Category: Top Dog

My fiancee and I got a puppy 2 weeks ago. I've never had a puppy but did and continue to do a lot of research as I want to do this right. Given having no background in puppy behavior, I'm curious if I'm expecting too much too soon from our puppy?

She is 12 weeks old, has a crate and a play pen enclosure that is set up in our living room. Although she will sometimes settle herself down and take a nap in the playpen, its not very often. She will bark and whine to be let out to be on the couch with us. We obviously want her to be with us but we also want her to learn how to self regulate and not expect to be with us 24/7. I work a hybrid work schedule and my fiancee works from home. When he is working, her setup is transferred to his office. She cannot be left alone without seeing one of us. Even if we walk into the kitchen (still visible from her setup), she will cry and whine and bark. We really want to avoid any issues with separation anxiety and I'm curious if I'm expecting too much of her too soon and this is normal behavior or if I'm inadvertently causing bad habits?

Hi, I have an Australian Shepherd, he is usually not a barker or aggressive. He just turned one, and we’ve had him for about seven months. Within the last few days, he’s begun rolling into me while I work, barking and eventually jumping on me until I pet him. Petting him while I work is not an option, as he starts barking until I’m making eye contact with him.

As much as I would love to pet him, I can’t pet and snuggle with him every hour of the day. I ignore him when he barks, to try and not reinforce the behavior with the attention he’s seeking, but if he jumps on me, I put him in another room for two minutes to calm down, then let him out. He‘ll then wander around for a while, but then repeats the process.

He is adequately walked and played with throughout the day, and has lots of toys. He will play by himself sometimes, and I keep him busy by doing tricks with him, sometimes I don’t think it’s boredom. I’m not sure how to correct or react to the behavior, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Im at puppy training at a place that has a groomer. How long should I wait until I can groom him without any issues?

what do I do with my new puppy and his biting? he can't stop biting me and its very painful.. i know he's just a puppy but the biting is the hardest part atm. he's only 2 months and we've had him for less than a week, which I know is short, but i want him to already know that its not good to bite.he's a border collie mixed shepherd. anything will help.

i have never personally never owned a puppy/dog, but I dog sat some older ones for a few for months at a time.

i love this dog and i've been waiting for him for a month ever since my first introduction. i want to give him a great life, so any other tips would be helpful. if theres any toys you recommend or treats.. anything!

We’re due to pick up our first whippet x Italian Greyhound cross at the end of the week and I just wanted some advice on crate training.

I want the dog to be with me and my partner as much as possible, we’ve never crate trained previous dogs but I’m concerned as I know Italian Greyhounds are prone to separation anxiety, so I believe it’s best to crate train him from the day we get him. So that when we are out the house he feels safe and comfortable.

He won’t be made to sleep in the crate of a nighttime, we’re more than happy to share the bed, we have with some of our previous dogs. So is it weird to have him crate trained but then not be in the crate overnight (unless he chooses to of course).

What’s everyone’s advice for us?

Ok. So we’ve had our puppy for just about a week. He just turned 8 weeks old. But my issue is in AZ parvo is a BIG deal. Like both the vet and breeder said to not take him for walks or be on the ground until at least 2nd round of shots maybe. Breeder said maybe even the 3rd. But my issue is we live in a RV and he’s a tri rambunctious pup. You can tell he will be sweet when he’s older. But he’s just got so much energy. And he’s teething. So I have kongs, puzzle feeders, but he just nips and barks a lot. He eats potty/play for 30 minutes then crate. And I know it’s because he’s just cooped up stir crazy in the house.

Please I need help it’s making my husband and I not sleep well. But we love him dearly. 😅❤️ does anyone else have a puppy where parvo is a big deal?

My husband and I adopted a golden retriever puppy six days ago. He’ll turn 10 weeks old on Tuesday. So far, it’s been a miserable experience for me. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but I couldn’t have been less prepared. I’ve had dogs before, but never a puppy. Whenever I’ve brought home a pet, we’ve always had an instant bond, but I’m having the hardest time bonding with the new puppy. Of course, he’s adorable, but he’s exhausting.

Right now, the dog has to be watched 24/7. If you let him out of your sight for even a second, he’ll chew on or pee/poop on something. He doesn’t have free access to the whole house, just the home office or the kitchen (with one of us watching him). We got him a pen for the backyard, but he can’t be left there because he screams his head off. He has a crate and he does ok with it, but he cries when we put him in there, and we’re forced to tiptoe around and whisper because if we’re too loud, he’ll keep crying.

He’s had two accidents a day in the house. We work from home and take him out every 30 minutes, as well as when he rings a bell on our back door (which he’s pretty good at). However, it doesn’t matter how much he goes out, he comes inside and goes in the house.

Every day, I’ve broken down sobbing because of how unhappy I am. It feels like there’s this heavy sadness that only goes away when I’m not home and not thinking about him. I used to not care much for errands, preferring to be home. Now, I can’t wait to get out of the house and away from him, but I still can’t relax because I’m worried about what he’s up to.

I loved our life before we adopted him. It was my husband and I and our cat, our home was clean, everything felt calm and relaxing. Now, our house reeks of dog, sounds like a zoo, and the cat and I are miserable. The worst part is that my husband is SO happy. He was the one who wanted the dog, and I agreed because it was so important to him. He does the majority of the work with the dog, so I feel even more guilty. But it’s like I’m a stranger in my own home. If he’s not destroying the house, he’s biting my toes, barking, or just being a general terror.

Today, my husband and I came home early from church to check on him. When we opened the door, our entire house REEKED of poop. Inside his crate, he managed to get poop on everything. Himself, his toys, the floor outside, everything. I couldn’t take it, and I got in the car and left. I’m typing this post from a CVS parking lot because the thought of going home is so unappealing.

I hate myself for feeling this way toward a literal baby. I know he’s not trying to make us miserable, and I want to give him a good life. My family is very much “pets are for life,” so the thought of bringing him back, however appealing, isn’t really an option. I couldn’t do that to my husband either. I’m just so tired of feeling this way, and it hasn’t even been a week. I’ve seen so many posts saying “by a year, my dog was great!” But the thought of feeling like this for a year makes me sick.

Has anyone experienced puppy blues like this?

We have our pup exactly 7 days today and he also just started 13 weeks. We have his pen and crate inside set up in the living room and he eats every meal in his crate, he goes there sometimes during the day or he goes to his crate when he gets scared by something to chill there, but he doesn’t nap there. I started closing while he eats or live the room and got to about a minute so far before he starts protesting. I wait for silence and then go back. At night, he sleeps in his bed on the floor in our bedroom as he asks to go outside for a potty and wake us up when he needs to go.

I work from home and two times a week from the office, my partner works fully from home. When I am home, I enforce his naps in my home office in his bed, he tried to fight it sometimes but then eventually gives in. After work, me and my partner usually chill in the living room and just wanna cuddle with him too, so he’s with us on the sofa. He naps a lot there, he loves watching TV and he falls asleep while watching. Best to make him sleep is Bluey lol he usually doesn’t follow us when we get up and go somewhere, he will sometimes lift his head to check and go back to nap. When he does follow, he checks what we are up to and goes back.

When I am in the office, my boyfriend works from the living room instead of his office so pup always nap on the sofa with him. He kind of just fall asleep on his own. He does follow my boyfriend everywhere on those days when I am not home and checks my office few times to see if I am there. Since we got him, I was in the office only twice.

He plays with his toys by himself, he goes to another rooms and eats without us in the room too. We still watch him so he doesn’t bite a lot of things.

Did I make a mistake not pen or crate train him properly to nap there? Is it too late now as he has this routine? Or at 7 days in the house is still ok to start training? I want to pen train him to be able to leave him in the house alone when we go shopping etc.

When I say jumping on them, she’s not fully on them but if you have food, she’ll put her paws up there and try to get things that may be on the edge. I keep having to move stuff around because she knocks things over. She knows the command down but she’ll get right back up there after you tell her “no” or “get down”. I would really like this fixed before she gets taller and can reach further back but I’m stuck on what to do to get her to stay down

I figured with Easter coming up soon, I’d share my trick. I put treats in Easter eggs and hide them for my dog to find. She’s a Catahoula Lab mix and loves sniffing. She checks her Facebook every time we go outside.