Category: Top Dog

My partner and I brought home our sweet girl Pippi on Sunday, and we've already noticed that she likes a particular kind of chewing. She's six months old and about 18lbs, and SUPER smart and affectionate. She's not a super heavy chewer and mostly only likes toys when you play with them with her (tug, bounce, chase, POUNCE) or they have food inside. Her kong and her rubber balls don't hold her interest for chewing. However, she really wants to chew and dig in blankets, especially the folded-up throw blankets we keep on the couch. She also likes socks, but only if they're balled up — a loose, floppy sock is of no interest. She has a fabric squirrel toy with a squeaker that she will play with if we toss or tug, but I think it's too thin and floppy to be a fun toy for her unless we animate it. She doesn't seem to care about the squeaker at all.

TL:DR I would prefer if my 6 month old puppy didn't eat my socks or the couch blankets, so I'm looking for reccomendations for some good toys for a diggy, mouthy smartypants who likes fabric chewing.

I recently moved from a high-rise apartment to a ground-floor place. When my puppy was younger, she was trained to use a grass patch on the balcony and would press a button to go outside. She basically had free access to potty on the grass patch when needed.

Now that we live downstairs, I can take her out properly for potty breaks. The issue is she has no consistent pee/poo routine. She goes at random time (press the button at night several times)

and I can’t find a clear pattern. Sometimes she presses the button just to go outside, does a tiny pee, and then just wanders around.

We also moved recently, so she’s still adjusting, and her appetite has been a bit off.

I’d like to transition her into a more structured routine (e.g. predictable morning poop, scheduled potty breaks instead of random button presses).

How do I shift from “free access grass patch” to a proper potty schedule without confusing her?

Any advice from people who’ve retrained routines after a move would be appreciated.

Did they already eat lunch? Was that dewormer today or yesterday? When was the last potty break? Did they throw up once… or twice? Was that after the new treat?

When you’re sleep-deprived and trying to do everything right, it gets scattered fast – texts between partners, notes in your phone, vet paperwork, random photos of the scale.

That’s why I built Fido’s Bark – a free iOS app that works as a real-time shared pet health log for families and caregivers. Food, meds, weight, potty notes, vet visits – everything is time-stamped so everyone can instantly see what’s already been done.

Puppies change so quickly. Tiny weight shifts. Appetite changes. Vaccine schedules. Tracking small patterns early makes it easier to spot when something’s normal… and when it’s not.

The early response has honestly meant more than I expected. First-time puppy parents. Multi-person households. Busy families. For the first time, everyone’s truly on the same page instead of guessing.

Seeing something that started as my own “how do people keep all this straight?” moment turn into something helping new puppy parents feel more confident has been incredibly rewarding.

Here’s the link if it’s helpful for you:
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6744088514

If you have feedback — especially from the perspective of first-time puppy parents — I’d genuinely love to hear it. 💛🐾

I have a 10 month old mini poodle mix who is VERY high energy. My parents watch her a few days a week while I work, but lately I’ve been wondering if she might actually be happier living with them full time

They have two dogs that she gets along great with, and they’re home most of the time. She also has pretty bad separation anxiety at my house. She freaks if I leave. She whines a lot, sits by the door, or sits by the closet where her leash is. But at my parents house they say she doesn’t whine or show separation anxiety at all. I’m wondering if it’s because she has the other dogs there?

At my house, there’s definitely more structure and rules, which I think is good for her. When she’s with me I take her on 1–3 walks a day and do enrichment games daily. We have a big backyard, but she’ll only run around if someone is out there with her.

I just don’t know if she’s actually happier over there, and I’m struggling with what the right thing to do is.

He’s way too big to sit on my lap but he refuses to accept it.

Hi! I was wondering if you might be able to identify what mix my pup might be.

This pretty girl is my Artie. She's 9 months old now but no matter how much I try to guess her mix, I can't. She is spitz-like, but small. Around 6 kilos. Her fur is short but fluffier in her tail and neck. It's also quite thick and she sheds a lot. Her legs are long and slim, different from my pomeranians. She's extremely fast and agile too. She is a very dignified and independent girl who will just be held whenever she decides she wants to be touched. She's super cat-like in that sense. She hates being carried too, but whenever I lay in my bed or couch, she always follows me around and lays over my legs, tummy or chest (she chose me as her human, so she is specially cuddly and kissy with me, but besides that, she is not a lovey dovey dog). Her ears are quite long, and they are my favorite part of her. Her fur is also super black, the most stunning shade of black. Sometimes she looks like she has no mouth because of her dark fur and it's super cute. When she was just a tiny baby, she looked like a little fruit bat. Now that she's grown, whenever she lets her tail down we joke that she looks like a tiny black wolf.

Here's a pic: https://imgur.com/FKH8dna

My puppy loves chewing shoes and furniture.What worked for your dog?

We adopted a 7 month old rescue dog (shelter thought she was a year old so puppy was a surprise to us) in January. She seemed lonely so we adopted a 2nd dog on Valentine’s Day. They act like they’ve known each other forever. The first dog really Chose my wife so we thought the new little guy would bond more with me. I work away from home two nights a week. I spend the 1st night alone and my wife comes for the 2nd night. Should I bring the new dog with me on that night or leave him home with our other dog?

Hi guys, so I’m pet sitting for my roommate who just got his dog back and she’s making me anxious. She non stop whines, chases her tail, and won’t let her toy out of her mouth. She’s very kind and I have no idea of her past life or how she is with roommate but I’m trying to get her to mellow down with me. I’ve tried treats, taking her walking, fetching, and she continues to whine 🙁 what can I do??

She’s not showing any pain, I’ve given her all my attention, etc

my 12/13 year old dog sleeps on a cot as his bed for a few reasons. i have a dog that likes to chew up dog beds when a door is left open or when left alone. i live with my family and sometimes they leave the bedroom door open by accident. not a big deal, but we’ve been through a lot of beds and ever since the dog beds were replaced with cots, destroying beds hasn’t been a problem as all beds are non existent. however, my oldest dog loved his dog bed (it was the only one we found that he genuinely liked and layed in without forcing) and he doesn’t love the cot nearly as much. currently there’s a comforter on the cot with a fitted sheet over the comforter. any suggestions to make the cot more comfortable without foam/stuffing or another dog bed? thank you!

we did have his old dog bed on the cot and that worked, until the bed was chewed up. his bed was the orthopedic furhaven chaise bed.