Hello! My husband and I had outside dogs growing up. His dog was fenced in with a doghouse… my dogs had a fenced in pen and roamed free/hung out on the porch because we lived on 12 acres. He’d follow our 4 wheeler around, play ball, and lay in the sun on the porch. At night we’d feed as put in his pen.

We just got a puppy and had assumed we’d also have an outside dog…. Until we realized that it’s apparently frowned upon 😬🤷‍♀️. We live on 16 acres of woods and fields, and assumed we’d have a large fenced in pen with a nice doghouse inside for overnight.

After realizing this, we’re rethinking things… but still appreciate the opportunity to have him outside in his pen when company is over … when we’re outside the house all day and it’s nice out, etc. We’re also hoping we could have him “camp out” for a night if we were to go somewhere overnight during the spring/summer. We just don’t love the idea of a full time indoor dog, since we def weren’t planning on it.

Has anyone done this? I’d love the option of having him stay overnight in his outside pen when needed, but also be able to wash him up and keep him inside some nights as well.

I’m not looking for any judgement … just open to suggestions or similar circumstances!

(For reference, we think he is part Australian Shepard and part poodle .. and a mix). Also- I’m not talking about keeping him outside during the cool weather- only nice warm days.

Hey everyone,

Over the past few months we have seen an increase in responses that have been generated by AI. And while we totally understand how tempting it is to use AI to write posts or responses… or even use AI as a resource for your own questions, this is becoming problematic.

1. People come to this community to seek peer to peer support. That means we want YOU to engage genuinely and using a LLM to write responses really detracts from that. Most people can use AI like ChatGPT on their own and Ixm aure they already do. They come here for human connection and support.

2. The biggest reason AI is not allowed here is that the advice it spits out is gathered from any number of resources online. While that can seem incredibly useful as a one stop shop, it is still extremely problematic.

The way AI works is not as a cognitive knowledge base. It cannot sort what is good or bad information. It simply predicts what you want ti hear. Unless you have knowledge and expertise in a subject, you may not be able to identify what is valid information. This presents a risk of harm.

And before you say "but I have citations for the information!" https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-chatbot-journal-research-fake-citations-1235485484/ this is extremely alarming. And a huge reason that we do not trust the information.

1. "But I am using it to fix my spelling and grammar" and I totally understand wanting to do that. Know that your casual replies are appreciated!

We have had a lot of folks become argumentative in modmail when these comments and posts are removed. Which is silly given that they didn't put in the same effort as a personalized response.

I've had people complain that we didn't explicitly list not using AI in the rules. Fine, it's there now.

If you see an AI response, report it. If you see someone suggest using an AI for training advice, report that. It's a banned resource here.

Maybe one day we can see improvements in technology and can feel more confident in itxs use. But this is how it is now and will remain.

And know that some responses may be missed! There are some AI responses that won't be identified because they've been built on a number of writing samples to use a voice that sounds and reads natural. And we also know that sometimes your formal writing might sound like AI. It's a difficult line, but know we are moderating with good intent here.

Every broth I see at the grocery store has onion and things. Even the low sodium broths all have onion. My pup doesn’t really like the pet store ones so what brand does your dog love?

As the title says. How can I get him to stop! 😂😭

Hi everyone! I’m bringing home my 12-week Corgi pup next February and I couldn’t be more excited.

I’ve been devouring every puppy-related educational material and trying to make a schedule that includes potty breaks every 2 hours, half a cup of water every hour, adequate crate, leash, and obedience training, AND some proper socialization.

I’ve seen some amazing schedules that will have “training” as a time slot. But what are you doing in those short bursts of training? How are you fitting in focus, leash, and settle training in a 10-20 minutes session?

I’m wanting to set him up for success and will happily take any advice!

So I recently rescued a 1y about a month ago now, and around week 2 he started showing signs of separation anxiety (literally only pooping and destruction) so I crated him. This still continued despite me being told dogs don’t like to poop where they sleep. Eventually I finally got him a kong and he gradually went from progress of pooping to only peeing in his crate to finally nothing at all! For exactly a week it was heaven. I would normally give him the kong right before I leave and he wouldn’t even give me the time of day as I slipped out of the door. Two days ago, when I was leaving he stared as I left (my omen that I was indeed going to come back to an accident) and low and behold, he started pooping in his crate again, sometimes he even eats it!! It’s so frustrating because he gets a potty break immediately when he wakes up and is praised + rewarded directly after, 1-2 potty break + walks before I go to work/school. I got him Trazedone from his vet for the anxiety expecting it to finally work and was very wrong. He never has accidents at night, or when i’m around, it’s only ever in his crate during the day when I leave for more than 3 hours. Today he wouldn’t even potty when I took him out before work! I’m already frustrated this is happening but i’m more frustrated that it started right back up as if he gained immunity to the kong. Someone please help! I really have no idea what to do.

I’ve done the whole not acting like leaving is a big deal, I’ve left the tv on for him for background sound, I give him treats in the cage for positive association, He sleeps there at night, He knows it’s expected of him to poop/pee outside and whenever I come in and he pooped in the crate he’s already shaking like he’s guilty! It feels like everything I’ve tried has failed or worked temporarily. If anyone could please give me some sound advice as to 1) Why he could’ve possibly started back up doing this 2) What to do that would actually help?

cratetraining #pottytraining #puppyblues #pleasehelp #separationanxiety