Category: Top Dog

First time puppy owner here. My puppy is 4 months old and he is 11 days with us. I guess he is starting to feel more at home, as he gets into more mischief and checks boundaries all the time.

Last few nights he began getting insane at night, like crazy wired. I just end up catching his mid jump and put him in to the crate to go to sleep, which takes a few moments but after some digging he settles.

I try to be on a somewhat predictable schedule, and he naps and has lots of walks and training during the day, so i wouldn't say its an extra energy problem.

Is there anything i can possibly do to help get to this time after some chill? How do you handle this time of the day?

Any tips or tricks appreciated! I have an 8 week old Pyrenees/Bernese mix. I got her about a week ago and we are working on crate training. I would love for her to see her crate as not only something that has to hold her when I’m gone but a den for her to feel safe and comfortable at home. We are currently in the testing boundaries and screaming it out phase, however I share a wall so hours of screaming/barking just won’t work. She is not food motivated. Any help is much appreciated!

Just wanted to say thank you all, I posted a few days ago about a bad hired trainer and I took everyone’s advice and axed her. I appreciated hearing everyone’s insight and that my gut feeling was valid.

I have a more specific question on crate training. Our puppy does nighttime crate fine. We have a crate next to our bed. She protests a little but eventually falls asleep within 5-10 min. We does wake up once throughout the night but she’s pretty good.

During the day she cannot do the crate. We have a 36” crate with divider so she has enough to lay down. And we’d put a blanket over it. I hear this is pretty normal but I’m not really sure how we break through this. She knows “go to your crate” and we feed all meals and enrichment toys – we don’t even have to say “crate” because she’ll run in there she’s so excited. I’ll close the crate door which she’s fine with since she’s so focused on the meal or treat.

I’ve practiced opening and closing the crate with crate games and getting up and leaving for 5,10,30 seconds. Practiced opening door and she does fine there. But I think she knows it’s just practice. Sometimes opening and closing the front door she will whine but I wait for a break in whines to come back, praise and treat.

I worry she has separation anxiety. More recently we’ve been putting her in there while we eat dinner which we are in eye sight. We try to give her a lick mat or something but once she realizes she’s in there and doors closed, while we’re in the kitchen or eating she just cries. Wails. Scratching and trying to get out of crate. Sometimes she’ll lay down because she’s tired herself but she’s still whining.

We have tried leaving the house and watched on dog cam but she just cried the entire 30 min. Whining, scratching, panting – this might’ve been a little panic..?

Any tips on how to increase my 4 month old puppy confidence in the crate alone? I would like to create structured nap routine since my fiancé and I work from home.

Edit: we allow her on the couch so she often prefers to sleep on the couch with us. She is a light sleeper so I can pick her up and put her in the crate.

I’m looking to have my currently 3 month old Siberian husky trained to be a service dog once he has all his shots.

I’m a disabled veteran who qualifies for a service dog under PTSD, however I’m seeing if there a program the VA recognizes someone can point me in the direction of.

Personally I think he would make the cut, he 3 months old and tonight I didn’t crate him because I had to drive to work in a severe snow storm, I’m watching him on my ring cameras and he just calm, no barking, no whining no nothing he just walking around occasionally going to his crate for a toy or to put a toy back in his crate then returns to the living room.

He does not even bark at other dogs, he also doesn’t get overstimulated easily I have legit been bringing him with me to some pet shops heck even a Reef fish store with lots of people around and he stayed so calm heck even one of the employees wanted to hold him and he was just wagging his tail all Happy remaining extremely calm.

I also don’t plan to neuter him because I don’t want him to have risk for joint issues and I also plan to possibly enter him into dog shows in the near future as something to do once I can no longer work in the next year or two because of my on going issues.

I may self suffer from joint issues namely hip issues thanks to Uncle Sam and that’s a fate I don’t want my dog to have to deal with because it just sucks, cold makes things stiffer and more painful to move etc.

I am also asking the same question in other subreddits and I’m getting a lot of suggestions on non profits I should reach out with.

I’m in the upstate NY area I’m within range of Utica, Syracuse, Binghamton. Albany a bit of a longer drive for me however I would be willing to make it once a week if I had too.

I’m a chronically ill college student and I’ve been researching about owner-training a service dog, and after discussions with an awesome trainer we decided to start searching for prospects from shelters (due to financial stuff). I recently started the foster-to-adopt process with the sweetest 6month lab! I’ve had her for about 3 days (super short, i know) but i’ve just been such an anxious mess and crying all day. When/how do you decided if finding another home would be best? One part of me wants to stick it out for 3 weeks and she how she acclimates but another part of me is already so tired and stressed. I’ve been worried on my end about it messing with sleep (which then causes flare ups) and also some disruptive barking/whining she’s been doing while i live with multiple housemates. I am also worried about not being able to give her enough time with college classes and work and then simultaneously resenting her for causing me to be in my house very frequently. Would love any and all advice!

11 month old small dog (8 lbs), 3 weeks with us, he goes outside whenever we take him but he has accidents in the house periodically and has no “tell” that he needs to go out.

Before you tell me to train him using a bell or whatever, I need explicit instructions as to how to do this. He’s currently either tethered to us or in an xpen 100% of the time because he’s not potty trained and eats things off the floor constantly.

So how can he learn to ring a bell stationed at the door??

I’ve met one dog in my entire life that was reliably potty trained in any environment and I’m beginning to think it’s not a real thing for most people who just get used to cleaning up pee and poop daily or weekly.

He can hold it all night in a crate so I know he has the ability to go longer periods of time, but I don’t even so much care about that – I don’t understand how we ever transition to letting him roam about.

Hi friends, I’ve been able to work from home for the first 2 weeks of having Rosie (now 10 week old golden retriever). I’d love recommendations on how to plan for a dog walker for midday, and any resources people have used to find a good dog walker. For reference, we’re located in the Denver area. Thank you!!!

Our girl is 2 but still very puppy like – normal for a flat coat! We are having a little parent guilt and are not sure if we are playing with her enough per day. She a 30+ walk (mostly off leash) in the morning and usually sees a dog friend for a quick romp! Then a leash walk for lunch, and the another longer walk in the evening or a run/off leash walk. On top of that, we will sometimes do some play during the day, and usually after dinner she gets a good 10-15 of either play or training. Try to intersperse training throughout the day and she gets two Kong snacks a day. Our problem is she does get pretty demand barking and insistent for attention during the 6-7:30pm witching hour….. so we are feeling like maybe she does need more play?