Category: Top Dog

Hi everyone, our 4 month old pit mix is finally fully vaccinated. I want to socialize her properly, but she obviously has crazy puppy energy and loves to nip/lick/paw/punch/jump onto the faces of all other dogs. I know it’s just a matter of time until another dog gets pissed and bites her. My brother’s dog has”checked” her a few times by growling and fake biting her but she doesn’t seem to get the hint. Ty for any advice!

We adopted a puppy from a rescue last month, and she just turned 16 weeks. All we know is tha mom was a border collie mix, and she is an extremely smart dog. I know I've got my work cut out for me, but thanks to these forums I learned about over-stimulation due to lack of sleep. We have to enforce naps with a crate, because she hasn't learned how to calm down enough to nap outside of it. It was a rough first week because she came home with a case of coccidia, but has been cleared and is doing much better.

Now she's starting to get more energy, I know that the need for nap time will start to lessen, but am unsure what that transition will look like. Some sites say a 16 week old puppy only needs 14-16 hrs, some say she still needs 18 hrs. I dont want to force naps if it isn't needed, but it's really hard to figure out if she is getting manic from over-stimulation or she needs more excercise.

Outside of nap time we have a pretty consistent play/train/attempt to hang out and be calm schedule. She learns fast, which leaves me frantically learning new ways of doing things to challenge her brain, because she also gets bored fast. I just don't know how much is over-stimulation when she can somewhat successfully sit/stay for her favorite treat. She just got her last vaccine's, so we are starting to add walks into our day. Any help figuring out that transition, will be greatly appreciated!

I have a 6 month old Leonberger and I'm curious how others are doing with their pups of the same age.

What sort of behaviours are you struggling with, if any? What changes have happened recently or are currently happening? Whatever you want to share!

I picked up my puppy today and it was a long travel home. We’re here, we’re safe. It’s been a shitshow, in every way possible. I live in an apartment and share a wall with neighbors, well it’s 2am and she’s still barking at me. I think my neighbors are probably going to kill me. Also, my puppy is not fond of the snow and it’s a foot deep. Doesn’t like it, won’t potty in it. I know it gets better and we’ll work it out but the first night has been a mess.

Im gonna go to sleep toon but im dogsitting and the puppy (about 6 months) cries if he is inside and has to get up many times during the night to go outside, i have a balcony (fenced and on 2nd story) and i was wondering if i should leave it open during the night

My 10 month old puppy pulls on the lead every single walk. It’s gotten to the point where he is choking himself because he’s pulling so hard. I’ve tried so many different things like changing direction randomly, stopping and waiting when he pulls and walking with treats in my hand to keep his focus. But when I try the treats, he just jumps up the whole time instead of walking calmly.

It’s honestly stressing me out so much and walks are not enjoyable.

Has anyone dealt with this and found something that actually works? Any tips, training steps you swear by would be so appreciated!

Hi all,

I’m asking for advice on crate training. My partner and I got a puppy (Otto, mini Schnauzer, 4 months), and so far he’s been a really good boy.

He needs some corrections like any puppy, but we couldn’t have gotten luckier with him.

The only “issue” that we are anticipating is separation anxiety. We have only had him for a week so we are working on the basics, and getting him comfortable in the crate. At night it is no problem at all, when it’s bed time we put the crate in the bedroom, he goes in by himself and doesn’t make a noise the whole night (he even slept 8 full hours tonight without any accidents!).

The issue comes during the day. We want him to get used to napping in the crate so we can start slowly leaving the house for a few minutes building up later to longer periods, but boy, he’s not having it.

Usually the routine is walk, play, food, crate. He always comes full of energy from his walks, so we play with him and let him run around for about an hour. Then we feed him, wait until he drinks water, and put him in the crate for 30’ to an hour.

We move the crate to the living room so he can see us but he still whines for a good 10-20 minutes until he settles down himself. He also whines if he’s left alone, crate or not, even if it is 2 seconds.

We also have an older dog, Happy, lakeland terrier, 13.5 years old. Happy is a granpa, so he doesn’t do much besides nap on the couch. Lucky for him he’s deaf so the whining is not an issue. Otto generally has less of an issue with being left alone when Happy is around, but it is still not great. Happy has always been a very independent dog, never had an issue with being left alone, so we are inexperienced as to what to do here.

Does anyone have any advice on how we can make Otto less distraught when he’s in the crate? And how to build it up to leave him alone? Should we start by opening and closing the front door when he’s in the crate or roaming free in the living room?

Thanks everybody, any advice is super appreciated!

We have had our Saluki puppy for just over a week now and he is about 10 weeks old. I am really struggling with his biting. We have a 2 year old in the house, who unfortunately keeps getting bitten. Whilst im aware it is only playful biting and it isn't out of aggression, I really cant have my child being bitten.

I have tried giving him a toy every time he bites one of us, and praising him when he chews the toy instead. I have tried a loud no (as advised by a YouTube dog trainer). I see so much conflicting information online and I honestly feel like the situation is just getting worse. My biggest fear is that if I dont stop it now, he will grow to be an aggressive dog.

I would really appreciate any advice on puppy biting and how to put a stop to it. Thanks

I have an 8 week old bichon and I’m crate training him. I work night shift but my husband works day shift, so I want the puppy to sleep at night. I stay up all night on my days off, and I took the week off to work on crate training so that my husband can get some sleep. If I sit next to the crate my puppy will fall asleep, but if I wait 10 minutes or so after he falls asleep and try to sneak away he wakes up and starts crying and won’t settle back down. I don’t want to have to sit next to the crate all night but he’s such a light sleeper that he hears me moving around or walking and wakes up pretty quickly. It’s 3 am now and I’ve been trying to get him to sleep since 10 pm. I figured by now he would sleep from exhaustion but he hasn’t yet! Any other night owls deal with something similar?

What age have you dog lovers noticed a male dog starts to lift their leg to pee instead of squat? We're playing the guessing game on the age of the dog we got from the shelter. They said a year but he still squats, it's cute! It's no big deal, this is just a curiosity post to see what others opinions are about when they start to lift a leg to go potty. I've actually never had a puppy. Thanks!!