Category: Top Dog

Sorry if this isn’t allowed, I don’t know where else to post for advice. Context: I live in a house with my (separated) parents and my dad recently decided to get a dog, against my advice, because I knew he wouldn’t be responsible for her. Surprise, it’s been about a week and he is not being responsible. His dog is very cute and friendly and we love her, but she’s not potty trained at all and tends to just pee and poo everywhere. Half the time my dad won’t clean it up because I guess he’s comfortable with filth, being a piece of crap himself, so my mom or I do it, and when he does clean it up he does so sloppily. I’m getting really sick of it because we’re both super busy and this isn’t even our dog, but every time I’ve tried to potty train her I feel like it doesn’t work because my dad feeds her at random hours so I can’t predict when she’ll poo and he will praise her if she poops on the pad indoors. She doesn’t have a crate either, just a bed.

I apologise if this is beyond the scope of this subreddit, but I was wondering if it would be possible to encourage/train his dog to pee or poo on his things instead? (As I believe that is the only way to get him to attempt to train her or at least clean it up.) He has a corner of the living room as an office where he works from home and it’s the only part of the house he ever cleans. I was thinking of something like hiding her poo near his things or finding some way to wipe her pee on his things so she smells it? Does this seem plausible? My worry is that the smell won’t stay, and that she usually doesn’t pee in the same place twice, even though I thought dogs usually do that. Would anyone happen to know the volume I need to make it “stick” enough? I want to make sure she does it where I want her to.

Please forgive me if I sound rude or crazy. For financial and logistical reasons we can’t move out, and my dad is quite impossible to talk to. I’m a bit desperate. Thank you so much.

Disclaimer: i've browsed the wiki and searched, but I haven't seen anything that fully addresses what I'm looking for.

**TL;DR – I am looking for at-home enrichment activities/toys/training that is good for small dogs, that do not require a leash free space outside.**

I have a dog who has come *miles* in terms of behavior when I first got her (I can't take all the credit, it was looking bleak before fluoxetine made things bearable). However, I'm now in an awkward "in between" where she isn't ready for group insruction due to excitability and not being 100% potty trained, but getting her there is going go mean me upping my game with her enrichment.

I have some experience with training and enrichment with my previous dog, but that dog…um. was not the most intellectually gifted. The puzzles that reliably took my first dog a half hour, she tears through immediately. I' slowly working through functional, basic commands, but those don't seem to challenge her mentally.

Possibly relevant points:

– 10 lb dog, terrier mix but seems completely uninterested in burrowing

– she gets two out of three daily feedings in puzzles, but is not super food or treat motivated.

– she likes toys, but only on her schedule. Try fetch one day she loves it, the next she gives me side eye and goes back to sleep

– her favorite toys/activities are ripping things up, and playing "soccer" with one very small, heavy ball.

– she also enjoys chews, but is picky about what they are

– With my present circumstances, lone off-leash time doesn't seem like an option in the short term (no fenced yard, no non-sketchy, safe Sniffspots in the entire county)

During play, my 4 year old Great Dane constantly puts his mouth around my friend's dog's neck. Although he isn't clamping down, my friend's dog sometimes whimpers because he pulls her fur (she's a golden). He doesn't do this just a few times during play, he has his mouth around her neck for almost the entire play session, to the point that her neck ends up wet with lots of saliva.

She never tries to hide or run away, but she also never does it back to him. He rarely does this with male dogs. I've tried everything from immediately removing him and walking away to give him a minute or two to calm down, to keeping him on a long lead and pulling him back as soon as it happens, to giving a firm "off" or "no" command, which he is usually responsive to in other situations. I also reward appropriate play.

I have a big backyard, and even when they're running in a straight line, he runs by her side her with her neck in his mouth. He's intensely focused on her neck at all times. I understand this can be normal, but given that he has caused her discomfort and her owner is uncomfortable with it, I'm trying to figure out how to stop it. It's exhausting constantly acting as a referee and hovering over them to break it up every 30 seconds.

Hi there! First post here.
I got a 15-pound Chihuahua mix 2 months ago, and things are going pretty well. She struggles a little bit with separation anxiety – scratching at closed doors if I'm in the room, and she used to cry and panic in her kennel. I have retrained her by giving her dinner in her kennel and treats every time she goes in. Now she is fairly confident in her kennel!

The issue now is that she sleeps with me at night. I love this, but my partner is not a fan of the dog in the bed. I want to learn how to crate train her at night when my partner is staying over, but still permit her to sleep with me on most of the nights. Does this sound feasible? How would I go about this training?

Hello!

I recently rescued a 2 and 1/2 yr old golden doodle from a home that previously starved him. He’s a great boy, besides the fact we have some potty issues. He’s gotten better about peeing inside, but this is only if he’s taken out every 2 hours like clockwork. The first few nights I had him, he would sleep through the night from 11-7:30 no problem. However, around a week ago he’s started waking up 1-2 times every night whining. I take him out and he immediately pees and poops then comes back inside.

I’m not sure what to do because I take him out at 7:30am to pee, again at 9am to poop and pee, again at noon to pee, and so on. He is eating 3 meals a day to try to regain some weight, so he poops 5 times a day. Once as soon as he wakes up, after each meal, and right before bed. Still with all of these breaks, he wakes up without fail between 1-4am needing to go out.

I tried to crate him, and he peed immediately in his crate. If he doesn’t sleep in his crate, he’ll whine to let me know he needs to go out.

Any solutions for getting him to learn how to hold it? I’ve only had him for 2 weeks so is he maybe still settling in? I have a vet appointment today to rule out any medical issues, but I severely doubt it’s anything as he’s showing no symptoms.

EDIT: Vet said he is only a pound away from his ideal weight! Hooray!!! Due to this AWESOME news, we’ve decided to reduce the amount he’s being fed. Current theory is that he’s eating too much which is causing him to use the bathroom more (he eats raw or canned food so that plus his water bowl is A LOT of water intake for his little body.) he is 14 pounds now, but 9 when he was rescued!!! so happy!!! I’ll update in the morning if tonight runs smoothly, thanks for all the advice! 🙂