Blog

Hi everyone! I’m needing some advice on how I should prepare to leave my dog alone for 9 hours since I’m going to be at work. I have a 1.5 year old JRT and I currently live with my family so she has never spent a day alone. My family is going out of town this week and I need to work so she will be left alone for the first time ever for a long period of time. I am pretty nervous because I don’t know how she’ll do. I bought indoor cameras to check on her and also made sure to buy her bones to chew on since I know she’ll get bored. I get an hour lunch so I plan of coming home during my lunch time to take her outside to potty and just spend time with her while I can. Maybe I’m just overthinking it but when you left your dog alone for a long period of time were there any issues? Did they react well? I’m worried she won’t do well and just start going crazy or crying. I plan of leaving tv on for her, lots of toys and things to keep her entertained. I guess I’m just really anxious right now because I know how much she’s used to having a person around and I’m worried she won’t take it well :/

I have a baby who's just an absolute angel when I'm home. But when everyone leaves, she has a nasty habit of shredding any and all paper she can get to. Is there a solution?

We live in an RV park next to a large mowed field where dogs are allowed to walk. It's an open area and it's windy here often, so sometimes stuff from the park will get blown out there (think folding chairs, flower pots, etc).

My dog doesn't like this.

He's a roughly 5yo Pitt/acd/collie. When he sees stuff out there, even if they're just small things, he'll crouch down with his ears back and start trilling. If I let him go smell it, he creeps up and gets really low to the ground, sometimes gets his fur standing up. Once he determines it's "safe," he's good.

It hasn't been a "problem," per se but it's definitely interesting.

My dog likes the squeakair kong xs balls but has gone through maybe one a month recently. He also likes a specific spiky squeaky ball (specifically the ball from tall tails oyster and pearl) but won’t touch the gnawsome spiky balls that look identical from chewy. I also got him a different smaller squeaky ball that looks sort of rubbery but is really hard to squeak.

Does anyone have recommendations for xs/small (1.5-2”) balls that are easy to squeak that their small dogs like?

Hello! I adopted my senior dog last year, she's turning 14 this year and is still a puppy at heart.

I'm in contact with her previous owner and found out she never travelled in her life. That honestly made me sad and I wanna go on at least two or three holidays with her while she still can. We would stay in my country and travel via car or train.

What are some essentials I absolutely need for travelling with a dog, especially a senior? Does anyone have experience?

Hello! I’m happy to have found this page! Me and my fiancé have adopted a sweet Akita/Husky mixed girl when she was 8 weeks. She is now 12 week, potty training has been great, she’s getting comfortable in her kennel, and training has been good (knows touch for her recall, sit, down and leave it) of course being so young she’s teething so the bites are abundant and once that happens I put her in her kennel and she goes right to bed for a few hours. She had a moment where she tried to nip me and growled when she was eating as I was petting her. I heard that the breed (Akita) can commonly have resource guarding tendencies so we have been hand feeding her to give her more confidence and trust with us and it’s been great so far I pet her while she eats out of my hand and I get her sit back down before every bite.

When she plays with other dogs (they’re smaller breeds outside of my partners friends dog that is a big lab mix so she’s the same size as them is not a little taller) she shows teeth and gets a bit over aggressive which I can tell from her growls when she’s playing (with the smaller or same size dogs not the big ones) . I break them up once I start seeing that as I don’t want it to escalate and she or the other dog gets harmed, her teeth are VERY sharp!

Am I overreacting a bit considering she’s so young and it only happens when playing for a bit? My concern is not having her be aggressive with other dogs we don’t have the same issue with people. She’s on a good routine, I have had family dogs growing up (German Sheppard and a Border Collie) so I enjoy the high I just want to make sure I’m giving her a good environment to grow but more importantly stop any bad acts before they become a habits.

Am I overreacting or are there ways to minimize that with other dogs? I would love to hear from anyone who has time, especially if you had had or have an Akita, thank you!

We got our girl just over a week ago and she is like two different dogs. In our home and in the backyard when she can run around she is confident, energetic, all wags and playing, and clearly loves us. She sleeps well in her crate, she's still on puppy pads because the breeder trained her on them and it just won't stop snowing and freezing rain here (please I'm waiting for spring) but she never misses. She is loving and intelligent, knowing several commands already.

If we pick her up (both to go outside or just sitting on the couch) or put her in a stroller or on a little mat outside she is absolutely petrified. Her entire body trembles and the few occasions we've had to do it for a long time starts panic panting. Sometimes she'll take treats in this state, sometimes not. But it will not stop no matter how long we wait. And pushing her through it when she's like that feels awful because she is completely shut down the entire time.

Then the very second you put her down again and let her move around it's all forgotten and she's all waggles and running around joyfully. She goes from 0 to 100 and back again with no period to really get her used to the scary parts before she is already shaking. The breeder did ENS with her and she absolutely is confident with new things but only when she's on the ground.

We are absolutely at a loss on how to socialize her for all she's going to need to do out there in the world once she gets her vaccines when the act of getting her out the door is terrifying her and not being able to run around under her own power makes her tremble so much she just hides in on herself. I've officially run out of ideas and could use some advice if anyone has had a fearful dog that's only really afraid some of the time.

I have a 9 week old puppy and she is obsessed with eating rocks and bugs. Every time I take her outside, she acts like it’s her personal mission to search for them. I’ve started keeping her on a leash at all times outside so I can stop her, but I’m still really concerned.

I feed her based on her weight and even started giving her a little more because I thought maybe she was still hungry, but now I’m not sure if that’s the issue or if this is just normal puppy behavior.

Brought our 9 week old puppy home yesterday. Spent a lot of the time in the garden and snuggling on the sofa. She loves comfort and being near me. We had a plastic bed that we brought her home in with a towel and small blanket that smelled of her mum. She peed all over it a few hours after we got home. I set up the crate before she arrived (we took the door off) but she cried quite a lot. Went to bed just after midnight and she was up this morning crying and barking at 5:15am! She has the whole kitchen to herself. When I came down, I discovered that she had weed and poo’d all in the crate all over her bedding. She didn’t come from the cleanest home so wondering how I can get her out of this?

Also, locked her in the kitchen today whilst we had dinner (closed the baby gate) and she screamed the whole house down like she was being murdered! I have a heated pad and towels in the crate but she just won’t settle there at all and wants to be on your lap or snuggled in your neck.

What can I do to help her settle in the kitchen? I can’t have her screaming and barking all night… or should I sleep on the sofa with her (although stressing that she might wee and poo on me 😑)

She’s 9 weeks and 4 days old.