Category: Top Dog

hes a labra of 30 days im sp anxious and overwhelmed pls help

Hello everyone!

I have an almost 20 week old Samoyed, and honestly he’s an awesome puppy. He does his nights in his crate, he’s clean, he listens well most of the time, he doesn’t bark that often, and he’s very respectful to other dogs even if he’s excited to see them. Everyone is impressed of how well he’s behaving.

But I gotta be honest, I am dreading the day he turns into a teenager. People tell me that he’s going to forget EVERYTHING and that I’ll start from scratch. While I’m aware and prepared for the outcome, it is stressing me out. I’m at least hoping he keeps some of his personality.

I’m not looking for a reality check, I know what’s coming. I’m just looking for advice on how to surpass this temporary situation in the best way possible, and maybe even some hopeful messages.

Thank you!

I ask this question as someone who's been in the subreddit for years. Lately, the amount of rehoming posts have been insane, so I'm curious, are people just vastly underprepared, do they rehome too easily, or are they just that difficult?

Hi everyone! I am planning to get my German shepherd puppy within the next couple months. (Sent deposit to breeder, waiting for litter to be ready)

I have experience with dogs, and I know German shepherds are a big responsibility. I have done lots of research! I do not have experience with puppies, especially at the age of 8weeks.

I work a full time job. 8 hours a day M-F with an hour lunch break that I will be able to come home for. My initial plan was to have a playpen set up, with an open crate inside along with a bed, toys, enrichment, etc inside and have an indoor potty option available (pee pads or grass patch). This would only be temporary until my puppy is big enough to comfortably hold his bladder for 4 hours. I understand this can be confusing, so I’m wondering if there is any better options. I also want to add, since he is going home at 8 weeks, he technically won’t be ‘fully’ vaccinated. This means he shouldn’t even touch the ground outside, or even interact with other dogs. Either way this goes, it seems introducing proper indoor options is something I will have to implement. My goal for him is by the time he is old enough to hold his bladder, we can eliminate the play pen and transition to full crate training when we aren’t home until we can trust him enough to not eat my cats or get into something that can be potentially dangerous for him.

Please share any advice you may have! I don’t understand why people think if I work a full time job I’m not a suitable home for a puppy. I absolutely love dogs and have been researching for months. I can’t wait to be a German shepherd owner!! I plan to do lots of training as he gets older and have an amazing relationship where I can take him places with me. Thank you:)

I have a cat and he likes to lie around and be lazy but my puppy around 5 months now bothers him and bits his neck not super rough but playful biting that my cat despises.

I feel horrible having to put my puppy in his cage or my cat in a different room when all he did was nothing wrong.

is there anyway I can properly correct this behaviour?

My wife and I have a 21 week old German Wirehaired Pointer, in the daytime she is mostly well behaved, toilet trained, good recall – a great dog.

However we are having more and more problems at night, and it feels like we are spiralling.

She has been crate trained since we got her at 10 weeks. She hasn’t gone through the night as of yet, but previously we would get her up somewhere between 2 and 3am and take her out to the toilet. She would then sleep till 6am.

The last 2 weeks or so she has just decided she will not settle at night. She will willingly go in her crate around 11pm when we go to bed, settle for 5 minutes or so and then bark and whine for between 45 minutes and an hour before setting. We have tried comforting her by my wife sitting down with her just outside the crate, but as soon as she’ll go to bed, queue barking.

We have 3 young children, and if one of them gets up in the night, she will hear and we will get another half hour of barking.

We have tried white noise, extended crate training in the day, long walks later in the day, treating, but she just seems to be getting worse.

We thought maybe she felt too confined, so we put a stair gate across the doorway of the utility room her crate is in and left the crate door open, but this made things worse as she would just jump against the gate until it broke.

During the day we have tried feeding her in the utility with the gate shut, give her a licking mat with the gate shut, and she will drop everything to sit and cry at the gate instead.

If we go out, she will whine and bark constantly on and off till we are back.

Is this the beginning of separation anxiety? Is there anything we can do to try and settle her?

I'm confused on how to even approach this. All day when I'm at work and Apollo is home alone with my mom, he's good. Perfectly happy in the crate, perfectly well behaved when out of it, a total sweetheart – her words. But when I come home, he changes. He barks if I'm sitting at my computer if he's crated. He will not tolerate being crated for any length of time if I'm home and sitting, even if he's supposed to be napping or he's in time out or I just need a moment of not chasing him around to get something done.

When he's home alone with my mom, he's gentle. When I'm home, he jumps up on her before she can stop him, plays rough, humps and then bites her, etc… and she doesn't even have to be doing anything. Sitting and saying nothing to him. Sitting and talking calmly to him. Standing and walking someplace, paying no attention to him. Walking and talking to him. It doesn't matter; if I'm home, he's very rough with her. He did less of a nip (he's part cattle dog) and more bit her in his excitement a few days ago. Had she not been wearing several layers of clothing, she's positive he would've torn her open. It isn't aggression, he clearly just wants to play, but he plays extremely roughly. And it's only when I'm home. I do nothing to encourage it, obviously. In fact, I'm usually discouraging it and trying to get a handle on him. It doesn't help.

If I'm home alone and my mom isn't home, it's similar good behavior. He'll just lay down and chill out, although occasionally I have to make sure he isn't trying to sneak into the trash can or something. He won't necessarily bark in his crate if it's just me.

I'm baffled. Something about having two people in the house drives this dog batty, gets him overstimulated, something. I have no idea how to manage it. Board and train seems to have done nothing (which I found people say it doesn't only after I sent him to a trainer and paid good money), I've tried to work with him on teaching him that being quiet in his crate is good and will at times get him rewarded with being let out if it seems like he doesn't need a nap.

It's like he acts decently trained when one of us is home alone or the other is in another room or outside, but the instant we're both in the house, it's like he regresses instantly.

We live in Norway and have always had a soft spot for animals in need.

So you know of any good places to adopt dogs from? Were I live it’s not such a big problem with strays so that’s why I’m looking to other countries.

Bonus if it’s senior dogs because they rock ♥️

I have a 1 year old sheepdog who this week chewed a up the corner of a table and the baseboard. Both times, he was alone at home. Before this week, he hasn't done anything like this since he finished teething ~6/7 months ago.

I know how to manage it, but I have difficulties pinpointing the cause. While it could of course still be boredom, I don't think it is. He's young and energetic and therefore gets plenty of walks, which include off-leash time, lots of sniffing & play. He sleeps like a baby after we return home. I checked his gums & teeth but didn't see any inflamation/bad teeth. He has chew toys, and also gets chew snacks. There have been no changes in schedule/lifestyle.

He started doing this 1 or 2 days ago with the table, and today the baseboard. Since we're not home when he does it, we can't interrupt and redirect. We have a doggycam and it shows him sleeping 90% of the time we're out. We're never gone longer than 3-4 hours and he's walked before and after.

He is also pretty restless sometimes. He'll sit next to me, look at me, and pant for 30mins.

Could it be hormones or anxiety? Or something medical/dental? Or boredom after all? Please help me try to understand this behaviour!

Hi! I’m looking to adopt a small (under 15 inches tall) dog in BC, Canada. I’m having trouble finding shelters, and the SPCA is very very limited here. Recommendations please!