Category: Top Dog

This is what one of my friends told me and holy shit was she right. Not to get too sobby on here, but I've had my 8 month GSD/Husky mix for 3 weeks. She's still learning, she doesn't like to sleep at night because of some blatter control we are working though, she jumps on people, she's pulls if she sees anything move. There have been times, especially very late at night/early morning, when I have an internal knee jerk reaction IN MY HEAD (never manifested into action) of being mean to get her to act how I think she should because that's how my parents trained me. And it feels so good to know that even in those very stressful moments I have it in me to take a deep breath, relax, and say "I'm not that kind of parent. Pup doesn't need to be scared to respect my boundaries" and find a more positive way to get her to do what I need her to do. She gets better by the day, and with this mindset I realized she might actually be sick and that's why she's struggling to sleep and not just being a turd (again, a knee jerk reaction from how I was raised). Don't get me wrong, this process is so hard and I am not getting enough sleep and probably spending too much money on her and time problem solving, but seeing this change in my thinking is helping me in ways unconnected to dog training. Today, I realized I am too tired to do everything she needs, and rather than be frustrated and resentful (knee jerk) I bit the bullet and took her to an overnight board just for the day so I can get some sleep and recover and she can get all the stimulus and play she needs. To clarify, I did call my vet before this and she wasn't concerned, but I am bringing her in tomorrow to get checked up anyway. Love to everyone struggling with puppy's rn. It's a PROCESS.

I have a 16 week old puppy that I’ve had since December 27th. She can be super sweet, I call her a Sour Patch kid because she can have her baby shark moods.

She’s great with people and other dogs – but I feel like with me she can get a little much. At first her teething wasn’t too bad but lately it’s getting worse, I find her pushing the limits on “nipping” she has punctured my skin a couple times and I’m not sure if this is normal or an early sign of aggression.

I’m really worried because the last thing I want to do is raise an aggressive dog, she is part Pit. I try to replace my hands with a toy and usually she’ll try to go over the toy back to my hand. I’ve done frozen carrots and she has a million toys good for teething but gets disinterested with them quickly. Should I be concerned?

EDIT – I also wanted to mention she is extremely well behaved everywhere but home. I take her to work with me almost everyday and she loves it and has a great day but at home she is completely different. I’ve taken her to my parents house and spent a couple nights there she was soooo well behaved and left her with my boyfriend and his family for a night and they adored her. I feel like there’s some disconnect between her and I? Or maybe my apartment? I don’t think she hates me, she loves sleeping with me and always tries to get my attention. Idk… first time puppy owner here lol.

I have a 12 week old puppy and have been using FreshPatch for them at home since we were advised to steer clear from potty pads as it can create confusion for them because the texture is similar to rugs, etc. Since we got them when they were 8 weeks old, they picked up potty training right away and we had 0 accidents until this week when he started puppy school. Unfortunately, they use potty pads and it has immediately made him confused. He’s had three accidents already and I’m getting increasingly concerned that we’re going backyards but there’s nothing that I can do about what they’re doing in puppy school. Any thoughts?

I'm desperate.. My 5mo lab puppy will not settle for a nap no matter what we try. Leash, covered crate, free roam, white noise, music, teaching "settle". None of it matters and now he's at the height of teething so he's extra grumpy.

When he gets over tired he barks the second I'm out of reach, but when I get close to him all he wants to do is bite me. Redirecting to toys doesn't work. Reverse time out just leads to never-ending barking.

I live in an apartment so I can't just let him bark it out.

Please help!!

My 6 month aussie/heeler mix is really weird.

He barks and lunges at other dogs, growls, barks and yaps (but has never bitten). Also reactive on the leash. I'm watching Cesar Milan videos and have really helped. He is usually very reactive on the leash but after the video he ignored some dog passing by.

When unleashed at the dog park, he lunges at other dogs until they leave (very territorial). But one time he socialized fine with two elderly dogs.

Yesterday however, he was unleashed at the beach and played fetch just fine. He ignored everyone passing by including children.

But today we unleashed him at the local park and lunged at a kid who ran away all scared. He only lunged until the boy ran away as of saying "get out of here"

Why only children?? He loves adults.