Category: Top Dog

Mine’s 3 and still thinks he’s a baby. At this point, I’ve accepted that “forever puppy” energy. Anyone else relate?

I had a weird conflict with another dog owner yesterday in the park. Me and my dog ran into her and her dog and the dogs seemed to like each other enough to play, so the woman was like, "Let her off leash". I explained that I've only had my dog for 6 weeks (she's a two-year-old rescue) and we're still working on recall, so I don't really let her off leash yet that much. But then my dog started getting the zoomies and the leash was hurting me, so I was like ok. And then this woman started giving me unsolicited advice, "see, you need to let her off leash, she's not gonna run away, look, she's coming back, she needs to run", so after she said that about 15 times I told her I appreciate it but I don't need the lecture. And then my dog ran a little further away, but she was still making circles so it was fine, however I wanted to call her back to train recall (I would have released her back to play, I feel like this is literally how you train recall??). And the woman was like, "Why are you calling her back? You can't even let her run for a bit, she's just running", at which point I'd had enough and I said we were gonna go, called my dog back (and she listened! yay), and then the woman said, "Poor dog." And I saw red and told her to f*ck off. Which she then said to me too and kept muttering something about poor dogs not being able to run around.

I get that she was just some ignorant woman who clearly thinks that she knows everything about every dog, but like wtf?? This comment really hurt, because I'm constantly thinking if I'm doing right by my dog and I just want to be the best owner possible. Did I do anything wrong (except for that admittedly inelegant solution of telling her to go f*ck herself)? I feel like I communicated very clearly what our situation was. So what the hell is wrong with people like that??

Puppies dream like humans do.

Hey all,

Looking for a bit of advice, we’re crate training our 8 week old Doberman, it’s his 4th day at home so it’s all still a learning curve for us both.

We have a 1 yr Rottweiler mix who had no issues with the crate no whining of toilet in there whatsoever.

Our Doberman does have accidents in his crate but only overnight so we believe this is more of a bladder holding issue which will sort itself out in the next few weeks as he’s getting good at outside toilet times only.

We’ve gotten him used to the crate and he will also run into it and snuggle down in there, with some persuasion he will settle in the crate no problem and drift off to sleep with no crying. We do sometimes need to stay in the room with his crate door closed just so he can see us but after 5 mins will just drift off to sleep no issue. The first time we put him in it he cried for 90 mins non stop so already a good improvement I think will only get better in time.

Our issue we have is that when he wants to come out of the crate he cries and if it’s been enough time like a few hours he is due to come out and go to the toilet but I don’t want him to associate him crying with us letting him out. If he’s still due to be napping and he’s awake we will usually just sit down by the crate and talk to him calmly until he settles off again but he will not be allowed out. When he is due to come out we’re working on being nice and calm which is progressing slowly, any advice on how to get him to settle before opening the crate when he is due out as he does tend to cry for a while and I also was to mitigate any accidents in the crate.

TIA!

Puppies dream like humans do.

She is 5 and a half moth old standart poodle puppy, i give her enough excersize and mental stimulation, but all of a suden, like two, three days ago she stoped listening to comands, started barking in the morning for me to wake up, which she never did, i walk her at the same hour every day, she can't seem to settle in her crate, tore her bed. I suspect maybe growing pains? Because all her needs are met, she was a bit bitchy (pun intended) when her teeth were falling out, but now the canines are almost grown in, the front baby teeth have fallen out, and some of the molars too. I just don't know what goten into her. Has your puppy behaved suddenly like that?

I lost dogs as a child, and I cried a few times, but life seemed to move on in a way that it's not this time.

The thing is, my sweet girl didn't pass. She's not really gone. She's only gone from me. She's perfectly healthy, but I'll never get to see her again. She wasn't mine to start with, my ex had her a couple years before we met. But I swear if we have soulmates in dogs, she's mine. I've never loved a pet like I love her.

Her favorite toys are stuffies. She carries them around like babies. I kept one at my new place for the few occassions that I got to watch her after the breakup. They moved away a few days ago. Officially no contact. My days all end painfully now. Arms wrapped around her stuffy, pulling it into my chest. Trying to somehow feel her heartbeat through it. Trying to transmit the energy of my love to her, wherever she is. I tell her how much I love her every night. But she'll never know.

I get stuck in all the thoughts. Does she feel my absence? Does she recognize that I've been gone? Does she think I'll come back? Is she waiting for me to? Does she miss me? Think of me? Does she think I abandoned her? Does she still love me every night?

Idk if anyone else here has lost a dog in a breakup and had to go no contact. For your sake, I hope not. But if anyone can relate, I'm struggling. It's a grief different than death. In some ways, worse. It's been a long time coming. I've had time to prepare. I started grieving months ago, it's only just now that they moved and went no contact. The end came. And even though I've known for months that it would, and have already grieved and cried plenty, I still can't stop. Every night I hold her stuffy and feel a missing piece of my life. How do I fall asleep to that? How many more tears will it take to accept this reality?