Category: Top Dog

We have a 7 month old GSD. Sometimes, she acts like a german shepherd. She's clever and eager to please. Then the next day its like we've never met and shes never been trained on anything.

Yesterday I couldn't walk past her without her mouthing at my hands, she pulled our whole walk in the morning, she kept trying to get into the cat food, and picked up all manner of things she wasn't supposed to, then acted like "drop it" was a foreign concept.

Today, our walk was beautiful. Barely any pulling, was focused on me, sat when we stopped. Shes been quietly playing with her toys and isn't jumping or mouthing.

The absolute whiplash of it all, not knowing which dog I'll wake up to has been…. interesting. She's showing promise that once it over, she'll be remarkable though.

Hi all! I have a 12.5-week-old Mini American Shepherd who’s been home for a week. He’s fairly potty trained (only one accident) and sleeps great in his covered crate by my bed—sometimes all fours up!

But during the day, when I crate him alone for naps (max 2 hrs), he whines/barks for ~15 mins before settling for varying amounts of time (depending on whether or not he actually naps, max 1 to 1.5 hour, but sometimes as little as 10mins) and then resumes barking/whining. I’ve tried putting in Kongs and toys, but he won’t touch them unless I’m around. I also make sure to only approach the crate once he’s quiet.

I’m worried it might be early separation anxiety. He eats all his meals in the crate and doesn’t seem to dislike it at night, but I’d love for him to see it as his space and go in on his own.

I just got a second crate for my study and plan to use it for daytime naps instead of the bedroom one. Any other tips?

Hi, I have an 11-week-old German puppy. She's actually doing really well I think, considering we've barely had her for three weeks.

We've crate-trained her, and recently also started doing her naps in the crate (unless im working by my computer and she sleeps under my desk in her dog-bed), and giving her her meals and snacks (enrichment etc) in the crate. She doesn't whine anymore when we go to bed and sleeps throughout almost the entire night. (She still pees in her crate, but only at night when we can't take her out at like 1 am – we have a cam on her too).

Recently I read about tethering too, which seems to be leashing your dog inside to avoid accidents and avoid letting them wander about. The thing is, she follows us everywhere. She doesn't really go anywhere she's not supposed to. What's your advice on tethering? I can't really decide on whether to do it or not.

Thanks! happy to provide any more info if I forgot something.

My husband and I leave early for work and our dogs like to go outside and bark. We would like to install a doggy door we can lock and unlock with our phones or schedule to unlock at a certain time. Does anyone have experience and recommendations for a certain one?

People that have a Great Pyrenees, or a Samoyed, or any of the other dogs that can be mistaken for a polar bear…

Do you spend part of winter singing Big Boy by Sza to your dog? Because they do like cuddling with their polar bear arms. 😌