I am intensely passionate about the Belgian Shepherd, which includes the well known Belgian Malinois. I myself own two Belgian Tervurens (the long hair fawn colored variety), but have a great love for all of the varieties!

They are highly active dogs on our ranch and spend lots of time with the horses and cows. Between the two of them, we actively compete/train in conformation (showing), agility, scentwork, rally/obedience, disc dog, fastcat, and dock diving. We previously played in both bikejoring and canicross as well. They have both been started in herding, but due to limited access to instructors, we have not ​been able to pursue that heavily. We love to travel all over, camp, and hike. ​

Ask me anything!

Sometimes I see ones that are so tiny that it’s clear they’re just meant for people who want their dogs to play with other dogs. Then there’s others where it has a lot more space and you can really let your dog rip and run and you can steer clear of interactions because there’s so much space.

I’m looking for the latter. What about y’all????

Hi, I'm looking for advice on a situation.

I’m house-sitting for a client with a big German Shepherd, and I’m totally at a loss on how to deal with his wrestling. The second I get down on the floor, whether I’m cleaning up a spill or just picking something up, he sees it as an invitation to play. He’ll lunge at me, grab my waist or hips with his paws, and try to pin me over. It’s not aggressive; he doesn’t actually bite hard, though he does bark, growl, and nip a bit. The problem is, he weighs over 80 pounds, and at 5'1", being pinned by him while I’m trying to work is exhausting.

I’ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing sticks. Shouting NO or DOWN doesn't seem to register for him. If I push him away, he thinks I’m engaging in the wrestle match and gets even more excited. Once he’s got hold of me, I basically have to crawl over to something sturdy to try and pull myself back up, and he follows right along, keeping his paws on me the whole time.

I’m feeling pretty helpless because I’m out of ideas. How do I handle this without being mean? Are there different commands that might work better here? I really want to do a good job while I’m here, so any advice would be a huge help. Feel free to DM.

Hey guys,
Need some help.

After 5 months after my 2 dogs passed away, I decided to adopt another dog. I adopted a 5 years old Podengo Portuguese girl, very sweet but that was returned previously from adoption. I asked the shelter why, and they were very open about it: she was returned because she bite the men of the family. They had a situation a month after, when they were in adoption fair, she panicked, run and bite a man again. They thought that could be related to some trauma with specific circumstances to men.

I was ok, I am woman alone, since she is already 5, probably to find someone in my condition, could be difficult so was thinking it was a good fit.

For small context: I already had an adopted very traumatized dog in the past. I know that requires patience, consistency and love. So I understand the path is not a honeymoon.

She is very sweet, she sleeps by night very well. I don’t let her to sleep with me since I have sleep problems and want to avoid too much attachment.

The problem it’s during the day. The walks have been a little better, but inside house not that much. One trigger and she will be triggered for the rest of the day.
I bought a backpack that expand and transform to a bed/“burrow” to her: she entered, but after 1 move, she didn’t enter anymore, only when I train her for 2/3 min max.

I was doing the decompressing leaving the house. The first days she was doing fine. But she completely regressed yesterday and today, even though I let everything “prepared” and do what it is recommended: don’t do much leaving and when I arrived.

I am doing phototherapies since day one with her, I know took time, but I am worried because she seems to loose weight due the stress.

Now I am worried about the all currently situation:

I live abroad, and I will be returning to my homeland in 3/4 months max, changing houses on December. I thought I could take her in the cabin, but she will not fit the size, just the weight.

I do not intended to return her and I did this overseas trip with my dogs. But they were years already for me, and now I am scared to something to happen to her in 12/13 years flight.

I am seeking here a behavior veterinary specialist, to see if she needs medication now, if the trip it is possible.

I know I could find this before, but me and the shelter thought was a very specific trigger, since she wasn’t that much time in the shelter and was little social in general.

In the meantime just venting here 🥲 and find someone that could help in this case in the meantime I try to find a professional (do not seams that easy at all here).

Many thanks from me and my sweet grl. 💕

ISO recommendations for great enrichment toys for a very intelligent lab. She is a bit of a wrecking ball so ideally something that she can't chew up or break if she gets frustrated. I would supervise her anyway, but I don't want it to be wrecked after a few uses. She likes wobble toys, sniffing activities (hide treats under a pile of toys), lick mats, etc. I have yet to find a good sized snuffle mat that I think she wouldn't flip over or tear up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/15/style/fox-collie-mcnab-dog-breed.html?unlocked_article_code=1.I1E.Xw2-.j_QgCJH4y640&smid=url-share

Thought this was an interesting article. Cute dogs :)

There are many guides online about slow introductions, and they‘re mostly the same but with slight tweaks. Some say don’t let the dogs interact at ALL until the new dog settles in, some say parallel leash walks should start from day 1 but no interaction in the house, some say interaction in the house but only ever supervised. What timeline has worked best for you and your dogs? What timeline works best with your lifestyle? Did you take time off from work? What mistakes did you make? What do you wish you knew going into an introduction period?

Anyone have good recs for a no pull harness for a Pyrenees mix with a heck ton of fur?

Hi all, I just need to get this out there. Almost 3 months ago now, we adopted our 3yo GSD/BC. We realized very quickly she has some fear-based reactivity from her life beforehand, and immediately took up training, and I'm so proud of how far she has come. She has made leaps and bounds of progress, is highly motivated, and loves to learn. The issue comes from the fact that I have felt so trapped in our house, not even because of her reactivity, but because of behaviors of other dogs in our neighborhood (because although she's come a long way, she still is learning and we try to expose her to the least intense triggers as possible).

It's getting cooler here, so a lot of houses will leave their front door open but the thin, glass door shut. There's an at least 80lb dog on our street that will pounce on the door so hard when we walk by that the thing shakes, and I'm constantly scared of it breaking. This same dog the other day was off leash and had to be bear tackled by their owner to not come at us, and then slipped out of their harness so had to have two people take him down. Many houses have this situation, and while my girl has gotten good at not lunging/barking, she is still incredibly fearful and will start to run away.

Then there's our neighbors. We have fully covered fences around our yard, but our neighbors' dogs have open access to the backyard 24/7, so when they hear us go out back to play, they will come out, rush the fence, and try to dig under while snarling and growling. It clearly is not friendly trying to socialize (and even if it was, I've expressed that our dog needs time to settle in still before having socialization and that it shouldn't be through a fence). They're constantly either on a tether out front (where they will go crazy at anything and also come onto our property, including up to our front door) and then immediately out back. The other day we were coming back from a walk, and they were out back, saw us coming home, and ran inside to pounce on their door and bark at our dog, which happens every. single. walk. I accept our dog is still learning to not be reactive, but they can go outside without her barking at them if they stay on their property...

We've had to start driving our dog to the park to work on training or only walk in the dead of night, which I don't mind, but it's frustrating feeling like we're trapped in our own homes. My girl used to love laying and playing outside, but now we can't even go out back without her immediately tensing up and waiting for them to charge her. I've tried to talk with the direct neighbor, to no avail, and I'm just getting frustrated. It feels so isolating to work on training her when she's surrounded by dogs who aren't trained (except our one neighbors who have a wonderfully trained dog), and I mostly feel bad for her being surrounded by this. Luckily we have great walks and she's still an incredibly happy pup, but I'm so tired of feeling suffocated by our neighborhood. Sorry for the long post, my partner and I are just so tired and want our girl to be happy and not constantly chased by another dog lol.

I’m looking for bed recommendations to put in my dogs crate. She’s a rough chewer and recently started destroying her bed, like having way too much fun in her crate ripping apart her bed.

For those who are going to say “just don’t put a bed in there” I have reason not to follow this route.

I adopted her in January and her bed has been in her crate since then. She has not touched it until the past couple of weeks. She is on full rest per vet’s orders, so I think the combo of not feeling herself and her exercise needs not being met is really upsetting her lil terrier brain. I really want to keep her comfortable. Also, not having her needs met makes it incredibly hard for her to settle outside of her crate. She only sleeps in her crate.

If there’s a rougher bed that might survive better than the one we have now, I’d love to hear it. Even anything that isn’t necessarily marketed as a dog bed - if it’s worked for you please share!

Introduction

1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

• No, we currently have a 14-year old beagle/JR terrier/something mix.

2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?

• A rescue would be great, but I think for the type of dog we want, we will have to go to a breeder.
  

3) Describe your ideal dog.

• I want a dog that's cat-like, because my wife is allergic to cats. Maybe something around 20-30 pounds. Soft hair. I'd like for it to be able to sit in my lap. And of course, I'm lazy so one that doesn't need much exercise would be good. Maybe a 1/2 hour walk every day or two. Not anxious (i.e. barking at every little thing). My wife wants a dog that does not shed. She's allergic to... a lot of things. My daughter does not want quote: "a crusty white dog" (I think that means dogs like the bichon frise, shih tzu, etc).

4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?

• englishdoodle (current favorite), greyhound, havanese, basenji, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?

• Mostly self-maintenance type training (e.g. telling us when they need to go out to the bathroom, going to the crate when needed, "come", "stay", "no bark"). I'm not concerned about tricks but I wouldn't mind teaching it to fetch.

6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?

• No, just a family pet.

Care Commitments

7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?

• Ideally fifteen minutes per day? I have some experience training, but don't have much patience to play handball against the curtains if the dog is stubborn.

8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?

• Maybe a half-hour to an hour of a walk per day (although less in MN when it gets cold).

9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?

• Totally willing to take it to a professional groomer when needed.

Personal Preferences

10) What size dog are you looking for?

• Medium to small. Around 30 lbs plus or minus. Not a large breed.

11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?

• Fine with slobber. As minimal shedding as possible. Would love a minimal barker, but understand a dog is going to bark, but would love it if it's not hypervigilant and looking for reasons to bark like a cop manning a speedtrap.

12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?

• We have an invisible fence and intend to train the dog to that.

Dog Personality and Behavior

13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?

• I definitely prefer a snuggly affectionate dog, one that can sit in the lap and be petted while watching a movie. But doesn't need 24/7 constant attention (e.g. sleeping on the bed, needing to be carried in a purse everywhere).

14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?

• I assume this is referring to trainability, and I would say maybe one that's middle of the road. I like a classic "you are my master and I live for you" dog, not a "oh, you're here again" dog.

15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?

• I would PREFER a dog that doesn't go crazy when someone rings the doorbell or greets strangers totally hyper, but I know that's not always avoidable. Fortunately, we don't often have visitors, and the dog I'm aiming for won't be so big that it jumping on a person is a problem.

16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?

• Yes, because we plan for this to be our only dog for most of its life.

17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?

• I would like to avoid frequent barking.

Lifestyle

18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?

• Both of us work. I work at home, she does not. But I work in the basement. Our current dog is not allowed in the basement. We would be willing to allow the dog in the basement, depending on the dog we get. But we don't want a dog that gets anxiety if it's left alone.

19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?

• THEORETICALLY, we are all aiming for the above mentioned characteristics. In terms, of training, that will probably mostly fall to me, because I will be at home and she will not (she's a teacher). Which is fine, it'll be good for me to get up every once in a while. My wife does not want a terrier at all.

20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?

• Other dog is a 14-year-old JR terrier mix, but A) we're anticipating it's at the end of it's life B) we'd like to get a dog soonish so our 16-year-old daughter can spend some time with it before going to college.

21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?

• No

22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?

• No

23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?

• Suburb of the Twin Cities Metro Area. No laws about breeds but there are laws about the number of dogs you can have.

24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?

• 29F in Winter, 79F in Summer

Additional Information and Questions

25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.

• No additional information.

26) Feel free to ask any questions below.

Mostly, I'm here asking if there are any breeds that I might have missed or haven't heard of. Ones that don't get much coverage, designer dogs like the Englishdoodle for example (i.e. dogs that don't have good SEO).

About a week ago, one of my neighbors lost her dog. The next day she made some posts online about this and included information such as her phone number and her dog's name, age, breed, and photo.

In just a matter of three to four hours after making a Facebook post about it, she received a message from someone that claimed they found her dog. They then sent a photo of her dog...or so it seemed anyway.

When I talked to my neighbor about this she believed the photo was real at first, but there were tell tale signs that the image was AI. They then demanded payment via an app before she got to see her dog. (Red flag!) I told her it seemed to me this person took the real photo of her dog from her social media post and used an AI image generator to generate a fake and then used that to bait her into a scam.

The neighbor in question is an elderly lady and not well-versed about AI, but thankfully she took notice about a small patch of brown fur on the AI image that her real dog did not have.

Thankfully, two days after he disappeared my neighbor spotted him in her backyard and took him back in. He was okay!

With how rough losing a pet already is, scammers are using this as a perfect vulnerability to exploit people and using AI as a tool to help. If you ever lose your pet, this is just a reminder to be cautious about responses you receive and to scrutinize any photos from internet strangers before taking things further.

Stay safe!

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

Hi, I’m an experienced dog owner who spent several years working as a trainer for a service dog organization so I have a decent background in training (albeit young, well-bred Goldens and Labs). My past dogs include: Lab/hound mix (neutered male) adopted at approx. 4 months from a local shelter where I was a volunteer for several years, Doberman (neutered male) adopted at approx 2-3 years old (was a stray so exact age unknown), 3 retired greyhounds, a pit-boxer mix (neutered male) that we inherited from a family member at approx 2 years.

We’ve been incredibly lucky to have wonderful canine family members in a variety of breeds.

We are starting to research our next dog so we’re ready when our aging pit-boxer passes.

1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?

See above intro

2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?

No preference. We’ve loved our mixed and purebred dogs. To us, it’s all about temperament.

3) Describe your ideal dog.

Here are the basics: 40-80 lbs, active, cuddly, biddable, able to be trained and trusted to be off leash with us on our 25 acre rural property, friendly with people (including well-behaved and supervised children) and other dogs.

4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?

Any breeds or mixes that are likely to have the temperament described above but are not prone to serious genetic disorders.

5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?

Basic obedience: Recall, sit, down, stay, loose leash walking in a variety of situations, leave it, low/no drama car travel, acceptance of strange, friendly dogs and people, comfortable at vet and/or groomer, nail trims, teeth brushing

Extra points for willingness to play retrieval games, and learn easy tricks for fun.

6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?

Probably not completion, but would definitely love to train him/her to be a certified therapy dog.

Care Commitments

7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?

Several hours

8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?

Dog will be outdoors (off leash) with me and/or my husband for multiple hour+ periods daily. Will also interact regularly, both inside and outdoors with other family members’ and friends’ dogs.

Also, hiking and accompanying us to dog-friendly venues.

Probably not dog parks.

9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?

Brushing several times a week + as needed. Trimming, ear cleaning, tooth brushing at home. Major grooming/clipping would be done by a pro.

Personal Preferences

10) What size dog are you looking for?

40-80lbs

11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?

Average shedding, drooling when exposed to food but not constantly. Barking during play or for a limited time when greeting strangers.

12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?

Very important

Dog Personality and Behavior

13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?

Prefer snuggly (our dogs sleep on furniture)

14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?

Eager to please but willing to entertain him/herself with chew toys when necessary. (Don’t want a dog that needs to be entertained every waking moment.)

15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?

Short duration of barking (<2 minutes) for strangers, minimal or none (alert bark) for familiar people.

16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?

No. We already have to do that with our current dog.

17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?

Want to avoid or be able to effectively modify chasing wildlife.

Reliable recall (with distractions) is extremely important).

Lifestyle

18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?

We are retired/work from home so dog will have human companionship most of most days. Needs to be able to be ok with occasional 2-3 hour alone stretches.

19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?

No other people in the house other than my husband and me.

20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?

No other pets planned but possibility will always exist for another dog or cat.

21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?

Yes, well behaved (dog friendly) and closely supervised small grandchildren

22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?

Do not plan any long-term rental but would want to take dog with us for 1-2 month vacation rentals.

23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?

Western NY, US

24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?

Summer - low 80s F Winter - 20s F

Additional Information and Questions

25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.

• No additional information.

26) Feel free to ask any questions bel

I am thinking ahead to Thanksgiving travel. I have two teenagers (13 and 15) and now a 15 week old golden (so 22 weeks at Thanksgiving). We own a 2017 Subaru Outback. The drive will be about 2+ hours.

And looking towards the future when the pup is full grown--we road trip 8+ hours to Maine every summer, sometimes 3x a summer, and various winter ski trips to Vermont/western Mass (3-5 hour drives). Is a full size golden in a harness and two adult size teenagers too much for one backseat? Given that the human children already complain that there isn't enough room, I am going to guess that it's a tight fit. I don't know how we fit all our gear and a crate in the trunk (and we already have a roof box that is full to the gills when it is just the 4 of us traveling).

If we get a crate, what do you recommend? I've been in a few car accidents so car safety is really important to me. A new car is not in the budget.