Category: Top Dog

We recently got a shih tzu puppy, he's 4-months-old and he's great, but at night I have him in a little crate next to my bed and the crate has an open top. This dog will not sleep unless my hand is near him or on him. He will scream and bark and whine until I put my hand in the crate and his favourite way to sleep is me putting my hand on his blanket and him sleeping on top of it. How do I get this dog to stop doing this? I love him and he's a sweetheart but he is interrupting my night routine.

I’m talking feeding, potty breaks, play, training, etc.

I am a huge overthinker of providing stuff for my puppy to do but I know how dangerous this can get if I let her get use to activity all the time (she doesn’t I just overthink if I do too much or too little)

So my 3.5 month old Cocker spaniel puppy (working line) was light/medium golden when I brought him in winter. The weather is slowly getting warmer here and I noticed some parts of his ears are becoming way lighter and the fur in his whole body is sprinkled with light and dark golden fur. I was a bit worried if there could be any medical reasons for it? We were at the vets 3 weeks back for his vaccine. Scheduled for another visit in 2 weeks. He was normal during his checkup then and is still healthy otherwise. Just wanted to make sure if this is something that needs urgent attention instead of waiting around for 2 weeks.

My German Shepherd cross Bernese Mountain Dog male puppy has just turned 12 weeks old (had him since 8 weeks), and I'm having trouble teaching him to settle on his bed. I read that you should drop treats between their paws to make them stay on their bed's, but now I feel like he won't calm down and is constantly looking to me for his next treat? How do I get him to stay calm on his bed? He is crate-trained and very good in his crate. Also, he is a total shark, we can't stroke him without him trying to bite us; I am using kong's, lick mats, chew toys but he just seems to not enjoy being stroked? Any advice please…

We're 5 days into having our Aussie Labradoodle.

Toilet training going well (for wees any way… poos are apparently a mostly indoor thing).
Last night, she had a pre-bed wee at 22:30, then didn't go again until 05:45.
I set an alarm for 00:30, took her out, no action, then just put her back in her crate and only took her out when she was fussing around 5:30.

During the day, she goes every 2-3 hours, just surprised she can already last 7 hours overnight as a lot of books/videos suggest hourly toilet breaks.

Absolutely not complaining, but wondering if she's just not drinking enough?
We take her water up at 22:00.

One thing I’ve always heard since getting an Aussie is "those are working dogs, they need a job to do, they’re bred to work,” etc etc. I don’t have a huge farm or sheep and cattle to have this guy herd up all day. For those that share my circumstances, what do you have your dogs do besides just walks and playtime to keep them stimulated on the daily?

Im going to be moving in with some roommates soon and I want him to be fine living with cats if they have any.

For context I have a lab whos about 7 months old. I wouldnt say his prey drive is very high, he'll lay down while watching rabbits and birds and will only ever start to freak out if theyre right infront of him. He has met one cat who belongs to a family friend, he wasn't reactive to the cat at all and instead was very cautious because the cat didnt like him very much. During their first interaction they smelled each other, the cat hissed and the dog backed away, thats pretty much it. That cat unfortunately is an outside cat so he doesnt hang around a lot, they've only interacted maybe 3 or 4 times.

I dont know how else to socialize him with cats. Its pretty hot where I live so usually people keep their cats indoors and there aren't many strays nearby, I dont even remember the last time I've seen a cat on a walk. If the time comes where he'll need to live with a cat im pretty sure he'll do fine based off his previous behavior, I think the most he'd try to do is play with the cat (and probably scare it in the process) so id still like to put a little more focus on getting him used to them. Any advice?

Best place to order fun printed harnesses? I’m tired of all of the boring ones.

So we have had our pup just over 2 weeks,she turned 12 weeks old today. I have had mild anxiety over the last two weeks some days are better than others. Tofay I am in full anxiety attack mode. She had her second lot of injections yesterday mirning so of course she is out of sorts but my brain is panicking there is something wrong. She is more tired than usual,her bed blanket was wet with urine not soaked but wet and smelly,she keeps biting her tail (bot a new behaviour) just bot herself. I am worrying aldo becuase she has been toilet training is the garden and exploring the grass(supervised) two days ago she sniffed something and started licking,I rushed over it was a missed poo from my older dog so I start worrying she's now got worms (no evidence of this). Please has anyone got advice to help me calm down, I have been more anxious since I had my children but I cant switch it off today 😢

My golden girls jumping is becoming a real issue.

We are really struggling with our Golden jumping up at people. She is 9 months old, and I know this is one of the roughest stages.

She persists in jumping up at people. She is very big and strong for her age and just continues to jump and jump. When we have visitors, we often have to remove her from the room because she makes them uncomfortable due to the constant jumping.

We have two teenage boys, and she has them tortured. As soon as they enter the room, she is all over them—jumping wrestling, trying to latch onto them. Sadly due to this some family members choose to not be around her very much.

We have tried being firm and instructing "no", and disengaging; however she will just continue to jump in an almost refusing to listen or engage with us kind of way. I have studied and watched it and I almost get the impression she's doing it for attention, as she only seems to stop once a person pets her and then she will roll over, if she doesn't get petted she will just continue to jump.

It's getting quite frustrating and difficult and I feel like she is simply not listening to us, or perhaps just doesn't respect our authority as I am sure she knows by now that we don't appreciate it. I know dogs jump, it's an instinct right, but when it's over and over to the point she is suffocating us and our visitors it feels like it's become quite an issue.

I am just wondering if anyone has experience with this and can perhaps offer some insight into why this is happening.