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My puppy did so well the first 2 months we had him, we were seeing real progress and we had such a good time with trainers.

Recently he turned 17weeks and he developed such a strong separation anxiety that I cant leave him in his crate during the day anymore, my partner and I cant really leave in front of him, im really struggling at work to leave him on his own too…

And I know the deal of rewarding quiet time, giving him something to do, making sure he exercise.. But im lost and fried.

Its been a few days of him crazy coming at me for bitting, crazy running around the sofa scratching, crazy humping my colleagues and crazy barking.

Nothing changed, everything is supposedly as calm and as controlled as we ever had it so I am….fried. We went to the vet and he is really healthy and yeah we dont understand why he cant settle no more.

I know theyre supposed to go through fear stages and adolescence but I wasnt expecting it to get suddenly this hard…

I have a 4month mini dachsund that I got a couple weeks ago. I've given him carrots, snuffle mats, cardboard boxes, paper towel tubes, slow feeders, kongs, bully sticks, and a variety of toys that give him different sensations (crinkle toys, puppy chew toys, tennis balls). I even do 15min of desensitization videos and have him sit outside with me to listen to outside noises. Is there anything that you give your puppy that further their enrichment?

I cant take him out for his walk for another month before his rabies/last bordetella shot (per the vet) so I want to make sure he's getting all the enrichment he needs.

As the title states, I live in the valley in Ca. There's tons of strays. Everything is expensive. I found another dog today outside of the ER when I went to get asthma help. Anyone have suggestions on how to rehome quickly? I'm overwhelmed with the amount of pets I find. I was going to add pics to discuss potential breeds, but it's not letting me post pics.

I have a 6 year old anxious, reactive, Jack Russell mix. For the last couple of months I have noticed she hides under the couch pretty often. Any time I leave the house and come back, she crawls out from underneath the couch and I'm guessing she has been hiding the entire time. Prior to the last couple months, I only ever saw her hide like that when there was noise outside, like fireworks.

Just a few days ago, she had HGE. While the cause of this is unknown, it seems like stress can play a role. She is already on trazadone. Every time we go to the vet, I double up her trazadone and give her gabapentin which does basically nothing. She is TERRIFIED every time and it is always a nightmare. This last time I couldn't even get a muzzle on her because she was fighting me so hard.

The recent bout of HGE has me thinking a lot about what I can do to help her be more calm, not only at the vet but just in general. I don't know why she has been hiding under the couch so often lately, but I am guessing she is scared or anxious or something.

Any advice for helping keep her stress levels low?

She has kong style toys, yak milk, hard bone, etc. Not interested. She's only interested in toys she can destroy and consume. She'll chew on a rawhide type stick for a while and either eat it or get bored and abandon it. We have several half eaten bones/chewies like this all around the house. I don't think she's trying to satisfy a need to chew or else the harder things would be gone. She ignores hard rubber toys, even if we fill them with peanut butter. She looks so hurt if I take away a soft toy and give her a bone. I've been getting her those long lasting plush toys made of a tough weave, and she does chew it, pull at the strings, swallow it. Those take her a long time to actually eat, so I'm wondering if a few strings here and there will block her up. I have a king Charles cavalier, so you can imagine the manipulation of sad eyes I have to be faced with. Like I'm watching a Sarah McLachlan Xmas commercial.

Our very sweet senior rescue dog with dementia (and PTSD) starting today is refusing to take any of his pills in pill pockets. He gets three pill pockets in the morning and two in the evening. He gets fluoxetine (Prozac), gabapentin, carprofen for pain, amantadine for pain, and clonidine for anxiety.

I’m very sorry to say that we are going to be euthanizing him next week because his dementia has progressed and he is really struggling. So we have less than a week left. But today he stopped taking the pills. I’m concerned and will call the vet in the morning. But just wondering if anybody has any experience with other means to give a dog a pill. I hate to force pills down his throat, to do anything to make him uncomfortable, at this point in his life.

The vet may tell me it’s OK to just stop giving them to him. Although I would be concerned about whether his arthritis pain will become very painful for him.

I appreciate any thoughts anybody has on this subject. Thank you.

Edit to add: He is eating and drinking normally and taking treats. I think he just hates the taste of the pills when he gets a taste of them.

ok so im Hispanic and although me myself I'm not superstitious I know the area I live in their are lots of people who acknowledge what I guess would be like "good" witches and bad ones. Went out to feed my dog earlier and the lady that moved in next door was throwing rose petals over the fence but around his area. I didnt catch her doing it but I dont have any roses or plants for that matter and I heard her calling him before I actually got to him because i was throwing out the trash and stuff in the front yard. When she did notice me she left but it didnt seem odd or anything. i noticed the rose petals afterwards. I just find it rather odd that there are rose petals all over his area and now I'm wondering if they are toxic tonl dogs or maybe its some superstitious thing or maybe just a home remedy of some type that I've never heard about. I know different cultures also have different beliefs in those home type remedies or snacks for pets. not even sure if that makes sense.

I've seen some ads for dog nail clippers that advertise a light at the cutting end to see the quick, however I tried my cell phones light and I can't see thru any of them.

Is it possible to see the quick with black nails?

Any tips on those that have had a dog losing it's hearing? It started about 6 months ago. He is a 12 year old Boston terrier Chihuahua.

My daughter is not his favourite. He is her world, she is absolutely obsessed, but he is old and just wants to be left alone. I make sure everyone gets their space with a fence separating large rooms so we are all together but also he can nap in peace on his bed during times she just wants to run around causing havoc.

I notice now I have to obviously raise my voice to talk to him. Not in a mean tone, but I'll ask him like 3 times about going to the bathroom or to follow me and he just doesn't hear me. I am now talking so loud to him it's startling my daughter sometimes. I don't want her to think it's normal to be so loud, especially to animals, but I can't not talk to my dog? He's 12 and stubborn.. I don't see him learning new hand signals.

Any tips?

There’s a lot of people who ask what breed of dog they should get, but I already have a wonderful Miniature American Shepherd whom I do agility with. Instead, I’m left wondering what breed of dog I would be! Online quizzes are excellent to pass the time, but they’re often quite inaccurate and leave a lot of gaps in their questioning and reasoning. I believe that hearing from other people would be more fun. It’s also less pressure to completely match a breed since I’m not actually looking to commit to a dog.

Hoping this post doesn’t get taken down, because I think it’s on-topic, but I could definitely see why someone might feel that it’s not.

Listed below are some physical, personality-based, and other traits to take into consideration. I’ve originally thought Border Collie due to some physical and personality traits, but I am unfortunately nowhere near their energy level lol. I’d absolutely adore hearing from others!

Physical traits:

• Curly hair

• Taller than average

• Weigh less than average

• Blue eyes

• Neurodivergent

Personality traits:

• Very specific; perfectionist

• Curious

• Smart but dumb

• Quiet

• Wary of strangers

• Passionate; driven

• Anxious

Other traits (facts, schedule, etc.)

• I am a very early morning person, I genuinely enjoy activities that require me to be up at 1-3 AM.

• Within groups, I tend to get control-freakish if I envision something in a certain way.

• Not the most physically active, but I usually do a half-mile to a full mile a day.

• I love puzzle games, stuff that makes me have to consider mechanics and work through ideas.

• I tend to stick to very few, specific genres of movies, books, etc. but don’t mind straying if it’s what somebody else wants.

• Under pressure I can get very avoidant.

Thank you for reading, and sharing thoughts for those who do! Does anybody else have a specific dog breed they interpret themselves as?