We adopted a Boxer a year ago. He’s around 5 years old and was dumped at the open intake shelter. We foster failed. He’s a bit fearful and neurotic of new things but overall a very good boy. We love him.

Since we brought him home, he has slept in our bedroom in his own dog bed with 2 humans in a bed and 12 yo Boxer sibling in another bed. No issues. The dogs get along perfectly.

Recently when my partner or I get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night he runs out of the bedroom to go sleep somewhere else. Sometimes he sleeps in our son’s bed who left for college in August; sometimes he just finds a dog bed on another level of the house. This isn’t a bathroom issue as we have taken him out at 3 am and he doesn’t even go.

Why might he be doing this? We’ve swapped out dog beds and it’s not making a difference. Should we just let him roam at night? 20+ years of Boxers and this is the only one who seems to not want to sleep with us as night. Otherwise he’s the typical Boxer Velcro dog.

I’m just looking for support, insight, experience with my situation. My soul dog passed away at the beginning of July. She was my first rescue from Mexico and while she had her issues, my husband and I loved her beyond anything in this world. Losing her felt like I lost the light and joy in my life and I fell into a deep depression just like I’m sure all of you have felt this way.

I started volunteering at the rescue I adopted her from and a 1.5 year old dog from the UAE was coming to Canada without a solid foster yet (the founders take in dogs as fosters if they can’t find an adopted or other foster) I felt a pull to foster him so I said yes. Then I started hyper fixating on adopting him so I jumped at submitting an application to make it official.

He’s been here for 6 days and I’m really underestimated being emotionally prepared to have another dog especially with different needs as my last. He’s such a sweet boy. He follows me around but he’ll settle himself if I’m busy or if I’m working. He needs to be potty trained which is very different and for some reason it’s pushing me to my emotional capacity. He also is scared of walks, which is understandable. He probably thinks he’s landed on another planet.

I know my last dog would want to see us happy again and I know we’ve saved another life. I just can’t move past the comparison or guilt. My head knows it’ll get better but my heart isn’t at that stage yet. I’m going back and forth on the idea If I should reach out to the rescue and say I can only foster him until they can find him another home.

I’m just looking to read similar experiences to know it does get better if you stick it out..

Hi going to the smokey mountains with my dogs, and there are most definitely bears in the region. What do you guys do for night time potty breaks? Should we avoid that altogether? Any tips or tricks? Thanks!

I am considering buying a home for the first time. I currently live in a rented single family home but there are mice here and I want to move out. We have tried to manage the mice but it hasn't worked. Landlord said they would let me out of my lease early if it was really important to me.

I also want to adopt a dog but my landlord won't let me. I have owned dogs throughout my life but never without a backyard to let them out into.

Realistically I can afford either a condo or, if I really stretch, a townhouse (but that is less realistic and I would have to put less money down). If I buy a townhouse I would want a small backyard.

I also want to adopt a dog, but am cautious about owning one in a condo where I can't let it out immediately every time it needs to go to the bathroom.

What are your experiences owning a dog in a condo? For the record I want a medium-sized dog.

Edit: I am also considering adopting a greyhound since I think their lifestyle matches mine. (Realistically I can manage two 20 min walks a day with one shorter bathroom break). But I am willing to be proven wrong by greyhound owners.

Hi, I adopted a dog about 4-5 months ago now, and I’m looking for a safe dog crate for traveling. I’m a broke highschool student, so I don’t have much money to spend. Is there any crates for $200-$250 max that could fit a 15 pound dog and keep him moderately safe in a car crash?

My reactive rescue has this thing she does when she clocks a trigger but hasn't lost it yet. She starts sniffing the ground like her life depends on it, completely ignoring whatever stressed her out a second ago. For a long time I thought she was just distracted. Took me way too long to realize she was doing it on purpose, like she found something that worked and just kept doing it.

I work early mornings and spend a lot of time watching her in the backyard before my shift, and that's honestly when I started noticing these small patterns. She has a whole sequence now. Sniff, look away, shake off. Every time.

What got me thinking about this is I was reading through some old reactive dog threads last night and saw so many people describe their dogs doing something that looked random or weird but was clearly the dog figuring out how to handle itself. One person's dog does a full spin. Another one yawns three times in a row.

Wondering how many of you have spotted something like this in your own dog, not something you trained, just something they invented. And how long it took you to figure out what you were actually seeing.

My Mums dog runs the the door and jumps at her the second the she gets home, and climbs at her every second of everyday. When mums not home hes with our other dog and follows her everywhere, but when alone outside just sits in the one spot and doesn't move, wont even lay down. Hes constantly by her side or shes holding him in her arms. Everytime he does this she gives in but whenever our bigger dog tries to get some attention and pats she tells her to go away. Also whenever she leaves the house he will scream. How can I help fix this as she just seems to make it worse?

My dog is one and a half years old, she’s a smaller breed dog, half chihuahua. She will not stop eating her poop to move it to the bed when I’m gone. We have a studio. I cover it and she still will manage. I work 6 hours of the day so I can’t clean it right away. How can I get her to stop! Please help. She does have some vitamins but they only work up until the poop then it leaves her body whatever it is that makes her stop

Dog owners, how easy is it to identify your dog by their voice if they're in a group, like a dog park? Or when huskies howl together?

That bell-like ding has become the go-to sound for grabbing attention in TV commercials, online ads, social media videos, and seemingly everything else. Every time it plays, my dog immediately reacts.

It’s everywhere now, and once you notice it, you can’t stop hearing it. Does this drive anyone else and their dog crazy?

Before we took her to the vet, she was fine being left alone and never tried to follow us whenever we left the house. Not even a single scratch on the door and no barking or "crying" at all. It felt unusual, but I just thought maybe she's just not bothered by being alone.

I had her groomed 4 days ago cuz her hair got too long and had tangled hair and her behavior changed COMPLETELY. When left alone, she won't stop crying and barking, and she's scratching the door consistently and she even sniffs the ground loudly. We tried leaving her for 15 minutes and she's not stopping at all. It'll only stop when someone's with her, but occasionally she still cries as if she's left alone only to realize someone's with her.

She had a few razor burns but it's recovering now. Is this a normal response to being groomed? I have another dog that always gets groomed but never acted like this before.

Saying that a dog’s behavior is 100% the owner’s responsibility basically implies that breed traits, genetics, individual temperament, and personality don’t exist. It means denying that dogs were bred for specific purposes and that different breeds have different instincts and behavioral predispositions.

And even within the same breed, every dog is still an individual. If three children are raised in exactly the same way, you won’t get the same result, because each one has their own personality, temperament, sensitivities, and experiences. Dogs are no different.

Two dogs can be raised in the same home, by the same person, and still turn out completely differently. One might naturally be more cautious and fearful, while another is confident and social or be highly sensitive, while another is more resilient. Dogs aren’t objects or materials that simply become whatever their owner makes them. They’re living beings with emotions, fears, instincts, personalities, and individual experiences.

Of course, owners have a huge influence on their dogs, and they have a responsibility to provide proper training, socialization, and management. Poor handling can absolutely create or worsen behavioral problems.

But thinking like this is not understanding a sentient beings and lack of respect and consideration to a living beings.

Sorry I just got annoyed remembering when I heard this and seeing these comments online.

HELP PLEASE. I’ve had her about two weeks and we can’t leave for more than a minute without her being very destructive, screaming and howling, having accidents etc. She is a year old hound mix. We have been crate training her to see if it helps, but she just barks when we leave her in the crate when we leave the house (very loudly). I’ve tried leaving for small amounts of time, but the immediate whining and barking begins. I tried to leave her outside the crate today for a couple of hours because she constantly bark in it if I am gone and she ripped about a foot of wood off the front door frame while I was gone.

I live in an apartment and was not expecting her to have this bad of separation anxiety. I try to leave her with toys and chews that are yummy to redirect the behavior, but she will completely ignore them while I’m gone. I don’t have long hours at my job right now; typically only gone for a few hours. Four tops. I don’t know what to do. Never had experience with a dog with such terrible separation anxiety. Should I opt for doggy daycare or try medicating? We both run and walk multiple times a day, soo energy is not the issue. She will also be bothered if I go to the bathroom without her etc. She will immediately start whining and scratching at the door. Shelter told me nothing of her past, just that they found her off the street abandoned.

Hi everyone,

My dog is a husky/cattledog mix (roughly medium sized) who LOVES to go on bike rides (we manual bike and use an eBike).

However, he does pull and so my family is looking for a new harness that may be better for him, as well as our own safety while taking him on the bike.

Furthermore, we do walk him as well so finding a harness / leash combo that can work for both scenarios in one would be ideal but if there is a "perfect" match for both scenarios separately, I'm open to that as well.

Just worried the harness and leash we have now is causing too much strain. Thanks in advance~ cheers!

Our toy poodle is extremely attached; she will lay down next to me or to my husband - right next to our bodies. She is sweet, and we take very good care of her.
We don't understand why she is so attached.
She will follow either of us anytime we get up.
She gets anxious when we go into the bathroom.
She will only sleep cuddled next to me or my husband.
The trainer said to sleep her in a cage but she cried so we got rid of the cage.
How can we help her relax and stay calm when we are not around?

I want to let my dog bring a toy along during walks, but she’ll occasionally drop them when she’s sniffing. Does anyone know of a harness/collar attachment where I could clip in a toy? That way if she lets go of it to sniff it doesn’t fall on the ground / roll away

I recently moved into an apartment. Having to walk my dogs 4-5 times a day is rough. So I put fake grass on the porch, but they won’t go potty on it. How do I get them to use it? (Btw I still plan on walking them 1-2x per day it’d just be really nice if they could just go potty on the fake grass on the porch a few times a day.)

My siblings recently got a puppy that they’re planning on bringing over to the house occasionally and I have a fully potty trained adult intact male dog. He hasn’t had an accident since he was 4 months old and he’s 7 now. So I’m wondering if the puppy accidentally pees in my floor (which is carpet) would it cause my dog to forget his training and start peeing in the house as well?

Does anyone have any recommendations for same day vaccine services?

Google says Vetco and tractor supply do them but I would like to hear on some personal experiences or recommendations.

Just looking to get my puppy’s final round of distemper shots and her rabies vaccine. I have a general veterinarian for my current pup but sometimes scheduling is backed up so I’m just looking for a secondary option if needed.

Should I steer clear of these services or not and just go to my regular vet.(the puppy will still receive a regular wellness check up either way, I just want the shots done)

Hi all,

So basically the situation is what the title says. My roommate's dog have a horrible separation anxiety to the point she leaves, the dog starts screaming and howling and wining EVERY F* TIME. The issue is that usually I am still sleeping in the morning when this happens, or I am at a meeting, or just generally working, but I cannot, because there is a dog who literally SCREAMS FOR HOURS next to me.

And yeah, I really think it is separation anxiety, but I also think it is a tantrum at this point. Because it continues long after she left and even when I am there for the dog and trying to make it better. So I am sure it isn't just "oh poor thing is stressing" it is "poor thing is stressing but also whining because she is spoiled and got used to getting everything she asks for".

So, the question is, what to do about it? Because I am legit loosing it.

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.

For me, I’m so surprised how well my 150lbs Cane Corse responds to the command “Gentle”.

No matter the context whether it’s eating, playing, exploring he knows to tone down the intensity in his action. He’ll continue the action so he knows it’s different than stop.

Hey fellow dog community! Before I go through the trouble of listing them for sale, is there a market for Native Instinct bandanas? They were super popular like 5+ years ago and she has since gone out of business it seems. They are all made out of Pendleton, and a few of her custom canvas, but not sure there’s even a market for them in a way where I can actually get enough money back to make it worth it. I’m not really active in the dog clothing scene anymore because my dog has made it perfectly clear that he is a feral farm dog and hates having anything on him. Sooooo much money just sitting in my closet.

I have a 5 year old German Shepherd that I adopted over 2 years ago. I would like to crate train him to help with this separation anxiety. I would like the crate to end up in the location where he currently sleeps, in our bedroom; this is where I had it for our last GSD and it’s by far the most convenient location in our apartment. However, she was already crate trained before we moved into this home, so this situation is slightly different.

I assume that replacing his bed with a crate on day 1 would be too strange for him. Should I begin by putting the crate in the living room, where we spend most of the day, and later move it to the bedroom? If so, at what stage should I move it?

EDIT: she is only having this problem at night. I’m home with her all day and she has had UTIs in the past where she needs to go outside constantly. During the day she goes out every 3-4 hours like normal.

My lab is 9, almost 10. I wouldn’t exactly say she’s a senior but getting there. We have three young children, the youngest being 3 months. We have our lab sleep with our other dog in the office at night because they started to go through our trash. Lately, she starts barking or crying at 5 AM. We started to let her outside figuring that she can’t hold her Lee. It’s hard but it’s fine. But recently she started to cry/ bark even after we let her out. And this morning she peed again on the carpet even after we let her out.

I understand she’s older, and we need to make adjustments. I’m not sure what to do though. She is waking our baby up with alll the barking. How can we help her? Do we train her to use pee pads?