Hey, I newly became a pup dad to a terrier/chihuahua mix who is about 8 months old. I’ve been feeding her twice a day with kibble and ‘live fresh’ dog food. Lately, she has not been wanting to eat in the morning which cause problems for me as I sometimes work at night so there is not a set meal time. I try to have meals for her at the same time everyday but sometimes I need to kennel her before she normally eats and I don’t want to put her in her kennel if she’s hungry. Since I’ve had her she has not been very food motivated. Treats don’t really get her to do anything and I’ve tried multiple types of treats.

How can I get her to eat when I need her to? Is feeding her once a day an option? Any advice on this subject would be appreciated.

Thank you

Edit: I’ve had her for a month and she used to eat each meal with no problem. She started this picky eating in the last week.

🚨 Please read before responding: this is NOT aggression biting. 🚨

Hi all,

My partner and I recently adopted an 8-month-old GSD boy named Koda, and he is genuinely a sweetheart. No guarding, no fear, no snapping — just a big, enthusiastic baby who loves people a little too much.

The issue we’re dealing with is a lack of bite inhibition.

When Koda gets excited, he becomes mouthy. This is play biting, not aggression, but because he never learned proper bite inhibition as a puppy, it can escalate quickly when he’s overstimulated.

From what we know of his history, Koda:

• Never learned bite inhibition from littermates
• Has had three previous owners before us, who gave him up because of the mouthing
• He was never consistently taught that human skin isn’t a chew toy

So we’re basically starting from scratch with an adolescent dog who missed that critical learning window.

What we’ve already tried

Yelping / “Ouch” method
Unfortunately, this just winds him up more. High-pitched sounds seem to increase his excitement rather than discourage it.

Redirection (to toys/chews)
This works sometimes, but often he’s more interested in engaging with us and will get mouthier trying to initiate play.

Sleep management
We’ve seen advice that mouthing can be linked to overtiredness. Koda is currently sleeping around 17–18 hours a day and is very clearly not interested in more rest.

Exercise
He’s walked daily for 30–60 minutes (sometimes twice a day) and gets plenty of play and mental engagement. This doesn’t appear to be pent-up energy.

Time-outs
When he gets particularly pushy, we do a brief 1–2 minute time-out where he’s required to sit calmly in another room before re-engaging.

Socialisation
He has been around dogs, people, and other animals in previous homes. He’s friendly and confident, but hasn’t really received corrections from other dogs that would normally teach bite pressure.

Physical punishment (nose taps, etc.)
Not something we’re willing to do. We’re deliberately avoiding physical corrections.

Spray bottle
The presence of a spray bottle is currently the only consistent thing that gives him pause (he doesn’t actually get sprayed). We’re aware this isn’t a long-term solution and would prefer to phase it out entirely.

Impulse control training
He knows and can perform Leave It, Wait, Stay, etc.
That said, once he’s excited, his brain switches to full land shark mode and impulse control goes out the window.

What we’re looking for

We’re not looking for dominance-based methods or punishment-heavy approaches.

We are looking for:

• Ways to teach bite inhibition at this age
• Strategies that work specifically for over-aroused adolescent dogs
• Training approaches that help Koda learn pressure control, not just “don’t bite”

We’re committed to doing right by this dog and want to focus on methods that genuinely teach him appropriate bite control, rather than simply suppressing behaviour or shutting down natural instincts.

Thanks in advance, and happy to clarify anything if needed.

Nearly tagged this puppy blues!

First time puppy owner, I've had her for 6 weeks, 3 1/2 month old cocker spaniel.

She has a LOT of energy. I cannot get her to settle down outside of the crate naturally.

Ive tried too many things to type out here exercise, play, schedules, feeding, socialisation, obedience training, body language, calm commands.

She always seems WIRED and overstimulated straight out of the crate.

Whenever she is out of the crate I have to play or occupy her with a chew or she will resort to chewing something else or jumping twice her height onto things.

I used to have her crate in the office but because she is so alert, I felt like she wasn't getting undisturbed rest during the day so I moved her crate to the bedroom which has helped settle in the crate but not outside.

I'm thinking about turning a small spare room in my house into a play pen so hopefully she will learn to be calmer outside of the crate. I think I did too much with her too soon.

Sucks because I can't chill with my puppy at all or take her anywhere without her wanting to zoom around, which I understand is not good for them physically and I'm also allowing the same behaviour to reoccur.

I feel like tug of war is enough exercise and she doesn't need to run about but I may be wrong. Either way I've given her a taste of Usain bolt's spirt and now that's all she knows.

Would love some advice from experienced people. I've found so much conflicting information.

First, sorry if I can't respond to everyone I'm at work but I need help. My boyfriend and I are struggling with our after work routine.

Our Corgi puppy is a little over 7 months old and is fairly well behaved I would say. She got into some bad habits while I was away on a work trip, like jumping on our couch, that I can't seem to break. Every time I put her down she just gets nippy and thinks I'm playing. This really gets in the way of dinner and putting her away is difficult because she gets major fomo and barks nonstop if we do. Dinner turns totally unenjoyable at that point and I really want to be able to teach her just to chill with us without circling the table like a shark and jumping up on the couch. (We eat dinner there because of our coffee table and TV situation) I have tried telling her to go to get bed and make her lay down. I'll throw her treats while she stays and is good, but she eventually just gets up. Idk how to keep her there and entertained..

I get home at around 6 from work and my boyfriend around 6:30-7. I feel bad if we put her away any earlier than we go to bed around 10:30-12 some nights. But I also want some alone time with him as well without her crawling all over us or having to be stressed about her constant move. I do walk/play with her when I get home, but am careful because of her being a Corgi I don't want to overexert her joints. I give her chews and try to get her to chill out but I don't want to overfeed her either, plus she inhales anything I give her so that doesn't last long.

Fridays/Saturday she goes to daycare and that's been helping, but I can't afford to have a dog walker everyday or daycare everyday. Im trying my best but it just never feels like enough.

My brother is a K9 dog trainer. I told him that I take my 16 week old pup out to relieve himself every 3-4 hours and that seems to be the sweet spot. Anything longer than that he will start sniffing and use it inside my house. He told me that I’m doing it all wrong, and that they can definitely hold themselves longer than that. That I “need to train them to hold it longer”. It’s not an issue at night. He goes in around 9:30 and he’ll wake up to potty at 5:30 am and then go back to sleep. I told him that just because he could hold it doesn’t mean he should hold it, and I feel like every 3-4 hours isn’t really unreasonable for a 16 week old… But he just kept telling me that he’s a dog trainer and to trust him.. thoughts? this way has been working for us and he rarely has accidents inside UNLESS I accidentally go over that 3-4 hr mark.

I have a corgi puppy that is 8 months this month. She isn’t spayed yet. We plan to get her spayed next month. She’s had her first heat.

2 questions. 1st one, when do they lose all of their puppy teeth? Literally today she lost one.

2nd. Is anyone else’s puppy so friggin sassy? I haven’t had a dog in a long time. Or one so young so maybe she isn’t sassy. But she gets growling a lot here recently. What’s up with that? Any advice?

My 5 month old mini dachshund recently got fully vaccinated so we started taking her to the park. She’s always curious to meet other dogs, which is fine, but sometimes she lunges at them while leashed. I know she’s not trying to attack them, it feels like more like she’s very excited and just wants to play, but I’m worried that other dog owners might think she’s being aggressive. Is there a way to get her to stop being so jumpy around other dogs and humans too?

We have two 14-week old puppies! We feed them separately but one of them eats very fast, he barely chews. Does anyone have a certain puzzle bowl they recommend or does any bowl from Amazon work? Should we get puzzle bowls for both of them? Thanks in advance!

Hello, my new 10 week frenchie puppy is very hyper. She has been potty training but will go anywhere inside still so I decided to crate train her. I put her crate in the living room where we are and she just crys, stops for a bit and continues to cry. What can we do to help? Should we just ignore her? She gets up and bites on the crate when shes mad. She has her toys, and bed. I do feed her and give her water before going in. When shes in the crate with her food she tends to​ Drop all the water and food. Any advice? Thank you!

I'm getting a puppy after 10 years without one, and I know nothing about dog care, let alone puppy care. Its arrival was so sudden; I found it abandoned in the street, and now I have it. I'd like some advice on puppy care, feeding, and training.