I moved in with my partner about a month and a half ago. He whines at one of my cats, but not the other, and I’m having a hard time interpreting what his behavior means as a first time dog owner. We’ve followed the standard cat and dog introduction protocol. The cat the dog whines at is more scared of and also hisses at the dog while my other cat doesn’t. The cats also have several egress routes and a room where the dog can’t go.

Does anyone have insight into the dog’s behavior? Or suggestions on how to correct the whining? We’ve tried saying “stop” and redirecting, but the dog is a persistent fellow.

Hi, I’m looking to adopt a pup and went to visit him recently. I’m by no means a dog trainer, but looking for some thoughts on the "meet up" from more experienced people. Hopefully this is allowed in this forum, if not feel free to remove.

This particular dog has a hard start to life and struggles with generalization, separation and self regulation. He has been in a board and train program for a couple weeks and this was my first time to visit and meet him there. His current foster was also at the meeting (who he hadn’t seen since starting the program).

When we both arrived the trainer and dog were out walking around the yard on leash. He was doing pretty well self regulating on leash, listening to commands and eventually the trainer brought the dog over to greet us. As you’d expect, he was over the moon to see the foster. After being allowed about 20 seconds to greet them, he was tethered to a fence about 100 feet away because he was ‘too excited’ and the trainer explained that he would need to calm down before he could rejoin the group. 

The dog spent the next hour and a half yipping and pacing while tethered to the fence, while all of us remained within partial sight and earshot of him. I eventually had to leave due to time constraints (3+ hour drive each way) and he never did settle, so I never did meet him.

Like mentioned above, I’m no trainer, and I understand that there are probably reasons behind the approach the trainer took, but it was hard not to feel like the situation was making things more difficult for him rather than helping him succeed. Most dogs I know would be excited to see their person/owner after being separated for weeks and would probably have a hard time settling and react similarly.

I keep thinking about the experience and wonder if it might have made more sense for the foster to leave to give him a chance to settle, or alternatively, to allow him a little more time to greet the foster before creating distance. Keeping the foster so close while he was tethered and unable to get to them seemed to leave him frustrated and stressed for such a long time.

Lastly, (and this is more about me) as the potential adopter, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to meet or interact with this dog. He's been in foster for almost a year with no interest. Poor little guy.

Anyway, this has been on my mind a lot over the last few days and I feel like I spin myself in circles thinking about it. Just looking to hear thoughts on this approach from y'all… thanks. 

My pup who is 4 years old is afraid of getting in the vehicles. Once he's in the car he's not so bad. Although on long trips he has pooped in the car before a few times but I can't seem to get him over this fear and I'm not sure what to do. Any help would be appreciated.

I really need help y’all. I got my puppy Artemis when she was 2 months old back in April and now she is 8 months old. She was so sweet when we first got her but she has changed as she has grown. I’ve tried every trick in the book to get her potty trained and nothing works. My friend back in June took her out once and she peed outside, and after started peeing outside but then reverted after a couple of weeks to going inside and since then has never used the bathroom outside. She will walk around and sniff like she needs to go, and there will be no distractions, but she will not use the bathroom at all and run inside afterwards and book it straight to a corner or the couch to go. I’ve tried taking her to a daycare for a whole day thinking “she’ll have to go if she sees every other dog going outside and if she’s there all day” just to come to the realization that she in fact could hold it in the whole time and wait until she gets home. It’s gotten to a point where it feels defeating and sometimes I don’t even wanna take her out if she’s just going to go inside and poop and pee. It’s starting to put a strain on my relationship with my boyfriend as he is getting annoyed with it and becoming done with her. She is sweet any other time except when it comes to the potty. I need some tricks that people have used that worked as I am a college student living on the second floor of an apartment that makes it not as easy to open a door and let her run outside to just go pee and poop.