Category: Top Dog

I've been diligently working with my puppy since we got him, and he's now 6 months old. He's great on a leash, and even great about letting people pass if we stop early enough and I've got a treat in front of his nose. But if not, he will violently throw himself at the person. He means to greet them and play, but it's scary for people and becoming a larger problem for me since he's 35 lbs of pure excitement tugging against me. He also goes nuts when someone approaches us to talk or meet him (which I try to avoid while he is leashed). It is beyond overwhelming and frustrating. I feel like I'm doing a lot of extra training beyond what most dog owners do (maybe I'm doing it wrong though!), so when do puppies become able to pass people in a calm manner?

Edit: we've also always discouraged jumping up on us and others to no avail. He's ok with us, but very rude with the jumping on strangers. When does that stop too!!

My seven-month-old puppy has never liked baths, though I’ve been trying to desensitize her since she was twelve weeks old. She ended up hating even going into the bathroom, so I bought her a portable bathtub for the living room while we worked on that (she’s now okay going into the bathroom sometimes but not in the bathtub or in the room when the water’s running). Initially I’d hoped to air dry her, and tried this for a few months, but this wasn’t really working so I bought her a blow dryer which I’m also trying to desensitize her to.

It’s difficult because giving her food alongside these things seems to have the reverse effect — she’s developed a dislike of her lickmat because she associates it with grooming (she’s not super food motivated in general though). Playing tug of war with her in the garden while the blow dryer is on inside (on the lowest setting) seems to be fine because the noise is just like a leaf blower or construction noise and she’s totally at ease with those! But indoors even in a different room she’s very anxious. (She’s fine watching and listening to the blow dryer on video — she seems to know it’s different.) I’ve been reading a lot about cooperative care and desensitization and sort of know what I need to do, here, but it’s going very slowly.

Her portable bathtub broke last time I was washing her, and I haven’t had a chance to get another one yet, but she needs a bath — I’ve been using dry shampoo and wet wipes, but she’s been scratching and licking in a way that makes me think she needs something more thorough. (I took her to the vet, thinking it might be allergies or something like that, but it hasn’t changed with her cytopoint shot.) But I’m afraid just giving her a bath while she hates it will send the desensitization backwards… I think she developed her fear of the blow dryer because her groomer just uses it on her even though she’s frightened. Does anyone have any advice for this?

so this may be a little long… I don’t know if anybody remembers. I made a post a couple months ago about someone dumping a mother dog and 11 puppies off at our property… My husband and I have a small farm. I was absolutely adamant that we was not keeping any of the puppies and I’ve had a terrible time trying to find them all homes, however as fate would have it… My three little girls absolutely fell in love with the run of the litter… We named her Milkshake. we also decided to adopt the mother and we’ve already got her spayed, and had an appointment set up for the Puppy to go get her vaccinations over the weekend. She was playful and then the next day it just hit all the sudden throwing up, bloody, diarrhea, everything… Absolutely no vets offices were open. and the emergency vet that I called said it would be $1500 just for an office visit over the weekend… They told me to try Pedialyte with a syringe, and bland food. I nursed her through the weekend and got her to the vet first thing this past Monday and they ended up admitting her. Now I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but my husband and I have got five kids altogether… On top of the farm and trying to do the right thing by getting the mother spayed and taking on all these puppies… today I had to make a difficult decision to get the dog out of the vet. They said that she hasn’t been throwing up but our vet bill is over $1500 already. There’s just no way I can pay for all of it… They gave me medicines and sent me home. She looks absolutely pitiful and I’m heartbroken. just wanted to vent and tell people to make sure to spay and neuter their pets and always vaccinate when they get puppies… I wish I could attach a picture of her. You guys would love her just as much as we do.

Anyone have a dog bed for a chewer?

She very much loves having a bed, but proceeds to chew it. Hasn't figured out that when she chews it, it goes away. She fies have chew toys and likes those and uses them regularly.

Doggo is almost 3 year Border Collie, Great Pyrenees and Australian Sheppard.

Edit * typos

I was hired through Rover to check in on a 2-year-old golden retriever, a 3-year-old border collie, and a senior mixed breed. The request is to come in the morning and evening for 30 minutes each time for two days while the owner is in Vegas. This afternoon I went to the owner’s house to meet her and her dogs. Because they’ve been destructive in the past, her plan is to keep the golden and the collie in their wire crates when I’m not there, which would be 23 hours a day. Obviously this is completely unacceptable and I intend to be there for hours at a time, not 30 minutes. However, that the owner even thinks this is fine is very concerning. Do I have any options over and above calling animal welfare?

I’m welcoming my first dog home in December and I’m looking for recommendations (Canadian preferred!) for custom collars & leashes. Biothane or tactical style would be awesome! I’d love to support a smaller business versus corp., happy to hear any and all recommendations based on your personal experience!

I've got an extra day off this week due to supply chain issues and I want to use it all for her. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I was planning on going to a park but that's all I can think of.