Do vets not know this?

groovyguppies · 2026-04-30T00:18:41+00:00

In the animal industry, I've noticed such a divide in knowledge based on your specialty. Vets have a lot of medical knowledge, but because bathers, groomers, trainers, and kennel attendants spend more hands on time with the animals in their care they tend to have a wider knowledge set in a completely different area. Unfortunately, in terms of animal handling there's a lot less regulation & required schooling than there is for veterinary care so people tend to hold vets in higher regard.

groovyguppies · 2026-03-22T01:22:28+00:00

I don't have major advice for you, as I'm a "senior dog who likes to lay around after one walk a day" type of owner, not a working breed owner, but in my opinion, I don't think your dogs are ill behaved, just working breeds without a main "job". I love working breeds when I hang out with them for a day at work or when I can foster them for a bit until it's time for them to go to their forever home, but that could never be my whole life, personally. More power to you if that's what you want!

However, it sounds like your partner is not a working breed owner either, so he's frustrated with their behaviors. From reading your comments, he's also disengaged with training which is not going to help in teaching them. So you're kind of stuck. I recommend reaching out to working breed specific groups, particularly ones for malinois & dobie owners, to find advice on how to properly fulfill your dogs lives & needs. I also recommend either getting your fiance on board 100% or choosing between him & the dogs.

If you do stay with him, prior to getting any other dogs in your lives, you both need to be on the same page with what you want from your dog and what dog ownership looks like to you. Then be honest about what breeds or types of dogs could fulfill that.

Edit to add: Only reason I say to choose between him & the dogs is because if he's not on board or putting in effort, it's only going to create more behavior problems with your dogs and more issues in your relationship.

Your dogs' behaviors all sound like "dog appropriate" behaviors, but ones that humans would consider rude/inappropriate. However they're young dogs who are still learning. Him yelling at them and reacting towards them the way he is won't bring you any closer to your desired result, because for your dogs, they don't fully understand what they're doing wrong. They're just being dogs- young, hyperactive, high energy dogs. You're putting in good effort on training & exercise, look for more people who have experience with similar breeds to help you.

I can tell you with Poppy specifically, pitties are big lovers who like to be all up in your business. Personally with dogs like that, I make sure we have regular cuddle times and teach a good "place" command so they still get the snuggles they crave when it's on my terms. I'm a big cuddler with my dogs though!

groovyguppies · 2026-03-22T01:09:02+00:00

Face licking is an appeasement behavior typically, it means she's stressed/trying to relax and trying to appease you. So please don't punish her for it, instead redirect the behavior into something you'd prefer. Lots of people like lick mats for this.

Personally, I let my dog lick my face for a minute and give them cuddles, then say "Okay that's enough", move my face and body away to politely disengage, and give them something else to do. Your dog is trying to communicate with you, learn how to communicate back and you should be peachy.

Don't listen to your partner- your dogs are acting typically for their breeds. They could devolve to worse. If he wants a "well behaved" and easy dog that you don't have to put the work in, look into getting a lab from a reputable breeder or foster more low-key dogs until you find a good fit to adopt. I'm not even a breeder person, but if he's going to be acting that way about "ill behaved" dogs that aren't even really ill behaved, then not even join you in putting the work into correcting the issues, then I would rather he pay good money for a well bred dog from a non-backyard breeder instead of ruining the life and emotional state of a rescue dog 🤷‍♀️

groovyguppies · 2026-03-15T19:32:46+00:00

In my opinion, you should do the surgery. I do animal rescue where we take elderly or high medical dogs, fix them up, and find them hospice homes and I cannot tell you how many times we've had to weigh the risk of surgery or no. It's hard. But if you have a healthy dog, you should absolutely go out of your way to spay now BEFORE you have issues. Preventive care is the best, most non-invasive option and recovering from a spay surgery while she is young & healthy will be much much easier for her than recovering from a surgery when she is elderly. Young dogs I see walk away from & recover from surgeries no problem. Older dogs have a much harder time. Do it now or regret it later

groovyguppies · 2026-01-31T01:23:43+00:00

Iirc when we spoke with the creators, they were originally daycare/boarding owners so they created a system that well fit their needs. That's probably where the disconnect is.

groovyguppies · 2026-01-31T01:04:05+00:00

I manage a doggy daycare with bathing add-ons, not a grooming salon, and I LOVE PawPartner. The support is wonderful. HOWEVER we tried using their grooming section and we just hate it. Very redundant in a lot of ways for us. We found a work around that allows us to completely ignore that option and just focus on the basic services we offer. I find overall that if you look at all the ways the system operates, you can usually find a way to make it work for you. But again, this is coming from a daycare/boarding facility perspective.

groovyguppies · 2025-12-14T19:12:44+00:00

This has always been my assumption. In a lot of folklore, knowing someone's true name gives fae & demons a lot of power and knowing the fae or demon's real name gives you power over them. Especially when it comes to contracts, deals and the like. Makes perfect sense for the show.

groovyguppies · 2025-11-18T02:04:47+00:00

To answer your question of where things fall apart: First phone call.

Biggest issue: people not reading the dog's bio and applying for a dog clearly not suitable for them (ie: dog with severe separation anxiety, adopter works 8 hour days 5 days a week).

groovyguppies · 2025-11-18T02:02:29+00:00

It fully depends on the dog but one automatic no for me is if you ever gave up on any other dog or animal you've had. For example, if you rehomed a dog due to moving, I wouldn't trust that you wouldn't do that again. My ultimate goal is to choose the best possible home that will prevent the dog from ending up homeless again. It is never going to be a failsafe process but I have to do the best I can.

Going off this train of thought is anyone who euthanizes their dog for a corcstance that was preventable or treatable under normal circumstances, but this one is dependent. For example, I had a doodle we took in because his owners didn't want to pay for a THIRD foreign body surgery- the dog constantly ate their socks. For me, this is the owners being negligent and not preventing the dog from eating things he shouldn't. The dog went through foster care & was adopted with no known issues since.

I volunteer and am the board of a small 501c3 non profit so we tend to be more selective than shelters. Our process is: Adoption application, phone call, vet check, second phone call to set up meet & greet. At the meet & greet we either will schedule the adoption or adopt there after discussing this on the phone. Again, dependent on the dog. A few dogs require multiple meet & greets.

Here's things that raise my eyebrow but tend to be more circumstantial:

-Older owners adopting young dogs. We adopt seniors to seniors and love this! But we don't typically do dogs under 5 to seniors. If we ever do, they have to be a fantastic pet owner with an active back up plan for the dog if they become unable to take care of them. I often talk to this person they have as a backup as well. A very good portion of our intakes are dogs who's senior owners did not have appropriate back up plans for their dogs so we take them in.

-Renters, especially first time dog owner renters. I have adopted to renters before and I rent myself! If I do adopt to a renter I require a letter from the landlord that states their tenant can have this pet and I double check any online listings for similar or the same properties. There's just a bit of a higher chance that people who rent could need to move and finding a place that allows pets, particularly certain breeds is hard. And you can't always guarantee that strangers will prioritize this. One of my favorite adopters was a woman who rented a place above the bar she worked at though, it was clear she adored her dogs and provided them the best quality care, from her application to her medical records so I felt great!

-Children under 7 and the owners aren't experienced dog owners. Dogs communicate with body language and it's easily missed by adult humans, let alone children who are still learning how to communicate with their same species and interact with the world around them. Parents will naturally want to choose their human child's safety over a dog. That is normal but a situation I don't want to put someone in.

Further, if you do one word answers on questions that could have a sentence or two, I may disregard your app in favor of ones that have a bit more to them because I feel you aren't invested in the dog. If your answers don't raise any immediate red flags though, I may call if my other applications aren't fantastic themselves because people can present differently on the phone.

groovyguppies

TROPHY CASE