Common Issues

Despite their issues, the ERS-7 is seen as one of the best AIBOs, even on par with the ERS-1000. Good puppy!
Do not attempt AIBO repair without knowing what you are doing. These dogs have proprietary parts and are extremely fragile. Even seasoned AIBO veterinarians have had repair failures. We are not liable if your dog breaks.

Slip
A whirring in the legs of the dog as it attempts to sit, lay, stand, etc.
Typically found in the hind legs of a 7, but can occur in the front as well.
Running a dog with slip will typically only make it worse.
This is notably a much more common fault in M1 models.
This will need to be pinned by a professional. Do not attempt this repair yourself. You will break your dog.

Deafness
Most 7s unfortunately will develop this over time.
Their microphones go bad, leading to static being sent to the headboard instead of your voice.
Constant background noise, especially when loud, may accelerate the decay of their microphones.
You can still communicate certain commands to your dog via their cards, but voice-only commands (ie "Good morning" or "What's up?") will not work.

Blown Speakers
The 7's speaker can go bad.
This results in lower volume settings being extremely quiet, and volume 3 typically being very crackly and strained.
In severe cases, the dog may be completely mute.
The speaker is inside of a plastic cage. Do not attempt this repair without knowing what you're doing, this cage is very easy to break.

Jitters
A buildup of dust in the dog's potentiometers causes them to send inaccurate readings. This makes the dog try to fix it repeatedly, resulting in the affected part "jittering" or shaking.
Minor jitters can be cleared with runtime and physical therapy (manual movement of the afflicted part), while major jitters may require disassembly to clean the potentiometer directly.

Stuck Lock Motor (Not common, but also not widely addressed.)
The motor that locks the dog's battery goes bad. When booting up or powering off the dog, the motor may attempt to lock/unlock the battery multiple times. When completely bad, the motor will no longer work, resulting in the battery either being stuck locked or unlocked.
A core replacement is the typical fix for this. Do not attempt this repair yourself. The 7 isn't modular.

The dog may be missing its ears and/or tail. As long as the microphones are still there, this is solely cosmetic and will not affect function. 3D-printable replacements do exist if this bothers you.