THE BARK BLOG

Gus growled at our neighbor last week. Same sweet dog. Same man he's met before. I knew immediately what I was looking at — and I knew I wasn't going to make the same mistake I made with my last dog. Here's what fear periods actually are, why they happen, and what you can do when your dog suddenly seems like a stranger to you.

Before dogs were pets, they were coworkers. Humans bred them — deliberately and over centuries — to perform specific tasks: hunt, herd, guard, retrieve, track, haul, and sit in the laps of very important people. Every physical trait, every behavioral tendency, every inexplicable habit was, at some point, a design feature.

Someone recently posted in one of my Facebook groups — their two unaltered purebred dogs were having an oops litter. Yay!!! The comment section full of energy, both positive and negative. The post was gone by the time I went back to find it. But the feeling it left me with wasn't. The anti-spay/neuter movement is real, it's loud, and it has talking points that sound responsible. While we debate studies in comment sections, shelters are full.

There's a scene in almost every horror movie where the protagonist walks into a familiar place and something feels off. Everything looks the same on the surface, but something essential has been hollowed out. That's increasingly what's happening at your local vet clinic. Same sign on the door. Maybe even the same doctor behind the exam table. But somewhere upstairs, the decisions are being made by people who have never once looked a dog in the eye.

Are dog moms "real" moms? As the internet argues, one thing is clear: the love, labor, and responsibility look a lot more similar than some people want to admit.

Bad weather season is here. Is your dog ready? Here's how to build a pet emergency plan — and a free printable checklist to make it easy.

I didn't like my dog. I don't know that I hated him, but I had a very intense dislike for him. He had turned my daily life into something I was just trying to survive. This is the story of how Pike — the dog who almost broke me — became the dog I cannot imagine my life without.

Studies show that being around dogs can lower stress hormones, boost feel-good chemicals like oxytocin, and even lower blood pressure. Including them in a regular meditation practice could actually be an effective way to improve your health and wellbeing while building a better bond with them.