Category: Top Dog

Does anyone know of a good breeder for sports Pomeranians or working line shelties

My almost 8 month old male GSD/Malinois is pretty fearful of dogs and people and I think he reacts by trying to seem tough when he sees an opportunity.

I've had him since he was 10 weeks old and immediately began taking him to my friend's house for doggy play dates, I also have an older dog and he's gotten along with her great. We're also sitting our friend's border terrier (obviously much smaller) and they've been playing great. But at the dog park, he's kinda a jerk. This isn't your traditional dog park, it's over 100 acres and I go between 5-7am when there's less than 20 ppl. But my dog usually avoids other dogs that come say hi to him or if they run at all, he will chase them growling and barking. It looks and sounds awful but he has zero follow through, he doesn’t continue to chase when they stop etc but it alarms the pet parents (understandably) and an older man tried to hit my dog with a stick this morning so I really want to nip this in the bud. On the opposite end, if a dog tries to chase him he'll scream like he's being stabbed and even sometimes pee.

I feel like all of this is him being scared and not confident. What can I do to boost it? Is he actually aggressive to the point I should avoid the dog park? Should I keep taking him as a form of exposure therapy? Is it just his weird teenage stage and he'll grow out of it? He's my first mal but my 11th GSD which is why I felt confident in getting him but I've never had a puppy that didn't want to play with ppl or dogs. And I don't care if he doesn't want to play but he does need to act right. I'd like him to just react calmly when greeted and confident when confronted. I said when I got him that I'd get a trainer if need be but this behavior has come at the worst time. My other dog just had an expensive spleenectomy less than a month ago and I'm also having surgery in a couple of days so money is really tight right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Heyyy, I have almost 5 months old border collie puppy. He's crate trained, goes there on command, sleeps instantly (and if we're not home, he sleeps there too – he has the door open, and we have camera so we see he sleeps there). The issue is, he won't sleep when we're home outside his crate. Like, at all. We had to do enforced naps in the crate, since he wouldn't sleep on his own at all, but he's getting older and I don't want to keep him in the crate forever. 🙃 But if he's out of his crate, he's just always trying to find something to do. It's not that he's bored, we go to trainings (obedience), walks, socialising, lots of sniffs and toys and have scheduled herding training. He has plenty of work. But I'm trying to transfer the sleeping in crate to outside of the crate and we're failing. I feel like he wouldn't sleep at all, if we didn't have the crate. I try to give him praise and treats for laying down on his own, but it's never sleep and he never truly relaxes, he just does it as a command, if you understand. Anyone has any tips on this topic? Thank you!

Hi everyone, I just got a 10-week old Havanese. She’s honestly not that bad, just whines and cries a lot, which I know is normal for the beginning. This is our third full day with her.

I’m extremely overwhelmed. I feel like I can’t leave the room she’s in, I keep forgetting to eat, I’m worried I’m doing everything wrong or traumatizing her. I feel like I maybe shouldn’t have gotten a dog, even though I’ve wanted one for so long.

I’m sure this is just a phase. But please tell me it gets better and I will get used to it!

my 9mo puppy was kept in a crate most of the day by his previous owners. now, he knocks down the gate I have set up out of anxiety. how can I make him feel safe? he chews on the gate as well. i plan to start crate training soon but would not want to stress him

I'll be getting my 10 wk old puppy next Saturday and I'm super excited! I plan on using his kibble as training "treats" but was wondering when I'd be able to give him things like fish skins and other yummy treats. I found this brand "Polka Dog" and their treats seem really good and use minimal ingredients. I wanna order them now but if I won't be able to give them to him for a while, I'd rather hold off lol. TIA!

My pup is going on 7 months old. I am a first time dog owner, and overall i'm really enjoying having her around but the GUILT that i'm not doing enough for her is just relentless. I am finding it difficult to relax/self care, because i keep thinking "well i should be doing something with my dog if i have free time… not relaxing"

I WFH full time, so i'm always home with her. She typically goes on 1 or 2 walks per day (30-45 min each), I give her a chew or a snuffle mat to keep her occupied while i'm working. Of course some play time scattered throughout the day. She seems relaxed and content, not destructive, nor has too much energy.

But I cannot shake this overwhelming feeling of guilt that she needs more, which in turn is making me quite anxious and unable to enjoy any free time that I do have in my day. Can anyone else relate to this? How did you manage this mental struggle?

We have a 6 month old golden retriever who is lovely but very overly friendly. Whenever we’re on a walk and pass by another person or dog he gets excited and wants to say hello. He’ll literally clock them from down the street.

We are working on getting him to ignore and carry on, and it’s working when we don’t let him say hello at all. However, when we do stop to say hello or let him play with the other dogs on their walk, when we try to break the contact and carry on with our walk, he seems to get very overstimulated and excitable and basically throws a huge temper tantrum. He jumps up at me, growls and bites on my sleeves/hands. It’s like he decides that he hasn’t played enough and takes it out on me.

What can we do here? Do we just not allow him to say hello to anyone on his walks? I worry this would then go the other way and he’ll never learn how to disengage in situations with other dogs as he’s never given the opportunity to learn it. Does anyone have any advice on disengagement tactics? It’s very stressful and I’m open to any advice. Thankyou