Blog

We have an almost 8 month old English lab. He has done mostly well with puppy training for general commands (sit, down, etc.) but his barking is so loud and so incessant, and he still nips so badly at my husband and me, and won’t let us sit on the couch. The trainer said he just wants attention, and I get it, but that’s just not possible to give him attention all the time, and nor can we expect to stand all the time when we want to read, watch tv, etc. The trainer suggested we leash him around the house and yank on it to give “no” commands and help him understand he can be close to us but have a little freedom at times, or when he nips or to give him a toy in place of nipping.

I am concerned some of this is possible resource guarding, from what I’ve tried to research, and we’re at a loss over it.

For reference, his crate is downstairs, and he seems to love it. He will go into the crate voluntarily when we sit down to eat dinner at the table and sleep during our meals. He is crated overnight just fine and doesn’t bark when we crate him to go run errands. Otherwise, he is free to roam (within reason, we have gates Ho for little kiddos to stay contained in certain areas at times) and/or if we are cooking and need him “contained” we will tether his leash to a nearby door so he can only go so far (he’s chewed our wooden baseboards up when given too much freedom.) He has been upstairs once, and maybe he can more frequently when he’s older and not as mischievous, but it’s just not something we are comfortable with consistently for now.

Okay, the barking – which is LOUD – I mean, so so loud – it has set off my decibels notification warning on my watch countless times: he only seems to bark when my husband leaves the room and/or goes upstairs. If it’s just me at home, or even when it’s me and the kids at home and my husband goes to the store, he doesn’t bark at us. And he only seems to do this during the daytime. At night, I think he’s gotten well adjusted to our bedtime routines, so once we go upstairs for the night, he’s mostly okay with all of us being upstairs and him being downstairs in the crate, unless if the dishes aren’t done, he whines until the dishes are done/dishwasher runs.

I think what makes all this complicated is that we work from home so we are home a lot in general, but often times, my husband can’t even have him in his office, which we moved from upstairs to downstairs recently, when he’s working because he will bark at him or nip at him the whole time, and it’s become disruptive at times for work meetings. The daytime barking has also become disruptive for kid nap times.

We previously had an American lab (rest his soul), and he wasn’t like this at all. He was calm, hardly barked, and was such a chill pup. Times were different then though because we didn’t have kids until he was a little older and also we didn’t work from home. I will say, our new dog is not yet fixed – could that help some behaviors? Looking back at our previous lab, they suspected that getting him fixed too soon contributed to some physical developmental issues that contributed to his early death, so we are worried about running into that again.

I feel like a failure at times with our new dog, and it’s so tough to work through the frustrations. Any suggestions at all? I sincerely appreciate anything anyone has to share. Thanks for reading all of this, too.

As probably everyone in here, i wanted a dog more than anything for years. I researched well and chose standard poodle as to match my lifestyle the best. I considered giving her back to the breeder for a few days, when we figured out crate naps, it is now better (but only at home and when crate is available). She is SMART. She knows place, sit (learned this just by me wanting her to sit before i open the crate, put on a leash), she all the basic commands and learns them by like 5 tries.. She understood potty training when i got her at 10 weeks. Im teaching her to settle now, which if we manage i will feel huge relief (she wont settle with me at work, with friends etc. I spend a lot of time on her, it is overwhelming. Im hoping for advice from standard poodle owners specifically – when does it get easier?😭 Im somehow hoping that with them being this smart it might be sooner? She is by all means an almost perfect puppy, it is still incredibly hard. Wishing for some reassurance🥹

My 4 month old loves to chew and destroys every toy I give her. She also wants to swallow a lot of what she chews so I had to stop giving her anything plush/fabric/stuffed. I got the puppy nylabones that come in a set of 3 “stages” based on some recommendations I saw and the one for puppies with their puppy teeth isn’t holding up. I read that they are supposed to splinter in rice sized pieces but she is taking off hunks (photo of one attached.) Can I give her the stage 2 (for puppies with their adult teeth)? Any other recommendations for what she can chew that won’t add a ton of extra calories? She loves ice cubes but now my rug is always wet!

6 month old Shih Tzu that we got about 3 weeks ago. When we first got home he slept in crate all night in our room no problems. Eventually when I realized he was sleeping though night and becoming pretty reliable for pottying I let him sleep in our bed. (Personal preference. Lost our 15 year old dog in August and that was his happy place.) He still is in crate while we are at work and he does not cry at all when he realizes we are all leaving. Sleeps happily all day, even when our son comes home in the middle of the day he is happy just staying in there if he needs to.

However. Putting him in there when we are all home and we just need him to be put away for a while is a different ball game! Pretty upset and yappy. He spends every chance he can curled up on the couch with us so I can imagine why!

So I guess my question is, is this normal, this is probably not considered crate trained. Do you think it’s because I let him into our bed? Or is it just bc he loves us lol.

He is not kept in a cage at night, and he will carry around a stuffed animal when he cries. He seems really tense and when I pet him he stays in one spot but leaves as soon as he is not being pet.

Hello, at what age do I stop using the heat lamp for puppies and how many weeks do they naturally eat the paste? Thank you for your answers This is just so as not to stop the lamp if necessary and to prepare for weaning They are 3 weeks old, they are pomchis crossed chihuhua and dwarf spitz For the moment still using mother's milk but I want to be sure not to start too early

I've got 12 week aussie for 3 weeks now. Its been up and down, I've sunk deep into regrets just to enjoy him the next day.

But I have so many problems with him that I'm constantly asking myself if I should return him to the breeder.

He's overstimulating super quickly. He will turn into a demon in seconds on a potty break or during play. If he's going for a "2" he'll overstimulate every time.

And once he's activated I cannot handle him, I'm a big guy and he's overwhelming me physically. He'll go for my legs, trousers, jacket or boots and start to bite and pull, if he's latched on I cannot correct him in any way. And I did try multiple things. I tried pinning him to the floor or grabbing him by his loose skin and correcting that way, but it doesn't do anything, if released he'll bite again. I tried redirecting with a toy – no bueno. I tried restraining biting with a leash, he'll continue even if he starts choking himself.

I consulted a trainer about this behavior and they said that he has too much stimulation and I should make wake cycles shorter. At this point he's waking up, going potty, having a sip and going back to crate. This worked for a while but now he's refusing to fall asleep.

During one of my walks I actually broke his finger when opening a door, so its now double to the problem. He cannot do physical activities, he cannot really walk because his bandage is getting wet and really he's getting more and more irritated rather than getting better with time.

On top of that I cannot motivate him with food – he'll go for it, but reluctantly – on all training videos I've seen puppies are over-exited to get a treat, in my case he'll do the thing I asked him for, and when presented with a reward sometimes even refuse it.

I tried sniff mats or puzzle toys – he'll flip them over (and then ignore the treats inside)

In summary:

– I get bitten, a lot, with very little inhibition progressing

– I get "herded" on walks

– Food is only mild motivator, play or even pooping overstimulates him quickly

– Any ways I know that should let him vent are not working – either ignored or cannot be performed due to injury

– All my day is spent by preventing him from injuring himself even more / wrecking havoc in home (will actively try to escape play pen, bark and jump) or nip at everything

– I work from home and I cannot find any time / mental capacity to do so (I've taken 2 first weeks off too).

I don't know what to do.

I fear that even if I invest time and effort now, for next couple of week, he'll continue being awful.

I don't know if I can continue, give up on him and return to the breeder or put him through training camp.

Oh my gosh this is so hard, harder than I could ever have anticipated. My puppy is 5 months old and teething. Today he has been unbearable. Will not settle for his naps at all and then enters an overtired and wired phase 😅 even when I’ve met all of his needs and KNOW he needs a sleep, he just screams in the crate. It’s really grinding me down I just need it to get better 😭

Hi Reddit,

I've adopted a puppy 3 weeks ago and she is 3 months old right now. I am having problems with her agression towards me and my partner. She has been biting our hands and feet really hard. Any advice on how to stop this? For example, when we go out for a potty and she is done, whenever I say "Let's go home" she starts pulling my pants and attacking my shoes. If I try to grab her she attacks my hands. We tried offering her biting toys instead or any method that you can find online (ignore, move away to show that's not fun or cry like a puppy to show that you are hurt) but none of them worked out so far.