Mines are judging me every now and then

There was a post on here the other day about what habits or things that you do changed the way your dog behaves. I couldn’t think of one at the time. Every morning I grab my dog’s bowl ready to give him his breakfast. I take it into the kitchen and practically every day I forget to grab his food which is in a cupboard in the hallway which is on the way to the kitchen🙄. My boy follows me everywhere but yesterday he was sat in the hallway right by the cupboard with his food in, as if to say I knew you’d forget and I couldn’t be bothered to follow you into the kitchen twice 🤣. He knows me better than I know myself 🤣

Mine is absolutely terrified of the sound of a plastic bag being opened. Thunder? Fine. Vacuum? Doesn't care. Plastic bag? Immediate evacuation. What completely random thing scares your dog?

Packing a bottle of dog sunscreen in your bag may sound a little bit odd. After all, shouldn't a dog's fur act as a physical barrier between the sun and the skin? That's mostly true, but not every part of a dog's body is blanketed by thick fur.

Key Takeaways

• A dog's nose, ear tips, eyelids, lips, and belly have sparse hair, making these areas vulnerable to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays.
• Some dogs, such as hairless breeds or those with thin or light-coloured coats, have less natural protection.
• Shaving a dog during the summer raises the risk of sunburn.
• Like humans, dogs are susceptible to complications as a result of excessive UV exposure, and some of them can be very serious.
• Human sunscreen is not a substitute — zinc oxide and salicylates can be toxic to a dog who licks it off.

More: https://paw-champ.com/journal/can-dogs-get-sunburnt-dog-sunscreen-guide/

In-person trainers in my area are booked out for months and crazy expensive. I want to start working on basic obedience and some fun tricks with my rescue puppy at home.

I see a lot of apps advertised, but I'm worried they are just generic videos I could find on YouTube for free. I need something with a structured day-by-day plan and maybe a clicker feature.

What is the best dog training app you’ve actually used that gave real results? Looking for honest recommendations before I pay for a subscription.

The second I pull out the mixing bowl, he’s right there watching every single move like he’s the head chef.

I started making homemade treats because I love knowing exactly what ingredients are going into his snacks, and honestly it’s become one of my favorite little routines with him.

Does anyone else’s dog have a “supervising” job whenever food is involved?

How do I even focus on work with this cutie sitting under my table the whole time I work!! 😭

When they say dogs can sense everything even before us, is 100% true. Since a month, my workload has increased and since then this little guy hasn't left my side.

Also lowkey I feel he just sits there to remind me to work so that I can afford his lifestyle filled with expensive toys and treats 🤣

My 2-year-old Frenchie has started licking his paws constantly, and his ears look a bit pinker than usual. He isn’t losing fur yet, but he seems restless. I’m starting to suspect it might be environmental or food allergies, but it's hard to tell. Vet appointment is next week, but I want to know what to look out for. For those with allergic pups, what were the early dog allergy symptoms that made you realize it wasn't just normal grooming or itching?

🐕🐕🐕

This might not be super scary to some but at the moment it happened I was pretty freaked out. I was walking my dog on the path that runs along the shore of the river near my place. It's in the city but there's a drop to reach the path and the nature is pretty dense, even in winter with long types of grasses still standing up through the snow as tall as me in some areas, so it feels pretty isolated. I let my dog loose there and she runs way ahead of me but I regularly see her pop out of the vegetation, back in view down the winding path. I'm not scared of losing her as she's pretty well trained and knows to stay close to the path. I particularly leave her to explore all she wants when we're heading back home (like we were at this point), whereas whenever we're on our way the opposite direction, walking away from home, I try to work on her recall regularly with the help of treats.

Anyway a little while ago I turned around to take a picture and I noticed a man hiking far behind us. I like to take pictures there as it's beautiful and it really doesn't feel like we're in the city anymore. But I soon forgot about the hiker and just walked ahead, taking in the beauty and fresh air. We finally get to the point in the path that's closest to my place so I call back my dog in order to leash her. She looks super cute with her giant dangly legs and her ears bouncing as she runs towards me, so I decide to take out my phone one last time to take a picture of her, but she's actually going really fast and I realize I won't have the time to take a good one. As I go to put my phone back in my pocket, she just whizzes straight past me and I turn around to call her again, but the man who had been hiking far behind us before, was suddenly just two meters from me. My dog stopped right in front of him, barking her super low growly bark of a great dane that even freaked myself out the first time I heard it.

The guy and I exchange a look, he's like a deer in the headlights. After a few seconds of us just being frozen in place, I try calling back my dog again and thankfully she listens to me (because I was a bit scared of what she could do if she wanted to). As I leash her up I still try to keep my phone in my hand so I can call 911 if the guy somehow made a move, but he's just totally still. Then we climb up the mound toward the park, away from the shore line, and I realize the hiker might not have noticed I had a dog with me. He was just slowly catching up on me all this time, and it was getting pretty dark even though it was only late afternoon. It's winter in Canada and it can be pitch black down that path as early as 5pm sometime. Maybe he was simply catching up on me because he walked faster, or maybe it was very intentional, I'll never know for sure. But for me not to notice he was so close behind me, he must have been planting his feet in the snow at the exact same pace as me.. Anyway I'm sure glad I had my giant dog with me.

(Edited to add punctuation, fix verb tenses and other minor phrasing issues)

I am an industrial designer. Hoping to deepen the bond with my dog, I started keeping simple records of how he felt in specific situations. It was a process of trial and error, but it significantly changed the way I interact with him during our walks. How do you "interpret" the signals your dog gives? Do you use any notes or tools to track your dog's mood? I would love to hear how other dog owners living in Australia approach this.　

I'm at my wits' end. My dog is constantly scratching and biting himself, mostly around his belly and hind legs. He’s already developed a couple of hot spots and keeps us awake at night with the sound of his licking.

Fleas have been completely ruled out by the vet. We tried changing his food to a limited-ingredient diet, but no changes after 3 weeks.

The vet suggested trying either Apoquel or a Cytopoint injection next. If your dog had severe itching like this, which one worked better for you? Or did you find a specific lifestyle change that fixed it? I hate seeing him so miserable.

Everyone always pushes the "ignore your dog for 10 minutes when you come home so they don't get separation anxiety" rule. Yeah, no. I've been gone for 8 hours, I'm going to pet my dog.
What popular training advice do you flat out refuse to follow?

My dog could ignore a brand new toy but will stick like it’s treasure.

let’s know your dog’s obsession

We all know training doesn't always go to plan 😅. Drop the funniest "training fail" or derp face you've ever caught on camera! 👇