/r/DogAdvice: Keep That Tail Wagging!

My husband and I have a 2mo. baby girl, our first, and a 4yo, 30lb spayed female mutt we adopted as a puppy.

I’d say our dog’s reaction to baby has been good, if not perfect. At first she was kinda stressed and uncertain, and still will sometimes leave the room when baby screams a lot… but she has gotten pretty comfortable around baby now (neither fixated/possessive nor especially stressed from what I see) and will now often hang out when I play with baby, come in the nursery to check on everyone and sniff baby’s crib and laundry, etc. Certainly never any behavior around baby that made me worried. She has been more ‘watchful’ of unknown (to her) visitors who come and hold baby but we have not seen any increased reactivity, etc. Her time in the nursery has been restricted to temporary visits (at her own choosing haha), though early on she would sometimes sit in the doorway facing out when I nursed baby, as if to guard the den.

Two nights ago all of a sudden, when my husband went to soothe the baby as she was crying, our dog got up and followed him into baby’s room and crawled under the crib (into a small, uncomfortable space between stuff we stored there) and laid down facing out. I didn’t know what she was doing so I lured her back out and had her get into our bed (where she usually sleeps) because she looked uncomfortable and I was worried she’d wake the baby coming out later — but tonight when we put baby to bed, she took herself back in to that same spot again.

Obviously we never intend to leave her alone with the baby, and to be careful with their interactions especially once baby is mobile, but I’m not sure how to react to this new behavior now. There is no danger to the baby in any way from it (our smallish dog can’t even see baby in the crib let alone get into it in any way) and if our dog is trying to be protective or something, I find that sort of nice and don’t want to disrupt it, as long as it doesn’t extend into any possessiveness or stranger aggression down the road. But it also seems weird?

For context, she is an overall mellow, sweet, well trained dog who is generally good with people… but can get a bit growly with new people to the house, including/particularly unknown kids who act unpredictably/run around at the house (known kids are never an issue).

Our 9 year old black lab/golden retriever mix had 3 seizures in 24 hours on Friday. This had been the first time he had a seizure in 3 years and the first time he had multiple seizures. We took him to the emergency vet and they kept him overnight for monitoring and sent us home with Kepra. We also have a follow up with our vet in 2 weeks. The emergency vet stated his blood work was completely normal for his age so the only logical thing they could think of was a brain tumor/growth. They said the only real way to rule it out is with a CT but it could cost $3k and even if we found out he does have a growth, at best the radiation would shrink it enough to extend his life by months. But again there is no proof he has a tumor. We have no idea what to do or think. Any advice would help.

Odin is my 5 almost 6 year old dog. He got hit by a car last year, I took him to the emergency room and he twisted his leg but didn’t break anything so he was okay.. Atleast I thought he was. Last weekend he had a seizure, he whines often & is often seeking attention. I give him lots of attention and my entire family does also. I also caught him sitting in the corner and staring at the wall.. which was weird. As the sun is going down today, he is literally wigging out. He’s barking and whining at me and my mom and running around the house, panting and shaking. Can’t figure out what he wants.. I let him outside twice because of this, he has water and food. I have him outside right now and he’s still whining.. idk what’s wrong with him and I can’t afford to take him to the vet just yet but I plan on it.

I will be bringing home a puppy in two days, and I was wondering if anybody had any general advice for the first few weeks at home? I have had shelter dogs in the past (all of the dogs were from rescues), but I haven’t brought home a younger dog before. I’ve had puppies before, but I was given them when they were way too young (3 weeks or so), when I was a teenager.

The dog that I’m adopting is 5 months old, and I was just generally looking for any advice, especially for the first few days but the first few weeks in general as I don’t want to stress him out or overwhelm him.

He’s a doberman mix and has quite a bit of energy. I don’t believe he’s fully potty trained yet

I have a big (85 lb) standard poodle who’s 11.5 years old. He’s got two tumors on his back that have grown quite large over a year and a half. Six months ago, his x-rays showed that there are more inside his chest.

The tumors don’t heal, often bleed, and are pretty infected now. A recent course of antibiotics didn’t do much. I took him to the vet today, and she asked if I was looking to put him to sleep today. I was not. She gave me another round of antibiotics but doesn’t feel confident they’ll do much. She also gave me pain meds.

My guy isn’t in obvious pain. He’s still eating and has his personality. He often doesn’t want to get up, but he’s got some pep and seems like himself when he does.

I know putting him to sleep is the eventual step. But how do you know when is the right time? Do I really want to wait until he’s clearly in pain or starting to have difficulty breathing? Is that really the endgame?

Tl;dr: what’s the right thing to do here?

HELP?! my dog had been what seems like reverse sneezing for going on 8 hours now. He does it on and off and is perfectly fine when laying down and relaxed. I’m super stressed and overthinking that it might be a clasped tranchea I’m not sure how to tell the difference. He is acting fine and still eating and drinking. What do y’all think?

Hello, I’m looking for advice. I have a very complicated situation. My partner was told recently by his doctors that due to his allergies and the fact that they have been getting worse (he’s allergic to dogs and gets hives when they lick him and the doctors say that it will likely progress into a chronic condition) that we should look into rehoming them. They are both Cane Corsos (2.5 yo 130lbs and 1 yo 85lbs). While our big boy is very mild mannered but very attached to my partner. He is also a guard dog through and through. Our little guy is sweet and rambunctious but suffers from hip dysplasia and anxiety and takes multiple medications. We currently take him to physical therapy to treat it. I’m terrified that they’ll be separated (the little guy is always at our big boys side) or that he’ll be put down. We live in Connecticut and I just don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice on what to do in this situation?

Been to vet 3 times. They have done X-rays (twice) and found no blockage. Full blood panel was done and is normal. Vet says the don’t know what it is. They prescribed probiotics and anti-nausea. As soon as the anti nausea is gone, he’s sick again.

Sometimes he does a day or two without puking, but for the most part he pukes up every single meal shortly after eating it, for the last 3 weeks.

We haven’t been feeding him anything other than his dog food for 2 weeks. Yesterday we switched to just white rice to see, and he’s puked that up twice in a row.

We have two other dogs and neither of them is sick. He has no other symptoms besides the puking. Normal poop, no lethargy, nothing.

We are clueless. Dog is a black lab, about 4 years old. Anyone have any ideas or similar experiences?

Hi lovely people! I am trying to get advice on this to nip it in the bud as soon as possible. My 4 year old pit mix has had a few incidents in recent months of being reactive towards other dogs in certain situations. I have gone out of my way to socialize her since she was a puppy and she has always played really well with and been really respectful of other dogs. Typically if something erupts at the dog park between two dogs she will back away and keep her distance and she has always seemed to understand other cues from dogs when it is time to back away. However, there have been three incidents in the past 2 months that have caused concern.

All three incidents had some common themes: 1. My brothers puppy has been there - they play very well together but if another dog tries to interject it seems like my dog will get super protective which escalates quickly.

1. All occurrences of this happening have been when she is off leash but in watching the situations unfold it is my dog that initiates the negative behavior and in my opinion the other dogs are just responding naturally.

2. It always occurs when the other dog is entering the environment. She does come up to people and dogs with a lot of energy which we have been working on but again, has always backed away when the other dog seems to get nervous or upset. It seems like she lost all impulse control and just doubles down on getting to the dog.

I am kind of mortified and super frustrated that I now have to worry about my happy go lucky social butterfly dog causing a scene when I bring her out.

Would so appreciate if anyone has any advice! Could it be that she is sick? Anxious? Needs something different from me?

Hi all. Not sure if this post belongs here or elsewhere, so apologies in advance if this isn't the right sub but I'm hoping for some insight. My wife and I were just placed last week with two kiddos (a 9 y.o. boy and a 4 y.o. girl) that we intend on adopting. However, since that time we noticed our 5 y.o. dog has been eating less and hiding under the table, clearly in response to the [loving] chaos that has been added to our home. Does anyone have any advice on how to help a pup get acclimated to the kiddos/how long it normally takes? It breaks my heart that he's uncomfortable and I wanna help him get used to the new lifestyle. Thanks in advance!