WoofGate
g/bernese-mountain-dog

seven years in with our bernese mountain dog and want to write down the honest version of what living with the shortened life expectancy of this breed actually looks like across the years because the published breed material treats the lifespan piece as a footnote and the families who pick this breed without sitting with that reality first end up in a harder place than they should

Brunhilde is a seven and a half year old spayed female bernese mountain dog, ninety two pounds, who came to us at ten weeks old from a careful breeder in the upper midwest whose lines have been health...

Posted by goldenMomOf2_71•
4 comments
g/crate-training

sixteen month old dog who has been a solid crate sleeper since eight weeks old has suddenly started refusing the crate at night the last two weeks and i am trying to figure out whether this is a behavioral regression that needs a training response or a signal of something else going on because the published material on adolescent crate refusal does not match the picture we are seeing

Some context on the dog and the history with the crate before the question, because the picture only makes sense against the prior baseline. Banjo is a sixteen month old neutered male standard poodle,...

Posted by dvm_dacvd_dermatology•
4 comments
g/vizsla

four years in with a vizsla and want to write down the honest version of what living with a velcro hungarian pointer actually looks like across the years because the published breed material undersells the velcro piece in a way that has consequences for the family who picks one without understanding what they are signing up for

Dasha is a four year old spayed female vizsla, forty three pounds, who came to us at nine weeks old from a small show and hunt breeder in the upper midwest whose lines have been hunting and showing at...

Posted by considering_food_recheck•
5 comments
g/german-shepherd

six years in with a working line german shepherd and want to share the long view on what living with a working line versus a show line GSD actually looks like across the years because the published breed material does not distinguish the two lines well and most families who think they want a german shepherd are actually researching the wrong dog for the life they have

Kira is a six year old spayed female working line german shepherd, sixty eight pounds, who came to us at ten weeks old from a small working line breeder in the midwest whose lines are primarily DDR...

Posted by considering_food_recheck•
6 comments
g/vet-advice

we are moving across the country in three weeks and our eleven year old dog has a complex medical history across two chronic conditions and a previous surgery and i am trying to figure out the right way to set up the relationship with a new primary care vet so they actually engage with the existing record rather than effectively starting from scratch on a senior dog who does not have time for that

Some context on the dog and the situation so the question lands with the right detail. Hazel is an eleven year old spayed female lab mix, about forty seven pounds, who has been with us since she was...

Posted by oldDogNewTricks_Mara_10•
5 comments
g/separation-anxiety

four year old rescue who was solid on alone time for two years has regressed into clear separation anxiety in the eight weeks since my partner started a hybrid work schedule and i need the version of this guidance from families who have worked through a regression triggered by a household schedule change rather than a generic separation anxiety case

Marlow is a four year old neutered male we think is some mix of hound and shepherd, fifty two pounds, adopted at twenty two months old from a regional rescue who pulled him from a rural shelter where...

Posted by goldenmom_firstyear_72•
5 comments
g/advanced-training

one year into nosework training with our three year old standard poodle and want to share what the actual training arc looked like across the year because the published material on starting nosework focuses on the early imprinting phase and underweights how much the second six months differ from the first and what families and handlers need to understand about the long curve of building a real working scent dog at the recreational level

Olive is a three year old spayed female standard poodle, fifty four pounds, who we started in formal nosework training one year ago this week at a training facility that runs a structured progression...

Posted by lab_owner•
5 comments
g/dog-parks

two and a half year old rescue staffy mix who is friendly and well socialized in calm settings but has begun showing clear stress signals at our local dog park in the last three months, the published advice on dog park etiquette treats the question as binary should you go or not and does not address the middle case of a dog who can handle some park visits but not others, looking for families and trainers who have navigated the selective dog park dog and what the actual decision framework looks like inside it

Tessa is a two and a half year old spayed female staffy mix we adopted at fourteen months old from a regional pit bull rescue who pulled her from a southern state shelter after she had been there for...

Posted by rehabvettech_Steph•
6 comments
g/senior-dogs

six months in with our ten year old senior rescue beagle from a rural county shelter and writing down what the first ninety day diagnostic workup actually turned up because the published guidance on adopting senior dogs underweights how load bearing that early workup is and how much it determines whether the next two years go well or whether you spend them reacting to findings you could have caught at intake

Biscuit is a ten year old neutered male beagle we adopted in early december from a rural county shelter in the eastern part of the state where he had been surrendered by a family who could not keep...

Posted by nervous_aussie_mom•
5 comments
g/dog-nutrition

twelve year old miniature schnauzer male got cleared this week to transition off royal canin renal support after eighteen months on it because the latest bloodwork brought his BUN and creatinine back into normal range, our vet is supportive of the transition but is being cautious about which maintenance senior food we move him onto and i want to hear from owners whose dogs have walked this transition successfully because the published material almost universally treats the prescription renal diet as a forever decision and underweights the question of how you actually come back from it

Pickle is a twelve year old neutered miniature schnauzer male, twenty one pounds at a body condition score of five out of nine, on royal canin renal support T for the last eighteen months after a...

Posted by akc_agility_judge_15yr•
6 comments
g/australian-shepherd

three years in with our working line australian shepherd female from a stockdog kennel and looking back at the noise sensitivity arc we walked through her first twenty months, the conventional advice we received around desensitization and counter conditioning protocols had the right tools but the wrong framing for a working line dog, posting the version of the resolution that actually held because the published material on noise sensitivity in working breeds underweights the breed cognition piece in a way that cost us six months

Juniper is a three year old working line australian shepherd female we brought home at ten weeks from an ASCA stockdog kennel where her dam and sire were both active trial dogs on cattle. We were not...

Posted by sheaWithTheCocker•
5 comments
g/dog-injuries

seven year old labrador male with a confirmed complete cranial cruciate ligament rupture on the right stifle diagnosed this monday, primary care vet has referred us to a board certified surgeon for TPLO consultation and our rehab vet has separately offered a structured conservative management protocol, looking for the version of this decision from families and vets who have specifically walked through the seven to nine year old large breed dog presentation because the published material conflates the young dog and senior dog versions of this call

Murphy is a seven year old neutered labrador male, eighty four pounds at a fit body condition score of five out of nine, no orthopedic history before this week, no pre existing conditions, no NSAID...

Posted by passionate_dogdad_794•
6 comments
g/border-collie

four years in with our working line border collie female from a herding kennel and looking back at the stimulus addiction over arousal arc we walked through, the conventional behaviorist advice we received for the first eighteen months named the pattern wrong in a way that cost us a year of mistakes, posting what the actual resolution looked like because the published material on border collie over arousal underweights the home environment restructuring piece that ended up being the load bearing element of the work

Sable is a four year old working line border collie female we brought home at twelve weeks from an ABCA trial kennel where her dam and sire were both active trial dogs. We were a first time border...

Posted by bc_year4_stimulus_arc•
5 comments
g/adolescent-dogs

sixteen month old german shorthaired pointer whose recall was solid from month four through month thirteen in every environment we tested and has come apart in the last ten weeks specifically in field settings while remaining intact at home and in suburban environments, looking for the version of this adolescent sporting breed recall regression from families and trainers who lived it because the published material does not name what changes when the breeds working drive activates

Beck is a sixteen month old german shorthaired pointer male we brought home at ten weeks from a hunt test breeder who has been a real partner on the foundation work and remains available when we have...

Posted by gsp_16mo_field_recall_q•
6 comments
g/golden-retriever

seven years in with a field line golden retriever on a thirty acre rural property and the daily and weekly routine that actually keeps this dog physically and mentally healthy is meaningfully different from what the consumer golden retriever content describes because almost all of it is written for show line house dogs and the field line on land is a different breed of golden in functional terms

Halsten is a seven year old field line golden retriever from a small AKC field line kennel in the northeast, weighed in at sixty one pounds at his last vet visit which is lean for a male GR and is...

Posted by field_line_gr_7yr_rural•
5 comments
g/puppies

twelve days into our first puppy ever with a nine week old lab golden mix and i am writing this at four am from the kitchen floor because the night crying has gotten worse not better and i want to know if the things i have already tried are the right things or if i am making the textbook week two mistakes that nobody warned us about

Soren is a nine week old lab golden mix from a small in home breeder thirty miles from us. We met both parents, the breeder kept the litter with the mom and the other pups until eight and a half...

Posted by first_time_lab_mix_9wk•
6 comments
g/boxer

two full summers in north texas with our four year old working line boxer figuring out heat management and here are the specific gear food and schedule recommendations that actually held up across both years because the generic heat tolerance advice you find online underweights how brutal the body composition of a brachycephalic working drive dog makes the texas summer for them

Brody is a four year old working line boxer male, seventy five pounds, lives with us in north DFW where summer runs from late april through mid october and we see one hundred plus daily highs through...

Posted by boxer_dfw_year2_heat_protocol•
5 comments
g/behavior-issues

twenty six months in with our fear reactive belgian malinois rescue from a county shelter and we walked past a labrador inside the dog park parking lot under threshold without a redirect or a meltdown for the first time this week and i want to write down what the actual arc looked like because the milestone posts skip the long unsexy plateau and regression middle that was the entire project

Vexa is a belgian malinois we pulled from a county shelter at fourteen months. She came with a fear reactive presentation, growl lunge and air snap at any conspecific within roughly thirty feet,...

Posted by malinois_rescue_26mo_in•
6 comments