Hi all I just need some advise on what to do for puppy this upcoming week. Once day this week my boyfriend and I will bother be at work all day (normally one of us is working from home all times) but for one day this week we will both be at work. Our puppy is great on the cage the longest she’s been left alone in the cage was 5 hours. She is currently 2 1/2 months old so I’m not sure what to do for this one day. We will be both leaving at 8 am and I will not be home until 6:30-7 and he will not be home until night. I just think this is way to long to leave her in the cage any advise on what to do or anyone else experience doing this?

I have a 6 1/2 month old golden retriever and he sleeps amazingly in his crate. Goes to sleep and sleeps through the night. I want to try having him in the bed with me at night but I'm worried about potty accidents and him getting up and ripping up the carpet.

Like I said he does great in his crate, he can hold his potty for hours, but when he's out of his crate suddenly he can't hold it for more than maybe an hour if I'm lucky and if I don't let him out right when he tells me, he has an accident. I'm worried if i let him sleep with me, when he has to go he might try and tell me but I might not be able to get him outside in time.

He also has recently been chewing up carpet. He's somewhat learned it's not acceptable, but if you're not watching him 100% sometimes he will start chewing it up again. He has gone under the bed before and started chewing it so that's a concern.

One more thing I'm not sure how to fix is he thinks the bed means playtime. I don't go in my room often, really just to sleep so whenever he gets to go on the bed he gets super excited and starts wanting to play.

Thank you for any advice!

Hello! We have a 10 month old lurcher, he is great but very much acts like a puppy as you’d expect. A week ago we bought home an 8 week old lurcher puppy, our older puppy is obsessed with him which initially was nice but now it’s just obsessive and frankly annoying. Older one is CONSTANTLY sniffing, licking, play fighting with the little one and crying when he’s not around the little one. Whilst the little one is mostly playing back and having fun there is zero down time unless they’re asleep in their crates and the little one is getting annoyed sometimes and having to be defensive. We immediately intervene if this happens ofc. The older one is MUCH bigger and isn’t recognising his size. They are both crate trained so get plenty of alone time for naps and chill time, obviously older one gets walks without little one as he’s too young for walks, we seperate when they are play fighting too much and reward good calm behaviour but in a week I’d say it’s improved maybe 5%.

What else can we do to restore peace in our house bc me and my partner go insane??

As the title suggests, I’m looking for some tips/advice for training my 3 month old Bernese mountain dog pup.

For starters: I’m 27. This is my first time raising a puppy. My boyfriend and I had a black lab that passed this summer, but I came in the picture about 4 years ago when he was 9.

Our berner just turned 3 months old last Friday. He hasn’t pooped in the house for a long time, but he still sometimes pees in the house. I’ve heard that it’s typical for puppies to have accidents in the house up until 6 months… is this typically true? I know every dog is different, but sometimes I worry if I’m not doing a good enough job since almost every day lately he’s peed in the house at least once.

So far, he knows sit, shake paw and speak. Trying to get him to learn lay down, back up and down for when he jumps. Positive reinforcement seems like the best option, but if anyone else has more tips on successful training for the basics, please do share :)

Last thing: the biting… I didn’t realize how much puppies bite and how sharp their little teeth are!! And I do hate to say it, but I can’t stand the biting… like I can’t even pet him a lot because his mouth opens right up to bite. Around when do puppies typically stop biting?? I guess I’d just also like some reassurance/support because some days are worse than others, and I feel like a lot of this will never end (sorry if this sounds over-dramatic haha).

Any helpful insight, advice or general thoughts are welcome. I appreciate you taking the time to read this :)

My ~5.5 month old puppy has never had an issue being crated at night and has been sleeping through the night since he was about 16 weeks. We worked hard to make sure he views it as a safe space and he will dip in and out during the day to get toys, etc. but never settles himself for naps or takes himself to bed there. He’s even developed a frustrating (but cute, tbh) habit of going to lay down on his living room bed when he knows we are trying to put him in the for the night and looks at us like “bedtime? who, me? Look how sweet I’ll be laying right here 😇”

Am I over-indexing on wanting him to go in of his own accord even though he will sleep peacefully once placed inside?

Hey, I got a pup a little while ago. He is the easiest dog to train but seems a little lonely. One of his littermates, who he used to play with a ton, doesn't have a home, and we were thinking about reuniting them down the road. He currently lives on a small farm, but the owner is clear that she doesn't want three dogs (the two parents are with her). There's no real rush, and I wondered if it would make more sense to rehome when he is around 5-6 months old to avoid littermate syndrome? They've already been apart for 1.5 months, and my thought was that they would be completely independent in a few months. I'm unsure if anyone has any experience with this unique situation, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

I forgot to mention that the other littermate is also a male; they are retriever Shepherd mixes.

My puppy mainly goes potty on her pads, but she’s not fully trained. A few weeks ago, she accidentally peed on her dog bed and no matter how many times we washed the bed she’d always peed on it again. It got to the point we had to throw the bed away and buy a new one. She now peed on her new bed a few days ago, we washed it and she did it again. Is there any special way to clean the bed so she doesn’t pick up the smell anymore or something? Should I just throw the new bed away?

debated posting this on here or not, but i figured well, everyone here has a puppy and i’m sure has dealt with pee stains, so i may as well. we have a carpet cleaner (handheld one) and while it does help a lot, it definitely does not get rid of it fully, or even to the point where it’s hardly noticeable. what cleaners should i try out for it???

I have a 5 month old Pom. He’s pretty much potty trained minus a few accidents and the marking he does. When he needs to go he does a certain grunt/whine, sits in a certain spot & I know he has to go. Lately he’s been asking alot more lately. I can’t differ if he actually has to go or not. Every time we go he’ll pee then just kinda roam around, & when he actually goes he does all his business. I feel bad not taking him out because his whines just get louder, & what if he actually has to go this time? One time I had JUST taken him & he did everything he had to do outside , & i ignored him because no way he had to go again. Well, he did have to go again. I felt so bad I took him out every time he asked after that. He woke me up super early today & we’ve gone outside 3-4 times in the last hour or two. I know when he was 8 weeks he had to go a lot, but does it ever slow down or is he just finessing me ???

11(ish) week old puppy does so well in his crate at night, but not during the day. He needs to see me at all times or else he screams like a maniac (does not have to go potty). I need him to like his crate because I also need to start prioritizing myself, I have definitely been giving my all to him and haven’t been eating enough or doing anything for myself. I need alone time even if it’s just for 10 minutes. Will letting him yell in his crate during the day make him hate it? I don’t know what else to do

I have a 9 week old golden retriever puppy and after one week of being home she seems to be losing a little interest in the training treats we’ve been using. In the last day or two she’s stopped taking them after going potty outside, and sometimes doesn’t take them when we are working on commands. For the first few days it seemed like she couldn’t get enough of them. The ones I’ve been using are the tricky trainers training treats, and I’ve been trying to mix the flavors up a little to keep her interested. Is this what I’m doing wrong? Anyways, if anyone has any brands that have been successful for them that also are made with qualify ingredients I’d love to hear about it. There’s so many in the market it’s so hard to choose from.

Our puppy has definitely gotten better over the last few weeks, learning a lot of commands, very smart, stopped biting for the most part. he’s still very young, 5 month old labsky. I know he’s a baby and has lots of energy that’s hard to control, but we want to start putting a stop to going crazy when someone comes through the door or even knocks.

When someone comes over, we make him to go to his place and stay there until they come through the door. from there it’s game over, he barks relentlessly until he sees the person and immediately runs over to jump for attention. obviously this is a very common behaviour and i don’t blame him for it! we say “off” and pull him down every time he jumps up, and he stays down for pets but as soon as you stop, he jumps right back up.

he also LOVES jumping up on the counter while we’re cooking. i wear a treat bag and say “off” every time he jumps, giving him a treat (not every single time, sometimes just praise and pets) but he continues to jump up every 3 seconds. after a bit, he’s put on his leash & tied to something so he can’t come into the kitchen. Again, i know this is normal behaviour! but would love to start training him out of it.

just curious if there’s anything else we should be doing? leashing him with his head collar to have better control until he learns maybe? any advice is helpful!!

So my 9 month old lurcher is just finishing her last season, and a couple of times today she's jumped me in the middle of play. First few times I laughed it off but then she jumped on me while I picked something up and put her paws around my throat. I told her off properly and she stopped and led down, but it really hurt! I've done the research, I know it's likely just her hormones kicking in and her excitement impeding brain function.

But have any of you experienced this with your girls? Specifically the bigger dog owners, as she's a deerhound mix who is definitely stronger than me, what do you do with yours?

Hi everyone, I have an almost 10 week old golden retriever who has begun learning some basic commands. She knows sit but when excited doesn’t focus enough on me or my family to listen. She’s doing well with the house breaking process and with “leave it” “come” and “drop it” commands as well. Of course at 9.5 weeks old I don’t expect her to have it completely down. I am confident in my ability to teach those concepts but not so confident when it comes to teaching stay and recall from a distance or with distractions.

A personal trainer is a bit too expensive at the moment but I am planning to save for it should I fail at my own attempt. In the meantime I would love opinions on training apps. There are a good number out there with good reviews but I’d like to know they aren’t computer generated or paid reviews. Hence my request for this community’s input. In case it makes a difference I am located in the U.S.

Thank you for your time 🐾

Hi all, just curious how you guys got your puppy and your adult dog to have an okay relationship. We have a 12 week old Bernese and a 5 yr old golden, both girls. Our golden was the perfect little girl with us before the puppy, but she really is not a fan of the puppy. She started resource guarding today which i understand with the puppy, but she’s been doing it with us now too.

She has not ever gotten close to hurting the puppy, just normal growls and corrections that dogs do, and of course the puppy is relentless, will take the correction for about a minute then try again. It is getting better, she used to stop for only a few seconds and start right up again. The resource guarding is a big concern now though. I also just want to make sure that once the puppy is grown that they have a harmonious relationship. I don’t need them to be besties but I don’t want them trying to kill each other.

They have been supervised the whole time and are never left alone together. I’ve been giving the adult dog time away from the puppy to decompress but she immediately starts whining like she wants to come back to the area with the puppy. I’m just at a loss.

Does this just go away with time as the puppy learns what is and is not acceptable? Or is there more I need to do?

I’m just looking for advice on how to advance forward, and if seeing a trainer/classes would be helpful.

I’m a student who just got an English Cocker Spaniel a few months ago. He’s 18 weeks now, and developing how I imagined he would be. We’ve worked lots of neutrality, and he has no problem ignoring dogs and people on walks/in public pet friendly stores. Our issue is when we are somewhere where there’s dogs and they get near him. His tail goes between his legs and he sometimes pees from fear. If the dog is nice it takes him 5 seconds to realize that and immediately wants to play, but it’s the initial meeting that gets him worked up. I don’t think it’s a reactivity, he just needs to meet more dogs that are friendly to stop fearing them as he’s met quite a few that were not (off leash and out of control). I moved away for uni and don’t live near anyone that has neutral dogs to help him, so I’m kind of lost on how to approach it when there isn’t a lot of dogs to practice with. I think classes would help, but I just don’t have the funds to do $200+ classes with him. Has anyone tried the petsmart classes or have other recommendations?

I have a 10 week old dachshund who simply refuses to go potty outside. We started on potty pads until we got the all clear from our vet because we live in a big city and I didn’t want to put him at risk. He does excellent on the potty pads but we’re trying to transition him to going outside now that we know it’s safe.

So far, I’ve tried taking him out, waiting for a while, bringing him back inside and putting him in his crate for five minutes and then repeating this cycle. Today we literally did it 4 times over an hour and a half and as soon as we got back inside the last time, he went pee right on his pad.

I‘ve also been tracking his normal potty schedule so I’ve been very intentional with the time that I take him out, knowing he needs to pee but he just refuses to go outside. Any suggestions/tips/advice????

I'm looking for simple ingredients, but high value treats. I'm also concerned about too much of anything causing stomach issues since she's only 6 lbs. At home we can sometimes use her regular food for training (when she's in the mood for it), otherwise we use freeze dried beef liver or chicken (training treats that we cut even smaller). Beef liver didn't work to get her attention at puppy class this week which surprises me.

It’s happened more and more lately. My golden retriever is 5.25 months and has started getting spooked randomly by things she’s been exposed to a million times.

For example, right now she’s scared of the water bottle on the bedside table. My partner went to pick it up to move it out of her sight and she bolted. She’s back on the bed but is watching that side of the room like a hawk like at any moment it could pop back up.

She’s done this randomly with other things. Like the garbage bag. Pots and pans. A bike. The automatic doors at the grocery store etc

Why is this happening and how do we handle it?

I live in the American Southwest and there are at least 2 species of rattlesnakes that are native to my area. I'm adopting a new puppy this weekend and am getting our training courses set up with a R+ dog trainer that I've used in the past and really enjoy. I've never done rattlesnake avoidance training, but this dog is an outdoor explorer, so I'm considering getting her enrolled once we bond and establish a good foundation for training.

Has anybody here done rattlesnake avoidance training? What age did you do it, and would you do it again if you had to? Vets in my area offer the rattlesnake vaccine, but I know it still doesn't give you very much time to get to the vet if they're bit. Just trying to avoid a catastrophe and looking for others' experiences and takeaways.

Eleven week old puppy, 2 weeks in. Things are going pretty well, but a couple of questions. I hide treats in her crate before nap time and she fights to get in. MOST times, she's happy to stay. It's a little unclear how to differentiate between crying to get out of the crate because she doesn't want to be there and crying because she needs to go potty. Trying not to reward bad behavior (barking just to get out) versus barking to go potty. How to manage that? Next question: How will the puppy make the leap from being taken out to go potty, to at some point WANTING/REQUESTING to go out?

Info: Puppy is 10 weeks, it's day 7 together and he's napping in a crate on a regular schedule :)

He's a light sleeper as I think all puppies are, and he does well with the sounds of me working at my desk but I'm worried about when I need to get up and move around to use the bathroom or make some food..he always pops his little head up to see what I'm doing! I know how important it is for him to get all the sleep he needs so in my head I'm thinking I should be more quiet during his first couple naps but then go about my day during his later naps as he would be more tired later in the day, does that make any sense? Or if what I'm doing wakes him, do I extend his nap time so he gets enough sleep? Thanks!

Typically I’m very good at doing my own research but mannnn I’ve hit a hard spot. I am looking for a puppy option that’s affordable, I plan on adding freeze dried options as a topper & cooking my pup fresh veggies. However, I am struggling to find a puppy food that doesn’t have my pup’s intolerances (her high intolerances). Right now, she’s on Nutrisource Large Breed Puppy - for a 35lb bag it’s about $80. I’d like her food to last about a month if not longer & we will pay anywhere from $100-130 for a good food. It’s a lot to look at, our trainer used the 5-strand test. Please note that intolerances are not allergies but we are still advised to avoid them - the goal is to especially avoid all proteins/meals that she is intolerant to & try our best to avoid the rest of the intolerances… we have been struggling to find something to say the least.

Her high intolerances & what we are trying to avoid: Proteins: Kangaroo Lamb Herring Sole Trout Duck gizzard Milk Swiss cheese Quail Anchovy Lobster Rabbit Egg whites of chickens, ducks & quail Beef tallow Chicken by product Yogurt (besides Greek) Soy protein isolate

Meals: preferably I would like to avoid meals, but I understand this may not be possible without paying more. Therefore meals we want to avoid are: Cornmeal Herring meal Alligator meal Turkey meal Bison meal Rabbit meal Fish meal Salmon meal Sardine meal Whitefish meal *note that just because she may not be able to have a certain meal, does not mean that she can not have that protein!

Grains we want to avoid: Brown rice White rice Wild rice Rice bran Cassava root flour Yeast flower Brewers rice Soy grits Barley grass Tapioca startch Chicory root extract Fenugreek seed

Fruits & Vegs we want to avoid: Potato flour Potato startch Potato protein Celery Cranberries Cooked mushrooms (porcini, chaga, shiitake, maitake, enoki, truffle) Cooked brussel sprouts Cooked yellow potato & cooked sweet potato Cooked zucchini Cooked green peas Chickpeas Cooked carrots Cooked butternut squash

Oils & Vitamins we want to avoid: Cod liver oil Salmon oil Herring oil Soybean oil Sunflower oil Fish broth Beef fat Olive oil Almond oil Sardine oil Apple pomace Riboflavin Sage L-Carnitine Manganese Sulfate Probiotic dried aspergillosis Probiotic dried saccharomyces Probiotic dried trichiderma Biotin B12 Synthetic Glucosamine Ascorbic axis No added colors Calcium sulfate & isolate Probiotic streptococcus Folic acid L-threonine

Just to preface this post -my 5 month old black lab/hound mix is a great puppy. We got so lucky with her. Her Achilles heel is walking - I still can’t make it more than 2 blocks with her (I live in Boston on a quiet street but with busier intersections/lots of walkers and other dogs).

On our walks she will start strong - walking forward and checking in with me (rewarding her as she does) but then at some point (3-5 min in) she gets completely distracted, and I think, overwhelmed/stimulated, and then the whole walk is derailed. Sometimes this will be from people/dogs and sometimes it will be from sniffing. She will see another dog or person and will stop dead in her tracks. With people, she will then go up to them and want to be pet (she looooves people) and dogs it depends - sometimes she’ll freeze and be unable to move past them, sometimes she’ll go up to them and then get excited/jump around.

It’s hard to get her to focus on me or interact with people/dogs in a way that doesn’t derail the walk. From that point forward, she becomes super distracted. Sniffing, stopping/freezing to look at cars or people a ways away, etc. I try to coax her to move with treats, calling to her and sometimes reaching out to touch her and try to break her out of her “spell” but a few times I have had to resort to pulling on her harness to get her to move - which i know is not a good habit. But there have been times where she’s in the middle of a crosswalk and frozen!

Luckily - she displays no aggressive behavior toward people or dogs. She’s super friendly and curious, and she loves to sniff. But I would love to get to a place with her where we can go on longer walks and really get some exercise!

Any advice would be so helpful. Leash training in a city is no joke.

I have a 9 week old puppy that chews on anything and everything! Including hands and feet and faces. I give her exercise and have lots of playtime with her in a large yard, but that usually just gets her more hyper. Here is my question, I have a ton of different options of toys for her and the one that she chewed on the longest (like 5 minutes) was a Harts (I think?) teething bone, like a silicone, and I’m wondering if anyone has opinions on other really good and Safe ones to give her more options to keep her busy. Maybe a bacon or other scented one? I worry about them being safe for puppies. Other options to help the biting and being a crazy spaz is also very appreciated as well:) Thank you! :)

Have news about your puppy? Updates or Questions that don't need their own post? Wags that just can't wait? Or anything you wish to discuss about your pup and pup raising experience? Ask or post them here!

Please upvote this post for visibility if you enjoy the thread!

My pup hit 12 weeks today and is a female standard poodle. I had the first 2 weeks with her off of work due to Christmas. I typically work 10 hours per day m-th then have Fri-Sun off. About 7-5 but some days it’s 8/9-5 instead. My partner works 4am-1pm on the days he works which are very random. Puppy has never been left home alone more than 3 hours due to her age. But all of a sudden she seems to have separation anxiety only with me. She is my dog and I did get her to be a service dog eventually so because of that I’m doing 100% of her feeding and training and bonding. My partner will keep her up for about an hour then do 2 hour nap when he is home and I’m not because obviously she needs care. But if I’m home I do 100% of that so she will bond with me and focus on me as her handler. This is the first dog I’ve ever brought up in this way so I suppose this is normal but I’ve never heard of anything like this before. If I leave the room and she’s laying on my partner asleep she’ll immediately cry for me. Or if I’m home and I put her in her playpen she’ll flip out and bark and usually same with crate. With my partner she’ll just chill in the playpen and sleep in the crate. I’m just very confused by this and what I can be doing about it. I do not want it to escalate so any advice to help with this is appreciated!

Also secondary question: pup is very mouthy when she plays. She also demand barks. Both very normal but concern me for her needing to be a service dog. Will these barks subside when we are vested or does this make her not a good candidate for sd training? Our other standard poodle did not bark at all as a puppy so I have no frame of reference on that.

okay, first time puppy owner here, so please be kind. i ADORE our puppy. she was something of an unexpected addition to the household but has been GREAT so far - she's 15ish weeks and is picking up commands, getting the hang of potty training, and overall settling into the house really well.

here's the issue. i am out of town right now, and will be for three more days. (this was a trip i had planned before we knew we'd be welcoming our puppy into the house) normally, i work from home, and my partner works long hours and is often gone for large portions of the day and night. my mom was supposed to take our pup to her place, but got super sick last minute and had to cancel. our puppy had done great meeting new people before this, so we thought we could call one of our friends - whom she has met before and warmed up to immediately, initially - to stay at the house with her during the day so she isn't alone while my partner is at work. apparently, since i've been gone, she's just been crazy. biting way more than she usually does, having accidents all over the house, barking and crying and running away from our friend when he tries to take her outside or approach her. my partner returned home from his work shift this evening and said she was abnormally bitey with him too.

i feel terrible. i had thought that, since she's been relatively well-adjusted so far, and since she seemed to really like this friend and didn't have any issues meeting new people, this would be an okay solution for while i'm not home. she's still new to the house, but with how good it's been with her so far, i wasn't concerned about leaving her for a few hours with someone she already knew a bit. now i'm five hours from home reading about how easy it is to traumatize your puppy with separation anxiety issues, and im worried i made a wrong choice in leaving at all. have we completely traumatized her? is there any way to make up for it once im home? any advice would be appreciated.

4.5 months old. Smart, cute, funny, sweet Chihuahua. I am in love. Admittedly. I’ve gotten lax on the crate situation bc I’m a sucker.

How I got suckered: We go to bed together around 11 pm and it’s heaven. After she gets extra sleepy and we have our cuddle time (I know what a dork I am), I put her in her crate around 1 am. And then when I wake up around 6, she gets to come thundering down the hall way and we get back in bed until 7 am. That’s when it works well!

Problem is I’ve sometimes let her sleep through the whole night with me. And the “sometimes” has now become every night. No potty issues, all snuggles.

I’ve really got her to take to the crate. So help me stay strong - she’s wailing like a banshee. Help, right now at 3 am. Worried my building is going to have issues with me.

The question:

1. at 3 am, is she telling me she has to potty? (If I let her stay in bed with me, she sleeps through the night without a pee break.) so do I take her out at 3 am to go potty and put her back in?

Or

2. Or do I leave her to cry her little Chihuahua eyes out? Snuggle puppy didn’t work, fyi.

Help. Me. I just want to snuggle. So does she. But I travel a ton and she will be a better travel companion if she takes to her crate.

This week, we brought home our (working) Golden Retriever pup, and she’s already amazing us with how clever and sweet she is! She voluntarily goes into her crate and seems to be settling in well. Her first night, she woke up once at 3:00 AM, and the night after she slept from 11:00 PM to 6:00 AM with only a few small whines (which didn’t seem to need a potty break, so we didn't take her out). Last night she slept from 11:00 PM to 04:00 AM, then we went for a quick potty break and afterwards fell asleep till 08:00 AM.

We feel very lucky that she’s adjusting so well, but we’re also sticking to a strict schedule to keep her routine consistent. Here’s a quick overview of our day:

• Crate time until she wakes up and clearly lets us know she needs to go out. We wait a minute for her to settle (not picking her up immediately).
• Outside for a quick potty break.
• (breakfast/lunch/dinner)
• Playtime (about 20 minutes), sometimes with a bit of training mixed in. If we want to exhaust her a bit extra, she also goes into our garden for playtime.
• Short walk (about 10 minutes).
• Back to the crate until she wakes up, and the cycle repeats.

We’ve noticed she needs a lot of sleep (which we knew), especially in the evenings when she’s much calmer. However, during the day, she rarely sleeps for longer than 1.5 hours at a time. When she wakes up and whines a bit, we take her outside, and she always does something—sometimes a full potty, sometimes just a small pee with a few drops. But never in the house, we only had a little accident on the first day, which was our fault.

Here are our main questions:

1. Should we encourage her to sleep longer during the day? If so, how can we help her settle better? We try to stay on the couch until she sleeps, and afterwards start to walk around a bit or do some household chores. Which sometimes wakes her up.
2. When she voluntarily goes into her crate during playtime, we usually leave the door open. But if it’s her scheduled nap time, we close the door, even if we’re home. Does this method sound okay?
3. Last three nights one of us slept on the couch, with the create closeby. When do we know it's the right time to go back to our beds and let her stay in the crate by herself? Our bedroom is down the hallway so we will still hear her when she wakes up.

Any advice on improving her nap routine, crate time, or anything else for a happy golden pup would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!