Category: Top Dog

Hello! My husband and I got our first puppy, a 10-week old male mini aussiedoodle on Sunday. My husband has no experience with pets. I had a dog growing up but was young when she was trained so for all intents and purposes let’s just say I have no experience either.

Coupled with the cold (low 30s-20s) we also live on the third floor apartment. Right now we’re using turf washable potty pads on our balcony and trying to bring him outside on the ground level for 5-10 minutes on the hour since it’s so cold. He’ll use the potty pad outside and has peed/pooped a few times on the actual grass on ground level. I used to give him a treat for the balcony but now that he’s successfully gone outside on the ground I only give him a treat if he goes on the ground now. Sometimes he’ll go downstairs pee, and we’ll come back inside only for him to pee on the carpet.

I read puppies don’t always empty their bladder all the way on the first pee, so I know I shouldn’t bring him up if he pees once but it’s hard because I can see him shiver (he wears a jacket and I ordered booties for him too) and he cries until I bring him inside.

I’m expecting it to take 4-6 months to fully train realistically but is there anything that I’m doing that I should do differently? Should we do the pee breaks more often like every 30 minutes?

TIA!

I've been privileged enough to get the puppy of one of my previous dogs (who went to a friend when I had to re-home due to DV). My previous dog was a catahoula Leopard dog/pitty mix, and the accidental dad is I guess a Texas heeler. Litter was born early-mid October, somewhere between the 14th and the 18th, I'm not fully sure. My friend selected the pup for me based on personality and I was given an incredibly intelligent little 'Cajun Heeler' male.

Since coming home the beginning of December, he has only had 3 accidents at all, and had taken like a whiz to crate training, potty training, fetch, leashing, and is even starting to wait for permission before eating. I only researched some very basic dog training videos and I honestly don't think its me that's doing so awesome, I really can't emphasize enough how quickly this little guy catches on!

Is this a honeymoon phase? Obviously his needs will change as he grows and develops, but for now it's setting such an amazing precedent… Please, tips on how to continue this?!

Nexguard is like $40+ a pill.

Is there maybe a 2 pull combo I can get on Chewy that covers fleas/ticks & heart worms that would come out cheaper?

Without going too much into the background story, we brought 6 month somewhat of a rescue puppy (golden doodle mix) into our home.

It is day 6 and he is much more comfortable, playful, affectionate and is super velcro to me.

However he is scared of my husband.. My husband is great with all the animals, all dogs at the parks and beaches love him and he adores animals. But each time he walks back to the common areas from his office room or comes back home pup behavior changes, he's hiding behind me, walks away from my husband with his tail and head down.. he looks scared of him.. My husband tries to give him treats, but even those he rarely acceps.

Best times are in the evenings, when we sit on the sofa, pup relaxes next to me and that's when my husband gets to pet him. Things start feeling better, but next day everything is completely back to square one.

A couple of male friends came by today and pup was not comfortable with them either.

We're guessing that men weren't kind to him in his previous home..

Any tips and advices are welcome on how to help him to feel safe and comfortable with my husband. I feel awful for both of them..