Category: Top Dog

Hey everyone! I’ll start by saying I’m a huge dog person. I grew up with dogs, raised a few puppies, and have put in a lot of work with them over the years.

For some background, my partner and I have been living together for a few years, and last year my mom moved into our basement (not a separate suite, just a room and living room downstairs) and yesterday, she got a puppy

Kilo is 4 months old, and he’s very very precious, he’s a Catahoula leopard dog mixed with (what I assume) is a lab. We also take care of my grandmas dog Pepé (French bulldog) as my grandmas not physically well lately, and he’s totally fine with her, if not a bit obnoxious trying to constantly play, but he’s a puppy so it’s expected.

Now onto the strange behaviour. Intro from his previous owner to my mom and I went very well, extremely well behaved, knows sit and lay down already, and had never been on a leash until we took him and he was a DREAM to leash train. He also has a food obsession but that’s common in labs and a behaviour that we’ve trained out of previous dogs we’ve had. Anyways, my partner gets home from work most days at around 7:30-8:00 PM so he’s not around much except for the weekends, and Kilo does NOT vibe with him at all.

Kilo barks incessantly, and has even snapped at him a few times during introductions. I think he’s resource guarding my mom, who he IMMEDIATELY has extreme separation anxiety with. It’s been one day and he follows her everywhere, barks and whines when she leaves, and will not listen when she’s not around, yet when she’s around he’s the perfect puppy. It’s ONLY at my partner, not at strangers or other dogs on walks at all, and not at me at all.

I’m not sure if it’s because my partner has a big beard, or is more masculine. It’d be weird if it was a man thing, cause even tho I’m biologically male (they/them pronouns) he doesn’t bark or have any issue with me at all. I know that Kilo had previous experiences with an owner who was an addict and almost homeless, so maybe someone with a beard affected him negatively? The previous owners brother in law (who gave us the dog) said this is completely out of character and new for him, and he’s never even heard him bark for a long period of time like he does with my partner.

What do I do to help train him out of this behaviour? He’s young and mouldable, but I have a huge gathering on Thursday of people, so we’ll see if it’s a people thing or just a my partner thing. Regardless, I want to work on this as it’s also sad and debilitating for my partner who’s never owned a dog and was so excited to meet him.

Help!

TLDR: My mental health is currently not doing well due to the lack of sleep, constant anxiety, and an increase in demand at my job. I am looking for the best (any) solution for my puppy who becomes very distressed when I leave now after previously being okay. I am very fearful of her developing separation anxiety and continuing to scream and vocalize when within minutes of me leaving (which I have no idea how long she does it for).

If I am unable to find a stable solution(s) or a good fit for us both, I will have to seriously consider rehoming as I feel barely comfortable leaving the house to work, eat, interact with friends, or just generally enjoy myself outside of my home without feeling extremely anxious about her. I have also had serious mental health issues in the past and don’t want to back slide.

Today I am thinking about leaving her in her crate for two hours while I check in at work because I do not have any other solutions lined up. My work schedule is listed below. ——————————————————————————

I brought my puppy home about a month ago from a rescue. She is a 4.5-5 month old mix. When I am at home she mostly just sleeps (on her own in her own beds) or plays briefly with her own toys before sleeping again. When I first brought her home she did really well on her own being left out. I would come home and the house was intact and it seemed like she would just sleep when I left. I heard no whining or vocalizing.

However, I tried visiting family for a few days with her (they also have a dog) and when we came back her ability to be left alone was completely out the window. The first couple of days I left her alone in the apartment she destroyed window fixtures and books in the home. When I puppy proofed a room and attempted to contain her in a room in the house with the door closed yesterday, she immediately began vocalizing, screaming, and scratching. When I came home she had scratched the door, the door frames, and had torn her blanket to shreds. I was actually able to come home several times that day from my job and I thought it would help. When I came home the third and last time for the day, she had shredded her bedding and pooped in the room.

I am stressed, anxious, and exhausted constantly now. I feel like I can not leave without her or even just at all. I know that this is common as I have now been researching things on this thread and its information page, however, I really don’t know if I can handle this long term. I work in athletic and health related fields that are both mentally and physically demanding and require recovery to be able sustain both without burnout or injury.

The more I research on here, Youtube, and other places, the more confused and overwhelmed I get. I know that most of these issues at this point are owner error. I fucked up taking her to my family’s house for the holidays, not crate or pen training her when I got her, and just over all not doing research into the time I should take off or support I should have during this transition. So now my puppy is having separation distress/ anxiety since the holidays and I do not know what is best for her right now.

I am on Rover now considering doggy day care or a dog walker. But I am not sure what will be best for her right now. I don’t know exactly how long I can leave her while she is not fully crate or pen trained and she already did not do well when I changed her environment before (or maybe that was just too many consecutive days I don’t know). She goes in her crate on her own randomly sometimes and lays down when I close the door. However she will vocalize is she can’t see me sometimes. I am also a single pet parent. I have also read that there can be some cons to day care here (changed behavior, reactivity, etc).

I work 9:30 AM-12 or 1 PM three days out of the week and then again from 2 PM to 7:30 PM two days out of the week. The rest of the week I WFH and do not need to leave the house for more than 2 to 3 hours at a time. This schedule is the most expansive it could be. There are some days where I will be able to be with her more often.

Hi! My 9 week old black lab has been great at going potty outside! We have been taking her off leash in the yard, bc it’s just what was easiest the few couple days. Recently though, she has started to wander off around the property, and I’ve had to start putting a leash on her and walk her around to make sure she doesn’t run away! She goes under the cars, to the property line near the neighbors house, in front of the house all while not having a leash on her. Does anyone know how to help control this? We have an older dog that uses a lead when outside bc we don’t have a fence right now. Ultimately, my pup will be on a lead outside too, unless she’s able to just go out and potty and come back. The issue is she hates when I put the lead on her, she doesn’t mind the leash bc I kind of walk around with her so she still gets to roam and explore but I want her to get used to using the lead as well. Any tips?

Hi all, my pup is 18 months and two nights ago she started hyperventilating in her crate in our bedroom, which she’s slept in overnight since the day we brought her home at 2 months old. She could not calm down no matter what we tried and we were awake for hours the first night.

She has another crate in the living room and when I put her in there she was perfectly fine and went to sleep immediately, but when I moved that crate into the bedroom she started freaking out again. We ended up sleeping on the couch the first night, and last night the same thing happened and my husband ended up on the couch. I tried some crate training during the day and she seemed mostly happy with it and will take treats etc inside, so this is something specific to the crate in the bedroom and only at night.

My husband doesn’t want her alone out front because she has to go potty overnight sometimes, and we’re at a loss of why this is happening and how to fix it. Has anyone else experienced this? Nothing has changed in the bedroom so idk why she’s so freaked out about it all of a sudden.

Stupid question but I was hoping to get concrete info on what exactly I should get from my breeder at puppy pick up.

She told us a generalized statement that the puppies get health and genetic testing as well as first vet visit + first round of shots. What specifically should we be looking for? Do most dogs from a breeder come with a birth certificate? Also, when did you register your pup with the town? Do you do it before or after getting your floof?

Hiya! I’ve got a 5 month old English Cocker Spaniel puppy. He’s doing really well in his crate and sleeping and mostly sleeps through the night (only exception is, is when he refuses to poop right before sleep). I’ve got a knee injury and can barely walk up the stairs, and I struggle even more carrying him upstairs and downstairs every night and morning. He’s good at being alone, and I’ve let him free roam downstairs while showering or cleaning, and he’s had no issue with it. There have been times where he would be in the pen downstairs alone and he’d whine a bit, but than again if I leave the house and he’s in the pen he’s completely fine. I’ve heard that for some people, it helps just immediately doing it — no transition or anything, just change it up randomly and keep him in there and see. But I’ve also heard that a transition period is needed where I could put him in the hallway and see how he does there. The only issue I’ve got with that, is that my cats roam around and often are more active at night. He doesn’t care abt the sound of them scratching the litter trays, but they knock stuff over that does wake him up.

I don’t really know how to approach it, but it’s getting more and more difficult for me to carry him down the stairs (they’re very narrow and slippery and I’m scared of falling cause I already have nearly fallen down them with him in my arms before). I also think he’d sleep better without any distractions / any movement around him. He wakes up really easily in the morning when he hears me wake up. I always get really uncertain introducing something new to him, maybe even more nervous than he is to experience it. I don’t really know how to approach it. I wanna do right by him, that’s what my priority is. He does sleep like 7/8h next to my bed in a crate, but I really do wanna have him sleeping downstairs in his pen as the end goal.

Does anyone have any experience with this particular situation ? I would really appreciate some opinions / what helped for other people. Thank you in advance!