Category: Top Dog

I posted a week ago, the night before we were due to collect our puppy, that I was on the verge of a panic attack. Well, I fought through it and we picked up the sweetest, chillest little pup. He's been great so far, I can't fault him.

The problem is me. I don't know what getting the puppy has triggered in me (although I feel the same as I did when I had perinatal depression) but I'm in a bad place. I'm panicked, anxious, tearful and feeling very dark. Having intrusive thoughts. This can't be normal, surely?

I desperately want to return the puppy but the shame and humiliation is just compounding how I'm feeling and making me spiral even more. I need to tell my husband how I'm feeling but, again, I feel so ashamed. I don't know what to do. I have a beautiful family that I need to show up for but I'm privately falling to pieces.

Honestly not sure why I'm posting here, I just needed to get it out.

My partner and have a 12 week old puppy, when she was with the breeder and we visited her we could see she was happy to get into her crate and the breeder reported she was sleeping in her crate happily every night while the breeder slept in a different room. But now that we are home with her she refuses to stay in her crate, she will go in and out a bit but won’t try to sleep, only sleeping on one of us when we sit down. We put her in her crate at night but everytime we visit to get her a potty break she is trembling, even if she doesn’t cry at night. We aren’t sure what we are doing wrong but we both feel like we are failing our little puppy.

Is there anything I can do to soothe my dog? I try and distract her and have her chew on something, but it’ll only work for a brief moment before she whimpers and runs around barking… ):

My Cavapoo was clawing his bed earlier to get comfy and suddenly started crying, turns out he got some of the fabric caught in his claw. Upon further inspection, we can see a split in his nail! What’s the best course of action? I’ll try and add a picture in the comments! Thank you! 🐶

We just moved to a new house about a month ago. My dog is 3, and his entire life so far he’s lived in condos where we would always leash him and take him out for a walk multiple times per day so he has a chance to pee.

But now that we have a yard, I was thinking he would enjoy being able to go out without a leash and run around and do his thing. But he seems confused. 😅 Whenever I let him out without a leash, he just sits by the gate waiting for us to take him on a walk so he can pee. We don’t mind continuing the walks at all. We will still be taking him out on at least 2 walks a day even if he starts using the yard. But it would be great if he learned that he can use the yard for his business as well, especially for his last pee before bed.

Any advice on how to get him to use the yard?

My dog rarely drinks any water and I know that’s a huge part of it. I feed her hills science diet dog food and add a bit of water to the dry food then I top with a bit of chicken and pumpkin and some veggies carrots/cucumber/peas. She strains to go and her poop is very solid.

Are there any types of foods or something I could give her to help or somehow get her to drink more water? I know you can give dogs human laxatives like Muralax but I don’t want to give her medicine. I would like to address the actual issue and maybe contour her diet to help.

My husband is not a fan of dogs. I've always had a dog and most likely always will. I lost my last dog a year ago April and got Laska a year ago October. Both dogs are/were smooth collies. We got our last dog at 4.5 years and this one as a puppy.

My husband really liked our last dog, Khaleesi. She was a gentle lady who just wanted to get along. Laska, otoh, is a terror. She's super smart and gets super bored. I try to keep her busy, but we both WFH and it's difficult being her only source of entertainment.

My husband comes out of his office and, naturally, Laska wants to interact with him. Problem is, she uses her nose like a battering ram and keeps banging into him with it. He then gets mad because of her wet nose. Yeah, he's neurodivergent and IDK why this bothers him so much, but it does. I've tried telling him how to train her ("tell her to get a specific toy"; "teach her a new trick") but he just gets mad and storms off.

What are some things we can do to have her approach him differently? I'm starting to resent both of them and that's not helpful. I think I just need a shove into thinking differently instead of, "why are you two such assholes?"

I always have to avoid walking my dog with other people because she gets too excited and pulls too hard for me when running after them. Shes a German Shephard dog so she's much stronger then me. I'm always scared there's someone around when walking her. And when that happens, she just starts bitting on the leash and starts pulling on it. What do I do to prevent that?

Hi all! I need some advice. I’m adopting a Husky/shepherd/malamute mix. She is 17 weeks and her owners are struggling to keep up with her. I understand that each breed she is mixed with are very different and there really is no say to her behaviour. From what I know, she will need a lot of physical excercise and a lot of mental stimulation to be happy and healthy. I also understand that she may be instinctively prey driven and I need some tips on how to teach her not to be. I’m looking at putting her in a boarding training school, just to be really sure she can have the right manners and behaviours. I know this isn’t going to be easy and a lot of you will most likely say I should not adopt her as I’m unknowledgeable but I WANT to learn. I will do anything to give this baby the life she deserves. Literally any tips or advice would be so greatly appreciated! I’m looking for suggestions on: Behaviour to watch out for Tips for training (crate, behaviour, food, socialising, etc) Any good items needed (brush suggestions, food, harnesses) Personality traits of the breeds Anything else you may think will help! Thank you all🙂

Hello! Does anyone know where around Jackson, MI (the Lansing or Ann Arbor area is fine too) I can get my dog fitted for a ruffland kennel. I know the website has a sizing guide, but I’d prefer to try it in person before spending a bunch of money.