Category: Top Dog

Hiya! I just got a male 8 week old golden retriever last Saturday. I’ve never had a puppy before, only cats. I work from home but I’m a mental health therapist so I can’t leave my office 50 minutes at a time. I’ve tried desperately to crate train him but so far he doesn’t like it. He is fine going inside with the door closed but as soon as I walk away, he loses it. My partner has said we should let him cry it out. I’ve read 10-15 minutes is good but when I’m in session, I can’t get him out if he’s still crying. He will bark, scream, and make strange noises, biting the crate.

I’ve read conflicting advice of what to do. He’ll fall asleep easily on the couch within minutes as soon as I take him out. There have been a few times he’s been able to sleep but as soon as he’s awake, he freaks out. I feel like crying. I know it’s only been 6 days but I’ve tried all the positive associations with the crate, like pupsicles, all his meals in there, lots of treats, and toys. When he screams and cries, it elevates my heart rate and I just don’t know what to do. I worry he also has separation anxiety. Any tips would be great!

So long story short, I was carrying my puppy when I tripped and fell, breaking my ankle. He is 10 wks now and I am so sad.

I can't play with him like I was and I can't train things that take a lot of moving around.

I really wanna cry because I wanted to be the most exciting human in his life but at this point but he loves and gets excited around everyone else except me.

I can spend tons of time with him but the fact I'm stuck in one spot is really not interesting to him. Plus he needs to be socializing and I need to rest.

I just cry trying to do as much as I can without re-hurting my ankle (I have pushed it a couple times now that really ended badly).

I then tried the quality over quantity with spending time with him but he really wants to explore and learn. And I want that for him too but I just can't.

He has learned sit, roll over, spin (both directions), "touch", down, mat, kennel, wait.

I feel defeated.

He is so smart and I want to give him the world but I don't want an unruly dog that is more work in the future just because I couldn't be engaging and set good foundations.

I took my 5 month old pup (Shikoku Ken) to a new daycare since the one I take him to regularly was booked up for spring break. The new daycare was 5 minutes away from my place and when I walked in it looked very nice so I had very high hopes for it.

I took him yesterday for a temp test to see if he’d fit in with other dogs and for the staff to see his overall temperament. When I picked him up the staff said he did very well, was excited to play with all the dogs, and even napped in the sun which made me very happy to hear. Once we were home I fed him and tried to pet him and he seemed to flinch, cower down, and his tail went down. That is obviously unusual for him because I am his person, he’s literally stuck to me like gum and follows me every where so I know he trusts me. I didn’t think much of it because maybe he didn’t expect me to reach down to pet him ? I don’t know yesterday kinda felt like he was distant with me and like I had to win his trust back again. By bedtime he was fine and normal so I chalked it up to him having a long day at a brand new place. Today I dropped him off again at the new daycare and I am so disappointed and heartbroken for my puppy. While I was waiting to get attended, they brought out someone else’s dog that was there before me. That dog must’ve had some type of reactivity because it was lunging at anyone they saw pretty aggressively while their owners were grabbing the leash tightly dragging them and trying to get their attention with a treat. Once those people left, the front desk people were talking to each other saying that dog has gotten worse and the other person agreed saying it was because the dog was constantly there for almost 12 hours a day. That was my first red flag because as a pet parent I want my pups behavior addressed to me plus I hated how they openly talked about around me, a customer. Also, if that dog had reactivity, I would not want it around my puppy and I know many owners could agree with that. When they finally bring out my puppy they hand me his food. The person who handed it to me kind of seemed ashamed or embarrassed and in a low tone they said that my pup didn’t feel like eating today. In my head I knew that was a lie, he will choose food over playtime anytime and every trainer I have gone to comments on how food motivated he is. I’m also very disappointed because if my pup does not eat regular meals before the 12 hour mark from his last meal he ends up throwing up bile from having an empty stomach (very common for his breed). It had been 11 hours since his last meal when I had picked him up. We then get to the car and he climbs on me to nap (he does this every time after daycare) and he smells horrible. I understand that they get dirty playing with other dogs but he smelled like straight urine and that’s when my heart broke. I feel like I failed him. When we got home (we live in an apartment) he saw another dog and his owner came to let his dog to say hi to mine since they asked if he was friendly and if that was ok with me. My pup immediately puffed out his chest and the other owner saw that and dragged his dog away which is understandable. My puppy has never done that before, he’s so happy to meet new dogs and play with them. I feel like something might’ve happened which caused that reaction. It sucks because his breed is known to remember interactions especially negative ones and react based on that negative experience. I have spent so much money to prevent dog aggression in him since that’s also prevalent in his breed and I feel like that went down the drain. I just feel so guilty right now.

Hello,

Puppy is 11 weeks, Whippet, 1 week.

I am in a strange spot after reading in here about a lot of people struggling with crate training, but my particular problem is that I have a pen for my puppy and the crate inside the pen, when I place him in the pen with the crate door open to wind down and sleep — he is restless and cry’s. But when I put him in the crate with the door closed he settles within a minute and goes straight to sleep

Is this normal that he loves the crate so much that he can only settle when locked inside? I believe the breeder I received the puppy from had the dogs in a kennel outside to be raised so I am thinking maybe he would have been locked inside the kennel and let out at times so it feels familiar

Just double checking that this is good behaviour

I'm likely rejecting my kidney transplant and have been in and out of the hospital a lot. When I'm not, I'm absolutely exhausted. My poor 15 month old Aussie is struggling. We went from doing stuff all the time and structured days, to her being taken care of by my elderly family most days. She is definitely hitting her teenage phase and my perfect calm pup is a tornado of terror, and having unmet needs doesn't help. She is having a hard time regulating her emotions, and is into EVERYTHING (this hasn't been an issue previously). I'm worried that this "time" is going to shape her behavior and habits for the rest of her life. I've been down and out for about 2 months… And if it is rejection, it means long days at dialysis.

Has anyone been through something similar and came out okay on the other side ( I mean with the pup being a chaos queen due to life circumstances). Being so sick has made me extra impatient too, and I feel like such a bad owner. At what point do you consider rehoming…. I can't even believe I'm asking that, but I just feel so bad for my girl. She is just a baby and shouldn't be crated as much as she has to be right now. She gets lots of time playing fetch in the backyard, but I know that's not enough.

I'm so heartbroken, and looking for advice, input or support. I'm not sure I could live with myself if I rehomed.. That's how much I care for her.

we had to put down our older dog a couple weeks ago. she was 15, and our current dog is 1. i have noticed him being more restless (not sure the best word to describe it) since she died. we got him a year after our previous dog died, but i think he needs a freind sooner than that. she never really played with him due to her age, so its not like he suddenly doesnt have someone to play with that he did before, but we went to a family freinds house about a week ago who has a dog, and he looked so happy to be around another dog. is it to soon to get another dog? should we wait a bit longer?

edit to clarify: my family is ready i think, we have talked about it a couple of times, im just wondering how much time we should give our current pup to greive and adjust to the fact that she is gone. thanks to everyone who took the time to read and reply 🙂

Hey all!

I have a 7 month old pug puppy and currently live in a townhouse that has a dog door to the backyard, so we’ve been working on using that. For the most part, she’s gotten pretty good about bringing herself outside to potty, or at least can be redirected to go outside if she looks like she’s about to potty on the floor. in the next 5-6 months, I will probably be moving to an apartment, and I was wondering if anyone else has made this transition before and how it affected their dogs potty training progress? And does anyone have any recommendations as to how to help make the transition as seamless as possible? I figured it would probably be best to start working on it before the move so that it’s not such a drastic and sudden change for my pup with the hopes of mitigating as many accidents as possible. All tips/hints/works of wisdom are welcome! Thanks!!

TLDR: she takes pills, goes out often and will soon have a doggy door, itll be easier to clean her soon, she gets beds but they stink and we’ve tried reusable pads but they dont clean well, she takes off diapers and im nervous to buy reusable ones online due to return policies

shes a medium/large dog and was spayed too early at 4 months old (not our fault) which led to her having spay incontinence, so her pee just comes out whenever shes relaxed. she takes a pill every day to help, but after a while of taking any specific pill it stops working as well and we switch to another kind which of course helps until it doesnt.

we take her on walks and let her outside often, but it still is a hindrance. thankfully, she will have a doggy door soon in a month so she will be able to let herself out, and she’s already figured out how to use the door when we took her to see the house the other day. we will also be able to hose her off and wash her in the backyard, so it’ll be much easier to clean her and much more often

her bed always ends up stinking like pee and it makes the whole room uninhabitable sometimes, so we have to get her a new bed every month because we have no way to clean the beds where we live currently (not really sure how to clean a large dog bed in general though) and we’ve tried using big waterproof reusable doggy pads to keep the pee off her bed but it ends up getting scrunched up and we have to put it back constantly, and when we wash them the smell doesnt come out completely and they feel greasy and gross still

we have diapers for her, but she usually ends up taking them off herself or acts crazy with the zoomies until they fall off or we take them off, and its not sustainable to buy diapers constantly, and we havent seen any reusable diapers her size in store and i havent gotten around to looking online + i worry about return policies if i had to ship used dog diapers back if the didn’t fit or she could get them off

what else can we do? what is there to try and do to make this more tolerable to live with? anyone recommend a brand of reusable diapers that dont come off easily and can be returned if they dont fit her right?

I have just started fostering this very sweet 3 year old border collie mix named Ari for two weeks. This is our fourth day together. When I met her at the local humane shelter she was extremely freezy, and timid. No one is quite sure of her history prior to being surrendered so who knows what her previous life was like.

She’s been sticking to my bedroom the hallway leading into it as her “home base” she does venture out but if I move she gets very very alert and ticks her tail I between her legs, pins her ears back, widens her eyes, the whole 9 yards.

I’ve gotten advice to ignore her or not try hard to comfort her to not make my movements seems like a big deal, and I also try and stay as predictable as I can living a normal day to day. It just kind of breaks my heart seeing her be so affected.

Even on walks, her personality comes out a bit, she trots along side me and is getting a little better about passing cars, but when we turn around and walk back to the apartment, she drags, turns back the other way, or freezes with her tail tucked between her legs and I just feel awful.

I’m trying to look at the positive in all of this, she has come laid down next to me and napped while I work, has sniffed me a couple of times. But I get trapped in my own head when she hasn’t come out of my room for hours on end, thinking I did something wrong.

If anyone can help give me tips on how to help me and her out as we go through this together.

TLDR: I’m fostering a very timid dog and I’m getting stuck in my own head about it and would like tips and tricks to help us move forward together.

Edit: I’ve set up her food and water in the hallway out of sight from me in the living room but she’s not eating or drinking a lot, I think in the past 3 days she’s had 1 1/2 bowls of food (shelter feeds the dogs twice a day) and has only drank when I was sleeping night one and after walks in hot days. She will eat hot dog pieces and treats though just takes a while to get to them

Hi there! Fairly new owner of a sweet 9 month beagle x coonhound mix. We've had her for almost 5 months and with spring-time, I noticed that she absolutely hates loud cars/motor bikes; especially ones with modded exhausts or engines (tbh, not sure what it really is or why some like this feature?).

All winter, I've been excited to go on longer walks with her but it's quickly come to a point where I'm nervous about taking her outside and if she'll have an unexpected scare. It's been very disruptive and difficult even when we're at home and someone rides by on their loud bike or car.
My husband and I have already started giving her high-praise treats when these sounds happen, but she unfortunately gets way too distracted, stiffens up and paces around the house.

As a concerned owner, I'm curious if anyone has gone through something similar and can warrant any advice?! Feel free to even direct me to any other posts or blogs.
Here's a short list of other practices we've been trying to implement:

• Designating a safe space for her to settle – she struggles with this.
• Starting walks further away from our house/driving to dog parks instead.
• Attempting to walk near the main roads and giving positive reinforcement.
• Constantly playing calming music to drown out any outside noises when home.

Us and our doggo, Riley, appreciate the read!