Category: Top Dog

my boyfriend and I adopted 2 Chihuahua brothers a few months ago, and unfortunately we broke up. he wants to take one of them and I would keep the other.

trust me when I say I read a bunch about litter mate syndrome unfortunately only after we got them. and so far they don't show any of the telltale traits just yet. but i am wondering now though, are they too old to be separated indefinitely from each other?

Recently an elderly dog with strong “herding instincts” at my local dog park has become OBSESSED with my small dog and won’t leave her alone. The owner thinks it’s “cute”. I don’t.

All my dog wants to do at the dog park is run and play fetch, but bc this old dog is 5x her size and obsessed she can’t. (We leave when it escalates from just following & circling to licking and nudging.)

What would you do?

(FWIW, I used to have a herding mix and on the rare occasion she’d get fixated on a fluffy white dog at a dog park, I’d promptly but gently intervene, put her on leash and leave. Why? Bc IMO other people’s dogs are not “toys”.)

EDIT: Went out and bought a pregnancy test, it’s negative!

Our dog (blue heeler) LOVES my husband, to the point that if he’s in another room and I move, she runs to him to make sure I don’t get him. She hates us showing any sort of PDA towards each other, will physically put herself between us on couches or in bed, she loves that man! He’s been laid off work for a few weeks, so has been home to give extra snuggles, treats, and playtime. For some backstory, she belonged to my husbands grandpa and we inherited her in his passing, she has cling to him ever since, follows from room to room every time he moves too. But about 5 days ago she’s started to obsess over me, nothing in their relationship has changed but she follows me everywhere, squeezes under my desk to lay on my feet (something she’s never done to either of us), and if I’m away from home, she lays on my side of the bed until I get home. I read this could be a response to me falling pregnant but I have the Nexplanon birth control, so I don’t think I am (though I have tests coming just in case!), other than that I’m in good health, I’ve been a little bleh the last few weeks because of hormones but it’s nothing out of the ordinary, so does anyone have any ideas what this might be?? She still eats, drinks, plays, potties, etc all like normal, no changes in her health at all. It just has us confused, she’s never been this way before and it’s been days!

Good morning everyone, Today while having lunch, our dog was sitting under my chair and when we finished lunch I tried petting him on the head but he reacted in a bad way biting my hand not in a playful mode.

This is the second time that this happens, previously it happened while he was sitting next to me on the couch and I tried petting him on the head.

Usually he is behaving very good inside the house, never causing troubles or similar, but sometimes he has this very bad reaction.

What do you think can be the cause of this?

Thanks a lot for your help!

im dogsitting, and this dog is so extremely sad. hes at my house and misses his owners a lot. hes just whines and stares at the door. how do i make him happy?

I haven't got to the biting stage yet but it a redditor suggestrd a playpen and lots of chew toys could be a game changer. I asked ChatGPT and it said not to leave him in there for more than 45 mins. What happens after 45 minutes and he's still biting the furniture?

Hi!

I am posting out of pure concern and desperation.

I rescued a beautiful GSD X just over a year ago.

Throughout the time spent together he's been quite shut down in a lot of ways but we have been working with him and it has been improving.

We even got him to the point of looking like he feels safe and happy most of the time, wagging his tail, looking around, relaxed.

Suddenly we have had a backslide and I am not sure why.

He is acting like he does not feel safe. He runs outside (if the door is open) and finds a far corner of the property and tries to hide there – even in rain.

If we call him he ignores us.

We manage to get him inside with treats and close the door to outside but then he runs to the furthest room and hides under a desk. Like full on runs.

The only time where he's acting normal is if we call him up on the bed. Then he tries to get as close as possible.

This feels like such a backslide and we are struggling to understand or cope with it.

It's like he gets sucked into his own bad thoughts and runs away from us like he thinks we hate him or want to hurt him?

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this running away and hiding? We want him to feel safe again…

Thank you

TDLR: Dog has been exhibiting abnormal behaviors and displaying noise sensitivity. Trying to see if this is behavioral, medical, and/or what I can do to help get him back to baseline and make his life easier.

Looking for some help to figure out what I may be missing and what I should be looking into. My 2 year old lab started exhibiting some weird behaviors about a month back and the behavior has been going on and off since then. Essentially, he could be in rest mode and then gets up suddenly and starts running back and forth, sniffing aggressively and then checking back in with my husband and I and going back to the spot. During this time he is panting quite a bit. This happens throughout the day – the only time he settles, which is still not as easy as it used to be – is bedtime. We have taken him to someone's house once during the past couple weeks and the same behavior occurred there, which has not happened before.

I have been to the vet twice for suspected ear issues. This is being treated. I am struggling with understanding if this is what is causing the behavior or not. Did not notice anything with his ear when this behavior first started but it did get us to look into it after a week or so as the behavior was worsening. He is known for his excitability so I got dismissed from our first vet. The second vet wanted to focus on his health first but we do have another appointment booked.

Other information – we had just got back from a trip and were home for a week, had a training session and my husband returned home all in one day. We had a couple of down days in the house so I thought maybe he may be acting like this because he was under stimulated, so I changed up our routine – more walks, training, etc. After a few days of this my husband left and I continued on and we had a really good day, and a one better but not as good day and then it was back to the same thing… Today I just tried doing a nothing day and still the same.

I have noticed that he can settle when I'm not around – for example, if I'm in another room of the house and not letting him come with me, when I'm gone out of the house. As well, he seems to have a noise sensitivity – he has always been a bit more alert but not to this extent – for example, if I place a pen on the table it can get him to do the behavior mentioned above. Also, if I move in a certain way – raising my hands, touching my hair, etc. However, sometimes I could be doing nothing and the behavior happens.

As I mentioned, I do have an appointment booked but my hopes are that maybe someone else has dealt with this before or may have some ideas what could be going on and what I can do to help him out. He seems so stressed and I am feeling helpless at this point.

My dog passed away on Thursday. She had heart failure. She was on three different medications. I have lots of leftover meds. What do I do with them? Several have never been used. None are expired.

We have a 15 month old lab/blue heeler mix who loves to walk when me or both my wife and I walk him, but is stubborn and stops quickly on a walk with my wife. She has tried treats and praising him whenever he is not stubborn but he stops once no treat is involved.

The odd part is as a puppy he was the same way, but there was a short period where he would walk with just her. Now he has regressed again. Has anyone had experience with this? Could this be a phase again? We're not sure what to try.