Category: Top Dog

I have a 13 week old lab / shepherd (maybe?) mix. When we brought him home my wife and I were able to trade him back and forth to the office. So he was with us 24/7 where we could somewhat entertain, clean up after, and check on him. We now need to start leaving him at home during the work day and it’s giving my wife and I some anxiety.

We have a pen (8 panels) set up in the kitchen. I know a lot of other people prefer crates, however, he has some unusual intermittent issues with bladder control. Crating him all day seems like a recipe for a very unhappy pup. I bought reusable waterproof pen mats to hopefully keep his paws mostly dry during the day. I also have a camera on the way so that I can keep an eye just in case.

We’ve left him in the pen for 3-4 hours a few times in the past, holidays, and evening out, etc. he seems to do alright. Aside from the pushing of the pen that I assume is from his distress of wanting us around 24/7.

My wife has been off work this week but we have still been trying to keep him in the pen for the majority of the “working hours”. To try and establish a sense of consistency.

I’m sure that spending the days away unable to take him outside hourly will set back his potty training a bit. But he is good about peeing outside as soon as he gets there. And I do intend to take lunch breaks to come home and let him outside and play a little.

Currently inside his pen he has a good size pillow bed (brand new. Letting him get use to it today. Hoping it doesn’t get shredded) a handful of toys including durable stuffies, bones, peanut butter hoof, and a water bowl that attaches to the side because for some reason he’s started throwing his water bowl in protest this week.

Should I put a crate inside of the pen for additional security? I want him to be safe and comfortable. Sometimes when we leave his crying stresses out my hound dog to the point that I’ve had to get safety locks for the pantry.

Sorry for the long post. Appreciate any advice.

I’m picking up a 13 week old golden retriever in a week and I’m so excited!

I had a puppy before but that was 12 years ago. I already expect the sleepless night, the blues, have everything prepared ect

The only thing I don’t know is how often to feed, I see people on here always say three times a day but I thought it was two? The dog I had before was a lab so different breed but similar (and my heart dog, took me nearly 5 years to get another dog)

Hi everyone! Looking for advice I have a 9 mo old male corgi and the vet suggested waiting until he’s 1 yr before neutering. In the meantime, I live with someone else who has a 9 yr old female chihuahua who is not spayed. She went into heat the other day and now my puppy is absolutely losing his mind. Just crying and whining, not eating, and overall just not himself. I want to let him see her so he’ll stop whining but I also don’t want any unwanted pregnancies. Is the best course of action to keep them separated or maybe putting shorts/a diaper on the female dog? Please help!

What it says on the tin… We got our pup 4 days ago (8 week old Chihuahua), I can’t expect my puppy or myself to get used to everything immediately. But I really thought I’d be shooting rainbows out my butt with how excited I was. I’ve always wanted a dog, it’s been one of my dreams since I was a child, and I’m grateful it’s all happening.

I’m excited and happy, but I also have these periods of deep overwhelm and melancholy. My boyfriend (who has been so supportive and awesome) tried to put the little guy down for his nap, he was being a bit fussy, and I just immediately started sobbing.

How did you guys get over the puppy blues hurdle? I’m doing all the general mental health maintenance things; remembering to eat, shower, get adequate rest (this has been the tough bit). I feel so guilty because this little creature is already so attached to me and I feel like a monster for needing my space.

Hi all! I am bringing home an 8 week old miniature dachshund in about two weeks. I have researched and prepped for getting a dog for a while. I grew up having dogs as well, so this isn’t new territory for, BUT what is new is I’m now an adult with a full time job.

I am a teacher and am out of the house from 6 am until around 3 pm. I will have four days off when I get my puppy for me and her to get acclimated. After that I will be back on my normal schedule. As of right now I am paying my neighbor to come walk her and play with her twice a day. On Wednesdays and Thursdays my sister is coming to my house and watching her.

Is having my neighbor come twice a day enough or should she come more? I will have my puppy set up in a play pen with her crate, toys and grass pee pad. I also have a roommate who will be home and will let her out when she can/if she wants, but this is my dog so not her responsibility. Is there anything extra I should do since I do work full time? I want to be sure I am being as fair to my puppy as I can be! Once she has all of her shots she will be going to doggy day care, too 😊

My husband and I just adopted an adorable Texas Heeler today named max, He was originally an outside dog who lived on a farm with a plethora of animals so he’s a bit smelly, We gave him a quick bath in our tub but he’s in some need of professional grooming asap.

He’s 3 years old so not a puppy and we adopted him from a family so it wasn’t anything official- he was actually free😅 He is completely vaccinated but the lady we got him from wasn’t sure where his records were but said she’d look for them and mail them to us asap – we’re keeping in touch very well as it was a hard choice for her to rehome this guy

I scheduled him an appointment at a groomer for tomorrow because like I said he needs it asap😅 When I finished booking, it said to submit or bring a physical copy of his vax paperwork to the appointment, which I should’ve known was going to be asked for but this is my first time owning a dog on my own.

Is there anything I can do if I cannot get the paperwork in time for the appointment tomorrow? I completely believe the family that we adopted him from that he’s 100% vaxxed but also understand the groomer needing the paper work incase anything would happen! He’s such a sweet boy so I know nothing would happen but I completely understand the precaution!

Picture of our max as tax! 🙂

https://imgur.com/a/k9ZWYgX

I recently adopted a very sweet and well behaved 2 yo black mouth cur.i live in an apartment and wake up in the morning around 4am and take him to the bathroom. I then feed him and leave around 4:40am to work, I come back to the apartment at 11 to let him go to the bathroom again and then head back to work until 230. He is regularly exercised every single day, but I have noticed that he will pee inside the apartment even while I'm at work.

He is potty trained and he knows it is wrong, i think one issue is the massive amount of water he drinks, I have to fill the 44oz bowl 2-3 times a day minimum. The puddles i come home to are not small. My question is this: should I train him to pee on pee pads on the apartment patio, should I feed him less water, or water him at specific times(STILL ENOUGH WATER TO BE HYDRATED, IM NOT SUGGESTING I DEHYDRATE HIM)? If I teach him to pee on the pads, does that increase the chance that he will lose his previous house training and see the apartment as the place to go ? what would be the best way to train the pads?

Note: I do not make enough money to pay a dog walker every day or send him to doggy day care.

An acquaintance of mine posted on Facebook that her 15 year old dog needs someone with more time.

No health issues, just needs let outside more often..

Otherwise she will be put down tomorrow.

I’m debating going to get her, but at that age I just don’t know. Who knows if the dog would be happy with a stranger at that age.

But if she’s still eating and acting fine, it’s upsetting to think she might not be quite ready. What’s your opinion Reddit? 🥲

Hi all! Happy New Year to everyone!

Just looking for some advice. My wife and I adopted a precious little lurcher Frank when he was 3 months old. He's a week away from turning a year old, and we're still struggling terribly with settling him.

He has a crate which he loves, we enforce naps when we can, but if I'm not there to give him rubs and comfort, he'll take 1.5 hours to finally lie down and drift off.

He gets 2 x 30 minute walks a day capped off with a 30 second sprint in the dog park every other day (he only runs for 30 seconds then comes back to us). We play a lot and mix in 15 minute sessions of fun training, too. We've noticed with training he's incredibly smart, but pretty lazy, unless there's an instant reward involved.

In the last 2 months he's become hyper focused on our bedroom to nap in. He has a little bed upstairs in our bedroom where he sleeps at night, and since November he just will not nap anywhere else. He screams in his crate, we bought him a comfy bed for downstairs and he just attacks that and chews it up.

Our vet recommended Reconcile 32mg as he felt this was stemming from anxiety. He's been on it for 2 months, but hasn't helped with the settling at all, so we're thinking we may as well take him off it as I don't want to be drugging him.

We've tried all the tricks with settling training and crate work, etc, but nothing is working. We just don't know what to do anymore. When he can't settle we play or do training games to tire him out, but he just cannot seem to decompress and relax. 😔

I'm adopting a dog tomorrow that has been fostered for a few months. I was reading about the 3-3-3 rule about letting the dog decompress for three days, then start your daily routine the next few weeks, and after that start introducing new people and places. At what point should I start taking her to doggie daycare to play with other dogs! She is crate trained but I don't want to crate her 5 days a week while we are working, so my plan was to take her to doggie daycare two days a week. That's going to be part of our routine, so I was hoping to do it sooner rather than later but also don't want to rush it. Might be overthinking this so need advice . Thank you!