Category: Top Dog

My 11mo pomapoo male puppy has been potty trained since he was 5 months old but he does not signal (noticeably) when he has to pee. This whole time it’s just been on me to make sure he goes out every 4-5 hours.

Last night he had an accident (my fault- I should’ve taken him out right at 5 hours). The thing that bothers me though is that he does NOT noticeably signal at all (he doesn’t whine)- when I was potty training him the only signal he ever gave was sniffing around which is super easy to miss. I’ve taught him to ring a bell on command but I’ve kinda stopped having him ring it before we go out because it didn’t seem like he was making the connection.

It seems like it’s WAY more difficult for a dog to make the ring bell->pee outside connection when you live in an apartment because it’s more like ring bell->put collar on->put leash on->go in elevator->walk through lobby->pee in grass instead of a more direct connection if you can just let your dog out in your yard. Has anyone been in a similar situation and do you have any tips for me?

I have a 5-month-old border collie puppy and up until now he has always been with someone – either a sitter, at my grandmother’s countryside home or with me while I work from home. He is quite attached to me and follows me most of the time, coming with me to another room about 8 times out of 10 and always watching what I’m doing.

I haven’t done intensive crate training because he seems more comfortable moving freely around the apartment and is able to calm down and fall asleep either in his bed or on the couch.

Now the time has come to start training him more seriously for being alone. So far, I’ve been using a separate, puppy-proofed room in the apartment. I leave him there with a Kong and close the door behind me, usually for about 3–10 minutes. I probably couldn’t even leave for 15 minutes, because as soon as I open the front door, he starts barking and tries to open the door.

How can I effectively train alone time without using a crate? Has anyone successfully done this? I know that I have to get him exhausted to leave him alone for even a couple of minutes but what's other tricks to train this efficiently?

Also, how much did your bc puppy sleep during puppyhood? Mine sleeps no more than 14-15 hours per 24h.

Thanks in advance

Hello. I keep reading here all the naughty puppies stories about how they changed during adolescence, how they forgot all the training they had, all scary stories! My pup l going to be a teenager in couple months and I started being stressed about that puppy stage, so…

Do you have any positive adolescence experience with your puppies? Maybe your dog hasn’t changed or was a perfect teenager? How were they as puppy and what did you do to help go through this phase without loosing your mind?

I need to hear some positive stories and see if there is hope haha

My 12 week old cocker is great about going to the toilet outside mostly. He has never had an accident in his crate or play pen. The times he has had an accident it’s been because we missed a signal/took too long opening the door. He loves being in our little garden/courtyard if we are out there with him, but will whine at the door to come in if we are inside (we’ve once or twice kept him outside to clean up his accidents by the door so he doesn’t track them around the house). I was just wondering at what point we can pop him outside to toilet by himself without being present? Is that something that can be trained or do we have to go out with him for every toilet break until he is grown up? Thanks 🙂

My Dog(s) love Tufflove dog toys. I’ve heard Petco discontinued them, if that’s true then we’re in a bit of a bind.

Has anyone found anything comparable, they tend to shred any other toy brand, but when it comes to tuff love they carry them around and treat them like prized possessions. I heard they might still carry them in Canada after some extensive research but can’t confirm. Any help is greatly appreciated. At this point I’m willing to import because I’m worried the ones we’ve had for a couple years may be approaching the end of their lives.

Thank you!

To make a long story short we have been back and forth with our dogs sleeping in their kennels. Las several years they have been in them. Last year our youngest mini (who is now 8 years old) had a random night where he panted all night long and didn’t sleep nor did I. I called the vet the next day and they chalked it up to anxiety and sent aniexty meds. We didn’t give them really.. maybe once or twice. We became lax about him sleeping in the bed with us and then got firm again. Now for the last 6 months or so we have been rotating each night where one dog gets to sleep in the bed. Well the youngest mini in particular is back to panting all night long when it’s not his night. I don’t think he’s even sleeping… I don’t let him out. Sounds like severe separation anxiety. What can I do? We are now going to not let any dogs sleep in bed and all back in kennels each night. Do I need to essentially start over and crate train again with treats? He’s not very treat motivated. Do I need to give the anxeity meds? TIA!

I have a 5 year old mini dachshund (dachshund owners you know they're stubborn as heck) and recently she's stopped listening. I tell her no, she doesn't even flinch. I say her name, she doesn't respond. She'll hop up on surfaces and steal things from the coffee table, eat off of plates, she's impossible! People in my house are also undermining me by giving her table scraps. She barks all the time while outside and doesn't come back inside, even when it's snowing. I take her on walks and there's a foot of snow on the ground so I doubt that she's offended that she's not spending time outside. She's barely food motivated, unless it's people food. What do I do?

I have a 15-year-old female Maltese who has always been perfectly trained to use pee pads inside the house and she’s been consistent for years without any issues apart from the random pee on a carpet every few months.

In the past 4/5 months, she has started peeing and pooping randomly around the house, as if she forgot where the pads are and even if I put them everywhere she still doesn't use them whe usually she still used them even when in the not usual places (like in vacations or other houses in general)

She still runs, jumps, and moves around the house normally, she doesn’t seem disoriented or doesn’t drink more than usual, her appetite is the same, and her behavior is overall normal for her age. The only noticeable change is that her hearing has declined a bit.

The accidents happen at random times, not just at night and not only when she’s alone. She clearly can physically reach the pad, she walks around freely before going but she just doesn’t use it anymore

Has anyone experienced something similar with a senior dog?
Could this be early cognitive decline or age-related incontinence even if she seems otherwise normal?

I’d really appreciate any advice or similar experiences since it's starting to become a little stressing especially when the first thing I have to do in the morning or after work is clean the floor.

Thanks a lot

I have a 1.5-year-old mix of golden retriever and giant poodle.

He has always played with his drinking water, but it wasn't as messy at first. As a puppy, he used to blow bubbles into the water, and that would be it.

But now that he's much older, I noticed that when he wants to drink water, he uses his paw to knock the bowl over and then scratches the floor all over the puddle.

For reference, there are 3 water bowls all over the house available for him. He likes to do it the most in the bowl inside my room, where he stays most of the time.

So for instance, I'll put water in for the night so he can drink anytime he feels thirsty. It won't always be empty in the morning, so when we get back from a morning walk he'll drink water downstairs, but then when he gets up, he'll play with the water upstairs. Is it because it's less fresh? LOL. I don't know. He is so weird.

Hola tengo una perrita hembra mesriza mezcla de border collie y pastor alemán, ella tiene aproximadamente 13 meses y había tenido una buena conducta se quedaba sola en casa sin hacer destrozos, hace un mes drásticamente destrozo una silla del. Comedor y me pareció extraño ya que cuando le salieron lao dientes nunca hizo eso, luego pasaron dos semanas de calma. Total, ajuste si entrenamiento y mejore la rutina al.salir de casa, pero hace una semana mordió un sillón, luego el protector de sillón de la sala y hoy una silla el punto es que había delimitado esa zona para que no se sentará

Ayuda mi perra está adolescente pero no sé cómo manejarlo algún consejo.? Antes de irme la canso mentalmente, le dejo juguetes disponibles y rellenables no se que más intentar