am a cat person but I want a dog that can protect me and play with me and walk with me) is it possible to train the dog to do any of these things thank you

My terrier is needing surgery on his face. He has lived his whole life chasing toys, playing hard, investigating the yard/city/beach etc.

That will need to be paused for a week while his eye heals and he wears a cone.

He is a terrible patient. Terrible. Not the kind of guy to let anyone handle him if he isn’t instigating it.

He is going to lose his favorite activities of fetch and sticking his head into bushes and his toy basket to rummage. This will last at least 5 days, depending on how things go w the surgery.

I am thinking of scent games I could set up in the house to help bridge this gap and would love suggestions. He’s 15 and he has seen a lot of the country but we’ve never done play with him that wasnt chase type so I’m not sure how that would work. Majority of his play is fetch/chase and super long walks in our area but I want to be able to give him something new and fun if he can’t do an activity that will readily bust his eye back open. (And can scent games work with a cone?)

I will definitely ask the clinic of course but wanted to come in with some ideas before the appointment next week.

Just want to make his weird quarantine engaging and seem less like a punishment for him.

I have plans to go hiking in the beginning of march, and i’m considering bringing my dog. My corgi will be 14 months old by then. It’s 4 miles but it’s also quite steep, there are a lot of ledges, and it can be kind of busy. The hikes he’s been on were mild in comparison.

He is also not a fan of other dogs so Ill also have to manage that. But I think if all goes well he’d be a very happy and tired dog. Have anyone else had luck hiking with their dog in similar conditions?

My mini aussie has always had a bit of anxiety and has always been a grazer but would eat on her own when she wanted. We drove from Dallas to Virginia (for the second time) last year and since then she refuses to eat unless I hold her bowl. The longest she went before I caved was 5 days without eating. I've tried different bowls, food, etc. Even actual meat and rice she won't eat without me.

The exception is ice cream cups and occasionally she'll eat from another dogs bowl. I have no idea what's causing this or how to fix it. Any help is appreciated

Hi,

Does anyone own a Portuguese Pointer?

If you have any idea or connections… I would love to get in contact with a responsible breeder in Europe.

I live in Germany but there are no breeders for this breed around here.

Thank you for any suggestions.

this may be a dumb post or not the right place but recently someone dumped a husky right outside my apartment. i’m not sure if he belongs to someone here but the reason i’ve noticed him is because all day and night he keeps howling. i feel really bad because i want to help but i don’t know how. i can’t keep him but i don’t want him to be outside and distressed and no one else seems to care. i’m not sure what i can do to help him.

We adopted a dog in the summer that a family was gonna abandon because they were moving countries anyway,when we let the dog out into the garden it keeps finding ways to escape and then we fix the problem and a week passes and she finds a new way.When we call her she doesn’t come and even runs away we don’t know what to do anymore and we really don’t want her to get hit by a car or lost what can we do?she’s sterilised and we tried training her but it does nothing it’s like everything is lost when she finds a way out.please help

I've been trying to learn about dog body language recently, as I want to understand my dogs better.

Often, when I sit on the sofa with a blanket on my legs, one or both of my two shih tzus will jump up and sleep on them. It's adorable, thus my instinct is to pet them.

They say that a dog shows that they like being pet when they actively try to re-initiate contact, but when my dogs sit on my legs, they rarely do. Would that be because they're sleepy, or because they don't actually want me to touch them?

Furthermore, if it turns out they don't particularly like being pet, how do I show affection?