Category: Top Dog

Pfff sorry I just need some reassurance that this too will pass…please bare with me, hormonal myself due to pre-menopauze, three around 18 y.o. kids and a puppy 6.5 m.o. I am just soooo done with him this week. He is just constantly "on" . You say "no", reward the good (alternative) behaviour 100x , and it all goes further. Like in…our cat sleeping on the chair…puppy approaches..cat hissing..I say "leave kitty", he goes away. Sits or lays, I reward the goos behaviour…goes again to the f..g cat! Cat hissing. The circle repeats itself 100 times. I really, some days, need to crate myself so I don't do anything wrong. My patience is on zero! Our pup's ears are purely ornamental right now. Inside for 90%, outside for 120% ! Sorry I needed a vent. He is very sweet, but God he is testing my sanity right now…

We have a 4 year old corgi and have recently got a Swiss Shepherd puppy who is 15 weeks now. We never crated our first, he honestly was really good at being alone, didn’t chew, and I can’t even remember what we did to make him this way 🤣

Our Shepherd is more of a Velcro dog, I am aware the breed is like this and don’t particularly mind it overall but I work from home and don’t want to cause separation anxiety.

I have read conflicting advice online and even in books about crate training, so I’m wondering what has worked for those who have done it or have even just left them out for a small amount of time so I have new things to try.

Note at the moment she will go in her crate with the door open, she will also settle with the door close when we are in the room. She will cry and bite at the crate when we leave, then settle, then repeat for intervals of I’d say between 5/15 minutes. I do not want her to feel unsafe in this area.

If we leave her out sometimes she will just play with her toys and potter about and sleep, however she can bother her brother with bitey play which if I’m not in the room I cannot intervene and I do not want her to constantly harass him. Today I left them out together for 30 minutes and they did sleep but it’s hit and miss.

If I am crating I always make sure she has had a walk or play beforehand and it’s when she needs to rest.

I think I’m over thinking it, but I’d like to make sure I’m doing the right thing 🥹 because we didn’t crate train the first I don’t know what to expect. Some people say leave them to cry it out. Some say go in the room every ten minutes and build it up…

She’s a brilliant girl and when not in her crate is brilliant in the house, chews her own toys, enjoys mooching about and being in the garden a bit too much🤣

I have a 5 month golden retriever puppy and he has been constantly sick with different parasites since I got him that have caused many sleepless nights. On top of that, he has just been a very difficult puppy – demand barks, will not settle unless he is in his crate, excessive biting. Need any advice on how to get through this.