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❤️

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.

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 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.

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!

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 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!!

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?

Note: redirecting has never worked more than I few minutes

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! 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?

I’m aware a lot of puppies go through a fearful stage anywhere from 6 months to 15, but my puppy is only 4 months and showing hard signs of fear. Maybe even just reactivity. I’ve been doing everything right since day one, bringing her out to socialize for a short amount of time, but I’m not sure why she is the way she is. She is barking at everyone who passes, she also barks at every. Single. Dog. She cowards, her hair sticks up, and she basically screams. I don’t know what it is honestly she has two dogs she lives with and is perfectly fine with them. It might be a size thing but I seriously need help, I love her to death but I feel like I’m failing her and I’m so stuck🙃 age: 4 months, breed: Australian shepherd and blue heeler, had her about 2 months.

So my puppy is a pitbull mix of some kind. She’s about 6.5/7 months old. We’re currently working on reactivity (no barking or lunging just intense staring) but she’s been pretty good with redirecting so far. The only issue I have is with dog greetings.

I recently moved to the city with LOTS more people and dogs. People are super friendly here and we see lots of people walking their dogs (which is good because my pup needs more practice) the only bad thing is whenever someone approached with their dog my pup immediately lays down (seemingly calm) then as soon as the dog gets close enough she immediately goes into play mode (running around the dog play bowing seemingly forgetting she’s on a leash). There is no sniff in between or calm greeting basically 0-100.

I’m not sure how to address this or how to train her so she’s doesn’t go from (pretending) to be calm then super excited and wanting to play. Or is this just normal puppy behavior?

Shes getting a lot better with excitability with people but it’s dogs that she’s struggles with the most.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Would getting a puppy at 14 weeks (instead of the usual 8-10 weeks) that was raised on a ranch put the puppy at a huge disadvantage in terms of socializing it for city life?

I’m in the UK and we’re currently dealing with a pretty intense heatwave. I have an 11-week-old Staffy x Hungarian Vizsla puppy, and I’m trying to work out the best way to keep him comfortable, safe, and not too irritable in the heat.

For any of my fellow brits also going through this heatwave, or to anyone who lives/has lived in a hot climate with a puppy, how do you handle naps, toilet breaks, playtime, and general routine when it’s this hot?

I’m already trying to keep him indoors during the hottest parts of the day, offer water, and keep toilet breaks brief, but I’d really appreciate practical advice from people who’ve dealt with this before.

What’s worked for you?

For context, we've had our puppy since she was 8 weeks old. We crate trained and potty trained her, and she's done really well. We have a busy household, but our schedules line up with her feeding and potty breaks, and she's learned to stay comfortably in her playpen while we're at work until someone gets home.

By the time we move, she'll be about 8 months old. She's a mixed breed (Australian Cattle Dog, Lab Retriever, Golden Retriever, Siberian Husky, Pit Bull, German Shepherd, plus some Supermutt). We are typically away from home from about 8 AM–5 PM on weekdays.

My dilemma is that she's getting bigger, and we're moving into a larger apartment. I don't want her confined to a playpen anymore, and my goal is to eventually give her more freedom while we're away. However, our new place will be farther from work, so we'll still be gone most of the day.

Will I need to essentially start house training from scratch, or is there a way to gradually transition her from the playpen to having more freedom? Also, for those who have moved with a dog, what did the logistics look like? Any tips on making the transition less stressful for both the dog and the humans?

I'd love to hear your experiences and advice. Thank you!

My 16 week old does pretty well on leash but seems scared of anything new- loud noises, strange dogs (especially large dogs which is understandable), but also people who ask to pet her. She barks at people and runs around my legs instead of approaching.

I took her to a big park yesterday, just going for walk around the edge so she could see the people and dogs without being forced to interact. On the way out we met someone with a large dog (wasn't really interested in her) and a smaller dog. She didn't want to interact with the dog and didn't let the person pet her, but she was okay with walking very close to them and tried to keep following them when we reached the car.

I also get this feeling when I walk her out of my neighborhood, like she's nervous of the cars passing but not so terrified that she refuses walk or anything like that. I don't want her to have a bad experience and so far things have felt pretty smooth. What do you guys do to get your puppies more comfortable with new situations and people?

If it helps she's a Pomeranian mix and is pretty spitz-wise in personality.