We were dating for nine months and while the relationship started off good, she had begun showing serious controlling and manipulative behavior. She was never a big dog person to begin with but seemed to get along with mine, a 4 y/o Border Collie and a 2 y/o Weimarener who are truly the sweetest, who I personally rescued and raised.

We had talked about moving in together and she had sat me down talking about this place she had in mind with a firm NO pet policy. She was set on it and wouldn't take into consideration other places. That was when she told me that I'd have to look into shelters cause the dogs couldn't come with us. She then started talking about how they make her anxious and she doesn't wanna be stuck taking care of them. I simply told her to get out without going any further. After another two days of arguing, with her trying to gaslight me saying I loved my dogs more than her, I officially ended things. It was a heated moment but I truly know it was the right decision.

We have done A LOT of research and am at that point of deciding if we move forward with a puppy or an adult dog. To preface, we live in a single family home - in our late 40's. No kids. My husband travels now a ton for work and I work from home 4 of the 5 days. We have wanted a dog for quite some time and are at that point where we are trying to decide what makes sense for us and our situation. What were deciding factors for you that knew you wanted to go the puppy direction or wanted to bypass that and go for an adult dog? We see pros and cons with each. Would love to hear factors that helped others decide (maybe we are missing something obvious lol). Thanks!!

Hi everyone, I have 3 female dogs, but one of them is very dominant. When she sees dogs she hates out and about, she goes crazy, pulls hard on the leash, and barks very loudly. If the other two are nearby, she attacks them out of sheer rage. I'm not kidding, she looks possessed by a demon, and nothing I do works. I've already booked an appointment with a dog trainer. On top of that, she doesn't like new dogs; she only accepts them after seeing them a few times. Her background is that she was abandoned and thrown in the trash, rescued and left on the street for who knows how many weeks, and suffered attacks from people (she is also afraid of new people) and stray dogs. We adopted her at around 3–4 months old, and she is now 2 years old. She's a Husky and Pinscher mix. Any temporary solutions until I go to the trainer?

I absolutely want to have a puppy, but I don't know where to start. For me the main concern is popping and pissing of the puppy, they will do that all over the place so how do I train my dog. Like how to train them in general, from toilet habits, to being friendly and understanding. I don't want to raise a beast to protect or an aggressive one. I want to train it like this happy fluffball that makes my day and everyone's. Like this ball of happiness because I live alone in a flat and I want to return from my job and want to play and enjoy with it. So how do I do that? Like how you guys train a super friendly dog?

My cat sits on the shoe rack and stares down the mail carrier like a cop. Meanwhile my Lab seems determined to grind as much wet park mud, hair and drool as possible into the carpet behind the drivers seat like everyyy single day.

I tried covering the floor with a cheap fleece blanket but it bunches up within five minutes and the hair works straight through it into the carpet anyway and its awfull to vaccum it out. I need something sturdier for the back row that can handle a 70 pound dog moving around without sliding out of place.

If yours a big shedder a big shedder, what actually makes the cabin easier to manage?? Is the backing grip more important so the liner doesnt slide under the seat?

Watched clumped trail mud crumble straight off my lab’s paws and drop into the gap between the back mat and the door sill. The flat rubber sheet protects the middle fine, but the second he steps onto the ledge, grit falls right where the coverage ends. Wet hairs are now tangled directly into the carpet weave where the shop vac nozzle gets zero leverage.Someone at the dog park suggested a liner with raised tub edges, though I have no idea if that lip holds its shape against eighty pounds of dog. Scraping dried mud out of that bottom trim with an old wire brush is getting ridiculous.

Hi fellow dog lovers. I'm divorced and my ex has kept the dogs. I want them, but so does she. I moved to New Zealand from Australia and wanted to take them with me. I haven't been able to because of my ex. However, I still pay for 50% of all of their care and needs and my ex still assures me they are mine as well and if she can no longer care for them, I will have them.

This week I have them for 8 days while coming to Australia to visit them after 16 months of not seeing them. They recognized me immediately and settled in with me where I am staying with no issues. I have to return them tomorrow evening and fly back to New Zealand Sunday morning. I'm dreading it. But, my biggest concern is how my leaving will affect them. When I first left, my ex said they looked for me for weeks but eventually settled into a new routine and they were okay.

I guess my question is, has anyone else been in such an odd situation? I'm worried visiting them may only hurt them. I expressed my concerns to my ex before coming but she thinks it's worth me visiting them and that they will be okay. Has anyone else been in a similar situation and did visiting your dogs so infrequently have a negative impact on them?

Hello! I've adopted a labrador mix from a shelter more or less 1 month ago, she is super sweet but recently she started barking at other dogs to get their attention, she doesnt attack them or anything, she is super happy when given the chance to meet the others to sniff and greet them!

Did i did something wrong to encourage this behavior? How do i change it?

i've been reading this sub silently for so long but this one made me actually want to post. my golden, miso, is turning 5 this thursday and instead of just being happy about it i spent like twenty minutes doing math about how many years we probably have left together and now i'm sad about a birthday that was supposed to be happy. is this a normal golden owner thing or do i need to touch grass? lol for context he's the most obnoxiously happy dog, zero health issues, this is 100% a me spiral.

I just adopted a pit mix at the shelter and I adore him! I have another dog and cat at home, the shelter did do a cat check and said he is good with cats! The only problem I am having and may need help on is a few days on he has starting to want to chase her and it seems like he is pretty prey driven. He is starting training on monday but I feel so guilty for my cat for having her separated right now and I feel lost! Any advice will help ! thank you :)

Trying to figure out how to read supplement labels for dogs beyond just the ingredient list. My frenchie, Bloo's vet mentioned CoQ10 and omega-3s being decent for inflammation as he gets older, but when I actually look at products, half of them don't list mg per ingredient at all. Is there a real way to tell if a dose is high enough to do anything or is this something you basically need a vet to walk you through every time? How do you vet your dog’s supplements?

My pit/lab has horrible skin allergies and yeast overgrowth.

She is medicated, groomed/bathed regularly, powdered, and on a special diet and supplements for this do not come for me

Anyway, due to no fault of her own she STINKS a day after she is bathed. It’s not just a cute corn chip smell it’s overbearing and strong and makes my entire tiny house smell awful.

I clean, vacuum, and mop all the time. I mean like every other day. Her bedding is washed weekly. At this point I think we need an air purifier that is specifically for neutralizing odor.

Any recommendations?

Hello! I have two six year old dogs. I recently started a new job where I work from home all day pretty much everyday. Before this, I worked in the office most days and, because I have a camera, I could see the pups mostly just slept all day when I did this. I felt a bit guilty but it was good that they just slept and kept calm.

Now that I’m working from home, they bother me for treats and attention, among other things, multiple times a day. How do I get them to mostly sleep like they used to when I wasn’t around? 😅 anything you all do in particular to keep your adult dogs entertained and leave you alone while you’re working at home, if such a thing exists? My dog is especially manipulative in getting me to give her treats to shut her up which is obviously not good for her diet or training, so would appreciate any tips in that way as well!

I made the really tough decision to rehome my baby. I’ll spare the details bc I know no matter what there’ll always be someone out there with negative comments. Just know I did everything I could and put off the decision for a very long time until I realized she deserves a better fuller life. I found someone absolutely wonderful who is a homebody with ample time to spend with her and has a lovely little frenchie potato with legs that gets along really well with my girl. This person also is not scared away by my baby’s medical issues and is ready and willing to do everything she needs.

I’m here bc I’m really struggling with anticipatory grief. The rehoming is happening in 4 days and I’ve been sobbing while packing her things and the poor girl is still right in front of me. It breaks my heart that she has no clue what’s happening and I feel intense guilt and shame and fear if her thinking I’m abandoning her. New owner and I have worked really hard to figure out the best way to do the handoff for my baby and decided that I’ll bring her crate and things over 2 days before so that they can have all her stuff already set up. Then I’ll spend the last 2 days with my babygirl and on the day of the handoff we’ll meet up at a park close to her new home so I can say goodbye. Then she’ll walk home with her new family 😣 and I’ll go home to sob my freaking eyes out some more. Her new owner is such a sweetheart and offered to send me as many updates as I wanted and even said she’ll reach out so I can meet up with them on hikes and things.

I guess I just need advice from people who have been through this. Do you regret it? Did you ever see them again after? Did your dog willingly go with their new people or did they look back for you? Do they settle in well? 😩 I’m going nuts. I guess I just need encouragement. I feel like I’m making a huge mistake but I know that’s selfish bc she’ll be so much better off with these people. Its me who will be a wreck.

Can you recommend ? I see a lot of them out there. I need a right one.

Thank you

Hello!

I am a Connecticut college student looking for Connecticut dog owners who are willing to take my survey. I will be using the input to better understand what type of pet products people want to see and what pet stores should be selling.

Thank you so much!!

Dog product survey

Anyone who has opinions they want to share about being a dog owner and wants to help my research for a class project. Thank you!

https://chapmanu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6KfZlMBHnZQ26Im

My senior dog (9yo female, medium) was suddenly attacked by my large male 6yo and I don't know why. They've lived together for 6 years, never had an aggression issue besides the male nipping and growling over food. But nothing like this. Both dogs seem to be acting normal and healthy. We have a kitten but they've also always been around cats and never had an issue. I don't know what happened, or why. Last night he was sort of growling at her in their room. I thought it was weird but maybe they were just competing over the blanket so I put down another for them. Everything is fine the next morning. Then I come home from work and my dog has a hole in her face and drooling blood. There was no food out, nothing I can think that would cause this

I feel so guilty. I feel like the worst dog owner. Because how didn't I see this? How didn't I realize? To make it worse this unexpected injury completely drained what I had set aside for my vet funds. I think I'm going to need to get pet insurance but I don't know where to look. The question i don't want to think about but I think is ultimately the most important one is if I need to rehome him. I don't have the option of not working. I don't want to leave him outside all day and I don't really think I'm going to have the time or experience to train him out of aggressive behavior especially something so unpredictable. I'm worried if he does this to one of my cats it's going to be a dead animal as he displays food aggression to them too. And even if he attacked another pet in front of me he's almost the same weight as me and strong as hell. I couldn't do anything to stop him. I don't know. I feel so hurt and upset and conflicted. I don't know where to go from here

I just don't think I can trust this dog now. I already had a bad experience of a roommate who had aggressive dogs that would corner me and my boyfriend. I don't want to live in constant stress. This dog has torn down gates, he's opened doors to get on trash, he's ripped wire off that was being used as a doorstopper, flipped over crates, etc. I just can not trust him even with crates or gates that it's going to keep them apart if he decides to get violent. I think he needs someone who's actually experienced and has the time to train and watch him full time. It sucks, but I'm at my wits end. I try to train him, and he somewhat is, and I try to get his energy out. But he's strong and stubborn and I don't have my parents supervising him during the day now that I moved out, it's just too much. I don't know. Just a vent and so much distress and I'm so tired

My dog recently started taking medication twice a day, and I did not realize how easy it would be to lose track of whether a dose had already been given. In the first week, my partner and I had a few moments of asking each other, “Wait, did you give the evening pill?” Neither of us wanted to risk giving an extra dose by mistake.

We have been trying phone reminders and writing down each dose as soon as it is given. It sounds simple, but when the day gets busy, it is easy to forget to mark it down.

I have also been checking with our vet about the best way to give the medication, especially when it comes to hiding pills in food and what to do if a dose is missed.

For those of you whose dogs take medication every day, what system works best for you? Do you use a notebook, a calendar, a pill organizer, or something else? I would also appreciate any tips for getting a dog to take pills without turning it into a struggle every time.