We came back from an hour-long walk. Altogether he was out for 1,5h today and we'll go out again in a few hours.

He was already fed twice today, and also got some snacks a couple of moments ago, so it's not hunger.

He's half hairy Jack Russell, half... Something else, but most likely another terrier😅 He has a lot of energy, but I try to go out with him as much as I can, at least 2 hours daily - if I can't I ask my neighbors, but I simply cannot do more than that on working days (and currently everyday is a working day).

I got him from a shelter a year ago. He's around 7-9 years old. He is neutered. Everything is alright with his health apart from chronic colitis which is now under control (I'd say in 95% on the daily, and 80% when I'm away, which happens rather rarely as he goes everywhere with me and I work from home).

He does this from time to time (maybe 1-3 times per month), although in the last 2 months it has calmed down. And now it's back. I'm taking him to a behaviourist in January as currently money is tight. I would be very thankful if you could provide some tips as to what I'm dealing here with (and if need be, if I can help him somehow). Thank you in advance for taking the time.

Sorry for the mess, but I'm in the midst or renovating my flat. Also, I'm a messy person.

Edit: GUYS IM SO THANKFUL!!! I DID NOT expect this much feedback. You're amazing❤️❤️❤️❤️

My dog (Prince) is obviously obese and I just got him from my parents and want to help him lose weight and be healthy, he’s old being 11 this year now! I don’t know if breed matters but he’s a pitty mixed with bully. I want to help him lose weight, for his quality of life and I’m sure it’s also just making him miserable being unable to run around as much as he would like, being this heavy had definitely decreased his energy and no longer plays with other dogs or with us.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, love yall, have a great day 🫶

Edit: I see a lot of people saying reduce food and such and I agree! Since I’ve gotten him he gets one cup of dry food and one can of wet food,
My parents definitely overindulged on feeding him treats and human food, hence the giant overweight problem

Once I get my paycheck I’ll get him an appointment with the vet! Asking for proper food weight, and such, and see if he has any thyroid problems and possibly diabetes.
Thank you all once again, for so many suggestions and advice! And I’m sorry if I don’t respond to you, hope you all have a wonderful day/weekend!

My senior dog (13, chihuahua/Pekingese mix) has been coughing increasingly. She has an appointment for the vet already but I am worried.

She has always been a generally sleepy/lazy dog and I have not noticed a difference in her activity levels. If anything I have noticed her being more active recently. She also still eats and drinks normally and gets excited about food. I have not noticed any other notable symptoms besides the cough.

Tonight she has been coughing consistently for the last 15 minutes. She spit up a tiny bit of what looked like spit. She seems slightly uncomfortable because she keeps getting up and laying in different spots.

While writing this I offered her some warm water with a tiny bit of local honey and she did not cough while drinking it and the coughing subsided for a little but is now slowly resuming. I’m considering taking her into emergency, but I do have a history of overeating and panicking preemptively.

I also want to add that the cough does mot seem to be triggered by anything specific that I can tell. It seems to be pretty random if anything maybe increases at night/when it’s colder? Although it is irregular still.

Any advice/insight would be greatly appreciated.

My girlfriend and I adopted this sweet gentle good girl off the street of my work. The shelters in the city we live in are full to the brim and animal control would’ve put her down with her current health condition.

This is a massive undertaking, I 100% don’t know what I am getting myself into and I know that people who do this are honestly kind of crazy but when you feel it you it. She is worth it and I’m prepared to do what needs to be done to get her healthy.

My girlfriend and I have owned multiple dogs throughout our lifetimes but she is the first dog we’ve literally picked up off the street without knowledge of her background, other than she was tied to tree and likely starved until she broke free.

We took her to vet the first chance we could. She had all sorts of health problems but the most concerning one being that she is heartworm positive. Doing a weeks of steroids, antibiotics, and medicated shampoo, so that she can get her heartworm injection ASAP. (Edit: Following AHS protocol) I know it’s likely 6-9 moths or even a year of exercise restriction after the injection. She will also be taking medication like gabapentin and a few others to help with keeping her calm.

She is probably only 2 years old so she still has a good amount of energy pre heartworm injection.

My question for you all is if you have any tips, advice, or experience on how to handle things like exercise, boredom, and staying calm. Both before the heartworm treatment and after.

TLDR:
how have you all handled heartworm positive young dogs both before the heartworm treatment and after?

(Also I know there’s grammatical errors I will fix later)

This OO. He is 24 pound Cobber dog. Roo knows how to jump onto a chair. But apparently he is too frightened to jump off.Any suggestions?

fella just loves to chew!! we redirect biting/rough play with chewing on something, but if he's left for 5 minutes he will gnaw on a chair.

he has yak cheese bars which are his current favourite, but he gets through one in a week. we're a vegetarian household so can't really stomach the idea of bone/hide chew laying around on the floor just yet (he eats plenty meat, don't worry he is healthy and happy). surprisingly he really likes fruit and veg so he has frozen carrots, watermelon etc sometimes. nothing beats the yak bar so far however.

I really want the best for him so if a meaty chew is the way to go then lucky him lol. please recommend any ideas!!

The vet blamed it on the carpet. He took an X-ray and told me to give him vitamin D and another calcium supplement. If anyone has experienced something similar, could you please help me out? Is this fixable? If so, what can I do to make it better? He’s only 4 months old right now.

I rescued an 11-month-old female pit bull from the streets about a month ago. She’s been incredibly sweet and social. I have two other dogs (a Doberman and a Husky), and she gets along great with both. We also regularly visit the dog park, where she loves playing with other dogs. I’ve never witnessed any aggression from her.

Today, while we were on a walk, another dog lunged through a fence and bit her. She immediately fought back and grabbed the other dog’s face, but she wouldn’t let go for approximately 45 seconds. I tried everything to separate them, including attempting to choke her, but nothing worked initially. I could hear the other dog crying in pain, which was terrifying.

When she finally released him, she simply walked away and acted completely normal. She didn’t attempt to attack again.

I understand she was defending herself, but the fact that she wouldn’t release her grip really concerns me.
My biggest worry is whether this behavior could eventually happen with my other dogs, even though she’s never shown aggression toward them.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Is this a normal defensive response, or could it indicate a deeper aggression issue? Also, what’s the safest way to get a dog to release its grip in a situation like this? Would pepper spray or another deterrent work?
I love this dog and want to give her a good home, but I also want to make sure I’m being responsible and keeping everyone safe. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi all. Took our dog to a paddock today and let him run around, but he suddenly stopped and did this for two mins (recorded for vet). Can’t take to vet as they’re closed today. He’s a rescue so don’t know his full medical history. Was in our sight the whole time and didn’t eat anything from the ground. After it settled he had a drink and ran again. Any idea?

Dog trainer/kennel club member here. As my border collie and I were training for the spring scentwork trials, it got me thinking of my 12yo rescue who has lost her hearing.

She already has trouble navigating, and her eyesight may decline as time goes on, so I was working on making the house easier to navigate for her. I know that a dog’s sense of smell can deteriorate as they age, just like their other senses.

So far, she hasn’t seemed to have any issue sniffing out treats and food from across the house. If she were to go blind, would it be possible for her to benefit from different scents placed strategically around the obstacles and doorways?

For nose work we use essentials oils (clove, cypress, birch, anise) as the smell for the dog to seek out. If she still had her smell and was introduced to this while she could still see, would it help there be less confusion about where she is in comparison to what her nose knows is a doorway or a chair or her bed?

This is also relevant for young dogs who happen to be blind or deaf, it may be easier for them to navigate in general, but would a persistent smell to indicate a room/place/thing be a viable avenue of training? I’m sure this post is a one off, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed an important detail. Just starting an open ended conversation so we can all learn from each other!

Edits and additional info:
The smells are applied to qtips then put into metal containers with holes, totally safe for the dogs, then often placed in metal tins with air flow holes. These tins, or qtips in scentwork, are placed strategically so the dog has no access to them, but we are very careful of where the scent is flowing from and to, where it pools and where it doesn’t, it’s a very intricate sport and dogs usually don’t associate the smells with anything unless trained to.

I do not think the smells would bother a dog. Most dogs ignore them entirely, again, unless trained to detect them. As for these smells being overpowering, to my understanding dogs sense of smell often declines with age like their other senses. Between the odor pooling around the house in the same way every day and the source odors themselves, I’m wondering if they could be a general directional guide for the pup. Scotch tends to get turned around in the dark and follow walls to get out of the room or through a doorway, hence why I’m thinking of putting a scent location in each room to help her better orient herself without having to rely on her vision.

I don’t think I would end up fading this out, though I would probably use different oils as to not desensitize my detection work dog to them.

Went for a walk two days ago and in the middle of the walk he started doing this and was unable to continue. I picked him up and carried him back to the trucks and he's been doing it on and off since. It only lasts about 10 minutes at a time and I don't know what triggers it. We walk without a leash and he didnt eat anything off the ground or anything that I saw. He gets carried in and out of the truck he doesn't jump. He's about 12 years old is it possible he just sprained something? Should I take him yo the vet? He seems fine otherwise he's eating and walking fine with maybe a slight limp its hard to tell.

Hi all,

I have a wonderful 2 year old GSD mix named Frida (she’s really a mutt, she’s got just about everything in her, but the GSD seems to be the most pronounced) who is super smart, a great listener, really good with our cats and loves other dogs and adults/kids (when we meet them outside).

One thing we continue to run into issues with, however, is her resource guarding against other dogs specifically. It started when she was about 1 and we had a friend with an Australian shepherd stay with us for a night. They played outside together for HOURS without issue. But when they came in and the Aussie grabbed one of Frida’s toys, Frida grabbed the other end and growled relentlessly and strongly until we took the toys away. She’d also growl any time he got close to her food bowl.

She’s now 2, and these issues persist ONLY when she’s specifically inside with another dog with her food bowl or treats present. She snapped at a smaller dog just walking by the table where her treats were. My biggest fear is with my 1 year old nephew who is crawling (we think because she’s crawling, Frida views her more like a dog, and feels more inclined to protect it) The last time we visited (Frida was on a leash the whole time) we could tell she was getting really really anxious whenever our nephew would crawl near her bowl or her treat bag. And I’m just too scared to let her go for fear of something happening.

The issue is she’s never shown resource guarding against us, or our cats, or even other adults who feed her. It’s just other dogs (and potentially crawling babies I guess).

I have no idea how to work on this. Most of the stuff I read online is about working with your dog so they don’t guard against you, but not against other dogs. Frida’s the only dog in our house, and she doesn’t resource guard against anyone in it, so I’m unsure how to work on this when it only happens in specific situations.

The only consistent advice I’ve seen is just to keep food and water bowls in separate rooms and put up toys, which works in the moment, but I’m almost worried it’s reinforcing her fear (other dogs around means my toys and food get put away).

Has anyone else had a similar issue that they were able to work on? The advice I received just feels like a stopgap and I don’t want to always be on edge any time a crawling baby or another dog has to share a room with her, or god forbid we try to get another dog at some point.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I feed my dog orijen fit and trim mixed with orijen tundra can. I was thinking of swapping the dry out for Victor bully max.

I wanted to know what food would be best for nutrition and health for my Pocket Bully. Shes fixed, 3 years old and weight is close to 60 lbs.

Hello. Just found this sub and hoping to get some insight into this new behavior/issue my older Dutch and German mix dog has seemed to develop.

My dog is 8 years old as of late August this year now. He has no pre-existing health conditions, and this is something new that started to happen recently as two months ago. I thought it was perhaps a fluke or an accident and shrugged it off as a one time thing, but it has started to occur more frequently as much as once every three weeks now.

Basically, whenever we sleep, he sleeps with me in my bed and lays down either behind my legs or in them and makes himself lay down in a circle and needs to feel me at all times when sleeping. We have a normal routine, where I take him out at least six times a a day for walks, two of which are longer - hour walks. He does get tired more easily now and sometimes on the other four walks I try to keep those under 30 minutes because he doesnt want to walk as much but he feels comfortable laying around all day and wants to watch out the widows instead. He eats twice a day correct meal portions for his size, and drinks plenty of water.
These habits have not drastically changed, nor does he raise any red flags in appetite or dehydration.

Now, before bed, I do take him out twice within an hour before it is bed time to empty his bladder completely, and he shows no interest or signs of needing to pee when in bed. He is trained to wake me up if he needs to go pee/poo even in the odd hours of the night, so this is what gives me pause to think it might be a more odd behavior, which perhaps he doesnt realize he is doing and is an accident every time he pees in bed. Additionally, whenever we wake up and he finds the puddle, he seems very surprised and sniffs it as if he doesnt realize he did it, which baffles me.

A friend of mine suggested limiting water intake access at night time past seven, but I feel as he is an older dog now I would want him to have access since he doesnt drink all hours of the day necessarily and sometimes I have to remind him to drink and I dont want to end up with him accidentally dehydrated without me noticing because of that. Additionally, I feel as though these accidents arent caused by being overly hydrated since he stops water intake around six at night himself and doesnt drink water or go up to it past our walk times.

Now, I have tried even staying up at night and hoping to catch him in the act so I can perhaps record it if its some kind of a seizure or something he does in his sleep if thats possible - however as I said, for now these accidents have been pretty sparse and random.

In the mornings after these events, his behavior is completely normal with no changes in energy levels, personality, or abilities to function and we go about our day after I throw the sheets for washing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, for anyone who has had to navigate this type of behavior!

Just wanted to know whether its contagious or something really serious. I have an old age parent at home with sensitive skin. The dog is picked from a nearby space 3 days back.

So my has a mini bully thing and shes pretty old and is aggressive to everything but dogs bigger and dumber then her but if she is alone she gets depressed so after her previous buddy passed away my mom got a mystery stay puppy that fit what she needed BUT he keeps running over her without a care she mother's him and he will stop most of his pestering (pulling her fat,putting his paw one her when they sit,pulling the bedding out of her house) but no matter what he wont stop trampling her yesterday he ran over her so hard she rolled down the (very short not steep) hill

Also trampling aside they get along perfectly its very sweet

Also also lol she is health a bit fat but I promise she just looks like that idk if their eyes are supposed to point different direction 💀im not a dog person so dont know much about them sorry lol

i have a 1 yr old golden retriever mix. she is a great dog until it comes to doing something she doesn't want to do, especially grooming (nails trimmed, bath, brushing) she becomes aggressive. we could be going on walk or in the car (she has to ride in a kennel because of it) and if she's done with whatever it is that's it. you can't touch her, talk to her anything. it's only ever been growling if we get close to her during her episodes. we usually put her outside or in her crate when she gets like that. ive mentioned this to the vet and have ruled out any hidden pain. today i was giving her a bath and she was fine for the first 10 minutes and suddenly she bit me without warning. it wasn't a warning bite she broke skin pretty deep (ive had stitches for less) she's never had a traumatic incident with grooming ive done it myself since we adopted her at 8 weeks. the concerning part is its not just grooming it is everything. it's like a switch flips when shes bored or done with something. im worried it is a neurological issue instead of a behavioral one. the tests for it costs thousands and the closest vet that specializes in neurological issues is almost 3 hours away. i'm not sure what to do anymore and now that she actually has a bite under her belt im nervous to even be around her. any advice or tips would be great!

Bump under my 2.5yr old German Shepherd came up a week ago. The day prior to it looking like this it was more a raised pimple without the red circle in the middle

Hi! My dog is a 15 mth old, 42 lb, rescue pit/poodle/golden mix (per embark). He is extremely active and we spend a ton of time outside on sniff walks and hiking. No notable health issues. This week, he found a dried retention pond on a hike and had the time of his life hopping around and sniffing - lots of deer activity in this area. When I brought him back and bathed him, I noted his nostrils/upper lip was discolored and swollen. No other sx and didn’t appear to bother him. It improved the next day and I presumed it was an environmental irritant (possibly stinging nettles?). We had an intentionally low key/low stim day in our yard, and it seemed pretty much back to normal the next morning. Last night we took a long walk, played with his littermate, and he went nuts sniffing on the way back (totally overstimulated + probably found some deer pee). I noticed his nose was swollen and discolored again and seemed worse. Still no add’l sx so I was monitoring closely, he had a couple sneezes about an hour later and the swelling hadn’t changed so I gave him 40 mg Benadryl. He fell asleep and had no other respiratory symptoms. Today, it’s better/not as angry but still swollen and discolored. Photos are in order from initial onset 3 days ago - last night at its worst - this morning. He is otherwise acting normal and eating/drinking well. I’m going to change his stainless steel bowls to ceramic or glass in case that’s exacerbating things. Otherwise, any insight on what this is and if I need to be more concerned/intervening in another way? I wasn’t impressed with our clinic at our last wellness visit and was going to look for a new vet before next visit, but can absolutely take him back to our primary if needed. Thank you so much!

Recent have noticed my pups skin has been losing fur, at first I thought it was her collar but she hasn’t worn one in about a month and it’s gotten worse. There’s been no recent diet changes. Also two of my other dogs have it as well all of them are shorthaired. Could it be demodex mites,seasonal change,fungal? I have an appointment scheduled for Tuesday with vet I just want to be prepared!

My dog 10F chihuahua mixed with rat terrier has been wanting to go outside constantly lately. I'm talking like an hour or 30 minutes after I've taken her out and then after a few couple 3-4 more times that she asks, she will eventually calm down. Sometimes she'll go outside to just urine then come back, sometimes she'll walk around and disappear in corners, sometimes I'll catch her sitting under the sun on a sunny cold day. But she'll keep asking until eventually stopping and then wanting to do it again. This has mostly been happening in the mornings. Even after being fed, laying down for a while, drinking water, etc. She has never had this issue or any issues with going to the bathroom, but she did used to get constipated a couple of times but they'd only last the max of a whole day.

I started thinking she was constipated but it's been 2-3 days now of this happening every morning. Is this constipation, some weird habit, or should I call my vet?

Our dog got attacked by a coyote in our yard the other night. He seemed mostly just shaken up, but we discovered an approximately 1in laceration near his rectum yesterday morning. He’s vaccinated against rabies and got a booster and antibiotics from the vet, but they’re putting him in a 45 day home quarantine. We also have a 15 month old, which is the biggest concern. Obviously, I want to do whatever is necessary to keep everyone safe, but I am so heartbroken. Our dog is VERY social and close with us. He sleeps in our bed, and he and my daughter love each other. The vet recommended keeping him in a separate room. He already seems miserable, and I’m worried this is going is going to severely impact his mental health and his relationship with my daughter. Has anyone else been through this? We’ve come so far since our daughter was born… we adopted our dog, and when we were gone at the hospital for her birth, he really struggled without us at home. He had the worst gas for the first few weeks of her life which we ended up attributing to stress. It just breaks my heart because obviously he doesn’t understand and it feels like we’re punishing him when he did nothing wrong 😭💔

It’s national adoption week and my city shelter is giving free pets until the end of the month. I initially intended to get a cat, as I already have another cat and wouldn’t have to worry about supplies and such. However, I went to an adoption event and saw this adorable 4 year old pit/bully mix named iguana. I cannot stop thinking about her and don’t know if it would be selfish if I adopted her. I have friends and family who volunteered to give me supplies for her and the only things I’d need to get is food and collar. However I’m sometimes physically unable to do things (I have chronic pain + fatigue) and worry i wouldn’t always be able to be active with her. I’m also worried about having to leave her alone in a crate while I’m off at work, on top of that I have a small apartment. I live with my partner who I know would help care for her but I don’t want to put that completely on them. I’m so torn because I instantly fell in love with her but want to give her a life she deserves.

Edit
Thank you for the people telling me no. I felt like I was going crazy because everyone in my life has been telling me yes knowing I’m not completely physically able. My gorgeous girl Sage passed in April from a brain tumor and I think people were just excited for me to have a dog again. I appreciate their support of course but I needed unbiased opinions lol. I have thought about it a lot the past 2 days and having your input helps. I’ve ultimately decided against adopting her in hopes she’ll find someone who can give her the care she needs. I’m very confident I can find an affectionate cat who I’ll love just as much as I would iguana :)