Category: Top Dog

Hi! I have a 5 month old ACD mix and two cats. My pup has developed an interesting dynamic with my cats and I'm struggling to improve it with training.

One cat- he totally ignores. They never got into a fight or anything but she sends off the energy that she won't put up with his shit and got some reason he respects that. He doesn't chase her, doesn't play with her, really mostly ignores her.

My other cat- she's a feisty old lady that misses her previous dog brother and their rough housing. She attempts to play with my puppy sometimes and is open to rough housing a bit, but he takes it too far and plays with her as if she's a puppy. He's not necessarily aggressive but he does the jaw snapping thing, raised fur, tries to wrestle her, and he's much heavier and faster so when he decides to lock on, she can't always run away from him for a break.

Sometimes I am able to interrupt and redirect him with commands to come and settle down. Other times, he's just too hyped and I physically stop them and usually put him in the crate for a break. It just doesn't seem to be helping the overall pattern at all though.

Anyone have any tips on how I can better tain him to keep their play within safe boundaries for my cat? I have no idea what the one cat did to teach him boundaries- it's a mystery I haven't been able to replicate with the other cat haha.

Good Afternoon!

I'm a first-time dog owner, and I understand that there is room for me to grow. My puppy recently got sick (hookworms), and I brought him into the vet 3 times before they found what was wrong, telling me it was just normal puppy behavior, but I knew something was wrong (not sleeping well, fussy, whining, but stool was weirdly normal). At around 12 weeks, my puppy is still very nippy, but understandable due to teething. I freeze teething toys, provide enrichment, redirect, and train commands (sit, stay, paw, down) to shift his focus from nipping. At the vet, they examined him in the back, and she came back in and told me she was disappointed in my dog because he was aggressive. I noticed that he's been cranky ever since getting sick, but she told me that if I didn't sign him up for lessons with a private institute they're partnered with (250 per session), they wouldn't see him again. I understand his behavior was worrying, and I've already relayed the info back to his trainer so we can work it out when he feels better and curb this young (was told he growled at her).

I'm just feeling confused and lost, and would take any advice regarding getting him better used to being handled. He has gotten baths and nail trims from the groomer and me, and has never had an issue. My guess is that he was just stressed out already from being sick. He is already enrolled in obedience training, and adding another expensive institute doesn't seem ideal. He's a retriever mix, so he learns fast, but is extremely mouthy (as expected!) . Please let me know what I can do to improve his behavior moving forward!

My husband and I have a 1 yr old mini dachshund. We love him so much and he is a relatively well behaved dog with some reactivity that we are working on. We crate trained him from 9 weeks old and he fully potty trained. He was neutered around his first birthday a few months ago. For context, we live in an apartment in an urban area and both of us work outside of the home- full time. My husband or a family member is able to come walk the dog at lunch everyday Monday – Friday. A few months ago, we started having issues with him barking while we’re gone. We got a camera and we also started letting him be out of the crate while we were gone just in the afternoons and that solved the barking. He still sleeps in his crate at night. He much prefers to free roam and lay in the sun throughout the day. However, I don’t want him to lose the ability to be crated during the day after how hard we worked on it. Should we keep him in the crate half the day in the mornings or is just pointless if he’d rather roam free, doesn’t destroy anything, or have accidents? He will continue to always sleep in his crate at night. If you’ve been in this position, would love to hear thoughts/experiences.

Back story….. We have a 4 year old Aussie mix. Best dog ever somewhat selective with dogs but overall will play with any dog if given the chance (she really only plays with friends dogs and dogs while she's at boarding at a trusted facility that she has been going to for trading and boarding since puppyhood)

We brought home a 12 week puppy about a month ago and she is not a huge fan ( which I know is normal bringing a dog into her space) she has not hurt the puppy or gone after him only minor correction which are totally normal and necessary I know. They will play and play outside when they feel like it and she plays well no aggression aside from rolling him over (more time on accident than on purpose because he a large breed and clumsy) but they will play outside and will sniff each other outside but inside she wants nothing to do with him and does not likehim in her space. And acts like she's miserable 24/7. Now I know it's only been a month but I feel like I made a mistake by getting another dog and that it's ruining her life. I'm already so attached to the puppy he is the sweetest and respects her boundaries better than I could ask for. But it's a constant battle of giving them both the love they want and need when we're in the same room!and makes me feel awful when the puppy wants her love too. I am just torn on if it was the right decision (no way to really go back now and it's not like it's a hostile environment so that's keeping going)

When did your dogs start interacting inside and finally become “friends”?

hello, i have a 3 months old shih tzu. and she tested positive to parvo last saturday. she was brought to the vet and they gave her the meds needed, when we got home she was fine, no throwing up & no pooping. Yesterday was the worse, she keeps on throwing up everything and her poop is wet with no blood. Since the veterinary clinic is closed during sunday, we brought her back this morning. the doctor confined her and she’s under their care for now.

so the doctor texted me an update saying that so far there’s no throwing up anymore but her poop has blood now. what do you guys think about it? i’m really worried and i can’t rest thinking about it 😞

so my pup has started coming for walks with me for a week now and he was doing okay on the first day just going super slow and sniffing but i let him go at his pace. fast forward to now, he simply hates walking away from our building. we live in a gated community and have a walking area that is shared with many buildings and we are all a residential society with many pets and even a designated dog space for dogs to run free. my pup hasnt gone there yet since he is slowly socializing with the dogs in our building and i dont want to overwhelm him.

whenever we go on walks he just sits or lays down when i try to walk away from our building. he acts like hes sleepy or tired and just puts his head down but i KNOW hes not. i try to encourage him with words but he does not budge. i started picking him up and walking and he would go a few steps then stop. he only walks if we are going towards home. he loves meeting new people and has made so many people friends and a few dog friends including an adopted community dog. when he sees someone he wants to meet or he sees a dog he is alert and wants to meet them but if its simply walking, he hates it and wants to go home. ive spend 30 mins just walking him 100m. i tried treats today and it was not much better.

he is well socialised, i started taking him on walks in my arms when he was about 2.5 months old before he was fully vaccinated and couldnt go on the ground. he loves car rides and we actively made sure to get him used to sounds like traffic birds etc.

has anyone dealt with this? i thought walking would be easy because ive always seen how much dogs love walks but mine just seems to hate it! how can i help him love it, because i love seeing how excited he gets when he meets a new person or a new dog and i want him to realise that walks are fun not torture. thanks!

I tried to teach him sit and stay last day after watching some youtube videos. But it is not working. Help me

Hey everyone! So we brought home a 6 week old puppy, its definitely a sketchy bad situation, the owner told me that her two border collie mix females ran away one night and when they found them they had fallen pregnant, so they had two accidental back to back border collie mix litters, 20 puppies in total. She wanted to get rid of the puppies asap and was ready to give them to a shelter because she couldn’t take care of all of them. Very irresponsible, i know. We went and picked up one puppy, though that it would be better to save at least one because we have been wanting a dog for a long time but we didint think the puppy would be this young. So now i am not sure what to do, i am ready to put in as much effort as needed but i am afraid to make mistakes. Like what about socialisation? Can i bring the puppy to some friendly dogs that have been vaccinated so she can learn dog behaviour, or is this too risky? I plan on bringing her in my hands, little by little, to different places and introducing her to my family. We are trying to create train her too. I dont even know what to write really, i would be thankful for any advice, literally anything at all. Thank you!

Hello, my 12 week old puppy hates his lead. The moment a bit of tension is put on his lead he pulls back and freezes then refuses to move.

I've tried in the house, the garden and outside and his behaviour is exactly the same. He is fine with the lead on, it is only when tension is added. Treats do not seem to be helping much.

If I take him on a walk with someone else he improves, but on a solo walk it is difficult to make it out of the street.

any advice on what I can do?

Hi all, we've had our 9 month old rottie since she was 8/9 weeks old. For context: She's quite an anxious puppy and we've had a few instances of her trying to slip her collar and harness due to loud noises when out and about. We've gone to a trainer to help with this and it's being going amazingly but this is a new one and we don't know what to do…

She's been crate trained since we got her and has never had any issues with it until now. The other day when getting into her crate she spooked herself and now will not go in it whatsoever (not without a long time of coaxing) We've tried high value treats, taking out her bed, putting in favourite toys but she just gets close to the door and then runs away. Due to having senior cats we cannot have her unlearn that her crate is a safe space.

Please, we really need some advice here!!