Category: Top Dog

Hey Everyone!

Just seeking some advice or encouragement-

I’m 9 months pregnant and have two high energy dogs. One is a Brittany, she is 7 and the other is a herding mix (BC, Aussie, ACD and Great Pyrenees) whom is 3. For the last several years, I’ve taken them every day, rain snow or shine on a hike, ranging from 2-5 or more miles. Obviously, the more pregnant I’ve gotten, the smaller the hikes have become, but we’re still on routine. My husband takes them on a city walk every night and we have a fenced in yard. I have family that has volunteered to help take them on runs and walks after the baby comes — I need at least a month before I’d be back out on the trail — but I am so worried about switching this big part of their lives around. They look forward to our daily adventures, as do I.

My herding mix was recently neutered, so he’s calmed down quite a bit.

I’ve been stock piling bones and chews for when the baby comes.

Otherwise- does anyone have any advice on what to do for my doggos? Unique chews? Stimulating toys?

I’m not really worried about them chewing up the house or anything, I just want to mitigate the change and be proactive so I don’t just drown in guilt over all the changes to their schedule.

This is my first baby so that’ll be big for them too!

Our 18 week old Golden Retriever puppy has handled some aspects of training really well. She is good with lots of commands, and is friendly and outgoing on walks, and in the last few weeks has had a really solid sleep routine. She is (mostly) crate trained, will nap in there voluntarily and has generally been going to bed in crate without protest. We had a lot of issues with biting/over-tiredness initially but this is also slowly improving (although can still randomly bite quite aggressively if she wants to play).

However, we are really struggling with separation anxiety and sleeping through the night. She wakes up no later than 5:30am everyday regardless of bedtime and will not settle again in the crate. She also cannot really tolerate us leaving the room for more than a minute at a time if she is awake, even if she is clearly very sleepy she will wake up and become quite agitated, and will sometimes pee on the floor. She also struggles when one of us (my partner or I) leaves the house, even if the other person is with her.

We have tried all the classic training techniques (short bursts, rewarding calm, giving her kongs/lick mats when we leave the room) but outside of training sessions she will non-stop bark when we are out of the room. We have tried pushing back the wake up time by keeping the environment completely dark/quiet until we want her to wake up.

To top it off, last night she barked pretty much for 2hrs straight (minus taking her outside to check if she needed the toilet 3x) at bed-time (worse than initial crate training) for no apparent reason.

We are becoming quite overwhelmed (and over-tired) as from what we see online, people generally have puppies that can sleep through the night (and later than 5:30am) and who can be left by themselves for more than 1min. We are really struggling with the lack of progress and have reached out to some professionals as well, but would love advice if anyone experienced anything similar?

My puppy seems to be stuck on Daylight Saving Time. I thought it might reset automatically like my iPhone but after two days I have accepted that’s not happening. Looking for a button but can’t seem to find one, only a boopable nose. No manual was included.

Am I the only person who thinks puppy breath is…well…not pleasant?

People always talk about puppy breath like it's the sweetest thing, but every puppy I've had or been near just has stinky breath. They all smell skunky to me. And they're healthy. In fact, when I have brought it up to the vet they all say it smells normal and they seem to delight in it. I'd almost say they all look at me like I'm insane.

I can't be the only one, right?

Few months into adopting my dog, but i still haven’t quite placed his breed. What are your thoughts?

• 19 kilos, male, I think between 2-3 years old

https://imgur.com/a/gSiKGA2

I plan to go into active Air Force and have been wanting to get a dog. I’ve been looking an SBT specifically, but have had other recommendations from other people. This will be my first dog that I’ve ever had that is completely in my care. I prefer medium to larger dogs and I am very willing to put in the time and sacrifice to train and do what’s best for me and my future companion. Just wanted to hear sum thoughts!!!

If you take your pup to dog daycare, how often do you do it? And for how many hours each time? Just curious!