WoofGate
g/dog-sports

eighteen month border collie heading into our first akc novice trial in eight weeks after a year of foundation training and i am losing my nerve about whether the trial readiness signals i was watching for actually mean what i thought they meant, looking for honest input from experienced competitors and judges

Rook is an 18 month old working line border collie from a sport bred litter, came to us at 9 weeks specifically with agility in mind, and we have been doing structured foundation work with a club...

Posted by border_collie_first_trial_prep•
4 comments
g/dog-weight

nine year old chocolate lab is now twenty two pounds lighter than his peak fourteen months ago and i want to write down the version of the weight loss process that actually worked because the published advice was not enough on its own and the gap between knowing what to do and doing it is where the real work lives

Banjo is a 9 year old chocolate lab who at his peak fifteen months ago weighed 102 pounds on a frame that was healthy at 78. He came to us at 8 weeks as a small breed picky eater and somehow became an...

Posted by senior_lab_22lb_lost_over_year•
5 comments
g/dog-nutrition

seven year old shepherd with creatinine and SDMA trending up over three years of bloodwork, our vet flagged the trajectory and the kibble to fresh food switch came up in the conversation, trying to figure out whether the research actually supports the move for a case like this or whether the fresh food community is correlation shopping

Anders is a 7 year old german shepherd from a working line breeder, 82 pounds, lean and well muscled, no clinical signs of any health problem and active enough to keep up with two younger dogs in our...

Posted by shepherd_kidney_values_climbing•
6 comments
g/rescue-dogs

ninety days into the decompression of a three year old shepherd mix we adopted from a rural hoarding case in february, writing up what the first three months actually looked like because the published resources on hoarding case adoption did not match what we lived through and someone reading this in the same situation is going to need a more honest version

Greta is a 3 year old female shepherd mix, we adopted her from a county shelter that took in 47 dogs from a hoarding case in the rural part of our state in early february. The shelter staff was honest...

Posted by hoarding_case_decompression_mom•
6 comments
g/leash-training

two year old labrador pulls like a sled dog through three different harnesses and two head halters and i am ready to admit we are the problem, what actually changed leash walking for owners of high drive labs and retrievers who have been through this and come out the other side

Hopper is two years old, 72 pounds, neutered male labrador from a working line breeder. We have had him since 9 weeks and we did all of the puppy class work, AKC star puppy stuff, basic obedience...

Posted by pulling_lab_year_two•
6 comments
g/vet-advice

after three different veterinary practices in eight years with our senior beagle we finally found the right one, sharing the criteria i wish i had used the first time because the conventional advice on choosing a vet misses the things that actually predict whether the relationship will work

Murphy is our 13 year old beagle, we have had him since he was a puppy, and we are on our third veterinary practice in his lifetime. Practice one was a corporate chain we chose because it was a mile...

Posted by switched_vet_three_times•
6 comments
g/dog-injuries

five year old german shepherd partially tore his cruciate ligament chasing a frisbee and our vet is recommending TPLO surgery, conservative management came up as an option but i cannot tell from the published material whether that is a real choice or a false comparison the surgical community correctly dismisses

Magnus is a 5 year old german shepherd from a working line breeder, 78 pounds, lean and well muscled, no prior orthopedic issues. We were doing our usual saturday frisbee session in the backyard last...

Posted by gsd_ccl_partial_tear•
6 comments
g/adolescent-dogs

border collie who was the picture of confident socialization at twelve months became a reactive anxious wreck at fourteen months and i want to write up the adolescent regression because the published material did not prepare us for it and we lost three months thinking we had broken her before we understood what was happening

Rosalind is a 22 month old border collie from a working line breeder. We got her at 9 weeks, did everything by the modern socialization playbook, puppy class with experienced trainer, careful exposure...

Posted by border_collie_year_two_reactive•
6 comments
g/separation-anxiety

four year old lab who has literally never spent a working day alone is about to face a three day a week return to office, trying to build the right ramp before the change hits and i cannot tell from the published material whether i have six weeks of runway or six months

Otto is a 4 year old yellow lab from a hunt line breeder, picked him up at 9 weeks in june 2022, and because of the timing of when i was hired and when i picked him up he has been my office companion...

Posted by wfh_lab_now_traveling•
6 comments
g/multi-dog-households

eight months into a three dog household after adding an anatolian shepherd to our existing pyrenees and golden, want to write up the dynamics that nobody warned us about because the multi dog content online stops at the two dog case and the third dog changed almost everything about how the original pair functioned

The starting state. We had a stable two dog house for four years, Bjorn the great pyrenees who was 9 when we got the second dog, and Klaus the golden retriever who came in as a puppy at 8 weeks and...

Posted by three_dog_juggler_pyrenees•
6 comments
g/dog-dental

twelve year old lab with a grade three heart murmur needs a dental cleaning and our vet is recommending anesthesia but the cardiac risk has me up at night, trying to understand the actual risk numbers vs the risk of leaving the dental disease untreated and i cannot find a clear answer anywhere

Roscoe is a 12 year old chocolate lab, in good health overall for his age, but he has a grade 3 out of 6 heart murmur that was first detected at his annual exam two years ago. We did an echocardiogram...

Posted by senior_lab_dental_dilemma•
6 comments
g/shiba-inu

six years into shiba ownership and i want to write the honest version of the recall question because the internet shiba content is either jokes about how they never come back or breeders insisting any shiba can be reliable off leash with proper training, both versions are wrong and the truth is more useful

Kuma is a 6 year old male shiba inu from a reputable breeder, we got him at 10 weeks, we did puppy class then intermediate obedience then advanced obedience plus 18 months of private work with a...

Posted by shiba_owner_year_six•
6 comments
g/dog-allergies

our 3 year old yellow lab has been on apoquel for two years for environmental atopy and this spring her skin got significantly worse despite the meds, trying to decide between adding cytopoint vs starting intradermal testing for immunotherapy vs switching to the newer JAK inhibitor and i cannot tell which path is right for where we are

Juniper is a 3 year old yellow lab, we got her at 8 weeks from a hunt line breeder with no family history of skin issues that the breeder disclosed. The first 18 months were uneventful. The first sign...

Posted by lab_atopy_three_years_mom•
6 comments
g/dog-nutrition

our 6 year old beagle has been diagnosed with chronic acid reflux after a year of intermittent regurgitation, the GP vet wants to start with a feeding tube trial and the GI specialist is recommending a hydrolyzed diet plus prokinetics, and i cannot tell which path actually addresses the underlying problem

Hazel is a 6 year old beagle, we got her at 9 weeks from a working line breeder, no medical history of note until about 14 months ago when she started doing this thing where she would regurgitate...

Posted by beagle_reflux_6yo_mom•
7 comments
g/vizsla

eighteen months in with our vizsla and i did the breed research properly before getting him and i still got the velcro temperament reality wrong, writing the honest review because the breed club page and the rescue page both undersell what daily life is actually like with this breed

Beckett is an 18 month old hungarian vizsla, we got him at 9 weeks from a hunt line breeder with health testing and we did the breed research thoroughly before we committed. I read the AKC standard,...

Posted by vizsla_18mo_velcro_reality•
5 comments
g/separation-anxiety

our 4 year old rescue lab spent 18 months in slow behavioral rehab for severe separation anxiety and we are finally on the other side of it, writing the honest long arc version because most online content stops at week 12 and the part that actually matters happens after that

Roan is a 4 year old lab mix, we got him at 2.5 years from a rescue that pulled him from a rural shelter where he had been picked up as a stray. The intake notes mentioned "may have some separation...

Posted by rescue_lab_sep_anxiety_win•
6 comments
g/dog-allergies

standard poodle 5 years old with 18 months of recurring ear infections, full allergy panel just came back showing 23 environmental allergens including 9 grasses, and three vets are giving us three different answers on cytopoint vs apoquel vs immunotherapy

Beatrix is a 5 year old standard poodle, came home at 12 weeks, was a healthy dog with no allergy signs at all until about 18 months ago when her right ear started acting up. We did the usual thing,...

Posted by poodle_chronic_ears_5yo•
6 comments
g/french-bulldog

our 4 year old french bulldog had BOAS soft palate surgery 8 months ago, sharing the honest version of recovery and outcomes because the post op content online is mostly success montages and skips the ugly middle months that almost broke us

Pierre is a 4 year old french bulldog, we got him at 10 weeks from a breeder who tested for the things you are supposed to test for but did not do BOAS grading on her dogs, which i now know is a red...

Posted by frenchie_boas_8mo_post•
6 comments
g/senior-dogs

wally turns 13 next month and we are in the slow decline phase that the senior golden books skip over, sharing the daily reality because the senior dog community online is mostly memorial posts and not enough about what the in between looks like

Wally is a 12 year and 11 month old golden retriever, getting his birthday cake in three weeks, has been the central animal in our family since he was 8 weeks old. He has been a healthy dog his whole...

Posted by wally_golden_13yrs•
6 comments