The Josh Innes Show - Does My Dog Actually Like Me?

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

For whatever reason, I question whether Ross, our new dog, actually likes me. He's a very independent dog. He's quite different from Luther. I need the help of my listeners...do you think my dog likes me? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

so uh and this is a totally random discussion not even a discussion it's a random thing here but as you know our previous dog luther are the best boy in the history of best boys ever mr luther van dam died back in july and we got another dog in december and his name is ross and they are two totally different kinds of dogs l Luther was a little asshole and hated other dogs and all that stuff. But there was no question at all that Luther loved us and particularly loved me. Like he was like my dog. He was obsessed with me and wait in the window for me to come home. He was just a wonderful dog, just a sweet, wonderful puppy, very chill. Like you could let him off the leash and he could go places. Um, you know,

he hated other dogs and multiple times in Philadelphia, he got attacked by other dogs. And I, you know what? I think that's part of it. I think that cause when I, the more I look back on it, he was always kind of standoffish, but I never felt like Luther hated other dogs until there were the two times that we got attacked. And both were right around the same place in the Manayunk-Roxborough area. One of them was famous last words, right? One was like, this big great Dane walks up to Luther. They're both on a leash or whatever it was and the lady goes don't worry he's such a sweet dog and then this great dane

just fucking starts eating luther he had a permanent little scar over his eye from this thing and then another time there was a gal that was walking two pit bulls and they just dragged this chick across the street and started attacking us. I laid on top of the dog to keep him from getting eaten. This woman got pulled so hard across the street that she was being dragged like a cartoon, had a giant welt, like a giant knot on her forehead. And she's like, please don't tell anybody about this. I just started dog walking, like whatever. I think Philadelphia ruined other dogs for Luther. And I think that kind of changed him a little bit. Philly will change a man in that way.

And I just, I think at that point he lost interest in other dogs, but all that said, he was a wonderful boy and he loved going to daycare and he loved people and people fucking, they love this guy. They loved Luther. And like people still talk about him. Like I'll see people go like, we miss Luther every daycare. I'll get a message every now and then from a daycare. Hey, we really miss Luther. Like they loved him. And he was my guy.

And then we adopted Ross. Kept his name. That was his name. We adopted him. And he's a different kind of dog. And he sheds. And he's high energy. And he likes to run.

And he loves other dogs. Loves to play, you know. And we think he's a different kind of dog and he sheds and he's high energy and he likes to run and he loves other dogs loves to play you know and we think he's like two three we're not sure how old he is it's funny like with luther we knew to the because they gave us like a date that he was born and like we had his birthday like this dog i don't know anything about when he was born or anything they assume he's two maybe three you know it's kind of like that. And I, it's a wonderful dog and I enjoy the dog, but there's a guilty feeling I have that I just, I don't like him as much as Luther. And I don't know that he likes me as much as Luther liked me. And by that, I mean, this dog is independent. Okay. So he'll like, Jilly wants him to come lay in in bed although i'm kind of glad that he doesn't a lot of the time because he sheds then every morning i have to get up with this chom chom

roller and get rid of all the pet hair every day and i think i'm kind of allergic to it a little bit but i can deal with it like i want to say i like the dog he's a wonderful dog and maybe it's because we've only had him for like four months. We don't full on know each other. Like I'm trying to go back and think about like what it was like when we first got Luther. If I felt like I knew him and how long it felt. And to some of you this is going to sound ridiculous. You're like who gives a shit? It's a dog.

Like what are you talking about? And I respect that and I understand it. But like this is the first time I've had to get another dog and it just it's felt kind of weird. I don't dislike the dog. I like him. He's a sweet boy. But like Luther would just give you kisses all the time and everything. This guy not here for the kisses. You try to pet him. He kind of slinks away a little bit some of the time. Like it's just a different dynamic. He's sweet and I think I need to get him a friend. friend. If I get him a friend, I think that might change some things for him. Let me play a couple commercials, and we'll continue.

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Must be 18+. Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction pick six not available everywhere including New York and Ontario void where prohibited one per new customer bonus award it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos like I think if i were to get him a friend and he's got someone to wrestle with all the time that i think it'd be different and i want to be clear i don't think that he dislikes us or me but i'm not 100 certain of that like with luther i was 100 certain that like this dog could not function without me.

And like it was kind of annoying, but kind of endearing, right? Like I bathed with that dog. Like we would sit in the tub together. And I'm sure some of you have lived this, right? Like you had to have lived this where like you had a dog and that dog was kind of everything around your world. And then you got another dog and it just wasn't the same. I'm sure people that have kids do this like you're people that have like their favorite kid like your first kid you did it this way this like i'm sure you have a

favorite kid i'm sure there's a bunch of that right but when i sit around with this dog i don't think he dislikes me i think he likes us but he is so independent and it's weird and the other thing that's strange is like with like luther i was never worried about him running away i was never worried like if the door was open like i didn't worry about that like i'd let him walk up to the door at the house if we're bringing groceries in and i knew he would just stand there if i were to let this dog's leash go we would never see that dog again ever like we had a we had a scare a couple months ago it was right before it was the morning i was going to fly out to somewhere i won't tell you where but i was flying somewhere and um i opened the door to check like that to see if like the

see it was after a storm it was a storm on a friday i was just looking out the window to see if the car had been hit by any like hail or anything and ross sees another dog being walked and he darts out the door down the yard into like near the street now fortunately he stops because he just wants to talk to the dog so he walks up to this dog and he just starts playing with this dog so i run out of him in my. I run out and I'm like, don't worry, folks. He's not going to hurt anybody. He just likes dogs. And I picked his ass up and brought him back inside. I was petrified that this dog was going to run away. And that's the other thing. You start thinking about these things and maybe these things are so stupid and they probably are so stupid, right? But I wonder if the fact that this dog always

seems to want to run away means he dislikes us or like did he did he enjoy his like life of being a rolling stone because i'm assuming that's what he was because they found him like the the rescue or whatever like the the local animal control people they found him and then he got hooked up with this rescue like i wonder if he enjoyed being on the street like i wonder if papa was a rolling stone and wherever he laid his hat was his home like i wonder if that's just what he dug if that was his thing like i wonder if like now he feels like we've arrested him in some way like he's being held captive like he's in a prison like i wonder if he views it that way like if you think about it this dog probably lived on the street yeah he can eat whatever junk he wanted

like this dog loves to try to go to the garbage like if we're walking and it's garbage day he will constantly jump up and look in garbage cans i'm assuming that's how he lived his life at one point i don't know and maybe i'm overthinking this and maybe he didn't do any of this, but like, I wonder, does this dog feel like I'm holding him hostage? Does he feel like he's imprisoned? Does he feel like he wants his freedom? Is that why he walks so fast when we're on our walks? Like, does he want to get away from me? Does he even like me? But then like at night, he'll come into the bedroom and this this guy will sleep right between me and jilly up on the pillow like he sleeps like a human what if our dog is just like possessed by a serial killer like what if like they had a body transformation thing like a chucky or like a shaggy

dog what if this guy like you know was a mass murderer and he just was transported into the body of a dog and we have that dog i don't know maybe you guys can help me out with this if you've experienced this you can send me an email josh in a show at gmail.com or whatever this is a legit thing i have like i'm not gonna get rid of the dog i like the dog we go me and this dog walk at least 20,000 steps every day we go on three hour plus long walks every day. I like him. He's a sweet boy. But it's weird when you... Does it take long for dogs to warm up? I don't know. It's just a weird thing when you go from what Luther was to what this dog is. And I'm sure it's what you experience with multiple kids. If you have two

kids, one of your kids might like you more than the other the other one might be independent just sit in his room and watch Pornhub all day I don't know but it is a weird situation like does like I think about this every day like does this dog actually even enjoy me and this is weird but part of it is he just has like a dour face like he's not like a smiley type dog you know like when he gets to play and you kind of see it, you know, cause you pant really dogs don't really smile. They pant and the pant looks like a smile. But like, I look at him and I'm like, do you like me? Do you feel comfortable? Do you want to run away? Like, why would you want to run away? You have a house and we feed you and we give you treats and we give you pets and we're going to get you a blowout on Friday at the groomer and all this shit. Why do you want to leave? What is it about

our life that displeases you so? These are the things I think about. Does Ross actually like us or does he just tolerate us? Like Luther liked us. Like he was obsessed. Like we want to start taking Ross to bars, you know, like we used to take Luther and I don't know how he's going to react or not. But like Luther, you would just go to the bar. He'd sit there. People would pet him. He was a sweet boy.

He was chill. Like people could walk by and he wouldn't lose his mind. A person's like, I'm worried. pet him. He was a sweet boy. He was chill. People could walk by and he wouldn't lose his mind. I'm worried. Let's say we go to a bar. You got a bartender lady with four pints on a tray or something. Those pints are going down. And then I'm having to pay for those pints without getting to drink them. So that's what I need from you guys. If you guys want to help me out here, email me joshnashow at gmail.com or send a DM or whatever. I'm genuinely curious. Like I'm trying to think of like, I'm just gonna start looking up stories. Like does my dog hate me? Like, are there stories that I'm sure there are like, let me, okay, now I'm going

to look this up. Does my dog hate me? Hate me. All right. First thing that pops up, does my dog hate me for putting him to sleep? Then Jilly read me this story yesterday. God, I almost broke down when I heard this. But like some family for their dog's last meal, they ordered like a steak, a baked potato, fries and bread texas roadhouse and on the little thing on the order it said prepare with with love it's our dog's last meal and then i felt like shit because the only meal i gave luther was i made a mistake out on the grill and then i didn't even put any fucking salt on what kind of fucking imbecile whose dog is gonna die in an hour is

like gotta watch i gotta watch i don't want his blood pressure to go up. So I'm just going to make sure I don't put, who doesn't do that? Remember, I reached out to someone who knows a lot about dogs. They're like, I hope you made him a big steak with lots of salt and everything. I'm like, I didn't put any salt on it. I don't want to kill him. Even though I was going to die in a fucking hour. And then like all I could do last night after she told me that she has no clue because it was just a passing story she told me all night all i could think about is what kind of asshole i am for all i did was went out to the grill made uh luther a steak didn't even put salt i didn't even season it just a dull piece of meat and you read so many stories where people are like you know when you're right before your dog dies you might as well just give him a piece of chocolate

because every every creature deserves to know what chocolate tastes like or give them some ice cream or you'll see stories about people who go get like five whoppers and give it to their dog and what am i doing i prepared a small fucking walmart steak for my dog god i hate myself now i'm thinking about it again and i hate myself what a piece of shit ai overview it's unlikely your dog truly hates you in the human sense. Dogs don't experience the same complex emotions as humans. If your dog seems to dislike you, it's more likely due to fear, anxiety, or perhaps a misunderstanding of their part of your interactions or behavior. Why your dog might seem to dislike you.

Fear. Dogs can be fearful of new situations. Okay, misunderstanding. Dogs may not understand the tone of your voice or your body language, leading them to misinterpret your intentions. Medical issues. Sometimes pain or discomfort can make a dog seem less responsive or friendly. He's a very friendly dog. A dog with a difficult past might have learned to distrust or fear humans.

The thing is, I don't think he fears or distrusts us i just don't know that he likes us like i think you're wrong artificial intelligence your dog may move away from you or try to hide to avoid your presence he doesn't do that refusal to interact they might not come when called that's not a case body language they might show signs of fear like flattened ears i don't get that either aggression none of that so like you don't get it internet he does none of those things but it's a vibe there's a vibe i get and the vibe is that he doesn't like us he might but he might not maybe he's just like like like luther came across as kind of a jerk that was the character that we created for luther he was a jerk you know he's just kind of like, like Luther came across as kind of a jerk. That was the character that we created for Luther.

It was a jerk. You know, he's just kind of like a better than everybody type of jerk. But with Ross, like it's hard. Like I, it's hard to get a read on him because he's not unresponsive. He plays in the yard. We wrestle with toys, like all this. Like maybe I'm just looking for something he can't give. I don't know

maybe i'm so used to having a dog being obsessed with me that i'm the one struggling that like he's doing normal dog shit like you know what it is when i get home i've never seen this when someone comes home this dog does not immediately jump off the couch to run and greet people there will be times because we have like a there's a main room and then you walk into the next room in the house that's where Jilly usually is. If I'm not at home with the dog, I will walk in. Door will open shut. Dog will be asleep.

He'll poke his head up. See that I'm there and go right back to fucking sleep. Who does that? Who does that? I'll tell you who Ross. Like he didn't get up to greet us and like jump around like, oh my God,

I'm so glad to see you. You know what's crazy? Like we hated leaving, like in the last couple years of Luther's life, we wouldn't leave him at home alone. We bring in babysitters and shit because like he just seemed miserable. When we leave,

we have a little camera set up in the other room just to see what he does. He walks around a little bit. Then after he sees that we're gone, he'll sit in the window for like five minutes just stare out then he goes right to the couch and sleeps and does not move again until we get home is that a good thing is that a bad thing like i'm like he doesn't even miss us like it's good because we get to go do shit it's back so i'm like i want him to miss me why don't you miss me bro he's like well why don't why don't you change your background photo from Luther on your phone, you piece of shit?

Maybe that's it. Maybe he senses that. But I don't want to. You're not as photogenic as Luther was, if I'm being honest. You just look angry all the time. Luther had moments. Anyway. All right.

Send me an email. Josh in a show at gmail.com if you've experienced this do you think my dog hates me let's talk