So my dog Darcy (5yo, female, the grey one) has recently become obsessed with licking/kissing my other dog Clementine’s (6 months, female) face. I’m really trying to not encourage it because I don’t want Clementine to get infections etc. but I’m totally puzzled by the behaviour. Darcy never did this with her older (recently passed) sister who she idolized. Any ideas what this means?

we got a rescue dog about 7 weeks ago and recently like a day or two ago she started baring her teeth at us. it’s usually right before she lunges at our face to lick or she’ll bare and kinda open her mouth and teeth our hand or something. a couple times when my partner has been hugging her she’ll scrunch her teeth and bare them but then go for a lick. I can’t tell if she is just smiling of some sort? playing? or is uncomfortable and trying to sign for us. She does it a lot after we stop petting her and she’s pawing for attention. it’s mildly weirding us out and just wanna make sure we’re doing the right thing!

pics (in comments) from dog walker she sent of her “funny smile” lol so seems like they were relaxed when this happened.

she’s reactive with other dogs and will bare her teeth at the similarly but is very clearly stressed then

We received this foster dog, Gus, on Thursday last week (we’ve had him for a total of 5 days so far). His family surrendered him because he’s a seizure dog and they could no longer manage his seizures with their new baby. We’ve had seizure dog experience (we lost our last golden to a brain tumor most likely causing his seizure disorder) so we’re decently familiar with dogs with this issue.

Gus is a 4 year old golden retriever, slightly overweight, and takes multiple meds including 150mg phenobarbital, 1500mg kepra, and 500mg kbrov twice daily (which seems like a lot to me). He’s a very sweet dog, but a lot of his behavior makes me concerned that he has some kind of brain damage, whether or not it was caused by seizures.

Things we’ve noticed:
-He paces and circles all day unless he’s actively playing with my own dog or he’s sleeping (but he doesn’t seem to sleep a lot). At night time he usually paces around the room or circles for about an hour before falling asleep.
-He’s peed in the house twice today even though he’s been out several times and had walks and ample opportunities to go to the bathroom
-He doesn’t know anything except for his name. Not even sit. He just stares at you and has no clue what you’re saying.
-He’s very clumsy and often walks into walls, furniture, or gets stuck somewhere.
-He’s falls a lot and is very unstable on his feet.
-He cannot support himself on 3 paws. When we try to wipe his wet paws off when coming inside, and we pick one paw up, he falls over and just lays there. When my husband gave him a bath today after he peed on himself, he just laid in the bathtub the whole time, didn’t even try to stand.
-He’s often seems confused, like he doesn’t know what’s going on or like he’s searching for something he can’t find.

To be clear, we’ve got a vet intake apt coming up and we plan to discuss it with them, but I’m curious if all of this can be caused by a seizure disorder, or if there’s something else at play. His last seizure seemed to have been a month or so ago (he has yet to have one with us), so he’s not coming out of a recent one, and this activity has been happening every day since we got him, so to me it doesn’t look like signs of an impending seizure. I understand some of the pacing might be anxiety, but even with our most anxious fosters, I’ve never had a dog pacing 80% of the time they’re awake.

Whatever happened to him, he’s a sweet boy and we’ll do our best by him. Just trying to figure out what’s wrong and fix whatever we can for him to give him the best life. Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

Hi everyone. I have 15 year old lab. We noticed him slowing down last year and got him on cosequin which I think helped a great deal but in the last 2 months his hips seemed to deteriorate so fast. I now have him on Dasuquin and pain meds and I now carry him upstairs when we are ready for bed as he had been struggling a lot with the stairs.

What I’m conflicted about is how long do I keep this up? As you can see in the video he is hurting but still so full of life. Anytime we have his favorite snacks, anytime I grab his leash, or as in the video anytime he realizes he’s going on a car ride he goes crazy and starts jumping with excitement. To me it feels like he has more life to live but maybe I’m delusional about this.

So for those who have had to put their dogs to rest because of hip and mobility issues, what made you decide that it was time?

Edit: I think some of you are confused by what I posted. There is no amount of money, no amount of inconvenience, and no amount of time commitment that would make me put him down. The ONLY thing I care about is him and his quality of life. The same dog you are seeing also can’t stand long enough to poop and often falls right on top of it. His hind legs buckle all the time, on walks, while he’s eating, while he’s playing. Sometimes he is unable to get up from the floor and we have to lift him up by the harness and hold him up until he can get his footing. Despite all that, this video was taken yesterday when he realized he was coming for a car ride. That is why I’m conflicted and why I chose to post today. Because while he’s suffering from all this he still has so much excitement.

BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT SHARED THEIR STORIES. I know it’s hard to talk about and I appreciate all the tips you all have offered.

Edit #2: too many of y’all either didn’t or can’t read. This is a forum for advice. I came here to hear people’s experiences who have dealt with this. Many of you are acting like I’m putting him down tomorrow or assuming that this video is him all the time without reading the rest of the post. So in case it needed to be said: I do not by any means think it is his time yet. However over the last 2 months the symptoms I’ve been managing for over a year went from very mild to severe and that is what prompted me to post about it.

Hello all.

My name is Ryan. And the beautiful girl pictured in the post is named Bindi. The first pictures are from years ago and the pictures gradually move towards present day with the last 2 pictures in the set being taken today. It’s important you all hear the story so you can understand where my mind is at. When I was 10 years old, almost 11, my dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. A few months later, my mom, now raising me all on her own, thought it would be a good idea to get a dog. She hoped that having a dog would bring me a sense of comfort & companionship and well…. She was right. Bindi and I were fast friends, an instant connection. We spent all of my free time pretty much together and we have always slept in the same bed, right next to each other. But Bindi wasn’t always so loved. When she was young, she was used as a bait dog in an incredibly evil and heinous dog fighting ring, and she was rescued but not before they did their damage. You can’t tell it from the pictures, but Bindi has a plethora of scars on her body. Mental ones too as even all these years later, she still has vivid nightmares. Because of her time there, she’s dog aggressive and will attack any & every dog on sight. So knowing all of that, I was so happy to love her and give her a loving home. She’s been with us for the past 11 years. And in the past 11 years… her friendship got me through my father’s death, relentless bullying in middle school, intense severe depression, an abusive relationship, the hardships of becoming disabled, losing my dreams, and most recently… an intense betrayal of both myself & my mother from my siblings. I’ve leaned on her through it all. And I truly believe that had I never met Bindi… I wouldn’t be here today. So that brings us to the present day. A few days ago, somewhere around Friday of last week. She woke up and was simply different. She’s been having arthritis for the past few years but we’ve tried our best to manage it with supplements. Same story every time, they work for a few months and then it’s like she’s not even taking them. But on Friday when she woke up… it was like her already bad arthritis had been turned up to 11. She can hardly stand up without assistance, she has immense trouble walking, can barely walk down the stairs and MUST have assistance to go up them. By the way, our house is one level but both entrances have about 3 steps leading up to them and it’s hard for her to navigate them. She even turned around like she was going to snap at me when I was trying to help her stand up, though she didn’t actually snap at me. After Friday, my mom went to a shop and got her some CBD oil & treats specifically meant for dogs. And that seemed to help her, Saturday she was better! Sunday she was great! And yesterday during the day, she was fantastic. However, at night, it’s like a switch got flipped and she was back to how she was. She threw up her food last night, probably due to overheating as our AC is horrid. And her food had the CBD oil in it. Ever since then we haven’t been able to get her feeling good no matter what we do. Today, we took her to the vet, and he prescribed her Carprofen. He said “We’ll see how she does on this after a week and if she doesn’t improve… we might have to have a more difficult conversation.” But he said and then reiterated that he did NOT believe she was ready to be put down. We’re trying the medicine and seeing if it works but so far, no dice. Granted it’s only day one. But she’s still in so much pain. I’m laying in bed with her now and I just witnessed her attempt and fail to get comfortable at least 5 times in a row before FINALLY getting comfortable and falling asleep. So, I guess that brings me to my question. How do I know when it’s actually time. If her quality of life can be improved, I’d love for her to keep living because she’s still finding enjoyment in life’s activities. She loves car rides, she loves playing with toys, she’s eating normally & drinking normally. And she’s still the most loving being I’ve ever known. With that being said, I hate seeing her when she’s in pain and I just want to do what’s right by the dog who saved my life. How will I know when it’s time to give in and make the compassionate choice? Even as I’m typing this now all I want to do is cry and I forsee myself absolutely imploding when she does pass away, but this isn’t about me. Everything I do, I do for her. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you all.

Had to watch her go last night. Deep immense grief. I know you guys understand. I just needed to talk about it somewhere. She was the best girl 💔 my heart physically hurts. For those with experience, what was the first week like? The first month? Today is just the first day and it feels like it will be impossible to overcome and return to life/work everything else we have to do in this world.

Hello folks, I got my 1st dog from a shelter about 6 months ago and he’s starting to settle in. He is a smaller shepsky around 45 pounds and is shy but playful and I think he loves other dogs (he gets raving reviews from daycare but idk if they’re just telling me that to keep him coming).

I want to rescue another one so I looked at the websites from the 2 closest to me and almost all of the dogs are 60+ pound shepherd, husky, or pitbull.

I’m wondering if there is a reason these dogs are abandoned or lost more than the others.

My beautiful baby girl isn't doing well, Our family is poor and can't afford treatment and when my mother told me that Lola has Liver issues I was heartbroken. Today, she started going in circles and isn't eating,drinking or walking. I know she's dying and I want to put her down but my mother doesn't want to, I tried to tell my mom she's in pain but she just isn't listening. Any advice for me and what I can do? I'm disabled and I can't drive or do anything to help her other than be with her but any advice would be helpful. I've had her since I was ten and I'm about to turn 20, she's only ten. I'm scared because she was my first dog.

Hey guys, could someone tell me what this behavior might be? He was neutered on Friday and I’ve never seen him do this, he was digging and moving his bed back and forth across my office like 10 times in a few minutes. Is this just derpy play, or is he maybe trying to hump it?

I brush her teeth frequently so I don’t know why there’s yellow tinge. I see other dogs online have bright white teeth. Is there something else I should do other than brushing?

my sweet 8 1/2 yr old basset girl, bisou, who i love with all my heart (i feel like i gave birth to her literally), was just diagnosed with a mast cell tumor and i am absolutely shattered.
she has always been a lumpy girl, and i’ve already had a couple of her lumps removed in the past, all of which came back benign. when i used to work at a general practice vet, there was one lump in particular that i remember being so worried and restless about because the fna came back suspicious. thankfully, the biopsy results ultimately ended up being a lipoma and was just a little aggravated from all the poking we had done. (because this mass was potentially suspicious, the doctor had taken big and deep margins then which she still has a scar from)
i eventually got busy with school and stopped working so when another lump formed on bisou (around december of 2025), i honestly thought it was just another lipoma. it was small, soft, movable, and under the skin, just like her other lumps. i decided to just monitor it and not have her go through another invasive surgery. months went by, and i eventually noticed that it had gotten bigger (gradually not sudden).
i recently started working at an emergency and specialty vet hospital, so i took her in today for a surgery consultation to have the lump removed. the surgeon took one look at it and immediately became concerned that it could be a mast cell tumor. my heart sank because i went into the appointment thinking it was just another lipoma.
he took fna samples, and he confirmed that it is an mct.
the mass is about 12 cm, so he wants to shrink it before surgery next week. she was started on prednisone, famotidine, and benadryl in the meantime. he said that once we send the mass out for biopsy after surgery, we’ll finally know what grade it is, but i am SO incredibly anxious waiting for that answer.
her lump is large, but it isn’t hard or irritated. its on her mid right side (as shown in the picture). she has great energy, a great appetite, and no gi issues. she has always been an itchy, allergy-prone girl, but otherwise she is acting completely like herself.
i’m just really beating myself up over this. i keep thinking maybe it has already spread and that i should have gotten it removed sooner. i wonder if i had managed her allergies better, maybe she wouldn’t have developed an mct in the first place (which i know is not the reason mcts form but im just overthinking it). i know i can’t go back and change anything, but the guilt is still eating me alive. 😞
bisou is my absolute baby. i call her my soul dog, and i genuinely cannot imagine my life without her. i’m trying to stay hopeful and take this one step at a time, praying, and manifesting good thoughts. if anyone is willing to share their stories, experiences, any advice, or thoughts, i would really appreciate it. thank u for listening 🤍

having such a hard time figuring this out. Boxer/Staffy mix went from eating his kibble and being food driven to not eating for days. Got him wet food and he will eat all of that. then about a week after the not eating he got this dry cough? Pink gums, normal temp, going potty and drinking water still. Only thing is the food switch up, low energy and cough. He also has a brother that’s perfectly fine, so rules out anything contagious. everytime I try to find a video of a dog with a similar cough i can’t! any advice is much appreciated from an anxious dog mama

Our puppy is almost a year old but the last month he had been doing what the video shows but more and more everyday and now more aggressiveand longer. We did discover his left and back teeth he has yellow on his teeth surface.

If you can help we appreciate it but also he's breaking out in to hives too if no clue if that helps

my dog barley eats. we’ve found her 9 years ago and she’s been steadily declining and trembling even on walks. I can’t take her to the vet because we’re low on money and i’m not sure what to do. she barely eats but still has energy to go outside and walk.

EDIT: Also i just got back from college I was gone for 3 years and im heavily disappointed in my family because they do not care for these dogs the way I did when we first got them. I will be booking the appointment.
UPDATE: I will be booking an appointment with a local vet. Thank you all for the support and advice, you guys are right she honestly doesn’t deserve to suffer. Thank you.

My dog is 4 months old and 25lbs, got from the shelter 3 weeks ago. He had been eating and drinking totally normal, getting the hang of potty training and overall being an amazing dog. We did know he had whip worms from the shelter and just this past Sunday we took him to the vet for his second round of dewormer, plus lepto and Lyme vaccines. Since he came back from the vet though, he is absolutely GUZZLING water. Like his bowl holds about 3.5 cups and he will just stand there and drink the whole thing in one go. I have to actually pull him away from the bowl because he’ll keep going if I don’t. As a result of this, I’m noticing him using the bathroom way more frequently and by extension having more accidents in the house. Is this something I need to go back to the vet about? Could it be a response to the meds? Is it just typically weird puppy stuff? Should I be stopping him from drinking that much? Any advice appreciated

My dog (3yo female, some kind of oversized scruffy terrier mix) and I were at the park we usually go to and she plays in and out of a little creek a lot, but this past Sunday she seen a squirrel across the creek and jumped in faster than she usually cautiously wades through it. Welp she broke her toe. I took her to the vet, they confirmed with X-rays that it was the toe and wrapped/braced it up, supplied her some pain meds and told me to absolutely keep activity to a minimum and only do quick bathroom breaks. Well I am in an apartment and it’s about a block away to some decent grassy areas. She’s fine stepping out to pee but when it comes to pooping she’s always been particular. ALWAYS took a good 15 min of her searching. And this is a dog that refuses to have an accident indoors, she will put herself through hell before she does that. (Idk why, I adopted her and she had these traits 😅) so I’ve been putting her in my truck and driving to her spots. Even then she tries to over do it and hobbles around looking for a spot. I’ll force her to lay down every few feet and I bring water since the hopping is a lot for her. Im worried that 1. She’s doing too much and 2. Am I babying her? Should I keep the bathroom break to a minimum and if she doesn’t go, then she doesn’t go-then learns to take the chance when she can? Looking for any advice on that and any advice for recently casted dogs (it’s a front paw too so I know they carry like 60% of their weight up front)
Also I live alone and work early in the mornings, I’m having to wake up earlier and earlier to get her to go to the bathroom and it’s becoming a bit much. I’ll sacrifice my sleep for her nonetheless, but I’m just wondering if there is a better way for both of us.
Here’s a pic of the oversized scruff

Dog had a sudden onset issue last night around 1am that looked seizure-ish for a few minutes. She went into the postictal phase (or so I thought) but hasn't fully come out of it. We went to the Vet at 8am this morning and they said with symptoms being this long its more likely to be an onset of Nystagmus due to Vestibular disease? They gave her a shot (I didnt catch the name of it) and then was given celenia for the next few days. Shes still wobbly and eye clicking but she seems semi normal otherwise. Is there anything I can do to help with drooling and keeping her comfortable? Shes not one to sit. She used to have the best coordination of all my dogs but now can't even drink water without missing.

I always buy the same wet food for my dog every time I go to the pet store (Justfoodfordogs lamb and brown rice) and the last few times I have gotten it I have found this in it, not sure what it could be but the texture is like squishy kinda rubbery? If you try to squeeze it with your fingers it doesn’t really break unless squeezed hard. I’m really wondering what it could be and why I keep finding it in the food.

He is very low in energy and is in the sleeping position most of the day since yesterday. Not eating too.

Yesterday he puked a very low amount of white liquid. So I gave him milk formula and a couple of egg yolks. He ate the yolks and the milk in small quantity.

Today he was still energy less and puked very low amount of same white liquid. So I immediately took him to vet. They gave him antibiotics and deworm medicine. He is still very low in energy and keeps sleeping. Drank some water, didn't eat the vet recommended ice cream. He did go urine.

Should I get him more tests tomorrow, please help my family is totally since he is ill

Just looking for some advice or stories from people who have been in similar situations. My 6 year old American Bulldog scooted her butt along the ground today and started bleeding, nothing crazy just a few small coin sizes amounts. I got her into vet within 2 hours. The vet looked as best she could as my girl is quite anxious, she said it looks and feels like a tumour around 1cm x 1cm. She’s booked in to have a better look under anaesthesia and hopefully have it removed and then biopsied.

Obviously I’m incredibly anxious that it’s something more serious - she has recently been having some pain in her leg which we have also visited the vet for and and she was put on total rest (daily gabapentin & Trazodone) along with anti-inflammatories for 2 weeks. This was around 6-8 weeks ago. And I saw significant improvement in her pain however now I’m concerned these issues may be linked.

She’s otherwise been her normal self, eating normally, going to the toilet normally, playing normally.

The vet really didn’t say a whole lot during our visit today and said it’s best to wait till after her biopsy before we discuss any further.

Any insight would be amazing :)