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This thread is where to get emotional support with all things related to death and illness with your dog. This is also a thread where you can seek assistance with deciding whether it is indeed time.

This is not a thread to seek anecdotes with medical care. All rules involving medical questions and anecdotes remains the same for this thread.

If your dog has passed, you can still post here for emotional support or you can create your own thread tagged with one of the RIP flairs. Be sure to review the rules of our flair guide. It is up to you how you choose to grieve.

My new 12 week old puppy has had her first vaccine. Is it safe for her to be around my parents 11 year old dog who is up to date on all her vaccines and doesn’t have any illness that we are aware of. Or would she need to wait until she has had her final vaccine in two weeks? We weren’t given any advice and I’m getting conflicting information when googling. Just would like to know your opinions and experiences.

And wow, is it a game changer! It now lives on my puppies collar more often than not. He loves carrying it around and walking himself, when people come to the door, he grabs a hold of it, and it keeps him somewhat occupied and jumping less cause he has something he feels he needs to do plus it’s much easier to grab the short lead than just his collar or harness to maneuver him around if he’s being stubborn and not listening .

Originally, I did think it would be an annoyance for him, but he barely even notices it most of the time and he’s big enough that it doesn’t touch the ground unless he puts his head down. Surprisingly he doesn’t really chew on it either. Game changer for a puppy! Just saying.

My partner and I (24f) just got a 7mo puppy and we are absolutely in love with her! My partner’s parents are thrilled and so is my mom, but my dad has said for years that I’m “not allowed” to get a dog, not for any specific reason except “because I said so”.

Obviously we live on our own and pay our own bills and take care of the dog ourselves so that’s not an issue. I’m just looking for the most ridiculous, funny way to tell my dad we got the dog to hopefully help him to be less cranky about it when he finds out.

For context, we’re both filmmakers and have access to a video/photo studio and could make something hilarious to show him. Open to your most ridiculous and creative suggestions, and hearing what worked for you if you have been in this situation!

Hello. I have two wonderful dogs. They get along great. One is about 10 and one is about 2. They are mixed breads. I walk them everyday and they have the run of the house during the day. They also have a large kennel w a soft bed in the utility room. At night they pick their sleeping spot. The two year old sleeps at the foot of my bed about half the night then returns to the open door kennel. The 10 year old goes to bed about 9 every night in the open door kennel and both stay there until I get up in the morning. My question is why do they pick to sleep in the kennel when they could sleep at the foot of my bed? The couch,etc.?

Hi all, we have a 1 year old show line cocker spaniel who is attached to just me. We have a gate at the bottom of the stairs as he’s not trusted alone in the bedrooms. When I go upstairs without him he will bark and whine a lot until I come back down. He’s fine when anyone else is apart from him it’s just me. We are going to start small training sessions where I go upstairs my partner sits and rewards calm behaviour but I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas that helped them!

Below are a few things I think are note worthy or give insight to situations in which he’s ok.

1. He sleeps in a crate every night in our bedroom. No fuss or whining until about 6am on workdays, 7am on weekends which is when we usually get up to let him out.

2. He comes to work with me at a daycare and is not bothered when we are apart or when he’s alone, no whining or barking.

3. If I go for a shower he’s happy to sit outside the shower door, doesn’t need to see me won’t scratch on door or bark.

4. He is reactive to cars, new people and dogs, our dog trainer said he’s an insecure dog. Not sure if this is related but thought it was worth mentioning.

5. I do 90% of his care, feeding, letting out for toileting, training, I use to walk him by myself daily but he’s currently not allowed on normal lead walks (per his trainer) so I take him out at lunch during the work day, he comes to work with me, I usually put him to bed, I give most of his treats.

Let me know if think there’s anything we could do other than what we have planned. Also happy to take help for his reactivity if you have any! TIA

Hi all! I have a 5 month Frenchie pup and when we got him at 13 weeks, he was doing really well with going outside. We’d take him out every hour or so and generally, he’d always go and rarely had accidents. However, we are realizing actually we weren’t teaching him potty training, just that when he’s outside, he knows to go. But we weren’t teaching him to ONLY go outside and how to give cues. Now, I’m at a loss as to where to start. He has started to have more accidents in the house and I’m wondering if it’s too late. And tips? TIA!

7 year old poochon-

A few years ago she had her first phantom pregnancy and I guess at some point she thought one of her toys was her child, she cleaned it every day, dipped it in her food bowl to "feed" it, brought it on walks with her. It never left her side, I do think she thought it was her baby. A few weeks ago she dropped it in a swamp and nobody noticed before it had sunk under and she was trying to dig it out. Now she's seeming really depressed, she cries at the washing machine because she thinks it's in there, she eats less and stays in her bed most days.

I feel heartbroken at seeing her like this, is there any way I can help her?

Ok so perhaps a dramatic title, but my 9mo cocker spaniel boy is the sole reason I get noise notifications on my watch daily. The barking has gone through the roof, a previously happy napper and sleeper in his crate is refusing to nap for longer than 30 minutes, and doesn't want to go to bed at night. I used to love my evenings, he was ready for bed at 9 and I'd have quiet time. But now it's a full blow nightmare long into the evening.

We have had to restrict his outside free roam in the yard after a run-in with a cane toad, and it seems to have triggered his protesting behaviour in the evening. But my god I am close to tears most days. I feel like I've tried everything, he is walked daily, gets adequate enrichment and also periods of time where we're not doing much. I have tried ignoring the barking completely, redirecting to training cues, nothing seems to work. Please send help, either advice or just letting me know that you're also in the trenches. My anxiety and ears are at their wits end.