Category: Top Dog

Hi everyone! My husband and I have 2 dogs currently, a male English mastiff and a female Scottish terrier. We are buying our first home within the next few months and are really wanting another mastiff, a female. We can afford the extra expenses. We have no kids. What do you guys think of the jump from owning 2 dogs to 3?

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.

We have two 14 week aussiedoodle/bernadoodle pups. When we got home at 8 weeks, they were litter box trained (which I didn't know was a thing with dogs) and they've done well. They have their crates inside a pen with food/water and the litter box. This Friday they get their 3rd round of shots and we want to transition from the litter box to outdoors. I've been tossing the litter/poo in the area specific to their toileting for weeks now in preparation.

What are my next steps here? Ultimately I want the litter box gone. We hung a bell on the back door and would like for them to be able to go and ring it when they need to go out. We had a lab that did it before, and these pups are smart, so I think they can do it. I just dont know what steps to take to get there.

Do I move the litter box outside to the patio and just leave them in their pen with the crates?
Do I do away with the litter box and keep them in their crates while we are away and work on training them to go to the spot I've been prepping? I dont want my ignorance to be a stumbling block to their success! Help!

I want to give him a new name but im not sure if it's going to work out.

Sorry in advance for the long post! We got our puppy from the humane society 5 days ago and she is about 12 weeks old. They aren’t 100% sure her breed but guessed a mix between Husky and Australian Shepherd, so she’s a big puppy, 20+lbs already.

We’ve been crate training since day 1, giving food in her crate (VERY food motivated), and giving her a blanket and her bed in there, playing music she settles to. It takes a good 5-10 minutes of yelping, whining & crying but she settles eventually, I just hate to hear her so upset I’m not sure if this is the right way to do this? Had to take the bed away the day before yesterday because she absolutely destroyed it. Right now doing 1 hour up, 2 – 2.5 hours down. I would love to cuddle her and snuggle and let her nap elsewhere like in the living room but won’t settle unless we enforce crate time, even then I’m not sure if she’s sleeping or just quiet.

She’s basically potty trained. She knows sit, down, come, but she is also a menace and I can tell is bored. I play with her but she just wants to play on her own or bite so I give her a teething toy. She only eats from puzzles, lick mats, or slow feeders which tires her out a little.

Am I expecting too much from her? Am I being hard on her? Are there certain things I should be teaching her first, or ways to keep her mind going so she gets tired and naps better?

I just want her to be happy and have fun and not be bored, but also well behaved because she will be big and loud when she grows up. I would love any advice on what to train her first and how to keep her busy!! Thank you!