Hi everyone,

I'm posting this because my family and I have been noticing a very unusual pattern with our 2-year-3-month-old Labrador over the last 7–8 months, and I'm curious if anyone has experienced something similar.

He's a house pet and has complete freedom to move around. During the day he spends time both inside and outside the house, but at night he chooses to sleep in his kennel outside. His routine is very consistent—he usually sleeps peacefully from around 10 PM to 7 AM and never disturbs anyone.

However, about 3–4 nights every month, something completely changes.

Almost always around 3 AM, he suddenly wakes up and starts barking in a very unusual tone. It's not his normal alert bark—it sounds more like he's urgently asking us to let him inside the house.

Of course, we let him in.

But here's the strange part: he doesn't settle down. Instead, he keeps walking around the house, repeatedly going to a few specific spots and barking while staring in those directions. He seems restless, goes in and out of rooms, and behaves as if he's reacting to something we simply can't see or hear.

We've also noticed that this seems to happen more often around the Full Moon (Poornima) or New Moon (Amavasya). I don't know if that's just a coincidence or if we're seeing a pattern where none exists.

I've attached CCTV footage from one of these nights.

I'm not looking for supernatural explanations—I'd really like to understand if there's a scientific or behavioral reason behind this. Could he be hearing distant sounds, detecting smells, sensing wildlife, reacting to atmospheric changes, or something else?

Has anyone experienced anything similar with their dog?

I'd love to hear your thoughts or explanations.

Okay so my dog (12 year old Maltipoo) loves being slapped- not like heavy slapping but like gentle slaps on his belly while laying on his side asleep. He doesn’t move but seems to be very comfortable or content when I play drums on his belly. The only time he reacts is when I stop playing drums on his belly. He doesn’t like belly rubs but prefers belly drums. He also loves it when I rest my head on his belly or when I snuggle up with him. I’m scared I might be hurting him when we play belly drums or lay on his belly. I’m not particularly large. When I lay on him, he tends to lick my face, sniff my hair and appears to sleep very well.

Is my dog the only one?

Owners freak out and pry their pet's mouth open the second they hear chewing.Does this ever happen to you when your pet starts chewing something out of nowhere?

My 1.5 years old bichon loves to stick his head the corner of the leather couch on either side and breathe in there for 10+ minutes. He is not licking anything and there is nothing in the crevices of the cushions. Is he getting high?

My dog is very potty training resistant, and I’m currently crate training him. He very much agrees that doggy jail is an appropriate term.

Potty training is an ongoing thing and he’s had 3 “accidents” since like December (two of which involved getting very excited about playing fetch in our super long hallway).

Anyways he has a very distinct bark/cry when he needs to go, and an even more distinct one when he’s turtling… he has since learned that giving this specific cry means that he gets to go outside… he doesn’t poop, he doesn’t pee, he doesn’t even sniff around. He sits there in the 108° weather panting in the middle of the lawn.

It’s probably fine I guess, a little annoying since I WFH, but should I be encouraging this behavior? It’s pretty safe to ignore if he just went to the restroom, and if he needs some outside time that’s fine too.

I’ve heard growling here and there and my chi won’t stop trying to get close….i genuinely don’t know what is going on.

I was in bed with my cat, she was on the blanket next to me and my dog was on the floor.

When I went to go pet my dog, my cat started hissing at her and huffing. Is this something to be concerned about? My cat had been hanging around me a lot more these past weeks, and I worry she might get territorial or something like that.

Extra info, I like to give my cat treats, and sometimes, when I do, my dog will hear the crinkle of the bag and come in wanting some. (I give her just a little, and only if it's dried fish.)

TLDR: Healthy senior dog suddenly tore his bed up, getting some worrying search results.

Hi guys, my family dog is 13 years old and is still happy, active and healthy. Tonight he was hanging out with me and my partner as we’re visiting (he lives with my mum and her family.)

As we got ready for bed he went out to the garden (to do his business) then left to go into the kitchen where his little foam bed is. 20 minutes later we walk into the kitchen and find that he had torn pieces out of the bed. There was foam all around the floor and he was lying down beside the mess. He is now sleeping with me and my partner.

I haven’t known of this sort of thing with him since he was a lot younger. What could be the cause of this sudden behaviour? It is quite warm in the kitchen, so maybe he was trying to cool down? Or maybe he got very bored on his own? He’s still a really brilliant dog at his age, so just confused!

peacefully

my parents have 2 dogs, and every time i pet one of them my hand spells HORRIBLE this has happened my entire life and its so annoying

My parents got a white Maltese about a year ago. It’s about 5kg now and acts a little skittish .

At the time it was bought, it hadn’t really been brought up on a proper routine (dog walks included ) which I know is a huge blunder and am now trying to amend .

No one in the house can walk it currently ( younger
siblings are sedentary and untrained and other adults are too busy ) so I have taken on the responsibility. ( I couldn’t do this earlier because I was in boarding )

The issue is now our Maltese is harder to walk now because he’s developed bad habits.

For starters, he’s not leash trained and we haven’t gotten a harness yet .

He is picked up often indoors and my other family members get scared anytime he goes outside the house walls ( even though outside it is basically a walking path ) so I fear he’s now reactive .
He is so conditioned to be indoors that he shivers when outdoors and may sometimes stand still when he’s scared .

Also, because he’s not walked often , he seems to take any chance at freedom he gets , and that came to a head today when he basically made a runaway attempt .

After observing for a while , I noticed he strayed a while and eventually returned after 20 minutes , sniffing along the way .

I’m working on reverting his bad habits :fear of the outdoors and indoors conditioning , but I don’t know what to do specifically . Standard leash training is obvious , but it’s hard to do when
a) He likes to outdoors roam
b) He resists any leash we have

I would be grateful for any help 🙏

During the day my boy lenny (bearded dragon) is very active and sometimes he will scratch at the glass to come out because he knows I will let him out to roam around well today was different…he found out he could climb out stairs and whenever I would tried to take him down the stairs he would puff up immediately which is so weird because recently during the day he’s been really good with handling. Then I tried to put him back in his tank because he was sitting in front of it and as soon as I went to pick him up he puffed up and tried to bite me :(
We spoil the shit pit of him and upgraded his tank major why is he being so spicy 😭😭

I’m Currently 12 weeks pregnant and my golden is carrying around a stuffed animal and sitting on it, pacing back and forth and acting neurotic lol should I be concerned?

Hi all,

My lab is 7, she has been beautifully crate trained her whole life. She runs to her crate when it’s time to go, and I have a camera that lets me check on her and she’s always asleep.

I noticed recently when I would get home that she would be panting. I thought maybe it got too warm so I had a few fans going and started checking the crate more, and saw distress. I don’t know when it happened, but it’s a lot of protest barking, digging at her crate bed, and rubbing her nose to the point that she has rugburn.

Obviously this makes me sad. I think I can pinpoint the issue, I’ve had a revolving door of dog visitors and more recently and very high energy foster. I put her in her crate to sleep with him in the same room in his own crate. He protested a bit, but all was fine until she started as well. That foster is now gone and she’s back to sleeping with me.

The other thing I made a potentially mistake on was leaving the door to her room open lately, when there have been loose dogs. I thought it was hot in there and one friend preferred the comfort of her with his separation anxiety.

I am trying to restore all the normal things. I’ve removed the bed and switched to a cooling mat she doesn’t like. I’ve started shutting the room door again, and sweetened the deal with a frozen Kong. She’s not fully settled but better. She doesn’t hurt herself trying to break out or even try to break out at all, just protesting and working herself up. I’ve been giving calming treats as well.

I’m working on restoring the peace here with just us, but have some dog obligations to fill and then it’s lesson learned. She can’t be trusted out of a crate, she’s THAT lab. Any ideas on how I can help her love her crate again would be appreciated. My stomach is in knots ruining this for her.

Hi all! 🐾

I'm building something for pet parents — a simple way to keep your pet's whole history (vaccines, prescriptions, vet visits, reminders) in one place, instead of scattered across WhatsApp chats and a drawer somewhere.

Before I build it any further, I want to make sure I'm solving a real problem and not one I've invented in my head. So I'm asking actual pet parents.

Would you take 5 minutes to fill this out? No jargon, no sales pitch — just questions about how you currently manage your pet's records, medicines and check-ups.

https://form.typeform.com/to/ijnVwLqM

And if you know other pet parents — please forward it to them. Honestly, the more people outside my own circle who answer, the more useful (and more truthful!) this gets.

Thank you 💛 It genuinely helps.

My cat has a strange loafing routine, love reading cute pet stories.