JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION

[mintonyrob]

@nigheandonn LOL, I have littermates too!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@nigheandonn I like to see this subreddit as a community of sharing instead of a strict question and answer service. In a community, people may often express their views, share ideas, and exchange information.

 

[ijustlovejesus]

@nigheandonn I've been on a forum lately discussing my no longer Puppy (4 years) and her allergies. I got SOOOOOO much hate because it was my own fault for "poisoning" her with anti flea/tick/worming stuff and it should be all natural.

Well guess what feathers and grass are natural and thats what shes allergic too.

I'm all for the herbal remedies, I use them a bit on myself if they actually work but a "splash" of lavender oil isn't going to stop a bush or paralysis tick.

I reached out for help and was just screamed at, only one person was actually helpful.

 

[howdodrive]

@nigheandonn most people don’t know about littermate syndrome, which is why it’s brought up so often. I understand the frustration but please understand that people are trying to help you, not lecture you. regarding spay and all that, yeah that’s a little different, but littermate syndrome is really serious and there are steps that need to be taken to hopefully end up successful

 

[nigheandonn]

@howdodrive okay but if you’re the 9th person to bring it up on one thread are you really “helping” or are you trying to prove that you also know what littermate syndrome is?

 

[tsubasakato]

@nigheandonn There's other people reading the questions, sometimes in preparation for getting a puppy. Let people share their opinions as there's no harm done. Those that have an answer will provide ones, but everyone should be welcome to share their thoughts even if you don't like them.

 

[captseriouspants]

@tsubasakato This, when I'm looking up something and a thread comes up it's always a lot of scrolling through useless info about their own dog and preferences before maybe getting an answer.

 

[mwillis08]

@tsubasakato Often advice tends to be don't get a puppy if you can't dedicate 24/7 to raising them and if you don't have thousands of dollars ready for any vet bills. There's helpful advice, of course, but a lot of it is useless judgements.

 

[tsubasakato]

@mwillis08 I think that's pretty good advise for people to stop and think, so they don't get dogs while working 12 hour shifts while living alone, and definitely don't gift them someone for Christmas.

 

[mwillis08]

@tsubasakato That's not how most of it is delivered at all. Usually it's pretty judgemental and aggressive.
Gifting any animal (unless you know the person really wants it and is ready) is careless, it doesn't just apply to dogs.

 

[sirpyriel]

@nigheandonn Amen! I'm in a puppy raising support group on Facebook and they have a rule that you have to answer the question asked or it gets deleted and you can get banned. It's glorious!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@nigheandonn Thank you. Anytime I post anything. I get the same 4 responses and none of which answer what my post is about. I stopped looking at this reddit for a while or coming here for a few weeks bc of it. Even my post the other day..."make sure you don't do this." First off you are assuming bc I said the word "leader or guidance" that I'm what participating in Dom theory? No a walk is literally your dog playing follow the LEADER. So damn sensitive it's worse than going on a parenting reddit sometimes.

 

[eront]

@imagebeastmarkbeast You're in a sub where people will occasionally suggest biting a dog's ear to assert dominance. Of course people are going to confirm.

You could always try dropping the lingo and phrase it as a question.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@nigheandonn I understand the pains of unsolicited advice. My GSD got us the breed lecture at our first vet visit and my FIL’s friends always have abusive out of date advice for us.

However, in the context of my vet and this forum...there are a lot of uninformed owners. Like...a lot. There is also just so much information for new puppy owners, it can be really overwhelming. I think it’s in the best interest of dogs the owner (they can ignore if they knew) and perspective puppy owners reading this sub for people to add extra info.

I think when a puppy is brought home too young unless we were given context it is absolutely a topic that needs to be brought up. Some people still get taken advantage of by unethical breeders and it’s absolutely important for owners of puppies that are too young to know that they might have some extra work with socializing their pup and to never use that breeder again.

Some people get littermates because they are cute or they feel bad. Most people I have met with littermates didn’t know about littermate syndrome until they went to their vet.

There is a lot of new great research about neutering and a lot of vets don’t talk about it. My vet didn’t until I told her I didn’t feel comfortable nurturing my GSD at 6 months. For certain dogs there are a lot of health risks associated with neutering young and I feel like people should have been able to have that info from their vet upfront or that they should understand some of the health risks to look out for...esp. with pediatric neuter (my friends large dog puppy was neutered at 8 weeks by the shelter and has had a lot of related ACL issues. She was not aware of the possibility of issues and after I talked to her about it, she did research and now has more information to make sure that she can avoid the issues with her next dog (she can give the shelter a deposit she will get back when she neuters her next puppy). Obviously vets should be the ones giving people this information, but in my experience they don’t and I am an advocate of informed decision making. I don’t want people to lack the information they need to make the best decision for their puppy.

In terms of herding breeds, I don’t mind getting the lecture from my vet and honestly when I see people here like “omg my herding breed puppy is being exactly like a herding breed puppy, I didn’t expect this” it points towards lack of breed research ~ which is not good for the owner or the dog. Herding breeds are a lot of work, and I knew what to expect and sometimes still found my puppy overwhelming. If you don’t understand what you are getting into, a herding breed might not fit into the life you want (I see this a lot here). I think when owners talk like this they need information about the breed so they can make informed decisions about if their puppy can fit their lifestyle long term.

If you solicit advice from people in a forum, you get what they give you. I am not the best dog owner in the world by any means but before we got a puppy and over my puppies 4 months with us I have done a lot of research to try to help give myself the information I need to make informed decisions. Some of that was prompted off of unsolicited advice that I ended up going and further researching to help me make the best decision for my puppy. I really appreciated those extra tidbits of information as a first time owner and I pass them on to new owners so that they can make informed decisions too. The above ones are just the bigger, more controversial topics...but like...I feel like for me the information if I need it is more valuable than the judgment I feel for someone thinking I need it. I have become a more informed dog owner because I do actually listen and research things people mention that I think are important.

So thanks to the person who commented on when GSDs are typically neutered based on research, my vet didn’t give me enough information until I told her I wanted to wait past the 6 months she was defaulting to.

 

[historyismypassion]

@imagebeastmarkbeast I learned things from this forum I did not know before and was not told by my vet so it has been helpful but have to cherry pick information. My prior dog lived to 15 and information has changed a lot since then. My pup came home 2 weeks before the state shut down for 2 months. I did not get opportunity to socialize, train or even talk face to face with the vet.

Helpful things I learned- it is no longer automatic to neuter your dog at 6 months. Puppies should not go outdoors until they have all their basic shots (can you believe the vet never told me this?) and puppies should not go for long walks on hard surfaces until they are ~8 mos.

The most unhelpful thing I was repeatedly told when I asked for advice on getting my puppy to stop licking was, if you didn't want kisses, don't get a dog.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@historyismypassion Your vet might not have told you about the not going out thing because there are different levels of risk in different areas(I had no idea and totally panicked when I saw people talking about this). Our vet didn’t tell us because we live in a rural area and so most people have yards and neighborhoods are not THAT crowded, plus all the rain I think helps some of the viruses not stick in the soil for as long as some areas.

I do wish vets would give more info about like when you can let your dog go up stairs and how much walking is okay for a puppy. That would have been really helpful for us, but fortunately I found that info on my own since my puppy is a prone to hip problems breed.

Being a dog owner is so hard sometimes, it’s hard to make decisions for an adorable little fluff ball that can’t provide much input but I am a knowledge is power kinda gal so I don’t mind sifting lol

 

[flandaddy]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Whoa! Never knew about the walking on hard surfaces thing or stairs!!! This is why I appreciate people sharing beyond the immediate topic at hand.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@flandaddy Oh yeah I also had no idea...like absolutely none until someone here made a reference to it in a comment and I did some research. I didn’t know puppies are more prone to car sickness until my MIL said something (apparently their ears are not fully developed so that is why...her puppy got car sick a lot and the vet explained this to her). Like there is literally so much to know when people information dump I really appreciate those little tidbits that I would never have learned if it wasn’t for people who had already been there done/read that lol.

I have learned sooo much from this forum I really appreciate most of the owners here who comment...people don’t know the exact situation and are usually trying to help based on what they know.