Category: Top Dog

I’m looking for some advice because I’m a little new to this situation.

My grandma recently left us with her dog, and he’s about 15 years old. We love him and want to give him the best life possible, especially now that he’s a senior.

He’s slower than before, sleeps a lot, and sometimes seems a little confused. We try to be gentle and patient, but I’m not sure if we’re doing everything right.

What are the most important things to focus on when caring for an older dog? And how can I tell if he’s comfortable and happy at this age?

Thanks so much for any tips or experiences you can share.

I love my 7 month old mini dachshund so much. She is my best friend and I think I’m out of the puppy blues. She slept in a pen for 2 months before moving to mg bed. I love having her with me, it helps me sleep knowing she’s nearby.

She sleeps mostly 9-5. She just does not stay up later. By 8 she’s normally out on the couch. How on earth can I can get to sleep in later? I’m exhausted

She has no water after 6 pm

I 31F am currently a full time stay at home dog mom to my relatively new 7month old bichon puppy. I’ve had her since October and she’s been a blessing and surprisingly easy to train! However our ongoing concern is crate training. I’ve done some cursory research and learned that the best way to crate train is by making positive associations with the crate so that your puppy will want to go in on their own, and I’ve been doing this by making a “puzzle” out of her favorite blanket and some small treats. I’ve been folding up the blanket and sticking the treats in the different folds and she’ll go inside the crate to search for them, which is great since she likes to dig. However today I realized there may be a problem to this method unsupervised. I was sitting next to the crate playing ACNH when my puppy started barking in an agitated manner. I looked to investigate and discovered that she had worked her way into the folds of the blanket that she could not extricate herself from easily. She was struggling and panting so I quickly unwrapped her and got her settled. She’s perfectly fine now, but this is clearly not a safe way to entertain her while she’s unattended. I hate to think what would happen if I hadn’t been here!

All this to say, does anyone with more experience have some safer alternatives for this blanket search that you can leave your pup to unattended? I go back to working in one more week and I want to make sure she’s safe for the few hours neither I or my husband will be home. Any advice is appreciated!

This is going to be super long and if nobody reads/responds totally understand.. just need to vent lol I’m new to Reddit and this is my first post so please be kind if this is read :,)

New dachshund puppy owner, we have had him for 3 weeks he’s about 3 months old now and OMG it has been tough. Like we did our research and knew it would be a ton of work we aren’t shocked about that it was expected, I guess it was just more than we even expected. So when he’s good, he is so lovely and a joy to be around but when he’s not…. Oh lord it is rough. He seems to be on a better schedule with me than my husband, I enforce naps more and am a bit more strict. My husband tries so hard he really does but he just does not nap when he’s with him and I don’t understand. And then I get frustrated telling him he isn’t doing enough or it’s not the “right” way and then we fight… I feel bad because he doesn’t deserve that because he is trying and I continuously tell myself that. I always get nervous because I see how puppy’s need 18-20 hours of sleep daily and I know our pup is not getting this as hard as we try. We crate train him and when we go to sleep at night he’s amazing he will basically sleep through the night and not cry and is just a great boy. But during the day…. Trying to enforce naps can be a hit or miss. We put the crate in our bedroom in the dark with the white noise machine, we use snacks, toys (calming toys) and try to make it as comfy as possible. Of course I have to literally sit with him until he falls asleep or he starts losing his MIND which in itself is sooo annoying but whatever it is what it is. But then at the same time I worry because I know they are prone to separation anxiety and the last thing I want to do is be a reason my dog does not turn out to be independent and untrainable. I constantly go back and forth with these emotions like what am I doing wrong, I am trying so hard and don’t want to screw it up or screw him up… soooo some advice and have others struggled with their pups not wanting to take their naps during the day?? Also one last thing to point out sometimes of course he is good and we’ll get him to nap but for those times it’s difficult that’s why I’m reaching out. This was very long so yeah thanks for hearing out my venting lol

Our 8 month old ACD does amazing with structured crate naps, but is otherwise incapable of settling by himself. We really want to start transitioning him to just settling whenever he wants throughout the day so he can graduate to more freedom.

He’s a stickler for rules and has never even tried to chew anything that isn’t his, and has had free roam of half of the house since about 5 months old (he’s a Velcro dog tho so he’s usually within 10 feet of me anyways), so we think he’s finally ready!

Yesterday we didn’t enforce a nap and he just relaxed while I worked and then eventually went into the crate to sleep with the door open. In the afternoon after a long walk, he also just settled down on the floor and took an hour nap unprompted. We did have to enforce a third nap when he kept getting up to check on the cat every time she walked by, but it was a great first day!

And now on day 2, we did a walk and some play, and he is now napping away on his bed for the past two hours!

Overall I’m just so obsessed with him and how good of a dog he is, he’s completely my best friend already, and even if it’s small, these past two days help me see how much he’s grown and matured and just becoming the dog I was hoping he would ♥️

Would love to hear other stories of puppies as they mature and big wins you saw as they chilled out!

What do you guys use for treats? I know I can use kibble but my large puppy eats purina pro plan and the pieces are tiny! Can I use a larger kibble for treats? I figured it would be more cost effective. I would appreciate any recommendations!

Hi wonderful people! I brought home two 8-week old foster puppies and have some questions about training. I will only have them for about another week, so I’m wondering what’s the most valuable training I can do in this short time to set these pups up for success. We’re currently working on potty training with puppy pads, although it’s a little hard with two because they both want to go at the same time. They sleep in their crate together at night, so we’re sort of working on crate training but I suspect they will have a rougher time being alone in the crate when they are adopted individually. Is it worth it to work on individual crate training with them or maybe just some basics like sit? Also any guess on their breed?