Category: Top Dog

Wanted to share how well my puppy did at a little housewarming party I had last night! I had about 10 people at my place and she was overall such a good girl! She listened to me and my guests 90% of the time (not putting paws on the table is still very hard lol) and showed off her tricks for my guests. She took a big Power Nap for about an hour as well. She had one accident, but I’m realizing I need to get her a bell to say when she needs to go out because her cues (sniffing at the door) are too subtle for me in a new space

Hi everybody, quick question. I have a new puppy, about 12 weeks old, and I had a couple questions about potty training. When she’s in the crate, she does fantastic of letting us know when she needs to use the bathroom. She’ll be sleeping and then all of a sudden start waking up and whining, and that’s our queue for her to use the bathroom. Pretty reliable, getting to 3 1/2 hours now

The issue is when she’s in the house under supervision during the day. So her room is the sunroom that we have in our house, which is where her crate is. There’s a door right next to the crate which has a jingle on it, which she intermittently will ring when she needs to use the bathroom when she’s out of her crate. She is not the best at understanding how to jingle the bell. I’ve been trying to teach her to jingle the bell before we go outside by putting my hand right behind the bell, but she doesn’t get the hint and just tries getting to my hand rather than hitting the actual jingle. Trying to manually move her head to hit the jingle is a little challenging.

I found that sometimes when we’re in the living room, which is adjacent to the sunroom, she’ll randomly go into the sunroom and have an accident. I haven’t really picked up any cues yet to hint at her needing to use the bathroom. She doesn’t whine like she does in the crate.

I’m looking for some advice on how to navigate this. I understand that she’s a puppy and that they’re going to be mistakes, which is totally fair. When she has these accidents, I Don’t have any reaction to it and I just cleaned it up and use enzyme spray to try breaking it down so that she does not continuously make the association of pooping or peeing and the room. We have three bedrooms upstairs and I’m trying to do supervise playtime in one bedroom as a way to let her explore a little bit more but she just recently had an accident in the five seconds that I did not supervise in one room as I was getting water. Any advice would be super helpful. Thank you!

We have a 3-year-old Chiweenie who is very well-mannered and social. He knows how to interact appropriately with other dogs and loves playing with them at the park and with sitters. At home, his bed and bowls are normally in the kitchen since it’s the only non-carpeted area.

Last night, we brought home an 8-month-old Dachshund puppy. To give her her own space, I set up an X-pen in the kitchen with her own bed and bowls.

When they first met through the gate, our Chiweenie approached calmly to sniff her. She initially wagged her tail and sniffed him back, but then she growled. Our dog immediately walked away and left her alone.

Since then, she seems okay with him being nearby as long as his attention isn’t directed toward her. For example, when I was working in the kitchen and our dog was following me (focused on me, not her), she didn’t react even though he was close on the other side of the pen. However, as soon as he turns to look at her or tries to sniff in her direction, she growls.

I’ve also noticed that even when he’s farther away from the kitchen, she will stand watching him and growl if he looks at her. I am pretty sure this is out of fear as she is okay with us and wags her tail when we get close. It's more directed at our chiweenie.

I’m looking for advice on:

How to properly address or manage this behavior

The best way to help her get comfortable with him and build a positive relationship

2 times in the last 2 days I saw it myself. The puppy attacked our other dog. He is bigger and could really hurt him. It is happening after eating only. Even if I feed them separately which I am. 2 other times I heard “scuffling” but didn’t know who started it. I truly do not think it is playing because I see him when he is playing and now I’m unfortunately very stressed and don’t want to take the puppy back but I will have to if this continues 😭😭 any advice?

My puppy is 11 weeks as of Friday and good lord. He will whine in his crate (small ones, not distress whine) for a couple minutes. I put on Chris Stapleton or 2000's country in general and he just goes quiet and falls asleep 😂 super funny. Does this count as enrichment (joking of course lol). I guess find what genre your dog likes😂

Can anyone advise how long it took for their pups to adjust to being alone e.g. from a few minutes to few hours. Out of curiosity, not expecting it to happen soon.

On day 5 with my new puppy 9 week old chipoo, her temperament is great and is adjusting well. Last night she almost went the whole night without crying for me. She’s currently taking naps and sleeping in a crate with it open so she can pee in her pen. This is working well so far as I work from home and she’s never protested going to sleep in it. However, She’s still adjusting to being left alone even for a few minutes (she panic jumps on top of the crate that’s near my bed to try get out her pen). Curious to know everyone’s experience on how their pups adjusted to being ok being alone/or less scared.

Hi everyone,

I have a 10-month-old collie lurcher who is the sweetest girl in the world. She is incredibly gentle and loving with everyone. A little hyper, but that’s very much her breed.

My mum was looking after her today and, in true grandma fashion, spoiled her. I’ve been very clear with anyone who looks after her that we are zero rawhide, and that if she gets chews, they need to be natural and appropriate for her size. Unfortunately, when I got home, my mum had bought her a postman’s leg.

It was immediately obvious it was far too big and intense for her. My girl has never resource guarded anything in her life, but when I went to take her away from it, she had her tail tightly tucked under her body and was baring her teeth and growling. It took me about 10 minutes to safely remove her from the situation, and the chew went straight in the bin.

I’m honestly really shaken by it. This just isn’t my baby! She has always been gentle, soft, and trusting. I’m worried this means we’ve gone backwards or that I’ve somehow allowed a problem to start. I want her to always be kind and safe, and I’m terrified of her developing food guarding or aggression.

I know my mum didn’t mean any harm and simply didn’t understand how intense these chews are, so I’m not angry with her. I just feel awful and anxious that this may have caused long term damage. I want my dog to be able to have high-value rewards because she works so hard and is such a good girl, but right now I’m scared to give her anything special.

Am I overreacting? Can a single incident really cause long term issues or is this something that can be managed and prevented going forward?

Any reassurance or advice would be hugely appreciated.