Hey there. I just recently euthanized my dog last month, and it's been really hard for me since, but ever since it happened I just felt like I wanted another dog already. I'm not sure if it's because I miss Bella, my previous dog or something else. I don't want to feel like I'm betraying her, or replacing her but I miss having a companion with me, especially at night. I miss cuddling Bella and miss having a dog to cuddle, especially when I would wake up with her head on my arm or chest. I miss that a lot.

I don't know how long it will take for me to grieve, I don't know how long it will take for me to stop crying over her, but I feel as if I want another companion already. Is this normal? Should I wait longer? I don't know what to think, and could use some advice.

Edit: There are just too many comments to reply to. Thank you for all of the comments. I wasn't expecting this much outreach and positivity. Thank you so much.

So I’ve had dogs all my life. They are my babies. My husband and I got an 8 week old husky at the beginning of this year. When he was a couple of months old he started eating out other dogs poop. We never had a puppy eat poop so much. We took him to the vet, he Is healthy. No problems noted. We were hoping he would grow out of it but no. And then he comes in and tries to kiss us. has anyone been able to successfully get their dog to stop eating their other dogs poop?!

Around 3 days ago we had thunderstorms and there was one so loud it caused my 3 year old dog and 3 month old puppy to run and cry. Since then I’ve been struggling to take my 3 year old dog outside the house, especially if there is noises going on like a garbage collector truck passing by or a motorcycle. Could she regain her confidence back or is she going to be scared of noises from now on? Any advice on how I can help her overcome?

Remember this adorable baby that was wheelchair bound that made his rounds on the internet awhile ago? I know he got adopted by a family in Dubai but I’m wondering if anyone has any updates? I miss seeing his face and I’m curious to know how he’s doing…!
here’s a reminder of the pup I am asking about

Hi everyone,

I have a miniature Dachshund puppy who is almost 3 months old, and I'm looking for some advice.

He sleeps in the kitchen downstairs, but we need to stay with him until he falls asleep before going upstairs. Otherwise, he keeps crying until we go back to him.

If he wakes up during the night, he starts crying again, and one of us has to go downstairs and stay near him until he falls asleep again.

Basically, he just needs us to be nearby to feel comfortable enough to sleep.

I've already discussed this with my vet, who explained that he's still very young and needs our presence to feel safe and secure. She reassured me that this should improve as he gets older.

However, I'd like to know how best to handle this situation in the meantime. I don't want to send him the wrong signals or accidentally reinforce behaviours that could become bad habits in the long run.

Has anyone experienced something similar with their puppy? What worked for you, and how did you gradually teach your puppy to settle and sleep independently?

Thanks

We got a 6 month old mixed toy dog yesterday, and when she first arrived, she came in to the apartment totally fine with barely any issues.

We live in an apartment, so have to take her out to pee several times a day. Every time that we have taken her out to pee, she refuses to go out, and we have to carry her. When we come back, she refuses to go through the enterance door, and then refuaes to go up the stairs.

Our aparment building is small, we go through one door, and then down one flight of stairs, and then out of the heavy door to the outside.

She will be so excited to go for a walk, but once I step through the door, shes planted herself in our apartment hallway. Shes only 6 kilo but once she does this, I can't convince her to leave.

When we come back from a walk, she gets so anxious and doesn't even want to look me in the eyes for trying to get her to come in.

Right now, I pick her up and carry her up or down the stairs, I put her down 3 or 4 stairs before the top of the stairs to hopefully desensitize her.

When she came in the first time, she came through the door and up the stairs without any issues at all!

While walking her, she also refused to walk through an alley that kind of has similar structure to our entry way, and I had to walk around.

Its my first time having a dog, so any advice is very welcome!!

Hello, thank you for any ideas you may have!
My dog is Boomer - an almost 10 year old mastiff Rottweiler mix and the absolute dog love of my life.
Boomer has had some issues lately. At his last vet appointment in September he was given a clean bill of health but I’m going to make another appointment to address these issues. However, I also wanted to see if anyone else has had these problems as their dogs have gotten older.

Boomer has had no change in food or water routine, but our cat did pass away in March. These issues have only gotten clear in the last months.
He has had issues with
-going to the bathroom inside (no changes in routine)
-Separation anxiety
-Clawing / tearing holes in our vinyl floor

He is in an open area when we are at work and has space to move around, toys, and the radio is on for him. He cannot be crated or he will break out and hurt himself.

I’m worried this may be the start of early dog dementia and am scared to death of what it might be. I also don’t know how else to stop his new destructive tendencies. Due to my husband and i’s jobs, we can’t work from home more than we do now and that’s not super often. Up until now he has always been perfectly fine with no issues ☹️
Any suggestions, similar stories, etc would be amazing, thank you!

I have a four year old female Bernese/poodle mix. She is a good dog 90% of the time—good on a leash, doesn’t tear anything up when I’m away, doesn’t bark incessantly. The problem is when I try to go to bed each night. She sleeps in my room with me and the minute I turn the light out she is whining, crying, flailing around. She is relentless with this behavior. I let her out of the room and she whines because I’m not in the other room with her. I can usually get her to eventually settle down if I go in the other room with her and sleep on the couch for a while. This is not something I want to keep up and I know giving in to her is just reinforcing the behavior but I have to sleep at some point. I also know the problem is pent up energy and anxiety.

I try to play with her and she’s not interested. I give her enrichment toys and puzzles—not interested. The only enrichment she is interested in is being outside, but I can’t be outside 6 hours a day. She is walked an hour each day, but I live in Missouri so with winter approaching long walks won’t be feasible every day.

Does anyone have any ideas for enrichment when the dog doesn’t really like or want to do it? I have got to get her worn out in the evenings.

My dog seems to pace all day while I’m gone and I’m not sure what to do… I feel like I’ve tried everything and can’t afford daycare

I spend the mornings with her. We instantly go for a walk and when we get back, I feed her in her slow feeder (she also gets a dropper of hemp), and put food in her snuffle mat. I then give her a lick mat with trazadone. She also has a defuser. She has a ton of toys. I give her a toy that has treats hidden in it and a special snack before I leave. She has full range of access to my apartment except the bathroom so she doesn’t over drink her water. She has access to my bed, her crate, and the cats spend time with her. I’m not sure what to do. I got a new job three-ish weeks ago and did a slow transition with her where at first she could not go into my bedroom, and now she has full range.

It feels like she’s gotten worse despite my attempts. I don’t know what to do.

My work involves me walking around for several hours each weekday, so I figure it's an ideal circumstance to satisfy a dog physically.

I do recall hearing however, that it is a mistake to take a puppy a long way because, despite what their boundless energy would have you think, their young bones could receive permanent damage from such extraneous exercise.

With this in mind, is there generally an agreed point for breeds like labradors and spaniels, when they're old enough to start getting walked for longer than an hour?

A few months? Wait until they're adult size?

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.

I'm trying anti predation traing with my dog and I'm unsure whether to go with Chase! By Clarissa Von Reinhardt or Hunting Together by Simone Mueller. Does anyone have any experience with these? Really looking for some hope because this has been a frustrating behaviour to try and manage, it's making me dread dog walks on some days.

Due to a relationship breakdown and my work, I’ve had to do the hardest thing I’ve ever done and give my dog away. It was simply not feasible for me to keep him now that I live alone, nor fair on my dog. On shift days, he was in his cage for a minimum of 14hrs throughout the 24hr day… I gave it a go for a month but I was just so heavily reliant on neighbours and dog walkers who cost a fortune. Family live too far away and are still working. Due to him being a working line Labrador (15month), I just feel like he needed more than what I could now give now that my relationship had broke down.

I’m happy with the family he’s gone to and I semi-know them.

Dropping my dog off and seeing him looking at me as I walked away for good destroyed me. It kills me knowing he may be waiting at the door for me to come back and the worst thing, he’s absolutely no idea.

When does it get easier? I’m genuinely heartbroken

I just want the best for my dog now my circumstances have changed. It was not fair to keep him locked away at home for the majority of the day. It would’ve been so selfish of me. I want him to love his new life and owners - I’m sure he will. He takes himself into his crate there at the new house so I’m told, yet he rarely did that here. However, I can only guess that’s a good thing ? - he still has the same blankets in there

How long does it take for dogs to forget about me and learn to love their new owners just like he did me.

This will be my first time to adopt. My husband and I have different preferences in terms of dogs. He grew up with German shepherds and golden retrievers, I grew up with dachshunds and beagles. We live in a 52 sqm apartment that doesn’t allow large breeds.

I saw this dog on a shelter’s IG page and fell in love. She’s a golden mix and she was just happily splashing around in a tub of water. I felt she would be perfect because she’s within our apartment’s size restrictions and since she’s part golden, my husband would love her.

I walked her today in a group with other volunteers and shelter dogs. Tomorrow I’ll see her again with my husband. Honestly, today there was no chemistry. It was only her second walk ever and she wanted to be near the shelter employee the whole time (so did a lot of the other dogs). I wanted her to be comfortable so I didn’t mind following the shelter rep around. She was very sweet to him and kept nuzzling him to be petted.

Am I being idealistic in thinking that if I adopt her, once she gets accustomed to living with us, she will love us that way as well? I lost my soul dog a year ago, and I feel I have so much love to give and I can wait for it to be returned. I read about the 3-3-3 rule so I’m ready to be patient. Even if there was no chemistry, I can’t stop thinking and planning what it would be like to take care of her.

My other concern is that my husband and I are couch potatoes. I have had beagles so I feel I can handle a high energy dog, but I grew up in a big house with lots of room for zoomies. This time I will really have to walk an energetic dog twice a day, everyday, and keep her entertained with toys and enrichment games. After today’s walk I feel up to it but is it just the high of volunteering for the first time?

Thank you for reading this long post!

PS My husband works and I don’t, so I will be the primary caregiver

Hello! I’m the owner of a 9lbs Chihuahua mix. When it comes to the gear I put on her, I care about comfort, weight, quality, and appearance. Id like to get her a new harness and would love opinions/ your guys’ experiences with these models specifically on tiny dogs.

I’m looking at the:
-Non stop dog wear Trekking Line Harness CLIP’N
-Hurrta Seeker harness
- any other harnesses that are light weight, size down well for small dogs, and have an ergonomic fit.

I know these are pretty new on the market, I’d love any insight that can be offered.

I’m making this post because I don’t know what to do anymore. I think my dog don’t like me like genuinely don’t like me. He is a six month old Yorky. I took him everywhere with me California, Oregon, Wyoming. He definitely traveled a lot being a small puppy so I am a truck driver and I do teaming and he he instantly took a liking to my co-driver and it’s like now he treats me like I don’t even exist. He jumps in her lap, sleeps with her, never slept with me before stays with her or stays up with her the whole entire night when it comes to me when I reach my hand up hand out to pet him he immediately backs away barks at me. Don’t let me hold him. He just act like I’m not even his owner anymore like I honestly feel like giving him away because what’s the point of having a dog when they’re not loyal to you and they switch up on you when they have other people around like what I don’t know I need a advice. I don’t know what to do I call his name. He just looks at me. I called me multiple times he just he literally be right next to me like maybe like 5 feet away from me and he just looks at me. He don’t he don’t like to sit on me, but when he gets around strangers, he’s just like a totally different dog. I don’t understand like what I’m doing guys making him hate me so much. It’s crazy because I feed him take care of him treating him while he treats me like this. Oh I like to add I’m a female so

Hi all! I am wondering what you charge or are being charged for overnight stays per dog. I am trying to set a rate. I live in a HCOL (Rocky Mountains). I want to make sure I set a fair rate but also being compensated fairly for my time. Most dogs I watch cannot be left at home alone for more than 2-4 hours at a time, so they require all day attention. I will usually work remote to ensure I give the dogs the full attention they need.

Thank you in advance!

Hi all! Am hoping to get some tips/advice. We recently got a new hound mix puppy and we slowly introduced her to our resident 3 year old puppy. Everything was great at first and they were playing and everything. However, my beagle began to recourse guard. We’re aware of his food aggression so we are feeding them separate. But now it’s including toys and house spaces. We immediately picked up toys on the first instance. However, he’s not guarding the kitchen - if we’re cooking and the puppy walks by the dog in the kitchen, he snaps at her. There are even some occasions when he’s guarding me.

We’re unsure if it’s because he doesn’t like her in his face (she doesn’t have personal space awareness) or if it’s something else!

Any tips/advice would be great!

i have an 11 month old puppy. i have a dresser that just her head can fit under (doesn’t get stuck at all). she started playing with toys and shoving them under the dresser on accident. i would get them back out and continue to play with her. then it progressed, and after a while she would intentionally try to shove a toy under there and then bark when she couldn’t get it. so i moved my dresser, cleaned under it completely. there’s absolutely nothing that could be under there. and now, we are here where EVERY SINGLE NIGHT she puts her head under the dresser and just barks. it’s at the same time every night and we live in an apartment so we need her to quiet down. what do i do!

My ex took one of my dogs in the breakup a few years ago, he’s recently reached out to me saying he’s homeless and would like me to come get him. He’s in Massachusetts and I’m in MO. I’ve contacted a few companies to get quotes. so far blue collar animal transport is the only one that’s reached out for a three day window of pickup and a 3-4 day ride at $1400. It’s not terrible, but I really don’t have anything to go off of since they’re the only ones that have replied. I’m a little iffy because they only have a 3.7 rating. I only have the weekends off but would it be better if I got a one way flight out there on a Friday and drive the rental car back 21 hours? Or does anyone have a recommendation on a transport company they’ve used ? Any help would be appreciated

I’ve put in 3 applications for various dogs that would fit our life style and all I get are crickets. How are you getting your application to stand out? We own our house, have a fenced yard, we hardly ever go away .. etc etc I feel like there’s a trick question on what will you do with a pet when your not home, are you ticking crate or free roam?

I wrote a detailed post here about a foster with behavioral issues that are taxing me in my current wounded state. It was immediately removed for reasons completely unrelated to my post. I've messaged the mods twice with no response.

If this posts survives long enough is there somewhere else I can post for help with something like that?

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.

My daughters dog is having problems adjusting to living in the suburbs after a lifetime of country living and going a little stir crazy. He's constantly wanting to look out the window and bark but then gets excited and bites the window sill. My thoughts are maybe acrylic fence windows for the back yard and maybe some kind of climbing structure in the middle of the back yard so he can see stuff but not escape. I'd need THE most bite resistant acrylic windows with some margin of acrylic or metal around them.

I'm also open to any good ideas you have. I don't live close enough to walk him, which I think is what he desperately needs. I love this dog like my own.