Category: Top Dog

my boyfriend and I just got a house together and we’ve been renovating it with the help of his mom. His mom is fostering a puppy and brought him around during the course of the renovations. We offered to host the puppy for the weekend because she had a lot of work to do and we fell in love with him. The thing is, we are just so lost on if we’re able to take care of him. Money isn’t an issue and neither is space, we have a big home and we’re dual income no kids.

The puppy can literally not be left alone. He’s destructive and anxious, he whines and cries relentlessly when left alone and will destroy doors when separated from us. He doesn’t understand when we don’t want to play with him and just incessantly nips at us and the kid we baby sit indiscriminately. He eats like he’s never eaten before and constantly steals food (I don’t really care but it’s bothers my partner) I don’t really understand hope to discipline an animal? Raising my voice doesn’t work and it’s not like I’m going to get violent with him.

We want to keep him so badly as he’s so affectionate, funny and personable. We just don’t want to get in the way of him having a family that actually knows what to do with a dog. I’ve been looking into videos on teething and separation anxiety but I can’t find anything that breaks the surface of very basic advice that doesn’t work. My partner and I both work so there’s just no way we can baby sit him 24/7

TLDR :my partner and I are in love with a foster dog and would love to keep him, but he has behavioral issues we’re not sure if we can navigate. Any advice?

I have been thinking of all the ways that I can bond with my puppy without turning her into a velcro dog. So far, I take her outside on her own so that my focus is completely on her and not on my other dogs. She doesn't really "play" much in the way of group play and prefers to just chew on her benabones and nylabones. When she does play, she plays with my other 2 dogs.

Sometimes she seeks me out for snuggles and she sleeps in my bed at night with my other two dogs…and that's bonding in a way since dogs are social and generally pack animals and such. I of course feed her and give her treats but, what are your favorite ways of bonding with your puppy?

I am eventually enrolling her in puppy school once she has all her shots & I know that will also help build our bond as well. But I am just curious to see what everyone else does.

Hi! My puppy is quite reactive and pulls towards other dogs, especially smaller ones. (She is medium sized.) My puppy's trainer told me to let her meet as many dogs as possible outside, as her breed tends to become territorial and aggressive if they are not socialized enough. My puppy is 5 months now, and she likes dogs, but she is a bit rough with smaller dogs.

I let her meet some dogs on the sidewalk, and she usually does okay with bigger dogs. They sniff each other, and we move on. She gets excited, but we move along. I am hesitant about letting her meet small dogs as she lies down completely and jumps at them. She played on a loose leash with a big friendly dog that we already knew, with my trainer holding the leash, and she did well. (I want to add that she lies down for bigger dogs sometimes too, but does not jump at them).

So I don't let her meet every dog, and I try to keep her walking with treats. We are working on heel. I don't know if I'm doing right, and if dog daycare helps with socialization. I was thinking of taking her to doggy daycare for half day once a week to start out. It's a place that requires a 4-hour interview to make sure my puppy does okay with the other dogs. I don't think the dog park is a good place for her to play with other dogs as I don't know them, and I don't know anyone with a dog to play with mine.

I just feel unsure about all of this and don't know if anyone has advice for this.

9 week old lab puppy, been in home for week. He’s honestly well behaved after a week of settling he’s able to do short hikes on leash, short fetch throws, classic lab food drive appearing, capable of calm with some coaxing. He wasn’t even too land sharky.

I have been trying to socialize him. And of course EVERYONE wants to see a puppy. Unfortunately most visitors prefer to disrespect my boundaries, handle to the point he’s squirming and biting, allow him to bite hands and faces. The last one last night had me fed up. Hthey played for 2 hours, I tried saying hey, don’t play like that. It’s late. He’s been up too long. It got to the point of literally physically removing my puppy from them and putting him to bed. I know the simple answer is just stop allowing “those” visitors. And focus on my puppies health over entertaining. Unfortunately “those” visitors is everyone for me and I’m raising him alone, live alone no partner.

I jwant to hear from some folks that have been through this. If you have, did it cause lasting behavioral problems? Am I overreacting and “just let him be a puppy”? because right now I feel like a terrible puppy parent like I’ve allowed my friends to harm my new best friend. It does seem like it’s made a difference in his behavior. Even just tonight he’s been MUCH more wild, attempting to play rough with me, harder to settle. Honestly I have a prevailing feeling in doing things wrong but in trying to be by the book. It’s important for me to raise a well behaved dog.

Looking for advice and some perspective.

We brought home a 10 week old brown lab puppy two days ago. We also have an adult cat who previously had full run of the house.

They’ve had two controlled meetings so far.

The first time, I was holding the puppy and when he saw her, he gave a low growl. She was just sitting there, not moving.

The second time, he was on leash on the floor. They were on opposite ends of a long hallway that’s gated. He saw her, barked, growled, and tried to run toward her. She then ran away, and we immediately created distance. He has never successfully chased her.

So clearly he’s going to need desensitization and impulse control work around her.

Right now we have strong separation in place. Her safe space is our bedroom, which is gated and completely off limits to him. He’s mostly confined to the living room, and there’s a large hallway separating the two areas, also gated. There are no surprise encounters.

It’s only been two days, but she is clearly scared of him and is barely leaving the bedroom unless he’s fully secured. I honestly feel worse about her stress than anything else.

Plan right now is to keep them fully separated for a while, let her regain confidence, and then do very gradual exposure at a distance where he can see her and stay under threshold.

For those who have integrated a puppy and a cat:

• Is this type of reaction at 10 weeks something that can resolve with proper training?

• How long did it take for your cat to feel safe again?

• Any early mistakes I should avoid?

I’m not trying to force a friendship. I just want calm coexistence and for my cat to feel secure in her own home again.

First time posting, hope this is ok.

We brought home a puppy yesterday who absolutely melted on my wife's arms. She's very sweet and loving, and smart. After one day I've taught her sit and stay. And she seems very low maintenance in general.

But she's been snapping, barking and growling at my kids (5&7 year olds). She honestly seems like she doesn't like them – she hasn't spent all that much time around them yet.

Our older pup died a few months ago and my kids aren't used to this kind of behavior. They're scared and seem to be constantly concerned about the dog getting out of the area she's in.

We have a ten day window in a foster to adopt situation, so the wife and I aren't sure what do. We can't have our kids frightened to be in their own house. Even as I type this my kids walked in the room and she started barking (she's in an enclosed space with a crate.)

Any suggestions as to what to do? Is this permanent?

She's a mixed terrier, not sure what else. Perhaps a beagle.

Thank you.

I have a Bernedoodle puppy and this is our first winter together. Every time I take her out in the snow she gets huge snowballs frozen into her fur and paws that are really hard to get out. Usually the only thing that works is running warm water and trying to melt it but bc she just got spayed and has stitches I can’t do that. This doesn’t happen to my parents’ Sheepadoodle. Does this happen to anyone else? Anything that can be done to prevent it?

Been seeing a lot of adds for that bowl – ball thing that is suppose to be a good way to keep dogs occupied on my Instagram. If you’ve see one of the ads you know when I’m talking about lol.

My question: has anyone actually boughten one? How did it go? Did it lose its novelty quickly? Make a mess? Break?

The units I saw posted on Amazon all had poor reviews but low sample sizes But I love the idea of the product and wondering if anyone else has boughten it?