Category: Top Dog

I've always wanted a dog, jut really craved that companionship you get with a dog. I'd personally always liked the idea of adopting an older dog, skip the puppy part, have no interest in children, so why go through the pain with a puppy.
However, we have two lovely cats, and after looking at an older dog recently and deciding against it for the cats, the shelter asked if we'd be interested in a puppy from a litter they had coming. A puppy, while hard work, would be overall easier with the cats, learning to live with them from a young age.
We got our puppy on Saturday, he's roughly 8 and a half weeks, so still super young, and I know it's extremely early, but also, WTF. The adjustment has been insane, people warn you, but my god, I was not prepared.
I think I could handle the general puppy chaos, but it's the cat side of things that's really making me anxious. We're generally pretty lucky, he naps in his crate, got a 90 minute nap from him today, and he sleeps in his crate overnight, only 2 wakes a night so far. Toilet training is going relatively well for a pup so young, so cannot complain. But we're having to keep him separate from our cats. We've got him in our room and set up a zone in the garden leading out of our room, then he has a puppy pen in our hallway, with a fence thing up into the main living area, so he can see the cats, but can't get to them. Today we had two cat interactions outside, and I cannot help just panicking. He has growled and barked, the interactions were with the little garden fence we put up between them, however both times each cat has managed to sneak into the fence area and give us a bit of a surprise.

Has anyone else successfully introduced a puppy into a house with cats? I need tips, or advice or reassurance, as right now I can't help but think, is this actually going to work? And if it's not, this was a horrible idea. The only reason I thought ok, about going through the puppy madness was for the possible cohabitation of the dog with the cats. I don't need friendship, just coexistence. I know it's super early, but I can't help spiraling.
Breed wise, he is a staffy x, likely with a whippet, but they're not 100%. He's very sweet, like for his age I cannot fault him, he's done nothing but behave like a puppy.

My bf and I recently got a 12 week old German Sheppard Bernese mountain dog mix. We got him a week ago and he’s driving me crazyy! Today I got a taste of him being overtired and it is a nightmare I desperately need help making a schedule. Right now we wake up whenever he wakes up

~6:30am: wake up, quick potty, back in crate

8:30am: wake up, potty/10 minute walk

9:00am: breakfast/training (1/2 cup kibble)

9:45am: ~10 min after breakfast we potty again or he’ll pee in our apartment

This is where we have no structure and just go with the vibes. If he wants to play, we play or nap or whatever we try to just listen to his cues and go with his mood. he gets lunch at some point in the afternoon, a full cup, and then potty 10 minutes after eating/chugging water. throughout the day he has ~2-3 big outings (park or long walk) and we always immediately potty after every nap. that being said it’s on average every 2-3 hours he goes potty.

7:00pm is dinner time and potty time (1/2 cup kibble) his water gets cut off after this for the night

7:15pm potty time

7:30pm nap time at this hour most nights. in the crate

~9:00pm: whenever he wakes up we go potty and back in crate with a toy.

11:00pm: boyfriend comes home from work and goes for potty break

11:30pm: crate for the night

One potty break in the middle of the night usually between 3:30-5:00am. This is entirely decided upon by the dog we let him wake us up, then it’s back in the crate till morning.

Issues we are having:

1 – he keeps making potty in the house same spot if we don’t take him out religiously every 2 hours. Barely any warning he just pees. How can we teach him to inform us when he wants to potty or hold his bladder until potty time. Yes I clean with enzymatic cleaner

2- i have puppy blues he’s driving me crazy in the evenings, hes so high energy and he wont listen to me

3 – we try to leave him alone in the crate for ~2 hrs Everytime we’re both at work, which always varies everyday and he’s starting to see it as a prison even though we feed all his meals in there and he has no problem sleeping at night

4- we only give him water during meals to prevent accidents since he doesn’t seem to hold his bladder he just pees in the apartment

Any and all advice is appreciated

Let’s start with me. I can get anxious. Anxiety doesn’t surface in all stressful situations, but when it does, it comes HARD. My partner and I just had the brilliant idea to adopt a puppy from our favorite local rescue. And you guessed it, I’ve been anxiety riddled ever since.

Everything I do, I feel like I’m going to break her. It’s not the same feeling I see lots of people here sharing. I don’t feel guilty that I may not be able to satisfy her needs. I do however feel afraid that I might inadvertently reinforce the wrong behaviors and turn her into an antisocial and potentially aggressive dog.

She’s very shy. She typically starts walks with her tail down and sometimes barks at people (mostly men) passing by. It’s weird that she’s not scared of me…. So of course my first thought was to seek help. All advice on the internet pulls me in different directions. I feel like it’s researching how to raise a child as if it’s a one size fits all answer. News break: it’s not.

It’s not that throwing money at problems always fixes them, but damn, I’m hoping that spending money on a good trainer might help me learn how to read her better and help her grow to be a confident dog. The caveat: the trainer isn’t available for another month!

So. Here I am. Anxiety riddled and thinking of any excuse to give her back to the rescue. Hell, Id do anything to get rid of this feeling. Unfortunately puppies don’t take Apple Pay. She’s also not crazy about treats, toys, or anything else I can offer. So what do I do? I have almost a month until I can speak with a good and reliable trainer, and I feel the worst anxiety I’ve felt in ages. I can’t help but reminisce about the peace I took for granted before making this decision.

So let it rip. I’m open to criticism, tough love, and advice. Someone please tell me everything’s going to be fine.

My almost 10-month old has done such a wonderful job tonight of entertaining himself! He’s alternated between his toys and his chews. Over the past month or so in particular he’s gotten better at this (fewer and less intense witching hours) but the last few days it feels like a switch has flipped and tonight it’s really noticeable.

I’m sure he’ll still have days where he struggles but it’s so rewarding to see this progress! Didn’t seem possible a few months ago.

We are potentially adopting a 6 month old rescue pup. We’re meeting her later this week, but have been in contact with her foster mom, who has given us some helpful information. The pup is spayed, potty trained, crate trained, walks well on a leash, and knows some basic commands. They don’t know much about her history, but she was found with a broken leg and spent time on crate rest while it healed. If everything goes well at our meet and greet, we’ll bring her home the same day.

We have all the necessary dog/puppy supplies, but I’m wondering what we can do to make the transition into our family go smoothly. We’ll keep her food the same, and try to keep her on a similar schedule. We plan to be home with her the first few days so she can settle in and we can get to know her. (We know about the 3-3-3 rule.) What should we expect from this transition period? Separation anxiety, potty regressions, other difficulties? Would love to know your experience was like if you brought home an “older” puppy.

I have an 11 week old terrier pup who I got a few weeks ago while I have been living at my parents home in a rural area with our own yard, so he’s had a yard to explore (no dogs have been in the yard besides my late dog, who had never been sick, vet approved this!), and he’s practically fully potty trained at this point.

I’ve been at my parents for the last year and a half, and finally got a job offer back in the city I had been in for years before, the same week I got my puppy (what bizarre timing?). My puppy is up to date on shots for an 11 weeker, but won’t be fully vaxxed until mid april at 16 weeks, by that point, I’ll be moved back up with him in the city.

how might I handle that switch, to those of you in cities? How do you take your puppy out in a city before they’re fully vaxxed? I’m lucky that the apartment I’m moving to is dog friendly and has a fairly large grass pad on the roof, but I have no idea about the dogs that have been there previously. The city is also pretty dog friendly with a ton of dog parks, as well as massive regular parks that are dog friendly but again, can’t bring him there until fully vaxxed. I know people have those small fake grass pads, but he’s so used to a big yard, I worry he won’t know what to do with it.

I feel bad about confusing him but the goal was always to transition back the city at some point. Beyond the potty training and outside time, has anyone done this and how did your puppy deal with it? He’s so young I hope he’s able to adjust quickly but I want to make it as smooth as possible. I didn’t think moving would be happen this soon.

Any ideas and thoughts are so appreciated!!