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My dog is a fairly healthy 15 year old girl. She still interacts with us, loves eating and going outside, sometimes has restless nights, has arthritis which she gets shots for as treatment. but for the most part she is okay. the problem is about 2 years ago she developed a growth on her foot. the vets refused to amputate because her age makes it high-risk. it got larger and larger, and she would occasionally lick it. but it's gotten to the point she is obsessive. she licks her growth until there's no skin there and it's bleeding, we wrap her foot but within a few hours she has taken it off and again is licking it obsessively. we got her a medical boot as a barrier, but we can't keep it on too long at a time. All we can really do is push her face away from it when we catch her. The growth clearly makes her uncomfortable and in pain.My family loves her so so much but it's starting to make me feel very guilty, and i wonder if it's worth putting her out of this pain and misery.

So my older dog, who is a 4.5 year old lab x bernese cross, was fairly well behaved. Not perfect by any means, but I was able to leave her by herself in the house without fear of damage. The worst wr could expect was shoes and socks moved around, or food stolen if it was too easily grabbed.

A few months ago, I adopted a rescue puppy. She is now 6 months old. Breed unknown, but I suspect German shepherd cross. She is very energetic.

The two dogs get along really well and my older dog is getting more exercise playing outside with the puppy.

The puppy is never left loose in the house without supervision. She sleeps in her crate at night and during the day she naps in my office.

During that time, my older dog has started misbehaving. She steals anything she can physically reach on the table and counters. Food, food containers, salt shakers… She keeps stealing my reading glasses and chewing on them. Today she stole my book and chewed the corner off.

I have blocked her access to the kitchen. But I am not sure what else to do. Do I need to go back to 24h surveillance with her too?

Is it common for dogs to act up after a new dog is introduced? Could she be jealous?

I adopted the sweetest standard poodle two days ago, besides some nighttime barking she been a dream. She is going to be trained into a service animal (was supposed to start next week with professional trainer)

However now I’ve had a medical emergency come up that most likely land me in the hospital for 2 weeks (I have chronic illness, hence service dog)

I’m feeling very stressed that she will bond to my family now instead of me or stress when left alone (I’m home 24/7) this is horrible timing. I’m worried this will affect her in the long run.

Does anyone have an idea how to repair latex toys? My dog has a pig and a chicken she lives but she keeps destroying them by poking big holes in them.

I ordered a set from Tags for Hope for my pup over a month and a half ago. I have been in contact with customer service, they repeatedly keep telling me the order will ship out the day they reply and I still have not received it. Every time I try to put my order number into tracking on their website, it says “something went wrong”. I thought they were a legitimate company who gave proceeds to helping animals, which is why I chose to get my pups new collar and leash set from them. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

We (family of 4) adopted a 9-month old male Shepard mix. He was likely a stray since at a very young age. It has been about 2 weeks since we've had him. Besides a few accidents inside the house and slowly trusting us, he has been pretty awesome house training. He is sweet and calm.

Now the bad side, he is very (not extremely) shy around people, fearful of his surrounding, and separation anxiety seems to increase each day.

The problem: on Mondays, he is alone for at least 8 hours. We don't trust him inside the house yet, where he prefers and has quickly become very comfortable at. So we kept him in the garage and he destroyed things. Oh well, I move on. Today, he also had to be alone for 4 hours, we put him in the backyard with plenty of space to roam freely and access to the garage for privacy. He literally clawed and bit through the patio door molding to the point you can see the house foundation and through to the kitchen.

We've tried the kennel and he broke through that. He hates it. I don't know what else to do. He doesn't trust us enough yet to train him (he isn't food/treat motivated). We are only focusing on house rules/routine for now.

I’m curious how common this actually is. We went through a phase where our dog had on-and-off digestive problems that didn’t seem tied to food changes. Loose stools, picky eating, sometimes refusing meals altogether. Vets ruled out anything serious, and nothing obvious was “wrong.”

What surprised me was realizing how closely it lined up with stress. Changes in routine, being left alone, even subtle things like travel or guests in the house seemed to trigger it more than diet itself.

Once we focused less on constantly switching food and more on routine, calm exits, predictable walks, and reducing overall stress, his digestion slowly improved too. It wasn’t instant, but it was noticeable over time. I’m not saying gut issues are always emotional, obviously there are medical causes. But I’m wondering how many of you have seen stress or anxiety show up physically in your dog’s stomach before behavior ever did. Would love to hear what you’ve noticed or what helped.

Diamond is at Devore Animal Shelter in San Bernardino. She is a young GSD. It is open-intake and has a high turnover, run down facilities, and minimal resources. Her animal ID there is A835140. She has only been there for 11 days and is scheduled to be euthanised at 2PM PST on 1/14/26. She came in with puppies and as soon as her last puppy was adopted she was shortlisted for euthanasia.

If you can foster or adopt, know someone who can, or know of a rescue that can help, please contact the shelter immediately. Even just spreading the word can help as she has very little time and the more traction she gets the more likely her life is saved. The shelter’s phone number is (909) 386-9820. Even just calling and asking about her could help give her more time.

TL;DR: Our dog often wakes us up 1–3 hours before our alarms, and sometimes doesn’t need/want to go out. Trying to figure out if this is something we can change or if it’s just who she is (especially given our living situation).

We adopted a ~2.5-year-old rescue dog in March 2025. We live in a 2nd-floor condo with no fenced yard, so no doggy door. We totally understand the occasional off-schedule wakeup if she needs to potty, but lately she’ll wake us up and then… not actually want to go out.

For example, she’ll come into the bedroom early, very happily looking for attention (tail wagging, licking my face). If I get up, sometimes she just hops on the couch and goes back to sleep. Other times she gets into harness position and is ready to go out. This happens a few times a week, not every day, but we’d love to sleep in more consistently.

She didn't really use the crate we bought and she likes to move between our bedroom and the living room sometimes, so we leave our doors open at night. I suspect she would whine/scratch if we closed the bedroom door, but it is something we haven't tried yet.

She gets at least 3 walks a day and usually goes each time. She’s also a very inconsistent eater, but her vet and behaviorist aren’t concerned. Unrelated (or related?), she's been seeing a trainer for leash reactivity and has recently started a prescription regimen, though waking us up early predates that.

Is this something we can train or manage better, or is this just part of who she is, at least while we’re in a condo with no fenced yard, and something we need to get used to?

My family’s dog is 17 and is for the most part a happy dog who still eats well. We’ve had her since she was a puppy. However, she’s going deaf and blind and is incredibly confused with her surroundings. She stays in bed for 16+ hours a day and the other dogs can make her snap at them when they try to play. She falls down a lot, too. My family has never had an old dog like this before and we want to know what to look for in knowing when it’s time to euthanize. Is she doing well enough that we should wait for her to pass on her own? Any other advice on how to make a blind/deaf dog more comfortable would also be appreciated. Thank you!