Category: Top Dog

Edit: first time puppy owner, I had another dog but she was very low energy

Hi Reddit, this is about my families new dog Sadie who is a shepherd mix. She’s almost six months. She loves to nip and play tug of war with my pants and has ripped holes in quite a few already. I’m just wondering how you people curve biting with puppies. This is what she does:

• when excited she’ll run up to me with a toy, drop it once or twice, then bite and grab my pant-leg with like NO time for me to react and pick up her toy to throw it. When I try to push her away from me (gently) she gets more excited and bites/pulls on me harder.
• I will be playing tug-of-war with her, or holding her toy while she bites it and sometimes she’ll stop biting it and redirect on my pant-leg. She’s not trying to bite my skin but she still does cuz she’s got sharp little piranha teeth!
• When I try to pet her she sometimes mouths my hand or my arm. I’m guessing she does this because she doesn’t want me to pet her but how do I specifically get her to not mouth me to show that?
• If I try to kiss her face, or have my face close to hers she’ll lunge forward and half nip half lick my face. I DO NOT want her to make contact or cause facial injuries. Do I just not put my face near hers or is there anyway I can curve this behaviour, my family likes getting face licks lol.
• Sometimes she’ll come up and grab my pant leg or shirt or coat and pull it while growling. I end up just grabbing the item right where it goes into her mouth and pulling/sternly telling her to stop until she lets go. I don’t want to encourage her to tug of war with my pants, and I worry that me just pulling my clothes out of her mouth is giving that engagement and encouragement to her.
• she’ll mouth my hands while I put on her harness, or if I try and grab her collar to lead her somewhere. Idk if there’s anything I can do about this, it’s just a bit frustrating lol.

We sometimes crate her if she’s biting my leg too much or trying to get our dinner, but otherwise I don’t want to rely on crating as a punishment because that is her safe-place and where she sleeps.

So far I try to redirect her with toys(she has multiple teething toys, and bones and stuffies), loudly say “no”, say “ow”(tbh it gets her crazier), push her away, or just walk away and ignore her then re-engage in a minute. Sometimes walking away works but other times she’ll chase me and grab my pant-leg anyways. How do I stop her from continuing once I disengage?

I want to play with her, but I don’t want to encourage her biting me, playing tug of war with my clothes, or jumping up. I’m not sure how to play with her without encouraging that but also without ending play prematurely when she gets too excited.

My family has one of those horns that just makes a hissing air noise. I don’t really want to use that on Sadie but it got my cousins dog to stop some of his antics so idk. I don’t wanna scare her.

I also recognize that 99% if not all of this is normal puppy behaviour. I just really don’t want her doing this as an adult so I wanna curve it now when she’s young.

I have a 10 week old toy poodle who I just bought home. She won’t potty or eat. When I hold her up to my chest, she calms down and stops shaking. I can tell she’s overwhelmed and anxious.

I tried to get her to potty/eat for almost an hour then I put her in her crate. She’s falling asleep now and has been quiet for almost 10 minutes lol (longest so far).

Should I let her sleep and when wakes up, try to get her to potty again?

She couldn’t care less about treats too. I tried using that but it doesn’t work.

HELLPPPP

We just got a new kitten, she's maybe 2 months old. Very sweet. Very curious.

Combine that with my 4 year old border-collie mix that we adopted two years ago. He's a very sweet boy too, doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He is, however, extremely excited about the new kitten.

I'm trying to let the kitten explore the house but he is right on her, his nose basically attached to her at every step. To her credit she doesn't seem scared of him, but he's got about 30 pounds on her and tons of energy.

If he sees the kitten across the house he'll run straight at her and stick his nose right on her butt…except he's kind of clumsy and I don't trust hit to not accidentally trample the kitten.

If the kitten doesn't seem too bothered should I just let the two of them do their thing?Or should I put my boy outside / in the other room until she kind of gets her bearings?

Kitten does have a bathroom in the house that's hers with beds and her litter box where she can escape if needed.

Also to add to the mix we have a 12 year old cat that seems not at all interested in the new kitten at all (older cat and dog get along fine too.) Sometimes the older cat and dog will play chase but the cat can just jump onto the couch to escape…kitten doesn't have those hops yet.

I’ve heard that breeds like Anatolians and Pyrennees tend to want to wander, while mastiffs will stick around closer to the flocks they guard. I have a feeling this is anecdotal.

Advice needed. I have a 2 y/o Boston Terrier. The past few weeks, he's refusing to come back inside after being let out for his morning potty break, and only this one specific time of day.

He goes up to the door, I open it, but he'll sit there, and eventually move back a few steps and either stare back at me or walk off and move about the yard. After I close the door, he'll come back to be let in, but it's the same process over and over. I wind up going out and carrying him back in. I've called him in to eat or get a treat, which used to work, but not anymore. He looks like he wants to come in, but is scared to? I don't know. I tried waiting him out, but after about 20 minutes in below 30F weather, I couldn't take it and went to get him. Other than being cold, he's fine after he comes inside.

Ideas? I never yell or punish, I stay neutral when opening the door and when I inevitably carry him in, but I don't want to do that forever. He has zero issues any other time of day. It's cold out, and I hate seeing him shiver outside.

If I search for it, all I see is diy stuff about denim, etc.. My pups favorite toys are the ones with fake fur on them, but it's nothing like the fake fur I see in craft shops. Does anyone know how/where to find the kind of fake fur that's used in dog toys?

(Using enrichment flair because these toys are how we keep her mentally and physically active. I need to be able to remake or repair some of them as I can't find any of similar style that really appeal to her particular engagement style.)

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

my dog a bassiet hound has been acting strangely It was just a normal morning till I couldn't find him turns out he's outside and is just sitting in the same spot and I'm concerned because anytime I try to get his attention or bring him in he ignores me and trys to run back to the spot when I pull him away Where I live is mostly woods so I thought he was trying to get a small animal but when I checked the cameras he wasn't even facing the woods he's just staring at my neighbour’s house He's in his cage rn but he's going crazy barking crying and ramming himself against it

I have a 50lb German shepherd mix and I’m wanting to get a treadmill. I’ve looked at dog pacer and seen a lot of treadmills on Facebook marketplace and trying to figure out if one of those walking pads would work or if I need a full length treadmill or pacer. I won’t likely be running her on a treadmill but want to make sure she has room for her stride!

I want some