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I take a lot of photos and videos of my dog, but sometimes I feel like they don’t fully capture the quirks and little habits that actually make him who he is.

Not just what he looks like — but the dramatic reactions, weird routines, specific expressions.

Has anyone found a creative way to preserve that side of their dog? Something more intentional than just albums or captions?

Or is this just one of those things that’s hard to really capture?

Curious what people have tried.

Hi guys,

I'm currently researching options for dog grooming courses in my city and am having trouble deciding what to choose. Some course outcomes include a Cert III in Animal Care, and some don't. I know that there is no need for an official certification to be a professional pet stylist, but I was wondering if it would be worth doing a longer course that includes this Cert? I'm assuming the course with the most practical grooming opportunities will be my best bet, even if that doesn't mean obtaining my Cert III.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you :)))

Hi all,

I have a ~1.5 neutered male who loves to play with dogs. He is very well mannered with other dogs when off leash and is never pushy or rude. I take him to a large dog park roughly once a week so he can play with other dogs. I typically go during off hours and always leave when it gets too busy.

I know a lot of people have experience with their neutered males not liking intact males, but I have yet to really find practical training solutions to help with this. I don't know anyone with an intact male that I could work with, so that is not really an option.

Recently, whenever there is a large intact male at the dog park (doesn't seem to be too phased by small intact males interestingly enough), he gets very in their face and barks / is very rude / will NOT leave them alone. I always grab him and leave to avoid any escalation.

For additional context, I adopted him at 6 months old and around ~8 months he developed quite a bit of leash reactivity towards other dogs. His recall is already quite good, but I'm working diligently to perfect it so that I can actively call him away from these situations, as I'm always a little hesitant to pull him away from another dog in case he becomes 'reactive' due to being held back.

I'm not looking for harsh criticism here either please. This dog has come with a lot of baggage and I'm doing everything I possibly can to work with him. I'm just looking for tips on how to help him (if possible) become more neutral when he encounters such situations.

Thanks.

TLDR: what are some tips to ACTUALLY neutralize neutered dog around intact males (if any)?

Anytime I am sitting down I have to constantly get up to throw his toy for him. Any tips?

Hoping to get some suggestions on tricks or training to work on while I’m nap trapped (I.e., sitting with a bag of treats unable to move).

We’ve got the basics (sit, down, leave it, drop it, find it, touch, gentle, catch). My go to is currently getting her to sit, stay and throw a treat for her ro chase or impulse control,.

Additional info: 1.5 year old lab mix,use marker words for training.

Hi yall! I have a lovely mutt who is about to be two who really is a good girl. She is smart, good with dogs and people, a great listener, fantastic hiker off leash. She has a good grasp of basic commands. What I deal with her is that she tends to shut down during training (especially indoors) and doesn’t think it’s “fun”- I have four dogs and she is the only one of the pack who gets very nervous when trying to work with her. All my other dogs seem to get excited and happy to work- even the Siberian husky!

For example, outside on a walk or hike she will go into a down stay with a lot of confidence and good body position. Inside if I ask for the same command, she sinks in on herself and tucks one paw under her body, and does not hold that proper “down” position. No amount of luring or attempts to get her to “untuck” seem to work, if anything it seems like she gets more shut down. She would rather roll over and show you her belly. She’s VERY willing to please typically but when she shuts down mentally like this you can see in her eyes a change.

She does have separation anxiety that we have worked through a lot this year. She is doing much better with crate training, but still seems to struggle at times when I ask her to go to her kennel. I will ask her to go to her kennel and wait while I ready her food and it seems like every day, despite consistently asking for this same behavior of waiting in the kennel twice a day, she will make multiple attempts to break her stay. I did use treats to teach this behavior at first but have weaned off them as it’s been a few months.

Mostly I just want to see her blossom into a more confident version of herself who does not shut down when we are trying to train. I’m wondering if there are additional tasks/commands anyone has had success with helping a dog become more confident. She is a very smart dog and I think encouraging her to work more and have jobs will help. I’d love to grow more as far as my training abilities go too, and I feel like she ended up my dog to push me to be better. Thank you all in advance!

Hello! We recently foster failed a dog and we also have a guinea pig in the home. The dog desperately wants to make friends with the pig. I’m trying to train her to ignore the pig/not stand up to see in the cage. She only does this occasionally but when she does, I say no, give her the off command, and when she disengages and gets down, she gets a high value treat.

My question is, am I rewarding her for standing on the cage? I just want to make sure she understands that the reward comes when she gets down and disengages with the pig.

Also, does anyone have any tips on training with a prey drive? She’s only been out of the shelter for ~3 weeks and she was previously abused/used for breeding so she’s not consistently playing just yet. Otherwise we’d be playing prey drive-y type games!

Note: The guinea pig is SAFE. Her cage is raised, I made a lid, and she truly has no survival instinct lol, she goes right up to sniff the dog, she’s used to our fosters, she doesn’t run or get scared. Additionally, if I notice anything escalating she’ll immediately be moved into our bedroom. The only reason I haven’t done so yet is because her sister recently passed away and I’m not ready for another pig just yet. Guinea pigs are very social animals so I want her to be in the man area of the house until we decide to get her a new friend.

I am located in Alberta Canada. I have been interested in working with service dogs for a very long time. Probably since I was a child. However, I just recently moved to be closer to my husbands job and therefore lost the one I was at previously and as I'm looking for a new job I'm really considering putting my efforts into working towards the goal of being involved with the training of service animals. Previously I have worked as a kennel attendant at abiut 3 different dog kennels / daycare. As well as the SPCA. And as a bather in a grooming shop. I have a ton of experience around dogs and cats and most animals really and a deep passion and love for them as well. I feel this is what drives my goal. As well as this would be really fulfilling to me because I am passionate about helping people who silently struggle. I have also seen first hand how an animal can save your life. That being said, I have no idea where to start. The more I look into it the more confused and overwhelmed I am because it's not straightforward. I'm looking on advice on where to start this journey and if there is any accreditation education for service dog training in Alberta? **I know there is a program in medicine hat unfortunately that is too far from my husbands job. Im looking for something I can do online or around the area we live which is like central Alberta.

My husband and I separated recently, and my 11-year-old dog and I just moved into an apartment.

He has never had separation issues before (had him since a pup), but since the move I can’t leave for more than ~30 seconds without him howling. He’s otherwise totally normal… eating, playing, napping, acting like himself when I’m home.

It’s heartbreaking and also really stressful because I start a new in-office job soon. (8 hours M–F). I can come home on my lunch break to let him out, but I fear the howling will start again when I leave.

I’ve read through the wiki and tried desensitizing, music, long walks, frozen Kongs/high-value treats, calm exits, etc. It’s only been a week (I know that’s not long), but I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this kind of sudden anxiety after a move… especially with an older dog who never struggled before.

We’ve moved multiple times in his life and he’s never had this hard of a transition, which is why I feel so lost right now.

If you’ve been through something similar, I’d really appreciate hearing what helped or how long it took to improve. I know I need to be patient but I’m honestly a little terrified about leaving Monday.