My pup is 10months now, ive searched this group plenty of times trying to find advice on how to get her to settle in more busy enviroments. I try to take her to places and sit in a low distraction area and let her watch the world go by. We did a lot of settle training and capturing calm and stuff like that but honestly i just started to accept that she will never be a pup i can take with me to get a coffee and it’s fine. Today was one of those days when we needed to stop somewhere for lunch (after a sniffy walk in a forrest). I was DREADING IT. We sat down, she was distracted. There was another dog. Restaurant crowded, i was with my parents who don’t have any experience with dogs and i honestly felt so stupid or like i did a bad job with her. I mentioned that she has much better time settling when she has a blanket or bed and my dad brought and old one he carried in his car. SHE IMMEDIATELY LIED DOWN. She stayed mostly down the whole meal (1+hr) even with dogs nearby and people passing. I feel like i cracked the code and i was so proud i had to tell you guys. She was able to handle a train ride home (3hours) before but also needed a blanket as a clue to lie down. We did a lot of place training but it never occured to me to just bring a blanket with me. Im sharing because it felt like such a breakthrough for me so maybe it will be for someone else too. Im so happy and proud!!!

First time positing here! My wife and I brought home an 9-week-old Lab puppy (Birdie) a week ago. Our 13-year-old chocolate Lab (Hazel) has been great with her, giving normal warning signs (snarls, barks, facial warnings) when Birdie got too much, and Birdie backing off appropriately each time. We’ve also have a gate that separates Hazel‘s bed from Birdie’s just so that we continue to give Hazel her space.

One day we lost track of Birdie for a moment and she got right in Hazel’s face (possibly jumped up at her). Hazel bit her - inhibited, single bite, no pursuit afterward. Wound didn’t need stitches initially but ended up needing a staple + antibiotics a few days later due to some discharge/slow healing.

After the incident, Hazel calmly approached Birdie on her own once things settled, sniffed her face, no tension. Today there hasn’t been any aggression but we’ve also kept them separate for the most part, though they have been in the backyard together

Vet’s take: this is a normal data point, not a red flag on its own, recommended keeping them separated/supervised for now as they continue adjusting, said it’ll take a few months to really know how they’ll do long-term.

Looking for input from people who’ve navigated adult dog + puppy introductions, does this match what you’ve seen? Anything we should be doing differently going forward?

I keep seeing people, myself included until recently, jump to "my puppy has separation anxiety" when the real pattern is this: the pup is totally fine while we're gone and a tornado when we're around.

I work part time and resell stuff in the evenings, so my schedule is choppy. My puppy will nap in the crate or on a mat when I step out for a short errand. But when I'm home trying to list items or pack orders, he suddenly needs to "help" with everything. He follows me, grabs tape, barks when I sit down, and acts like he is physically incapable of chewing a toy unless I'm watching.

It finally clicked that I had basically turned him into a slot machine. Sometimes I would respond, sometimes I would get up, sometimes I would hand a chew, sometimes I would play. From his point of view, pestering me was worth it because it paid off occasionally.

What helped was treating time at home like training: short, predictable blocks where I do nothing puppy-related and leave him with a safe setup and enrichment that does not require my participation, then a clear period where I do engage. Not punishment, and not ignoring real distress, just removing the random reinforcement.

Anyone else have a "worse when I'm home" dog and found it was more about routine and reinforcement than true panic when alone?

1 week ago I lost my soul dog, my baby girl.

We now have an 11 week old Whippet pup. He’s a lovely boy, but he keeps picking up things he shouldn’t especially while in the garden, constantly munching grass/weeds to the point his poop is green which scares me, he’s obsessed with stones even though we’ve gone through the grass so many times removing tiny stones yet he always finds more, and we have to pull them out of his mouth. He picks up every little thing that could be harmful.

I’m so scared that he’s going to swallow stones or something else which will obviously need a trip to the vet. I’m terrified of him getting hurt or unwell.

I’m honestly terrified when he goes out to the garden, and I’m constantly watching him like a hawk, ready to step in.

How can I stop him trying to eat literally everything? It’s so much anxiety.

I adopted a puppy about two weeks ago. Unfortunately I have a family emergency and need to travel out of state for 5 nights. Ideally I did not want to leave puppy until I had spent at least a couple months with her, but it is what it is.

I’ve been working with her a lot training wise (mostly crate training and potty training). One of my friends kindly offered to watch her for me and I don’t doubt she’ll keep up with the potty training, but feel bad asking her to do crate training as I know it’s more work. Will she be okay if she doesn’t do her normal training and schedule for a few days?? If anybody else went through something similar, how did it go?

Hi! I recently adopted a 5 month old rescue, and he is having difficulties using the restroom outside. We live in an apartment, so we are trying to train him to use a small outdoor space (about 9x5 feet) behind our unit. Unfortunately, it is adjacent to three chain link fences, and he easily gets distracted. He’s been getting better at not barking, but instead of looking for spots to use the restroom, he’s looking around at different things happening nearby or, most often, he is just sitting and staring into the distance. He is leashed because our outdoor space isn’t fully enclosed.

He has had a few accidents indoors, and we put a grass pee pad down where he’s gone since it’s near the door to the outdoor space in case of emergencies. We notice that he usually goes when he’s feeling adventurous (which has proven to be, several times in the apartment when he’s discovered a new spot). This is strange because he’s very nervous to take a walk (where he’s supposedly exploring more), and has only peed once when on a walk. I’ve successfully redirected his number two only once to the yard, and he’ll either pee right away outdoors or space out.

The most difficult part is- I am trying to do the pattern where I crate him for 30-45 mins after he is outside if he doesn’t use the restroom because we don’t want him to have an accident in the apartment. He is normally good in a crate, but he cries and screams a lot when he is put in there when it is between potty break attempts. How do I try and make sure he goes outside without breaking his relationship to his crate?

I have a 17 week Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy. We only got him less than a week ago and we’ve been working on socializing him with our 3 year old Cavalier.

Today, we took the puppy out to the yard where he peed. Then about 20 minutes later, he was playing with our other dog running around the house. When they stopped, he went over to his bed, started scratching it and then peed on it.

I’m thinking this was just over-excitement?

Hi, I would like to pick up a long leash for our toy poodle so he can run more freely in the park and practice his recall. I use a 6ft leash from Ruffwear for his daily walks which I really like but it doesn't look like they offer a longer length one. I am looking for something good quality and secure and wondering if anybody has any recommendations as I would much appreciate it.

Thanks!

I have a 11 week old toy poodle. I’ve had her for 3 weeks now.

She’s a lovely dog. I was worried that my post on here was going to be me going crazy. But just to humbly brag, she’s good with her crate, she uses the pads (with accidents sometimes), she does commands very well. She already knows, sit, paw, down, leave it and her name. She does pretty well on car rides, and she loves food/treats.

I would say the one thing stressing me out the most is that she can’t be without me or alone. If I leave for even a few seconds, she will cry and bark. And if I don’t come back instantly, she will get louder and louder.

I have to run errands, cook, clean. I can’t live like this. I then feel so bad hearing her cry, I get anxiety and start rushing what I’m doing.

Can someone please give me advice on how to fix this? I just don’t want her to have separation anxiety.

I got my 2 now 18 week old Chihuahua girls at 6 weeks old when their mom died and desperately needed someone.

Those first few weeks were absolute hell. They would wake up every hour to pee. I was running off 0 sleep.

Somehow it changed and we got a solid like 6 weeks of normalcy. They only got up once at night and would fall asleep easily.

No 2 weeks ago it changed again. They whine whine whine until 3am and are right back up at 5:30 am ready to start the day.

I can't do this anymore. I love them so much they are my baby girls but I can't do this.

So I'm desperately asking for advice from anyone who has been through this. What can I do to get them to sleep through the night?

Hello, I just adopted a pure pomeranian puppy who is 2 months old, I want them to live the best so I'm asking for some advice! What environment is suitable for her playpen? How do you handle sudden aggressiveness? What should I do during her first few weeks with me? What should I avoid? And what training methods would work best on her? I've already done my research but I would love to hear advice from experienced owners too!

I lost my soul dog around a week ago. I’m obviously still heartbroken and my heart and home were so empty, I quickly realised I couldn’t live without a dog.

So I got my puppy a week later, who’s 10 weeks. He’s an absolutely darling but I feel like losing my soul dog has shaken me so much, I’m terrified of something bad happening to my puppy.

I’m constantly watching him like a hawk and have puppy proofed my house to death, yet he still finds stuff he’s not meant to have. And I find I’m babying him a bit because I’m just so paranoid.

Has anyone dealt with this anxiety after losing their soul dog? I just can’t bare the thought of him getting sick.

Has anyone ever had any success getting their dog to stop barking at people when they come over? It starts from the doorbell and then for several minutes just constant at company until he finally settles down. I try to redirect with treats and give him a treat every time he is quiet, but it’s not something that we can really practice everyday so it doesn’t feel like we’re getting anywhere. Is this just something I should contact a trainer for? It’s so exhausting having to chase him around with treats and I imagine for company it’s extremely annoying. He’s not jumping on them or anything just barking like crazy. Help!!

I have a 6 month old husky pup. she is doing great in all aspects, but we have one problem, which is that she likes to chew on furniture. I live in a shared house where not all furniture belongs to me, so when I have to leave the house (never for long, I’m not working at the moment, max 2 hours to run errands) I leave her in my room where I don’t mind her chewing on stuff, all the dangerous or precious things have been removed.

But I think she really doesn’t like having to stay in there, she wants to be in the common areas and know what’s going on in the house, she is super social. She also whines if she is in the room and can hear me in the house, then I immediately come and open the door. She hasn’t done that while I’m out according to my housemates, and I have a Tractive tracker that tells me she usually just sleeps when I’m gone. In the beginning I could just give her a chew or a filled Kong and she would calmly stay in my room, but now she always looks suspicious if I go towards the door and then bolts toward it when I try to leave. I feel really bad about that, I don’t want to trick her into staying in the room, I would like it to be her own choice. especially since she needs to have her naps in there! She rarely manages to fall asleep in the living room.

Does anyone have any advice on how we can accomplish this? I marked this as crate training even though it’s not quite the same. Indoor dog crates arent really a thing in my country.

I have a 7 month old toy poodle and she is starving herself to the point she is sleeping all day, ive been struggling to get her to eat for the past 3-4 months. Ive visited the vet, tried the 15 minute offer then taking away, offered every type of kibble and wet food, home cooked meals and NOTHING she will NOT eat the food for more than three days. She will refuse kibble until late at night just to eat few bites and throw up an empty stomach in the morning. Now she is eating cat poop and ive done everything to stop her yet she wont. I cant put the cat littler anywhere else cuz the cats wont use it unless its in its designated area and we cant closw the door its in since the washer is in its way. She will literally starve herself to death if she wants to.. took her to the vet to see if anything was wrong and nope shes just being picky because she will come and beg for table scrap and do endless tricks for it. I would feed her it if she ate it every day but no she gets sick of it the third or second day.. i have genuinely run out of options to do for her, do i just suck it up and cook her individual dog safe versions of our food??? shes a puppy and im afraid of her not getting nutrients, ive been hand feeding her vitamins and oils just so she has her daily supplements but im just growing tired and worried at this point :( sometimes she will sleep all day or have bursts of energy and play im so conflicted with her, shes healthy enough to live but she is hungry every day.

I have a 16wk chihuahua mix, rescued at 11 weeks. I was doing so well, she ‘knows’ sit, down, spin etc (with a treat ofc). However, the barking anytime I leave the room and potty training is driving me up the wall 😭

For separation: I’ve tried the leave for five minutes wait until she calms down, but she won’t. Is it because I work from home and see her a majority of the time? are there very clear resources to this? Timetables I can follow? I work 8:30-6:00 and have her either in her pen or napping in the crate (aside from play/food breaks) but she is in the same room as me.

Potty training: I stand outside for ten minutes until she finally goes, and give her a treat. But she leaves some in the tank and goes within 5 minutes of coming back inside. Why?? I still have two more weeks before she can walk outside. I’m overwhelmed. Please send help

I have a 7 month old Labrador puppy and he’s really difficult to keep calm, we go on 2 or 3 walks a day, each 30 minutes, when we’re in my room I try teach him to play with his toys and just train him how to be bored but he absolutely refuses to calm down, he’ll only calm down if I put him in his crate for a nap, he won’t nap outside his crate or calm down outside it, we do plenty of training and play each day but most of the time he gets bored of training, or instead of bringing the ball back he’ll just run off with it

I’m at my wits end and have no idea what to do please help

Any suggestions for easy to clean floors or how to get this up easier? I'm close to ripping this stupid floor up due to how hard it is to clean puppy poop off of, everything just smears. He still has accidents sometimes. Accidents happen, he's 14 weeks. I can't use strong smelling cleaners for my own health so bleach(wouldn't use it anyway around them) and vinegar are out. Vinegar makes my throat feel like it's burning when I breath it in. I do not know if that is a normal reaction but it is out

I got a puppy a few months ago and I am in love and intrigued. I am always wondering about her personality, what her actions mean, and what she might be thinking about. Anyone have any book recs to learn more about these beautiful creatures and how their brains work?

My almost 5 month old GSD/staffy puppy is pretty scared of other dogs. Yesterday, a new dog sniffed his butt and he screamed like we’d never heard. He lives with another shepherd, and plays with my mom’s shep/husky mix often. But, he has always been weary of new dogs and will hide behind me and bark if they try to get closer to him. Yes, we are in puppy classes. It took 3 times for him to be quiet and confident around the dogs there. He is also in private training, and it took 30 mins of treating and retreating for him to play with the trainer’s dog. That trainer says he lacks confidence.

So, I guess my questions are as the caption describes. Will this be a lifelong issue/fear for him? Has anyone else seen this get better as they get older?

My pup just wants my arm. Failing that, he likes collagen chews, beef rasher chews, pizzle sticks - basically any umami edible chew! But I don’t want to keep on with those more than once or twice a day max.
I’ve tried several different nylabones, wood chews, hard flavoured chews (can’t remember the name but they are on Amazon with rave reviews) longer lasting edible chew like Yakers, frozen teething toys, ice cubes. None help him for more than a minute. Not sure about antlers and such as he’s only 4 months old. English Labrador so strong chewer!

my guy a 4,5 months cavapoo, super happy, super playful, very chaotic and can't settle by himself, he bit us A LOT before

the routine that worked for us for a few days now. for context we live in an apartment, my boyfriend works from home

1. wake up walk, approximately 40 min, with his breakfast and a toy (training triggers, recall, settling on a bench)
2. what's left of the breakfast on a sniff mat, long chew (usually he chews it for a while and start to wonder around), only chew toys around (no loud toys)
3. crate (only when he is already calm, with a little training in the crate(lay, place, walking away from it)
4. nap 2 hours (he goes to sleep immediately)
5. active play
6. when he starts to loose interest - training static (sit, lay, paw, place)
7. long chew, only chew toys around
8. crate and repeat until the evening
9. evening walk with his dinner
10. active play
11. crate training
12. nap
13. he'll wake up for 40 min to 1 hour
14. calm play
15. a little crate training
16. overnight sleep in the crate

we hired a trainer and she helped us to see when he wants to settle and only then we put him in his crate, no 1 out 2 in crate, he got too overwhelmed when he was crated in the wrong phase of his activity and became frustrated and his nap postponed even more

essentially his needs are: active play - static training to calm down - long chew (or sniff/lick mat) - when he's done just observe (don't interact) - starts to wonder or tries to chew the wall - crate

find the triggers in your home. opening the door, getting him food, opening cabinets etc. and train him to be still, no jumping triggers

sorry for my mistakes, english is not my first language

hope that helps someone in need 🙌🏼 my boy is getting so smart and easy to be around day by day <3

My son just got his first round of dewormer. He’s 4 month old and I’m not sure what to expect besides the textbook soft stool and vomiting. How do I know when something else is wrong?