Category: Top Dog

Hey guys, I’m looking for a bit of advice here. My family and I had a dog (a lab mix) for about 6 years, but she died last year after an accident 🙁 My family has been mourning her for over a year now, and recently we decided it’s time for us to get another dog. What prompted this was an intruder tried to break in our house, and my parents realized if our dog had still been alive she probably would’ve been at her usual spot in the front yard barking and the intruder wouldn’t have made an attempt on our house. But also, beneath all that, we’ve been contemplating if we should get another dog, and my mom has stated that she plans on getting another dog at some point— we’re a dog family now, since we’ve owned a dog once, we’ll always be wanting a dog.

My parents had oddly specific requirements for a dog, like it should be medium-ish small sized but over 20lbs and under 30lbs. It should be a good watch dog, and be okay spending time on its own, etc. etc. After hours and hours of research, I thought maybe a Shiba Inu could be a good match, and I reached out to some applications about a Shiba puppy available, and things moved pretty quickly and now we’re meeting with a puppy that’s being fostered by this couple on Friday.

But later on when I told this to my friend, who is a veterinary assistant, she said that she doesn’t recommend we get a Shiba. She says that my dad works all day and comes home at night, my mom is gone half the year to live in a different country for work, and I’m an unemployed recent college graduate who doesn’t have a job but i might/that’s what i want to work towards. She said that we’re not stable enough for a Shiba, since they’re higher maintenance/higher energy/could be aggressive without training. She suggested I get a smaller breed, such as a Pomeranian, instead. I keep thinking over this again and again. Yes, my parents aren’t as available, and my career prospects are random and unpredictable (I’m trying to get a job in the film industry, so i could literally book a job tomorrow, or not get a job for two more years) and if I did MIRACULOUSLY get a job right now, I would have to live in Los Angeles in an apartment, but I’ve been home for months after graduation just working on my own projects, and i felt like I had come up with a whole plan to take care of the Shiba best i can, to take it on walks everyday, socialize it, take it to the park, to the beach, get it in puppy training classes—

She’s worried because our last dog, a lab mix, was high energy, and we weren’t able to match her energy that well, and she said Shibas are higher energy and higher maintenance.

I’m not sure what I should do. I’m starting to wonder if a Shiba’s actually a poor match for my family. Should I listen to her advice? Is a pommie, or a smaller dog like a maltipoo or a yorkie a better match for me?

My puppy will sleep in her crate in the office with me and I can close the door and she will nap. But when it’s night time and I close the door, she freaks out. Why might this happen? What can we do to prevent it and get better with it? Will this just work itself out over time if we continue to make her nap in the crate during the day and feed her meals in the crate? Let me know. Thank you!

Brought my 8 week old puppy home almost 2 weeks ago. She’s been an absolute angel so far. She came pretty much crate trained from the breeder. She hasn’t woken up once at night. Potty training is going very well with minimal accidents. She learned “sit” “down” and “shake” in a few days. She doesn’t chew on anything besides her toys and she’s an overall very calm good girl.

This is my first ever puppy and so far it’s been a breeze. Did I get lucky?

Hi, one of my American bulldogs hates the leash and collars. I got him from a girl i follow on Instagram who had a litter about 4 months ago. I’m not sure if he was tied up all the time, hit with a leash or if that’s not the case at all..maybe he just has never been walked. I have a big backyard so he’s able to run, sniff, and walk as he pleases. I have another American bulldog who loves walks and I’d love to walk them both together. If he even sees or hears the leash he tucks his tail and runs into his cage. He’s terrified of both the leash AND the collar. I’ve tried letting him sniff it but, he’s terrified. He runs and hides wherever he can when he sees it and he’s genuinely scared. Any advice?

I am a Terrier web developer and I have just created and rolled out a new website: www.doghealthy.uk complete health tracking and food finder for your dog, go check it out and add your dogs

My puppy is a white swiss shepherd from amazing parents. We got her at 8 weeks of age and everything was ok for 1-2 weeks, when the terror started.

Crazy amounts of biting, bite-jumping and full-blown attacking that lasted for months. No method helped.

Especially annoying, and what lasted the longest, was the leash biting. On walks, she would bite and tug the leash at the sign of any excitement. When, after some months, I managed to teach her by clicker training that the leash is not to be touched, she targeted my sleeves. She ruined several jackets of mine.

Also, when she was several weeks old, she started to bark at any stranger who would look at her, or address her. She would jump and bite anyone who approached. She would also sometimes bark at and attack driving cars. It was a disaster. I honestly thought she was insane.

She destroyed our carpets, walls, furniture.. She had a crazy amount of drive to bite everything and anything. And so many tantrums.

I talked to so many white swiss shepherd owners, and everybody said their dogs were angels. Only mine was a demon dog. All this time, we went to a dog school, working with a positive reinforcement trainer. Our trainer was of SOME help, but mostly the help with information and morale support came from this subreddit, and chatgpt (I must admit).

I got so many bad looks, comments, etc.. We almost gave her away because some trainers said she was genetically aggressive and she won't get better without p*ong collars and e-collars (I never used any of those). We were this close to giving this "insane" dog away, but somehow we decided to put her on parole (she was 13 months at the time).

She slowly started to calm down, and at 15 months, the change started to be palpable. I used to greet imaginary people on the street and stop to chat with random strangers, just to desensitize her to saying "Hi" to people. I also asked people to give her treats as much as I could. But honestly, I think the main thing that helped was just her growing up.

She is now 19 months. I can now take her for a walk normally, chat with strangers, and 99,9% our life is normal. She is calm in the house and doesn't destroy anything. When she is very excited or stressed, she regresses a bit to her reactivity, but nowhere as much intensely as before. She is adorable and very smart, and actually very gentle and full of love. She has a long way to go until we 100% trust her, but we are on the right track. It’s safe to say we’re still in the dinosaur phase. 🙂

Some facts I collected on the way that helped:

-Most dogs are rehomed or surrendered to a shelter at the age of adolescence (meaning they are terrible, but it gets better)

-The defined temperament of a breed refers to adult dogs

-Even human brains are developing until we are 25 years old

-Even if your dog is old enough to attend a certain class or a test, he might not be emotionally mature enough to handle it

You can do it! Your dog is not purposely being bad, he just cannot handle his big emotions.

but absolutely loves them when we actually leave the house onwards.

She tries to hide in her crate or under the sofa and looks very timid as soon as she thinks a walk is starting – boots out/reaching for harness/getting her treat bag ready.

But as soon as we’re ready to go, she’s out the door wagging, sniffing and having a great time.

Why?

My dos needs to take some pills, he was sedated, so he is not hungry at all. It’s been almost 24 hours since he was sedated and he won’t eat the medicine they gave me. They told me to give it to him right away, but it requires to be given with food. What do I do?

My dog, Freddie, has recently been obsessing over a certain part of our kitchen. He’s 6 years old and hasn’t done this before.

To try and explain the layout: you walk in and you face the washing machine first, right next to it are the dishwasher and a cupboard. Along this line, Freddie cannot resist sniffing, whining, and scratching at the bottom of it, as if he’s trying to get to something.

🥲 Personally, I’m a little creeped out lmao, just in case there’s a whole family of spiders behind there, or any mice.

I’m posting here to see what others think.. Spiders? Mice? Or potentially is there a weird smell coming from the machine/dishwasher? Anything else it could be?

Additional context that may be helpful: Freddie is quite an anxious dog. I’ve also noticed he gets obsessive if he spots a bug and its difficult to get him to stop trying to find it. So much so he keeps thinking patterns in the wall or blankets are bugs. So once Freddie spots something unusual, he cannot stop thinking about it.

How can I help deter Freddie away from it so he stops getting panicked and distressed, as well as figuring it out the best I can without ripping apart the kitchen? 😅

Just a vent on how many people get these puppies and start breed and care research as the puppy is already tearing up their stuff at home. Thank you for giving the pup a home, thank you for loving animals! But PLEASE, try to set up them (and yourself!!) up for success by doing your research ahead of time to see if the pup and you would be a good fit. I'm so so tired of these first time pet owners buying doodle puppies off the street and then waiting 2 more months before sending your groomer friend the "so how do I take care of this?" text. I'm just tired of seeing these dogs set up for failure and then blamed for it. Please just do your research prior, your puppy and bank account will love you for it 💜