Category: Top Dog

My 9-10yo mixed breed dog (maybe wolfhound cross) usually loves her walks and runs in and out of the water at the beach. We also do hour long walks in the bush. Today after 15mins she lay down and didn't want to walk further. So I sat with her and patted her. Now we're home she's moping around but not going outside. The only change is I fed her some kangaroo bones and beef bones (uncooked) the last few days and she hasn't been doing bigger poos and sometimes no poos. Is something wrong with her? Should I take her to the vet or just monitor her for a few days? She just went to the vet for a check up a month ago and all clear, just got her vaccinations and another set of injections for arthritis. Thanks so much

One issue I have with my dog is he gets very scared (lots of shivering, heavy panting, fast heart rate, unresponsive) when there are a few certain sounds and unexpected noises. I've tried several things to desensitize him but I cant seem to comfort him with these.

3 sounds mainly that cause this. 1) Loud thunder 2) Snow/ice falling off my roof and hitting the wood deck 3) Fireworks. All 3 of these sounds I cant replicate in the normal way that I see suggested all the time, which is to play them on a speaker and increase volume. I dont have big speakers, and the speakers I do have are not loud enough or bass-y enough to produce that sound. He also can easily distinguish the sound is not coming from outside and he doesnt get scared of it when played on a speaker. Its also the surprise factor, all these sounds come suddenly and usually hes sleeping and resting then they just happen. I live alone and its very quiet in my house, so these sounds are very loud and surprising. Especially the snow falling from the roof. I have a high roof and it makes quite a loud bang when it lands, even I get a little shocked, so I feel bad for him because he has no clue whats happening.

I try to play with him and give treats and make the sounds positive when they happen but as soon as the first one happens he immediately starts shaking and is terrified. Then it is hard to get him out of that mode. He becomes somewhat unresponsive and is kinda in shut down mode. I also am surprised by the sounds and can't really predict when they will happen. The snow falling is the one that happens the most often and it just randomly happens. If I could predict it I could try to distract him or create a positive scenario when it happens but its just random, same with fireworks, sometimes there will be lots, sometimes none on the firework days. Ive tried an ear cover and a thunder shirt, neither worked.

Is there any way to desensitize him to these unexpected loud sounds without a speaker? How can I try to make them positive experiences? The snow falling from the roof I do have one idea that I think I can replicate. Im going to fill a ball with some water and I can throw it on my roof and let it fall on the deck. That will sound pretty similar to the snow falling. I can give him some treats/lick mat/bone and even have the door open to show him its not scary and I think that will help.

Hi there, we have recently bought/adopted a 17 month old German Shepherd boy from a nearby town/city 4 days ago. He is a softie and very much a friendly boy.

However he is very much a puller on the leash when going for a walk, we use a harness for him with a 1-1.5m leash. So much so he pulls almost all of the time. I have been trying to use training treats to get him going, although I have only just started (today) and it showed some promise in the garden with just a short time (consiting of walking laps in the garden, when he says near and doesn't pull I give a treat with a "yes" and/or a "good boy", when he pulls, I tighten the leash and give no treat with a "here"), he doesn't seem to have the same promise when outside the house. (Assuming the sounds, smeels and more!)

He also seems to bark at anyone that comes near to chat or see him that he doesn't know except my partner and myself. They are quite the loud barks and I can see them potentially scaring people when he does it. This also happens when people are visiting or there are people at the door (even if he has seen them before) with the exception of my partner and me.

He wants to bound towards other dogs as well, larger dogs I think he wants to play wiht, on our first walk in a sort of dog prefered field he seemed to be very friendly to a black lab and the owner, the two jumping (and tangling) themselves. However he will whine and pull on the leash a lot when wanting to see other dogs, even when the dog / other owner shows no sign of wanting to interact (I get it! Not everyone does). On top of that the previous owner told us he was attack by a smaller Jack Russell when a bit younger, so that may be affecting some things?

I am considering 1-1 training with local trainer to see what they think. They offer group classes but I am unsure about going to those yet due to his "eagerness" to interact with other dogs, and that I have been told that a fair few of the dogs are pups.

I have currently only taken him out with my partner and it has been work just for a shorter walk. I will be needing to walking him myself in the mornings during the week as I work from home. However I am unsure if I should limit it to the garden while on my own and without any training to be safe or not?

We have a 4 month old pitbull puppy we got him when he was 3month and he does good about 80% of the time not messing with the cat, but something they do okay and he’s gotten swiped a few times, but sometimes he’ll randomly pounce to play with the cat and I do not leave them unsupervised together, I’m quick to redirect when this happens, and reward when he ignores the cat, but he still will randomly want to play with the cat, will this behavior stop, I worry that it will never be peaceful and I’ll have to babysit the dog forever🥺

Hi everyone, happy new year 🥰

I have a 11 weeks old, he’s with me since he’s 8 weeks and a few days old. For the back story and context: he’s a working line german shepherd from a search & rescue family. I was originally the last to pick a pup from the litter so I was originally supposed to have the last female available.

Turns out after meeting the dog handler (amazing dog handler btw), he decided to trust me with this male that he originally wanted to keep because he has a lot of capacities (very working line, strong bite for his age which scared previous buyers, very handler oriented so gotta work a lot on neutral exposure since he barked at people and dogs) but he is very sensitive which can be awesome or awful in the wrong hands. He kept the female and another male and that’s how I got my beloved puppy. He’s from a winter litter – he is used to potty inside a house.

When I got him – given his sensitivity – he could not handle more than 10s outside. I’ve worked with him and after a week and a half, he’s happily jumping around outside and doesn’t want to go home. However he will ABSOLUTELY NOT potty outside.

Nothing. Ever. Boycotting it.

It doesn’t surprise me given his nature. He’s very alert outside, always ready for action, scanning everywhere, sniffing endlessly. Before you ask, even after 9 hours of sleepy time, I take him outside and nothing. I even tried to push it to one hour after wakey time. HE HOLDS IT 😭 So I’ve got two plans. Would you mind telling me which one you think would be best?

Plan A: I bought fake green grass. The plan is teaching him to go on it in the house. Have a “go potty” command. Do it leashed on the fake grass inside. Take the fake grass, put it outside. Then slowly put him on the ground with high reward (very yummy stuff). Downside: he might take time to understand there’s no potty inside, buuuuut he already thinks it’s ok 😭 a win is a win

Plan B: wait until he is fully vaccinated and stay outside for way longer, in a parc, with water, and wait.

What’s your take?

He bites which I say it’s because he’s teething he’s only 4 months old but my fiancé says he’s acting up and is mean but I say no he’s just a baby is this normal for 4 month old toy poodle? He also bit the vet when he got shots and he runs up and bites my kids ankles when they are walking randomly he also is with me 24 7 I work from Home and when I leave he goes places with me and lets strangers pet him and is super friendly but he just bites a lot at home also he got a nugget from the ground and I ran up to take it and he bit me

My husband and I rescued a mixed breed puppy about 2 months ago, and she’s driving us crazy. Some info about her: She’s now about 6 months old and weighs about 30 pounds. We did a doggy DNA test, and she’s a mix of 19 different dogs – all of them with some sort of working background. Biggest percentages are catahoula leopard dog (18%) and GSD (17%). We don’t know much about her life before us, except that she seemed very undernourished/malnourished, had fleas when the rescue got her, and had a scar on her face about the size of a penny where the fur is probably never going to regrow.

About our family: we’re repeat dogs owners and have been exceptionally lucky. Our first two were mixed breed littermates who we managed to avoid any littermate syndrome with. They were honestly not that bright but were very kind and good tempered, and we loved them lots. Our third (and current) is a 2.5 year old 100 pound black lab/mastiff mix who is pretty much my heart outside of my body. She is the sweetest most lovely dog I’ve ever met. For all of our past dogs, we really haven’t had to focus much on obedience. It’s been more about making sure they were calm and kind, and we’ve had a lot of success.

So what’s going on with our puppy? She is SUPER reactive to food. She barks constantly when we’re getting her meals together (she’s always fed with a snuffle mat) and she practically launched herself into her kennel where she eats. When she even sees the treat bag come out for training, she loses her mind and barks and jumps and tries to grab it. I’ve had a fair amount of success teaching her leave it, but that impulse control isn’t translating to anything else. She gets CRAZY zoomies where she ping pongs herself around the room for up to 15 minutes at a time. She barks at us whenever she gets frustrated, like when our other dog is chewing a toy she wants or pretty much whenever we tell her no. She still bites a lot when she gets excited/overstimulated. Today, we had some friends over to play a board game, and it was like the presence of other people in the house was just too much. She kept jumping on our friends over and over, barking incessantly, etc. We even gave her a bully stick that she would chew for 30 seconds, then drop it and bark at us. We’d give it back to her, rinse and repeat. I was so frustrated that I was almost in tears.

She just seems to have no emotional regulation or impulse control, and I don’t know how to train her to develop that. I haven’t had to with any of our other dogs, and I feel like I’m failing her. She had a winter coat that she seems to love wearing and appears to often have some sort of a calming effect. When she gets super amped, if I hold her and try to coregulate somatically, she just kind of melts into me with relief but then runs off crazy again 50% of the time.

The thing is I know there’s a good dog in there. Sometimes, she can be so cute and sweet and smart and playful. And I know part of the problem is that she’s teething. But that’s not the whole problem, and I don’t know what to do. I know it’s on us as her people to help her learn, but I don’t know how to handle this. I’m happy to answer any follow up questions to help direct me towards techniques or resources. Thanks in advance for your help!

I adopted a husky/cattle dog/staffy mix 3 months ago, she’s now 9 months old. When I first got her she was extremely fearful of people but bonded strongly to me. I’ve been working on training and all has been going great she’s made great progress. She’s becoming more comfortable & confident. Will approach people as long as they don’t try to pet her. She let me use the dremel on her nails, brush her from the beginning. Her only fears seemed to be people, dogs barking at her & baths but again slowly working on this.

However this last week it’s like a switch flipped and she is fearful of all grooming. So I thought to start at the beginning & just try re-introducing the dremel or just sit on the floor slowly stroke her with a brush. I didnt do it for long periods or hold her down but I did have her on a leash & wouldn’t let run out of the room. That has backfired, after even a short couple seconds of trying to desensitize something (dremel, brush, blow dryer) she becomes scared of me. She has started cowering away from me, won’t come when called, tonight she even went & hid from me. I don’t want to push too hard and damage her trust in me but grooming is a must. She’s not very food motivated, praise from me seemed to work best up until this. How do you desensitize a puppy when the puppy starts to associate you with the scary things. Any advice would be appreciated!