Category: Top Dog

Context: My partner and I live in an apartment building we hate deeply. We decided we will not renew our lease about a month after we moved in. Our neighbours are very unfriendly and hostile for seemingly no reason. I’ve never once had one of them smile or say hello back to me in the hall or parking lot, they don’t hold the door and when I’ve held the door for them they walk in without acknowledging me. We‘ve also been the victims of three crimes since moving in – including someone breaking into our bedroom window while were sleeping. 🙁

I work from home two days a week and my partner is WFH full time but has a super demanding job. Our pup is a shih tzu cross. We had put off getting a dog for 5 years and did tons of research and prep. We both have lived with dogs all our lives. This little man is the 8th dog we’ve had in our lives between the two of us.

My parents are retired and have a puppy from the same breeder, only two months older. They own a large home and have a massive backyard.

We got our pup in early October, super excited, not expecting he would borderline destroy our lives. The first week was hell. He was only 8 weeks old and cried so much in his crate every night that one night our neighbour started screaming “shut up” from upstairs at 5 am. I get it!! Totally unacceptable, I would be livid too – but he wasn’t calming down even with us there with him trying to relax him. Our apartment has NO sound proofing, like I can hear my neighbour blow his nose.

My parents told me to bring the pup there to sleep so that my partner and I can have proper sleep and get ourselves sorted. He didn’t cry at all at my parents and loves their puppy. We then discovered he sleeps like an angel when he’s in bed with us.

Fast forward a few months, he’s now 5 months old. He stays with my parents the days/nights I’m in the office, but he spends 4 nights and 4.5 days with us.

This creature will not stop barking. The demand barking is getting so out of control. I know he’s a teen, but we can’t let him “bark it out” as it does go on for 30+ minutes and our neighbours will murder us. For example, he knows how to jump off the couch onto his crash mat but sometimes he just decides not to and barks for ages to be lifted down. Then 10 minutes later he jumps off on his own just fine.

He will start screaming and barking within 5 seconds of me leaving the house, so separation training has been a nightmare and impossible. I went to the dentist today and my partner told me the dog was screaming and crying for over an hour EVEN WITH my partner there literally in the room with him!!! 😭

I realize that him being with my parents might complicate things. He probably gets away with more there, doesn’t have a routine, he has a good buddy and a yard to burn off energy. But if he was here 100% of the time I would be going batty.

I just feel like I’ve failed him and ruined all our lives. I want to love him and bond with him but I guess I do but I’m so STRESSED with this barking and his anxiety. I’m sure he can feel it on me which makes me feel worse. I wanted my own dog all my life, I asked for him every birthday and every Christmas. Now he’s here and if my parents didn’t live in the same city I would have returned him.

I’m going to keep working on the separation training, hopefully I can get him up to 30 seconds of me being out of the house before he flips by new years. I’m thinking of teaching him “speak” so that I can then teach him “quiet”. Maybe he’ll get us evicted and it will be a blessing in disguise since we hate this rental so deeply. I’m considering leaving a note on my neighbours doors with maybe a gift card but they’re so aggressively unfriendly and antisocial that I kind of don’t want to even bother??

Any comfort or advice is so appreciated. I feel like the worst dog owner in the world

Does anyone know of any harnesses similar to Ruffwear? (Regarding padding, fit, etc.) I'm starting search & rescue/tracking with my pup and need a harness to use exclusively for tracking work but I'm having trouble finding one that fits him well (he's a lab). Ruffwear fits him beautifully but the harness I need for tracking has to accommodate velcro patches and be a high visibility color. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

If a 3 month old baby is in a pack and play (playpen) is it okay to have dogs around the playpen? Or do you think the dogs should still be kept separate? One of my MILs dog has bit a 13 year old and growled at another infant that was crawling towards it so I’m wondering if this would be okay with my baby in the playpen as we are going over there for Christmas Eve. Everyone seems to downplay the bite (saying the dog nipped) and developed amnesia with “forgetting” the dog was growling at another baby

Im buying my dog a toy that she needs to be supervised while chewing, its flavored, so im worried she might not want to give it back when its time to put it away. What's the procedure for this normally? / how can I ensure I can get the toy back when needed? Also, if for whatever reason I cannot get the toy back, what should I do?

Shes supposedly a bull mastiff, but she seems to be bigger than one, and im pretty sure she weighs a good amount more than the average bull mastiff, not sure about that though.

Hi just hoping for some legit hope about the situation lol. Long story short I adopted an adult staffy mix, and she is wonderful with me and my family at home, she is terrified of strangers and other dogs while on a leash outside. Free of a leash she was pretty great at a daycare for a while just kept jumping on top of dogs while playing so got time out a bunch lol. It’s a total switch when the leash comes on, she’s a rescue so maybe she got traumatized while tied up somewhere I don’t know how she was found they never told me.

Idk if it’s hyper protectiveness, territorial or what but on the leash is just gotten worse and worse and I am concerned she will hurt a dog or someone if she gets really amped. Let alone my shoulder being popped off like a Lego character lmao.

I have just gotten her a script for doggy Prozac, and once I move in a couple weeks she will be in a more private yard, and I’m hoping to find an advanced trainer to try and scrap back any training I can.

Has anyone had a similar start point and seen gains with their reactive dog?

I wasn’t able to socialize her early and will do what I can to get her tolerable or at least safe, but I hear often after a certain age to a degree ur just kinda fucked and I don’t want her to have a life without socialization in the world but am I just gonna be wasting money at a certain point putting her thru programs instead of just keeping her away from people/dogs when out in public forever?

Hi all,

My Mini Schnauzer is 20 lbs, and carrying him gets super heavy.

I've been using a boat bag from LL Bean but it has no bottom and the straps are narrow and cut in (although it is light.) I don't need one that's TSA approved–it's for taking the subway, etc.

Any recs? I like the looks of the ones below, but am flex–lightweight is the key thing.

I'd be willing to shell out for this one, but they can't tell me the weight. Has anyone tried it? https://www.lovethybeast.com/collections/carry/products/industrial-voyager-tote-black

https://wagwear.com/collections/carry/products/copy-of-copy-of-tri-color-boat-canvas-carrier-grey-navy-red this one in the right size is 2 lbs, the lightest I've found, but the straps are likewise narrow.

Thanks for your help.

Hey guys! I have a dog who is very affectionate, but doesn't obey commands well (like sit, come when called, stop). I've tried repeating commands and rewarding him with treats, but I'm still having trouble. Any training tips or approaches that have worked for you? 

just wondering if anyone has any experience with these. one of my dogs absolutely will not tolerate clippers or a dremel and I've been thinking of ordering one for him

people who added a second dog to their families, does anyone regret it?

I’ve gotten a message from them via Instagram for my dog. However, when I looked them up online, I hadn’t found anything of value except for a website.