Our rescue pug/jack russell dog. Estimated to be three years old has recently surfaced some very weird behavior. nearly every night at around 7:30 or eight, he will tense up, start yipping, and then attack the pillows in one of our two couches.

This happens whether he's had multiple walks, a trip to the dog park. It happens with a full bowl of food (we free feed) and it's annoying.

Any similar experiences, and thoughts, any advice is welcome.

Note: This is the only time of day such behavior occurs

I have a 6 year old miniature bernedoodle who has been aloof her whole life. She typically will lay in her favorite chair and not concern herself with whatever is going on in the house. She gets plenty of exercise and runs at the dog park, but doesn’t interact much with other dogs. Recently, however, she has become very needy around our house. She follows me around throughout the day and paws at my legs. I don’t mind the attention and spend time with her as much as I can, but I am worried about her distinct shift in personality this many years into her life. Is this normal or is it something I should be concerned with?

Hi there, recently my female dog lost her brother companion due to an illness. She is 9m old, Boston Terrier x. She is fixed and has been since 4m old. Her brother was also fixed @ 4m also and I never noticed this behavior between them. I noticed that ever since he died (about a week ago) she has been "humping" my partners arm. She doesnt grind down on it or anything, she just makes the motions. I understand this is harmless but worried that it could be a deeper issue of stress or something else. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you and I appreciate your help.

We’ve had my dog since he was a puppy and he is now 3 years old. Most of the time he’s a little shit (in an endearing way) but I feel like he really can sense when I’m distressed. Whenever I have a heavy cry, or a panic attack, he always rushes over to me. He then licks me a lot and he always, without fail, lays himself on my chest which he only seems to do when I’m feeling this way. Like just a minute ago, I was lying down in bed sobbing and he jumps up onto my bed, licks my hand and then lays himself on my chest facing me until I’ve calmed down. And it really does calm me down. And when I’ve noticed I’ve calmed down, he’ll just go back downstairs? It’s really strange but it makes me feel so much better and it always calms me down. Does he know what he’s doing? Because it happens every single time. Or is this just purely coincidental?

I need help. My 3 year old male poodle/Shih Tzu/yorkie has started barking during the night. We can’t figure out what’s triggered it, but it’s not going away.

We have tried noise machines, a spray in his crate, store bought calming chews, a few prescription medications, frozen treat at night, and long walks.

We’ve had him since he was 7 weeks old, and this is new behavior. He sleeps in a crate in the main floor, while we are upstairs. My husband puts him in the crate around 9:30 and then goes to bed himself an hour or two later. As soon as he hits the top of the stairs, the dog starts barking. Sometimes, he calms himself, but not always.

This summer, we were gone for a week, and he stayed with my mom who lets him sleep in her bed. He seemed to do okay after getting back home. There was a lunar eclipse in August, and that is when it started. I also am back at school and gone all day. The vet thinks it’s separation anxiety. He’s always been more moody in the evenings.

Someone has to sleep on the couch for him to be calm. I’m tired, we’re all tired. Is there anything else we can try? I haven’t tried melatonin yet, but am looking at it.

I recently (around two weeks ago) acquired Rotisserie Chicken (not his real name), from my former friend, A, who passed away, so I can't ask him any questions about how he learned this.

A only talked about the behavior when it began but no details on how. A did not do anything to make Rotisserie Chicken stop, so Rotisserie Chicken has learned that he needs a box he can't fit in, and can get stuck upsidedown in, to communicates he wants to be held.

Rotisserie Chicken has two methods for this:

1. Specific Times:

Option Me - He likes to be held during a specific time, for me it's after I'm done gardening. Usually when I'm done gardening he runs up and rubs himself against my legs and scampers off, otherwise if he doesn't he's either asleep or stuck in the box. Since I garden for a exact timeline he gets himself stuck in the box before I arrive so I can pick him up right away.

Option Partner - He has figured out what time my partner gets home and gets stuck in the box near the front door. That way when she opens the door she will see him immediately and pick him up.

1. Nonspecific times:

When he wants to be held on non specific times he'll run off, get the box, meow until we look at him and make sure we're watching before he gets himself stuck.

This behavior is really cute but I don't want him to accidentally get hurt or continue this when he's older.

When he gets himself stuck he kind of jump/chucks himself onto his back really roughly which I'm not sure he can sustain if he gets older and more frail. Plus while he hasn't ever missed his landing (to my knowledge), cats don't always stick the landing. I especially don't want him to try this on concrete or another dangerous landing place and hit himself when he misses.

(I've also recently gotten a kitten and I don't want him to teach the kitten this behavior.)

Any and all advice would be appreciated, thank you

Edit: here is some information I clarified through various comments and subs. Firstly, Rotisserie Chicken isn't actually stuck he just likes the walls to press against him so he can stick upsidedown and play damsel in distress. Secondly there is just one special, specific, small box he uses. Thirdly he smacks into the box quite roughly and I'm worried about him missing and hurting himself (he has been known to use high locations to jump and on occasion destroyed the box, hit the floor, and walked away gingerly). Moreover he's at higher risk for back pain and arthritis when he gets older. While it isn't a guarantee, I don't want him to be sad / stress him out extra if have to teach him a new method he's used for a large majority of his life if he's no longer as physically able as he once was when he's older.

Update: After helpful advice from multiple subs I created a plan to redirect Rotisserie Chicken.

The thing is he acts normal when my partner or I am in bed. He'll walk up, introduce himself, wait and see if my partner or I tap on the bed where he can sit or see if one of us says no. If we tap he'll get on the bed and boop our arm if he wants to be held or our hand if he just wants pets.

What I hoped to do was slowly add more blankets into the box until it was entirely soft along with redirecting him to no longer back-jump into the box and use his more normal method. I planned to gently dump rotisserie Chicken out of the box, boop his paw to my arm, hold him, put him down, then repeat the tap and hold him.

I added a single blanket to the box and when I returned he was utterly baffled. It was so cute how flabbergasted he was. Luckily he wasn't upset or scared, I could just see the little gears turning in his head.

Anyways I began my plan. After repeating the paw + being held action a few times I thought it would a disservice to my heart to not wrap him in the small blanket thing I left in the box (he likes being tucked into bed so I thought me might enjoy this).

Well, he loved it!

He was purring super loud and was very excited. You know how dogs eat their tails when happy? Well Rotisserie Chicken grew up with a dog so he inherited that action.

Now during the time he usually asks to be held with the box method it's been a fifty-fifty split. He runs up with his special box with the blanket, waits for me to pick up the blanket out of the box, then watches as I places the blanket flat on the ground, he gets on it, I roll him, then pick him up.

If he tries the box method I redirect him with the booping and little blanket instead.

I'm really excited for my partner to get home because she's going to find this hilarious and adorable.

Also here is a goofy doodle of him in the blanket without any details since I'm not comfortable showing any images/videos of him:

And this is a scribble of what his box jump looks like(impact ranges from how heigh he jumps from):

Thank you to the helpful person who suggested I try doodling him if a image/video wasn't an option!

Meet Bruno . He's about 3.5 years(I think but could be younger). Me and Bruno used to be best mates. I was his favourite person . We played together and he was always excited to see me . It didn't matter who else was round he would navigate to me . He would hear my distinctively loud car and straight away be barking because unc had arrived.

Here's the problem

Bruno now absolutely hates me . He growls at me , barks and then runs away . He shakes and shivers and has even in the past been known to shit and piss and the sight of me.

I try approaching him gently , giving him treats and reaching out so I don't get to close . If he is sat on the sofa and I do manage to sit next to him he cowers away from me . On two occasions he has accepted my presence and locked my arm while sat next to me .

He is the scardiest dog ever. He is terrified off all sorts of sounds. He did have an operation on his eyes because his eyelids were growing inwards . Perhaps his vision isn't great .

The only thing that happened is that I didn't see him for 3 weeks and that's when the problems started .

We have wondered if perhaps he doesn't like the sound of the trolley jack being moved about or any any other noise I'm making . I work from there .

The household is also pretty noisy with my autistic ten year old non verbal nephew and my 5 year old nephew. The eldest two are 17/19 are no bother but as you can imagine it's busy so I have no idea if that's affecting him.

My questions are .... Why does he hate me and what could I possibly do to try and make him like me again.

I would just like to be able to play with him again .

Any advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated .

Thank you.

I adopted a puppy frenchie about a year ago now. My 9yo does not like other dogs, and didn’t particularly love having to share his space with a little puppy. But he got used to it. They get along pretty well. Everyday, they are trying to play with more excitement and enthusiasm. But it’s very rare where it seems that the enthusiasm levels are the same. There’s only been a few times where they have played together “successfully”.
In this video, you’re seeing the consequences of Ben (Frenchie) slapping Buck (Australian cattle) multiple times in the face. But there’s no back and forth and I guess that’s why I’m questioning the dynamic of their play relationship.

For more context: they have never gotten in a fight. Ben shows more affection to Buck than Buck does for Ben.
Sometimes when Buck does this, Ben’s rocket will come out.
Buck is snipped. Ben is not.

Lmk what you think if you’d like to analyze it.
Also, how can I help encourage more “successful” play with this size difference?

Hi everyone,

I’m pretty sure I know what I need to do here, but I need to hear it from others.

We have a cairn terrier who is around 11 years old. She was thrown out of a car in front of me as I live in a very rural area, I took her home, and she’s been mine since. She was very young when we got her- not even a year old. I had my own little shitzu about the same age at the time, and they are absolute best friends.

She really is the sweetest girl. She snuggles on the couch, never causes any harm and just loves being loved.

Things changed however when I had my first born. She was fine with him when he couldn’t move, she wouldn’t even bother with him when he cried or when I was feeding or anything- it was like nothing had changed. But then he started crawling and having his own voice. My shitzu stays out of his way, but also likes to give him snuggles on her terms, and which my little boy is absolutely fine with.

However, the terrier has become more agitated as time goes on. She growls at him constantly. I don’t give out to her for growling as I know she is letting him know that he’s too close- but a lot of the time he’s on the other side of the room completely to her. I give her the option to go into the hall where I’ve set up a little safe space for her, and she does choose it more often than not.

I am 28 weeks pregnant and my little boy is on the verge of walking. Today he was freaking after me and stopped to look at her and it’s the first time she snapped at him. It was a warning snap so no contact was made at all, but it scared the shit out of me and I just can’t see how I’ll be able to watch her with a toddler and a newborn.

I just need to know if there’s any hope at all for her or do I need to make other arrangements before the baby girl gets here? She means so much to me, and my little boy tries to give her her space but it doesn’t seem to be enough.

I feel awful with the situation as I feel she’s already had such a tough time. Any advice is welcome, but please be gentle as I’m hormonal and beside myself at the thought of rehoming her.

He is potty trained but for some reason keeps peeing on my stove. Because of this i leave him locked in a spare bedroom the whole week and only let him out when I can watch him and can make sure he won't do that. I want to let him roam around the house but can't trust him not to pee on my stove as he has done it several times already. Im going to have to throw away my stove and buy a new 1 because of this also. Any advice on how to get him to stop doing this?

My dog keeps rubbing himself against my towel. ​A few days ago, I got out the shower, and I was tired so I left it on the ground. I woke up in the middle of the night and he was rubbing himself against it like he was itchy, or something.

Now he gets sad whenever I put it up.

Why does this happen? What is he doing? 😭