r/Dogowners

Hello everyone,

My dog has IBD and eosinophilic enteritis, and he is on a home-cooked diet. We have tried many commercial foods, but unfortunately none of them worked for him (he also has environmental allergies). The cooked diet worked quite well for several years, but recently he has started to stop tolerating carbohydrates, and he is losing a lot of weight on a meat-only diet. Do you possibly have any ideas about what we could do?

He currently eats turkey. The carbohydrates and ingredients we have tried so far are: bulgur, sweet potato, pumpkin, rice, tapioca, and vegetables.

He gets psyllium husk twice a day, pantoprazole, two kinds of probiotics, Creon digestive enzymes, as well as vitamin B12 and folic acid.

Thanks in advance for your anwers.

I currently use a living room chair so I can sit criss cross applesauce but my pitty always lays at the edge of my chair and I feel bad because I know he'd much rather sit with me. The second I get off the chair and sit on the couch he curls up with me. Any ideas as to what I can get that will be tall enough to sit at my desk comfortably while accommodating for my pupper.

Our 6-year-old male dog suddenly became terrified of our backyard after what we think was some kind of injury or scare, and we’re not sure how to help him feel safe out there again.

About a week and a half ago, our dog was in our fenced backyard when my partner heard the loudest yelp we’ve ever heard from him. Neither of us actually saw what happened. My partner just saw our dog hobble back into the house afterward. He wouldn’t put weight on his back right paw for a few hours, so we assumed he either stepped on something or got bitten/stung by a bug.

He seems physically okay now, but ever since then he refuses to go to the bathroom in our yard. He acts very nervous to be out there. However, when we take him on walks around the neighborhood or to the park, he goes to the bathroom completely normally.
This makes me think he got hurt while going potty and now associates the backyard with that experience.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? How do we help him feel safe and comfortable using the yard again?

Hello fellow dog owners, hoping for some advice about my neighbour. He has a large dog which spends most of the time in the garden, it does huge and very smelly poops which he does not clear up (I can see through holes in the fence) The weather is getting warmer and the smell is becoming unbearable, making it hard for me to spend time with my own dog out there or even have my kitchen windows open.

Unfortunately my neighbour is not friendly or approachable, he is male with a large dog and I am a woman living alone. I believe he may have quite serious mental health issues as I have heard shouting through the wall - I completely appreciate that this may be making it difficult for him to keep on top of the mess.

I am too scared to knock and worried that a note will make him angry, but I don’t want to go straight to the council in case he knows it has come from me.

I guess I am wondering how you would want this to be approached if it were you, I realise people go through hard times but I feel awful for his dog also being surrounded by his own poop constantly.

Thank you in advance.

Our dog (70lbs husky mix) was involved in a freak accidenet at the park with a neighbor's smaller dog (beagle mix). They arrived at a ball at the same moment and they started fighting, almost simultaneously. Neither dog backed down until pulled away. I pulled my dog away first, and the other dog was still going at her.

The aftermath: my dog has 3 bleeding cut on her lips. Neighbor's dog has two bleeding cut on the chest/neck area. She took her dog to emergency vet to get x-ray and the cuts were shallow. Thankfully, the dog didn't require surgery or stitches.

The other owner incurred $1500 of emergency vet bill (itemized) for the visit. They are asking us to help with the bill. I'm inclined to help with half because I feel bad for the situation. But I think the responsibility is mutual and we should be responsible for our own dog. I also think it's a bit ridiculous to take your dog to public park with toys and other dogs, without pet insurance. As it is an elevated risk area. If both dogs suffered similar wounds, I don't think I would be asked to chip in. What's the morally right thing to do?

I am finally moving into an apartment which allows tenants to have dogs and I was wondering how much savings I should have in hand to take that step. I live in Somerville, MA and work in Biotech. It has been my lifelong dream to get a dog but never really got the chance because never got the support I needed. I know I shouldn't take that decision just because it has been a dream and I need to know that it is the equivalent of having a small human child. So I figured I'd post in the most reliable place for information.
Since it would be my first time being a pet parent I would definitely opt for getting a smaller dog. I feel like I need a reality check before taking a decision.

Around 2009 we adopted a chihuahua/corgi mix from the pound as our family dog. I was still young at that time (middle school age) and my parents especially my mom took over the dog and bonded with him. Fast forward we had to put my childhood dog down after 18 years of companion with our family. After one year I adopted a lab/husky mix and I have been spending my time bonding and training her to become a confident dog (she was neglected and abused from her previous owner during puppyhood).

My husband and I are looking for another dog as a companion with my current dog. My current dog has been enrolled through private training and upcoming training classes (mostly for leash manners) as well as daycare. She is kennel trained, house trained, never plays rough with other dogs, and is gentle towards everyone in the family. We came across a dog at our local rescue that we are interested in adopting her as a new member for our family.

However, my mother was set to only find another chihuahua/corgi mix because of our previous dog. I explained to her that there are other small/medium dogs that are looking for homes at the rescue but she insisted on getting the exact same breed as my childhood dog. I talked it out that each dog has their own personality regardless of the breed and you can not expect the new dog to be the same as the old dog. She would retaliate and expect to only look for the dog that looks like her old dog.

At this point I am torn and heartbroken. My husband and I are currently living under my parent's house because my dad is retired and are planning to become snowbirds after my mother retires (2-3 more years) and soon to have the house under a living trust with my name. It does not feel right for me that she wants her own dog expecting it to be like her previous dog but then leave the dog under our care when she flies out of state/country for vacations. I still feel like my mother is still grieving and is not ready for another companion. To me it makes sense that I take ownership of the dog and have it as a family pet.

I've been feeding my dog the same brand for

two years and never really looked at the label

beyond the feeding guide.

Last week I actually sat down and compared

a few brands available here in Europe.

One thing I couldn't find a clear answer on:

Does protein % actually matter for a normal

healthy adult dog with no health issues?

Or is it more about the quality of the protein

source, like whether the first ingredient is

fresh chicken vs dehydrated poultry protein?

Also noticed some brands that look similar

in price have very different first ingredients.

Anyone here who has actually looked into this

properly? Would love to hear what you found.

Hi, my Shih Tzu is 3 years old, she has an issue where if she doesn’t eat within about every 8 hours she throws up. I believe it’s bilious vomiting syndrome. The issue is she wont eat without being hand fed, if I leave the food out she just wont eat it and ends up throwing up. I’m currently giving her blue buffalo basics skin and stomach small breed adult dog food. She does do well on it but it has to be hand fed. Ive tried every food, every topper and no food entices her to eat. I’ve even tried giving her real chicken or eggs and she does like the food, but it throws off her stomach and makes her bloated and needing to be hand fed more often or it will lead to throwing up again. If anyone has any recommendations or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I swear owning a puppy or a dog slowly rewires your entire brain over time and you don’t even realize it until you catch yourself doing something ridiculous.

A few months ago, I used to have a normal human routine. Now? My life is dictated by invisible dog boundaries.

I’ve caught myself opening snack bags like a literal ninja in the kitchen because I don't want her hearing the crinkle from across the house. I used to check the weather app for temperature, now I only look at it to calculate the exact percentage of "muddy paw cleanup time." And don't even get me started on the 3 AM sonar hearing—I can be in a dead sleep, but the microscopic sound of a wet cough or a pre-vomit dry heave will have me launching out of bed like a superhero in 0.5 seconds.

But the weirdest one for me lately is that I’ve started dividing my study/work time into strict psychological "blocks" because I’ve realized my puppy gets a severe energy rush if I don't actively force her into rest periods. I literally catch myself whispering to human guests to "walk quietly" just so she doesn't wake up from her nap block and break the spell of peace. None of this was intentional. It just slowly became my new normal lol.

I feel like they train us way more than we train them. What’s a strange, oddly specific habit your dog has successfully trained you into doing? Let me know I’m not the only crazy one here!

Hi all! So my dog has severe anxiety and OCD. He's currently on 75mg of Clomipramine with some hemp oil in his food daily, and we're waiting for his increased dosage of 100mg of Clomipramine to come in, but he's still got a lot of anxiety.

One of his big anxiety quirks is licking his paws to self-soothe. It's not a yeast infection. I check every day and it's fine. He's licking the tops of his paws for the most part and even the vet said it's a self-soothing thing they do when they have anxiety. He sometimes licks the sheets or the floor or the seats in the car, and honestly I'd rather him do that, but his go-to is his paws. It's mostly a problem because he's ingesting that hair and constantly coughing trying to hack it up and I see the fur in his poop from it.

He doesn't stop even when I constantly correct him. I got socks that velcro on and he removed 3 of them in the night but one got stuck and ended up too tight in that spot and caused a lot of swelling in his paw (he's okay, it went down pretty quickly) so I'm hesitant to do those again. I've tried doing the surgery collars (the ones that look like a neck pillow) to stop him from he just cries and whines until it's taken off and he can literally go all night like that. He won't settle down.

What are some anxiety aids to get him to stop? I don't need anxiety chews or oils or supplements or anything like that. I mean like specific toys or something that he might be interested in licking instead or something.

So, total facepalm moment this morning. My 4 month old corgi puppy has started barking at me whenever I'm preparing her food bowl. I realized today that because I used to hurry up and give it to her just to make her quiet, I literally rewarded the behavior. Now she thinks barking makes things happen faster. She's starting to do it when I sit at my desk to work too.

Ngl I feel pretty dumb for missing that connection early on. I started looking into some positive ways to handle demand behaviors, so we started practicing "quiet" today but man, she is stubborn. For anyone who fixed this, how long did the extinction burst last? Because my ears are hurting.

My dog and I are living just us 2 and lately it’s been a struggle in and out of motels while I try find a house. At the moment we have to resort to staying with a friend who will not let her in the house. She has never been an outside dog. She actually is quite attached and won’t even like being in the next room and not being able to get tl me to no fault of my own be cause we have never been able to have our own space. She has been crying at the window all night and it’s raining. There is a kennel with shelter on the other side of the house but she knows it on this room and refuses to use it. I hate that she is out there just as much as she is but my friend is asleep and there isn’t any reasoning with him. I know it’s only one night but I can’t help but feel she is going to start resenting me and maybe even build her own way of being depressed because of it. Will this happen?

Hello!

Has anybody had any luck with lemonade pet insurance? My pup has been at the vet a lot lately and I would love recommendations on a good pet insurance.

I have two dogs (blue heeler and blue heeler /collie ) and the blue heeler is a bit more of my wild child.

They have free access to the back yard almost all day unless we aren’t home or they have “earned” them selves a break. Typically by barking too much at people passing by or my blue heeler and our neighbors dog will “attack” the fence. We are currently trying to correct this but is difficult.

My blue heeler specially LOVES to be outside. So I want to improve our yard.

I don’t feel our backyard is very interesting to our dogs. I want to make it a bit more sensory and enrichment friendly. I know that won’t fix any issues with their barking/reactiveness with the neighbors dog but hoping it might fulfill them a bit more to be less interested in other things happening?? Even if it doesn’t help it would be nice for them to have things to enjoy and better quality of life.

What are something things you have in your yard for your dogs? I’ve seen people do things like sniff stations or dig pits ( not my fav idea 😂) but i need some inspo!!

Hey all, brand new here!!!

This winter, my standard poodle was diagnosed with being allergic to almost everything 😅.

Her food allergies are:

Poultry

White fish

Milk

Rice

Wheat

Barley

We have her on a kibble that is salmon and sweet potatoes, and she's doing well on it. And we enhance her food with oats, veggies, beans, etc.

The problem comes when I am camping. We go camping every summer. And she doesn't eat much while we are camping. The past few summers -- before I knew she was allergic to rice -- I made a rice and canned salmon topper, which has helped her eat in the past.

So my question is: what can I substitute for the rice this summer?

I am honestly hoping to go camping Memorial Day weekend, and would like to make her stuff soon, and freeze it for next weekend.

Backstory:
I had three senior dogs, 2 of which I had since they were 8 weeks old, one dog who was my brothers and lived with us when she was 8-13. My last remaining senior dog, Harlow is 10. She has been reactive towards other dogs in the past but never towards her housemates. She was very bonded with the one of my dogs, the one she grew up with, and tolerated my brothers dog. In January, my dog died and three weeks later, my other dog (brothers dog) died also.
Harlow grieved HARD. She was very sad and we were all having a hard time coping. Long story short, I adopted another dog right after.

Today:
It’s been three months since I adopted the new dog (Loki) and at first, it was going really well. He’s a 1.5 year old Aussie mix (the same as my other dog). My old dog died when he was 12 so obviously his energy had settled a lot compared to this new dog. I thought I was completely ready to take on Loki. For the first few weeks, Harlow was playing with him every morning, sharing her space, ect. She used to never play with the other dogs so I thought Loki was breathing some new young life into her. It was really sweet. After a few weeks, Harlow started resource guarding her toys and food and Loki had no manners so every time she would growl, he would instantly start a fight. The fights were never that bad and could be broken up easily and after some space for a day or two, they would go back to playing/wrestling/sleeping together. Over the last three months, the fights happened more often, none of them resulting in injury or super bad but we were always right there to break them up. About a month ago, we hired a trainer and Loki went to board and train at her house for two weeks. In that time, Harlow seemed more relaxed but also a little sad that she didn’t have any friends in the house. I know how much change this is for a senior dog and I thought I was doing what was best for her.
The day he came back from board and train, they were happy to see each other, played together.
I made the stupid mistake of having treats out in the yard right after his return, and immediately, they got into it and we had to put them apart. Harlow knocked Lokis face and he was bleeding (a small gash).
I’m now afraid they won’t be able to get along and they have been completely separated except for walks together for a week now.
She still seems like sometimes she wants to play with him and it gives me hope but other times he will be laying across from her and she will growl at him.
I want to keep Loki safe and he deserves a home where he doesn’t feel like he has to walk on eggshells around my other dog.

Over the last week, we have deeply considered rehoming Loki. It’s breaking my heart, I’ve never had to rehome a dog. I feel stupid, irresponsible, and disappointed in myself. Not to mention the INTENSE amount of guilt and shame I feel. Logically, I think Harlow would prefer to be the only dog and Loki would be better off with someone who will be able to give them their 100 percent attention. I know I won’t be able to give both dogs 100 percent what they need.

The small moments where it feels like she wants to be around him, play with him, are giving me hope but I also feel like I will always be on edge and won’t ever be able to fully let them live and be alone together without constant management. It would be hard on me, and hard on both dogs.

Mostly, I just feel horrible. About the entire situation. I haven’t fully grieved my other dogs because I instantly through myself into a new situation. Harlow has had so much change. And Loki came from the shelter, straight into my house and then into chaos. It’s been three months and he is already attached to me, learning quickly, finally feels like he’s comfortable and adapted to the house. And now he is on rotation schedule with my other dog. Keeping him feels wrong, and rehoming him feels wrong. Neither one feels like the right decision. I guess I am just looking for advice if anyone has any because I feel like I am mentally and emotionally drained. I’m scared Loki won’t adjust to a new place and all his training progress will be lost. To be honest, I’m scared to hurt his feelings. I like him so much, he’s such a good dog, and I really wanted this to work out.

Kind words are appreciated 🥺

Backstory:
I had three senior dogs, 2 of which I had since they were 8 weeks old, one dog who was my brothers and lived with us when she was 8-13. My last remaining senior dog, Harlow is 10. She has been reactive towards other dogs in the past but never towards her housemates. She was very bonded with the one of my dogs, the one she grew up with, and tolerated my brothers dog. In January, my dog died and three weeks later, my other dog (brothers dog) died also.
Harlow grieved HARD. She was very sad and we were all having a hard time coping. Long story short, I adopted another dog right after.

Today:
It’s been three months since I adopted the new dog (Loki) and at first, it was going really well. He’s a 1.5 year old Aussie mix (the same as my other dog). My old dog died when he was 12 so obviously his energy had settled a lot compared to this new dog. I thought I was completely ready to take on Loki. For the first few weeks, Harlow was playing with him every morning, sharing her space, ect. She used to never play with the other dogs so I thought Loki was breathing some new young life into her. It was really sweet. After a few weeks, Harlow started resource guarding her toys and food and Loki had no manners so every time she would growl, he would instantly start a fight. The fights were never that bad and could be broken up easily and after some space for a day or two, they would go back to playing/wrestling/sleeping together. Over the last three months, the fights happened more often, none of them resulting in injury or super bad but we were always right there to break them up. About a month ago, we hired a trainer and Loki went to board and train at her house for two weeks. In that time, Harlow seemed more relaxed but also a little sad that she didn’t have any friends in the house. I know how much change this is for a senior dog and I thought I was doing what was best for her.
The day he came back from board and train, they were happy to see each other, played together.
I made the stupid mistake of having treats out in the yard right after his return, and immediately, they got into it and we had to put them apart. Harlow knocked Lokis face and he was bleeding (a small gash).
I’m now afraid they won’t be able to get along and they have been completely separated except for walks together for a week now.
She still seems like sometimes she wants to play with him and it gives me hope but other times he will be laying across from her and she will growl at him.
I want to keep Loki safe and he deserves a home where he doesn’t feel like he has to walk on eggshells around my other dog.

Over the last week, we have deeply considered rehoming Loki. It’s breaking my heart, I’ve never had to rehome a dog. I feel stupid, irresponsible, and disappointed in myself. Not to mention the INTENSE amount of guilt and shame I feel. Logically, I think Harlow would prefer to be the only dog and Loki would be better off with someone who will be able to give them their 100 percent attention. I know I won’t be able to give both dogs 100 percent what they need.

The small moments where it feels like she wants to be around him, play with him, are giving me hope but I also feel like I will always be on edge and won’t ever be able to fully let them live and be alone together without constant management. It would be hard on me, and hard on both dogs.

Mostly, I just feel horrible. About the entire situation. I haven’t fully grieved my other dogs because I instantly through myself into a new situation. Harlow has had so much change. And Loki came from the shelter, straight into my house and then into chaos. It’s been three months and he is already attached to me, learning quickly, finally feels like he’s comfortable and adapted to the house. And now he is on rotation schedule with my other dog. Keeping him feels wrong, and rehoming him feels wrong. Neither one feels like the right decision. I guess I am just looking for advice if anyone has any because I feel like I am mentally and emotionally drained. I’m scared Loki won’t adjust to a new place and all his training progress will be lost. To be honest, I’m scared to hurt his feelings. I like him so much, he’s such a good dog, and I really wanted this to work out.

Kind words are appreciated 🥺