WoofGate
g/multi-dog-households

two year writeup on adding a rescue pit mix to our 6 year old miniature schnauzer prince, the eight months of subtle bullying nobody warned us about and the $2200 behaviorist bill that saved the household, the "parallel life not shared life" reframe that unlocked everything, the specific mistake of forcing shared beds and food areas in month one, and the honest answer to whether integrating a second adult dog is actually double the fun or a project with a two year timeline

Bertie is a 6, now 8, year old miniature schnauzer, our first dog, well socialized, ruled our 1100 square foot condo like a small unelected mayor for the six years before this project began. Delilah...

Posted by oldlab_steady•
5 comments
g/crate-training

our 14 month old lab pit mix loved his crate from 8 weeks until about month 8, then escalated from scratching to full jail break to chipping a canine on the wire crate we replaced last week, we are two weeks into a $340 aluminum heavy duty crate he refuses to enter at all, our new lease has a crate clause and i cant work from home, so i need honest people to tell me if this is adolescent brain chemistry, an anxiety problem wearing a crate costume, and whether going back to full puppy foundation at 14 months is actually a thing that works or something trainers say to be polite

Bruno is a 14 month old lab pit mix, 62 pounds, we got him from a foster at 8 weeks and did everything the puppy books said. crate by the bed the first two weeks, crate games with the door open,...

Posted by doberman_lifetime_two_dogs_arc•
5 comments
g/recall-training

twenty month recall update on our treeing walker coonhound mix, from a door bolt and a three hour chase through the state forest to a whistle recall i would bet real money on, the long line year nobody wants to hear about, the premack trick that finally worked on a nose with a dog attached, and the $40 spray collar mistake that cost us two months, posting because every hound thread has someone swearing scenthounds cant learn recall and i believed them for a year

Banjo is a treeing walker coonhound mix, roughly 3 now, adopted at around 14 months from a hound heavy rescue in kentucky, and on day 9 with us he shouldered through a storm door that wasnt fully...

Posted by hound_dad_ohio_61•
5 comments
g/dog-parks

our 2 year old boxer mix is getting pinned by the same three huskies at the dog park every evening while their owners tell me to let them work it out, last week he started hesitating at the gate of a park he used to drag me into, so i need people who actually understand dog park dynamics to tell me where rough play ends and bullying starts, whether one bad month can sour a friendly dog for good, and if walking away from dog parks entirely is protecting him or giving up

Milo is a 2 year old boxer mix, 58 pounds, adopted at 10 months from a county shelter, and for the first year he was the mayor of our dog park. 5pm most weekdays, he had a crew of regulars, a corgi he...

Posted by MuttLover_KC_64•
5 comments
g/apartment-dogs

sixteen month writeup on making a 55 pound rescue lab mix actually work in a 720 square foot one bedroom on the 14th floor, the potty logistics that took us three months to solve, the midday walker budget nobody warns you about, the neighbor complaint that nearly got us evicted, and the six specific choices that turned an anxious pacing dog into a chill apartment dog by month nine

writing this the way i wish someone had written it for me when we were signing the adoption paperwork on a 55 pound 3 year old lab shepherd mix from a rural rescue while living in a 720 sqft one...

Posted by apartment_lab_dad_neil•
5 comments
g/vizsla

our 8 month old female vizsla has velcroed to me so completely that i cant walk to the mailbox without a meltdown, ive gotten used to running in the same room as her but my husband cant even go to a work dinner without a whole scene, and after four months of trying to loosen this bond i need honest vizsla people to tell me if this ever gets better or if we adopted the wrong breed for a two career household

Poppy came home to us at 9 weeks in november, a beautifully bred vizsla from a breeder in vermont with a two page contract and every health test i now understand the meaning of thanks to a lot of...

Posted by beagle_brigade_guy•
7 comments
g/dog-breeding

how do you actually vet a dog breeder beyond the nice website, we lost a 500 dollar deposit to a scam in march, the standard poodle breeders weve found since range from 1200 to 4500 dollars and all use words like champion bloodlines and vet checked that apparently mean nothing, so what paperwork do i demand, how do i verify it instead of taking their word, and is a two year waitlist a quality signal or just gatekeeping

after a year of research we landed on a standard poodle, my daughter has mild allergies and after three visits with a friends standard who is basically a philosophy professor in a dog suit, the whole...

Posted by lab_double_ccl_journey•
7 comments
g/cocker-spaniel

sharing the spaniel insurance guide i found the week our cockers third ear infection of the year turned into a 4800 dollar total ear canal ablation quote, because those adorable ears are apparently a lifetime subscription and nobody itemizes that at the breeder, what four years of chronic otitis actually cost us, and the enrollment timing lesson i learned eleven months too late

came across this while sitting in the surgical consult parking lot doing the math on my phone, and its the clearest breakdown of spaniel specific coverage ive found, so im putting it in front of this...

Posted by three_dog_household_long_gaps•
5 comments
g/alternative-medicine

eight month writeup on trying acupuncture, cold laser and an underwater treadmill for our 12 year old labs arthritis after the rimadyl alone stopped being enough, i went into the integrative clinic a full skeptic and came out 1900 dollars lighter, so here is the honest ledger, what measurably worked, what did nothing we could detect, and the one thing i wish we had started two years earlier

Scout is our 12 year old lab, 74 pounds, and in january he stood at the bottom of the stairs one morning and just looked at us, which if you have a senior dog you know is a sentence with a whole...

Posted by rescue_volunteer_introductions_specialist•
7 comments
g/newfoundland

if one more parent tells me newfoundlands are nanny dogs while their toddler sprints face first at my 152 pound dog i am going to start charging admission, nana from peter pan is a fictional character not a supervision plan, my dog is a saint and that is exactly what scares me, because everyone treats his patience like a public resource, nobody asks before their kid grabs a fistful of jowl, and if the impossible day ever comes we all know exactly which dog pays for it

Walter is a 4 year old brown newfoundland, 152 pounds at his last vet visit, and before anyone starts, yes he is huge, yes the drool is real, yes i have heard the saddle joke, i hear the saddle joke...

Posted by tiredPuppylover215•
7 comments
g/dog-health

sharing the pre existing conditions guide i wish someone had handed me the week we adopted our rescue lab, because a two line note from a shelter vet visit that happened before we ever met him ended up voiding coverage on his hips, we found out at claim time not at signup, 18 months of premiums later, and the imaging plus first round of treatment cost us 3200 dollars out of pocket

just came across this while helping my brother compare policies for his new puppy, and it lays out the thing that burned us clearly enough that i think it belongs in front of everyone here with a new...

Posted by tiredPuppylover215•
5 comments
g/australian-cattle-dog

our 7 month old blue heeler has appointed herself sheriff of the living room and yesterday she escalated to nipping my running 6 year olds ankle, the kid cried, the dog looked deeply satisfied with her work, and i realized two 45 minute walks a day is not touching the sides of whatever this dog is, so heeler people i need the real answers, what does "give her a job" actually mean in a suburb with no cattle, and is the nipping a warning sign or just the factory settings

Juno came from a "farm collie mix" listing that, seven months later, is very obviously a purebred australian cattle dog, blue, speckled, the whole catalog picture. we are a normal suburban family, me,...

Posted by dachshundSquad•
7 comments
g/work-from-home-dogs

four years of working from home with my sheltie went completely fine and then my new job turned the cameras on, now every 9:15 standup is a hostage situation, he has declared a blood feud with the ups truck, the amazon driver is his best friend which is somehow worse because the screaming sounds identical, my boss has started calling him the attendee, and this morning i muted myself to yell into a hoodie

Finn is my 4 year old sheltie and for four years of remote work he was a non issue, because my old job was cameras off, mics off, type in the chat if you have something to say. he barked at things, i...

Posted by three_goldens_in_15_yrs•
8 comments
g/dog-travel

we just finished a six day 3100 mile move from boston to portland with a 70 pound boxer and a 13 year old shih tzu, so here is the recommendation writeup i couldnt find when i needed it, the 380 dollar crash tested crate that earned its price in one panic stop outside toledo, the hotel chain that actually means it when they say pet friendly, the cerenia conversation to have before you leave, and the cooler of home water that saved us from day two diarrhea

my wife got relocated in april and we spent a month reading threads about flying dogs versus driving them before deciding to drive, Moose is our 5 year old boxer, 70lb of enthusiasm and motion...

Posted by pippa_hoarding_survivor•
7 comments
g/adolescent-dogs

i need everyone to stop telling me this is normal, my golden retriever turned ten months old and the puppy who passed obedience class with honors has been replaced by a 68 pound sea lion who has forgotten his own name, eaten a couch cushion, started a feud with a garbage can he has walked past every day of his life, and discovered the counter has a steak zone

Murphy graduated puppy class in march as the star pupil. i am not exaggerating, the trainer used him as the demo dog for recall, other owners asked us what we were doing differently, and my husband...

Posted by beagleDad_Marcus•
7 comments
g/separation-anxiety

sixteen month update on our rescue vizsla who could not be alone for forty seconds without screaming, the neighbor letter that started everything, the 1100 dollars of crates cameras and calming gadgets that did absolutely nothing, the medication conversation i was ashamed of for no good reason, and the morning last week i left for four hours and came home to a dog asleep on the couch

Rusty is our now 3 year old vizsla, adopted at 14 months from a family that "didnt have time for him," which we came to understand was a sentence with a lot of history compressed into it. we found out...

Posted by considering_food_recheck•
7 comments
g/dog-weight

eleven month writeup on getting our "big boned" golden retriever from 94 pounds back to 71, the appointment where our vet finally stopped being polite about it, why the measuring cup was lying to us the whole time, the three weeks of theatrical starvation acting, the family member who was sabotaging us with toast, and what actually changed at the other end

Hank is our 6 year old golden and for most of his life we described him the way everyone describes a fat golden, big boned, fluffy, "hes a solid boy." at his annual in august he weighed 94lb and our...

Posted by retiredtech_lori•
7 comments
g/great-dane

found this writeup from a great dane owner whose dog bloated after dinner and needed 7000 dollars of emergency surgery at 2am, this is the exact scenario our breeder made us promise to read up on before she would place a puppy with us, sharing for everyone with a deep chested dog who thinks a slow feeder means theyre covered

just came across this and thought every dane person here should read it, especially anyone whos never actually watched a dog try to vomit with nothing coming up, because apparently that one sign is...

Posted by backcountry_guide_dogs_partners•
5 comments
g/samoyed

if one more stranger stops me mid walk to tell me im cruel for not shaving my samoyed in july i am going to lose my mind, the double coat IS his cooling system, he gets brushed four times a week, walks at 6am, and owns a kiddie pool, please stop diagnosing my dog from across the street

it happened again this morning and i need to vent to people who get it. 6:15am, 68 degrees, Bjorn trotting along with his tongue out and his tail up, having the time of his life, and a guy walking the...

Posted by newshepherd_dad_97•
7 comments
g/dog-injuries

fourteen month writeup on our 68 pound lab mixes torn CCL, the eight weeks of conservative management that almost held and then didnt, the 5400 dollar TPLO, what crate rest actually does to a young athletic dog and the people who live with him, the week by week recovery nobody shows you, and the other knee statistic they mention after youve paid

Moose is our 4 year old lab mix, 68lb at the time of injury, and fourteen months ago he chased a ball in the backyard like he had ten thousand times before, yelped once, and came back toe touching on...

Posted by aussie_apartment_two_years•
9 comments