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I love my 7 month old mini dachshund so much. She is my best friend and I think I’m out of the puppy blues. She slept in a pen for 2 months before moving to mg bed. I love having her with me, it helps me sleep knowing she’s nearby.

She sleeps mostly 9-5. She just does not stay up later. By 8 she’s normally out on the couch. How on earth can I can get to sleep in later? I’m exhausted

She has no water after 6 pm

I 31F am currently a full time stay at home dog mom to my relatively new 7month old bichon puppy. I’ve had her since October and she’s been a blessing and surprisingly easy to train! However our ongoing concern is crate training. I’ve done some cursory research and learned that the best way to crate train is by making positive associations with the crate so that your puppy will want to go in on their own, and I’ve been doing this by making a “puzzle” out of her favorite blanket and some small treats. I’ve been folding up the blanket and sticking the treats in the different folds and she’ll go inside the crate to search for them, which is great since she likes to dig. However today I realized there may be a problem to this method unsupervised. I was sitting next to the crate playing ACNH when my puppy started barking in an agitated manner. I looked to investigate and discovered that she had worked her way into the folds of the blanket that she could not extricate herself from easily. She was struggling and panting so I quickly unwrapped her and got her settled. She’s perfectly fine now, but this is clearly not a safe way to entertain her while she’s unattended. I hate to think what would happen if I hadn’t been here!

All this to say, does anyone with more experience have some safer alternatives for this blanket search that you can leave your pup to unattended? I go back to working in one more week and I want to make sure she’s safe for the few hours neither I or my husband will be home. Any advice is appreciated!

I have a 9mos old cavapoo. I need ideas to keep her from being the wild child that she is post spay! The trazadone my vet gave us to giver 2 times a day (because she knows her too well) worked well for the 1st two days but yesterday and today she is acting like I gave her nothing and she didn’t just have surgery 2 days ago 😂 I’ve tried lick and sniffle mats and that only provides about 20min of reprieve. I have a big house an open floor plan and the rooms that I can lock her in have way too much in there for her to get into. I put her in a playpen and a crate and she starts climbing up the walls. It doesn’t help that my 3yr old dog wants to play that’s really when all hell breaks loose.

Hi everyone. I really need some support and stories from people who raised a puppy completely on their own (no partner).

I have a Havanese puppy, she just turned 3 months old. I got her when she was 10 weeks old. I’ve always dreamed of having a dog. Before getting her I read a lot, planned my life so I could stay at home (I work from home), and tried to set up a good routine and learn how to train and socialize her “the right way”.

She’s been with me for almost a month now. During the first weeks I cried almost every day. Even with all the preparation, the reality was very different. Now it’s a bit more manageable: we kind of have a routine, and in my head I understand she’s just a baby learning how to live in this world with me. In some ways she already makes me a better person. But honestly, I still get so tired and overwhelmed sometimes.

I also realized that my “old life” is gone. It’s funny to think how I imagined I could just keep my evening activities (like dance classes) and simply “fit the dog in”. In reality she can’t stay home alone for long yet, and that changes everything.

I used a pet sitter once, because I really didn’t want to miss an important event and completely disappear from my social life. When I came back, I didn’t feel guilty, I actually felt relieved and happy to see her – which maybe is a sign that this balance is possible.

I read a lot about dogs, training, schedules, etc., and sometimes it feels like I’m not doing enough, and other times like I’m doing way too much. I just can’t find that golden middle. People keep saying “enjoy the puppy stage, it goes so fast”, but honestly sometimes I just can’t wait for her to grow up a bit so life feels less intense and I can get at least some parts of my old life back.

My parents live in another country, and they’ve been very emotionally supportive – we talk more now and it actually brought us closer, which is a big positive thing. But I still cry sometimes (way less than before, but it still happens).

I’m not trying to complain or say I regret it. I fully accept the responsibility, and I already feel like she’s part of my home and family. I just really want to hear from people who also got a puppy while living alone:

• How did you cope emotionally?
• When did it start to feel easier?
• What happened to your social life?
• Were you able to go back to hobbies / classes / evenings out?
• What helped you not feel “trapped” at home all the time?

Thank you so much to anyone who reads and shares their experience 💛

Hi wonderful people! I brought home two 8-week old foster puppies and have some questions about training. I will only have them for about another week, so I’m wondering what’s the most valuable training I can do in this short time to set these pups up for success. We’re currently working on potty training with puppy pads, although it’s a little hard with two because they both want to go at the same time. They sleep in their crate together at night, so we’re sort of working on crate training but I suspect they will have a rougher time being alone in the crate when they are adopted individually. Is it worth it to work on individual crate training with them or maybe just some basics like sit? Also any guess on their breed?

What do you guys use for treats? I know I can use kibble but my large puppy eats purina pro plan and the pieces are tiny! Can I use a larger kibble for treats? I figured it would be more cost effective. I would appreciate any recommendations!

Our 8 month old ACD does amazing with structured crate naps, but is otherwise incapable of settling by himself. We really want to start transitioning him to just settling whenever he wants throughout the day so he can graduate to more freedom.

He’s a stickler for rules and has never even tried to chew anything that isn’t his, and has had free roam of half of the house since about 5 months old (he’s a Velcro dog tho so he’s usually within 10 feet of me anyways), so we think he’s finally ready!

Yesterday we didn’t enforce a nap and he just relaxed while I worked and then eventually went into the crate to sleep with the door open. In the afternoon after a long walk, he also just settled down on the floor and took an hour nap unprompted. We did have to enforce a third nap when he kept getting up to check on the cat every time she walked by, but it was a great first day!

And now on day 2, we did a walk and some play, and he is now napping away on his bed for the past two hours!

Overall I’m just so obsessed with him and how good of a dog he is, he’s completely my best friend already, and even if it’s small, these past two days help me see how much he’s grown and matured and just becoming the dog I was hoping he would ♥️

Would love to hear other stories of puppies as they mature and big wins you saw as they chilled out!