Category: Top Dog

My wife and I are looking at getting a golden retriever (she finally said yes to getting one!). However, the breeder that we want to get the puppy from will have the dogs available in the middle of the summer (late June) when I will be the “busiest”.

camps finish end of Augest. But since I live on camp I could go home every 2-3 hours to take him out for potty and stimulation. But won’t be able to stay for long.

So my question is, is this a bad idea? 😂 and what should I expect the first 2 months of owning a puppy to know if I’ll be able to keep up with the demands of raising a puppy and work.

My thought is, it could work out because I will be having people come in and out quite frequently so he will be well socialized. I’ll also be able to come home frequently to take care of him because I don’t need to be around all the time necessarily.

But he will have to stay in the crate for a couple hours at a time alone. And I know crate training and separation anxiety are hurdles with getting a new puppy.

Any advice?

Is 6 weeks okay to train or should I wait the 8th week. Right now he is so hyper jumping even if I try to calm him he just jump lunge on me etc so should training start at 8 weeks 2 weeks later

My 4 mo cavapoo is super energetic and SUPER SMART and she usually gets enrich activities like snuffle mats, treasure hunt or even kongs and frozen licky mats 2-3 times a day apart from her walk. But all of these require food (i train her everyday as well) plus she wont let me clean her ears and face if she doesn’t get food to pacify her so thats more food. and she already is on a 4 times feeding schedule (were trying to transition to 3 slowly) i don’t mind giving her the required food but i feel like she’s overeating? And its also i feel like imp to know non-food enrichment.

My seven month old neutered puppy was not crate trained. We tried to the first few weeks when he was 8 weeks old but he ”won” and we gave up. He would occasionally go into his crate when we were training him – totally voluntary and the only time he cried in it was at night. He liked taking naps in it but nights were miserable.

We ended up keeping the crate out in our living room and in the last few days he’s been going in it and taking 2-3 minute rests and then coming back out. He is otherwise totally normal and happy. My partner is worried he’s sick or there is something wrong with him.

Any insights is appreciated!

hes getting more and more intense day by day 😭

Our puppy is about 7 months now. Because I work from home I made the rookie mistake of putting the crate training on the back burner. Other than leash training which we’re currently still working on, he’s learned quite a lot and is well mannered.

I’ve started the crate training and first time I put him in, 11 minutes of solid barking and crying. Ugh my heart I’m such a softy. After a few minutes of quiet I let him out but he was attentive and honestly I’m not sure if that counted as settled or not.

Everytime I put him in there now he whimpers softly for a lil bit but eventually stops but he’s always sitting staring me down when I come back. So I’m unsure if that counts as settling. Now he isn’t starting from scratch. We gave him a good relationship with the kennel when younger so he naps in it, stores his fav toys in there, stores a snack if he’s not ready to eat it yet or jus chills in there but the moment you close that door he hates the kennel. I don’t wanna loose the progress we made but I also need him to be okay staying in the kennel for longer terms (4 hours max only! About 1-2x monthly)

He is being trained to be a medical alert service dog so honestly he’s quite well behaved otherwise. Yes I know, rookie mistake ugh! Working from home really made me mess up. My previous dogs never had issues with the kennel and were much easier to train this, I think he’s jus honestly a tad more attached than my previous dogs specially since I waited so long, or most likely cause I waited so long.

My questions are, is him sitting and attentive when I come back still counting as “settled”?

Will starting this loose progress I’ve originally had?

And lastly, with my previous dogs, I’d put some treats for them in the cage before I locked it and then walk away and come back I’d give them a single treat when I took them out (small training treat) to show that the kennel is a happy thing, and it worked well, but would that hinder progress in this situation?

Fyi he is a large breed Yorkie so he’ll grow up to be 15lbs which I know isn’t your average service dog but as he’s only meant for alert tasks, I don’t care that he’s small and cute 😆😆 (if the breed makes any difference in the answers)

I never wanted a puppy!!!! But I saw a 5 month old online and the rest is history.

It’s night 1. We JUST cleared our house of fleas and confirmed with the rescue that she’d been medicated. They said something crazy is going on with fleas in LA tho 🤷‍♀️ Tonight we had her outside for a bit and we came in and she was sleeping on the floor, and I found effing fleas on her. I feel so bad. The rescue responded right away and said to bathe her and do Capstar tomorrow, and she should have her next flea and tick treatment next week. SIGH. I feel like I’ll never be rid of them now.

Here’s what worked out ok tho, night one with a brand new puppy:

– she peed and pooped inside once. I managed to get her outside mid poop and she waited and pooped the rest outside

– I took her outback right before the emergency flea bath and she peed!

– she threw a fit when I tried putting her in the crate while we were eating, that was a fail. But after a slooowww reintro back to all the coziness she has in her crate, with me laying in front of the opening, with the door open, and after she’d had more play time outback, and the stress of the bath, she is now sleeping soundly in her crate. I am on the couch near her but I’m definitely impressed. Good job little miss. Name to be determined.

Starting about 2 weeks ago I’ve been having an issue with keeping my dogs outside for potty. 2 aussies, both well potty trained. My girl gets free rein because she has great recall, my boy is tied out. Both of them have pooped inside during this time, extremely unusual.

I live in a small town in PA, we get deer and that’s about it. My boy pooped in his crate the other day, I tried to take them out around 4am. He would barely leave the house and my girl wouldn’t leave at all.

Even during the day he doesn’t want to leave the sidewalk area. My girl will go potty normally. I haven’t seen anything going out with them, but are they sensing something? I’m concerned on what this could be.

Hello, everyone. I will be getting a dog in the near future. It will not be a puppy and therefore accustomed to its already assigned name.

I want to change it. We are expecting to have the dog by the time he is between 10 and 11 months old.

1. Is it easy to change a dog’s name?

2. How do I go about doing this?

3. Is it worth going through the hassle of a name change?

Hi my dog is a Greyhound er she's 7 years old if that helps and I've had her for 4 years. She slept in my room ever since we got her but she stopped a few months ago. There aren't any changes to my room, is this just maturing or something else