Blog

Trying to find a new container to keep our pups dog food in, but seems like all the dog food specific storage containers are damn near $80 (if not more). Does anyone have any alternative suggestions?

We’re in Florence KY and everyone I know is scrambling right now — some for childcare, some for pet help, some for both. Just wondering if it’s the same everywhere or if our area is uniquely chaotic this year.

I have a 5yo Catahoula Lab mix. She knows sit, lay down, shake, wait, she knows to wait for me to clip her leash on before getting out of the car, she loose leash walks and knows heel.

I wanna try teaching her new tricks/commands. What would be some fun stuff to do?

Looking for ideas to stop our 11 week old Dalmatian from mouthing/nipping. He’s a sweet boy and not aggressive at all. However he’s constantly biting and mouth and NOTHING seems to be working. We redirect with appropriate toys, tell him no firmly, cross our arm and walk away. He’s relentless.

We play with him a ton during the day (I work from home) and he’s outside every 20 min with some playtime after he goes potty.

We have even started him taking breaks in the kennel but I’m worried that will wind him up more?

My kids are getting frustrated because it hurts!

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

So we’ve just adopted a 3 year old male farm dog, we also have a 3 year old female dog who was already here. However since we got him he won’t stop peeing inside, it’s now day 4 and I feel like it’s never going to end! We let him outside and give him treats when he goes outside but it’s only small marking pees outside too.

Does anyone have any links or personal preference on where to find/purchase a pearl collar for my corgi? We’re having family photos soon and I’d like to get her a pearl collar to wear. One that looks fancy but doesn’t break my bank. If yall know anything please let me know we have pictures coming in 3/4 weeks

We have a 3 year old cat and a 1 year old mixed breed 90 pound dog (possibly retrieved and pit bull?).

We did the recommended slow starts. Had them both is separate rooms. Then did the baby gate. Then did the baby gate with only the opening for the cat. We are still at this stage.

The dog shows absolutely no aggression to the cat whatsoever. However, he is obsessed with her. He will stick his head through the baby gate to watch her, run up to her to lick her, and follow her around. He will jump on counters to try and get up to her high places as well. He is always very exited, tail wagging, and just wants to be around her.

The cat, to be fair, doesn’t seem scared of him. Sometimes she sits behind the gate and just watches him stare at her, and she will be purring during this. Other times, if we have the doors closed, she will meow at the door to be let out to see the dog. The cat seems to enjoy following the dog around, but gets mad when he follows her, and will hiss and bat at him. She never uses her claws.

We are at a loss. The dog, if he sees the cat in his space or through the baby gate, is unable to focus on anything else. It’s obsessive. We can distract with food or toys but once they are gone, he is right back to it.

I am so unsure about what to do with this dynamic. It has been days of this and it is getting exhausting.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

My puppy (22 weeks old, Dachshund/Yorkie/Jack Russell Terrier mix) has been with us for 12 weeks now. She’s our first dog, and we’ve put a lot of work into training. She's a loving, intelligent pup and she learned really quickly: she stopped biting hands and clothing within 2 weeks, is reliable with basic cues, crate trained within a week, and housetraining has been really successful over the last few weeks.

The issue is, last weekend she had to stay with my in-laws (without me or my partner), who have five small reactive dogs. When we normally visit, we either keep her on the leash, on our lap, or in a separate room because their dogs bark at her and we didn’t want her to pick up their reactivity or have a scary experience.

While she stayed there, she had free access to their dogs and a lot went wrong:

-No meal structure. mealtimes became social/play time, and my in-laws played with her during meals, came when she was attention-seeking, and she had access to lots of toys during mealtimes.

-24/7 access to kibble (huge open bowls for their own dogs) + 24/7 access to real bones, which she never gets at home.

-Their dogs bark nonstop when anyone enters/leaves; they also barked in her face whenever she tried to play.

-She started barking at people for attention, which she has never done. My MIL rewarded it. When we returned to pick her up, I witnessed my dog bark at my MIL for attention, and she responded by picking her up for a cuddle. She never used to bark like that.

-Multiple skirmishes and barking matches between her and their dogs. My in-laws encouraged free, unrestricted interactions all day.

Since coming home (6 days now):

She is a completely different puppy. We’ve kept her on her normal routine, but she:

-Has almost no appetite and plays with food she used to love

-Whines for attention or when we leave the room

-Protests in the crate. This morning she escalated from 0 to 100 into a meltdown when my alarm went off. Zero build-up. She's generally much more vocal in the crate at nap times, too.

-Flinches when we reach to pet her (even though she still chooses to jump into our arms).

-Is suddenly reactive/vigilant. She paces, stares out windows, and fixates on the neighbour’s dog. I can't keep her calm around other dogs outside now.

-Vocalises way more than before

-Struggles to hold sits/downs

-Completely ignores cues outside (she used to be great in low-distraction areas)

-This morning she pooped inside, despite having gone out just 10 minutes earlier. Her housetraining was amazing- for the last 3 weeks or so she would let us know if she needed to go out. She learned that she was supposed to do her business outside.

We’ve been consistent with boundaries and training all week, but she’s only getting worse, not better.

I’m worried that this weekend created either a fear period setback, a stress/trauma response, or that she’s picked up reactivity/social stress from being around five reactive dogs. Has anyone dealt with something like this? What helped you reset your puppy afterwards?

I know that regressions are normal in adolescence, but the dramatic change since spending the weekend away + the timing seems too suspect.

We’d been slowly introducing our cat and dog. (Cat is 10 years old, dog is new rescue, almost 2, lab-pit mix).

We have a baby gate/entire room the dog doesn’t enter where the cat has been since we adopted our dog, and have fed them on opposite sides of the closed door. They’ve progressed to a point where we supervise them as they are in the same room together.

Dog doesn’t chase the cat at all, the cat is comfortable in the same room as dog (except when she’s zoom-y). Generally the dog will sniff the cat, vice-versa, and then cat will go about his business and so will dog. We reward the dog for ignoring the cat when he’s around.

We give her (dog) freeze-dried chicken treats often when she does something we like, and the cat is also very interested in them. So when we reward the dog for laying in her bed calmly while the cat is around, he’ll (cat) will come up and sniff/try and have one too. We’ve been feeding them both some of the treats when this happens, (the cat on one side of our bodies, the dog on the other), but the dog doesn’t like it.

When the cat gets a treat too, or she finishes hers first, she starts huffing and snapping at the cat when we feed him treats near her. Not lunging, but jumping up on her front paws sometimes and getting in his face. (Trying to intimidate him away??) We do not want her to bite him, and are worried it could progress to that— but since she’s already getting a treat too, she shouldn’t be so defensive to him.

Additionally, she gets very upset/barks/whines when we pick up and/or pet the cat around her. She doesn’t like the cat getting attention when she isn’t.

Any advice is welcome.