Category: Top Dog

We've had our pup for 2 months now and he's been pretty good. He's 4 months old and from the beginning we've done enforced naps & sleeping in the crate at night. We have to- he doesn't sleep otherwise! He definitely used to bark a bit and whine for a while when we started, but it was never for more than 20 minutes. I'd sit nearby and time him, thinking that if he was still going at thirty I'd get him out and try again.

His crate is covered, away from noise, and he gets a high value lick pad when he goes in. I have a camera set up so that I can see how he settles. He also gets meals in there and has never been put in there for punishment.

Nowadays for naps he may whine a bit or bark periodically for 3-4 minutes (save the occasional meltdown) but then do a couple turns and settle/sleep. Then he is asleep for the full 2 hours.

My question: During these 3-4 minutes I can see him pawing at the crate or sometimes chewing it to get out while he whines. Sometimes i speak to him on the camera "settle. leave it. good boy.." etc and he calms down. But is this normal? It feels like he doesn't like his crate but puts up with it. Is there anything else I can do to make the crate easier for him? It feels like he's like a child going down for a nap (and doesn't want to)…. could this just resolve with maturity?

I understand the new recommendations are to wait until over a year, etc. This is wildly opposite of what I’m used to- I spent a lot of time working in high volume spay/neuter in cities and we neutered dogs as soon as we possibly could. I’m just wondering when others decided to.

My boy is 7 months and I’m ready for those jangles to be gone.

I've had my girl for about three weeks at this point, she's probably around 11-12 weeks, she's a Havanese and toy poodle mix.

I have her on a pretty strict nap schedule? 1 1/2 hr awake and 2 asleep.

Within that hour an a half she usually eats, we sit with each other for ten minutes until she gets roudy -go outside play, “train”, (literally just learning her name and coming when called bc she's so tiny baby Hehe) and for about the last thirty minutes I will sit on my bed and leave her on her space on the floor to wind down and separate us from eachother and the rest of the loud house before she sleeps because I read that it makes naptime a little less stressful if we aren't cuddling and playing right before I leave her for two hours.

She's crate trained, she's so excited to go in during naps so it stays open 24/7 but she won't go in outside of scheduled time, I have a carpet and blanket over my floor scattered with her stuffies and a few good chewing toys and long lasting bones and an entire other dog bed way too big for her… but that's where my issue is.

During the last thirty minutes after we’ve gone inside to wind down she completely ignores all of that and sits and barks at the gate I have as if she wants to go back outside; but once outside she wants to go back in.

I am an overachieving worry-wart and I am so scared to make her hate me/or if she already does and just wants to get away from me. I just wanna know if there's anything I can do because Im not sure how to fix boredom other than her toys, she has water and a grass pad in my room to go potty.

Is she just being a puppy? If so I can totally wait out this phase, I just wanna be her perfect papa.

So there’s this adorable dog in my office absolute sweetheart, follows me around, sits by my desk, wags his tail like I’m his favorite human on earth. And honestly? I love him back. Like crazy. He’s the highlight of my workday.

But holy hell… this dude smells. Like… I can’t even describe it. It’s that “wet fur meets gym socks meets mystery dumpster” kind of smell. And it’s constant.

Now here’s the problem I can’t stay away because he jumps on me everytime I look at him

what should I do?

So to explain the situation, my dog is a 60 pound female golden retriever with heart of a lion when it comes to chewing. I think it helps her relieve stress and she loves eating/chewing basically anything and everything. For some reason she is a really big fan of plushies and doesn't like traditional rubber dog toys nearly as much. I was wondering if anyone knew of any very durable plush dog toys as she has ripped through toys from brands that tout durability like "go dog" so i was wondering if I had any other options. Any replies are appreciated!