Category: Top Dog

First-time pet owner here. I just adopted a dog over the weekend and was told by the shelter I need to register his microchip. They recommended HomeAgain but mentioned I could register the microchip with any registry that is connected to the AAHA universal lookup tool

It’s insane how hard it is to figure out what these registries actually charge. Except for a few, most of them bury pricing or make you start filling in your info just to see it. Fast forward an hour, pulled some of the participating microchipt registry services from the AAHA website and figured I’d share what I found to save you the time and headache I spent

HomeAgain: Their site only markets a subscription but you can also pay a one-time fee for basic registration. **$19.99 one-time fee – basic registration

**$24.99/yr sunscription- includes lost pet alerts to their vet/shelter network, travel assistance if your pet is 500+ miles away and a vet helpline

24PetWatch: They market two plans which are more expensive compared to the others but offer you coupons from partners to offset the cost if you use those services. Odd the subscription offers less services compared to the one-time fee. **$119.95 one-time fee – includes basic registration, a recovery specialist, 24/7 vet helpline, 1 yr of medical & behavioral info sharing and coupons to Rover ($30), Petco ($25), Pumpkin Wellness Club (1 mo free which auto-renews at $380/yr)

**$59.95 1st yr then $19.95/yr subscription – includes recovery specialist and a “DirectConnect” service which connects you with the finder if your pet is found

AKC Reunite: This one was pretty straigforward **$22.95 one-time fee – includes basic registration with optional add-ons for pet poison helpline (+$20) and lost pet email alert to nearby vets/shelters (+$15)

Pawbase Pet: This one seems to be a newer app-based registry **Free – includes the basic registration and you can update your contact info for free. It also has extra app features like storing vet records

**$24.99/yr subscription – includes location alert if your pet's chip is scanned and a free QR collar tag

Free Pet Microchip Registry: Looks like a no-frills registry stuck in 2005 ** Free – basic registration

I might be missing some but hope this saves someone else the headache. Welcome any other recommendations I might’ve missed as there is a long list of AAHA participating registries

What kind of rope should I be using and is a tire ok to use in a tie out? Is a harness better than a collar for a tie out? My dog as far as I am aware has only used a collar. If a harness is better, what would be recommended for a dog that has destroyed a collar he was wearing. Comfort for the dog first.

Currently I've been using regular rope, tied to a tire. The rope is around 50ft for him to explore the yard safely. My dog is supervised on the rope. He usually just sunbathes. He does go on at least 2 walks a day.

wanting the opinions from those that use or is knowledgeable with tie outs. If tie outs are considered dangerous even with supervision, please let me know. This is my first dog that needs a tie out.

"Stay confined to the home and garden until vaccination" "take your puppy everywhere with you in the carrier" "keep your puppy home" "take your puppy out" agh!

So much information my brain is exploding. How do I socialise a puppy effectively? Can someone give me the rundown of what to do on a week-week basis? Im so lost

Thank you so much

Recently rescued an adult working dog from a pound and not sure if I made a mistake.

She is the most beautiful girl, over the past month we’ve really bonded and I can tell she loves me and she seems happy, but I worry I’m not giving her enough.

Part of me knows, the life I can give her (access to a decent size garden, 2 hours of walking, and comfy caring home, I also do training activities everyday and sniff play) is WAY better than being at the pound. BUT she’s a working dog, she’s meant to be on a farm.

All I know about her history is that a farmer dumped her because she didn’t do well enough herding sheep and got too distracted by the workers.

She doesn’t know how to play, so I struggle to get any high intensity exercise. The off lead walks are mainly her sniffing everything while following me. She will run, but only if I run and I’m not a runner, I can go for about 30 seconds 😂.

I live in a pretty rural area so she’s getting lots of walks in forests and across fields. But always walking, never running.

Should I try find her another home? It breaks my heart thinking about it. And think she’d really miss me/struggle to be moved again. But all I want is what’s best for her.

Please be nice!

I know this sounds like a ridiculous question. The only dog I have been responsible for was a German Shepherd who would shake off a sweater when it was clearly below 0 F.

Now I'm fostering a mutt, four years old and about 50 pounds. She's a true mutt – a herding dog's feet, a terrier's head, long legs, shorter hair generally and almost no fur on her belly. Very energetic. She's pretty stoic generally – been with me four months – and hangs in her crate where she has a big, fluffy bed. I'm wondering if there are ways to tell the cold is bothering her other than her refusing to go out. Where I am, zero degree days are unusual at the depth of winter, but not what I'd call rare. Those temperatures are months away, but I'd like to be prepared. Thank you!

Hi all, My husband and I have a 6 month old cocker spaniel puppy. She has previously been sleeping in a playpen + crate combo in our living room, and spent her time there overnight and while we were working during the day.

She recently worked out how to jump over the playpen and began roaming around the house while we weren’t home, which wouldn’t be a problem but she has been having some toilet training regressions recently and we would come home to accidents on the carpet.

She had no issues holding on in her pen, and would happily play in there, and take herself to sleep in her crate. Our trainer suggested that we start to leave her outside during the day, and that we should move her crate and toys to where she would be spending more of her time. So we moved her crate to the sunroom at the back of our house and she has access to the backyard all day long. During the day this is fine, however she has been napping on the armchair in the sunroom rather than her crate.

As her crate is in there during the day we have been trying to get her to sleep in the sunroom overnight. She hates this. She will cry until one of us comes to sit with her, and even if she falls asleep in her crate as soon as we leave she wakes up again. We never had this problem in the past and she has always loved her crate and went to sleep easily from the day we brought her home. This has been happening for three nights in a row now.

Ideally we would love for her to get used to sleeping in the sunroom overnight, but is this just not going to happen? Should we just move the crate back to the living room? Any advice would be appreciated 🙂

I just found a three young fleas on my 7 month old puppy even though she was just given simparica trio two months ago. The last thing I want is for it to spread to my other three cats and dog, but I’m worried that all the dog flea sprays will poison my cats. If anyone has any recommendations on sprays or applications (not medicine) that are safe for all my pets, please, I’m desperate! Thanks!

My vet says that it's nothing to worry about, but I find it really weird. First dog I've ever had/seen do this.

It seems to be based on how excited she is…? The louder her play growls are, the faster she has to stop playing and start licking. She only ever licks her chest. It's not that she wants to stop playing, as she will often go right back to the toy for a bite before immediately resuming the licking.

Any idea what's going on?