Category: Top Dog

Our pup (Copper) is a 15 week old English setter. He is very sweet, doing a great job with training, and seems like an overall happy dog.

We enrolled him in a puppy class and so he’s had some opportunities to play with other dogs there (off leash). However, copper always runs away with his tail tucked whenever other dogs engage with him. He will occasionally reengage with his tail wagging, but after the dogs take interest in him again, he wants to run off and wants to hide behind me.

At this age, does this indicate that he might have fear of other dogs? Or is this a normal way of learning what it’s like to play with others?

For what it’s worth he always wants to approach other dogs in the street. He’s also gone on one walk with a friend’s dog (who truthfully doesn’t love other dogs, especially puppies) and that seemed to go pretty well. Only one time did that other dog correct copper but otherwise they got along fine.

We are starting out 2nd week with our new buddy at home – he’s now 10 weeks and doing great! He handles being crated for a few hours at a time when we need to head to work; he’s doing fabulous! He has a pen attached to his crate, that he is in when we are home. This is where we are having an issue. He whines constantly- both when we can see him and when we can’t. (Ie, run to the other room quickly). We give him lots of play time and attention; but need to have a safe space for him when we are home, hence the pen… how do we break the whining? He can climb up the pen (we’ve switched to a 42” pen, so he can’t climb over, but we don’t trust him not to hurt himself). How do we start helping him feel comfortable in his pen and relaxing. (He’s also so anxious when we’re around the house, so not sleeping as much as he should be).

Adding to the situation- he’s great in the pen- curls up and snoozes, when we are sitting in the living room, or a few minutes after we have all sat down to dinner. It’s when we are moving around/on our feet.

Hi, My puppy is only 8 weeks old and has only been home a few days, so I completely understand it will take time. I was just wondering if there were any tips I could get for this situation.

When I take my puppy out, he’s not yet fully vaccinated, so I have an artificial grass mat in the apartment complex parking garage roof that I use (I don’t want him to pee on grass the dozens of dogs in my complex use). He thinks the grass mat is a bed and instantly falls asleep on it during our potty breaks. I’ll try to get him to wake up, but he just naps. I’ll wait 30-40 min outside, and wasting time not working, and he just lays there. I bring him inside, and he usually potties inside within 5 minutes. I know the right thing to do is put him in a crate then take him out again in 10 minutes, but I can’t yet put him in a crate after he’s napped because he comes inside all energetic after resting outside, wanting to play, and screams and claws at the crate when I put him in. I don’t want the crate to be traumatic for him, and I’m working on crate training – it’s just, it will take time. His tummy gets sick easily so I can’t give him too many treats which limits the crate training per day. Usually after our potty breaks, he runs in and starts playing, and I watch him like a hawk. However, because he’s an aussie, I had to buy a pen with tall walls because he climbs them, so when I see him start to pee, it takes me a solid 30 seconds to get to him around the tall walls, and he finishes peeing by the time I can get to him. While he isn’t yet fully crate trained, how do I manage this problem? I have to work and cannot sit beside him all day but am trying my best

Our 10 yr old daschund is not handling the new pit bull puppy we added to the family. We brought the new pup home at 7 weeks and our doxie was excited but now the pittie has grown 3x his size and tortures the doxie. We get that the breed loves rough play but our doxie has HAD IT with him and its getting so bad we have to keep them crated just to get peace. The doxie growls and bites and barks incessantly when the pit teases and rough plays. At this point i may have to rehome the pup since they just dont get along. Also i have done everything as far as toys, individual attention, exercise and pack play (together)as distractions. The doxie just refuses to play nice and the pittie just wont leave him alone. Please help with any other insight or suggestions. I greatly appreciate it

I have a very unique case with growling and biting. My puppy does not resource guard food or anything else. However, he loves to get on the couch, and when he's on the couch and I try to gently say "down," he gets absolutely crazy. If we try to pick him up, he growls or bites, often a little hard. It's the same thing when he does something and I gently try to move him, he can get bitey, not always but sometimes.

It hurts now that he has new sharp teeth coming in. Even play biting hurts and causes bleeding. How do I deal with this? Is this because of teething, or he is just fed up with me pushing him around (gently, lol)? Again, he has no problems when we are outside, and when I try to have him by my side, he has excellent recall, and we're all pretty cool with the pup.

Dog suddenly shedding again

So, I have a 16 month old Australian Shepard/coonhound mix. She doesn't have a double coat. When we first adopted her she was 4 months old and had been at a shelter in Alabama. Her coat was thin & unhealthy. Fast forward to now, shes super healthy, active & had been through a shredding cycle already. Last Spring was crazy shedding like I thought would never end lol It lasted a couple months then stopped over the summer. Last month or so we noticed her winter coat coming in, shedding stopped and her coat was thick again. All ok. But now we're noticing shedding again? It's still Oct so I didn't expect it. I thought she'd be good until the Spring? Is it because of weather indoor temps? Any thoughts? I've never had shedding dogs before so this is new for me. Is this just life? 🙄🐾

Hi all! We just adopted our first rescue this week. He’s a very sweet and docile (and lazy) dog, about 2 years old, but showing some signs having been ignored (don’t want to use a flagged word here). Doesn’t know how to play with toys, is afraid of the crate (but compliant to get in it), winces when you wave your arms emphatically. (Also he was intact when he was picked up by amal ctrol after he was dumped with some other dogs, so check and check.)

He’s still recovering from getting neutered and from spending too much time in a kennel, so he’s been tired, but I would love to start giving him some enrichment toys/activities. I tried to give him a homemade snuffle mat and he was confused, so I think we need to start… basic.

I am coming to you all, oh wise dog community for any tips and tricks on what might work for a dog who doesn’t know how to play or solve puzzles? I’m talking basic basic. Any help and advice welcome 🙂

hey guys, I got a Lab puppy recently and I'm really struggling w/ the intro between him, my 5 y/o dog, and my 1 y/o cat. He's working w/ a trainer who told me to keep him in a restricted area and let them interact only through gates/fences for now.

So atm he stays in the backyard during the day it's covered and I hang out w/ him a lot), and at night he sleeps in his own room.

The issue is, whenever he manages to sneak inside the house (if we forget to block him), my older dog starts barking like CRAZY at him until he leaves. He tries to play by nipping her, but she's REALLY doesn't like it… she'll correct him (not to hurt, just a warning), then walk away and keep barking from a distance.

My cat just watches from far away, and if he gets too close she hisses/growls and leaves. No attempts to interact at all

If this was just the first week l'd get it… but it's been over a MONTH now and nothing's changing honestly don't know what else to do. Has anyone gone through this? Any tips or success stories would help a ton…l'm kinda desperate at this point lol