Category: Top Dog

So, I wish I had a video of this so accurately show yall what I’m talking about but my 6 (7 tomorrow) month old golden puppy loves cuddling on the couch since I’ve started to let her on it. I don’t let her on the couch by herself just so I can supervise her to make sure she doesn’t try chewing on it, but she does pretty well so far. My problem is, I’ll let her cuddle on the couch just before her nap time in her crate. When I go to guide her off the couch she’ll give me a grumble and push back on me but then she’ll let me guide her off the couch. There’s no teeth being bared, no biting, or whale eyes. I’m just confused whether it’s the start of resource guarding or if she’s just being mouthy as she likes to grumble about everything lol

We took her home about a week ago.

For the first few days, crate training was going well. We have two crates of different sizes from when our cat was having behavior issues and we use both. She has a big crate that she prefers (it's big enough for a fully grown Beagle), and a small crate that's the correct size for her right now according to most crate training recommendations. We put her in the small crate at night and on car rides to get her more used to it. She still whines a bit in the small crate before bed but she does not howl and cry like she did the first two nights.

For the first few nights, I'd wake up at 3 am to let her out and this was enough to prevent accidents. For the past 3 days though she's been peeing in her small crate at different points of the day. Last night, she peed twice in the middle of the night.

We removed all towels/blankets from both crates when we noticed it was happening and wiped everything clean with enzyme spray. We don't let her take water 2 hours before bedtime. We bring her out after she eats, after she plays, and after she wakes up every time. It doesn't make sense to me why she's still peeing in her crate– like sometimes she will be let out, pee outside, then 10 minutes afterwards pee again inside the crate??? We praise her when she pees outside and when she pees inside we interrupt her (if possible) and immediately bring her out again.

What can we do differently? This is our first family dog/puppy so we don't have any experience. I suppose it doesn't help that it's been cold out lately and she is clearly uncomfortable whenever we put her out there.

Changed foods so many times now but nothing makes it go away. She is healthy and happy but licking her paws A LOT. I cleand them and put some baml on them but that doesnt help. I read that some probiotics could help? Did anyone try it?

Mines about 3 and all she wants to do is play, jumps around like a loon when she sees another dog.

I’m a PhD student in a research-based discipline (meaning I work in a lab for much of the day). A fellow PhD student who also work in my office and lab space (but works for a different advisor) adopted a 1 year old dog to ‘train’ herself to be a service dog. I’m not 100% what the service dog is supposed to do; it’s theoretically a mobility dog because this person has some knee problems. She still goes on hikes and skis, so I don’t really understand the extent, but that’s not the main issue and I acknowledge I don’t fully know what her injury is and it’s not my business.

The issue is that she keeps the dog in the office while she’s in the separate lab space, and whenever she’s away, the dog whines CONSTANTLY. So for multiple hours a day in the office, this dog is whining. It’s distracting and annoying to deal with. She has a little remote she will give to someone in the office when she goes into lab and tells them to press the button whenever the dog whines, causing the dog’s collar to beep. This doesn’t feel like a good form of training for any dog, regardless of service dog or not.

I guess my question is, is this allowed? Is there nothing anyone can do to have her stop bringing the dog to work since she says it’s a service dog? From what I’ve read, service dogs need no formal certification or anything, so she’s basically able to put a vest on the dog and say it’s a service dog and bring the dog anywhere. I understand why this is the law and agree that people with disabilities already have to deal with enough, and I’d never complain if the dog just sat there quietly, but I just feel frustrated feeling like this person is able to just claim her dog is a service dog, bring the dog to the office, and let the dog whine ALL day. Should I go to my advisor about it? A dean? The disability office?

Also to reiterate, I know it’s none of my business what her mobility disability is and/or why she needs the service dog/what it does. But it just doesn’t seem reasonable to have a dog sit in the office crying all day and not be able to do or say anything.

Sorry for the long post, TIA.

Long story short- we found a dog several months back running around. After searching for his owners/no microchip etc etc we decided we will be keeping him. When I posted him in several local Facebook groups there was chatter that he had been loose around the area for several months. He is a VERY high energy dog and I want to be able to take him on several walks a day but I'm struggling with him! I assume because he was presumably stray his first few months of life (he is only about a year at most) that he learned being outside means he gets to have free run of the area. As a result he is an AWFUL puller. I am simply not strong enough to hold him for a full walk without reaching exhaustion. He's a 51lb dog and I am only 105, so he really pulls me around. He has a standard harness and a leash that has a second loop so I can hold him closer when he pulls but it is still not enough. What sort of leash/harness do you all recommend for a dog that pulls like this? I have also tried keeping treats on me for the walk but it seems like he gets over excited on the walk if I have treats and will start just jumping and pulling more. He'll stop pulling and sit calmly briefly on command with the treats but just continues right after. Any other suggestions would be helpful!