Category: Top Dog

Nights in the crate: check ✅ Meals in the crate: check ✅

I do: ✅ Reinforcing with treats/kibbles whenever she goes in there by herself (which is rare, except at night when she's tired and puts herself to bed) ✅ Very short crate training sessions (5 to 20 minutes) while being in the same room, or the next room. As soon as I go up or down the stairs, she loses it. I ignore her and eventually come back calmly to let her out when she's stopped screaming. ✅ I do toys rotation and leave them in her crate. She just picks them up and take them out… I tried to insist and continuously bring the bully sticks/chews back in the crate, but she just takes them out, so eventually I gave up. She's stubborn as heck. ✅ I only leave her in the crate when she's eaten, went potty, did her activity/exercise.

The longest I've left her home alone in her crate in 3 months and a half was 1h, 1h30, and 2h. She was batshit crazy when I came back. Super anxious and out of it.

Why is she not liking it, but only during the day??? I have no life at this point.

When I leave for errands (40 minutes), I come back and she's completely panicked. Usually hasn't touched her super cool treat I leave her, and just takes it out with her and enjoys it only when I'm back?

I don't trust her to be alone with the cat/in the living room (baby gated), because she busted through one of the baby gates over a month ago while I dared leave her alone in the living room for 2 hours in the living room while painting my deck/patio.

I work from home, so it's hard for me to actually leave consistently every day, that's why I've been doing tiny practices with her in her crate while I'm in another room. She's not fond of it. And it's worse when I actually leave. So yeah, how do I get my life back? I just want to be able to leave for 2-3-4h occasionally without having her panic.😖 I don't want her to grow up to be unable to be alone.

Help 😵‍💫

I am a firm believer that pee pads are a horrible concept. Beyond the cost, to me it teaches your dog that it is sometimes ok to go in the house and it is the wrong message to convey and confusing. I read an alternative method before getting a new dog in 2024 and it was great. When applying it we house broke a 10 week Australian Labradoodle in two weeks, most accidents being due to a hurricane impacting our ability to take him outside frequently. Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we picked up an 8 week old shih tzu. Obviously not as smart as a doodle and we thought it may take longer, but it only took 4 days. We have been accident free for nearly 2 weeks. Of the two we had, one was within the first 24hrs here, the other b/c my son forgot to take her out immediately after opening the crate in the morning. Now she whimpers a little when she wants to go outside and will run to the back door to be let out.

Trick was….present a special treat every time they go to the bathroom outside, but present it while they are actually in the act. Poop or pee, place a treat in your hand and while praising them, present it. As soon as they finish they come and get the treat from your hand. Some people just use praise, some only give a treat when they get inside, but this helps them make the connection that the treat only comes when outside and after going to the bathroom. Pick a specific treat for this activity that is not available to them any other time. It needs to be something considered a high reward value. We have adapted this for crate training as well with a special high value reward only available for going in her crate and letting us shut the door. Her whimpering time has dropped significantly and she starts to get excited for bed time.

I want to get the Febreze fade defy plug-in the one that heats up the oil in the round white canister and it plugs into the wall, but it can be placed higher up because it has a cord not the traditional plug in. If I placed it higher up would it be safe for dogs or would it still be considered not safe to have around them?

Hi everyone,

I’ll be picking up my new puppy (9 weeks old) around the New Year.
The breeder is about a 13-hour drive from my home, so I plan to stay one night near the breeder before pickup, and then make another short overnight stop on the way home.

I’m a bit worried about how to manage things during the hotel stay.
I’m planning to bring the same dog food the breeder has been feeding, a soft crate, pee pads, a waterproof picnic mat, a few blankets, and a stuffed toy — but is there anything else you’d recommend bringing for a puppy this young?

Also, since I don’t know yet whether she’ll get car sick, would it be a good idea to get some motion sickness medication just in case?

I’d really appreciate any tips or personal experiences from people who have done a long drive home with a young puppy.

Thanks in advance!

Im getting a 4 month old English springer spaniel in 9 days November 1st. I have three other dogs already and my male dog Henry loves stealing other toys. I’m worried about fights. But he’s very gentle with puppies.