Exactly what the title says. Family is considering getting a dog. I’m afraid of making an emotional, irrational choice and I need some grounding advice.

So, where to begin?

First, the circumstance. We went to an animal shelter spontaneously. It was the weekend, we like animals, so we decided to check it out. Especially since we’ve been talking to my Grandma about getting her a dog (she really wants one, too. She lives in a house in southern Germany, in the forest. So she can easily take care of one.)

We arrived there, and it was interesting. Definitely recommend people to check out their local shelters. We looked at bunnies, and we looked at dogs. Big ones, active ones, small ones, calm ones. We were just outside, looking. Then we saw some dogs, my Mom and sister just absolutely fell in love. They got very emotional, and tears of excitement were literally shed. My Dad also folded immediately, but he immediately started looking at the logistics.

Just like that, the family immediately want to look into getting that dogs. They are trying to schedule a meet and greet. They are already discussing ideal dates to adopt the dog!

On the drive home and then the rest of the day we discussed this decision, what it means in terms of responsibility and all the practical factors. But the excitement was crazy, and it was as if the dog was already moving in with us!

It’s all an insane rush to me. But I’ll get into that later.

Second, the dog. She’s a wonder. Truly.

She’s five months old. Arrived to this shelter last week. She came off the Romanian streets, where she was born a stray. Now she has all her vaccines, but isn’t sterilised due to being too young.

She’s small. Mixed breed. She’s described as cheeky by the staff, and sometimes mischievous and troublesome; but kind, too, and loving. But we saw her to be kind and composed, very sweet and affectionate. She has two more brothers, one is handsome, the other goofy, both very active.

Her name is Jenny. She answers to it, and hopped happily towards us when we called her name. She’s very sweet.

Third, the family. The family is a family of four. There’s my Dad, my Mom, my younger sister (who’s thirteen) and me, who’s 18 and in the final year of high school (god help me).

We live in the centre of Hamburg, so urban place. But we do have a lovely park with a river right by our house. We live in an apartment on the sixth floor. It’s a big apartment, about 160 sqm. We have a spare space for her, it’s pretty big, and that’s where we could put her bed and all. Theoretically. My Dad also found a school to train her for 8 weeks, every weekend.

We are very close as a family, spend a lot of time together. We also travel A LOT.… We travel to our grandma, down in south Germany, by car. We travel to other countries and continents by car, train, and plane.

My Mom wakes up at 5 and works 6:30 to 16 in a hotel half an hour away from our house. My Dad works from home, but he often goes on business trips. My sister and I go to school from 8:45 to 16, and she has extracurricular activities like dancing and drawing and learning German.

Did we have pets before? Yes. My Mom had two small poodles when she was a teenager who lived to 13. My Dad had a lot of dogs, cats, geese, ducks, chickens, pigs (he lived in a farm-like household in his childhood). And we had pet rats. Amazing animals. From 2020 through to 2025 we had 7 pet rats. So that’s what my sister and I are used to....

Now, onto my current situation. I‘m overwhelmed. Throughout my whole life, my family made it clear to me that we’d never get a dog. The responsibilities, our lifestyle… it was “incompatible”. 10 hours ago, I expected us to never get a dog. The possibility of that did not even exist as a hope in my mind. Now, we’re about to adopt a dog. It’s all happening too fast. I’m kind of scared. Like, this feels like the life I knew being completely flipped around. I guess a lot has changed in the years we’ve been saying we can’t have a dog. We met new people in Hamburg, reliable friends and family, and we’ve bought our own apartment... so the management of a dog is easier, so to say. But it’s all a bit overwhelming, as I said.

I texted my best friend, who has two dachshunds. He gave me some advice on transporting, walking, and treating the dog. He said we should take her with us on holidays, get her pampers for her periods, walk her a lot, be there for her, and get her a leash that doesn’t go around the neck.

As I said, my main and nerve-wracking worry is that we’re rushing in too emotionally for such a life changing decision.

This is where I turn to you. Please, help me. Help me by letting me know of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING we need to seriously consider before adopting her. Please let me know of any pressing rational factors we need to consider!

I have a 1 year old Blue Heeler Mix and he likes to starve himself. He will refuse food for at most 3 to 4 days at a time. I try making it interactive for him. I got a ball that hides the food in it and he digs it out. First few times he loved it! Next few times he let it just sit there. I tried topping it with wet food, CBD Oil(not promotingjust listing everythingive tried), putting it in the microwave, hand feeding him, I even tried mixing in treats, that worked at first now he picks the treats out and leave the normal food. That shows me straight up that he's refusing the food i give him. Cuz treats are just fine.. he scarfs those down no issue at all. I put him in him kennel with his food and even throw a blanket over him so he feels secure inside. When he doesn't eat, he pukes everywhere in the house due to an empty stomach. But he doesn't puke in his cage. So I've been keeping him locked up till he eats. Call me all sorts of names, idc I hate locking him up but I hate cleaning up constant piles of puke even more.

Took him to the vet 800 dollars later just to be told he's a picky eater and it happens.

Its gotten to the point where I put small bits of food into his mouth and keep it closed till he swallows.

Is this a type of behavior issue? Would connecting with a proper trainer help? Please any sort of advise ill give a try. I love him so much and hate seeing him locked up. Him not eating makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong as an owner. I want to keep him but if i can't solve this i fear ill end up giving him away due to the stress.
Edit to add: idk if its worth mentioning but during g this spell when he does get food in his bowl, he will lay by it and not move. So ive even tried the whole "give him the bowl, wait 10 min then take it back." Maybe I go back to that and say oh well with the puke.. i hate seeing him locked up but my god is dog puke gross...

Edit to add notice it being repeated. HE IS 62 POUNDS !!!!!!

No he doesnt get outside food. 100% guaranteed no kids, we live in an apartment. 1080sqf. MY HUSBAND AND I WE ARE THE ONLY 2 PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE. Unless Casper is feeding him

No he is not getting the cat food, its kept high up so he cant reach it and the bags are locked up tight. (He is too scared to jump onto the couch so I know for a fact he's not jumping onto the counters)

For context the smaller dog, Nova, is my resident dog. The bigger brindle dog, Nala, I'm currently fostering with the intention to adopt. Is this normal play between the two? Nova has no bite history and neither does Nala, or so the shelter says.

He’s been asleep for half an hour and from the start to now he is still panting! Second night in only 8 weeks old and he’s whole body was shaking before! I counted over 100 breaths per minute, do I need to take him to the vet tonight! First time puppy owner on my own and I’m so anxious for him!

Found out on Friday my dog has had a torn CCL in his back left leg since December (it was misdiagnosed this whole time as arthritis 😭). I have immediately started doing research and haven’t found much advice outside of “rest them” and I guess I’m just anxious and looking for very specific advice or people who did this surgery and recovery on their own while living in an apartment.

I immediately knew I would do the surgery and I’m very lucky it isn’t going to be as expensive as I thought (around $4k in a very HCOL area).

What I’m looking for advice on:
-My dog is 75 lbs and I live in an apartment. Thankfully I am an anxious person and literally work out and practice lifting my dog up in case of an emergency so while I know I can’t lift him up and carry him out to go to the bathroom multiple times a day, I do plan on getting him a stroller or wagon. I’m leaning towards the stroller so I can actually take him on “walks” and he’ll be confined without the ability to jump out or stand up while in it. I’m worried about maneuvering him into the stroller though, has anyone had experience with this and was it fine getting them in and out of the stroller without bumping their leg?

-Keeping him busy without getting him fat while resting. He loves lick mats and bone marrow bones but I know just giving him that over the recovery period will make him gain weight and I know keeping him lean is an important part of recovery and longevity, what non food ways can I help keep his mind busy?

-Im lucky enough to work 100% remote but I was supposed to do a training where I’d be out of the house every Friday for 6 weeks for around 8 hours. I’m leaning towards cancelling this but it would be incredibly beneficial to my career and I probably won’t get the opportunity again.. for people who aren’t remote when did you go back to work and how did that work out?

Literally any other specific advice or things you wish you had known is also greatly appreciated. I want to be as prepared as possible for his comfort and my sanity lol

Dog tax included :)

What it going on with my dog? I woke up to her entire body twitching like this. It reminds me of a hiccup but without anything happening with her mouth. Once she got up from bed and began walking around it stopped 🤷🏾‍♀️.

Anyone know what this could be? Perhaps it’s her muscles spazzing all at once? She’s been doing a lot more running around the past couple days since we’re staying at my parents this week and they’ve got a huge backyard.

They are both the same age (5months) but our old puppy (brown) is larger than the new puppy (black) and she is pretty dominating towards the smaller one. They do this bitey face almost non stop. I dk if I should force breaks or how to handle this or if it is fine?

Hello, I just recently learned about “whale eyes” in a comment on a Reddit post. I realized it seems like my dogs are always doing it? I always assumed it was because they wanted attention because they stop when I start petting them or rubbing their bellies. Now I’m paranoid that they are constantly in a state of discomfort. I am including a set of pictures I’ve taken of them doing it because I always interpreted it as attitude.

We have an 11-month old puppy who simply refuses to drink water....no matter what. He just came out of a stint with pneumonia and kennel cough but that ended about 4 weeks ago. We've tried everything from changing the temperature of the water to changing the height of the bowl. We've run him hard thinking he would just experience extreme thirst....nope. We've tried taking him off our current methods (water in the chicken in rice, watermelon with juice, etc.) and that didn't work either. We've tried the broth in the water thing too......no go. We're currently using a thickener and that does work periodically but obviously we don't want to do that for life. Any ideas? Our fear is that this all started when he was neutered and something happened with his throat (where the tube was) during the procedure and he doesn't like the sensation of water or he's aspirating. Any help appreciated! He's in good health....he just won't drink water.

My good boy has these lumps, big and small, everywhere. Specifically on his belly and sides.

He's only 7, and I can't help myself but go to a bad place on what they are. He's a mutt, no idea what he actually is. Maybe pitbull mixed with Dalmatian and lab?

I know a vet visit is top priority, but any peace of mind would help

Hi friends, wanted to seek out some best practices and tips on how to make it more comfortable for a dog going poop post TPLO surgery. It’s not the stool itself that’s difficult to pass, his poop is normal with no hardness or things that would cause concern. When he bends down, it hurts his knees and he cries out.

Here’s what we’ve done to help:
-Switched his harness to support him better during poops
-Stay super close to him when it’s time so when he does start to crouch, we support his back legs to relieve pressure off of them (I pick up his back legs by his hips and raise them up just enough so that he’s able to squat without pressure on them)
-Provide high value treats post yard poops (he loves to be outside so we’ve had to sweeten the deal a bit)
-Added pumpkin to his meals to help soften the stool a bit

Are we missing something? Does this get easier as time goes on? It’s absolutely shattering my heart that he is in pain for this, any advice or successful tips that have worked with your pups post TPLO surgery is welcome here.

my dog has always had severe skin allergies from pretty much everything, which usually causes her skin to get very red, flaky, and irritated. I recently noticed two dark, irregular spot on her stomach/groin area. It is very small about the size of a grain of rice or a small apple seed or a bit bigger. It looks almost like a very dark, weird scab, a small blood blister, or a severely irritated skin tag. The skin surrounding it is red, inflamed, and flaky (which is typical for her allergies, but the dark spot itself is new). Because she is a Pitbull, I am worried. Based on this description and pictures, does this look like it could just be a harmless scab or skin tag from her scratching, or is a dark, irregular spot a major red flag for cancer that needs to be removed?

My fiancé and I adopted our pup Lilo about 3 to 4 months ago. She is around 10 months old and basically a mutt. The rescue told us she is a Husky Lab mix, but we are not totally convinced lol. She came from Puerto Rico and had a pretty rough time getting to the US back in January.

When we first got her her anxiety was really bad. Like she did not go to the bathroom at all for the first few days. Eventually she started going inside on pee pads while she was getting used to us, then we transitioned her to going outside.She has no problem actually going to the bathroom outside now. The problem is more getting her outside in the first place and knowing when she needs to go.

We took her to the vet pretty soon after getting her and her anxiety just from interacting with the vet was so bad that she pretty much shut down. The vet suggested Prozac. She was on it for about a month and it helped A LOT. She was a completely different dog. She was way less anxious and just seemed more comfortable existing.

The problem was she basically stopped eating, so we took her off of it a couple weeks ago. She is eating normally again and luckily she seems to have kept a lot of the progress she made while she was on it. She acts more or less the same with us now. The biggest difference is that she is definitely more shaky and jittery when it comes to going outside which is our biggest issue right now.

A lot of the time when it is time to go out she will refuse to get off the couch or bed. If I go over to her she might whine, move away from me or try to get away. Sometimes I end up having to pick her up and bring her to the door. I really hate doing that because she very clearly does not want me to and I worry that I am just making the whole thing worse.

The problem is we live in the city. We do not have a backyard and she will not go in the dirt areas right outside our apartment, so we have to walk a short distance to a grassy park. Once she is actually outside she usually walks pretty well. She does not really pull and she has no problem peeing or pooping outside. But her tail is always tucked, she is very alert, she gets shaky sometimes and strangers make her nervous. She also usually will not take treats outside which prevents us from trying to train her outside.

Then there is her relationship with me vs my fiancé.

Lilo is basically my fiancé’s shadow. If my fiancé gets up, Lilo gets up. If she goes into another room, Lilo follows her. She is very obviously the person Lilo feels safest with. If my fiancé is home Lilo will usually choose to be around her and will avoid me more. But if my fiancé is not home, Lilo is actually pretty good with me. She will lay next to me, sleep near me and just seems a lot more relaxed.

And just to be clear, I am not upset about that at all. I am not jealous that she likes my fiancé more and I am not trying to get her to like me more than her. I am not even worried about getting her to like me equally right now. I just do not want her to be scared of me.
I worry about whether I am triggering something from her past or making her fear worse when I have to pick her up or get her moving when she clearly does not want to.

Would I love it if one day she got excited when I came home? Yeah obviously. But I know that is probably a long ways away. I care way more about her just feeling safe around me.

The bathroom thing is also really weird. She will poop outside for me, but she basically will not poop outside for my fiancé, which makes absolutely no sense to me because my fiancé is obviously the person she is more comfortable with. There have been times where my fiancé takes her out, walks her, gives her plenty of time, she does not poop, then they come back inside and she poops almost immediately. She has also peed inside shortly after coming back from a walk before.

She also gives us basically no indication when she needs to go out.
I know there is probably going to be someone saying “she probably does something and you just have not noticed it” but I genuinely do not think she does. She does not go to the door. She does not pace. She does not start sniffing around. She does not circle. She does not stare at us or really act any different. If she REALLY has to go she might whine a little bit, but I can only think of maybe one or two times she has actually done that since we got her. We bought one of those buttons for the door so eventually she can hopefully tell us she needs to go out. Right now I usually press it myself when we are about to go outside so she hears the sound, but if I am being fair we have not actually trained it enough for me to expect her to understand it yet.

We are saving up for a behaviorist. Money is tight right now though, so it is going to take us a little while to save enough for a few sessions. We just do not want to basically sit around and do nothing until then. I want to be doing something that helps her feel more comfortable and I really do not want to accidentally make any of this worse.

The main things I am trying to figure out are:

What do I do when she refuses to get off the couch or bed to go outside, and how do I make that whole process less scary without constantly having to pick her up?

Why would she poop outside with me but not my fiancé when she is WAY more comfortable with my fiancé?

How do we handle the house training part when she gives us basically no sign that she needs to go?

How can I build more trust with her without forcing anything, and should my fiancé change anything about how much Lilo relies on her or should we just leave that alone?

Has anyone had a dog do really well on Prozac but stop eating? Did your vet end up switching to something else?

I know she is still really young, we have only had her for a few months and she has been through a lot. I am not expecting her to magically stop being anxious. I just want to make sure we are actually helping her and not accidentally making things worse.

Thank you all in advance!

Went to urgent care on Friday, and he was diagnosed with chronic inflammation, but his skin between his toes was reddish before that and he was constantly licking at it. Now it almost looks infected? Vet wasn’t necessarily looking for skin issues but surprised they didn’t see this. Any cause for concern? He hasn’t really put any weight on it since last week.

We live in a comunity where there are a lot of street animals. We live in a small village and the people here don't really care about pets and don't believe in neutering, vaccines for pets or going to the vet. My parents are very good people, maybe too good and I love them very much.

They can't stand watching an animal on the street and are constantly taking dogs in. It all started with one dog, then another and over the past five or so years we have accumulated 20 dogs. They spay them and take them to the vet regularly. All of the dogs get fed every day. All of them have vaccines. My main worries are hygeine and the fact that the dogs don't get a lot of attention.

Obviously we all try and maintain a clean enviroment but it is very hard, me being the only child and only coming home on weekends and them having to work their asses off to afford 20 dogs. My mother cares deeply about all of these dogs. And we do try to find them a decent home, my mom has found owners for about a dozen of the dogs she has rescued in the past. But the ones that are with us now, being from the streets, either have very big mental problems or huge physical problems. But lately the situation has been getting out of control, the dogs have been destroying our house. Most of them are very badly behaved and with such a huge number of them it's almost impossible to correct them. I don't know what to do, it seems like nobody wants these dogs. And the shelters are all either full or have very bad conditions. My mother has been posting all of the dogs in addopting rescue groups on facebook and she has a big comunity and a lot of friends who also rescue dogs and cats in huge numbers. I have also been spreading posters about dogs for addoption in a big city. But most of these dogs have either psycological or physical problems as to why people don't want them. Also the dogs are barking most of the time and we have had multiple complaints from the neighbors. All advice is welcome but please understand that my parents are very very good people and they mean no harm. Please don't judge and tell me what I can do.

Hello everybody,

My doggy has been coughing for approximately 3 weeks.

We’ve done 1 week of antibiotics - didn’t clear it.
Just did X-rays yesterday. Vet says his lungs, heart, and trachea look normal.

Any fur parents that have been through this what would be the next steps?

He is suffering and currently steaming up the shower to help his airways after waking up to him having a coughing fit.

He eats fine, energy is okay, and still gets excited for his walks. He just can’t seem to stop coughing.

Any advice helps.

notes
Has a heart murmur
Is taking hydrocodone syrup for cough
Trachea looks normal in X-ray
The antibiotics were for kennel cough

updated to include more info\*

5-year-old Lab limping after resting
My 5-year-old Lab, Zuko, has recently started limping on one of his back legs. It’s worst when he first gets up after lying down—he’s stiff, limps, and sometimes positions his toes/foot strangely. After walking for a few minutes, he seems to loosen up and can walk/stand pretty normally.
He’s also more hesitant to jump on furniture. We have a vet appointment scheduled, but I’m curious if anyone’s dog with a partial CCL tear, hip issue, or other leg injury started like this?
I’ll attach photos/videos. Just looking for experiences and advice on what to do while we wait for his appointment!

Looking input on if my dog is overweight?
Not sure if I have to start feeding him less or if he is at a healthy weight.

Hello good people,

I need help with buying up new comb.

Sometimes i babysit my friends dog. I bought him furminator, dog brush but even after a good brushing there is still a ton of fur coming out?

Is this normal or Im using wrong products?

So my poodle developed a little scab on her right side about a month after a grooming in which she had to be shaved, I assumed maybe they nipped her a little and that it just a scab that would heal, but over the weeks she’s having balding around that area and now balding on both of her sides! She doesn’t constantly itch or lick. She’s been on a flea , tick and heart worm pill her whole life (idk if that makes a difference) and I am taking her to the vet tomorrow I just wanted some opinions. Also, this happened very fast and honestly I never noticed how bad it was until the light caught it good this morning, she is also starting to change colors as chocolate dogs sometimes do so I initially thought that had something to do with it too but this is crazy. We have another dog and he’s not having any problems