Category: Top Dog

So we are getting a new baby boy (standard poodle) in just two-ish weeks. I am very excited. I feel like how I did waiting for my own kids to arrive lol. This time last year, we said goodbye to our 12 year old standard poodle, Ivan. He was my soul dog. He was so amazing. So amazing that it makes me nervous for this new guy. Because Ivan was a dang unicorn. The moment we brought him home he was literally perfect. He had literally no puppy traits. He didn’t whine, he didn’t bark, he didn’t chew things, he didn’t nip, he only had 2 accidents inside, he was so easy to train. He was insanely calm, always. So calm, that I actually thought something was wrong with him and had him checked out again at the vet. Nothing wrong, he was just naturally the goodest boi. And he stayed that way his entire life (minus acting like a terrorist outside with a chuck-it ball lol).

I know each dog is different, and the likelihood of us getting that exact same temperament and personality is low. I have talked to the breeder about it and they are monitoring which puppy would suit us best (we have second pick of the 5 that are left). And I do think they will be able to give good input as their dogs are often show dogs as well as service dogs, so they are well versed in looking out for temperament.

But how do you set yourself up for success with a new puppy without having expectations? I’m trying not to assume we’ll have the same easy time as we did with Ivan, but I’d be lying if I don’t have some kind of expectations leaning that way. It’s been 13 years now since we’ve had a puppy, and this time we have 3 little kids and two cats added into the mix making it a lot different than the first time (we still have our toy poodle who we had before we got Ivan). If anyone has any advice or tips on the expectations/getting a new puppy after loss I would GREATLY appreciate it. I have two weeks to get my mind and house together for this.

Do you find that the night time wakings and barking in kennel improved once you had their crate in your room? I have littermates and they were waking once or twice a night to be let out to go the bathroom. Once they hit 12 weeks on Wednesday, a switch flipped and they cry every few hours. Unless the cry sounds like panic, I let them self soothe which takes about 10 minutes. Just wondering if I switch their crates to my room if it’ll improve or just tough out these next few weeks.

I have 2 cats and we live in a rather large 2 floor apartment. We have the ability and time to walk him a lot, but he has a minor reactivity towards other dogs in the kennel. How worried should I be? I want him to be okay with the cats. Current plan is to separate the cats and swap scents for at least a week (since we have two floors this is very easy) but I want to make sure I am 100% prepared for this decision. I have owned a dog before, but I was living on a farm then and had significantly more space. Is this enough space, should I be more worried about the cats and dog getting along? Any advise would be great, I want to give my pets all the best care I can!

Inspired by another post from a few hours ago!

How has your life changed upon adding a second dog to your family?

I often want to go for it but I'm very concerned with logistics. Car travel, vacation, this kind of stuff. But I want to hear it all from you!

Hi! Whenever my husband uses Athletic Greens one of our senior chihuahuas is so scared. He will instantly whimper, hide and shiver. Like he’s scared of it. It has nothing to do with the sounds of the container because sometimes it’s a packet. Once the AG1 is opened and hits the air he knows. He can literally be in another room and will realize. My husband tried to hide it and put it in his smoothie while my dog and I were in another room. I knew he was using it because my dog who was in my lap out of no where was sniffing the air and whimpering. Anyway, AG1 is no longer allowed because our dog is simply terrified of it. I just wonder why – I tried looking up the ingredients but I don’t see anything that stands out. We can make smoothies with anything else no issues. Has anyone else experienced this with their dog?

How much exercise does a Show line GSD need?

Hi! I have a Samoyed and I’m looking to add another dog second dog in the near future. I’ve always loved a show line GSD but I’ve always thought it not a serious owner enough for one and I’m quite afraid of messing them up.

Here’s my lifestyle with my Samoyed

1. He gets close to/little more that 2h of exercise a day (40 mins in the morning and 1.5h in the afternoon/evening) not counting toilet breaks of course. This includes physical and mental together

2. My Sammy is in obedience training classes and does conformation.

3. I get told he’s quite well trained for an independent breed like a Samoyed

4. Enrichment is done daily (this includes playtime) and I do little bit of sports with him (swimming training to get into dock diving)

While I looooove my Sammy, I’ve kinda envied the people I know who have worked with German Shepherds because of how biddable and trainable they are. I had to STRUGGLE to get my dog to want to work with me. It’s still not his favourite thing to do.

With maybe a GSD I would like to do precision work, obedience and maybe conformation (probably not all of them but in this direction)

Will I be a good fit for the breed or should I abandon the idea? What are some things that I should keep in mind outside of reactivity etc?

What are some specific lines I should be looking into as I’m looking to go down the ethical breeder route

TIA

My family’s sweet 16 year old Aussie is declining. He tore his right ccl in 2024 and with the formed scar tissue has managed, as he was of course too old for surgery.

Unfortunately his left ccl tore in the last 24 hours and it’s been harrowing. The emergency vet suggested harnesses and wheelchairs and I am willing to try anything, but I also know he deserves better than a remaining life of pain and suffering.

We will check in with his regular vet Monday but I’m really struggling mentally. I usually help with him a lot, carrying him outside to use the bathroom because of his bad leg but now that he is collapsing I feel myself anxious to assist him as watching him struggle is painful. I feel guilty for expecting the rest of my family to pick up this slack while I’ve been sobbing over what I know could be coming.

Any advice from anyone who is dealing with or has dealt with this? I had to fill my rescue anxiety meds to cope and I feel pathetic and weak for not being stronger for him.

My dog is super clingy and anxious. She barks when she hears car doors close, barks when anyone is eating because she wants fed, barks while cooking, cleaning etc. She wants to stay right up against us when we are laying on the couch. She barks when she wants rewarded for things she does in the middle of the night while we are sleeping. She struggles to play by herself as well. She knows basic sit, stay, down commands but she is very dependent on our attention. We don't know what to do to help her relax and be more independent. We would like her to be able to ignore car doors shutting, knocks at the door, food temptations etc. and would like her to not be as clingy. Does anyone have any recommendations as far as training programs that may help her? Thanks in advance!

Hi all, thank you for reading my story, sorry for making it so long. I would love to have a family dog, but our previous experience ended prematurely and very disappointingly. Do you think we could take in another dog and under which conditions?

About two and a half year ago we had our first puppy. We are a family of five, all three kids (<12y) are on the autistic spectrum and we know a family dog can do a lot of good for (autistic) kids. [EDIT: The previous sentence is more than a general remark, I have seen so often that it applies to our kids. The kids love animals, it is so great to see them being gentle and calm with other dogs, it has a calming effect on them and generally dogs approach them very easily. In general, the kids are good in following rules, but they can be quite vocal.] I absolutely love dogs, my husband can be close to them, but could also happily live without them. My husband is away from home for prolonged periods, so I would be the dog’s main caregiver. I grew up with dogs and have had close experience with Dalmatians before. We did a lot of research about dog breeds and raising dogs, I even did a course about dogs before we had the dog, visited several breeders and eventually we took home a male Dalmatian puppy. I thought it was going to be a tough job raising the dog, but I had prepared myself well and was ready to put in a lot of effort.

The breeder chose a pup for us because the pup knew for himself what he wanted, which is typically good around kids she said, but it turned out that was too much. The puppy had no will to please, was very driven to ‘work’, he had a very strong will of his own and I didn’t manage to positively influence his behaviour in the house (outside I managed him quite well in the end). The puppy school where we first went to basically sent us away after a few lessons and I think gave up on us even earlier, even though we were quite desperate for help. The only thing that they consistently taught us there is that there are awfully many biting incidents with young children; without further advice that’s just terrible information. We luckily found a different puppy school that was much more specialised at working breeds and we learned a lot. However, we were quite far behind and I had a very hard time to find a dog sitter for my two working days because he pulled the leash and it was a getting a strong dog. It basically ended in me getting fired for working too inconsistently in my new job and almost having a burn-out for trying to manage everything and still not succeeding. Then we took in an exchange student who was experienced with dogs who was going to watch over the dog during my working days of my new new job; it sounded like a perfect solution. However, this social change at about 10 months of age didn’t work out. Our dog started snapping at her, and at our kids at that point. I called the breeder that this was not going well and within a week she found a beautiful new place for him.

I learned a lot and I think I didn’t ruin the dog, who now lives a very good life in his new family. I sacrificed myself over giving him enough exercise and training and raising him, but in the end the dog did end up biting one of the kids on the very last day he lived with us and now I don’t know what to think.

I really don’t know if we just had a much too difficult dog, or that I completely underestimated having a dog. We have a decently sized garden, right next to a green area, in our current situation almost always someone is home (the kids don’t go to daycare but someone is over to look after them) and so many people have a dog that seem to (have) put in hardly half the energy that I did. My husband gave up on having a dog after our puppy, but I would love to adopt an adult dog that would be suitable as a family dog and he is okay with that if I consider it to be ‘my’ dog. What would you all think? I would really appreciate some advice and to have some idea about the amount of effort another dog than our Tornadolmation would cost.

Edit: of course we also had good times with him! He was very cuddly with me, and he really enjoyed tug of war with the kids, or going to the park with the whole family.

I’ve been thinking about getting a dog, but I’m not sure it’s realistic with how much I work. I’m gone 12–14 hours a day, and I don’t feel right leaving a dog inside that long without a break or someone to let them out. Is getting a dog even possible with my schedule, or should I wait until life slows down a bit?