Category: Top Dog

I want to give him a new name but im not sure if it's going to work out.

Sorry in advance for the long post! We got our puppy from the humane society 5 days ago and she is about 12 weeks old. They aren’t 100% sure her breed but guessed a mix between Husky and Australian Shepherd, so she’s a big puppy, 20+lbs already.

We’ve been crate training since day 1, giving food in her crate (VERY food motivated), and giving her a blanket and her bed in there, playing music she settles to. It takes a good 5-10 minutes of yelping, whining & crying but she settles eventually, I just hate to hear her so upset I’m not sure if this is the right way to do this? Had to take the bed away the day before yesterday because she absolutely destroyed it. Right now doing 1 hour up, 2 – 2.5 hours down. I would love to cuddle her and snuggle and let her nap elsewhere like in the living room but won’t settle unless we enforce crate time, even then I’m not sure if she’s sleeping or just quiet.

She’s basically potty trained. She knows sit, down, come, but she is also a menace and I can tell is bored. I play with her but she just wants to play on her own or bite so I give her a teething toy. She only eats from puzzles, lick mats, or slow feeders which tires her out a little.

Am I expecting too much from her? Am I being hard on her? Are there certain things I should be teaching her first, or ways to keep her mind going so she gets tired and naps better?

I just want her to be happy and have fun and not be bored, but also well behaved because she will be big and loud when she grows up. I would love any advice on what to train her first and how to keep her busy!! Thank you!

We got our 7 month old rescue 2 months ago and have worked a lot on different socialization – walks, trips to parks, pet stores, etc but something that is still really hard is he's very territorial. He is a mix of 50% mountain cur, 30% American pit, and then small amounts of plothound, Staffordshire terrier, coonhound. When people pass by our house he barks a lot, he barks whenever the neighbor walks his dog outside, and when people come to visit he barks almost the whole time. He will bark, and then come sniff, relax or focus on other things, and then go back to bark at them, or anytime they move to walk around he will bark. He has also started to bark when we pass people on our walks and I don't want this to escalate, and also I'd like to in the future have a dog walker but I don't even know how we'd do that at this point, I think he would bark at the person, then settle but then the next time they came he would just bark again. And as I said I don't want this to escalate, in the past he has been so nonreactive while we're out I don't want that to change

So I have a puppy, a golden retriever puppy to be exact and I need to figure out how to get a sweater on him without traumatizing him. I will be walking him early in the morning and it gets chilly, I also might be traveling with him during the holiday's and we will be going to Chicago which is a lot cooler than Houston and I need to be prepared to put something warm on him.

I have been told that in Houston where I live it might not be necessary to put a sweater on him but to purchase a rain coat. So what I know is that I should start slow and make him comfortable before trying to put the sweater on him, once he is comfortable I can gently slide on paw in at a time with no forcing.

Lightweight materials work best for first timers since thick fabrics I guess can make them feel restricted. I have to be careful what kind of sweater I choose because the fabric cant be itchy or shed otherwise it will annoy him I am sure, also I have heard if its too lose he could pee in it which would be problematic if I am hand washing his sweater every day.

I was wondering if there are exclusive outlets for pet clothes that I can just visit without having to look around at a bunch of different websites, I looked at sites like Amazon, and Alibaba to get an idea of what is available but an online store that sells exclusive dog clothing would be great. Any suggestions?

I've got a 14 week old pup and I'll take her to dog friendly stores or walks around the neighborhood or greenway. I'm trying to work on her heeling and paying attention to me. She's pretty good about not pulling, thankfully. But she'll start giving me the occasional whimper and I'll have to coax her to keep going.

It's NOT a distance issue. If I give her the free command where she can go sniff around and do her own thing, she's fine. I'll go on walks with my friend and his adult dog and she'll go off leash there (his dog keeps her within bounds as her recall isn't 100% yet). We have walked about 3 miles while the dogs have been doing circles around us and she still had energy to keep playing.

I'm guessing I just need to lower my expectations of what I can get out of my puppy focus wise at this point. Any suggestions of how to balance tiring her out (on top of playing) and building the distance on structured walks? I don't wanna give in to letting her run around like crazy (even leashed) all the time, as I want structured heeling to be the default expectation.

We have a almost 6 week old puppy who is born alone

Her mother is with us at our place but rarely spends time with her

Even after hours of play and cuddling, she still whines and wants attention and is super loud

Can someone help us with what to do? Do we need to cuddle every time or do we ignore her when she's already gotten attention?

My 7 month old mini bernedoodle has been bleeding from her first heat cycle since October 24th. She’s the only dog I’ve ever had that’s not been fixed (yet) and that I have gone through heat with. We’ve been doing reusable puppy diapers to manage the mess when she’s out of her crate.

I know 20 days is completely normal for a dog, and it really isn’t THAT bad having to deal with, but I’m just over it. It’s tedious and annoying having to deal with the diapers – everything from having to wash them almost daily (we have several, don’t worry I’m not leaving her in the same nasty diaper between washes and the dirty ones get pre-treated until they go fully through the wash) to even just fiddling with taking them off and on for potty breaks and crate time. Much less while dealing with all the rest of life’s obligations.

I just keep telling myself “this too shall pass”, but lord, it feels like this is never going to end 🫠

I have 2 dogs that are both very anxious and have separation anxiety, and they both are aggressive and destructive chewers. They will also eat things they aren’t supposed to, like pieces of the toys they destroy. So far, the only toys I have found that can withstand their chewing are the black Kong toys, but there is a limited variety of those toys to choose from. I am looking for something I can leave in their kennel with them while I’m gone that they aren’t able to chew up or swallow and preferably something interactive because they tend to get bored. They are a 28-lb Boston terrier and a 15-lb dachshund.

I have two very active golden retrievers and we live by an open air space which is great for off leash ball chasing for the one that is high energy. My other golden does not like to chase a ball, but is highly anxious if not with the other one- so I go to the space with my husband who throws for the one while I walk around the space with the other. The problem is that the place is full of goose poop and no matter how vigilant I am and how much i try to redirect she always gets a few mouthfuls. I have tried retraining and have had no success- I am worried she will get sick from this. Should I consider a muzzle for our time at that space?