The golden is 1 and a half years old and the German shepherd is 1.
They are like this all the time with each other.

Yesterday, I was going for the evening walk and spotted this dog laying in a corner of the park. She was very thin and hardly moving but still slowly wagging her tail. I thought she was hungry so I bought a pack of biscuit for her but she was hardly able to eat and it took her about 10 minutes to finish. Whole time I was there observing her and protecting her food from other dogs. Is this normal or she needs some medical attention?

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My dog is a 4-year-old neutered male rescue mixed breed. Over the six weeks or so, he has suddenly started doing something I've never seen him do before.

He'll be walking around normally and then, completely out of nowhere, he'll start “humping the air.” His penis (“red rocket”) comes out while he's doing it, but what concerns me is that he doesn't actually look like he's enjoying himself or behaving excitedly.

He looks almost distressed/confused, and will look down between his legs as though he's wondering what is happening. It's almost like a “what the hell is happening to me?” expression.

The episodes last around 20 seconds, then he stops and goes back to normal.

Could this simply be behavioural/excitement-related, or is the combination of the sudden onset, apparent distress and increased sniffing something I should mention specifically to the vet?

I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering if anyone has experienced something similar and what happened with their dog.

Our 12-year-old pit/boxer developed a large belly very quickly. We thought it was indigestion. Our regular vet did an ultrasound and said her spleen was bleeding and needed to come out that day or she could die. You can imagine my shock. The next 12 hours were awful.

At the ER, we were told there was a 1 in 3 chance the bleeding was from a benign hematoma and a 2 in 3 chance it was cancer. They wouldn’t know until they removed the spleen and sent it to a lab. The surgery would cost upwards of $15,000.

A few things that mattered:

• We asked the vet if our dog could suffer or die during the surgery. Her answer was, “If there are complications, yes. If no complications, then no.” That gave my wife the impression that suffering was very possible. I was a little skeptical but accepted it. By then it was around midnight or 1 a.m., it was our third vet office that day, I hadn’t eaten, I was exhausted, and I had very little time to think.
• Her back right leg had gotten weak over the past year or so, maybe a pinched nerve, and her front left leg had nerve damage from a dog attack years ago. She could get around for the basics, but couldn’t walk more than about 75 feet before her legs started giving out. She was still happy.
• The vet said the surgeon would decide whether to operate that night or wait until morning, and she wouldn’t interfere. Our first vet had told us tomorrow could be too late.

My wife decided quickly that she should be put down. From the way the vet talked, she was convinced it was cancer. I kept focusing on the 1 in 3 chance it wasn’t, that they could take out the spleen and our dog could have 2 or 3 more years with us. And if the biopsy came back as cancer, we weren’t going to pursue chemo or any other cancer treatment. We could have put her down then, knowing there was a solid reason to do it. But the $15,000 made me hesitate. I had the money, but I worried I might need it if things got tight.

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted my wife on my side for the surgery, but she didn’t want it. When I pressed, she got angry and said, “You make the decision then.” I don’t blame her. It was traumatic, and neither of us knew how to handle it. I went back and forth over the odds, what the vet said about suffering, and how much her walking had declined, and her age. 

I made the decision to put her to sleep.

They brought our dog from the back to be with us in a private room. Once she was with us again, I could tell my wife was having doubts. We spent an hour with her, and I was still struggling. I think my wife still wanted to let her go, but she said again it had to be my call. We could have canceled and asked for the surgery. There was a button to call the staff. My wife asked if she should press it, and I said yes.

The staff came in and asked us again, and we said we were ready. She went to sleep, and shortly after, she was gone. My wife and I both broke down. My wife said something like, “What have I done?” and I was thinking the same thing. But she was gone. I felt instant regret and guilt, and it’s still with me.

I’m beside myself with the guilt that I chose money over a few more years with my dog. I keep running through the what-ifs. If the surgeon had waited until morning, could she have died alone in a cage without us? That would have been worse, but maybe it wouldn’t have happened, or maybe I’d have fought for surgery that night. Would her legs have gotten worse, and how fast, or would they have held steady? The vets also said that if they opened her up and found a lot of cancer, they’d call us to come say goodbye, and I suppose she’d have been sedated by then. I’m sorry I can’t remember every detail. So much happened that night.

Since then, I’ve read that the surgery is fairly safe from dying or complications, and no one told us that. My dog is gone, and I’m racked with guilt that I made the wrong call, that I chose money over giving her a shot at maybe 2 or 3 more years.

Has anyone gone through something like this? I’m not sure what I’m looking for. I feel like I may have made a horrible mistake. Part of me feels like money should not have been a factor at deciding whether or not to try to preserve my dog’s life. 

My husband and I are out of town for a weekend getaway and we brought our standard schnauzer with us. He’s a year and a half old, we’ve traveled with him before, but he is NOT relaxing this time. We took him to a dog park for 30 minutes to run around on our way here and have played and done brain games while in the Airbnb. But he’s been crying in his crate now for 45 minutes. He is crated at night when we’re home, it’s his regular crate and blanket, he’s gone potty, but he won’t settle. How can we help our guy relax so I can enjoy my birthday weekend???

Edit: dang yall loads of crate shaming here. Cool, cool cool cool. I was worried about my dog so yeah I did not give a minute by minute rundown of my day or provide a broader picture but here goes. His morning yesterday was totally normal, we all woke up, I had to go into work for a minute so my husband took him on a walk and they relaxed at home. Upon my return from work, husband and I packed, dog “supervised” us. We loaded up the car, drove for an hour (he’s great in the car) and stopped at a dog park on our way here. Dog got to sniff, race around the yard, and play with other dogs for about half an hour. It was upon the arrival to our Airbnb that he started acting weird. He’s seemed nervous or maybe uncomfortable ever since we arrived? He’s keeps pacing around, he’s sniffing but like not how he normally sniffs (that might sound crazy idk), and he won’t sit or lie down for more than like a minute. We have traveled with him before, he’s been to new places with us, but he’s never behaved like this. We tried doing some quick training sessions to get his brain back in familiar patterns but he wasn’t interested. So we settled for cuddles on the sofa. But even then he was more interested in sniffing around or going outside to sniff some more. When home he sleeps in a crate outside of our bedroom and from the day we brought him home he is a champ in there. But we decided to have him sleep in our room so he could smell and hear us. He immediately refused to settle. We try our usual methods to calm him at home (we call out the same thing we do if he’s restless, we do a quick potty trip, we ignore) but nothing changes. We did try taking him out of his crate last night to see if he’d sleep but he wouldn’t settle, he just kept pacing around. Finally he went into his crate and slept maybe three hours, but he’s already wide awake and fussing.

I came here for help. I came because I love my dog and do try to give him the best life possible. I came here because I was worried about his completely out of left field behavior. So maybe people think I’m a terrible person because I crate my dog and didn’t respond nicely enough to some comments. Ok. I can’t control how you think or feel. I am extremely grateful for everyone who offered me tips and things to look out for or even just the folks who remind my worried brain that the little guy needs time to settle. Yeah maybe next year we won’t do a family getaway, that’s ok. I had just hoped for some guidance in the situation I was in.

We rescued this dog from a family member 3 ish weeks ago. She’s had years of ear issues with them blowing up and shaking it. Last night her face had mild swelling, this morning it’s blown up. It’s not painful to touch, it was soft and has slowly gotten harder, hasn’t swelled anymore. We talked to a vet and are bringing her in tomorrow. Finances are a bit tight as this was a sudden situation, any recommendations? Expectations on the vet appointment? I’m thinking a draining surgery which is terrifying and costly.

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DogAdvice/s/Gplnf3x9na

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone that commented on the last post and gave advice and shared their stories. We just found out today that ROXY’S mass was benign!!!!! 😭 and she’s recovering so well from the splenectomy, she’s already trying to run around and jump and play fight with her brother (but we’re stopping her).

Even a few days ago, my mom was telling me she’s so glad I posted on reddit. When the vet told us about the mass, my parents went to the nearest animal hospital that had availability. The vet there told my parents that Roxy didn’t really have a chance of making it because the mass looked like it was malignant. She said there may be a 10% chance or 15% at most that the mass was benign. She even told my mom that if it were her dog, she’d just take her home and love on her for the next couple of days rather than try the splenectomy. This came out of nowhere because Roxy was fine the day before. The vet also had told us that if we wanted to try the splenectomy, we could come back when the surgeon was there (which was 5 days later).

We were all just devastated and shocked and crying the whole night, but after doing our own research and posting on Reddit we realized there may have been a better chance that her mass was benign than we were led to believe. ALSO the comments helped us realize how urgent it was to remove the spleen because the mass had ruptured and she would’ve just bled out! Still can’t believe the vet told us we could just wait 5 days when Roxy may not have survived that long, and discouraged us from doing the splenectomy!! Needless to say, we went to another amazing vet for a second opinion AND the surgery.

I wanted to make this post to thank everyone for the comments & stories & info & good thoughts you sent. And to let everyone know Roxy’s surgery went great and her mass is benign 😊. My dad’s bday is tomorrow and this is the best birthday gift ever. Also wanted to just give a PSA to always get a second opinion!! Which should be obvious of course, but after the first vet we felt hopeless. Cannot thank everyone enough!!

Hes 18 (or older), hes struggling to eat, even soft foods, hes stumbling around and falling, he pooped himself.. i think its time but i just cant feel okay.

So my dog still hasn't learned to drop command

He wants to play fetch but refuses to give me the bone

If I don't try to take the bone he comes to me and climbs up to me to get me to play but immediately grabs the bone again

I can't play a proper tug of war since Am worried about his teeth

My 1 year, 4 month old Whippet had a positive test for heart worms. They did a second test, also faintly positive. Drew blood and sent to the lab for a final confirmation, because they told us false positives can happen. Will find out in a few days.

He is on Simparica Trio every month, gets it on the same day, never missed a dose so this was quite shocking to us. Well I’m reading about the treatments and… months of no activity? We walk him everyday, fetch everyday, plays with his brother everyday. I just don’t know how to go about this and I’m preparing for the worst. He’s a Whippet, not a lap dog.

It’s his heart and his health so we’ll do whatever we have to do, but has anyone dealt with this? Any advice? Pic of my boys for attention

Just looking for abit of advice on what to do, I was out at a national park today and as we were driving out there was a dog running up the road, when we stopped the car to check on him he ran and jumped in all scared with his tail tucked between his legs, he had no collar on with any information. There was properties in the area that definitely could’ve been his home but I couldn’t kick him back out of the car especially with the national park we were in using baits in the area and all the other things that could happen to him before he found his way back home. We took him to the vet and he has a chip but the number goes straight to dial tone and the address is for a town 4 hours away. The vets told us we can either keep him with us and post on Facebook pages and search for his owner, or take him to the rspca and they’ll hold him to see if anyone claims him, but obviously once we’ve done that whatever happens to him is out of our control. We’ve posted on every community page in the area and have heard nothing, the vets have our number incasesomeone calls but haven’t heard anything from them yet, we have got the dog with us tonight while we figure out what to do. But I’m just really worried about him sitting in a shelter if his owner dont come claim him, or that his owners may be old or people that don’t use social media and don’t know how to find there beloved dog and they could be worried sick right now. I don’t know if ive handled this whole situation wrong but I just wanna find this guys home or give him a loving home without him having to sit and wait in a shelter 😭

Sorry for the low quality video. I was just trying to capture it before she stopped.

As the title says, my 10 year old husky/pit mix dog is displaying “caching” behavior but with ME?

For some background, she has done the snout burying behavior periodically throughout her life but only with food. She will try to “bury” her food if she’s feeling unwell or if she thinks the other dogs are attempting to steal *our* food. For example, if we are eating a snack in bed and the other dogs start to beg, she will attempt to bury our snacks (she never steals food from us but is trying to keep the other dogs from stealing it). She doesn’t have any food aggression or resource guarding issues and in general isn’t very food motivated.

I’m just wondering if I should be concerned that she’s treating me like…food and trying to “bury” my foot under the blanket (exactly like she does with food).

I’m very bonded with this dog and know her behaviors pretty well and have never seen her do this. Is she trying to eat me? Is she sundowning? She’s very healthy overall and hasn’t had any other weird behaviors that deviate from her norm. Help lol.

My mom’s dog, 10 year old Labrador, male neutered, has had these growths pop up on the back of his neck over the last 5/6 weeks. One of them grew overnight, moving from one spot to another. It was originally underneath a mole, the next morning it had moved to the right. There are 3 of them now.

He’s been to 2 different vets; given antibiotics, ivermectin, cream, steroid pills, skin cultures taken. The veterinarians have no idea what this is. And skin cultures have resulted in nothing so far. One more should be in by end of day today.

Has anyone ever seen this before? He is having a biopsy this morning. They do not seem to bother him, he doesn’t try to scratch them or roll around on his back. We are at a loss. Any information or advice is helpful.

I was at a park on school property with my daughter yesterday and our two Chihuahuas. My dogs were on their leash. A Doberman pinscher comes running up chasing a ball that it's owner apparently through for him. And proceeded to attack one of my dogs, and then immediately after we attacked my other dog. I also was bitten in the process of trying to get my dog out of his mouth. I got the phone number in the name of the dog owner, but they're not cooperating with helping pay for the Vet bills. Only one of my dogs is injured. The park had a sign posted "on leash area only. Dogs must be kept on leash at all times." Her dog was not on a leash. And was aggressive. He atttacked one of my dogs and while I was trying to wrangle her away the dog let go and then attacked my other dog litteratly a second later. I also was but in the hand, but that was my fault because I was trying to save my dog.
I just need general advice of how to handle this or what I should do. What can I do when the responsible party refuses to take accountability. I'm going to file reports with the police and or animal control. I never advocate for harm to come to any animal so I don't want anything to happen to the dog but think if you're going to have a dog that big and potentially dangerous that they should follow the rules and when their dog inflicts serious injuries on a person or other animal they should be responsible for that and this owner is not doing that.

Hello, a friend of mine has a dog named Dorka, who has a habit of falling asleep with a toy in her mouth. Is it normal? What does it mean?

My 12 year old multipoo is peeing in the middle of the night. We take her for a walk around 9pm. she will go outside 2-3x more before bed around 11:30. Yet in the morning, there will be pee on my carpet. I started to pick up the front entrance door carpet at night but I have a big area rug. I rolled it up last night, came out and she peed on the rolled up part.

I don’t know what do to do. Do I put a diaper on her? Crate her again? help.

I have a 5 year old Doberman weighing around 40 kg. He ate leftover food from a dog whose canine distemper was confirmed by a vet. The food was left over for around 5–6 hours before he ate it.
Vaccination history: He has received multiple vaccines since puppyhood. His latest vaccine was Canishot DHPP on 9 December 2025.
It has been 3 days since the exposure. He is still active, playful, drinking water normally, and his stool is normal. He has no cough, vomiting, or diarrhea. However, I occasionally notice a tiny amount of completely clear, watery nasal discharge, which he has also had occasionally in the past. Today, he ate only around 30% of his usual food, although he sometimes skips meals.
My vet advised monitoring him for 15 days.
Questions:
How likely is distemper transmission from food left out for 5–6 hours?
How much protection does his vaccination provide?
Can reduced appetite and occasional clear nasal discharge be early signs of distemper?
Is monitoring for 15 days sufficient, or should I ask my vet about testing?
Any advice from vets or people who have experienced this would be appreciated.

My dog has this sore and bizarre looking structure on his nail or maybe it is his nail. The vet can only see him on Monday. His other nails on all of his paws are perfectly fine and don't have the same problem. Does anyone know what this is?

Does anyone have experience with a very anxious dog? She’s a 4 year old rescue and was always scared of things but it seems it’s getting worse the older she gets.
Is there anything I can do to help her? She’s really scared of wind and we get a lot of wind where we live. She’s recently started panting when it gets windy. Has anyone tried CBD oil? How about Purina calming care powder?

Please tell me what to do

My dog is a 13 year old Tibetan terrier, this breathing started fairly recently after she got put on steroids for cancer, she has the same type of cancer on her nose and ear, the vets claim they’re not connected. She’s now been off the steroids for a while and is still struggling with walks, this was maybe 15 minutes into the walk in 15 degrees celsius.