Category: Top Dog

We have a 9week old lab mix who is a good boy but his nipping is making it a little tough at this time. I have instructed my family to encourage the use of chew toys and ice cubes to help curb his nipping and redirecting him to the toy or ice instead of hands, socked feet and clothing. It has only been the first week and I know it’s fairly early in his transition to our family. I also know that dogs explore with their mouths but sometimes his bite is really hard and seems more teething related than explorations. Does anyone have advice on how to teach him not to nip or a command to work on to stop nipping? We have tired ignoring him when nippy but it doesn’t make him stop and makes it worse and like I mentioned earlier redirecting with ice and chew toys. We have found that it’s worse when he is tired and usually leads into nap time, so we also try to calm him down and calm the household environment to help him calm.

I just brought home my 6-month-old miniature pinscher about 6 days ago and I think I messed up his potty training by doing too much too soon. He is very timid and seems to be going through a fear period right now while he is adjusting to his new home. Thats fine and I understand this can happen, but he was previously a mostly outdoor dog before I got him and he seems terrified of everything outside. When I was trying to potty train him the first first few days I would take him down stairs and let him walk on his harness (he does pretty well) but he will not go pee outside. He poops outside usually if it's warm enough and we've walked enough, but he will not pee. I give him plenty of access to water but he will hold it all day and then just pee inside on a pad near the door where he had his first accident.

My question is, now that I've bought a turf pad for my apartment balcony is it better that I regress him and only take him out on the patio for potty instead of walks/going downstairs?

i adopted my sweet (chaotic) boy at 9 weeks & he is now almost 14 weeks. although he has his moments, he’s gotten soooo much better at not being a complete psycho 90% of the day lol. we’re almost 90% potty trained & he just slept through the night for the first time last night. The first 2 weeks were … rough. & i began to ALMOST regret my decision. & as im getting my first signs or relief i know that the teenage phase is on the horizon. What do you think is harder? the young puppy phase or the teenage phase? He is a heeler pit mix so obviously a higher energy breed for reference, which i’m sure plays a part.

A couple days ago he swallowed his first object he is not supposed to swallow and could kill him, he swallowed a whole bone, he had JUST vomited it yesterday, and tomorrow morning while I slept he swallowed an entire tv remote, a big one, my mom had to take him to the vet, which we thankfully live right next to, he vomited it just fine but he kept one of the buttons, the biggest one, because of course he did, now im stuck waiting for him to poop it out or vomit again and im thinking, is this just life now?

This puppy is just gonna keep doing this his whole life? And I'm just gonna have to not leave him alone ever? Putting anything even remotely swallowable waaaay out of reach? He's gonna be a big dog so that's only gonna get harder and harder. I mean how the hell did he even get it down, he is big for his age but he is still not even 4 months old.

im a student right now, what happens when I move out and have to go to work? I'm just gonna have to wonder if he will have asfixiated himself?

I can't imagine swallowing that bone was a pleasant experience but as soon as it was out of his body he went to swallow an even bigger object. Maybe this time plus the vet visit was unpleasant enough that he won't do it again?

If your dog is a swallower please just tell me everythings gonna be fine and that he's gonna be fine and that i'm gonna be fine and it's just a phase and that he'll grow out of it 100% without doubt

Title really says it all, just not so funny anymore;(

I’m turning 30 this year and really want to get myself a Labrador. I grew up with them, we almost always had 2 at the house.

My question is, how do people do it? I can’t figure it out. I live with my GF of 6 years in an apartment in a garden square in London (basically a garden for residents but I would still need to take the dog out myself and cross the road etc.) I work 4/5 days in the office and those days are pretty brutal hours wise. My GF works 3/5 in the office and one of those days overlaps with mine. That leaves 3 days a week where the dog would be alone for over 8 hours. What’s the solution? I’ve heard people take considerable wfh time for the first month to train it. What’s realistic?

I'm an experienced dog owner, and have had dogs all my life. However, our last dog died when my daughter was just 2. Now she's 5 and we have the opportunity to adopt a sweet 4mo mongrel boy. My husband has a few reservations but is slowly coming round, my main concern is that I've never had a young, untrained dog and a child at the same time. Aside from the obvious never leaving the dog and the child alone together, does anyone have any advice? My daughter is already very good at approaching dogs gently, but obviously having a puppy in the house is another kettle of fish entirely. Should we get a crated area to make sure the dog has a place to retreat and ban our kid from entering there? Anything else? Sorry if a lot of this seems obvious but I want to make sure this goes safely for all concerned and I want to avoid having to re-home a dog because of my own inexperience. Thank you!

i’m about to have a puppy in a couple weeks but i have two indoor cats i do not want getting outdoors but still want the puppy to have access to the backyard. i’m looking at getting a sureflap microchip pet door but i need to be able to put it on a insert that fits on the sliding door!

Hi,

My partner (26), and I (24), are planning on adopting a dog. We were initially thinking around the ages 3-6, Golden retriever or Labrador but have found an 8 year old black lab that needs to be adopted.

My concern is that 8 isn’t a young dog and if we adopt her I will fall in love and be heart broken when her time comes. I understand that will happen with every dog eventually but adopting an 8 year old dog speeds that up.

Would love any thoughts on this, and advice on what to do.

Thank you!

Hi all, I have a 7(ish) pound Chihuahua terrier mix of some sort. He's a little over a year old, and I've had him for about 7 months. He is neutered, and all around a really playful, stubborn dog.

When my other dog is laying on the couch, the little man will jump up and put his butt directly on the other dog and start kicking his back legs against him. The other dog won't normally react, but sometimes he would get up to play. He's always done that to the other dog, but about 3 months ago he started doing it to the people in the household as well. He did it to me once, and I reacted with a "chht" sound and he stopped and hasn't done it since to me. He continues to do it to the other people in the house even if they also make that sound.

It isn't a big deal that he does this, but I'm wondering what it means. And, if it's something he shouldn't be doing.