Category: Top Dog

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a bit of advice as I’m struggling to get my 6-month-old Labrador to settle in the evenings.

At the moment, he goes for his walk around 4:30–5pm. When we get back, I give him his dinner and then put him down for a nap from about 6pm until 7:30–8:30pm. When he wakes up, I take him out to the toilet and then give him a chew in the living room while I watch TV, hoping he’ll settle.

However, since he turned 6 months old, once he finishes the chew he goes completely hyper — scratching, chewing, and pulling at the rug, and even trying to do the same to the sofa. When this happens, I put him in his pen in the kitchen and he settles almost straight away. But if I bring him back into the living room, the behaviour starts again.

Because of this, I’ve ended up leaving him in the kitchen pen until bedtime (around 10pm). This is new behaviour — before 6 months, he would happily settle in the living room and usually fall asleep.

Has anyone else experienced this or have advice on how to handle it? I feel really guilty leaving him in the kitchen on his own for the whole evening, but I’m not sure what else to do.

Thank you in advance.

He stares at my hands constantly, specially if I don't have them in an open palm, he bites them if I get them too close to him to pet him because he thinks I have food, not too hard, he just wants to get the "food". I'm not constantly giving him treats throught the day, pretty much only when he goes potty outside and when i'm trying to teach him something.

Should I stop hand feeding him the treats and start throwing them close by instead?

My pup just had his first snuffle mat experience after I snagged a really engaging Christmas themed one on sale for $5, and I of course watched it unfold.

At first it was all sniffs to find the easy ones. Then as the minutes progressed, I found myself refereeing the experience – LOL!

There were moments of picking it up with his mouth, pawing at it, turning it over, and my favorite- just biting and crunching down on harder hidden pieces so their crumbs would escape. I found myself laughing a few times during it.

The biggest issue was it sliding around, or how easy it was for pieces to fall out if he became over excited. But overall it’s been the longest enrichment experience with anything store bought that wasn’t just a frozen lick or Kong- he would solve level 1 and 2 puzzles in under a minute.

I’m thinking of sewing Velcro on the bottom to stick it to his water bowl carpet (reused door rug). Any suggestions on keeping it in place to encourage true snuffles?

I’d also love to hear your funny enrichment toy experiences!

I want to talk all dogs owners who having a dogs in their houses in Dubai.

I noticed my dog started copying parts of my daily routine. Now they wait for certain times of day like they understand the schedule.

Did your dog pick up any habits from you without you trying to teach them?

We’ve had our Mastiff girl since she was ten weeks old and she turns 16 weeks old tomorrow. She has honestly been a dream but is our first puppy in over 10 years. Initially when she arrived she was a bit scared of a few things that she hadn’t been exposed to as we live in acreage and she was born in suburbia. They were mainly things that made loud noises like tractors. A few weeks ago we were in the back paddock and a helicopter came over. It spooked her but she was happy to stay outside. I didn’t think anything of it as she has had similar reactions to neighbours horses trotting in the paddock and so on – sort of like getting a fright when she sees something for the first time but quickly getting over it and no lasting effects. Happy to take reassurance from myself. She no longer really cares about tractors or loud cars, so on.

But yesterday morning two low flying fire fighting choppers came over back to back and my girl has been terrified since. She wasn’t even outside properly for the choppers but was on the deck. She was pretty much toilet trained but now doesn’t even want to go out side and has had more accidents inside in the last 24 hours than she has in weeks. Ones I believe with that are out of pure fear ie last night she peed in them middle of the kitchen, she has never done that. The wee I can deal with but the pure fear in her eyes is absolutely breaking my heart. It’s made her so on edge and very nervous of noises. We live in the Hills and have flocks of black cockatoos that visit seasonally which are extremely noisy so I’m wondering if they are adding to her aversion as they are in the trees squawking all day. Tonight she watched our other dog play on the front lawn but wouldn’t come down off the deck. She did spend some time on the deck today and in the small fenced off backyard we have but only when absolutely necessary.

Yesterday afternoon when I took her for a walk in back paddock, a motorbike came past somewhere in the neighbourhood which spooked her and then a plane came overhead which has happened countless of times, but it was enough for her to tuck up and run home. I’m now worried about how to tackle this going forward as it seems everytime we go outside we just end up having another negative experience.

How do I overcome this? Just lots of treats, time? Feed her outside so she builds a more positive association? We take her places atleast 3 times a week but I haven’t for a few days but need to tomorrow, should I or will it be best to leave her at home?

Current routine: 6:55 AM potty break, then I pop him in the living room (door closed), and within seconds he starts barking + jumping like crazy.

Meanwhile, I’m just in the kitchen prepping his food (takes 1-2 mins max), he can’t see or hear me at all! I get he’s starving after overnight, but I wanna teach him to wait patiently & quietly.

We do the exact same process for lunch & dinner with zero drama, he chills perfectly.

Any hacks for mornings please?

Thanks in advance 🙂