Category: Top Dog

Hello all, first time post here and rather nervous. I’m reaching out because I’m really struggling and could use some support or perspective from people who’ve been through this.

For context, I got my 11-week-old Golden Retriever 10 days ago. The first week went relatively well, if exhausting — I had time off work and could focus on her. This week I’ve returned to work and things have felt like they’ve unravelled. I’m feeling constantly overwhelmed, anxious, tearful, and am having panic attacks during the day. I dread waking up in the morning and find it hard to relax even when she’s napping because I’m bracing for the next wake-up.

I work from home in a small apartment (4th floor). She has a pen and crate in the living room. She can settle for enforced naps, but only if I lie or sit directly in front of the crate. If I don’t, she barks loudly for 15+ minutes before eventually settling. I know some barking is normal, but mentally I’m really struggling to tolerate it, and I’ve lost confidence in distinguishing attention barking from genuine needs (toilet, water etc), which has added to my anxiety. This has made focused work almost impossible and is causing a lot of work-related guilt as well.

If I leave the room while she’s awake, she cries briefly and then stops — but only because she starts destroying her toilet setup (fake grass with puppy pad underneath) or the waterproof mat under the pen. She chews the plastic and fragments, which feels unsafe and adds another layer of stress.

I’ve read about puppy blues and thought I was prepared, but I’m shocked by how intense this feels. I’m finding myself becoming extremely frustrated and scared of losing my patience, which isn’t the person I want to be. I don’t know if what I’m experiencing is within the range of normal, if I’m handling things badly, or if this situation just isn’t compatible with my current capacity.

I’m not looking for judgement — I genuinely want to understand whether others have experienced this level of distress, and what helped them get through the working-from-home phase with a young puppy, or how they realised they needed more support or a different path.

Thank you for reading — even writing this has been hard.

Hi guys

So I’ve just had an incident with my 4 nearly 5 month old pup. He’s a big old dog already so Ngl it scared me a little bit. He was sitting next to me on the sofa, he was chewing my glove that I’d literally just put down (yep! I know. Rookie mistake) anyway, I went to retrieve said glove and he growled and went to bite my hand. This is my first dog so, as much as I’ve read as much information as I can, this is the first time I’ve experienced this behaviour. I thought resource guarding was for food?

I didn’t snatch it from him, i stroked his head and then said ‘leave’ & tried to retrieve it.

What did I do wrong?

Is this aggression or resource guarding?

Thanks guys

I’ve read a lot of threads here with the similar sentiment so I know it’s a somewhat normal feeling to have. I have a 4 month old English cocker spaniel puppy that has been with me for about a month now.

I wanted to start of strong, crate training, tether training, lock in the routine. Nights were the most difficult the first two weeks. Crate was directly next to my bed but he would cry for hours. Tried putting my headphones in and telling myself that I have to push through but after two weeks my nervous system was out of sorts which I felt was throwing his off and so I decided to take some steps back and let him sleep in the bed.

Nights are now fine with no issues. We wake up he immediately goes outside while I get dressed and get his food ready. He knows to go into his crate for food. He eats in there and then he sits when he’s done to get let out. Super proud of him on this part. Then we go for a 15-20 minute walk around the neighborhood.

Here is where I’m at a loss. I work from home but I do need to get to the gym 4-5 times a week for about two hours which is for the most part the only time he spends alone in the crate. And he HATES it. I can hear him crying all way down the street. And for the last week when I get back he has pooped all over the crate and looks like he eats some of it. This is now the third day in a row this happened and today I was only gone for 20 minutes. I don’t understand what is happening. I feel like I’m failing him and I don’t know what I need to shift around to make sure this does not become a habit.

He’s a good puppy but I can’t seem to get him to understand that he needs to go when we go for our walks and not in the crate. On top of that, he eats very well so I don’t know why he’s trying or wanting to eat it. Should I feed him outside of his crate? Do I need to go back to stern crate training at night? Longer walks?

Dog is a 9 month old "Double doodle" (50% poodle, 25% labrador 25% golden retriever) and is absolutely fine with her crate. She will sleep through the night no problem and just saying "Name – Crate" in a nice tone once and she'll bound in there and lay down.

We're at the point now where she is only having 1 real enforced "crate nap" for 2-3 hours a day during the day as we're trying to teach her to self-settle and sleep outside the crate during the day. She's slowly getting better at this but still sleeps much better in her crate as she's seemingly a very light sleeper and will wake up if I even try to go to the bathroom if she's asleep in the room.

She will never choose to go sleep in her crate on her own though as she likes being with us (doesn't have separation anxiety but she is quite a shy dog in general demeanour)

She never whines and complains about going into the crate so I think she likes it just fine, but as she is fine with it should we ever deviate from this? Or just have her sleep & nap only in her crate forever more if she's fine with it and no good elsewhere?

I've seen some people suggest Putting them in the crate with the door open, but when in the crate she sleeps with a cover over it so this isn't really possible

I really don't want to have to crate her to sleep her whole life if I can avoid it. As I say she seems completely fine with it and 0 whining / sadness using it but it feels odd to have to put them in a cage to sleep their whole life. Is this the norm and I'm just overthinking it?

This is for identification purposes only. His leash will be attached to a harness. I’d just like something that doesn’t come on and off to attach an ID tag on. Is collapsing trachea caused by the pulling on a collar or just having a collar?

I have an adorable 17 week old golden retriever puppy. After the first few nights we got her, she’s done great in her crate. She would settle right down and a few weeks ago, she was staying in there for a few hours napping, would wake up and play a little, and put herself back to sleep.

The last few days out of nowhere she hates her crate and barks uncontrollably. I’ve tried taking her out and holding her, obviously making sure she doesn’t need to go to the bathroom, we’ve been giving her meals in there again for the last week or so, and nothing is working. Ultimately I will give her a lick mat and she will do that and go to sleep.

Her biting has also gotten worse, she has torn up my winter coat from latching onto it while she’s on her leash and pulling. It starts about 15 minutes after she’s been awake.

We’re going to get in trouble with our apartment for all of this barking. Does anyone know what I’m doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any suggestions 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I have a 10 week old puppy, a girl, we are trying to crate train for when she has to be home alone (which hasn’t even happened yet, and wont happen regularly at all lol) but she just cannot be left in her crate without crying. Ive seen countless things about just rewarding them when they're quiet, but she’s never quiet. she just screams. ESPECIALLY when it’s covered.

I just don’t really know what to do, she’s not progressing.

i have an 11 week old dachshund and he just wont stop crying! he has everything, every toy, every chew, every comfort. i know thats what pups do but im just worried im missing something. whenever i leave the room, he cries, when i put him in his crate and leave him, even though he loves it, he cries deathly screams. is it because ive gone to him when he doesnt settle? because he could scream for hours and i dont want to create a bad relationship with his crate! just need a bit of advice or reassurance.

Looking for some advice regarding regression on toilet training for my 4 month Border Collie puppy.

When i first got her, she came from a licensed breeder from a farm (an actual farm, not a puppy farm just for clarification). So i knew she had never been in a house and toilet training would take time.

First two weeks there were a lot of accidents. Next two weeks were much better and accidents were significantly down and often could be attributed to my mistakes and bad timing. She did her business in the garden but would rarely do anything on a walk (Expected as she is excited and focusing on all the new smells)

However this last week she has seemed to regress. She still pees outside but poos inside. No matter what i do or how often she is walked out let out into the garden, she poos inside (Luckily often in the bathroom but still not great)

She will be out in the garden, pee have a smell then walk straight back in the house and poo.

I'm not sure how this has happened. I'm going back a few steps to get her back to pooing outside but I'm concerned as what has caused this and if it's something I've done or can avoid doing in future.

Any help would be appreciated

my dog is 3. for the first 2 years of her life I had roommates so there were always people around and she was used to it so I was okay with leaving her in their company and care for a couple short weekend trips but the past year we’ve lived just us two in my apartment and I just realized I don’t know if I can cope with leaving her with someone else dog sitting her if I want to go on vacation or a trip. It’s not so much about me and my attachment (though obviously I feel that) it’s moreso that it would break my heart if she thought I was abandoning her or if she spent the whole time I was away feeling stress and panic.

I never imagined how emotionally deep and complex a relationship with your own dog could be (she’s my first).

has anyone ever felt like this and does anyone have advice???

thank you so much in advance

my only idea right now is to find a dog sitter who is willing to do gradual sitting sessions. maybe start with half day, then full, then overnight (but i’ll still be in the same area), before i leave her with them once i’m on a trip