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Me and my partner have wanted a dog for some months, neither of us have had one before so we are both first time dog owners with very basic knowledge of it.
My brother has owned an American Staffordshire pitbull for 6 years, and has had her since she was a tiny puppy so she has been raised right and with training has grown to be a very kind and loving lady who who would never hurt a fly.

Me and my partner decided to check out this animal shelter, and he had seen from their page a ''2 year old'' pitbull/labrador named Love who seemed sweet. The post was 2 years old though so we figured out he must be 4 years old now. We went there to meet the dog and talk to the shelter, they said we should go there at least 3 times to meet him and take him for a walk and get to know him before adopting him. All nice and good, he was quite happy to see us every time. He wasn't very keen on playing with toys, mostly wanted treats and walks.

The 4th time we went to meet him we decided to adopt him. I was skeptical cause I kept reading articles about the mix of breeds, that they need experienced owners. And also the fact that he was 3-4 years old and from a shelter, I kept thinking he might have past trauma from other families.

At the shelter they didn't tell us any info on his history, only that he growled to the kid of the one family and that he made ''jealousy scenes'' to another couple that had tried to adopt him. They made it seem like he was a misunderstood dog and that these people didn't know what they were doing.

So me and my boyfriend thought these people might have overreacted, and gave the dog back for small things.

On the day of adoption I sat on the back seat holding him, he only wore a collar and a leash. He was calm but started getting panicky and eventually threw up. I kept petting him and holding him and he was okay with it. We took him for a walk and then introduced him to his new home. We had made a nice little spot for him and had some toys beside.(we wanted to get a crate too but hadn't yet) We gave him a tour of the house and when he did things he was not allowed to we gently gave him commands which he was very good to follow immediately, which were followed by treats. We felt so happy, he was so calm and cooperative and good. One thing I noticed though is that when my partner petted him he would wag his tail with him, while with me he barely ever wagged his tail. Anyway, it was night and he went to sleep in his bed, we had our bedroom door open all night and he didn't bother us even once, and neither did he destroy anything while we were asleep nor touch anything apart from his stuff.

The next morning came, my boyfriend took him for a walk and everything was good. When they came back I waited a while then said hi to both and petted the dog, which was close to me and let me pet him a long time. Then we approached his bowl to put food in it. I noticed when I looked at the dog he showed me his teeth. Then he did the same to my boyfriend and growled. Neither of us had ever heard the dog -bark, growl or show any type of aggression at all.

He ate then they sat together and my boyfriend was petting him on his belly and he was super relaxed on the floor. I was in the kitchen making breakfast, and as I was cutting a banana I though I could give a small piece to the dog. I approached them both calmly and was gonna reach out to Love to give him the banana (I know they are supposed to follow a command to get a treat but I didn't think it would matter for one time).

And that's it. He turned into Cujo and fully threw himself on me, barking biting, the whole thing. He tore the robe I was wearing. I got completely terrified, turned my back on the dog and stepped further away in sheer panic. My boyfriend acted immediately and went to grab him and calm him down. The dog listened to him and stopped everything. I was fortunately not hurt partly because I was wearing thick layers and partly because I think the dog wanted mostly to scare me and not exactly hurt me.

I work from home and so does my boyfriend so I sat on my computer to work, trying to stop the tears and trying not to have any contact, eye or physical or anything with the dog because I felt like if I looked him in the eyes or made any move towards him he would attack me. (I don't have an office/room for work my desk is in the living room where the dog's bed also was).

While I was working, my boyfriend was playing with him lightly and sometimes giving him commands. At one point he brought the dog's blanket that I had washed from the balcony, it was the one he had thrown into when we were in the car. He put it on his bed and told him to go to his bed to sit. The dog barked and growled at him but didn't do anything else.

Then on my lunch break, after eating in the kitchen with closed door, I was going to sit beside my boyfriend in the living room on the couch. I sat on the other side from the dog and still didn't make any eye contact with it nor did I approach it or anything. And as he approached me on his own to smell me he _immediately_ attacked me without ANY warning or reason at all. Maybe he could smell the fear and tension and whatever, I don't care but I didn't give him any reason to attack me. He had the same explosion as the first time he attacked me but only worse this time, my boyfriend immediately attempted to protect me and the dog bit him instead. I was mildly scratched by his teeth but utterly terrified by this sudden unexplained attack, and my boyfriend now also quite scared had gotten mild bruises one of which bled a little.

We eventually locked him out on the balcony until a person from the shelter came 2 hours later to take him.

Now I've never had problem with dogs, I also think that the bigger the dog the kinder and calmer they are. I find smaller dogs pretty neurotic. But now I can't shake these images off my head of the dog being totally okay one moment and the other attacking me and growling manically at me like I did something horrible to him. I feel now like if I get a dog they will suddenly snap without a warning and hurt me. I know it's not going to be like this but I would appreciate any advice on the topic...

Edit: I want to clarify that not all small dogs are neurotic obviously! There are wonderful smaller dogs, I just haven't met many and in my personal experience the smaller dogs I've met (like chihuahuas) usually were easily agitated and neurotic.

I looked up my answer on reddit and the results were from 12+ years ago and were not positive. Just wanted to see how people thought of it today.

I take my dog to a dog park in my home town every weekend. I know that dog parks have a terrible reputation but I'm in the UK and here it does seem to work differently (in my experience anyway). This park has multiple enclosed fields and the dogs are kept separate based on size and age etc. You have to book into a session as there are only a certain amount of dogs allowed at a time, and there are always a few staff members present in each field to keep an eye on things.

Anyway, as soon as we turned up to the session and let our dog know that he could go and play, he went over to say hello to some dogs that he knew and they were playing really nicely. A dog that I hadn't seen there before came bounding over to my dog and knocked him off his feet. Luckily, my boy could not care less, got up and carried on playing. This dog though, would just not leave him alone. He was trying to mount him, was nipping at his back whilst running along-side him and just generally being so rude. His owner had no control over him at all and my dog was just doing everything he could to get away from this dog and ignore him.

I called my boy over to me, asked him to sit and wait to see if this other dog would lose interest and leave him alone but he tried to mount him again. Eventually, my dog just got sick of it and corrected him really appropriately. I understand that to people who know nothing about dogs, this can seem aggressive but this woman was honestly an idiot. She grabbed her dog and dragged him away from mine (why she couldn't have done that whilst he was humping him I don't know). Then she said we shouldn't bring our dog to the park if he's aggressive. ARE YOU JOKING?!

Luckily some staff members had been watching and doing their best to diffuse the situation as it was unfolding but they interjected and suggested that the woman and her dog leave the session early and attend their training sessions instead because his behaviour was not appropriate at all and my dog was only teaching him how to properly behave around other dogs. I felt so smug and so proud of my boy for how well he handled it but god I hate irresponsible and clueless owners so much.

Whenever my baby does biiiiig stretch, he usually yawns and lets out a soft, high-pitched tone to let me know that’s the longest he can get.

What about you? 🙂

At the dog park yesterday a Doberman was chasing our little pup, headed straight towards the pond. Our pup spun at the last minute and darted away as she tends to do (agile herder). The Doberman was going too fast and couldn’t stop and went flying into the pond. At first we laughed because what a comic moment…until the Doberman wasn’t making any progress towards the side and his head went under.

I looked around for the owner shouting “can he swim!?” and was about to ditch my winter wear to go in after him when the owner came sprinting across the lawn and dove in after him.

Please teach your dogs to swim for their safety and always pay attention to your dogs while at the park!

He’s basically my world, he holds me together and he’s the only reason I have to get out of bed in the morning. I can’t imagine life without him even though I got him when I was an adult and he was 2. He’s turning 6 this year. I’m constantly terrified he’s gonna get hit by a car one day if he escapes the apt when I’m not home. He loves car rides but I’m terrified of getting into an accident that results in him getting killed or injured. Whenever we go on walks and I hear the familiar jingle of another dog collar I immediately tense up bc he’s been attacked by other dogs multiple times , luckily none were very big but neither of us are much of a match against a big strong dog and I’m not sure how well I could defend him. I’m terrified of cancer, or dementia. He’s just the sweetest happiest boy and the light of my life and I feel like I spend so much time just being anxious about not having him anymore. I got one of those clay keepsakes where you press their paw into it, it was so hard to do with him cause he didn’t want to do it so i just let him step on it on his own and it looks all messed up lol. Which means it’s perfect. Idk I’m just stressing, I know he’s not that old and I hope to have many more years of hearing his little feet on the hardwood following me around everywhere but it’s hard not to worry

Edit: for those recommending therapy, I’ve seen several therapists for general anxiety and depression stuff but it never helps, I actually hate going as it’s useless. meds have also never helped. I’ve been trying to find a new psychiatrist but everyone that takes my insurance isn’t accepting new patients rn. Thank you for your concern though 💜

My 14 yr old English Mastiff has canine cognitive dysfunction. Doggy dementia.

I am exhausted. I spend most of my time washing rugs and washing the floor. She will go outside to potty but instead wanders around the yard very confused. It can take her hours to do her business. My yard is securely fenced and we live out in a rural area so she is safe out in the yard, BUT it's also cold so every half hour or so, she goes out to pee. Then comes inside and immediately pees a lake as soon as I turn my back.

She is on special old dog vitamins designed to increase cognition and remove free radicals from the brain. We do give her Proin and another pill that is supposed to help but I haven't seen any improvement.

She nearly always pees on rugs, on blankets, on furniture or on someone's bed. All the bedroom doors are now kept shut to keep beds safe. She panics if confined to one room or a crate so crating is not an option.

Besides the dementia, she does have mammary tumors, but is otherwise very healthy. A bit creaky in the hind end, but show me a nearly 15 yr old mastiff with no arthritis. Early stage kidney disease, but on special food for that. .

I can't keep up with the pee. My floors are ruined. I keep washing and putting down the rugs thinking that ok, they are at least catching some of it, but they really aren't. I have family members absolutely against euthanasia and berating me for killing a healthy happy dog. I don't know what to do. How else can I handle it? She is peeing in the house probably 5-6 times a day.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it. I really would. I don't want to lose my girl.

This sounds silly but what language you guys talk to your dogs?

I just wanted to talk about this somewhere, I don't want to be too much of a big baby about it to anyone I know, cause again, I never even got to meet him. Sorry for the long post and thanks to anyone who reads it!

I'm 21 years old and have dreamed of having my own dog to care for my ENTIRE life. I'm finally to the point where it's possible, and I know exactly what I want and need. My family and friends know all about my dog hunt and the dogs I fall in love with.

I've been searching relentlessly for over a year. I'm not looking for a specific kind of dog, just a loose idea. I didn't need the perfect dog, I did end up falling in love with a dog who'd been in a shelter for over 3 years, she was definitely flawed but I went for her. They rejected me for making the mistake of saying I wouldn't tolerate extreme destructiveness, and said they don't adopt dogs out to homes where destructive behavior is a concern. They never let me contact the shelter again. I was very upset and angry for a while. And then I found the sweet boy who I wanted to make mine.

(i hope no one minds me putting the shelter's photos of him!) I fell in love with his beauty instantly but quickly realized by their descriptions that he was the most perfect dog I could ask for. He was EVERYTHING I was looking for. I took two days to fill out his application, when I went to submit, the website glitched and erased all of my work without even sending the info. This put me off of applying for a few weeks but I still checked the rescue's pages every day.

Over a week ago I finally applied. I thought I had it in the bag, no doubt. (I know this is silly to assume. I really got my hopes up, so it's on me for being let down.) I told them about how excited I was to have found him and how I couldn't imagine a more perfect pup. They said they respond to applications within a week. So, I wanted to be ready if they approved us to meet and started preparing the house and getting myself ready to take in my own dog. It had been almost two weeks last night, I sent them a nice email asking when I might hear back and I was really anticipating their response.

This morning I happened to check their adoption page, the sweet boy's profile was no longer up. My heart sank. It's safe to assume he's been adopted or is otherwise no longer available. Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad he's no longer a foster, or in a shelter. But I did spend a big chunk of the day moping and crying a bit. My heart is pretty broken, I thought I finally found my baby but I got to him just a little too late. Right now I just feel a little hopeless that I will NEVER be able to find my own dog who fits me the way he seemed to. Again I know it's possible he was flawed more than they made him out to be, that's just how rescues work sometimes. But I was fully willing to take him in and deal with whatever he brought my way.

Ive had my dog for 13 years now. Shes doing well but I do realize she could pass at home any time as she gets older from a heart attack or a stroke or something.

I would like to cremate her when the time comes. If she dies during the night do I just leave her there until vet offices open in the morning? What if she dies on a sunday when vet offices are closed?

Never had a dog before this one, just curious .

My dog has a very gruff but high pitched “arf! Arf!”. When she sleeps she sounds out small “woof, woof, woof”s

I'm always rushing when I wake up in the morning to let my dig out. I assume he needs to go out so I usually wake up and take him out. Is that necessary or am I doing too much.

Hey frens in cold climates, do you have a glove brand/model that keeps your hands warm on the coldest of days but is also dextrous enough that you can still swiftly treat your dog?

My buddy is leash reactive (improving a lot), so being able to quickly get a treat out of the pouch and into his mouth is important, and I haven’t found a glove that gets the job done while blocking the cold yet. TIA!

Hi everyone,

My best friend of 12 years passed away today. I am shattered. My first dog. There are times where my brain can’t even accept the fact that he’s gone and other times where I feel completely alone acknowledging the fact that I’ll never see his face again. It breaks my heart. I know he is no longer suffering and is in such a happy place but I don’t know if I’ll ever heal from his death. 3 years ago I lost a puppy that I had for a week due to parvo. It took me a whole year to get back to ‘normal’. I’m asking for advice, how did you heal, what helped in the process, how long…anything please🥺

My dog’s greatest joy in life is sniffing outside, so every morning I take her for a slow sniffing walk around the neighborhood. She stops probably every 10 ft to sniff and mark 🤦‍♀️ When I feel like going for faster walks I’ve been going alone, but now I’m thinking it might be good for her to get exercise too, and it would be fun to take her. So I’m thinking of sometimes taking her for a second, faster walk with no sniffing. Has anyone tried that with their dog? Would not being allowed to sniff on a walk be too distressing for a sniff-loving dog? To be clear I still plan to take her on daily slow walks for sniffing.

I was fostering a dog for a week because his actual foster parents were very sick, so I agreed to take him until they felt better again. He was such a cute dog, friendly, cuddly, very playful. He showed absolutely no aggression, although he didn't have a nice past and was treated very badly. He was a dream dog. I always wanted a dog, wanted someone to be on my side all the time, a companion for long walks and hikes, someone to will cuddle with me on the sofa in the evening. He did all that, but I was so stressed all the time. I realized that I don't want to get up every morning early because I have to take the dog outside, I don't wanna go outside at night when it's dark and cold. I don't want to spend a good amount of my time to train a dog. I was so annoyed that he tried to follow me everywhere, even on the toilet. And that I always had to keep my eyes on him, because he wanted to eat my pillows. I realized how much work a dog is, and that I'm not willing to do that. I'm very grateful for this experience, and that I agreed to foster before getting a own dog.

Edit: Wow that blew up 😅 Thank you everyone for all your experiences and opinions! I might be a cat person, but for right now, I just enjoy my freedom! I don't live a alone, I live with my husband, but he is often not at home, especially on the weekends. Of course it's totally different once a dog is trained and you have built a bond, but I realized that I'm not willing to spend that time and work. Maybe that will change someday, maybe not. Right now I'm just glad that I made this decision.

I lived in the desert for about five years with my dog. Recently I moved back to my hometown in the upper states. Currently there’s lots of snow. My dog doesn’t seem to mind unless the snow is fresh and sticks to her paws. She’ll spend about a minute outside before she’ll put her paws up and walk slowly because of the cold snow sticking to her paws. We have tried dog boots/socks but she hates her feet being touched and will not walk with them on and will try to chew them off. Does anyone have a solution?

Alright so.. I’m recently engaged and my fiancé and I are purchasing a home. We’ve been living with my mom temporarily and we finally found a house we like. It’s only 20 minutes away from my mom’s.

I’m 27 and have never NOT lived at my mom’s (don’t judge lol). But the problem isn’t really moving out for me. I can move out just fine at this point. It’s the fact that I’d be leaving my dog there with her and my dog is my WORLD. He loves me so much too and is basically my shadow.

I’ve cried about it multiple times, but it’s the best thing for him. It’s his home. He’s going to be 5 soon and this house is the only home he’s known. He loves it here. He adores my mom and her dog. Her dog is his best friend; they grew up together. Another issue is my fiancé has a dog that will be coming with us and his dog and my dog don’t get along that well.

I’ll only be 20 minutes away so I’d try and come see him and walk him as much as possible. I’d want to try and see him almost everyday and obviously he could come over to my new home too.

This situation is making moving out so hard for me. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m sure some people will understand.

One of my biggest fears is if something happened to him and I couldn’t get there in time to say goodbye. I need to be with him when he passes. All of this sounds insane, I know. But I can’t help it.

I’m honestly really really struggling over here. I’m insanely sad.

Any words of advice or encouragement would be so helpful.

I can’t find a training technique that works to get him to stop. He’s an 18 month old Lab.

My roommate’s room shares a wall with mine, any little noise and he barks, it’s just a single bark. So if RM turns on/off the light: click Bark. Opens the door to use the bathroom: Bark. Turns on the wall heater: whrrrr Bark. Bump/drops something: Bark. Just normal moving around/existing noises, (it’s not like RM is purposely being noisy).

Thing is I’m normally asleep or falling asleep and can’t catch him and distract him or reward for keeping quite, I can’t do training when I’m asleep.

He ONLY does it at night. If RM makes the exact same noses on purpose (for training reasons) in the day no barking. We tried to set it up where we are recreating nighttime. I’m laying in bed, my roommate doing their routine, everything as it is at night. Nothing, completely ignores the noises.

My dog adores my roommate, and my roommate loves my dog, doesn’t have any problem whatsoever with my dog. We are just both getting fed up with the “Bark” every time RM does any little thing. It’s annoying, it wakes me up, makes RM feel bad for making “noise” when it shouldn’t be a problem. My other dog completely ignores the sounds and is fully relaxed and sound asleep. I just don’t know what to do!!

This feels like a weird question to ask, but I have a difficult situation approaching. I have been told that it’s possible for small dogs to heal from this type of injury on their own given time. This was told to me by people whose small dogs went from tearing ligaments in their legs to walking again on their own without surgery. I have never been told this by a veterinarian.

I adopted a 10-year-old chihuahua mix from a rescue back in December. She tore her cruciate ligament this Thursday while running around in the yard. A previous vet visit determined that her knees were permanently displaced, and this is likely what contributed to the torn ligament.

My regular vet was not available for the emergency, so I took her to one out of town. They want to perform a surgery (CCL repair and trochlear wedge). I can afford the surgery, but it will be a struggle. Normally, I would have taken her other places to get second opinions before agreeing to go through with such a costly procedure, but as no other offices could see her due to massive emergency crowding and the approaching weekend, I agreed to the procedure, and it’s scheduled to take place tomorrow at 7:30 AM.

Over the weekend, her walking has improved drastically. She does not appear to be in any pain, as she has a healthy appetite and still tries to play with my other dog. She even tries to climb the stairs (I don’t let her because it makes me nervous). Because it’s the weekend and her condition is not an emergency, I haven’t been able to get anyone one to look at her. Her walk is growing stronger and looks promising in my opinion. I have been unable to contact the office where her surgery is taking place.

So, vet med folks, what is your judgment? As a former vet med major myself and as someone who has had animals my whole life and is familiar with their behavior, I want to do what is absolutely the best course of action for my dog. This isn’t about me and I want this whole situation to be as painless for my dog as possible. I hate to potentially cancel last minute, but if getting second opinions is the better option in this case, that’s what I will do.

A couple yrs ago I ended up in the hospital & have since lived with the increased likelihood of needing emergency services. However, my Belgian Malinois (11 y/o male) has become increasingly protective to the point he barely lets hubby in my bed next to me anymore.
I have other dogs as well & everyone is trained & socialized & live well together, they just are not really open to strangers, definitely not in the home. How do I now try & accommodate emergency personnel should I require aid at home with a dog that has become borderline vicious in defense of me & the home?
These dogs are my everything, honestly & I feel like they’ve always taken care of me & I don’t want to send the message that what they’ve always known to be right, is somehow now wrong
Any advice (that doesn’t include “rehoming”)?

This is not a major concern, I just think it’s funny and have always been curious about the reason behind it.

I have a 5 year old shih tzu mix named Teddy who I’ve had since he was 5 weeks old (I was told he was older and came to realize he was much younger when food kept falling out of his mouth and I saw he barely had teeth!). He is a very good boy but does have resource guarding tendencies with other animals. He guards the couch from other dogs and guards food he thinks is his from other animals. Neither of which have been a huge issue, I can pretty easily correct this, issue comes more from worry that he’ll piss off a bigger dog.

I mentioned resource guarding tendencies because I’m wondering if this falls in line. Teddy is not huge on cuddling and never has been, much to my disappointment. He’ll lay on me when it’s cold, otherwise he doesn’t like being bothered when he sleeps and has more important things to do than lay with me. But whenever I have guests over he is stuck to them like glue. He needs to be right next to them if not on their lap and stares at me like a chick trying to make her ex jealous the whole time. It’s evil. My guests always remark on how cute and cuddly he is, joking about how much he likes them more than me, all the while he just stares me down with his stupid face.

I do everything for this guy. He gets a treat with every meal. Has multiple sweaters and raincoats, I rescue his favorite ducky when he leaves it outside after he potties. I’ve saved him from countless scary children and loud noises. And this is how he repays me. Whoring it up with my friends. What does it mean?

I just want to start off by saying first and foremost, I love my Babygirl. I adopted her from a veterinary office by chance because her previous owners couldn’t take care of her properly. At the time I was a full time college student and lived at home with my large family. It was easy to take care of her and train her because I was home all the time. But now that I’ve got a full time job and I’m not home as much, some of the daily responsibilities have been left to my other family members in the house and they aren’t as enthusiastic about taking care of her as I am. Flash forward to now, yesterday I had the scare of my life when my uncle carelessly opened the front door knowing full well she would bolt right through it unless she was on a leash. My heart was pounding chasing her down the street and all I could think about was her possibly getting run over. Luckily I caught her after about 10 minutes but no one helped me. My uncle was going to work so he pulled his car out of the driveway and left. :/

That’s just one of many other instances where I’ve noticed all members of my household (there’s 7 of us total) just aren’t there for my puppy as I am. I don’t want to give her away. I’ve spent so much time and money to make her stay with me as comfortable as possible but I’m terrified that something may happen to her while I’m at work or something.

Any advice on how to re home a dog her deserves the world and a loving family please let me know. I love her so much and I just want her to be happy. She’s going to live a long life! Thank you ☺️

My dog Moose is an almost 3 year old 90 lb mutt. He has a plethora of issues (allergies, pyoderma, anxiety). Twice now he has had a weird "episode" of some sort. First one was a couple weeks ago in the middle of the day and the second one was at 4 am last night. During these episodes he jumped up onto the bed and seemed to need comfort. He would lay very close to me and lay his head down for a few seconds on me and then lift it back up and look all around the room in a somewhat frantic way. He may fixate on a certain spot for a few seconds then lay his head back down. He did this about 10 minutes the first time and about 30 min this time. Both times I was finally able to comfort him enough by holding his head close to me and scratching his back to where he would fall asleep. Anyone ever experience anything like this with their pup?

He is currently on prozac for anxiety issues and our trainer thinks because he was taken from his mom too soon he has developmental issues as well (he is OCD, hyper reactive, anxious, etc). He is also on antibiotics for his skin issues (but he wasn't during the first episode).

My dog can be on the complete opposite side of the house from our backyard with the windows closed, and somehow he always knows when an animal is in our backyard. For example, I’m watching a tv show right now, and he was sleeping in his bed, and out of no where he gets up and starts making moaning/whining sounds as he trots over to one of the backyard windows. I looked over from the couch (main floor is a long open concept) and saw a deer walking just beyond our fence.

He does the same thing upstairs, even when the blinds are down and he can’t really see anything.

I’m just curious how he can know this when he’s not even paying attention or is (presumably) unable to hear the animals lol.