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I was walking my dog in a public park. Granted the park was pretty empty but there were two large dogs not leashed with their owners hanging out at my usual path. I usually go straight through but I decide to go around. Then one of the dogs start chasing after us. My dog is scared. I stand in between. The owner walks up yelling the dog's name and saying sorry, but doesn't do anything just stands there. I tell him calmly "You gotta have him on a leash". The guy crashes out. "Oh yeah? I will have him on a LEASH. Way to be a f**ing dick." He is a large muscular dude basically yelling at me at this point. I didn't want to escalate and left the scene with my dog immediately. tldr: I was called a dick for asking to have a dog on a leash at a park.

Something new (and very peaceful) is coming to Richmond 🐾🌾

We’ve officially opened Doggy Meadows, a high-end, farm-based boarding experience designed for low-stress stays. We aren't your typical kennel—we are a low-volume, free-roam sanctuary where your dog can enjoy the fresh air and individual attention they deserve all day long while having the security and comfort of a private suite at night.

I think I might be in over my head with my dog, looking for some honest advice. I adopted him about a year ago from a rescue. He has a large patch of burn scars on his back and is missing two toes on one of his back paws. Most of the time he’s a happy “normal” dog, except for when I’m cooking, and when we try to cut his nails.

When I cook, I think the sizzling sounds and smoke really trigger him. He gets extremely scared and tries to hide or run out the door. So much so that he pees and poops indoors. Nail trimming is the same. He won’t let anyone touch his paws and we’ve taken him to multiple vets, and no one has been able to trim his nails. He’s gets so scared he pees and poos at the vet. The only way we’ve been able to do it is under anesthesia which is honestly really crazy……

Honestly I feel like I’m in way over my head. I’m a first time dog owner and I feel like I’m not a good fit for him. Nothing I tried has improved his trauma response, and it’s just been getting worse. Any suggestions? Or is rehoming the best option?

Edit: for nails, we’ve tried grinders, nail filers, cutting one nail a day (took us 1 month of trying everyday to cut 1 lol). We use a scratch pad for front paws, but it doesn’t get his back paws and dewclaws

Just brought in a new puppy (Maggie) with my 9 year old (Max) and 11 year old (Teddy). Teddy is the sweetest and easiest-going dog. Whenever Maggie (the puppy) comes up to Teddy, he just walks away.

Max is a bit of a tougher case. He's a much more territorial dog. Whenever he sees Maggie, he stiffens up and sometimes lunges at her aggressively. We have Maggie in a gated pen, and giving Max a treat everytime he looks at her calmly, I think is maybe working a little. He can be near her and not get irritated as long as she's in her pen (he did growl once with her in there tho)

We only got her ~36 hours ago, but it's worrying me a bit that they won't get along. Teddy walks away when she comes to play, which makes her a little sad, and Max is still aggressive with her. I don't want to do the wrong thing and reinforce the wrong behavior, any advice is very much appreciated

As post says. Six month old husky German shepherd mix we did everything such as keep safe spaces for the kitties. But I’m worried because when trying to introduce she did this mouth snapping thing and I’m not sure if she’s just playing but my cat is growling a lot. She also chased him once. I redirected but need to know if I should get a different breed; I want a dog so bad but my three cats are stressed and now separated in separate rooms for three weeks now.

Is it at all possible to integrate or is this prey drive too high? I’m beginning to give up on even being able to have a dog because this happened once before when we fostered five years ago but I thought it was just the dog. We love her, but I don’t know if she’ll ever be able to integrate into our home with the cats and I don’t want them to be miserable and definitely not in danger.

I’ve never left any of them alone with her but I don’t know if this is trainable in this breed. Please don’t be unkind, I’m just looking for honest advice on this. I miss my cats just chilling in the home and don’t know if that’ll ever be possible again.

Had to say goodbye to my 16‑year‑old Boston terrier, Bailee, a month ago. She was my baby, not just a pet. I wasn’t ready for another dog, but last week I browsed Petfinder and ended up meeting two 8‑week‑old puppies. I couldn’t separate them, so I’m adopting both.

Here’s where I’m uneasy:

• Neither puppy is fixed, and the rescue doesn’t require proof I’ll do it which i though was required
• They aren’t microchipped and I’m pretty sure also a law.
• They haven’t been dewormed and are only being dewormed because i insisted and only got their first shots this week.

Adoption is $400 each, plus I’ll pay for spay/neuter, chipping, and more vaccines—around $1,700 total. I thought rescues were supposed to handle most of that. Are these red flags, or am I overthinking?

Our vet has recently recommended our old dog go on heart medication and we’ve followed his advice. When looking online to find out more about it, I’ve seen you can buy it for half the price IF you have a prescription. Same dosage, same number of tablets. Is it normal for a vet to put 100% mark up on meds? I would have thought 20-30% as reasonable, but 100% seems high. Should I raise this with him? Would a vet give me a prescription to buy online?

I fostered a timid shelter dog about 1.5yo for 3-4 weeks. She came to me underweight, terrified, unfixed, coughing, and with some house-training issues. We made a lot of progress, good weight gain, spayed, absolutely delighted to meet new human friends, figuring out other human rules. Then, I had work shit happen and had to leave her crated to 9-10 hours, and it just wasn't fair. Even when I was home, I had to crate her or be constantly interacting with her (crate if I go to the bathroom, wash dishes, etc.) I thought it was best to return her. She cried, I cried, it was awful.

Whelp, I made the mistake of going back to the shelter and while she's still at a healthy weight, she seems more reactive and less likely to get a good home while stressed. I would love to foster her again, or do a shelter-day break, but I know I have to travel again soon, and again in the summer. My question is, would it be harmful for her to do a single-day or short-term break? The sad thing is, I really think this dog would be great for a rough-and-tumble kinda 10yo kid, and I just wanna help her find that kid. (DC, Northern Virginia area if anyone is interested)

Hey everyone! I have a 10 month old husky mix and we recently started some advanced obedience as iam thinking about trying the BH exam when she gets to 15 months. I am abit confused about the correct heel position, I see many trainers teach it with eye contact during heel and other with head straight up (looking at my shoulder/using a ball to capture the straight up look), which one is the actual full points standard for competitions? Although straight up looks more flashy, eye contect feels more engaging.

My parents got a second dog around December last year, and whenever we take the other dog outside they hop on the door to look at us. One time he somehow slid the door open and ran away, so now I have to put him in a crate while taking the other dog outside.

The issue is that now he barks when I let the other dog out, I assume from anxiety. My parents are adamant that their method of negative reinforcement will work, however they've been using it for over a month and no progress has been made.

I was thinking of either standing outside the door until he stops barking for a period of time? However the issue is that my other dog takes forever to finally go to the bathroom, so it'll probably be his second or third pause before I can come inside. My other idea is that I could have somebody inside to give him a treat and say "quiet" when he pauses, but I don't know how that would help when nobody else is around to tell him quiet. What should I do?