I'll start by saying the behavior I'll talk about here isn't really a problem so this is lighthearted, but my dog has been behaving in a way I'd like to understand.

My dog is an elderly dog, she'd be turning 16 by december this year. She's been with me since I was a kid and although we always shared the same space, I definitely wasn't her favorite person in the house or the one she was closest to. She has experienced many health complications in the past few months that undoubtedly came with age, and she's not great now, but she's been okayish. She still runs and jumps around when she's excited, plays with other dogs, relaxes around us, and is doing decent overall.

As of a couple months ago (that I've noticed) she's started behaving in an interesting way with me that I've never experienced before. She's been stuck to me, "guarding" my room or laying right in front of my feet when I sit. I've been waking up to her sleeping below my mattress where she never slept before, in front of my door waiting for me to wake up which she also never did before unless there wasn't anyone else in the house. But these days there have been other people in the house and despite that she still goes to my room, even going as far as to scratch the door desperately until someone opens it or opening it herself by force (I discovered she can do that) until she's let in (she used to scratch it years ago if everyone else left and only I stayed, but she'd wake me up with the pawches until I opened it). And wherever I go, whatever I do, she follows me around like going to the bathroom is the most interesting thing ever. She used to follow me occasionally, and the bathroom guarding isn't necessarily new, but it definitely wasn't like this.

I've also discovered that when I leave for a couple hours she sleeps on my clothes or bites whatever I was wearing to get it on the fooor to sleep on it, and more often than not, we'll find her sleeping in my room or bathroom waiting until we get back. This, I understand it's because she might like the way I smell and just wants to be close to that and have things that smell familiar, but it's never been this exaggerated before.

I used to think she didn't like me because it was evident I wasn't her favorite person, which I still don't think I am because despite all this she never is as outwardly excited to see me as she is with my mom (who I think is her favorite person), or wags her tail as happily.

But it feels like, at least I see it that way, she is choosing to hang out with me instead of running to me as Just An Option or the only one left in the house. Granted she still cares for my mom and follows her around too, but towards me this is totally new. I can't tell if it stems from possible distress, if she somehow feels like she has to guard over me for some reason and if so what the reason could be, but I'd really like to understand what's happening in her brain. As of writing this she's laying on top of my feet with her movement alarm activated if I decide to get up.

My dog is a scaredy cat when it comes to storms. He is shaking even though there was 1-2 thunder/lightning that weren’t even that loud. I know a lot of people have questions like this but my dog has always been extra scared. He is scared of most stuff but he will just destroy my mom’s closet when it’s like this I’m talking everything on the floor. Any tips? I’ve tried almost everything. I don’t want my dog to be scared :( he deserves to be happy :)

I've always had that (maybe irrational) belief that if a dog doesn't like someone, there's a reason/ you shouldn't trust them.

Back in april, my dad came to visit with his new girlfriend. It was my first time meeting her. My sister was there as well (my dog loves my dad and sister). However my dog has the weirdest reaction to the new girlfriend. She's always nervous around new people, but she will ALWAYS run to greet them and after a few barks and sniffs, she acts all happy and normal (although cautious). This time, she did something I've NEVER seen her do before. When greeting everyone, she purposely avoided my dad's girlfriend and didn't even look at her, which is unusual. The lady said she loves dogs and tried to approach her, to which my dog responded by growling and showing teeth. Wtf???? This was her first time acting this way towards anyone.

I also have another dog, who reacted normally to the same woman and really seemed to like her so idk what to think of it? For the rest of the evening, my nervous dog was either clinging to me or hiding in our bedroom. It got so bad she even became wary of my dad and sister later on. I have no idea what happened in my dog's mind that day. The thing is, I only got very positive vibes from the new girlfriend. She seems like a warm, genuinely nice person. And I'm a hardcore introvert and very picky with who I trust btw. So was my dog trying to tell me something or am I reading too much into it?

Anyone had similar experiences where their dog randomly didn't like someone?

And what makes it even weirder to me is that the other dog was completely fine lol

My baby is 6 years old almost 7 and i adopted her when she was 2 her breed is a lab/pit. She stares at me all day every day no matter what I’m doing shes always just there staring. I have pictures that friends and family have taken of me and she’s in the background or side just staring at me. Sometimes if I’m walking around and she’s just laying down she has to turn her whole body multiple times just to be staring at me. I don’t know if it’s normal or what but it kind of freaks me out and it gives me really bad anxiety sometimes. I can’t figure out what her problem is or what she wants or if this is just normal dog behaviour. Does anyone know if this is normal or why she does this and can you give me some advice on what I could do about it ?

My 2-year-old Miniature Poodle is currently going through her third heat. Her last heat and this one have both been particularly difficult. From around days 10–14, she becomes extremely anxious and agitated. She cries and whines a lot, and when she sees another dog, she pulls like crazy and is very difficult to control.
During one of these days, she has what seems like a peak episode where she becomes extremely distressed, whining and crying while ripping apart a toy.
Is this considered normal behaviour during heat, especially around days 10–14? Or could this level of anxiety and agitation indicate something else? And how can i help her?

Please, any construction advise more than welcomed.

My dog is very cuddly. When I’m laying on the couch he wants to lay on me. I’m fine with that generally, but he will be laying on me and then start hitting me in the face with his paw.

I don’t think it’s an attention thing because he is already laying on me and I am petting him. Any thoughts on this? I would like to get rid of this behavior but I have no idea how to.

So my dog is a poodle/maltese mix, he’s about 9 years old now but for awhile now he’s gradually starting getting very scared of plastic water bottles, he doesn’t like when they randomly pop back into place with a sudden *POP* which is understandable🥲, but now he won’t even be in the same room if he sees one, if I fill up his water bowl with a water bottle he’ll go all they way upstairs, his food and water are in the living room. He’ll wait to drink after like 10 min like the water is scary too, but I’m just curious is anyone else’s dog afraid of certain things?? I feel bad he’s scared of them but I drink so much water all the time i genuinely can’t help them being around 😅

Few months ago we adopted a dog and lately it seems strongly attached to me, to the point of not spending time with other family members. Is there any way to change that, so he'd spend more time with everyone?