Category: Top Dog

I have a puppy who loves to eat EVERYTHING and one of his favorite ways to play with things is to shred stuff/destuff toys and honestly I don’t mind him ripping up toys, we have plenty and if that’s how he has fun so be it. However he wants to eat the stuffing/threads/garbage he pulls and that’s what I would like to stop because it can be dangerous. While we work on preventing it, I would love to give him an outlet for this desired behavior that is safe. So if anyone has any enrichment ideas, that would be amazing!

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

Hello, I'm coming here for more advice. Our rescue continues to pee and sometimes poop inside. She's a German Sheppard/Husky thats almost 2. We didnt know she wasnt potty trained till we adopted her and are currently at our wits end. List of things we have done: treats everytime she poops or pees outside, scolded her when she is caught in the act, take her out every 1 1/2-2 hrs, walks, diapers, limiting water intake, using enzyme cleaner on our carpet when she potties, and keeping her in my husbands office where he can keep an eye on her. The diapers did nothing but make messes when she would poop. We thought the treats were working but she still does it. Sometimes the frequent potty breaks work, but if it hits 3 hours? She pees. We can tell she knows its wrong, she goes to her kennel and looks guilty. She sometimes boops us to let us know she needs to go and we let her out. Most of the time she just goes potty. We are saving to build a fence this spring and remove our carpet, but its an extra cost that we can't do right away. Any other advice would be great. We are just lost at what else to do. Thank you!

https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/s/Ynup3b31Gp See my post from 2 months ago for additional context.

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