Introduction

1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

* No. My husband and I both have experience with dogs. They were trained with basic commands but nothing beyond that.

2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?

* No.

3) Describe your ideal dog.

* Bigger size, lazy, non-drooly. Preferably less shedding.

4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?

* For size/looks: golden retrievers, german shepherds, bernese. For behavior: golden retrievers.

5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?

* Basic commands and maybe a couple of fun ones like roll.

6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?

* No.

Care Commitments

7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?

* We both WFH, so playing with our dog will happen throughout the day. For training, idk.

8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?

* We are quite lazy, but we have a good sized, fenced, grass-covered back yard and we will be installing a doggy-door. We also have a local dog park.

9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?

* We can brush daily. For anything else, we will be taking it to a professional groomer as often as needed.

Personal Preferences

10) What size dog are you looking for?

* Medium to large.

11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?

* The less the better.

12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?

* Not important.

Dog Personality and Behavior

13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?

* Snuggly, but not 100% important.

14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?

* No preference.

15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?

* I'm looking for a calm dog.

16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?

* No.

17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?

* N/A

Lifestyle

18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?

* Couple of hours a day at most.

19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?

* Preference is similar to to mine. Looking for a furry companion to play fetch with and cuddle on the couch. They will be 100% involved.

20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?

* No.

21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?

* No.

22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?

* No.

23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?

* Phoenix AZ.

24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?

* Blazing hot in the summer (already got doggy booties on the list), comfortable in the winter.

Additional Information and Questions

25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.

* N/A

26) Feel free to ask any questions below.

Just a bit of context first, my dog is from the Middle East, flew to me on Sept 2nd. Long journey from Dubai to Toronto then to BC. He’s never lived in a home before, only shelters. He’s almost 2. His birthday is in January. He was locked in a crate for up to 14 hours a day while in shelters. When he arrived he was doing his business on a pee pad which helped with his housebreaking.

He’s been doing so well with potty training the past 4 weeks. He knows to go in the backyard for both poop/pee and has been holding over night as well. On Friday he must’ve ate something that upset his stomach and he had an accident inside his pen while I was at the gym. I cleaned it up and sprayed the area with enzyme spray. Now today, while I was at the gym he was locked in his pen like usual but when I got home he peed on the floor in his pen 😭. I feel like we regressed on all our progress in the past month. I was only gone for 2.5 hours. He’s gone 4 hours with no accidents in his pen.

I feel like I need to resort to locking him up in his travel crate now while I’m out for a couple hours to encourage him holding it inside but bc of his experiences being in there for long hours I don’t want to make his decompression transition worse. But I’m thinking I may have to do this to encourage him to hold it until I get home.

I will add, I recently (within the past day) started leaving his water bowl in there. I’m sure this added to his urgency of needing to pee. I’ll remove this when he needs to go in the pen.

I just need some suggestions or advice or even some hopeful experiences with housebreaking a rescue. I know housebreaking isn’t linear.

Introduction**

1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

* no. And yes. Lots.

2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a [reputable breeder]( http://ownresponsibly.blogspot.com/2011/07/identifying-reputable-breeder.html)?

* no.

3) Describe your ideal dog.

* can be outdoorsy.

4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?

* golden/GSD/sherherd/bernese. Ones that are outdoorsy.

5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?

* recall, sit, down, wait.

6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?

* no.

**Care Commitments**

7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?

15+ hours.

8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?

* 12+ hours. Hiking, swimming general being outdoors.

9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?

* as much as required. Yes and yes.

**Personal Preferences**

10) What size dog are you looking for?

* any/medium/large.

11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?

* don’t care.

12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?

* 8/10

**Dog Personality and Behavior**

13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?

* don’t mind.

14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?

* don’t mind.

15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?

* don’t mind. Response can be trained.

16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?

* no.

17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?

* having to fill out needless questionnaires.

**Lifestyle**

18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?

* max 5 hours.

19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?

* none and none. No other person.

20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?

* no.

21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?

* no.

22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?

* no.

23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?

* UK

24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?

* summer 30 winter 2.

**Additional Information and Questions**

25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.

Hey all, thanks for reading. Please give your advice/ 2cents. All is welcome.
I am 35 years old male, I have always wanted a golden. Since as long as I can remember. My mum currently has a very small (7.4kg cockapoo) and we ALWAYS go on days out and hikes, swims in the sea or exploring etc but when she gets home, mum messages me and says she's been asleep for nearly 20 hours, (the dog, not my mum lol) I love her so much and she never complains, but she cannot keep up with my lifestyle. She only has little legs lol.
I want my own dog. But I am very outdoorsy. I regularly spend 12+ hours hiking a day, go up mountains in the UK. I live in a campervan and am very happy doing so. I work on camp sites and anywhere where I am allowed to bring the dog with me ie part time on farms picking crops and general handyman stuff. The longest they would be left alone would be 3-5 hours.
I am looking for any advice on breeds. I am currently looking at goldens (my first choice), GSD, Bernese and a shepherd of some description.
I do not care about shedding/drooling/grooming.
Whatever dog I end up with will get all the care and love and training he/she needs. I have personally trained mums' cockapoo with recall, sit, wait, jump, up, down, hi five etc.
Please, any advice for breeds to look into, or any stories about your own experiences, are very very welcome. Cheers all.

26) Feel free to ask any questions b

We purchased a RuffWear harness about 3.5 years ago for our medium/large dog that was well made and had metal hooks and great stitching. I’m looking to replace the current one, we bought the equivalent style to what we bought last year and it feels like the quality isn’t as good.

Does anyone have any high quality harness recommendations? Right now we use it on her when we send her outside on her tie up so we need something with good structure.

I recently adopted a cocker spaniel (~5 years old) from the shelter. He had not been in the shelter too long and has been a good dog. I've had him almost a month now. He is not well trained, had no chip, was not neutered, no collar --- so his history is hard to guess except maybe he was a stud dog. He came to me underweight so I've been working to have him gain weight and he is crazy food driven --- will eat anything and is always begging even though I have been feeding him as advised by the shelter. He also recently developed scratchy skin with what looks like dandruff. I know that is bothering him. I put a cone on him so he wouldn't lick the hot spots and we go to the vet tomorrow. All this to say, he has not been great the past couple of days. I have a cat who has avoided him and when he sees her he barks and chases but not aggressively. But today, he chased her in a very aggressive way and she got trapped under the bed. I pulled him out and then shouted to him to go and he left the room. I settled the cat and then walked down the hall toward him yelling and took hold of his cone and told him he was bad (I know, I need training too as this was not the right approach) but he bit me. He has never shown any aggression up until today. I'm now worried he might kill the cat and also how easy it will be train a 5 year old dog. HELP!

I’m dog sitting this dog and he just rolled around in shit and the lady doesn’t have any dog shampoo for some reason. All I have is my hair shampoo. Is it alright to use if I dilute it a lot?

What has your dog trained YOU to do?

My husky will bark to play or go outside. I’ll get off the couch and he will immediately jump on my warm seat. Never fails.

We got our baby last december from our local shelter, they picked him up off the streets from the most rural town in our county. They listed him as a terrier but we haven't been able to figure out his exact breed/what type of terrier he is. Im wondering if anyone is able to identify what he is, he's very energetic and playful, cuddles constantly and almost never barks.

Pictures of my dog

i went to look at my options and realized, while there’s a few that have some level of testing, i can’t actually tell what i should be looking for to make sure it’s a good option for my dogs and that the testing done was actually relevant. i have one 30lb dog and one 110lb dog, which one would you guys recommend? i saw the sleepypod clickit has one tested on 110 lbs so that might be promising?

hi all. i’m looking to buy new harnesses for my small senior dogs, a malshi and a toy poodle. one is 12 and one is 7 years old, and they’re both in between 5-7 kg. my 7 yo pulls a bit. i’m thinking of buying one off amazon and i thought i’d ask for some recommendations. thank you!

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.

Hallo zusammen
wir sind gerade zum ersten Mal mit unserem kleinen Hund in der Kabine nach Kos geflogen und sind jetzt hier im Urlaub. 🇬🇷
Ich muss ehrlich sagen, dass ich etwas unsicher wegen der vielen Straßenhunde bin. Unser Kleiner bellt leider ziemlich schnell, wenn uns ein anderer Hund entgegenkommt, und ich habe deshalb Angst, dass es zu einer unangenehmen Begegnung kommen könnte.
Wir sind zwar in einem All-Inclusive-Hotel, aber mein Freund würde gerne auch Wanderungen und Ausflüge mit dem Hund machen. Er findet, dass ich mir zu viele Sorgen mache. Ich habe einfach Angst, dass unserem Hund etwas passieren könnte, gerade weil ich die Situation hier noch überhaupt nicht einschätzen kann.
Wie sind eure Erfahrungen auf Kos mit Hund? Sind Begegnungen mit Straßenhunden beim Wandern tatsächlich häufig? Und wie habt ihr euch in solchen Situationen verhalten?
Ich würde mich sehr über eure Erfahrungen und vielleicht auch ein bisschen Beruhigung freuen.

If you have double-coated dogs that shed constantly, how are you keeping your rugs and floors clean without spending half your night cutting hair out of vacuum rollers?

I am so tired of running a machine across the living room only to spend twenty minutes with scissors unwinding packed fur from the brush roll every single time.

Do tangle-free rubber rollers or specific bristle setups actually prevent long pet hair from wrapping, or is manual de-shedding just unavoidable?

My dog is scared/reactive (just barking and following behind a lil) towards people in her territory (I.e. home and company office). (I’d like to add that I’ve since let her stay with me in the office with door closed when there’s customers). When she’s in places she’s not familiar with or not in her territory dictionary, she’d be in a corner or stuck close to us. No barking and such. Basically, she won’t get close to strangers. However, she went towards a patrol guard on electric bike and followed behind a little (I have a video but idw put it up here). It was closer than I thought she’d go since after becoming used to the patrol guard’s routine, she would only step forward a little but with more space when she’s curious. Her tail is loose but it startled me since she doesn’t follow strangers and without barking too. Idk if this behaviour is okay, thoughts anyone?

My pug keep squirming, and I cut his nail too close to the quick by accident. I feel horrible. It was bleeding quite a lot (so much that I got a bit woozy from the sight of it) so I applied cornstarch to help stop the bleeding. I bandaged it up and he’s asleep now, but I’m not sure if the bleeding stopped. Should I be worried?

I know if it doesn’t stop bleeding by tomorrow morning, I’ll have to bring him to an emergency vet. I’d just like some extra insight or advice :,(

Hi so I have my baby Ollie who’s 17 years old. He’s very skittish of men, ignores/scared of dogs, doesn’t know how to play, scared of driving cars, etc. (if you cant tell he had a rough upbringing before coming to my home). I want to take him out to have fun but I have no clue since he’s so anti everything. Is there any recommendations of things I can do with him? Thank you in advance!

My GSD is in her second heat cycle right now and is becoming particularly aggressive towards certain dogs seemingly randomly. Shes always had dog reactivity issues but this is a new behaviour.

My question is, did your dog seemingly become more or less dog reactive after you got her spayed? I'm planning on getting her done at about 18-24 months.

She has a Kong bone that I can put stick shaped treats in and they last about 15 minutes, without the Kong dental sticks are gone in seconds. I am thinking of getting a non-fabric rubber squeaky toy but I’m afraid she will rip it apart, like she did to a small basketball.

I know she would keep at a challenge until she got it but then I’m afraid she would scratch and bite and chew until it is a pile of plastic bits.

Yes I do walk her a lot, and she has a very large yard with squirrels and rabbits to chase. Although she has started to dig under bushes and chew and rip off their stems so I have to watch her carefully.

I recently got back into Supernatural and I have a dog. I would like to teach him some fun tricks based on Supernatural, does anyone have any ideas? So far he only knows touch, sit, lay down, spin and paw. Thank you in advance!

Title says it all basically. My 3yo rescue BC/GSD mix is not a big player--she has her favorites, and that's it. She only plays with anything soft and fluffy (especially if it has a squeaker/realistic animal noise), but the issue is that she gnaws on them until they get holes. She is not a rough player at all, but all her toys wind up with holes from her chewing on them. She will not take any rubber toy (unless it's like a Kong or Woof Flyball with treats) and doesn't like hard toys--trust us, we've tried many. We've also tried tug ropes, which she liked for a bit when first learning how to play after we adopted her, but she treats her toys more like babies than wants to roughhouse with them. Often she is cuddled with her favorite one of the day under her chin/between her paws. I'll link some she has liked but unfortunately put holes in, which have been delegated to our closet until I can repair them. Thanks in advance :)

This llama is one of her favorites, along with this hedgehog, this duck, this dinosaur, these seahorses, this bear, and this sloth.

Edit to add: she won't eat any stuffing that comes out, she's very good about that. And again, she's not intentionally tearing them open, she doesn't enjoy that type of play. We've tried the JW Holee and she wouldn't even look at it, same with a traditional herding ball lol

I have a ~16 lb chihuahua something cross (got her from the shelter) and Im having a hard time finding the right dog toy for her. She likes tearing things apart but I cant afford to buy her toys everyday. Ive tried those toys for aggressive chewers and she doesnt like chewing on hard things very much. I got her a squeaky bone but she doesnt like it very much. Do you have any suggestions for toys or am I doing something wrong? I have a box of dog toys she doesnt like very much. Thanks!

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.

This thread is where to get emotional support with all things related to death and illness with your dog. This is also a thread where you can seek assistance with deciding whether it is indeed time.

This is not a thread to seek anecdotes with medical care. All rules involving medical questions and anecdotes remains the same for this thread.

If your dog has passed, you can still post here for emotional support or you can create your own thread tagged with one of the RIP flairs. Be sure to review the rules of our flair guide. It is up to you how you choose to grieve.

I have a 8 month old puppy. And she can chew through everything. She came from a shelter but we think she is a type of hunting dog, and man does she love to destroy her toys. None are safe. Heads and arms ripped off. Chew toys ripped to pieces. Kongs (black one and frozen at that!) have chucks taken out. Nothing is safe.

I keep trying to find something she can chew on that’s not all food - I don’t want her to get fat with hip problems. But the harder the toys to chew on, the more I worry about a broken tooth. Even if I’m watching her all it will take is one wrong bite….

I bought a yak chew bc they said easy to digest but now I’m wondering if it will be to hard to naw on. Advise?