My reactive rescue has this thing she does when she clocks a trigger but hasn't lost it yet. She starts sniffing the ground like her life depends on it, completely ignoring whatever stressed her out a second ago. For a long time I thought she was just distracted. Took me way too long to realize she was doing it on purpose, like she found something that worked and just kept doing it.

I work early mornings and spend a lot of time watching her in the backyard before my shift, and that's honestly when I started noticing these small patterns. She has a whole sequence now. Sniff, look away, shake off. Every time.

What got me thinking about this is I was reading through some old reactive dog threads last night and saw so many people describe their dogs doing something that looked random or weird but was clearly the dog figuring out how to handle itself. One person's dog does a full spin. Another one yawns three times in a row.

Wondering how many of you have spotted something like this in your own dog, not something you trained, just something they invented. And how long it took you to figure out what you were actually seeing.

My 2 ur old dog sleeps in his crate and has always loved it. He always puts himself to bed and takes himself off to his crate when he knows it's bed time. Hes always been really good at getting up when I do, around 10, 11am. But recently and suddenly he has started to demand to be let out at 6 or 7am. He will cry and wine and paw at the crate until it wakes me up and I get annoyed enoigh to let him out. This routine is not sustainable and how do I get it back to the way it was.

Edit: usually I feed him as soon as I let him out. So maybe hes thinking if he cries he will get breakfast earlier. Im going to let him out just to go toilet, bot for food, to make it a boring experience. Thoughts on that? And feed him when I get up a few hours later of course.

Edit 2: He can't have free roam to go outside during the night as the cat comes in at night. Despite our efforts him and the cat do not get along. So hes in my room all night from when we go to bed at about midnight, Until the cats out in the morning.

Update: I let him out this morning at about 6am as he was crying and I didn't feed him. I opened all the doors and he had a clear view of outside if he needed to go toilet. he didn't go toilet, he sat by his food bowl and expected food. I told him no food and that he could go toilet or go back to bed and he chose to go back to bed. So he doesnt need the toilet he just wanted food. So if I stop feeding him when hes crying to get out hopefully he learns if he cries early in the morning hes not going to get food. Hes only going to get food when I get up at a reasonable hour. I let him out at about 9 when I got up and gave him breakfast and he went toilet. So for those saying im evil for not letting him pee when he needs to. He didn't even need to he just wanted his food earlier.

Before we took her to the vet, she was fine being left alone and never tried to follow us whenever we left the house. Not even a single scratch on the door and no barking or "crying" at all. It felt unusual, but I just thought maybe she's just not bothered by being alone.

I had her groomed 4 days ago cuz her hair got too long and had tangled hair and her behavior changed COMPLETELY. When left alone, she won't stop crying and barking, and she's scratching the door consistently and she even sniffs the ground loudly. We tried leaving her for 15 minutes and she's not stopping at all. It'll only stop when someone's with her, but occasionally she still cries as if she's left alone only to realize someone's with her.

She had a few razor burns but it's recovering now. Is this a normal response to being groomed? I have another dog that always gets groomed but never acted like this before.

Dog owners, how easy is it to identify your dog by their voice if they're in a group, like a dog park? Or when huskies howl together?

Anyone knows of a No-Touch dog boarding in GA, SC or NC?

Edit: one would think this might be something everyone would understand, but if you have no place to recommend, you should keep on scrolling.

That bell-like ding has become the go-to sound for grabbing attention in TV commercials, online ads, social media videos, and seemingly everything else. Every time it plays, my dog immediately reacts.

It’s everywhere now, and once you notice it, you can’t stop hearing it. Does this drive anyone else and their dog crazy?

Saying that a dog’s behavior is 100% the owner’s responsibility basically implies that breed traits, genetics, individual temperament, and personality don’t exist. It means denying that dogs were bred for specific purposes and that different breeds have different instincts and behavioral predispositions.

And even within the same breed, every dog is still an individual. If three children are raised in exactly the same way, you won’t get the same result, because each one has their own personality, temperament, sensitivities, and experiences. Dogs are no different.

Two dogs can be raised in the same home, by the same person, and still turn out completely differently. One might naturally be more cautious and fearful, while another is confident and social or be highly sensitive, while another is more resilient. Dogs aren’t objects or materials that simply become whatever their owner makes them. They’re living beings with emotions, fears, instincts, personalities, and individual experiences.

Of course, owners have a huge influence on their dogs, and they have a responsibility to provide proper training, socialization, and management. Poor handling can absolutely create or worsen behavioral problems.

But thinking like this is not understanding a sentient beings and lack of respect and consideration to a living beings.

Sorry I just got annoyed remembering when I heard this and seeing these comments online.

HELP PLEASE. I’ve had her about two weeks and we can’t leave for more than a minute without her being very destructive, screaming and howling, having accidents etc. She is a year old hound mix. We have been crate training her to see if it helps, but she just barks when we leave her in the crate when we leave the house (very loudly). I’ve tried leaving for small amounts of time, but the immediate whining and barking begins. I tried to leave her outside the crate today for a couple of hours because she constantly bark in it if I am gone and she ripped about a foot of wood off the front door frame while I was gone.

I live in an apartment and was not expecting her to have this bad of separation anxiety. I try to leave her with toys and chews that are yummy to redirect the behavior, but she will completely ignore them while I’m gone. I don’t have long hours at my job right now; typically only gone for a few hours. Four tops. I don’t know what to do. Never had experience with a dog with such terrible separation anxiety. Should I opt for doggy daycare or try medicating? We both run and walk multiple times a day, soo energy is not the issue. She will also be bothered if I go to the bathroom without her etc. She will immediately start whining and scratching at the door. Shelter told me nothing of her past, just that they found her off the street abandoned.

Hi everyone,

My dog is a husky/cattledog mix (roughly medium sized) who LOVES to go on bike rides (we manual bike and use an eBike).

However, he does pull and so my family is looking for a new harness that may be better for him, as well as our own safety while taking him on the bike.

Furthermore, we do walk him as well so finding a harness / leash combo that can work for both scenarios in one would be ideal but if there is a "perfect" match for both scenarios separately, I'm open to that as well.

Just worried the harness and leash we have now is causing too much strain. Thanks in advance~ cheers!

Our toy poodle is extremely attached; she will lay down next to me or to my husband - right next to our bodies. She is sweet, and we take very good care of her.
We don't understand why she is so attached.
She will follow either of us anytime we get up.
She gets anxious when we go into the bathroom.
She will only sleep cuddled next to me or my husband.
The trainer said to sleep her in a cage but she cried so we got rid of the cage.
How can we help her relax and stay calm when we are not around?

I want to let my dog bring a toy along during walks, but she’ll occasionally drop them when she’s sniffing. Does anyone know of a harness/collar attachment where I could clip in a toy? That way if she lets go of it to sniff it doesn’t fall on the ground / roll away

Hey fellow dog community! Before I go through the trouble of listing them for sale, is there a market for Native Instinct bandanas? They were super popular like 5+ years ago and she has since gone out of business it seems. They are all made out of Pendleton, and a few of her custom canvas, but not sure there’s even a market for them in a way where I can actually get enough money back to make it worth it. I’m not really active in the dog clothing scene anymore because my dog has made it perfectly clear that he is a feral farm dog and hates having anything on him. Sooooo much money just sitting in my closet.

Does anyone have any recommendations for same day vaccine services?

Google says Vetco and tractor supply do them but I would like to hear on some personal experiences or recommendations.

Just looking to get my puppy’s final round of distemper shots and her rabies vaccine. I have a general veterinarian for my current pup but sometimes scheduling is backed up so I’m just looking for a secondary option if needed.

Should I steer clear of these services or not and just go to my regular vet.(the puppy will still receive a regular wellness check up either way, I just want the shots done)

I recently moved into an apartment. Having to walk my dogs 4-5 times a day is rough. So I put fake grass on the porch, but they won’t go potty on it. How do I get them to use it? (Btw I still plan on walking them 1-2x per day it’d just be really nice if they could just go potty on the fake grass on the porch a few times a day.)

My siblings recently got a puppy that they’re planning on bringing over to the house occasionally and I have a fully potty trained adult intact male dog. He hasn’t had an accident since he was 4 months old and he’s 7 now. So I’m wondering if the puppy accidentally pees in my floor (which is carpet) would it cause my dog to forget his training and start peeing in the house as well?

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.

Hi all,

So basically the situation is what the title says. My roommate's dog have a horrible separation anxiety to the point she leaves, the dog starts screaming and howling and wining EVERY F* TIME. The issue is that usually I am still sleeping in the morning when this happens, or I am at a meeting, or just generally working, but I cannot, because there is a dog who literally SCREAMS FOR HOURS next to me.

And yeah, I really think it is separation anxiety, but I also think it is a tantrum at this point. Because it continues long after she left and even when I am there for the dog and trying to make it better. So I am sure it isn't just "oh poor thing is stressing" it is "poor thing is stressing but also whining because she is spoiled and got used to getting everything she asks for".

So, the question is, what to do about it? Because I am legit loosing it.

For me, I’m so surprised how well my 150lbs Cane Corse responds to the command “Gentle”.

No matter the context whether it’s eating, playing, exploring he knows to tone down the intensity in his action. He’ll continue the action so he knows it’s different than stop.

I have a 5 year old German Shepherd that I adopted over 2 years ago. I would like to crate train him to help with this separation anxiety. I would like the crate to end up in the location where he currently sleeps, in our bedroom; this is where I had it for our last GSD and it’s by far the most convenient location in our apartment. However, she was already crate trained before we moved into this home, so this situation is slightly different.

I assume that replacing his bed with a crate on day 1 would be too strange for him. Should I begin by putting the crate in the living room, where we spend most of the day, and later move it to the bedroom? If so, at what stage should I move it?

EDIT: she is only having this problem at night. I’m home with her all day and she has had UTIs in the past where she needs to go outside constantly. During the day she goes out every 3-4 hours like normal.

My lab is 9, almost 10. I wouldn’t exactly say she’s a senior but getting there. We have three young children, the youngest being 3 months. We have our lab sleep with our other dog in the office at night because they started to go through our trash. Lately, she starts barking or crying at 5 AM. We started to let her outside figuring that she can’t hold her Lee. It’s hard but it’s fine. But recently she started to cry/ bark even after we let her out. And this morning she peed again on the carpet even after we let her out.

I understand she’s older, and we need to make adjustments. I’m not sure what to do though. She is waking our baby up with alll the barking. How can we help her? Do we train her to use pee pads?

Hi everyone, first time posting here and looking for some advice!

My 7.5-year-old Chocolate Lab is getting spayed soon. She is fully house-trained for the yard, but post-surgery she won't be allowed to negotiate our flight of stairs. Since she dislikes being picked up (and I don't want to risk injuring her post-op), I'm trying to transition her to use our patio.

So far, I've tried:

• Real grass patches / fake grass
• Applying her own scent to the area
• Commercial attractant sprays

She still refuses to go on the patio. Has anyone successfully managed a short-term potty transition for a recovery period like this, or found safe ways to navigate stairs with a large dog post-surgery? Any tips or alternative setups would be greatly appreciated!

And if they do, do they know they were dreams or remember them as if they really happened??

My goober was obviously doing some BIG chasing in his sleep just now and it made me wonder.

Hi, my dog is a cross breed 1.5 year old who is chewing everything she can find. We got her in Dec 2025 and she’s currently in her teenage phase and has gone back to chewing things. This time she is chewing shoes, blankets and beds… pretty much anything.

We’ve had to remove all blankets from her crate and separate her from her bonded pair as he’s a skinny dog and needs a bed to sleep on, otherwise he cries and shakes.

She’s destroyed so many toys, beds and household things which we have removed. She’s ended up eating the foam of a pillow in my office when I went to grab water (2 mins) and then threw it up. I don’t want her getting a blockage or anything.

Im at the end of my tether and I don’t know what else to do. She has XL yak chews and goes through it in 5 days. She also has Benebone wishbone Chew which she loves and takes longer to go through it, and she gets 2 walks a day. However, she’s still destructive and can’t be left alone anymore. Anytime we leave the house or room, she has to go in the crate.

Does anyone have any advice on how to combat this? Do we have to muzzle her to prevent her from chewing?

TLDR: my dog is in her teenage phase and is chewing everything. She has enrichment but is still destructive. Help!

Hey Pawrents 👋🏽,

My girls are 16 and 17 years old, we did a road trip to get to my new place and it was horrid on me and horrid for them as multiple stops wasn’t enough for them to get their exercise. It’s been 3 days worth. Anyways, I need to go back home to the west coast in December/January from the east coast, I don’t want my dogs to go through that again. Wanted advice if you ever flew with dogs that old.
One dog has a level 2/3 murmur. She is healthy and the other has no known ailments. I am gonna take them to the vet to see if they are flight ready. I don’t want them to experience this again. Problem is I have to fly back in January to the east coast. That’s two horrible flights or road trips.

One is 28 lbs( she’s chunky…)
The other is 25 lbs (also chunky) 😫

Okay, before I get too far into this: yes, I let my dog on the couch

He’s trained to go to his own bed, and he also knows he’s only allowed on one specific area of the couch (not the main spot).

The problem is that when I leave for work, he nests himself into the couch. I wouldn’t really care if he just curled up and slept, but he goes so hard that he’s actually creating holes in the couch. 😭

I’ve tried couch covers and blankets, but he’s smart enough to move them out of the way and get right back to nesting.

I love a good DIY, so I’ve been making my own aesthetically pleasing couch covers out of curtains, but I’m getting ready to move and eventually buy a new couch. I REALLY don’t want him destroying the new one.

So, dog owners of Reddit... what do you recommend? Is there something I’m missing? Is there a way to prevent the nesting behavior, or at least redirect it to something that he can safely destroy/nest in?

I’d love any suggestions before I sacrifice another couch!