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My 11 month old only settles in her crate. We’ve unlocked weekend couch naps, but she still struggles to regulate and settle at night outside of her crate when she’s ready for bed. The second I get her bedtime snack she’s bouncing up the stairs into her crate before I even leave my kitchen. Her crate is in my office while I sleep in my room. She’s always slept in her crate in another room as this was the setup her foster family had for her, except they had other dogs crated in the same room at bedtime.

Did anyone transition from crate to bed? How’d you know they were ready? Did you wait until they could fully settle themselves at night or did you tough out some long nights? Did you move the crate into your room at first?

I don’t want to try sleeping outside the crate if she’s not ready, and then regress on her crate training.

She’s my first puppy and only my second dog. My first dog cried whenever he was in his crate at night. That lasted two weeks before I gave up and put him in my bed (where he then slept for 10 years). So this is new to me!

I’m venting.

I want to take puppy raising seriously. I want to stay disciplined so we have longterm success.

I am correcting my wife when she encourages our puppy to whine. I want the puppy to use stairs diligently getting on and off the bed, but that’s dumb because “no one does that”. I am annoying when I’m trying to set boundaries with jumping.

She thinks I’m being too intense.

I’ve also told my mother in law over and over and over again to not use that stupid high pitched “hello!” excitement energy as soon as she sees the puppy.

She still does it and has told my wife she thinks I’m too intense.

Edit: Sorry I wasn’t clear. I am referring to the high pitched voice as soon as she walks in the door. I don’t mind it at all the rest of the time. I am just trying to not ramp up her separation anxiety on the initial arrival of ourselves or other people.

All I want is 6 months of discipline. This isn’t a lifetime thing. Just stay focused on the basics so we can have a decade of peace. Anyone else had this dynamic?

TL;DR – 4 month pup gives us less than 30 secs to take him out to pee before he pees in his crate overnight.

. Male rescue, not yet fixed, labx (probably Doberman or shepherd or pit)

. 16 weeks old, got him at 9 weeks

. Crate at night, covered, have the divider to keep it sized

. Foster had him used to the crate but kept them indoors 24/7 with pee pads in a play pen/crate area

Potty training is mostly going well. No poop accidents in the house in weeks and we take him out often; 30-60 mins when we’re home. Almost always someone home during the day, if we leave not usually for more than 2-3 hours. We have bells at the door that he rings pretty well if he needs to go in between those times.

He still has pee accidents; mostly when excited or we’ve been playing and it kind of comes out. Or if we’re all distracted and he doesn’t ring the bells, or if he does but we’re busy (today I was in the bathroom!) he can’t hold it for long. He’s only 4 months so it’s still understandable.

We had to start closing the crate during the day a few weeks ago cause I caught him walking in TO GO PEE so I’m guessing the foster just kept the whole area with pee pads.

My biggest issue is at night; he still gets up every 2-4 hours, usually whines/barks until we let him out to pee then straight back into the crate. Sometimes it’s less than 30 secs before he pees himself then were stuck cleaning it which gets him riled up. Bed/no bed, towel/no towel, snuggle puppy, white noise, toys.

We pick up the water 2+ hours before bedtime, multiple potty breaks, distance from crate to outdoors is like 30’, we get up quick cause we have 2 young kids we don’t want him to wake up.

Is there anything else we’re missing? Is this going to end soon?!

The subject: 8 month old poodle-setter mix, have had him since 12 weeks.

The issue: Puppy likes to mouth rocks, and few things seem to deter him.

Background: Our pup shares a fence with the pup in the adjoining yard. Since getting him last fall they have been working on a joint project to construct a tunnel between the properties.

During all of the snow, this stopped (kinda, some digging in the snow).

Since the snow melted, the digging project has resumed with one new feature: rocks. My pup has taken to mouthing and chewing rocks. I think this started with the ones he was digging up, but it's not exclusive. I don't believe he's swallowed anything yet but I'd like to curb this before that or a dental injury happens.

He's always been a mouthy puppy. He'll bite at whatever he can get his jaws on: trash on the street, tearing up sticks (also not ideal, I know), leaves, he loves wipes and rope and fabrics and anything textile, and me, of course.

I've tried keeping some chewing toys in the yard to keep him occupied. I also play with him and these toys (fetch, tug, etc.). He does like them, but after enough play if the rocks catch his attention he'll shift focus. This even happens sometimes when I'm playing with the toys with him.

His "drop it" is decent with trash on the street during a walk, but it's pretty non-existent during off-leash time in the house and yard. I've tried bribing him with training treats, with little success. He also enjoys turning the rocks into a game of keep-away.

What should I do here? More engaging yard toys? Better high value treats? Is this a teenage phase he'll hopefully move past?

I have a 5 month old ACD/pit mix. She is a sweetheart, but she’s intense, mouthy but getting a lot better at redirecting to toys, high energy, and smart as heck. Things are going well now. We have a solid routine, we’re working with a trainer, and seeing improvements daily both in behavior and in her bonding with us – we’ve had her for 1 month now.

I have two young kids though and I’m nervous about adolescence and a potential regression, especially since she’ll be larger and stronger. She weighs 20 lbs now, so I’m guessing she’ll be somewhere around 40 lbs full grown.

I’m curious to hear from others who have high energy, medium to large sized working dog breeds and small children and how it went or how it’s going in adolescence.