I have a beautiful 24 month old male German Shepard. Problem: he has not learned to lift his leg yet. Cleaning his front legs is getting old. Any Ideas?

I love my dog dearly but I feel we might be shortening her life by the stress we cause with our daily arguing. When my husband speaks to me she cowers and clings to me sometimes shaking as if she is cold. I know this is fear. We would never hit her or intentionally mistreat her but she reacts to our moods as if we had. Let me clarify that, she reacts to my husbands tone to me. I have told him we have to temper our conversations but he says there is nothing he can do about her reaction. I hug her and try to reassure her that everything is fine - but she knows the truth even when I do not. What can I do to convey to my darling dog that I am fine and she is also?

I have two out of control dogs, Ozzy & Moose. Ozzy is a happy Golden/Great Pyranese and Moose is a Mastiff mix. They are great dogs but Moose has some aggression issues. He is terrified of children and it scares me because i plan on having children in the near future. I desperately need help with this. As for the two of them, they jump on people and will bolt out the door if given the chance and i am affraid i will lose them. They will not listen to my husband or I at all. If they get out of the house, they will not come back. This happened once and i was affraid they would get killed or never come back. I love them both dearly and they are wonderful dogs but the aggression with Moose and the running from both of them are major concerns of mine. I need help, bad. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP ME!!

Everyone is afraid of our dog. She is a large powerful dog (80lb blue heeler/huskyX). Some say its because she shows no expression. I think it's the funky colored eyes. She is a light brown dog with (I think) beautiful eyes, one almost blue/white the other half blue/white half amber. Strangely people don't have the same fear of our neurotic black border collie male. Of the two, I trust the heelerx more, although she needs a very firm hand. She is calmer and more controllable than her partner who is half her weight. She reacts to peoples fear of her, but has only shown real aggression when she felt the kids were threatened. It is the border collie that is extremely dog aggressive and unbalanced (and uncontrollable on a walk), but it is the heelerx that instills fear in everyone. We've come very close a few times to euthanising the border collie out of fear for our preschoolers safety, yet it is the heelerx everyone else thinks should be euthanized.

Again, I have 2 new puppies and the older one(8 months old) gets a little rough in her play with the puppy (2 months old). She also wants all the attention.. We try really hard to give them both equal love and attention, but they both have some needs that are at different stages still. The puppy gets really angry with the older pup. My vet says they are learning to discipline each other and let each other know what is ok... but when do I step in- I don't want either one to get hurt. ???

Maiyana, What kind of dog is Pepsi? Have you used a crate for her? This may help because most dogs will now go to the bathroom where they sleep. I would also leave a leash on her when you are home so you can say only once off or what ever word you choose that make her get off. Saying off over and over will not work because she is seeing that it does not matter she can do what she wants. Jen D

Commenting on "dogs pick up on our moods" this is so true. When feeling a bit depressed or have the "Monday morning" blues, we put on a smile and face the world. This never fools my dog who seems to be able to sense if I am having a bad day. He becomes very quiet and follows me around giving me gentle nudges as if to say "Cheer Up"

hi,
i have a 10mth old Chihuahu/fox terrier named mason. He is a great dog and is verry smart. He knows how to sit, stay, give pall, and dance. But I am having a major problem with him going potty outside. He knows that he has to go outside, somedays he will be good then somedays i will take him outside after being in his crate all day and he will just stand there and stare at me for a hlf an hr.I try to pull at him to go in the grass but he just doesnt want to budge. I can get him to go # 1 but not #2. He will want to go back inside and then when i am not looking he will go in the house. I have tried confining him to the kitchen but that didnt work. Now i have him on a leash with me arround the house but the minute i hook him to something so i can go to the bathroom myself he goes #2. He knows he is bad but i just dont get why he keeps doing it. Please someone help me i dont know what to do!!!

we have a 10 yr old retired seeing eye dog, who was my mother-in-law's until she passed away one year ago. She has been with us for 10 years. We also have a 3 month old rat terrier, who joined our household 1 month ago. The puppy plays very aggressively with the older dog. At first the older dog seemed confused, but eventually began to engage and sometimes seems to be attempting to put the puppy in her place. However, the puppy is relentless and pretty rough-a lot of nipping, tugging, snarling. We usually end up intervening after a while to give everyone a break and restore some peace.

Is this normal behavior? Sometimes I wonder if there is some kind of territory struggle going on.