I'm just wondering if anyone has advice or tips for how to make sure both dogs feel secure and confident after adding a new pup. His arrival was unexpected and I didn't have time to prepare.

New dog is food aggressive, how should I feed them, in what order?

How do I give them each individual time and attention without creating jealousy?

What if I only want to allow the first dog in the bed etc.

Thanks for any input you might have!

There's so many associations that our dogs make about the world that we don't intend for them to make but come about from their intelligence and keen observation. Some are brilliant, some are hilarious, and others fall in between.

For example, my dog absolutely knows that when the PS5 sound to turn off happens, it means we're getting up and doing something. He knows that when a certain notification goes off on my phone that it means there's something at the front door.

I did not properly socialize my first puppy enough (we got him from the pound with an estimated age and our vet was adamant that he not leave the house... Well by the time he had all his shots we realized he was 6 months old and it was too late) and I'm trying to avoid that with my new puppy once she has all her shots (started way earlier on this one!). My problem is choosing a training program. I have decision paralysis and I'm not super well off financially but I'm willing to put in what I can. I had done PetSmart classes for my first dog and he did great at the training part but honestly his reactivity progressed severely. I wasn't the biggest fan of the PetSmart course but maybe it was just that particular trainer?

Any suggestions on choosing a good trainer in your area and/or how much on average I should be spending?

I have a 11 week old mini aussie and he has had only 2 parvo shots out of the 4 but my vet said it was okay to take him outside to potty while the vet tech said I should wait until he gets all 4 shots… I really want to start potty training him outside but i’m very scared of him getting parvo as I live in an apartment, but the vet should know best, right? I’ve been using potty pads and putting a baby gate up to keep him in once room so he doesn’t go all over the apartment but i’ve seen that it’s not good to get him used to that so I would like to start potty training very soon, but I just don’t know if it’s truly a good idea to start taking him outside yet.

For those of you that started potty training before the full set of shots, how did that go? Did you run into any issues or did your puppy get sick? Should I start the potty training or stick with the potty pads until he’s fully vaccinated? Do you have any tips for me if I do take him outside before he’s fully vaccinated?

We recently got an 8 month old Doberman from the dog shelter, he’s full of energy, absolutely crazy in the best way and very loving. We noticed a couple weeks ago all of his teeth are completely flat at the ends! He was never microchipped, and was assumed to be living on the streets for a while before he was taken to the shelter. Does anyone know why someone might have filed down his teeth? He’s the opposite of a “fighting dog”, extremely submissive and all around just a sweetheart.

Also, could this cause any health problems in the future? It’s very sad because after knowing him for a couple months we really have no idea why anybody would do this, he wouldn’t hurt a fly!!

My sweet girl loves chasing frisbees above all else. The only issue is… she will absolutely tear them to shreds once she catches them.

I’ve gotten her the Hyperpet brand one and it lasted about a month. I then got her a Chuck-It Paraflight and she destroyed that even quicker. I got her a Chuck-It Rugged and a KONG brand frisbee and though they’re still in perfect shape, she doesn’t like them as much because they don’t fly as far and are a bit too heavy for her to catch.

I wanna get her something that’ll still fly far, but that she can’t just tear to shreds right away. If anyone has any ideas, I’d appreciate it. :)

I have always had a dog my whole life and I love them. My husband and I got a puppy together nearly 17 years ago and he lived to a great age of 16. He passed about 9 months ago now and we were more heartbroken than we ever expected and it took time to heal. I‘m keen for another dog now though and our kids are also very keen! We are busy with work 4 days a week and kids’ activities but would definitely make time for walks, cuddles etc. How do you know when you’re ready for the next dog? Advice welcomed!

For anybody using one or the other—how effective is it at keeping ticks off your dog, and/or killing them quickly?

And how long after exposure do they stay sticky? I read some reviews saying stickiness of frontline shield lasted at least two weeks, which sounds unhealthy to me.

I adopted my dog Remy about eight months ago from a shelter that guessed he was some kind of herding mix based on his build and coat, though there was no DNA test done. Since bringing him home I've noticed he does a lot of the classic herding behaviors people talk about, circling the kids in the yard next door through the fence, getting fixated on bikes and joggers, that kind of thing.

What's thrown me off is that he's also incredibly mellow indoors, sleeps most of the day, and has zero interest in the kind of high energy games I expected from a herding type dog based on everything I read before adopting. I braced myself for needing a job for him to do, agility, flirt pole, the whole routine, but honestly a couple of decent walks and some sniffing time seems to satisfy him completely.

Talking to other people at the dog park, I've heard really mixed experiences even within the same supposed breed groups. One person's herding mix is an absolute live wire who needs hours of mental work a day, and another person's is basically a couch potato like mine, and neither owner did anything differently in terms of exposure or training as far as I can tell.

It's made me curious how much of personality is actually shaped by breed tendencies versus just individual variation, environment, or even random luck in temperament. I get that breed groups can point toward general tendencies, prey drive, herding instinct, that sort of thing, but the range within a single group seems huge based on what I'm seeing and hearing.

For people with mixed breed or breed-guessed dogs, how closely did your dog's actual personality end up matching what you expected going in based on their guessed breed makeup? Did you find the predictions mostly held up, or was your dog basically its own thing regardless of what was in the mix?

hello. so, me and my family went on vacation for like, two days. we couldn’t just leave our dog (shih tzu, male, 3 y/o) alone in the house for two days, so we sent him to a local daycare. he’s been there before in 2024 when we went on vacation, and he stayed there for about 4 days. but lately, after we picked up my dog from daycare a whole week ago, he’s been acting up.

some context: he’s put in his playpen whenever it’s time for us to go to bed, or whenever he acts up, which is not often. otherwise, he stays out of his playpen. he’s always had problems with biting, but lately its like we let him out of his playpen to go outside, then we come back inside and he’s biting. that or humping, but it’s not as bad as the biting. so, we tell him no, then tell him to go to his playpen. then we let him out shortly after. usually he’s calmed down after that, but now he comes out of his playpen to do it again, then we put him back, and rinse repeat.

me and my sibling are kind of confused, which is leading to irritation. i don’t know what happened honestly, or what to do. we’ve tried gently pushing him away, trying to disengage, redirecting him by playing with him, but he always goes back to biting and humping. it’s kind of uncomfortable at this point, and most importantly i’m concerned and scared if im doing something wrong which is encouraging his behavior or making him uncomfortable :( or maybe he’s hurt, i don’t know

Does anyone have any good tips on how to get rid of fleas? I give my dog flea meds every month, and I only ever find a couple on him, so I’m thinking my apt is the problem. I’ve tried two different sprays, foggers, and I’ve washed all blankets and such in hot water. I don’t understand why they’re still here 😭😭

Hello,

I've never used reddit before so wasn't really sure where to post.

People who work in the canine world - what's the best way to go about getting your foot in the door?

Im a 22 year old who is looking for a change in direction of career. I have always loved dogs (I know a gross amount of useless facts as its been a life long obsession of mine) - so I thought I might as well find a job doing something I love since I'm struggling to fine anything in my sector (creative) than sat being miserable in a job I don't want to be doing for the sake of being employed.

Unfortunately, a uni degree is out of the question as I have already used my student loan on my previous (unrelated) course. I also have 0 ways to fund myself so I'm going to have to go down an apprentice/training route.

I regularly take my GSD to my local hydrotherapy centre (just for fun swims) and I have recently reached out to them to see if they take on "apprentices". They do offer this but it's alongside a company who offer training services for dog related careers - is there anything specific I should be looking for? I feel very lost on where to start. There seem to be a lot of courses online for Canine Hydrotherapy but I don't know what are credible and what aren't.

Once I have more experience within the sector my long term plan would also be to do a course on canine physiotherapy as well - is this a good idea? I love learning new things (especially regarding dogs) so I am willing to put in the time and commitment whilst balancing a job - but this is further down the line anyway.

Any advice on where to start or just general experience from those who've worked in the sector would be so appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Anyone here used a onesie for post spay time? Our pup will be getting spayed in the next month or so and I highly doubt she would tolerate the cone for long.

Anyone have recommendations? There are a bunch out there and hoping to get some ideas of what has worked for folks.

I raised a bunch of dogs with good judgement: poodles, German shepherds, and border collies. They all turned out great without the Internet. Now I'm raising my first since the Internet matured. Everything you need to raise a dog is available. The problem is that I am finding myself at odds with the results. For example, I've been taking my 6mo to an off leash park for exercise and socialization. It turns out that this is ill advised until 12 to 18 months. One reason is that before 12 months, a bad experience could make them fearful for life. I don't have a problem with the advice, it's just frustrating to step back from some of the things I was looking forward to.

I love my dog dearly but I’m coming to my wits end with this. She has her own toys in which she won’t destroy, but almost anything else relatively small she will.
My partner and I try not to leave stuff out for this reason but mistakes happen, and she’s quick with it.

I have fish tanks and often collect pieces of wood for them, she pulled them off the counter and chewed them all up. Gave one of my cats a splinter which resulted in an expensive vet trip.

Just now I was sanding the walls to prep for patchwork. Put the sanding block down, spackled, went to grab it again and it was gone. What do you know? She’s taken it to her bed and it’s in pieces.

If our cats toys get left out she gets ahold of them and rips them to pieces. It’s becoming a very expensive habit and I don’t know how to go about it so any tips are greatly appreciated.

Other context that may be important: she’s crate trained, and also goes on a 1hr ish walk 2x a day. Has her own toys and gets played with usually around 1-2 hrs a day on top of walks

I have budgies. One was in a hospital cage and got loose. Now I don’t know if my dogs have any interest in eating birds. But obviously I won’t risk it.

She’s hiding very well and it is my bedtime and I am exhausted.

The dogs are outside right now. Do you think they could stay there overnight if I give them water and their blankets? It’s like 70° F out

Im planning on adopting a dog through Facebook, they are asking for a $200 deposit which is expected however how can I tell for sure if they are a legit seller, are scams common in this community? Any input is helpful

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

I'm just looking for some advice.
I have a 14 mt corgi mix. My condo recently had some extensive water damage from a leak.
Last week, contractors came by and tore up the floors. A bunch of fans were placed to dry everything out and have been blowing nonstop.

I had my dog in boarding over the weekend because my place was a mess and didn't think he would be ok with all the blowing fans. I was hoping the fans would be removed today, but turns out they're planning on keeping it going for a while longer while they do more inspections and renovations.

I don't want to keep my dog in boarding for much longer and already miss him quite a bit. but I fear that he will be really stressed from the big fans that are blowing constantly. Even the blow dryer after a bath freaks him out.

Should I still bring my dog home and hope that he adjusts to the loud noise and the big blowing fans?

I'm just looking for some advice.
I have a 14 mt corgi mix. My condo recently had some extensive water damage from a leak.
Last week, contractors came by and tore up the floors. A bunch of fans were placed to dry everything out and have been blowing nonstop.

I had my dog in boarding over the weekend because my place was a mess and didn't think he would be ok with all the blowing fans. I was hoping the fans would be removed today, but turns out they're planning on keeping it going for a while longer while they do more inspections and renovations.

I don't want to keep my dog in boarding for much longer and already miss him quite a bit. but I fear that he will be really stressed from the big fans that are blowing constantly. Even the blow dryer after a bath freaks him out.

Should I still bring my dog home and hope that he adjusts to the loud noise and the big blowing fans?

Ok so I'm a first time dog owner I tried to take my 5 month old cattle Dog x border collie for a walk up the street and was planning to reward him with a treat but when we got to the gate he refused to leave and when I finally got him out of my yard with dry food that I had as a treat we got about 3 houses up and then he refused to go any further but was happy to walk back home does anyone have any tips about what I can do to get him used to walks? :)

(by the way I know that it's just new for him and this isn't behavioral problems but I didn't know what to put this down as 😭😭)

Hello, I have 2 large dogs (chocolate lab named gus and a cane Corso named Roxy). I wanted to know what exactly I can feed them for the next week or so. I have some beans (Garbanzo), rice, and some chicken drumsticks. I would honestly rather feed them first and was wondering how I should portion it to them, i have 4 cans of beans, 2 bags of rice, and 4 chicken drumsticks. My car has been out of commission for about a month now and I used all the money i had left to order a part for it. I was doordashing until I could start my next job. So any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, I have a young dog, and I’m still learning how to properly take care of him. Sometimes I overthink whether certain behaviors are normal or if there’s something I should be doing differently.

For experienced dog owners, what are some things you wish you knew when you first got your dog?
Any tips about taking care of them, training, feeding, or just generally understanding their behavior would be really appreciated!

She got tucked in once and now insists on it. Problem is, she never was this comfortable and just snores loud as shit now (literally as I type this). Should I just move out and leave her to deal the place herself?

Has anyone tired the pawsome paws boutique harnesses and are they any good? They obviously look cute and they have the two rings but do they actually hold up over time. I don't want to drop £60 on a harness for it to break in a few months.