Does your pup have their own life you don’t know much about?

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@mr_loevinger Yes that's what we originally planned but we were more worried about if she's too old will she accept living with a dog when she has never done so in her life?

Also German Shepherds are pretty hit or miss. I've seen a lot who die before the age of ten, and a lot also live till 13/14. I'm trying to do everything in my power to have a healthy dog and I got her from a good, reputable breeder but I can't really predict her age of death.

Maybe I'll lowball it and settle on 5 years old then. The second dog will probably have a longer life span as I don't plan of only having Shepherds all my life so I'm sure math will not add up at some point in my dog owner life haha!

 

[maryannobryandysart]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Do you ever go to a dog park or have a chance for him to play with other dogs? Watch how he engages with the other dogs, and use that information to decide if another dog would work.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@maryannobryandysart My dog has never been to a dog park but she's great with dogs. Still a little young so working on a calmer approach. She regularly plays with dogs we meet on walks and we also do walks with our neighbors' dogs (we never walk with more than 2/3 dogs at a time) with an on leash portion of the walk and some time off leash as well.

I guess she'll do well but she's never had to share her personal space before apart from a few dinner parties where her bestie came in our home, or we went to their house and it takes a bit of time for the dogs to chill out. Come to think of it we also had her friend home for a whole day (without her owners) and it went okay but she had a hard time settling and often wanted to engage with the dog.

 

[cnombob]

@imagebeastmarkbeast I got my dog a 1 year old puppy when he was 2 and it has been such a good decision. He's so much happier and confident, and she's learned so much from him. They play together constantly and love each other so much. He has chronic health issues and she keeps him young by being super annoying until he pays attention to her (we keep an eye on it so it's not too much). I have to be conscious to train them separately AND together but otherwise they're great. If they didn't get along it'd probably suck but they're besties.

 

[jensearching]

@genarro46 Amazing hahah I'm in awe of people that have more than one dog/pup. I don't think I could handle more than one at a time.

 

[bpolst]

@jensearching It actually got easier for us when we got our second. Our first is a GSD/Husky mix and he had horrible separation anxiety. We had him crate trained but he would shred anything soft he could get his paws on. Then my wife convinced me to get a second one, a smaller husky. She has helped him so much, it’s crazy. They are inseparable. I tie their 2 leashes together and they basically walk themselves lol. When one pulls, the other is there to correct. Idk. I know I got lucky with how great they are, but I would always recommend having 2. It’s a bond that we can’t match being humans. They just ‘get’ each other

 

[johnerica]

@healthchristian My dog goes on “adventure days.” She’s picked up by her trainer and goes hiking, swimming, and playing with a bunch of dogs. We were at a brewery the other day and she excitedly reacted to a dog and the dog did the same to her. They weren’t settling, so we let them meet. Turns out they go to the same adventure days. They were just trying to say hi to their friend. So sweet.

 

[learningaboutreligion]

@johnerica I relate to this it has gotten to the point where my vet tech asks if she can just grab her once I’m in the parking lot and she can “hang out” up front until the vet is ready to see her. I just sit in my car for like an hour + while my dog hangs out with her vet friends that I do not know

 

[artoniquenelson]

@johnerica omg that’s so cute

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@healthchristian Yes!! Almost exact same story with my pup. I got her on dog walks with someone who would be a potential sitter and kept it up because she LOVED it. Her sitter posts videos on Instagram and I get to hear all about my dog's "best play buddies" that I've never met before, and see play styles that are totally different from her dog friends that I take her to the park for.

Sometimes while walking through the neighborhood, a few dogs will see mine and suddenly get REALLY excited and desperate to rush over to us. Turns out they are part of her dogwalking crew!

 

[bluegoose]

@imagebeastmarkbeast That's awesome. I take my dog to daycare regularly so she can play with other dogs. She has buddies there, but it occurred to me if we ever ran into one randomly they'd probably both be super excited and I'd have absolutely no idea. It's an amusing idea.

 

[jamesapado]

@healthchristian I love that exercise! Go for a walk, but let the dog decide where to go! It doesn't have to be any longer than normal, but change your thinking about what the goals of the walk are!

I house sat a Greyhound for a few days (big sniffer, like stop dead, doesn't move to get the full sniff), and this worked very well at getting him used to my new neighborhood. You can definitely learn what the dogs preferences are for things, where they like to go to the bathroom, if they like open spaces, closed spaces, which streets, et cetera. I also found that this is more relaxing that trying to set a goal, like let's walk to X point on the map, and that's the mission. Instead, just meander through a park with a big goofy dog and he's just as tired!

 

[healthchristian]

@jamesapado Yes, we regularly go on walks of his choosing. Usually after I've gone for a bike ride or something so I don't mind standing around while he slowly circles a local park/garden and sniffs absolutely everything. He loves those walks but I'm often a bit bored.

Yesterday I was surprised to get taken on a long walk with purposeful destinations. Clearly having regular play dates with doggy friends has changed his goals.

 

[hundredworker]

@healthchristian My dog always tried to pull into this one tiny pet shop near us. We never really went there because they didn't carry his food brand. We figured he could smell the food + other animals and thats why he wanted in.

One day I needed poop bags so I popped in real quick. All three employees knew him by name and even knew he was allergic to chicken treats! Turns out on really hot days the dog walker would take him there and let him chill for a bit in the air conditioning before finishing his walk. He had this whole crew of friends I never knew about, they showed me pictures of costumes they had put on him and videos they had taken of him on their phones!

 

[notaperfectchristian]

@hundredworker This is so cute

 

[henry_]

@healthchristian No, but I do wonder about spots in neighborhood that my dog gets really excited to smell, frequently. Like she is like, 'oh, and here fido is again, and there is princess over there.' Once she got really excited when she met the dog from down the block and I swear it's because she smelt that dog's pee for months before actually meeting in person.

 

[spirop]

@healthchristian My pup has ongoing medical issues we're dealing with at the moment and the vet staff enjoy her company so much I usually have to wait a fair while until she's finishes socialising. We're in lockdown at the moment and I have to wait in my car while she goes inside alone. I have no idea what goes on in there.

 

[elena5050]

@healthchristian I was a dog walker for a while right after college. One time I was out in a park and one of my regular pups ran away from the owner to say hi to me, she was soooo excited. The owner was soooo confused (she was with the husband and I’d only met the wife before) and kind of embarrassed because she normally didn’t run off towards people like that. I called back “it’s okay, I’m a friend of your dog!”

Another time I went to pick up a lab to stay with me while his owner was going out of town. He was an old man lab he didn’t have the best mobility (he had a tough time doing any jumping like jumping up on people or furniture) but he was a sweetie who LOVED fetch and because it was my whole job at the time we’d play fetch all the time. So when I would pick him up he would do this little hop thing with his front paws (it was adorable). I usually picked him up when the owner was at work but because she was going out of town she was there when I picked him up. He did his little happy hop when he saw me and the owner goes “he never jumps when he sees me!”

One more dog walking story. I used to walk a Great Pyrenees. She was always so excited to see me and to save myself the trouble of getting knocked over every day we came up with this little greeting routine where she would jump up on the bed and if she was really excited she was allowed to put her paw on my shoulder. She didn’t do it with anyone else as far as I know. Idk if she did this with the owners too because she was very protective but she always ignored strangers on walks. Once I was walking her and this guy started screaming at me and angrily walking toward me (you know how people will leave poop bags on trails, he saw some and assumed it was me because I was currently walking a dog and I guess he thought she pooped like 20 times???) and she flipped. She was growling and posturing when he was yelling but as soon as he stepped closer to me she freaked out. I had to do everything I could do to hold her back and this jackass keeps approaching me. He finally figured out that she was going to attack him if he kept getting closer. I never told the owners about it though.

Finally I work at a very large vet hospital and I always see dogs in the lobby whose owners don’t recognize me (especially with covid and curbside) and I say hi to their dogs by name and people get so confused lol

Edit: but yeah they all had their own little routines and rituals that the owners didn’t know about

 

[notaperfectchristian]

@elena5050 Aw your stories are too cute

 

[elena5050]

@notaperfectchristian Awww thank you