For the Love of Dogs

Grace, Dog Trainer, Hiking Spaniels, General Lover of Behavior. Sage, Oso, Charlie.

[only-tiktoks]

[confusedbyinterface]

Finding the dark spot in the middle of the circular pattern feels like a very easy problem for bees

[groenendaze]

@archy-with-a-y's little red dog having big beach feelings

[nefja]

[thelittlespanielthatcould]

This isn't a recall this is just his response to me talking to him

[babyanimalgifs]

“I finally caught him. He gets up at midnight and crawls into bed with me.“ 

(Source)

[catsindoors]

Losing a pet is one of the most difficult things in the world to endure.

Be they young or old, sudden or a long-time coming, have done everything you could or wish you could’ve done more the pain can be insurmountable.

I love my current cat with all my heart, and he has done a lot to stabilize my mental health, but there are stills time where I really struggle with the fact that my senior boy is gone.

The Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss and Grief Support group on Facebook helped a lot immediately following his passing. There’s also PVC: Coping With the Loss of a Pet Support Group which I’m less familiar with.

If you’re not on Facebook here’s a list of pet loss support groups in the United States ordered by state and the Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement has a video support group.

These are great non-judgemental resources. You don’t have to do this alone.

[wasatchmountaindogs]

He got pro photos taken and he’s a beautiful bag of bones.

[mulderscully]

stop apologizing for reblogging things we literally are here for that!!!!

[agilitylabs]

I may give @millenniallust4death a heads up on what im about to spam reblog but no apologies!! This is what makes Tumblr the only social media I’ve been on for over a decade. I’m free to reblog as much as I want about my interests and no one feels the need to do a welfare check. “Ah, she must’ve just watched that/entered that fandom” and you continue on.

[pawsitivevibe]

Bree, the 13-year-old superdog, had her last competitive agility run at AAC Nationals recently. Happy Retirement, Bug dog!

Photo by Nancy Miller DVM.

[followthebluebell]

This post contains a semi-graphic image under the cut. There is no blood showing, but it does show a broken tooth. The rotting root is partially exposed.

Remember that behavior is communication. This doesn't just mean things like biting, scratching, or missing the litter box. It can also be more innocuous things.

Mickey usually sleeps under a shelf, curled up under a blanket. For the last few days, he had been sleeping in his cat tree tube. Still semi-hidden, but not his typical routine.

It was worrisome enough that I gave him an exam and found his upper canine is broken at the root.

His tooth was completely rotten at the root and had cracked. His unusual behavior, even though it looked innocent enough at first glance, was a major sign of pain.

Thankfully, his vet had an opening and he was able to get in immediately for dental surgery and get that canine removed entirely.

here is the happy boy post-surgery, cuddling with his favorite buddy, Sprinkles. He's already feeling much better.

[doomspaniels]

Cricket hunting! Pounce!

[wasatchmountaindogs]

This is my new temporary buddy…

Sylvan

[drferox]

If you’re a parent of a teenager, there is something I need you to understand.

Getting your 14yo human a dog, especially a high energy, high intelligence breed like a German Shepherd/Kelpie/Husky, in order to teach your child ‘responsibility’ will not actually teach that child responsibility unless you are the one being responsible.

This is especially true when you tell me something like “I’m the discipline one at home, and my child is the enabling one,” and I can see the bite marks on your arms already from this little puppy, who’s going to get five times bigger before you get five times smarter.

At best, your child will discuss how you set them up to fail with their future therapist. At worst, this dog will become a behavioural euthanasia.

At the very least, if this dog really is your child’s responsibility, you should be bringing the child to the vet appointment where we discuss the dog’s health and behaviour.

Because I’m quite confident you’re not going to pass my advice on to the person you’re pretending is responsible for that dog, you might even lie about what I’ve recommended. At least give them the chance to get some good information.

[nefja]

I'm back again and bought the kid a new toy

[wasatchmountaindogs]

It was a day for sunbaths

[arlo-venn]

7, 21, 26

7) What was your first dogs name?

Sebastian :’) He was a white german shepherd, we grew up together. I’m actually only a thing that exists because my mom wanted a puppy, and my dad wanted a son, so they made a tbh kind of gross deal that my mom could get a puppy if they had another baby. I was eventually born, not a son much to my father’s dismay, and three months later they adopted Sebastian from a breeder in a newspaper. He was my best friend, he passed when we were 13. I had a very… dark and unkind childhood and this dog got me through the bulk of it. We moved around a lot, and in each house we lived in he would teach himself how to open and close my bedroom door so he could come and go of his own volition. He never touched anyone else’s door. I was the only one he didn’t pull on the leash, even when I was very small and he was very big. I don’t have many photos, but here are three:

Us as babies and one I took with my first antique camera ever at like 11-12, which is when I first started noticing him getting old. He had two tiny little sisters (yorkie/beagle/jack russel mix sisters Roxy and Elsie) who he was very sweet and gentle with, was a good guard dog when necessary but was also lovely with strangers and dogs and all animals alike. His leash pulling and penchant to run away to find me at my friends’ houses when I wasn’t home were his only “bad” behaviors. He would travel some distances to find me, too! Once he ran through my friend’s house with muddy paws right after her mom had cleaned the carpets. Her doors were open letting it air out and he just came in. I wasn’t there though I had already left! That house was at least a mile away from home. Anyway he was the best dog in the world besides Arlo (it’s really not fair to compare them, Sebastian was my childhood savior but Arlo is my heart dog).

21) A useless trick that you love?

See, the only trick I can see as “useless” is “head down” which is only used for posing for photos. Except it has become something he does when he wants me to share food that I’m eating. I’m sure I accidentally reinforced that at some point. I guess “what’s the password?” (aka speak) is genuinely useless but also fun 😅

26) What’s your dogs favorite game to play inside?

Catch is his favorite game to play any time anywhere. We play tugga inside more than outside. He likes to bring me scraps of cardboard to hold so he can chew through them and turn them into MORE cardboard scraps. We have cardboard confetti in bed with us right now! And obviously we wrestle. He’s very easy to please tbh. He thinks anything is a fun game as long as we’re doing it together. I think he thought living in our car for three months was a fun game, too.

[thedogfamily]