Category: Top Dog

We adopted our new girl a few weeks ago and she's six months old. She was moved around quite a bit in her early life but she is so sweet and generally adaptable so far. We were told she was crate-trained but would cry a bit sometimes when first going in, then settle for the rest of the time. We found this to be true for the first weeks. We have her crate in the guest room and shut the door so our other dog, who can roam at night, wouldn't wake or distract her. The crate is not covered (we didn't have one) and we don't give any stuffed animals for safety reasons.

The first night we had her, I stayed in there until she fell asleep, giving a couple of treats and then leaving quietly when she was asleep. We followed the same process for the first week and let her cry a few minutes when she wasn't asleep yet when we left the room.

She has progressively gotten worse with it over the last week – she used to cry 5-10 minutes then it became 15-20. We're thinking it's because she's more attached to us and doesn't want to be separated now as time has gone on? I asked our dog trainer for some advice and she suggested trialing keeping the door open or putting a stuffed animal in there (her previous foster did say she liked that), so we gave her a stuffed toy at bedtime last night. She cried for over an hour with the toy in her mouth. I took her outside to pee and brought her back and she continued to absolutely howl and circle around the crate, in a way we'd never seen before.

We're thinking she was just not tired enough at bedtime (she slept on and off from like 7:30-10:30pm on the couch) and the toy may have riled her up for playtime instead of bedtime. Now we're afraid of rocking the boat and trying a crate cover or opening the door in case we have similar issues, but her crying periods getting longer instead of shorter over time made us want to try countermeasures.

She also goes in for a 3 hour midday crate nap where she usually cries a bit then as well. I'm dreading putting her in there today after how last night went but I know I need to try again and see if the issue persists.

So I had labradors my whole life, my last Labrador is still alive but she was so quick (like the rest) fantastic at being left home alone. She’s with my mum now as that’s her main owner anyways.

About 3 months ago me and my partner have decided to get our first puppy together. She’s a standard black poodle cross with some Labrador and Australian shepherd as the dad is unfortunately a rescue. This has made her such an exciting surprise but it has been a rough few months lol.

She’s amazing at so much and the smartest puppy I’ve ever owned, she’s so quick to learn and she is extremely respectful and just super loving and understanding. However, I believe this is because she loves people, a bit too much for her own good. She is very attached to me, and occasionally my partner, even if we leave the house she gets super anxious and barks like mad. This was what used to happen when we first got her, it has thankfully been getting better but the progress is slow, I’m worried she’ll never be able to be on her own fully. I can’t leave her for long at all. Even five minutes and I hear her start to bark from outside. I don’t want any of that “just leave her and she’ll get used to it.” crap.

I’ve tried every possibility and it does not work for a dog like her, she just believes im abandoning her and she’ll get louder and louder. I tried this twice and gave up as the strategy seems more harmful and makes her stick to my hip like crazy. So none of that that will be ignored thanks. That didn’t even work with my labs. Please actual advice would help from people who understood this!

before i start i just want to say i am training all day everyday with my cavalier and he does so well most of the time i cant even discredit him because i know hes trying. It gets to a point with training that i stop caring about giving him the healthy treats, i look everywhere for high value low calorie treats and he does not listen well with most treats. on walks we work on drop it and 80% of the time he does so well but when he finds the most nastiest thing in the world to eat off the street my treats are not the better option. does anyone have treat recommendations for training that ACTUALLY makes them listen and drop anything in their mouth for i don’t care if they are healthy or not i just need him to listen .

We just adopted two new 8 week old puppies, they are brother and sister.

The brother is my 20 year old son’s dog while the sister is ours. We want to crate them in separate rooms. The boy in my son’s room and the girl in ours.

At night it is brutal…the crying and whining for each other. We get some peace then one of them wakes up and it starts right up. I get it, they have only lived together and they are living in an unfamiliar place. They do spend most of the day together and if they are separated they start right up. Like when I feed them in their crates as soon as they are done they try to fund each other and if they can’t they start right up.

What can we do to ease them being separated? Any tips?

I just got my pup yesterday and she's been nippy/teeth.. I know it's normal for a pup mind you but what can I do to help? I have a 5 year old so her nipping at my daughter just makes my daughter lose it so I'm trying to find some tips and tricks to help ..

she's also been chewing on the stair railing and I've been trying to get her to stop, but she just keeps going back -_- also she keeps trying to nip my daughter's hair, any tips?

I used to live in a flat in the Netherlands. There was a small dog, likely a Chihuahua, living on the same floor as me. The dog barked at me every time it met me or passed by my door for no reason. One day, I barked back at the dog when it barked at me. The dog got confused and angry. I found this funny.

I have a beagle, and he doesn't listen to me at all when we go for walks. I'm even afraid to let him off the leash because I think he'll run away. It seems like he doesn't pay any attention to me. But at home, everything is fine. He responds and comes when I call him.

I am planning to get a dog. I have around 30 m2 backyard where my dog will spent most of its days, and enough time to walk my dog an hour a day for its daily exercise.

Besides of that, any tips you want to give me as a first time dog owner?

Looking to hear why people chose to adopt/rescue or go to a breeder and what your experience was.

So my dog likes to do this sometimes, mostly at night and I've always been curious as to why or if anyone else's doggo does the same?

He was born deaf if that has anything to do with it as he's the only dog out of my others to do this and the rest were born with hearing.

He likes to shove his nose right into a rug or his dog bed and tries to breath through his mouth? It's always been so strange to see as it's not like normal panting. When he does it, it sounds like he is always trying to breathe more air in and then like forces it out his mouth because his nose is shoved right into a rug blocking his nostrils?

i'm interested to see if anyone else's doggo does this!