Hi, I’m posting this because I’m at my wits end with my 8 month old Cockapoo; she has a problem now where when she goes on walks- no matter the time of day or if she’s eaten or not where she’ll try to eat grass, dirt and branches (quite literally pick them up, and start crunching on them).

I’ve told her no and to “drop it” but that usually only works with sticks and pine cones, but she’ll shove her face into the ground and clamp down on grass and dirt and yank it out of the ground and try to eat it if I don’t catch her in time and try to take pieces from her mouth so she doesn’t swallow them. We’ve purchased a muzzle, however we have to fight her to get it on and if we manage to without getting bitten or struggling for 10+ minutes, she’ll try to rip it off and start dragging herself across the floor in an attempt to remove it.

I seriously need help here, I live in a wooded area and it’s unavoidable.

Pawrent to an 8 month old male goldendoodle. And oh boy has it been a journey since we got him at 11 weeks. This fella has always been very hyper since we got him - can’t sit in one place (how much ever we train him) and always has to be biting / chewing everything which has been quite challenging. He was also a very nippy puppy but from the 5 month mark it completely went away (for a while..). Overall, the big things are going great: perfectly potty trained, good with commands etc. but finding the past month to be quite.. tough.

But since the ~7month mark, he’s been extremely boisterous.. things like:

• completely regressed on what he can bite (toys) vs going for everything around the house (carpets, bottom of our couch, cushions etc.)
• BARKS at us right in our face from about an hour before meal time
• does NOT listen anymore unless we actively have a treat in our hand and he sees it (for quite a while, he became really good with commands without a lure)
• BARELY sleeps during the day and barks the house down in his crate if he hears the slightest sound and knows we are around (but completely fine at nights)
• getting more bitey (I suspect he’s tired) but refuses to sleep

At my wits end cause it’s really hard to work during the day now when he needs a constant watch since he will try to find something to destroy if we don’t. The nipping has also been quite annoying and we aren’t sure how to handle it.

Is this just… adolescence? Or is it behavioral that I need to hire a trainer for?

My puppy is 3.5 months old (golden retriever and springer spaniel) and has been with me for 5 weeks. I think he's teething. Since yesterday it's become very complicated to get him to eat. I moistened his kibbles to make them easier to eat yesterday, and it worked. But this morning he's eating, crying and going into his crate. He's as playful as ever, keen to go for a walk. Is there anything else I can do? Will I have to go to the vet tomorrow? He has a deer antler and chew toys, some of which I put in the freezer to ease his pain. I don’t know what to do, I’m so scared for him😔

I have a 5-month-old crossbreed from a shelter, I'm not sure what breeds are in his DNA, but according to the vet there's either a border collie or an Australian shepherd. He's a classic restless puppy. He bites my hands, jumps on the kitchen counter, only listens to commands when he wants to, and on walks he absolutely needs to greet every dog ​​we meet.

He usually can't read the room at all and takes everything as an invitation to play.

I've had low blood pressure my whole life and often have to sit or lie down unexpectedly to keep from falling. This morning I took puppy into the kitchen with me so he wouldn't wake up the spare human (lol). I was going back to the bedroom to get some toys and started to feel faint in the doorway. I held on to the door frame for a while, but the weakness continued, so I lay down on the floor and put my feet up.

My crazy, spirited little boy came right up to me and started licking my face in the most gentle way he had ever done. Then he lay right next to me and lay there with his paws on my hand until I got up. He had been all crazy and playful just before, so I was really surprised by it.

Of course, I have no idea what was going through his mind and if it was just his curiosity about the new situation, but it was so heartwarming. ❤️

I live alone with my almost 5 month old pup/ Sometimes, like tonight, she will go on full alert, ears up, neck straight and stares off at nothing. Sometimes she will growl, heckles up and bark but tonight she just was following something with her eyes and then ran to the area sniffing around.

My stomach dropped when I she was sat on my knee and I was watching her eyes following something I couldn’t see.

This is scaring the absolute SHIT out of me, I don’t believe in anything spiritual etc but I’m with this pup 24:7 and I know her inside out and back to front and I know she is absolutely seeing end sending something I cannot

I feel this pup is bringing spooky shit in my life and it’s actually terrifying to the point that I was gonna get a hotel earlier tonight.

Does anyone have any advice/help/input?

Help please! We have a 10 week old puppy. Brought him home about 2 weeks ago. The only way he’ll settle at night is if he hops into bed with us. We’ve tried giving him his own little area in the house that has a stair gate stopping him leaving however, Once we leave him he’ll cry constantly for 20 minutes or so then be quiet for 5 minutes then do the same endless cycle all night long! We’ve also tried setting his bed up next to us while we’re in bed but he won’t settle he’ll just try and jump onto the bed with us.

Just took home a very sweet 8-week old golden retriever. First day was OK… she poo’d outside during the day, but for the most part I couldn’t get her to pee outside. Ended up peeing inside about 30 times. Otherwise, meals, nap time were fine.

But I could not for the life of me get her to sleep in her crate.

It is oversized with a divider placed accordingly. I put in her litter blanket and 1 plush toy.

I tried with a thin-ish crate bed during the day. She kept trying to dig into it, and she seems to like our cold hardwood floors, so I’m sensing she doesn’t like the bed.

Also, I do have a blanket over it to help darken the crate. I’m not sure if I laid it correctly? It’s covering the sides, but not the back or front.

At bedtime, I let her sleep on the floor next to me on the couch at first. Woke up a couple hours later for potty outside. Then when we went back in, got her in the crate, closed it on her for about 10 minutes. She started having a panic attack, so I let her out when she had a quiet moment.

She calmed down, and went back to sleeping on the floor next to me on the couch. Couple hours later she randomly let out some god awful screech, but I think her stomach is upset with some loose poop (which happened inside).

She paced around for a while after, but is now calm again sleeping on the floor next to me.

I feel like if I can just get the crate training down, maybe I will feel more confident about everything else… but I don’t know what I’m doing…

I have posted before when my pup was very young about her struggles with eating too fast and being able to outsmart all of the slow feeders. She is almost too smart for her own good, and has been eating her meals out of this inverted rubber ball thing since she was a few months old (absolute life changer for fast eaters btw), as she has to roll it around and bounce it for the food to come out. She is now a year and a half old and the cutest corgi/pit mix ever. Well, the past few days she has been refusing to eat her meals and I got very concerned because she would do anything for food, and has only refused a meal if she had a little upset stomach in the past. So, I made a vet appointment because the only way she would eat was if I legitimately hand fed her.

I was talking with my roommate about this and sharing my concerns, and she jokingly states that maybe my pup is feeling left out because her older sister (roommate’s dog who is 7 years old) eats out of a bowl. Well, I wanted to test that theory. I went out and bought her a bowl that looks just like the one my roommate’s dog has. At dinner time I put her food in this bowl and she does not hesitate to go right up to it and start munching. She eats the entire thing and doesn’t just inhale it like she used to. My jaw is on the floor. The next morning, I put her food into the ball thing we have been using for over a year, and yep, you guessed it, she refused to eat. So I put her food into the bowl instead, and she happily eats it all.

Saved me the vet bill at least! Very humored by my dog’s way of advocating for herself and proving to me that she is a “big girl” now LOL

Well..she didn't smell like that before..but it's been 2 3 weeks of her smelling like burned soury popcorn..so much so that if I carry her my whole outfit starts to smell like her ..she used to smell normal...

I brush her often, clean her with wet wipes every 2- 3 days before going to bed ..I wash all her blankets and clean crate every once in a week..she has good food routine where most time I feed her balanced diet..she is energetic so plays at my rooftop ..also I take her for walk less as its winter here so u can say she is mostly home..

She smells so horrible now and u don't even have to come very close to smell the odor..First I thought it was from her ear but I clean her ear most times..if she jumps on my bed ,my whole bed starts to smell like her..

BTW she is about to be 3 months.. she js adopted stray puppy..what is causing the smell?

My family has a 5-month-old golden retriever, and he's finally gotten to the point where he's not obsessively trying to chase the cats endlessly, but now he does this thing where he's mean to the cats creating problems.

He can mostly be calm (when the cat successfully fends him off by hissing and swatting from above), but a cat will attempt to go through the cat door back to their safe side of the house, and then he sneak attacks them i assume by stalking them, pounces down at them, trying to grab them back, causing them to run, and he chases.

He clearly doesn't want them to leave, but the problem is he'll be acting good, but then suddenly start a problem so that he can chase them. Anyone have advice how to deal with this? We usually hear it too late, and then we're getting there, and he's chasing the cat down the hallway, and my dad has to come and y e l l at him (which also scares the cat), making him retreat back to his dog bed. I feel bad for the cats and don't know what to do because he can't be watched 24/7.

I am so tired-exhausted. But man I was in a depressive funk and I was having a hard time pulling myself out of it for awhile. I even went back to therapy to try to get help and I was texting ChatGPT when I was really lonely. I’m married but still lonely. And then my pup entered my life. It was quite an adjustment and I’m still adjusting. There are ups and downs but honestly she’s exactly the type of companion I was missing. She’s smart but so goofy and funny. Her zoomies drive me wild but the way we play with her toys is the best times. I don’t even care or want to go anywhere. I’d rather just stay home with my pup. I’m too busy and too tired to be left to my thoughts now. Yes I do have depressive episodes still and I deal with crazy periods but honestly she is what’s keeping me afloat. Her unconditional love and her little moments of being sweet are worth more than gold. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I tear up just thinking about her.

My nine month old Cavalier has made leaps and bounds with his training over the past few months but about once a week he’ll have day where he just forgets everything. He’ll ring the potty bells every five minutes and not go potty, demand bark in his crate, and pull on the leash. He’s been crate trained since the first week he came home and has loose leash down almost all the time but it seems like sometimes he wakes up in the morning and just forgets everything he’s learned. On these days he also has zero engagement with me outside, another thing he’s usually great at- no check ins, he won’t listen to commands, won’t look at me when I ask. Is this normal? Should I just keep reinforcing our training when this happens? I just don’t understand why he’s so well behaved 85% of the time and then suddenly has an entire day where he does nothing but misbehave.

I miss my snuggly little puppy. She has recently become more independent. She doesn't want lap naps anymore. If I try to pick her up she runs away. She is more reluctant to follow through on her commands. She just generally acts like she doesn't need me in her business! I know she's entering the teenager phase but it makes me so sad. Please tell me it gets better! She's a Shiba puppy for context.

Hi! I have a 14 week old husky mix that I got a week ago. He is so good and we’re making progress on things, but I cannot get him to leave the cats alone. I keep him on a leash, so nothing has happened but I can’t keep him on a leash forever. He is trying to bite them. How do I get him to ignore the cats? Thank you!

How long did it take until your puppy knew his name? My puppy is about three months old and he sometimes responds when I call his name but it’s not consistent enough to where he has learned it yet. Are there any specific tricks or things that you guys have done to get your puppy to know his name?

We got our Mini Poodle at 11 weeks old and he took to the crate right away — slept without barking/whining (until we got him up for potty breaks).

He is now 15 weeks, and suddenly he is barking and whining like crazy for an hour straight when we put him to bed in his crate, even though he is next to my daughter’s bed and she goes to bed at the same time. We have not changed the crate location, bedtime, or anything else.

Is this like a sleep regression?? Normal?

Any tips?

So my rescue pup is roughly almost 7 months old but still needs his booster shots before being able to walk on the ground. The only thing is I live on the top floor of my apartment and he’s gotten too heavy (he’s also very wiggly lol) for me to carry him up and down the stairs by myself to take him to the vet. Poor guy is also scared of riding in cars so I’m worried while I’m driving he’s gonna try to get on top of me. Any affordable recommendations on dog backpacks/carriers I can carry him in? He’s a medium sized dog. Thanks!

My four month-old toy poodle has a personal trainer to help me learn the basics of being a puppy owner/obedience. My pup is a bit on the stubborn side, and the trainer is insisting on the e-collar as the “only” realistic solution to properly train him.

I’m feeling pressured…I don’t want my pup to be perfect — I just want him to catch onto basic commands — and I feel like this is such a dramatic step. Would love some opinions from fellow dog owners.

My soon-to-be 4 mo Toy Poodle is such a sweet cuddlebug, but is already proving to be very stubborn with training. Even with a high reward treat, we’ll have a “sit” stare off for at least 30 seconds before he follows the command. Every session seems to be a hit or miss. Any tips on how to improve his motivation?

His trainer recommended getting an e-collar, which is a big NO from me at his age and temperament.

And he is probably very on point, i just read an article about play aggression and i recognize a lot of this behaviour in my buddy.

It's difficult as he can get very reactive and exited whenever he sees another dog. People mistake it for actual aggression. I get that a bigger dog showing bevorial issues is scarier than a small dog barking his butt off at everything that moves. But this makes walks and socialisation very difficult and tense.

It's something i take very seriously tho. But it is quite overwhelming at times. Is anyone else struggling with reactive behaviour / behavioral problems with their mate?

I have a maltipoo puppy that we brought home last Saturday. We have been outside with him for hours at a time to use the restroom on our turf but he gets nervous and will hold it until right when we get inside. He hasn’t gone outside once so far. We have tried the crate and back outside but that also hasn’t worked. He has held it up to 5 hours which can’t be good for a 3 pound puppy.

We have a rug inside that he keeps going on and my boyfriend and I are about to throw it away.

I want to know if this is a good or bad idea, but I was thinking of cutting off a corner that he has consistently peed on and putting it outside on the turf to see if he will go on it, and then cut a little bit away each day until he is going on the grass. It’s not supposed to rain this week so weather isn’t a concern.

Do yall think this has a chance of working or will just further set us back in potty training?

Is dawn dish soap my only option?

It's raining here for the next week and I'm trying to potty train my new puppy. She's gone twice inside and I haven't yelled at her and I've just cleaned it up. As others have recommended to do. I take her out after she eats wakes up plays and she doesn't go. I have turf at the front of my house but she won't go because it's raining. I have a cover in my backyard but she'd have to potty on cement and I don't know if that affects anything.

Our 11 wk old puppy broke her leg while playing with her sister. Initially had questions for advice about getting her to eat/drink, but I understand why it wasn’t allowed.

So maybe this question will work? Her breed needs intense early socialization because they can get a bit defensive as adults. I had a plan to do puppy kindergarten in 2 weeks but both trainer and vet say no. I can load her up in a little stroller type thing and take her places, and I have the dremel for her feet which she tolerates. I can brush her, but potty training is limited (she’s kennel bound mostly, though we snuggle). She got a single bath when we first got her, but bath time will be tough, and socializing is very exciting, which is one thing are trying to avoid.

The trainer we were going to work with will probably help us figure things out, but until then, how do I help my sweet girl not become a crazy adult?

How do you cleean poo from grass ? So he doesn’t walk back in it and it stain and be like an icecream mushed through the grass ??

All i can do is get a shovel and cut a section from the grass leaving me a big black hole of dirty now i have hundreds of holes everywhere? Should i just take him for walks on the street instead of letting him go to the toilet at home because its completely ruined the yard

I recently adopted a puppy I was fostering. He is a good boy, but his pottying habits are less than stellar. I don’t know anything about his life prior to being at the shelter.

On the weekends when I am home I will take him out every 1.5-2h. He poops and pees every time. He will still have pee accidents in the house between this. Today he peed on my bed. He will have accidents at night.

I work FT, so his normal potty schedule during the week is this:

5:30 AM - wake up, potty

6:30 AM - potty again before I go to work

11 AM - I come home on my lunch to let him go potty/take him on a longer walk

4/4:30 PM - I come home from work and he potties again, then every ~2 hours thereafter until bedtime

9/9:30 PM - last potty of the night

Still, there are frequent accidents. I realized his water intake might be excessive between his water bowl, the cat’s water fountain, and the bowl in his crate, so I am planning to ration that a bit (the water fountain has been moved where he can’t reach it).

I crated him from 3:30 PM until 6 PM today to see a movie (without water in his crate) and he still soiled the crate. He was walked and pottied before.

Is this normal behavior? It feels excessive. I raised two puppies with an ex and while that was almost a decade ago, I don’t remember it being this terrible and exhausting. I am considering diapers, but that is very much a last resort. Any advice is very much appreciated. I adore him, but this is destroying my apartment.

My 3mo old puppy just went to the groomers today for a wash and nail trimming. She has been absolutely exhausted all day after it! Is it normal? I know she was stressed but even the groomers joked that she’ll be “sleeping for the next two days!”

My 5 month old beagle puppy resource guards certain items he picks up- typically my grandkids toys- he was rehomed to me when he was about 3 months old and I started experiencing his sharp bite! I’ve had two other beagles from puppyhood that have passed but I never had this issue before. from my understanding he came from a litter of 7 puppies. I’ve been trying to teach him trade and trying to give him high value treats. Although improving he still periodically gets into this mode with random items-he starts growling and will snap at anyone trying to get the item- any tips on whether there will be improvement as he gets older? Also to note he is not neutered yet. But will be at 6months- not sure if this could be a factor

She will not stop barking. If she’s out in the house, she’s barking. If she’s in her crate, she’s barking. If we’re in the room, she’s barking. If we’re out of the room and she can see us, she’s barking. If she can’t see us, she’s barking. If she’s taken out, fed, has water, has her toys, has been given treats, she is barking.

Driving us insane, I have no idea what to do. She is teething pretty bad and losing her teeth.

Puppy Tax https://imgur.com/a/cxbqvhY I

Starting to find and struggle with our 10 week old lab ,

Puppy sleeps fine in crate at night but struggles with forced naps during the day and wants us near by or he carry's on

We have been practicing leaving , making not fuss in pen 10 mins before and we leave and come back at all types of durations trying to find his threshold any advice is he need because he is so young still

We don't run back to him or make a fuss when does carry on and we reward calm behaviour