Category: Top Dog

Hi all; just having a bit of a vent. My puppy (6 months on Monday) Murphy had his first day of obedience class today, having previously graduated from puppy school a couple of months ago.

He's generally very well-behaved and is improving his ability to not excitedly react to other dogs within a certain distance (a few metres now). We walk twice a day and while he pulls now and again he's often content to have a loose leash most of the time. I've been looking forward to group obedience to improve further on his good progress.

Instead he was overwhelmed and reactive the entire class, rarely paying attention to me at all and getting quite upset. Not his fault at all, he's just a kid and it's a new environment with other dogs, but it was a rough time for his class and I left feeling like we'd actually regressed rather than improved at all. I've got ADHD myself so I was struggling to focus on both him, my own body language, and also the trainer instructing the class all at once, which only confused Murphy more and made him retreat from me a lot as I fumbled my way through the exercises and forgot everything immediately after it was explained. I was being shadowed by another trainer who basically had to stick by me the whole time and constantly correct what I was doing and I felt so embarrassed, lol; by the end I was holding back tears and felt like I was completely failing my little boy. They told us at the start not to compare our dogs to other dogs but I was the only one that was having such blatant issues and difficulties and I didn't retain any of the information because I was blue-screening pretty bad.

At first I wanted to just get a refund on the course and try to continue training him on my own since he's a lot more well-behaved when we're at home and on our daily walks, but I've had a bit of time as the morning's gone along for my emotional state to calm down a bit and I'm going to keep going to the class next week. Overall though I just feel defeated and almost a bit ashamed; until now I've been really confident in his training and now I'm just questioning everything I've done and wondering if I've actually been enforcing bad habits.

The training itself was also very treat-heavy so he ate a lot while we were there; once we got home he vomited it all back up again. Poor little buddy's sleeping in his pen now, I'm just trying to give him space for a little while.

Has anyone had similar experiences of obedience classes being a much more stressful experience than regular training?

Picking up my 8 week old puppy next weekend. What puppy food do you suggest that’s most natural?

hello all! i am picking up my sweet toy poodle next sunday and this will be my first time having my own dog (lots of experience with dogs, just never raised a puppy). is it better to crate train him in my bedroom or separate from me in the living room? i dont want to create separation anxiety but i also want him to feel safe and secure as he will only be 8 weeks old. thank you all in advance!

My fiancé and I recently added a new member to the family. He is a “rescue”. His mom was found abandoned by his previous owner, my office director took the dog in (she was their neighbor, neighbor abandoned the animals) and now I have my very own mystery puppy!

We have had him close to 2 weeks and I’ve raised a lot of pups but it’s been a minute. His teething phase is bad. Chew toys do not help. And he’s only 9 weeks estimated now.

Have not gotten him officially DNA tested, but what we do know he’s going to be huge. Weighed in at over 15lbs at 8 1/2 weeks. We do know he definitely has husky, maybe also shepherd, lab and vet is convinced Pyrenees.

Any suggestions that help teething would be greatly appreciated! Toys and teething puppy toys are not helping at all. I know with his size and his rapid growth it’s really effecting him, so want to see what other solutions are out there.

My mini dachshund is 10 weeks old. She does great overnight in her crate in my room. She normally wakes up one time to pee. But when I have to crate her to leave the house, she pees in it and whines the entire time she is in the crate. I’m not sure how to help fix it? When I crate her when I leave, she is in the living room. Could that be making a difference? Any advice is helpful!

2 year old dog – generally well behaved. After her dinner she has always been well settled in the house and wil sleep (either on the sofa or on her bed in the living room). She has never been fussed about then moving for the rest of the evening and will not even get up for a wee before bed etc.

We usually do scoop her up to take her outside (I know this is probably not the right approach). Last night when I did this she growled and bared teeth at me (she has never done this before).

However, this has made me realise that picking her up may be making her feel uncomfortable generally and I'd like to be able to call her and for her to come late at night. Recall during the day and generally is ok, but in the evening she is very tired and does not want to move.

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve this and get her to recall out of her bed late at night? She doesn't seem interested in food etc when it's late and she's in sleep mode.

Hi . I have two female dogs 1 year old each , Doberman german and german shepeherd x malionis mixed , i see them fight every day . What can i do ?

Hey, guys!

I’m back from my mental retreat with an update for you guys.

So far, it’s been a week and I have been feeling so, so good. It’s not a cloud nine feeling, which I’m so relieved about. I still deal with my feelings and negative thoughts, but I’m not struggling. I can navigate them, and it has made my life so much easier with my dog, husband, and obligations in life.

Please have grace with yourself. That’s the biggest thing I learned. Something I no longer do is stick to a routine STRICT with my dog. It stressed me out so bad, and I was so disappointed with myself when I didn’t meet my times. My dog has continuously loved me this whole time I’ve been home from my retreat, and he isnt on a strict schedule. In all honesty, sometimes I forget to do some things, but I still end up getting it done and I’m not stressing over it.

I finally have the ability to overcome my depression and play with my dog outside even when I REALLY dont want to (the cold sucks).

I am so scared depression will hit again, but I am still choosing to get up every day and practice patient, grace, and intention with everything I do.

Thank you all for your kind words. You guys genuinely encouraged me and you’ll never know how much that meant to me.

Hey I have a little maltese mix. I take him for a walk and 5 minutes later after we come back home he can be already looking for a corner to piss on, he just doesn't get. He's 9 years old, the most adorable, cute little thing you can imagine. Any training pads don't work, he only pees on "actual corners". Please help.

This might be a weird one. My little girl 3 years old sleeps with me 90% of the time, sometimes she likes to be independent and sleep on the sofa. However, when she does sleep downstairs I can hear her crying/whimpering at the bottom of the stairs at about 4am which breaks me immediately out of sleep. I go downstairs where it’s still dark thinking she needs to go outside for her business but as soon as I step down she runs upstairs straight into my bed! What is this behaviour?!!