Category: Top Dog

Me and my partner have a 15 week old puppy, today marks 2 weeks since we’ve had her.

I’m really proud of the progress she’s made so far. She’s learnt “sit”, when you call her name she comes to you, she’s learnt “leave it”, and last night was the first night she didn’t cry when in her crate at bedtime.

My partner works full time and I study from home, I’m with her by myself from 8am – 5pm, so I know it’s kind of on me to get her trained.

The only thing that is taking her a bit longer is toilet training. She goes on her puppy pads in the house, but won’t go outside. Yesterday I removed the puppy pads from upstairs, and now she only has them by the back door. We also purchased a bell so she can let us know when she needs to go outside.

I’m very understanding and patient with her, I’m aware we’ve only had her for two weeks, but I feel like my partner is putting a lot of pressure on me to get her toilet trained for when we stay at his mum’s house for the weekend in two weeks.

I told him I doubt she’ll be fully toilet trained in just two weeks, and now he’s getting stressed out which is stressing me out. He doesn’t seem to be understanding that she’s already made a lot of progress.

He’s now getting advice from his mum who is saying to put puppy pads in her crate at night and don’t let her out for toilet breaks, which I’ve made it clear I strongly disagree with that.

1-2x a night I will let her out of her crate to go to the toilet and put her straight back in once she’s done, I don’t want her soiling in her own bed as I believe this will undo a lot of progress we’ve already made.

I’m just looking for advice on how to toilet train her better, I’m a first time dog owner and have never dealt with this before, and my partner isn’t helping.

Our Labrador is 5 months old now and I feel like we have left leaving him on his own too late, so we want to start training this now. A couple of points/limitations:

– we crate him for naps and for the night

– he usually needs someone in the room to settle

– once he settles, we leave the room but we come back if we see on the camera that he's sitting up

– coming back into the room (without interacting with him) helps to settle him quickly

During week day one of us would be working from home. We try to work from a different room, so that he is alone when he's napping.

what we need help with, is how do we make sure that he can be left on his own for short periods of time? Do we just meet all his needs, put him in a crate and leave for a short period? Stuff a large Kong, freeze it and come back before he's done? also, what to do if we're away for the short period and he starts barking? do we just come back after a couple of minutes and only interact with him when he stops barking?

thank you!

Our 5-month-old had always slept in a carrier-crate in our bedroom. We were going to transition her to sleeping on the bed, but she would snuggle and then go into the crate to sleep. We set up her bigger crate in the living room, and every night she puts herself to bed at 10 pm in there. We were getting her out and putting her in the small crate with us when we went to bed, but mornings were tough with her waking up too early and wanting out, not to potty, just to hang out. We tried letting her stay in the big crate overnight, just shutting the door when we went to bed. She barely noticed, and stays in there quietly when we get up, until we've taken care of our business and can let her out. She seems much better with this arrangement. And it's not like she hates the small crate, she has access and goes in for naps occasionally. I just thought this was weird because the rest of the day, all she wants is to be with her people.

Not to roam around but to sit next to you if you purchase the extra set (not putting the pet inside a carrier under the seat)

Hello all! Longtime lurker for this subreddit first time posting in it. We have a Lab mix who is an aggressive chewer and loves chew toys! He is 5. Where is everyone getting their aggressive chewers toys that’s not a subscription box???

I have two pugs. One of them goes nutso any time there’s a dog on the television. The other pug doesn’t care. Anyone else have a dog that does this? And if so, any way to teach him to stop it?

Hello everyone! My dog is a 10 year old boxer. She’s always been with me, but for her whole life I wasn’t allowed to have her inside the house (she lived in my backyard, very big one, but still a backyard). In the last few days I was able to bring her home with me and I was so excited to finally do this. I knew she was good at home because when I go on a vacation I bring her in hotels and she behaves so well, never breaks stuff, she’s not anxious to be alone and so on.

The issue is I’ve never walked her exclusively to pee at home and I’m having issues with the schedule. I thought about 3 walks per day, but then she started waking me up every morning at 6 am to pee (which to me is kind of an issue since I suffer from insomnia and I can’t sleep until very late) . So I started to go out with her 4 times, the last one as late as possible not to wake up anybody else in the house (so usually around 10 pm, that’s the latest I can go). Even this solution doesn’t work, she still wakes up at 6 and I’m almost sure that she really HAS to pee, I’m not sure she would be able to wait and I don’t want to do that to her body obviously! I’m gonna get up at 6 until she needs me to, but I would really like some advice. I feel like a new dog owner.

(P.s. sorry if I made any grammar mistakes, English is my second language).

We've been looking to adopt a dog for a while now and I always have mixed feelings when I visit shelters and see the animals there. And the longer it goes on the more unsure I am on whether we should keep looking.

So I was wondering, for people who’ve adopted, when you were looking for your dog, what emotion hit you the strongest?

Excited and hopeful?

Sad for the dogs?

Guilty not taking certain dogs?

Our 85lb almost 9yr staffy keeps scratching at the door and trying to get out while we're away at work.

Hes managed to get out twice so far. Hes literally destroying the door and the trim. Hes got tough nails.

This is a new behavior. We have no idea what could be triggering him to such an extreme level.

Its been going on for several weeks.

Its worth noting that not all the damage to the door was done in a single incident. Hes been chipping away at it 2-3 times a week for some time now.

Damage photo: https://imgur.com/gallery/58yTlkG

My dog and I are deeply bonded. We move often due to my husband’s job and he travels often as well, so most of the time it’s just me and her. I take her everywhere with me (that I can) and she is my whole world. I love our routines, our bond, and just the special relationship the two of us share.

Long story short, my husband rescued a puppy from a bad situation with the intent of fostering him until we could find a new home for him. Well, my husband wants to keep him.

Like I mentioned before, because of his travel and because I work from home and he does not, I will end up taking care of the dog majority of the time. That isn’t the issue. I love this sweet puppy already, but I can’t help feeling a nag about just how much my relationship with my dog will change. Not only the emotional side of things, but routine things like coffee shop visits become instantly more difficult with two dogs. I don’t want either of us to miss out on those things together with another dog.

I think my dog will be fine either way. She likes playing with the puppy but also loves just hanging out on her own with me. She is 6.

Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? What changed in your relationship with your first dog? Did everything work out ok?