Category: Top Dog

We’ve had my dog for 5 years. I used to kiss him on the head sometimes (other dogs too) and he never had a problem with it. However within the past year or so he’s changed. When I kiss him (or try to) he pulls away, cringes, or shakes. Also the cleaning lady we hire also uses to kiss him on the head when she came over but the last time she did that he suddenly growled at her. Why this negative change?

I adopted a dog less than a year ago, and we’ve realized he is very nervous around loud noises. Sometimes even when something falls or when a car door closes loudly while we’re walking, he gets scared 🙁 and we are a bit worried about the fireworks during Christmas and New Year’s. Do you have any tips to help us prepare him? We want support him as much as we can so those days aren’t traumatic for him.

I am looking for someone who does adventure / hiking dog walks in the Little Rock Arkansas area ? I know there are some companies who do it in more hiking centric cities, but just curious if it’s an option here or not

Your love is their answered prayer. In every walk, every meal, every gentle ear scratch—you are the steady, loving world your dog trusts completely.

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Is it normal to tear up when I hear a song that reminds me of him?

Hi all. I have a beautiful Aussie with lots of long tummy hair. Where we live, even if it had rained earlier on in the day, she kicks up lots of sooty mineral type dirt that clings to her hair all over. This results in her needing to be hosed down in the tub after our walk which neither of us love. We are big walkers rain or shine and I have tried a few raincoats but I have yet to find one I love and particularly one that covers her stomach area as much as possible. Does anyone have any recommendations??

Our 5 month old golden puppy has been a great first puppy experience. We absolutely adore her and the energy she brings to the household. But I can't help but feel like she should have gone to a family who already had another dog, rather than a young couple with 3 cats.

I'm not just pulling this out of thin air to justify wanting another dog. She is naturally very cautious, despite all of the time I spent socializing her. Yesterday I took her to a new (empty) hiking trail to walk, and about 50 feet in, she decided she didn't want to be there and tucked tail and started pulling back to the car to leave. We actually did almost end up leaving, but a guy pulled up with his black lab and Pomeranian. She said hello to them, and instantly wanted to continue on the trail to follow them and play. Obviously that's rude to the guy walking his dogs, so we gave them plenty of space and let them walk ahead of us. BUT we were able to get a full football field's length into the trail before I decided we should turn around before she gets tired. She did something similar at another empty trail before; until she saw two poodles getting walked and suddenly she felt okay continuing. I feel like having another dog that's a little more confident will let her come out of her shell a bit more. We're working on her confidence, but it's slow going and I'm not sure if it's something she'll grow out of on her own.

I'm hesitant to take her to dog parks or send her to daycare. She also just does best with dogs she knows. We've been sending her to a Rover daycare sitter who has two pugs that she adores. But daycare is expensive for regular use and strange dogs, especially if they're higher energy tend to scare her. Most of the membership dog parks near us require her to be 6 months old and spayed (which we're not doing until after her first heat at least). But the non-membership dog parks have no oversight to who's bringing their dogs into it. I feel bad, because her obvious preferred method of play (chase) is difficult for us to manage for longer than 5-10 minutes at a time (we are… out of shape), and she makes it dangerous for the humans involved by running directly in front of us.

I've been going back and forth about fostering smaller dogs for local organizations so that we can have another dog in our home without the high cost of emergency vet bills, which is really our biggest financial concern w/ regards to another dog. The cats have really given us financial PTSD w/ regards to vet bills. The food/toy cost is honestly negligible to us, since we don't have a ton of other stuff we spend our money on. But I worry about so many things, like our landlord thinking we're doing too much w/ the animals (it's a 1200sqft house with a fenced in yard, so a decent size but not huge or anything), or him worrying about the property getting damaged in some way. I also worry about if these foster dogs would be safe for our cats, who seem to have the survival skills of a boiled egg, but love to spend time with us in the Dog Zone. Or what behaviors, bad or good, would she learn from these dogs.

I want her to feel confident and fulfilled, and I feel like there's a gap in her fulfillment repertoire as an only dog. I think having another dog who will show her the ropes would be good for her, but, again, the financial situation, and the issue of moving into a new place with 3 cats and 2 dogs would be a difficult

Aside from my childhood dog, I got my first dog freshmen year of college. He was $27, almost 7 years old, and a lil questionable looking. Although I adopted him later in his life, he has been SO life changing in the years I’ve had him. He is now 13 and still has so much spunk. Since he’s a small dog, the vet said he could live to almost 17 with the health he has now (and gosh do I hope that’s true). He’s a dachshund/wire hair terrier mix.

I am fostering to adopt a 9 year old dog (he is in a legal case right now for over 6 months and the previous foster didn’t expect to have him so long). My dog was weary at first but they are huge cuddle bugs now. This foster is also a smaller dog, and he’s a spring chicken. I’m not exactly sure of his mix, maybe chihuahua and dachshund? I cannot wait for the case to close so he can be an official part of the family.

I just love having these older dogs. Yes, it’s hard to think about having such a short time with them, but I love them. I hope to always have the opportunity to adopt senior dogs. I am a little bias towards small dogs, but if the right opportunity arises, I’d love to give any size dog an amazing final few years. Those videos of VERY selfless people adopting senior dogs nearly on their deathbeds seriously pull at my heart strings.

My dog has always been weird with playing, likes tug but also doesn’t, likes to chase but loses interest in fetch fast, likes to roughhouse but doesn’t listen well enough for it. Now that it’s started to snow the only games I can play with her, tug and chasing toys, are no longer enjoyable to her because of the snow. Not on her feet or anything, but picking up the toy means her face goes in the snow. Does this stop her from sticking her whole face in snow in any other situation? No, she will do it, just not for her toys or playing. Going to try and spend the money I have left over from Christmas to see if I can buy new toys, i hope she actually wants to play with one of them.