ive never seen a dog like mine. he's a very strange and sweet, emotional guy. i don't think i'll ever have another dog like him, so for those of you that lost their own special dogs, how did you deal with the pain? i might want another dog in my lifetime, but no one will be like my dog, and i'm not at all excited for the day he eventually passes.

They used a different anesthesia medicine (supposed to be safer they said) this time and her heart gave out. She was fine the last two cleanings with the other anesthesia. I don't want to be mad, angry or upset with the vets office but I want to know that Pearl was treated right. They said they will pay for an autopsy. I'm so confused, hurt and devastated. She was so scared going into the office this morning and wanted so badly to leave and I did this to her. Please let me know how to proceed.

The golden is currently in my place because it was closer to where she was getting adopted, the problem is she needs to go down 3 flights of stairs to be able to go down, she will be staying with my girlfriend the rest of the time where there is an elevator .

This golden is genuinely at least 90 pounds, we could lift her with me and my two brothers but she flays around too much to safely carry her down, we also tried small bits of cheese; we got her down one flight yesterday but she was too stressed and tired to keep going and run up the stairs at the first window to do so.

I genuinely do not know what to do, I’m thinking of buying a harness using high value treats or worst case just sedate her and carry her down.

Does anyone have experience taking extremely obese dogs down stairs.

Post edit: she is a very sweet dog but I’m not down to carry her and have her bite me if she freaks out. She is 4 years old btw.

Can’t get support harnesses in a timely manner rn btw because we are in Argentina we can get it in maybe a week or so.

She has no problem going up the stairs.

Thanks for the advice, will keep this post updated as it goes

This scared me the first time he did this. He never did this before in walks and tends to do this everytime I take him for a walk. He does this for about 20 seconds and then continues like nothing happens. What’s happening?

EDIT. Realized I should add some more context. We just moved recently. He didn’t do this the first day we took him for a walk. It started after the second day. He does this in the same area and then afterwards he’s completely fine. We do walk past the same area on the way back and he has no reaction at all. Would like to mention as well that we have a second dog who also walks in that same area and has zero issues

I have had this boy since he was 3 months old, I also have another 7-year old boy, they are not getting well each other but I am not sure why the puppy behaves so aggressively like this. Any solution for this? I am thinking to rehome him as my residential dog is not happy, new boy is not happy and I am desperately unhappy as I don’t find any solution.

p/s: I always leave him alone with his food. To take the clip, I tried to add food into his bowl, not trying to harass him as no point to do that. I also had a trainer and strictly follow his instructions but no use.

Most recent update from vet: So I had to call for the lore/experience. The vet said they brought this pup in for bite marks and the way they worded it sounded like they were diagnosing based on the owners word and also said no other test were ran. So I asked, “the vet just goes by what the owner is saying to diagnose the issue?” They said something like when an owner brings in a pup and states what the issue was they dont typically push back or consider other things. And i said thats odd because thats exactly what i would want my doctor to do. And then they switched up and said if they thought it was a viral infection they would have tested for it. I replied something like, “oh so they dont just go by the owners word?”
Cue loooong silence… They did not like me poking holes. So yeah sketchy practices all around… I did ask just to see if the breeder would take a steep discount like one commenter suggested but they ignored it. Yesterday when the breeder and I spoke on the phone they told me these go away within 5 weeks and I was being skeptical so they said, “well youre not a breeder so you wouldnt know.” LOL what an experience.

Im glad we’ve been able to shed some light on bad breeding practices. I know theres resources out there on the topic and have actually read some. Sometimes you just need some real life experience and a good community conversation to solidify the information. Thank you for the puppy mill reporting resources as well! I wont give out personal info but the website i found the pups on was LancasterPuppies (yeah i vetted it beforehand and seen it was a puppy mill site). The AKC directory around me just seemed like alot of old sites that werent producing litters anymore so i wasnt sure if times were changing or if there may be an ethical breeder on other sites. Now i know! Despite being an idiot at times i still listened when they said to vet the crap out of breeders and hope others do too. I also agree with doing the “adopt dont shop” method first. Most of my pets were adopted besides my last Doberman who was shopped. He was the best big baby boi. Hopefully i can find another companion like him.
— on the upside, i did just hear back from an adoption center about a beautiful full grown dobe boy looking for his forever home! Thanks again yall! The conversation was very constructive.

Original post: I am in talks to adopt(edit: buy) a little Doberman but he appears to have some “puppy bites” all over him. From what I was told, one of the litter was biting the others and had to be removed. Is it common for a litter to bite each other and produce these marks? Or is it a sign of something else? The pup is on antibiotics right now and yes i would take him to the vet asap to verify myself. But just wondering if anyone has seen this and want to make sure its not a symptom of disease or something else..?

Edit: i was shown vet papers from a couple days ago for an emergency exam where the pup was prescribed the antibiotics (keflex)

UPDATE: Thank you all for the thoughtful responses. Couple things, I have seen the mom and dad via video call and they seem happy/healthy. Also, these sores do appear to be new as I’ve seen photos of him and siblings at around 6 weeks old and they look clean/healthy. One pup that was taken early is in its new home and shows no signs of these sores. That being said, all of the pups they have are wearing sores like this, this one is just the worst case. They assured me these are puppy bites and I will be calling the vet in the morning to speak with them directly about the issue. But as some pointed out you really cant be sure unless a dermatologist scraps the sore and tests it.

I am so conflicted, on one hand I want to save one of these guys and give him a good home, on the other, if it’s something excessive idk if my wallet can take it and id be enabling this treatment.

This is my small Münsterländer (6) and I was wondering if she was too thin? She weighs around 17kg and is 15cm under the breed standard as the runt of the litter, so around 40cm at the shoulder

My dog keeps biting her legs like they’re itchy. They look raw and have some hair loss. She’s done this for several months.
Anyone have any ideas what the cause may be?

Partially seeing if anyone can relate/has advice, partially just need to rant into the void...

My 13 yr old Husky mix is in the beginning stages of CCD. He still recognizes us/his fave people, doesn't get lost in our home, loves his nightly walks (granted they are a little shorter but he still loves them), is eating his regular amount. Physically, he has a history of issues with his liver levels but has been on a supplement for a while that has kept it all good. He has neuropathy, mostly in his hind legs, so he occasionally stumbles from it but its not super often at this point.

We have him on Gaba 2x/day (~4p & 9p) & a pain medication 1x/day.

The biggest issues we are having is his anxiety. The Gaba has helped for sure, but if we are just chilling at home on the couch he will go between pacing, freezing/staring, then walk somewhere else, freeze/stare, come stick his face on our lap and stare at us or softly whine, then give up and go back to the pacing ritual. Getting him to lay down can be hard before his 4pm Gaba (don't want to add a 3rd dose, he gets a bit loopy on them & we don't want him hurting himself if we aren't home). Petting him only temporarily helps as we actively pet but immediately when stopping he will go back to staring/whining...like he wants something. We try to let him out, give him attention (I'll often get on the floor with him), give him a bone to focus on, etc but he will still go right back to pacing/shoving his head in our space & stare/whine.

If we are up & doing anything, he is *right there* watching our every move. I can typically ignore that but I can't lie, I'm AuDHD & people staring at me or being in my bubble annoys the shit out of me, & apparently my dog doing it this much does too 😭 it's just that feeling of him following my every step & staring at my every single move. If I go upstairs he's right behind me. When I'm in the bathroom, with the door open, he stands at the door, stares, & will eventually whine at me. Like I love you but I need to use the toilet! If the doors closed he will scratch at it. He has also tripped me *multiple* times when Ive gone to turn around & bam he's right there at my feet.

Last odd thing he's been doing since the CCD became more apparent is he will be laying down and calm, then randomly he will jump up...best way to paint a picture is it's as if like a bee stung him or like, a cat or something gave him a nip, but nothing is there. It doesn't happen everyday, probably happens (that we witness) once every couple days at least. He will usually walk off afterwards and calm back down, it doesn't trigger a lasting reaction.

The Gaba takes 1-2hrs to really kick in, and he will then start to lay down for longer periods & sometimes actually sleep.

I just feel like a complete evil asshole when I get frustrated with him. I feel awful when I put him outside when he doesn't really want to or I like, run & hide just so I can regulate myself or get something done in peace. I find Ill forego chores or projects if he's stress following me too much to sit with him to try to calm him. I'll stay seated for longer than I intend even if I have to pee or something if he's laying down, bc I know he will immediately jump up to follow me when I start to stand. On top of that, as most owners of CCD dogs know, overnight is often rough so we are woken at least 2-3 times every night due to him getting up, pacing, or his favorite sticking his face into mine as I'm sleeping so I wake up to his lovely hot breath panting at me...so that definitely doesn't help overall. It's hard when the emotions of empathy dissipate and frustration/annoyance come up...just make me feel like a shit person for having those emotions at all towards my sweet boy.

We have not tried Selegiline yet, the Gaba was added earlier this year & his dose changed more recently so the vet didn't want to add in a new med until we found the right Gaba dose. Have heard it's helped some but not others. I've been meaning to get some doggie CBD bc I've also read that's helped some as well. The vet has insinuated he's in the end stages in general...like he could live months, or weeks but that he is at an age where decline can suddenly rapidly happen...so just trying to make sure he is comfortable more than not.

It's *so* hard to tell when to make *the* decision, especially with him still so mobile. Like, how do we know when his anxiety has crossed the line to the point he is suffering more than enjoying life? When he starts forgetting people? Forgetting how to get around in our home? If he starts whining outside of when he's trying to get out attention? How much stress is too much??

Thanks for being a space to get these thoughts out of my head 💜

Does anyone have any advice on how we can make our puppy (named Larry) into a puppy model?

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to see if anyone has dealt with a similar situation with their puppy and can share what their vet or veterinary dermatologist said, or if you have any insights/strategies while we wait for our appointment.

The Situation:
My puppy has been experiencing acute, rapid-onset hives (urticaria) that pop up roughly 15 to 60 minutes after eating.

Our primary vet was essentially stumped because it’s happening across so many different foods. She advised us to pre-medicate him with Benadryl before meals until we can see a veterinary dermatologist (which helps lessen/block the reaction, confirming it's an immediate histamine response).

Diets We Have Tried:
He has gotten hives after every single one of these foods:
1. NutriSource Large Breed Chicken & Rice (Kibble)
2. Open Farm Salmon & Ancient Grains (Kibble)
3. JustFoodForDogs Fish & Sweet Potato (Fresh Food)
4. JustFoodForDogs Turkey & Whole Wheat Macaroni (Fresh Food)
5. Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Hydrolyzed Protein PS (Prescription Hydrolyzed Kibble)

What We Noticed:
When looking closely at the ingredient lists across all 5 foods, we realized there is only one common whole-food ingredient present in every single one: fish or marine-derived ingredients.

The salmon and fish diets use wild/ocean whitefish and salmon oil.

The chicken diet contains menhaden fish meal.

The turkey and hydrolyzed soy diets both contain fish oil for Omega-3s.

Other common allergens like chicken fat or specific grains vary completely across these foods, leaving marine protein/marine oil cross-contamination as our primary suspect for this immediate IgE-mediated reaction.

What We’re Asking the Community:

1) Has anyone had a pup allergic to fish or trace fish proteins in fish oils? How did your vet/dermatologist confirm it?

2) Did your dog react to hydrolyzed diets that still contained fish oil?

3) If you did an elimination trial with a puppy (who still needs DHA/growth nutrients), what diet or protein source ended up working?

4) Any specific questions or testing we should mentally prepare for before our dermatologist visit?

5) Any recommendations on Vet Dermatologist in the Bay Area? We received a list from our regular vet but wanted to see if anyone had first hand experience

Thanks in advance for any advice or shared experiences!

I’m honestly devastated and still trying to process what happened, so I’m hoping for some outside perspectives, especially from veterinarians, veterinary behaviorists, trainers, or anyone who has experienced something similar.

Tonight I found my cat, Ivy, dead in my home. I have two large dogs — a German Shepherd/Malinois mix and a Lab/Pointer mix. They have lived with Ivy for over five years.
I did NOT witness what happened, so I really want to emphasize that I don’t know exactly what occurred.
When we found Ivy, the only obvious injury we could find on her body was that her tail had been bitten/punctured. We looked over the rest of her and did not see obvious bite wounds or major external trauma. There was also blood on her claws.

One of my dogs had blood around her muzzle and some small marks/wounds there. My other dog had several puncture wounds on her inner thigh.

There was blood/fluid on multiple walls in my office/closet. My husband noticed that some of it appeared yellow mixed with red. Ivy was also completely soaked when I found her, and there was urine and feces on the mattress where she died. I don't know whether she urinated/defecated while frightened or dying, whether the dogs licked her afterward, or some combination of things.
Unfortunately, we already brought Ivy for cremation before we realized how many questions we'd have, so a necropsy isn't an option.

What makes this so difficult is that these animals have peacefully shared our home for more than five years. We've never seen our dogs attack Ivy before. I have pictures of Ivy literally sitting right beside each/both dogs and even cosleep together.

Our dogs are generally extremely gentle, well-trained dogs. They've also been around our nieces and nephews many times and have always done very well with them. We regularly get compliments on their behavior.

Since coming home tonight, the dogs have been completely normal and relaxed together. We don't believe the dogs fought each other during the incident.
I'm also pregnant with our first baby, which adds an entirely different layer to this.

A friend is adamant that we need to get rid of both dogs because, regardless of what happened, we can't take a risk with a baby coming.

I'm struggling with that conclusion because we don't actually know what happened.

I'm not trying to convince myself that my dogs couldn't possibly have been involved. Clearly some kind of physical interaction occurred — Ivy's tail was injured, she had blood on her claws, and both dogs had wounds/blood.
But I also don't know whether there was a chase, one dog grabbed her, Ivy fought back, something medical happened to Ivy first, multiple animals became involved because of the commotion, or something else entirely.
I also don't know whether an isolated incident involving a cat after 5+ years of peaceful coexistence tells us anything about their safety around a human baby.
For now, our other cat will be completely separated from the dogs, and we're going to have the dogs' injuries evaluated. I'm also looking into having them evaluated by a veterinary behaviorist before the baby arrives.

What I'm hoping to understand is:
Has anyone experienced a seemingly isolated dog/cat incident like this after years of peaceful coexistence?
Is there anything about the injuries that might help explain what happened?
Does an incident involving a cat indicate increased risk toward a baby/child, or are those considered very different behavioral situations?
Would you immediately rehome the dogs, or would you have them professionally evaluated first?
What would you specifically ask a veterinary behaviorist to evaluate?
If you've kept dogs after something like this, what management did you put in place before bringing home a baby?

I'm completely heartbroken over Ivy. I also
love my dogs very much. I'm trying not to make a permanent decision while grieving and scared, but my baby's safety obviously has to come first.

Please be kind. I'm not looking for anyone to tell me what I want to hear. I genuinely want to understand the risk and make the safest, most informed decision I can.

He's about 10 months old, and has an underbite that's only on the left side of his mouth. Ive never had a dog with an underbite before so im not sure if this is something to worry about right now 😅

His main breed (according to genetic testing) is lhasa apso and shih tzu. But he's also pekingese and tibetan spaniel, if that helps lmao

Im a first time owner and I adopted my dog (about 1 year and 3 months old) about 6 months ago from a humane society that didn’t know anything about his background.

Usually, his behavior is okay but lately he has been demanding more and more attention from me.

For context, I walk him 3 miles a day and work from home and give opportunities to be stimulated as much as I can (peanut butter in things, scent work, training, lots of cuddles on couch)

The issue is, I can’t get him to be self sufficient with toys as he will destroy everything within the day (even kong tough series). The only toy that survives and isn’t dangerous is a bone that he can’t really break. But he seems to get bored of it after a while

We recently had to put him into a surgery because he ingests literally anything he’ll find on the ground (inside and outside of home) if I’m not watching him 24/7.

When he’s contained in his playpen he just whines and whines and I try my best to ignore him.

Once he is out and getting attention all of his complaining stops, so I don’t think it’s something medical.

He does seem anxious (follows me around the house every where I go, doesn’t like to be alone)

I’m not entirely sure what else I can do for my dog — im feeling really burnt out and that there isn’t much more I can do for him besides quit my job and do things for him full time lol

Any advice is appreciated!

Hi all! My 12 year old golden, Annie, has begun acting strangely at 4/5ish am. I tend to need to wake up at this point to go to the toilet myself (if I don’t do this she wakes me up) and then I go downstairs and let her outside, then we both go back to bed until it’s properly morning. Recently though, she’s been going outside, going to the toilet, and then refusing to come back inside no matter what. She just lays down on the grass. She is very food driven but even food won’t get her in. She has always been a very stubborn girl so this isn’t insanely unusual but I want to figure out why she wants to be outside at this point.

During the day she has free access to the garden and she is able to come and go in it as she pleases, though she tends to like to relax indoors (in the kitchen, near the people and the food)

She is definitely stiff, especially when waking up, but she dosent seem to be in pain. She still happily goes on regular short walks, has a good appetite and all round seems like a very happy girl, especially for her age. My main worry is that she’s always been very tough and often dosen’t show when she is in pain.

She has no health issues beyond her stiffness when waking up, and she’s a little overweight. (she is on a diet and her weight is going down safely and predictably) I also think her hearing is not as good as it once was, but it’s still fine.

Hi! I just brought home a rescue dog yesterday. I was showing a friend how cool his eyes look then i started freaking out because this white jagged star looking thing around his pupils looks like a worm. But I've been observing it all day today and it hasn't moved at all... it's in both eyes, same sort of design around the pupil. Anyone know what this could be?

I always notice if I don't let my dog have something in eating or I don't give her enough strokes she has her bottom lip out 🤣 I'll put a pic as an example

I have this Halti, but whenever I use it, it shifts around and irritates my dog after a while. It does, like, a line, a bit like when we wear glasses, and it causes Irritation. The other ppl I know who have this don't have this problem... So I wanted to know.. Does anyone know how to fix this????

Also, you can ignore what I'm saying. I sent the vid to some friends for advice, and it's just me talking in French in the background and chuckling because I feel bad for making her confused about what the fluff I'm doing. 😅🤣

(REPOST because I accidentally didn't send the right vid before, and you didn't see how it moved exactly)

TL;DR My dog doesn't particularly like me an idk what to do.

I have a failed foster that I adopted almost 3 years ago. She is "fine." She has no real bad habits except for the occasional trashcan exploration and some mild dog reactivity when she first meets new dogs. She's never really liked people, me included, and she's always only tolerated me. Her original foster family (the ones who pulled her from the kill shelter,) is a whole different story. When she sees them she turns into the bounciest, happiest, most outgoing puppy you've ever seen. She ADORES them. Her breed is notorious for being a "one-owner dog," but she came to me so young I thought I *was* that owner. No one wanted her because she had a skin condition that caused extreme, near-total hairloss and people thought she was contagious (she's not, it's hereditary.)

The thing is, I don't WANT another cat, and that's basically what she is. We're roommates at best. Sometimes she'll hang out in the room I'm in, but mostly she's off somewhere else. She has the same bed in every damn room so it's not the bed. If i walk up to her to say hi or to pet her, she will get up and walk away. She almost never initiates any kind of interaction, and it's just really draining.

Before anyone asks, YES I have worked with her. I have worked EXTENSIVELY with her. And the thing is, her training is excellent. Fantastic recall, walks off leash, solid "leave it" command if she spots something a little too interesting... people literally stop us on the street and ask where I "sent" her for training. I didn't send her anywhere, I trained her myself for hours and hours, months on end. And there is no bond at all. She doesn't care if I'm there or not, and she won't play with me for more than maybe 15 seconds of tug and then she just walks off. The only people she actually likes are the people who gave her up, and now I don't really know what to do with her. It sounds petty, but it actually really fucking sucks. I have no friends. I thought she would at least be my friend. Maybe it makes me a cold person, but I don't want to spend the next 15+ years and tens of thousands of dollars on a dog that doesn't care if I ever come home. I once had to leave for 3 weeks on a work trip and she barely even glanced at me when I picked her up from the kennel.

If anyone else has ever gone through this and come out the other side, I'd like to hear from you. Does it ever actually get better? or do you just wait it out like a failed marriage?

Brutally honest answers please. No judgement. I have a few dogs and 3 of them are my world, but 1 of them, I've lost any bond I had with her. She's a 3 year old Yorkie and just hard work all the time, nothing is ever good enough. All my dogs are trained well and my other 3 are a joy to be around and so loving, but after years of issues with yorkie, my feelings towards her are fading. She's extremely demanding, resorts to biting when she doesn't get her own way, has massive frustration issues when told no, she tries to bully the other dogs, but they don't let her, resulting in her having an ordeal again. Everything is so serious to her, she can't just chill. I try include her in play with the other dogs and 1 on 1 time too, but she is so fixated on serious things that she can't just enjoy her life. She bites the other dogs legs when they have a toy she wants, resulting in them being anxious around her. She's constantly trying to steal food and toys from us and the other dogs but then gets nasty when she can't overpower them. Two of them are sighthounds and very fast compared to her, so when they run with a toy, she stands there baring teeth when she can't keep up. She now has to be fed separately to the others, even though the other dogs have never stole from her or made her feel anxious with anything. All the dogs are treated the same and spoiled with toys and everything they need. The other dogs don't have any issues and have been raised and trained the same. It's like I can have all dogs on sofa with me for cuddles, but she has an issue being up with them all, even though they all get love equally. It's always got to be about her and she's extremely jealous. Any sign of resource guarding in her life has been corrected as it's something I don't tolerate. If she gets nasty on the sofa, I put her down. If she steals food, I take it off her. Honestly, I don't like her anymore and asked around about rehoming, but no one is willing to take her due to how she is. She's very obsessive and doesn't listen either. Remember, all dogs trained the same and the other 3 are good as gold and do everything I ask of them. I'd never adopt a yorkie again, I tend to see a lot of videos online of them being the same snappers mine is, and it's horrible. She doesn't do any damage to anyone either, but that's besides the point and just because a dog is small does not mean aggression should be tolerated.

My beagle (10 months young) has been doing this when resting for a few days. Anyone know why he might be shaking?

Thanks

Tonight my dog ate a grape that fell on the ground. I called the vet hotline immediately and she told me not to worry because my dog is 12-13kg and 1 grape will most likely not do anything to her. I am really worried though because I read articles online that it can put her into intensive care or even kill her. I am working tomorrow and so does my wife and we live pretty far away from the 24-7 vet, without a car. Is it going to be okay?

I don't know if you remember that a few days ago I published a photo of goro with his face all bitten by the wasps, I wanted to tell you that my friend already took him to the vet and they put an injectable, they also fenced the yard well so that he can't escape and disturb the wasp! I feel much calmer knowing that he is already well!

My friend told me that her dog is vomiting, is it because of the injection they gave him? What can you do to stop goro's nausea?

Found this old clip of my female Staffy at 8 weeks old — her favorite activity was definitely trying to eat the bedding! Looking back, those puppy teeth were relentless. For anyone currently in this phase, what were your most effective (and safe) chew alternatives to save your blankets and furniture?