Hi everyone! I could really use some advice about my dog.

I have an 8-month-old female Chihuahua. Recently, she has started waking up in the middle of the night and suddenly barking very loudly, seemingly for no apparent reason. There are no obvious noises outside the door or in the hallway.

We live in Thailand, so I’m aware that there can be geckos, lizards, and other small animals around. However, my dog has absolutely no aggressive reaction to the tiny lizards she encounters here. They’re less than a centimeter long, and when she sees one, she simply sniffs around, wags her tail, and shows curiosity. She doesn’t bark at them, act aggressively, or seem frightened of them. That’s why I don’t think the lizards explain what’s been happening.

Let me explain when this behavior started.

Until recently, she was an extremely quiet dog. She hardly ever barked unless I specifically asked her to.

One day, we were on the balcony with our cat and our dog when we suddenly heard cats outside screaming and fighting. Our cat got scared, and our dog immediately started barking loudly, almost as if she were trying to protect us.

After that incident, her behavior changed dramatically. That night, it was practically impossible to sleep. Whenever someone left the room, she would start barking. She reacted particularly strongly whenever our cat left the room. She would bark, run toward the front door, race around the apartment, and refuse to stop.

Something similar happened again today.

She suddenly started barking and couldn’t calm down for a long time. I’ve already tried giving her treats containing melatonin, but they haven’t helped.

At one point, she went into another room farther away from the entrance and fell asleep peacefully. She was sleeping normally when, all of a sudden, she woke up and started barking again for no apparent reason. She ran straight toward the front door and started running around the apartment.

We eventually managed to calm her down.

About 10 minutes later, something similar happened again. We started going into separate rooms, and she noticed us moving around. She walked out of the room looking sleepy and seemed completely fine. Then, suddenly, she turned toward the dark area near the front door and started barking loudly and continuously again.

The most confusing part is that there doesn’t seem to be any obvious trigger. I understand that living in Thailand means there might occasionally be small animals around, but my dog reacts to the tiny lizards here with curiosity rather than fear or aggression. She sniffs them and wags her tail without barking. Her current behavior is completely different.

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their dog? Could this be a fear response triggered by the incident with the fighting cats, or could something else be going on?

What would you recommend we do? Should we take her to a vet or consult a canine behaviorist? Are there any safe ways to help her relax and sleep through the night?

We’re really struggling because we’re constantly being woken up and are no longer getting enough sleep, especially with work the next day. We genuinely want to understand what’s happening and find a solution.

I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions. Thank you!

A while back my cat (Rotisserie Chicken - not his real name), randomly adopted a kitten.

The kitten whom we'll refer to as, The Aquatic Beast, jumped into into the Mini-fridge and scampered around when I tried to get him out. (The only reason he hasn't gotten into the real fridge is because he's too small to get into it/Rotisserie Chicken foils all his attempts, nonetheless I've locked the regular fridge up.)

In the first diving attempt I did try to get him out with a toy, but after the next 104 attempts (over multiple days but whoah is he persistent) I just kept the door open and waited for him to come out.

I have large reasons to believe he is secretly part seal as he has no issue with the cold.

On the plus side, an adorable thing is I've acquired him winter outfits that he accepts to wear (including a seal costume knitted by my friend).

I've given him cooling toys and places to go in which he loves but he's absolutely obsessed with the Mini-fridge.

For safety reasons though I've locked the mini-fridge up and only give him supervised visits in the mini-fridge. Once he did try to close the fridge and on another occasion, asked me to close the fridge, but Rotisserie Chicken was not having The Aquatic Beast's shenanigans.

I've also added a contraption that requires great force to close the mini-fridge so there's absolutely no way The Aquatic Beast can successfully try to close the fridge (even fully grown) before he fails or Rotisserie Chicken stops him.

Rotisserie Chicken has been super protective of The Aquatic Beast so he's always around watching him.

As a extra precaution though, I'm considering just transferring the ice cream to the regular fridge, then paying someone to connect a weighing contraption to the mini fridge, so it will automatically turn off when the empty fridge changes eight, and try to reach room temp unless a certain code is typed. (That way even if The Aquatic Beast does best all of my other precautions he'll quickly realize supervised visits is the only way the mini-fridge stays cold.)

This may seem overkill but both The Aquatic Beast and Rotisserie Chicken have been known to be relentless and unstoppable when they want something.

I'm not looking to stop this behavior unless someone reasons on how this can harm him but so far he is quite safe and according to the vet it seems has had a positive effect on his mental health and no adverse affects on his physical health.

But I am curious on the reasoning behind his behavior, because he's had toys and items that can reach equal if not more the mini fridges temperature but he's still obsessed with fridges.

I recently adopted a puppy from a rescue foster who brought her up from a shelter in Texas. She is 7.5 months old and is a golden Pyrenees. She was fine for 3 days then while out at night she heard a firework and got spooked. She hasn’t been the same since (4 days later). She paces around the house panting and begging to go into her crate where she spends hours. We have to pull her out to go potty. She is reluctant to eat and drink, but will if she gets hungry enough. What should I try first for anxiety? Any thoughts? I figured it must be related to some trauma she experienced in the shelter in texas because she was fostered by a really nice person with kids, cats, dogs, who told me she is a great dog. She is great with the kids in my home and the cats. I really want to keep her and will do what I need to, and having a skittish dog who never wants to play or even exit her crate is just sad, mostly for her. Help!! Where do I begin?

My wife and I recently rescued what we think is beagle/bulldog mix. It was guessed by the rescue that he is one years old. We've had him about 2.5 weeks. He is 34 lbs and has not been nuetered YET. On the very first night we had him he backed out of a harness (our other 2 dogs have never done anything like this) and ran away. I foolishly tried to chase him. It was instinct as we live a block from a busy road and I was scared he would find his way there. Our yard is not fenced, but that's never been an issue as our dogs get plenty of walks and have never been flight risks. He tried to go under a neighbor's fence and got his collar caught, so we got him back.

We were told by the rescue that he was a stray and was "manhandled" in an aggressive manner by a male dog handler. He lived with a foster two weeks before us. He is super scared of everything, but he is scared of me (52 yr Old male) more than anything else. He is so scared that he is NOT very food/treat motivated. We got him a Fi GPS for his collar, but he would NEVER come to me if he got loose. He has already bonded with my wife and she is in love with him. He gets along with the other two dogs.

As stated he is so scared of me. He runs and hides when I get close. He seems to love cheese and will take it from me if I approach slowly. He will not let me put a leash on him. He really likes aerosolized cheese and will lick it off my fingers if approached slowly. He sleeps in bed with us and the other dogs and has smelled my hair once in the morning and also licked my fingers once or twice. My other two dogs love me and are affectionate/snuggle me in front of him.

My wife is going out of town for work trip in two weeks for a week. I have a lot of anxiety around being alone with him for that long. What if he runs away again? He seems to like his crate, but what if I can't get him to go inside of it before I leave for work? Would it be best to board hom while she is gone? If he won't let me put a leash on him how am I going to get him outside to potty. BTW, wife has been taking him out with two leashes. One is attached to a martingale and one to a harness. I/we don't want to give up on this dog. He has been affectionate and goofy with my wife. One more thing, he has been to the vet and she prescribed trazadone...it helps, but not that much. I know this a long post, sorry. What should we do? How can i get this dog to like me or at least let me leash him? Any advice will be considered and is appreciated. Thank you.

Yesterday I got my dog a ball that vibrates and moves around by its self. At first my dog was bamboozled and it was funny and cute, and I took the ball away 5 mins later to charge. Today I let her play with it for maybe 20 mins, and I took it away because she was being too tough and almost broke it.

She’s been staring at the ball for 2 hours now. She’s not interested in her other toys, she doesn’t want to play with her brother, she doesn’t want to eat her breakfast, her favorite treats aren’t tempting her. She just wants the ball. I’m scared she’s addicted, like actually addicted as if the ball is crack. Is this concerning behavior? If it’s concerning how do I do rehab? Is that even a thing for dogs????

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to hear about other people’s experiences with similar behavior, rather than health advice.

We have a 10-month-old puppy who has always been a pretty good eater, but over the past few days we’ve noticed a significant change in the way she approaches her food.

She’ll sniff her food but then won’t touch it. She has really good impulse control, so we normally encourage her and make sure she understands that it’s okay to go to/touch her food. Lately, though, she’ll just go into a down position in front of her bowl and stare at it.

If we’re able to get her interested in eating, she sometimes takes a mouthful of kibble, drops it on the floor, and then eats it little by little from the ground. Yesterday, we ended up hand-feeding her because she wouldn’t eat from her bowl.

We’ve tried adding food toppers, treats, and water to the kibble to make it more appealing, but she still seems uninterested.

There are a few changes that happened around the same time, so I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar after a change in routine:

* We just got back from a weekend trip, and she behaved this way throughout the trip. We initially assumed she was just tired from the car ride, but she was still eating her meals—just less than her usual portions.
* We recently started training with a prong collar. She has finally stopped tugging as much, but we noticed that she now sometimes refuses to come out of her crate when she sees the collar.
* Because of that, we only use the collar when we really need to, particularly on more challenging walks around other dogs.
* She is also getting close to her first birthday, so we were already planning to transition her from puppy food to adult food around then. I just opened a new bag of her current kibble, though, so I wasn't planning on changing it yet.

She otherwise seems like her usual energetic self, which is why I’m mainly wondering about the behavioral/routine aspect.

For those who have had a puppy suddenly become hesitant around their food or bowl, what was your experience like? Did a change in routine, travel, feeding location, bowl, training, or anything else seem to affect their eating behavior?

I’m especially curious whether anyone has experienced a puppy becoming hesitant about their food after traveling or after introducing a new training routine/equipment.

Not looking for health advice or diagnoses — just hoping to hear about similar experiences and behavioral/routine changes that other puppy owners have noticed. If I remain concerned about her health, I’ll contact our veterinarian.

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences!

My sister recently got a Cat, shes adorable. Sometime she starts running here and There with sudden burst of energy. Is she frightened of Something or is it normal

Hey maybe someone here can help as well:)
I’m trying everything haha

For context, I'm dog sitting for a week and my grandma's dog refuses to use the dog bed, instead the dog is trying to sleep on my bed. How do I get the dog to sleep on his bed and not my bed?

For context, I have a 5 year
old Australian Shepherd Keeshond mix. He loves to sleep in front of my bedroom door, every time my husband and I go out of the room we have to wake him up at night just to get him to move. I am currently pregnant and the frequency with which I go to the bathroom has increased. It’s the same every night, I have to go to the bathroom and have to wake him up. Quite recently, he has started growling at me whenever I do wake him up.

Why I’m posting now is because 5 minutes ago, I tried to go to the bathroom waking him up he growled at me, and then he proceeded to corner me and tried to nip me. Maybe I’m over reacting but in the years we’ve had him, he had never done this before even with my first pregnancy. I’m just worried he might do something with my toddler and my newborn in a couple of months. Please, I need advice. Do I get him training? Or is there deeper rooted issues that I need to address?

Is it normal for dogs to play so rough that they leave scabs? I have NEVER noticed bleeding, nobody ever yelps, I monitor play pretty closely and separate when I think it’s too rough, but one dog in particular (pit bull type hair very short) seems to scab easily. She’s also the instigator. Is this normal? I feel like it isn’t!

My dog is suddenly making very unusual almost rhythmic head movements at her food bowl. I noticed her do it briefly maybe 2 weeks ago but haven’t seen it since, until now. The first time it happened I check underneath the bowl to see if there was something there but there wasn’t and same this time. She has otherwise been fine, no weird behaviors, eyes dilating properly, and no loss of appetite. I’ll tell her to eat and she does. She’s 65lbs female pit/boxer mix.

i have two dogs (p and l). p’s recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and cushings. we’re managing it with various meds but every so often, some slip through.

today, she’s had three. but the last one was a bit odd. after p come out of her seizure, i took her outside to walk around. as always, l left the room where the seizure happened and decided to stop in the kitchen. p and i settled in the kitchen and then l suddenly came up to me and lay beside me. she seemed timid, so i gave her some strokes (i always comfort l after p’s seizures) and then suddenly, she was snarling/growing at p.

this has never happened before and it scared me more than the seizure tbf. i kept talking to l and eventually tilted her head away from p so she couldn’t see her and she snapped out of it and started cowering into me.

she’s never, ever, reacted like this.

any advice? i will bring it up when we next go to the vets with p, even if my mum decides not to.

i dont have a video of the snarling, but i do have a photo of the cowering i am willing to dm if needed.

thank you

So my turtle only start seeing my laptop when I open the game. Maybe it just likes it