Category: Top Dog

TD;DR; A 4-year-old Golden Retriever gets very excited when we have guests at home. This behavior only occurs in our house and not outside.

Hello there, I am not a regular writer here, but I am a senior reader, and this subreddit has helped me a lot in the past.

I am coming here to ask for your help to understand the underlying issue with my dog, and how I can properly properly on it.

Generally, I don't have issues with him. He is very well-behaved and has demonstrated this in various situations outside our home.

He is very social, and we often visit crowded places and events, such as restaurants, bars, fairs, markets, stores, and gatherings, without any incidents. I frequently take him to my office, where he behaves like the good boy he is. He may bark once or twice a week when he needs something, but overall, he is the calmest dog I have ever had.

He is a gentle soul to all living beings he encounters, including dogs, cats, toddlers, squirrels, and birds. However, he is somewhat afraid of larger dogs and prefers to avoid interacting with them.

However, as it is said in the title, my golden goes crazy (in a friendly manner) when we receive guests. He only behaves this way at home, whether with new or familiar guests. He demands attention, barks, and humps. When we visit the same guests at their house, he remains calm and does not act the same way as he does in our home.

As a side note: we receive different guests around 1 or 2 times per month. Intercom also calls his attention, but not to this level of craziness.

I have the impression that he is anxious about something: laboured breathing, excessive barking, jumping, and a non-stopping tail.

If I attempt to lower his excitement levels by commanding him to go to his place or bed, sit, or lie down, he will start barking and whining, ultimately breaking his place command. The same happens with crating, but he eventually settles after about 20 minutes of nonstop barking and whining. Once he is settled, if we release him, he will go crazy again.

Food works for a while, but it is noticeable that he is very anxious while eating it. We also tried raw cow femur since it lasts longer than regular treats, but he quickly loses interest.

We also tried to tire him before we receiving guests, but his energy levels does not affect how he behaves.

I appreciate any suggestions and guidance on how I can address this situation. I am happy to clarify any question.

I’m out of things to try. My dogs daily schedule, wake up, go outside for bathroom, unleashed(we live in the woods in the Rockies mountains with no fence), eat breakfast, she goes back to bed, I get ready for work, she goes into her crate and I leave, I come home at lunch to take her out again, she eats a smaller lunch, back in the crate when I leave, I get home and put her in the car, we go to a big wooded area and I do about a 1 mile loop, she does a lot more as she freely runs around, I’ll work on recall training while she runs around, we get back and mill around the house until bed.

Issue is, she chews on everything. When she was a puppy she would chew on walls and trim, even doors, she ate shoes, pillows, table legs, chairs, books, blankets. Now that she’s grown a bit(1.5yr)she sticks to soft things, blankets, pillows, couch cushions. She used to do it before she was kennel trained anytime I left the house, now that she’s grown is kennel trained she does it anytime I don’t have a direct line of sight, i.e. I step outside, I use the bathroom, I leave the room in general. She has plenty of toys, only the bamboo ones though, she can destroy a ball in less than ten minutes and any fabric toy no matter how indestructible they claim to be she has the stuffing out in less than an hour. She doesn’t even chew on them like regular dogs, she finds a seam and grinds it until it’s cut, then uses her front teeth to pull it apart. It’s wild, kongs last the longest at a couple hours but then theyre turned to little chunks.

I’ve tried everything I’ve read online. We tried puzzle toys, she broke them on the first use. We tried the treat in a kong, she chewed the Kong apart, the sniff pad was ribbons within minutes. We go on an hour hike everyday, we work on training. But she only seems to like that if there are treats involved, first time she doesn’t get a treat reward for something she stops doing it.

I’m really just looking for some guidance that doesn’t just say oh she needs exercise or mental stimulation, I am aware of that and I am running out of ways to do that. I’ve raised and had many dogs in my thirty some years but I’ve never had a dog behave like this, I’m stumped and everyone I ask is stumped so any help or advice would be helpful.

Hi all!

So, I have a bit of a situation. I recently adopted a 2 yo female 3lb Chihuahua from a couple who needed to rehome her. I've had her for a week. Well, they had no idea she was actually pregnant. She wasn't really showing.

I was planning on starting to train her to get used to being in different situations, meeting the family and all that. That's on hold now. She's learning to trust me, and she's been ok with my son, I imagine because we're the two who are around her most. She's still a bit wary of my husband (he works a lot so he's only around a few hours a day), but doesn't react to him, just gets nervous.

However, she has been reacting to my mom (my parents live in the front house while we live in the back house). She gives her the whale eye and stare down, and even growled a bit and barked the other day. She will still take treats from her but it's clear she isn't comfortable. Now, partly it's my mom's fault, she tends to put human emotions on animals so she'll smile and wave at her which I know is adding to it, so I'm trying to get her to understand not to do that. I have her give my dog a few treats and that's it. The fault on me is my trying to soothe her, but I learned that that just encourages the behavior.

I don't want my dog to become reactive, but I also don't want to stress her out because of the pregnancy. I know being pregnant can make her a bit more guarded as well.

I'm just looking for advice on what to do. I've never dealt with this before. Should I have my mom come over and spend a bit of time but just ignore my dog? Give her some treats and then just leave her alone? Any help is appreciated.

So my husband found a beagle roaming in the middle of no where at a job site almost two weeks ago. No ones posted her missing for a 100 mile radius and she’s not chipped. So we decided to keep her. We were planning to eventually get a dog but when life gives you lemons, you keep the dog. I’m a stay a home mom to a 3 year old and 1:5 year old. Honestly the 3 year old is more of a hassle than the dog. I just need some advice or help or something. So here goes.

Intact female in heat when found (so spaying is our next step, just have to wait for her to be done heat and done a month’s worth of meds for a tick borne illness). She’s a good dog. I’ve had dogs growing up but never as an adult. I’m a gentle animal loving person and very patient. My husband loves animals as well, just a lot less patient. She was underweight and so vet assumed she’d been out in the woods for at least a week. She was VERY eager to eat the first week. Now she waits patiently for meals and definitely knows “sit”. Our biggest issue is poop. Outside she will eat her own or anyone else’s poop. I’ve had success with leave it the past few days when it’s another dogs poop (our neighbors have probably 4 dogs and never clean up after them. literally piles of poop across from their house in the wood line and into the road.) We live on a dead end street in a very small town with maybe 2000 people. Back yard is fenced minus the driveway and is not set up for free outside time at the moment. We have a lead set up in the front yard and I use that most of the time during the day since I can’t leave the kids unsupervised. I watch her like a hawk and collect her poop immediately. Reward with treats and “good potty”. Night two she peed in the kitchen. Now two weeks in, she peed in the living room last night. Then again tonight while we were awake and I scooped her up and said “no. potty outside.” and put her outside for potty. She didn’t go. Brought her back in and she squated again in the kitchen not near the place she did previous. “Potty outside” and put her back outside. Had my husband walk her. She finally peed. She will just like not go most of the day. She pees and poops for him (or me) first thing in the morning. Then usually won’t go again at all until almost 1/2pm. Maybe a pee sometime around 10. She has access to water. I put water in her food as well. If I crate her at any point during the day and I’m home she’s fine. She will bark and I say “Sallie no bark” and she stops (most of the time). If she persists I take her out. She doesn’t go. I bring her in and she’s back standing at the door. I take her out. She doesn’t go. I put her on the lead. Doesn’t go. I crate her and take the kids for a ride (10 minutes) to fall asleep for nap. She loses her mind for 10 minutes then she goes poop and pees in the crate. Eats the poop and licks up all the pee. If I take her with me in the car. She does not poop or pee. She goes to sleep. Sometimes she will go potty when I get back. Most of the time she does not. If we put her in the crate for any amount of time and go somewhere she loses her mind and settles OR poops and eats it.

I can’t take her into the grocery store. We live 20 minutes out of any major town. I can’t leave her outside. I can’t leave her in the house. Or the crate. I’m not giving up on this dog. Like I said, she’s good. She has not growled, showed any sign of aggression or anything towards anyone or the kids. She lays down when told (most of the time). She just keeps eating poop. And keeps going in the crate. And not going at all when taken outside (most of the time). I take her out multiple times an hour. I stand tethered. I’ve done almost everything I have stumbled upon. I’m going to get unsweetened pineapple to try to stop the poop eating. We want to utilize the crate and she goes in and out and lays down in it throughout the day. Hangs out in it when I’m cooking dinner. We have had her in pull ups with a hole cut out because she’s in heat. She’s only ever gone in the diaper twice at my aunts because we had a birthday party a few days before my husband found her. Then again tonight tried to squat with it on. It falls off at night occasionally hence the couple pees in the house. But otherwise she does not go in it. It’s either outside or in the crate.

I guess I’m just asking for help from different stand points or suggestions. We don’t know the conditions she was in before. She acts scared or submissive a lot but never aggressive. She is fine to be bathed and to put a diaper on. I don’t think she was severely abused unless full submission is a behavior that can happen. I’m going to try and contact a dog behaviorist tomorrow and see what they say. I don’t know if separation anxiety can exist this early on in the dynamic or not. Right now she’s sleeping on the couch with my husband during the night but we would like her to be free range or crated for bedtime but with the potty issues in both scenarios I’m at a loss on what to do. Ditch the crate or get a smaller (i think the one we have is too big) but then if she soils that it’ll reinforce it. After two pee incidents in the same general area an enzymatic cleaner is on the shopping list for tomorrow. But I did a homemade cleaner for right now of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dawn, and orange peel.

We cosleep with the kids in their beds attached to ours so putting a crate in our bedroom is not an option (no more room. we are wall to wall beds) and adding a dog to the bed would make cosleeping unsafe.

I have noticed my husband and I's almost 4 months old golden retriever loved to play tug… With a twist. He always lays down on his side and back and wants us to drag him. My husband gently pulls the rope and he's so light he pulls the dog around the carpet. There is no hard pulling or rope joltong. He seems to love it and this is becoming his favorite activity. But I started wondering if this is a safe activity for him or could be harmful. When I look up "can I drag my dog in tug" most results talk about aggressive tug and dragging. Not like…slowly gliding across the floor lol. So looking for any advice on if this is okay or if we should stop. I would attach a picture but I don't think Im allowed to. Thanks for reading 🙂