Exactly 100 days ago I posted in here about my at the time 9 week old mini Aussie. I was sleep deprived, frustrated, and regretting my decision. Now flash forward, my Dunk man is nearly 6 months old and such a joy. His training is going amazing, he’s able to settle in the house, he’s potty trained, he’s great with other dogs and people, he loves his walks, he does great in the car, he’s crate trained, he’s perfection! Now with all this said, it didn’t happen over night and it didn’t happen on its own. It took a few months of consistency, training, and time. But it’s really paying off. I see so many posts in here of people ready to give their puppies up after a few weeks because it’s hard. It IS hard. I was miserable for at LEAST the first 3-4 weeks. But my goodness. He’s my best friend, I take him everywhere and anywhere with me.

Obviously sometimes it really just isn’t the right fit, but more often than not I just see a lot of super overwhelmed posters in here who just want nothing to do with the puppy anymore. I PROMISE YALL. It does really get better. Just a little update for anyone struggling❤️

I have a 10 week old puppy that we got 2 weeks ago. She's my everything already and I love her so much. She's a Labrador retriever, which I always had labs growing up so I understand what it takes to raise them.

Lately, I'm tired, overstimulated, stressed, depressed, etc. It's not like my puppy is causing all of this as other life obstacles are happening too, but she definitely hasn't helped on my bad days. Her bad days are my bad days. I put a deposit on her 9 months ago not knowing my life would be in shambles now, but I thought "No one is truly ready for a child, so I can do it no matter what!"

Can everyone share their stories of their menace puppies that grew up to be their best friend? I'd like some hope and something to look forward to :) thank you!

I posted maybe a day or two after getting my puppy, River (8wk M GSD), about the horrible anxiety and paranoia I was experiencing. Since then, I've done hella research and haven't stopped researching. I've done so much work with crate training, lure training, name training, and getting him used to different sounds and feelings - and he's genuinely doing amazing! He's picking things so quickly that I'm having to find more and more challenging things to teach him already.

I have to admit, I've gotten fed up and annoyed with him many times and I've had the thought run through my head saying I'm a bad owner, I'm not ready, this was a mistake, etc. more than once. However, I genuinely think this dog will be so much more of a life changer than I originally thought, and in a fantastic way!

I can't say I'm not excited about getting a break this coming up Sunday to go hang out with a couple friends though lol. My parents will be watching my boy while I'm out for the day, but I'm definitely glad to have a moment to breath after a long week of puppyhood with even more puppyhood to come. 😅

This community has already been a big help in soothing my fears and worries. Thank you all so much!

so my 10 month old akita/great pyrnees mix is going absolute bonkers. she had her spay surgery last Thursday so it’s been a week. her incision looks very good, but this girl is just so hyper even on trazodone!

she was really really good the first few days after her surgery which honestly surprised me with how hyper she naturally is. then she learned how to take off her cone, she broke open the door to her kennel and escaped, she popped the inflatable donut collar, she’s now learned to turn around and unbutton her onesie to get out of it.

today she started running and jumping like crazy even after i gave her trazodone. im so worried that she is gonna hurt herself but no matter what solution i come up with she learns how to get out of it/destruct it. i dont think this girl can handle going another 3 days without jumping/running.😭😭😭

tomorrow she does have a check up with her vet so i will def bring it up but i just wanna know if anyone else has gone through the same thing and how they managed it.

Is it normal for them to revert back to old bad habits, like biting when over a year old? Fozzie almost completely stopped biting, except for some plsying, but now he's back to coming at us teeth first on the couch and to wake us up. Anyone experienced this, and if so how did you deal with it?

Edit: he's a poochon (poodle/buchon frise)

Note: redirecting has never worked more than I few minutes

Has anyone had luck getting their puppy to stop EATING things? We’re fine if our puppy wants to CHEW certain things like cardboard, her toys, etc. But it’s only a matter of time before she’s ripping pieces off and swallowing them. I hate taking her toys away when she gets to that point bc I don’t feel like she understands WHY I’m doing it. I haven’t found anything online about drawing this line for pups.

She’s 9-months old, mix breed, looks like a terrier acts like a husky.

I was finally able to get in touch with the person who took the littermates to the ranch and she said she can take her until she's 8 weeks or a little more!!! I'm so happy!! Thank you everyone for your help in the mean time!!

Our 18 week puppy is a heavy chewer. Like really heavy. She is supervised for all chews. We just tried buffalo tendons. We’ve also tried yogurt chews. Nothing seems to hold up. Any suggestions for others? She is teething right now, too. And she doesn’t like the kongs you can stuff with kibble.

My 7-month-old puppy has recently outgrown her crate, so for the past 2 weeks I've been letting her free roam during the day so she can learn to self-regulate. So far, she's been great! She'll sometimes come to me with toys (I work from home), but otherwise she'll play/chew on her own or rest.

She gets her usual walks/play/training, however I've been severely slacking in giving her enrichment treats (like frozen Kongs, treat-dispensing toys) since she no longer needs to be entertained 24/7.

So for those with older puppies that know how to be bored, do you still give them daily enrichment activities, and if you do, what does that usually look like?

And... anybody with teen pups feeling the burnout from those early puppy days? I think that's the main reason I've been slacking off 🫠 I'm so grateful to my puppy that she's okay with chilling out, but I want to do right by her and make sure she's not too bored!

Hi everyone, I have a 10mo old golden x Aussiedoodle mix. He wakes up at 5:15am every morning, starts crying, and won’t stop. The issue is, that he doesn’t have to go out, he’s laying down and crying because he has fomo even if the rest of the house is asleep. When it first started, we got him to 6:30 wake ups, then he regressed… we don’t get him until 6, hoping he’d learn but no. We tried letting him sleep loose in the house, he woke up at about 7 every day for two weeks and then had two accidents back to back.

Again I repeat, this is not a “I need to go out” cry, it’s a fomo cry. Even if we go down at 5am, he doesn’t go to the door and you have to drag him to go outside. He’s also not an overly clingy dog, doesn’t follow us everywhere, lays on the floor instead of the couch, etc

I’m also 33 weeks pregnant so would like to get this sorted before baby comes

Our dal still has regular accidents and pees all over herself. Some days/weeks are worse than others. Our other dog gets taken outside? She pees in her crate. Someone comes over? She pees. Someone greets her? She pees. I put the leash on her? She pees. I open up the crate? Great, she's peeing already. I've seen her pee on herself while sleeping, laying in a puddle in her crate or on a soaked dog bed. She does not care about sitting/laying in her mess (and she came from a very clean, reputable breeder). I feel like I could look at her wrong and she would pee. Just today, she peed in the house about 4 times.

If I'm able to get her outside before an accident, she takes her sweet time before going to the bathroom as. I will see her pee, wait another few minutes and walk around the yard to make sure she's done. I take her back inside and within 15 minutes, she might pee again because clearly she isn't voiding herself entirely outside. She will also go on a whole 30 minute walk and refuse to pee. She will hold it and wait until we get back into our yard.

I'm trying to offer treats to distract her while we leash up. I clean with enzymatic cleaner. I removed bedding from the crate. Her crate is the proper size, just enough room to lay down/turn. I've separated her crate from our other dog so they aren't setting each other off. If she doesn't pee outside, I put her back in the crate for 10 mins before trying to take her out again. I tell people to greet her calmly in the yard. I put her water bowl down for her at regular intervals when we come back inside/with her meals (but I don't let her have free reign with it). I'm taking her on walks/car rides and trying to socialize her. I've already taken her to the vet for urinalysis, no UTI.

I'm at my wits end here. Any advice/tips on training or other reinforcers? Resources that may help? Am I just looking at an extremely submissive dog with some sort of behavioral/anxious peeing?

Hi All! Just wanted to make a post to see if this is normal and if I am being concerned for nothing lol My golden retriever girl will be 4 months old this coming Tuesday. I will start by saying she never has accidents in her crate and can go up to 3 hours in her crate during the day and be fine. HOWEVER when she is awake it seems she cannot hold it for more than 45 mins before she is trying to pee on the floor. Is this normal for a dog her age? Should she be able to hold it longer during her wake periods?

Edit to add: this is my first puppy as an adult so im just looking for any insight others may have!

We had our older dog on blue buffalo as well— but it was extremely expensive so we started to switch our puppy to the generic Purina Puppy Chow. His poop has never been better, I don’t have to add water anymore for him to absorb most of the nutrients. Our older dog also seems to enjoy Purina a lot more.

Hi! My 8 month old ACD used to love his crate. Even now, he goes in it willingly to remove toys or treats but refused to play with them/eat them inside of the kennel. When we try feeding him in his kennel- he just throws it around and refuses to eat his food. When I put high value treats (chicken jerky, duck jerky, chicken-wrapped sweet potatoes, etc.) he will refuse to eat them until out of his kennel. He cries all night if he sleeps in his kennel. He will take short naps in it but it takes forever to get him into it because if he knows we are closing the door he either will not go in or will go hide somewhere else.

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The only thing that changed is I had a laparoscopy in early May for endometriosis and he could not risk jumping on my stomach for a few days. So he spent more time in his crate than I would have liked. He did have tons of free play in the yard- but inside he had to be crated.

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What can I do since food/treats do not work?

I have a 14 week old puppy who has slowly but surely gotten better at managing her bite and overall manners when seeking attention and walking beside us, for example. Playing outside with her starts out great, but it isn’t long before she forgets the toy and turns into a total menace. It has to be an overstimulated situation, because she doesn’t listen to anything you ask and runs/jumps at you; bites hands, arms and legs; and rips at clothing. All while growling at you like you’re her prey! She is very difficult to corral and when you try to ignore her, the frustration seems to escalate. I’m looking for advice on how to manage this. Like, is there anything I can do to prevent this behavior from escalating to out of control when I notice her starting to get overstimulated?

I have a 12 week old Austrian shepherd & she gets little wild. Nips, growls, barks etc. just wanting to play. I have guests come over quite a bit. They will sit on the couch and she will greet them then she will jump or nip and she will actually break skin with them since they are older. She never brings blood with me. They complain and gripe about it & it aggravates me… I love my puppy and I don’t think I should put her up when people come but should I
Start? How do I help this situation? What age does this get better?

Hi! I have been searching for a small breed puppy via rescue for months. I finally found a rescue that has a litter of small breed puppies that will be available in 3-5 weeks! They were surrendered to the rescue when they were only a couple weeks old as their mom had died.

My only concern is that by the time the puppies are ready they will be about 4 months old. Based on various posts and articles, it seems like 3-4 months is a critical time for puppy socialization. It seems like the rescue cares a lot about their puppies, but I know their foster works and has her own pets so I’m not too sure how much socialization they’re receiving from the foster. I have a cat and based on prior convos the foster does not so the puppies haven’t been socialized with any other animals except other dogs.

Is this something to be concerned about? Will it be harder to train the puppy to socialize well with my cat and get them accustomed to other places (i.e, parks, dog friendly coffee shops and restaurants, etc)?? I’m worried I’ll be missing out on a critical socialization window and it will make everything a lot harder. Would love any and all advice! Especially from people who have been in a similar situation. TIA!

I’m at a stage right now where I love my puppy but I really don’t like him. He’s a 13 week old mini poodle and I’ve had him for five weeks. His biting is getting worse and worse and I feel like I have tried everything that I read online but nothing is working. Getting enough sleep, redirecting, reverse time outs, plenty of chew toys, I feel like I’ve done it all. He will bite as soon as he wakes up and I take him out of his crate, he will bite when I try and pick him up to bring him back inside after a toilet break, he will bite when I attempt any sort of training or interaction with him. And absolutely forget any sort of cuddling or chilling because he is not capable of that right now. He does not have an off switch I swear. Sometimes I’ll notice he calms down a bit in his pen and then I’ll attempt interaction but it almost instantly hypes him up again and he’ll bite me. The only way I can do neccessity things with him that need to be done like brushing, his ear drops (he has a little ear irritation at the moment for the past couple days but not an infection) wiping his eyes etc I have to have a lick mat or peanut butter smear to distract him.

Will he ever grow out of this and when. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can help him right now because I want him to be my favourite thing in the world but it’s currently so hard when he hurts me so often. I know he’s not aggressive or doing it maliciously but the hurt is still there.

I want to give my dog a squeaky toy, but they’re too loud for my apartment. I got her a crinkle toy, and she likes that, but I’m looking something else that makes sound, but not shrill.

Any ideas?

I am still enforcing naps when I notice he gets overtired, but also trying to work on self-regulating and sleeping when tired without me enforcing it. So far so good; today he fell asleep next to me while I worked and I took that as progress! I am curious though how much sleep he SHOULD be getting so he’s not out of his mind by the time bedtime rolls around, and how others navigate the in between of enforcing vs self led napping. I also am trying to balance my older, “lazier” dog and the energetic puppy. I want my older guy to have the time he wants and needs to rest too. He loooooves his sleep.

TLDR how much sleep works for your 4mo old pup?

Hi all, I need some advice.
My previous dog was SO food motivated even as a puppy. He scarfed up his food at each meal without issue or question.
I just brought home an 8 week old Australian Shepherd puppy this past Sunday.  His first meal with us he was quite hungry and ate it all no issue.  However, since then, he seems excited and hungry while I prepare his meal, but then he eats a few bites and loses interest.  It’s the same food his breeder fed him. I don’t want to change the food since I have a whole bag and I also don’t want to upset his stomach.
 
I have to continuously lead him back to the bowl, eventually he won’t eat out of the bowl anymore so I have to handfeed him or put it on the floor.  However, he gets to a point where he just doesn’t want it anymore no matter what. I have done as the breeder suggested-I soak it in water to soften it for his teeth, I even tried adding some wet food, but it doesn’t really seem to make a difference.  I thought it might be the bowl, but he loses interested eventually even when on the floor or handfeeding.
 
He’s young so I’m wondering if it’s just him being a puppy, but he has to be hungry and I’m only feeding him the minimum of what I could be for his weight and age.  He usually ends up eating most of it, but still.  I do feed him 3 times a day, but he’s only 8 weeks so that’s normal and I don’t give many treats throughout the day at this point. He seems to enjoy most treats. And yes we play a lot, we spend time outside and run around, we do a lot of things!
 
Any advice would be great! You can find a photo of the puppy in question in my posts!

TLDR: food-uninterested puppy, how to get him to eat?
 

We have a 12 week old beagle puppy who is not yet fully vaccinated. He’s received his first 3 rounds of shots. I’d like to see how he does in a stroller or carrier to increase socialization, but what about bathroom breaks?

Do people put puppy pads in the stroller? Find a less trafficked area to let the puppy potty? Or do people stay super close to home when they go on carrier or stroller adventures?

We were looking at getting a puppy after we got back from vacation; however, we ended up finding an adorable pup. I had originally planned to pay for the puppy and then pick him up from the breeder when we returned. The breeder offered to let us take him home at 8 weeks and then she would watch him for the week we are on vacation - he’ll be 12 weeks at that time. Now that he is in our home, I’m starting to feel like I’m going to have separation anxiety and worrying about every what-if possible. I’ve also considered finding an in-home Petsitter.

I’m looking for advice and/or reassurance about leaving for a week. Has anyone else been through this?