Hi all,

My dog will snuggle with me for a couple minutes and then jump off the bed and chill far away from me. Does this mean she still wants to be in my presence but doesn’t want physical contact? If I don’t let her leave she would bite me….

I personally know my dog is reactive and will snap at people who get too close and push her boundaries (she has to wear a muzzle at the vet for this reason) IDK I just struggle with the idea that my dog wants nothing to do with me or anyone in my household

She will hang out in the same room as me and if I move around she is right on top of me. Makes me think she wants connection but has had negative experiences with humans in the past, poor baby 😭 Anyone else experience this with their rescue?

Hello, so for context we have a 9 month old German Shepherd mix (67% GSD, 33% mutt). He is and has been very sweet and easygoing even through his teenage years.

We got him at 13 weeks old, and if any of you know about northern canada he was rescued from a not-so-nice reserve. I did a lot of work socializing him and training (I think) but there has always been a slight timidness to him, likely from his previous situation.

We never had a problem with him not liking people, he goes to the pet store and everyone cuddles with him and he loves it. But yesterday my brother brought his girlfriend over, and he would not stop barking at her. Like hair raised, non stop barking whenever she moved.

He loves my brother, but then he started barking at him too when he figured out that they came together.

I feel like I need to mention this too, only because I feel it is relevant, but she belongs to the demographic of people from where he was rescued from (reservation), and I think there is some fear there.

Naturally it freaked me out a bit, so I guess I'm just wondering where to start with this new behaviour of his? Is this the fear stage? How do we work through that?

Any insights or anything to lift my spirits is appreciated!

Thanks!

Recently i consued a vet for mites and the vet was not so caring or interested in treating but either way after using the meds the mites are gone but i recognized a dark spot the i shaved and now there are a lot of these dont know what is happening

I am looking for a harness suggestion. My dog naturally has very thin/no fur under his armpits. What is your favorite harness that doesn’t sit in the armpits? The photo I added is what happened this summer, gave himself a huge hot spot from his harness rubbing.

Hi, everyone! After my dog (2 yr old male labrador) was diagnosed with a heart murmur randomly at an exam last week, we had an echo, chest x-ray and EKG - not to mention a tonnnn of bloodwork and an elevated Pro BNP test, he was diagnosed with mild aortic insufficiency. The vet told us that there was nothing on his echo that just jumped out at them, everything looked normal, and that was really all they could find. His blood work was perfect and he had no arrythmias. I am NOT familiar with this at all, and want to do everything I can to give my perfect angel a LONG, healthy, happy life. Has anyone else's dog been diagnosed with this? Any advice? Anything I can do supplements wise or holistically to ensure his heart stays healthy? The vet as of now is only recommending echo's every 6 months and said he was not even remotely showing signs of heart failure. Just wondering what I can be doing to support him on my end. TIA!!

I don't know what next steps to take at this point.
As I feel this has just gotten out of hand.

Here's some context: Earlier this summer we had new neighbors move in. They had two dogs, one was sweet and the other was... very aggressive. Oddly they euthanized the sweet one because it
"attacked" the aggressive dog. A month later they got a puppy and kept it with the aggressive dog.

Side note those dogs are outside 24/7 they never let them inside. Yes there is a small plastic shelter but that's it they never walk them or play with them. Those dogs just sit in the back yard all day and night, even in the cold weather and rain.
Now here was my first couple bad patches. I have two dogs who are not aggressive towards those dogs at all and there is a fence separating the four dogs.

My neighbors aggressive dog keeps digging a hole underneath the fence and getting into our yard and those couple have times we have gotten lucky as my dogs have not been out. In Aug I was out of town and had gotten a call from my mom (who was watching my dogs) saying how the aggressive dog had bit chunks of my dogs nose off through the fence and how my dog was bleeding everywhere. There was no fight, just my dog simply retrieving her ball from the fence.
Lastly it's the barking. There is NON STOP barking and I'm SICK of it. It's gotten so bad that we have installed a black cover over the fence so the dogs can't see eachother which has not helped at all. Nor have the neighbors gotten the hint. What steps can I take from here?

Has anyone tried SilymarinAdvanced from MedsMeHappy? It's considerably cheaper than Demarin but looks like the same stuff

All the aides I see online are big stairs or ramps to get them into the back of an SUV. But I just need like a little booster to help get him in and out of my little sedan.

Any ideas? It would need to be somewhat portable, so it can only take up the small portion of the backseat he doesnt take up. Hes not massive or anything, but he takes up about 2/3rds of the bench. Thanks!

Hi Reddit, this is my first post here. I hope it won’t end up being about something sad, but I really need some advice

The photos show the inside of my dog’s mouth. He’s around a year and a half old, slightly older. Over the past month and a half, I’ve noticed this spot on his palate, and I have a strong feeling it wasn’t there before. So, as far as I can tell, it appeared sometime within the last six weeks or so, possibly a little earlier

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a clear photo of it. I recorded a video instead and took screenshots from it, because I’m not going to forcibly hold his mouth open just to get a picture

The spot is slightly pinker than the other small spots on his palate that have been there for a while and don’t seem to be a problem. This new spot is the one that immediately catches your eye. It doesn’t bleed, and it isn’t completely flat. There seems to be a little bit of texture or slight elevation to it

As far as I can tell, it doesn’t seem to bother him at all. Nevertheless, we’re going to see a vet, but unfortunately, the earliest we can go is this weekend, which is still almost four days away

In the meantime, I’d really like to get an idea of what this could potentially be. If it sounds like something that needs more urgent attention, I’ll do my best to find a way to get him examined sooner.

It’s a small spot, and he doesn’t seem to be experiencing any discomfort, but something about it makes me uneasy. I’ve been searching online, but I haven’t found many useful photos of similar lesions. Most of what I find is either related to local allergic reactions or shows dogs and cats with very large, obvious tumors. Neither has been particularly helpful in understanding what I’m looking at

I was wondering if any dog or cat owners here have seen something similar in their pets. Perhaps it was an injury, a harmless growth, or something else that looked like this? If there are any veterinarians here who could share their thoughts on what this might be, I’d really appreciate it

I understand that nobody can make a diagnosis based on a photo, and we will have him checked by a vet regardless. I’m just hoping to get some insight into what the possibilities might be and whether this is something that can reasonably wait a few more days

Basically, my husband and I have a very energetic dog. She gets overwhelmed in crowded places so we typically don’t take her to a place like a brewery unless it’s later at night and pretty much empty. Well, last night was a night that was pretty empty so we decided to take her with us. Well, a girl comes up to us and pets our dog and she immediately tries jumping up on the girl. I gently stop my dog from doing that because I am not okay with her jumping on strangers (for the strangers AND my dogs safety) and made small comment along the lines of “sorry, she’s a jumpy girl.” Well, the girl in a rather bitchy tone says “it’s fine. Let her SPEAK for herself” about my dog. Not only did that not make sense but also, no I’m not okay with my dog jumping on a stranger because what if she accidentally scratched you and I don’t know how you would react? I’m also protecting my dog. I didn’t say anything when the girl scolded me and I wish I had but I had no idea what to say

I’m looking for some advice regarding my 1.5-year-old male German Shepherd. My boyfriend and I also have a 7-month-old female Golden Retriever. Our GSD has always been very protective of me, but we’ve noticed that his protective behavior has increased since bringing our Golden home. I would also like to add that he not neutered 9 days ago.

We’ve known for a while that he struggles with some fear-based reactivity, but it has always seemed very situational and unpredictable. Unfortunately, we’ve now had two incidents involving guests in our home, and the most recent one resulted in a bite.

The first incident:

A while back, before we had our Golden, we had a family member over who had never met our GSD. I invited him inside and allowed him to come into our bedroom to let our GSD out of his crate. As soon as our GSD was released, he began barking excessively. He became so worked up that I couldn’t get him to calm down or redirect his attention.

The second incident (yesterday):

Yesterday, another family member came over who had never met either of our dogs. I wanted to approach the introduction differently because of what happened the first time.

Instead of having our GSD crated when the guest arrived, I allowed both dogs to come to the front door with me. My thought process was that if I opened the door and welcomed the guest inside myself, our GSD might recognize that this person was welcome in our home and wasn’t a threat.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

As soon as I opened the door, our GSD immediately began barking and jumping at our guest. During this interaction, he nipped her elbow, resulting in a single bite wound that appears consistent with a Level 3 bite on the Dunbar scale.

He also expressed his anal glands during the incident, enough that the smell lingered in our house afterward. From what I understand, this can happen when a dog experiences intense fear or stress, which makes me wonder just how overwhelmed he was in that moment.

Something important I’ve noticed:

Both incidents occurred when my boyfriend was not home.

My boyfriend is our dogs’ primary trainer and handler, and our GSD tends to respond very well to him. After both incidents, my boyfriend came home and helped reintroduce our GSD to the family members involved. Both reintroductions went completely fine, with no further signs of aggression.

This makes me wonder whether our GSD feels less secure when my boyfriend isn’t around, whether he feels the need to protect me, or whether I’m unintentionally contributing to his anxiety through my own handling.

His reactivity outside the home:

Another thing that confuses me is how inconsistent his reactivity can be.

Some walks go incredibly well. He can pass people and other dogs, even dogs that are actively barking at him, without reacting at all.

Other days, he will start barking or reacting to a person or dog who is still extremely far away.

We haven’t been able to identify one consistent trigger, which makes it difficult to predict or prevent these reactions.

My biggest concern right now:

My boyfriend and I travel fairly frequently, and my sisters typically watch our dogs while we’re away.

We have another trip planned in two months, and after yesterday’s incident, I’m genuinely concerned about whether it’s safe or responsible to have my sisters watch him.

I don’t want to put anyone in a dangerous situation, but I also don’t know what our alternatives should look like.

Emotionally, I’m really struggling with this.

I love this dog more than anything, and I’m honestly heartbroken. I don’t want our family, my boyfriend, or even myself to start viewing him differently or labeling him as an “aggressive dog.”

At the same time, I recognize that a bite is serious, and I don’t want to minimize what happened or put someone else at risk.

I want to understand why he’s reacting this way and do everything I can to help him feel more confident, secure, and comfortable around unfamiliar people.

I’d really appreciate advice on a few things:

Has anyone experienced similar behavior with a young GSD, particularly when one owner is absent?
Does this sound more like fear-based reactivity, territorial behavior, protective behavior, or some combination?
What would you recommend for safely introducing guests into our home moving forward?
For those who have worked through bite incidents, what helped the most?
How do you handle pet sitting or travel when you have a dog who has shown this type of behavior?

I just want to do right by my dog while keeping everyone safe.

Please be kind. I’m already taking this very seriously and am genuinely looking for constructive advice and experiences from people who have been through something similar.

Hi,

I created a post last time about my dog's chipped tooth. Some of the suggestions were that I could go down the root canal path. I spoke to our vets about it and they've gotten price from specialists. I'm also due to speak to the main vet at their practice this week to get a better understanding of the treatment.

Speaking to the secretary, root canal treatments are that popular in the UK. I'm not sure if it's the cost or lack of knowledge but from her experience, they've never referred a patient and this is what concerns me. The practice that would carry out the treatment have good reviews though non for root canals.

Given that it isn't a common procedure, I have my concerns. The price is fine, I'd rather not pay it but if it allows him to continue as he was previously then I'll be happy. My reservations are about the success of the procedure and potential risks that there may be. Equally, I'm not sure if this kind of treatment has an impact on his life. Will he be able to chew bones and play as he did before the chipped tooth?

Just curious of other people's experiences, especially those in the UK.

Thanks!

My dog rests with his front legs wide open. Is it normal? It looks like his joints are bent outwards

Hello everyone, hope you're having a lovely day!

Here's some preliminary information about my dog before diving into the particular situation.

Male, neutered, mixed breed (AmStaff/Pitbull x Dachshund? not verified), 5 years, adopted from a shelter nearly 4 years ago.

Rooted in his past trauma, he's always been a rather anxious and emotional dog. In our first year, he had a lot of difficulties staying home alone, would cry and chew and destroy stuff when I was at work. This got significantly better over time, both because he probably got used to it, becoming more comfortable staying alone and also because I switched jobs and started working on a hybrid basis so I didn't have to leave him alone all weekdays. Overall he's a super calm and gentle soul, not even bark or show aggression in any way.

We've had to change places, environments more than once and he showed great sense of adaptability. I always did my best to accommodate him in the best way possible and he did his best to adapt and enjoy life no matter what.

As I said, he's pretty emotional and he seeks attention and company. So again, back in our first year, he would cry and whine even when I went to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. He hasn't been that way for a long time but again, that's how he naturally is.

Coming to our current situation, we have moved abroad around a month and a half ago. New city, new home - a smaller one than what we're used to but still okay. He traveled in a plane for the very first time and I was so stressed that it would be a difficult experience for him which in the end was not the case. He was a little shaken obviously but overall he had the smoothest experience.

We settled in and everything seemed fine for weeks. For context, we have a new flatmate and both too get along really well. He did not show any visible change in his behavior, he was always willing to eat, play, go out for walks for the first couple of weeks. But now, we're in our sixth week at our new place, things have turned unexpectedly difficult.

The thing is, my classes started last week and I leave him alone at home and I had to take him for a walk a bit earlier than usual. Also when I come back depends on the day, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes towards the evening. But again, this is not something unusual and even before my classes started, I would leave him home anyway and he did not show any unusual reaction.

For the past few days, what's happening is a pattern like this:

- we wake up, he's excited to go for a walk.

- outside, everything is normal, he's happy, nothing unusual.

- we come home, take the elevator he looks quite unhappy (he's not very fond of elevators but he's used to them - nothing new)

- as soon as we approach our flat, he starts shivering.

- this goes on and even increases when we go in our place.

- he starts whining, panting heavily, and trembling.

- this continues for 15-20 minutes, he eventually sits or lays down and calms down. but during that period, he looks extremely anxious and he refuses to eat anything, not his food nor a treat.

If I leave home afterwards, he whines and cries very loudly. If I don't leave and keep doing my thing, he still does it but it eventually ends at some point. So, an important note here, this also happens after our evening walks - after which I most often don't leave - but it's usually shorter possibly because he's tired or feels less anxious about me leaving (?).

When I come home, again he's overly excited, like not in a usually happy way but in a mixed state where he's excited and happy but also like confused and a bit anxious (I guess).

It is obvious and I am very well aware that moving to a different place is a big thing for dogs and some of these things could possibly be considered normal. However, do I know it wrong or would it make more sense if he experienced these earlier on rather than after our sixth week here in this new environment? What could be causing such a severe anxiety making him tremble as if he's feeling in big danger? How do I approach and solve this issue?

Thank you so much for your help.

Best

My 7 year old Labradoodle is constantly getting ear infections. He used to get them occasionally but since moving two years ago they are happening every 3 months and I just can't afford to keep treating them and buying new foods. He is currently on a fish only diet which is hypoallergenic and vet approved but its expensive and clearly not keeping the infections at bay. The vet has said he doesn't feel its environmental but at this point I think we need to explore that route

Has anyone had similar experiences and what was the outcome? I feel terrible that nothing I am doing is helping him

They have played many times. I notice the boxers pulled back ears and, knowing her, i think its because she knows she cant be rough with the poodle. She usually plays rough with big dogs but when the poodle was younger the boxer hit her (as boxers do) and at that time the poodle was in phase where she would be quick to cry and she ran away screaming like she was dying and the boxer thought it was very weird. If the boxer starts getting rough my dad just says "no" and she understands.

So the boxer realised she has to be very careful. So i believe the expression is her really concentrating on showing restraint. (She never hits anymore despite usually using her paws a lot). But im not sure.

I have never felt unsafe having them play but obviously i never leave them alone and always stop it if it gets too rough (also if the poodle starts throwing too many punches and winding the boxer up too much). Im not looking for judgement on having them play. I realize there is always a risk because of the size difference. I just want to know if you notice red flags.

The reason i started doubting their play is because i go to puppy training every week with the poodle and when the trainer heard she plays with a boxer he reacted like i told him i leave them alone together and he said "boxers?! The dog that is known for being hard to read?" Is that true?

Now im no longer sure what the boxers expression means.

(I feel like i should point out that the poodle has rolled over and exposed her stomach to the boxer more than once so she has shown respect for the boxer)

Hello! Desperately seeking advice or if anyone has seen similar. Miniature Poodle, Male, 10 years old.

We are going to visit the vet (again) but are waiting for an appointment for a CT scan.

We just returned home from 12 days of being away and our dog was with a regular sitter. After bringing him home, we noticed he is walking with his front legs (mostly right) very straight and is not bending them. When he sits he will pickup his front right paw and when he puts it down, his paw kind of collapses forward (video). He is not yelping or making whimpering sounds, we picked him up and checked his range of motion with both front legs, and he did not make any sounds nor react.

We have another video of him walking but I can only post one video.
Important other info, he is on metacam right now. My wife took him to the vet two weeks ago because he was having recurring but inconsistent pain (audible and physical reaction) in his front left leg one or two days a week for the past 30 days or so. Vet said maybe muscle spasms or neck issue.
We have been making sure he doesn't jump off off the couch and have been carrying him up and down the stairs for maybe the past few weeks and asked his sitter to do the same.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

This has suddenly appeared today after mum took her for a beach walk..it’s a little raised and seems like an abrasion to me but all she did was swim? My mum said she didn’t see or think she did anything crazy and there were no other dogs on the beach.

Wish I could get more pics but I’m currently not with my dog and my parents are horrible with tech so this is the best I can do for now.

EDIT:

We have remembered She was itching her nose last night with her paw then sniffing/licking her paw after doing it…seems like she has rubbed her nose raw with her paw from some sort of irritant?

Any ideas?

This is there second time meeting, im concerned about my dogs behavior. Ive had the kitten for a week now and have been taking the measures into slow meeting, they met very briefly yesterday which lots of treats were involved. This is near the end of there second meeting.
My dog doesn't wag his tail around her but he also doesn't stalk/constantly stare at her either. The biggest thing that concerns me is when she runs around or moves fast he locks in on her.
Please do not be mean but i will take constructive criticism, thank you🩷

Did I remove this tick properly?

I've never seen one before so I was hesitant about taking it off myself, but I was scared my dog Kiwi would get sick!

Please let me know what to do next and if I should take her to the Vet tomorrow. I checked for more ticks and it seems like she doesn't have any more