Category: Top Dog

Our puppy has always been allowed on the couch to look out the window from the moment he was tall enough to safely get on and off. It is his favorite spot and he likes watching people. We have a primary school in our street, so in the morning and afternoon we have a lot of children passing by, the mailman comes from time to time, people walk their dogs, we had construction workers working on the street for 2 months and none of this has ever been a problem.

However, our pup is now an adolescent (almost 9 months) and since a week or so, he started barking, sometimes very loudly. It is never really clear to me what sets off his barking. On a leash, he can be very reactive to other dogs, but when I go to look out the window I don't always see a dog. Sometimes there is really nothing to see, but he goes on for minutes. He is a cockapoo, so a mix of two hunting breeds and he might be seeing animals on the street I am missing (cats, martens, mice). He doesn't usually bark at pigeons or other birds in our backyard.

The problem is that he is so used to sitting there during the day, that it is impossible to keep him away from the window all of a sudden. I have also read that reprimanding dogs for barking will lead to them giving no warning signals anymore in real threatening situations.

So my question is whether there is any way to prevent this behavior without keeping him away from the window or whether I should just try to put up with it the best I can?

What if instead of having their meal placed in a bowl twice a day. I hid their food in towels/slowfeeders/around the house.

My thought is, these dogs were hunters and hunted for their food in the past. why don't we enrich and feed them at the same time for every meal? This would keep them busy for at least 2 hours a day and exercise their brain.

I will do this when the puppy is older of course. let me know your thoughts, I'm getting a puppy soon.

Hi everyone, after some advice…. Collected our 8 week Cavapoo at the weekend and he’s been fed on iams up to collection. I’m wanting to switch him over to purina pro plan. Since introducing a small portion or PPP along side his normal food he won’t touch the iams. He sniffs it and immediately refuses to eat it. But he loves the PPP and wolfs it down, any advice? I know you’re meant to introduce new food over several days but he just won’t touch his usual food. Tried it hydrated with water, dry, hand fed, smushed into a lick mat no luck.

Thanks in advance

I have a lovely puppy who is just about 5 months old now. She's been in her teething phase, though things seem to be settling. Her incisors and some molars seem to have replaced as expected, but her adult canines are nowhere to be seen. Both upper and lower canines are still very much the puppy ones, and I don't see or feel signs of the adult canines coming in.

Should I check with the vet or give it some more time? She's a small breed dog and healthy otherwise, I just feel like I remember my other two already having their adult canines by 5 months.

Has anyone purchased this ? I really like Kim's way of training ~ she seems to be pooping up all over my feeds ~ the course is a little pricey ~ so would love to hear any feedback

Hi everyone, I’m looking for a bit of advice.

I have a 16-week-old Labrador puppy who is doing really well with training, meeting guests, and playing with other dogs. He doesn’t seek contact with strangers, which I don’t force him to do, but after a few minutes he usually relaxes.

He has been like this since he was very young. He is generally a sensitive little guy who needs to observe things before he feels comfortable interacting.

However, he seems very scared on walks. He gets nervous when he hears dogs barking, even if he can’t see them, and he sometimes barks at people we pass as well.

Has anyone had a puppy like this who grew up to be confident and well-adjusted? I would really love to hear your experiences.

To everyone going through the puppy blues: it does get better! My husband and I got our sweet girl Olive on December 30th. We lost our 15 year old Biewer Terrier in September 2024. We saw Olive and fell in love. Were we actually ready to bring a puppy home? Not. At. All. I hadn’t done all the research I wanted to do. I didn’t puppy proof the house. I didn’t have any supplies for her. I scrambled to get everything we needed the day we brought her home. The first night was so rough. I was in a bad flare up with my chronic illness. I cried every day for two weeks. I was in pain and felt like I couldn’t take care of myself and Olive. My husband helped as much as he could but he was gone for over 12 hours a day. I took an extra week off work and started getting into a new routine. I work from home full time and the first two weeks back to work were so rough. But we got through it!

We’ve had Olive for a month and a half now and I can’t imagine my life without her! She brings so much joy to our lives. The house isn’t empty and silent anymore. It’s filled with the sound of her little paws hitting the hardwood, her playful barks, and so so much laughter. She’s not Whiskey. No dog will ever replace him. But I’m positive he sent her our way to mend our broken hearts. I started looking at the positive things she brings to my life instead of only focussing on the hard parts. Is it still hard? Good lord yes. But it’s so worth it.

After losing our soul dog last spring, we finally decided we were ready to adopt again. Right around the new year, we brought home a 30 lb, 8-12 month old mutt from a rescue that transports dogs up from high-kill shelters in the South. (For context, our late dog was adopted in the same manner and we obviously had a wonderful experience with her.)

Things have not been so smooth this time around. The rescue (or maybe just her foster?) was not upfront about some big behavioral issues. The worst is her mouthiness. She has literally dangled off of my arm by her teeth on more than one occasion. We have a young child and there is absolutely no way I would feel comfortable allowing them in the same room together without her on a tight leash. Despite the rescue's insistence, she is also not housebroken. If we turn our backs on her even for a moment, she will tear up the carpet, pee, or both.

We are really trying our best with her. We don't have a fenced in yard, so we do as much playtime and exercise inside and on leash as possible. We crate her, we take her out every 1-2 hrs, we have a daily dog walker, and we also have a +R trainer come 2-4x a week. She is improving immensely, but she still needs so much work. Normally I'd feel up for the challenge, but as it turns out…

… I'm pregnant. Without going into my medical history, suffice to say: We did not expect this.

Due to issues I experienced with my first child, I'm being managed as a high risk pregnancy. That means extra appointments at the specialized hospital an hour away from work. I feel so sick, so busy, and so, so tired.

I just don't know what to do. Returning her would be a logistical impossibility. We don't know anyone who would be interested in taking her, and we don't have family or friends who can pitch in. Can I trust the training to work on a time crunch? Or am I just prolonging a nightmare by keeping her?

Anyone have any experience with these? They could potentially save me some money, but I worry about the extra work involved in cleaning them. I have a washer in my apartment, but not a dryer, and I don't know how long these would take to air-dry.

I'm also worried my dog my use these and decide that area rugs are a suitable place to pee, because they look/feel similar. Did anyone run into issues with this?

Yes, I know that training my dog to only pee outside would be best, but I live somewhere that gets VERY cold for half the year, plus I have a disability that can sometimes make me housebound for a whole day, so I need my dog to be able to use pee pads. It's something I need a lot right now, and will probably need to at least have on hand for my dog's entire life.