Hello. I will most likely adopt a doberman and I want to know how to prepare/train them. Our house has two floors and has a big balcony but I will also be taking him out for walks/runs like everyday. We do have a cat but he's rarely home. One of my worries is that I'm mostly at school most of the day (from about 6:40 to 16:30) and I want to bond with them. Is it possible? Should I look for another breed? I really want a doberman.

We have a mini schnauzer who is about to turn one. I am at my wits end with her and have been sat sobbing today. She is terrorising me. I cannot get more than five minutes of solid work done with her. She is just relentless and I don’t know what to do. She is so destructive, she is biting me and trying to hump and just will not listen.

She is walked for an hour a day by me, I feed her, play with her, take her to training, she has licky mats puzzle toys etc. I don’t know what to do with her. She doesn’t do this to my boyfriend nearly as much me.

Please help!!

I have a 5 month cavapoo who for the first 4 and a half months has been an angel with his crate bedtime routine. He unfortunately had a potty accident in his crate and since then he has been barking/crying when putting him to bed. He does usually settle overnight however he can be crying for up to 30 mins before he settles. Has this ever happened to anybody before? The only thing I can think is he can still smell the potty or associates it with doing the toilet. We haven’t changed his routine too drastically and we are able to leave him in the house for a couple of hours at a time on his own, so I don’t think it is a separation anxiety issue. Any help would be appreciated!

We got a a lab/blue heeler mix puppy when he was 8 weeks old. He had a great temperament, letting kids pet and play with him, letting us all pick him up, etc. Ever since getting him though, he resource guards really badly. He has snapped at my kids twice now when he thought they were taking something from him but they were just going to pet his back. This is normal behavior I know but not acceptable. He has not broken skin with a bite but has aggressively "warning" snapped at them, scratching their skin. He doesnt do it to my husband or i but does it to our kids and our older dog. Please help. We love him but we cannot have this behavior like this. The kids didnt even try to take away what he had, he just thought they would. I am about to sign him up for puppy training classes but what do I do in the meantime at home?

Hi everyone! Does anyone else feel like all they are doing is running around say no all the time to the puppy to make sure they are safe and keep their noses out of anything that can harm them? Also the constantly running after them making sure they aren’t peeing where they aren’t supposed to? It’s tiring 🤦‍♂️🤣🤷‍♂️

I was wondering when did boundaries start to stick with your puppy? We have some clear boundaries that never change. For example, don’t stand against the counter / table, dont eat the plants, dont chase the cats (very hard one😂). He knows he cant do it, and I learned him the behaviour I rather see (four feet on the ground, checking in with me when he wants to fixate on the cats). I also always try to reward the times when he does the good behaviour, like ignoring the cats, having four feet on the ground.

He knows he can’t do it, but he still keeps trying and only stops when I start to get up to stand in between him and the thing he wants to do. Sometimes he does stop with the 3th ‘no’. Sometimes with the first one. Sometimes not and I have to stand between him and for example, the table, until he makes a better choice (walk away, disengage). But every day, he tries the same things again😂. Im already happy that he knows what ‘no’ means. But is there a point where they stop trying? 😅

He is a 15 week old puppy.

Hey everyone! We’ve been on a list for a lab puppy from a very reputable breeder for ~6 months and just found out she’s been born! She'll be ready to be picked up at 8 weeks old at the end of January. The timing would be perfect except we have a 5-day family trip in mid-March for a major milestone birthday that we can’t miss. She’d only be ~15 weeks then, and we’re not comfortable leaving her that young with anyone for that many nights.

We spoke to our breeder and he gave us two options:

Option 1: Have the breeder hold her and pick her up at 15 weeks

Our breeder offered to keep her the extra 6–7 weeks (for a fee) and work on crate training and early socialization. After mid-March our schedule is wide open, so the timing would be great and we could pick her up immediately after getting back from our trip. She'd be 15 weeks at this point.

Pros: A little older, partly trained, well-socialized, easier timing
Cons: Extra cost + we miss the tiny 8-week puppy stage

Option 2: Wait for the next litter

We also have the option to defer to the next litter, which would likely be due for pickup in late April. This would mean we get the puppy at 8 weeks, but May is busy for us (two full-day events + one overnight), which might be tough with a 10-week-old puppy to find care that we trust.

Pros: Get the classic 8-week experience, no extra boarding/training cost
Cons: Our May plans would be stressful with such a young pup, would have to find overnight/full day care we trust and she wouldn't be fully vaccinated so boarding wouldn't be an option. If we did the first option, she'd be 6 months old at that point and much easier to find care for a day or evening.

Looking for advice:

• Any drawbacks to bringing home a pup at 15–16 weeks? Will we be sad we missed out on the first few weeks?
• Anyone had a breeder keep a puppy longer—good/bad experiences?
• Would you pick the 8-week start or the easier timing?

Thanks!!

I have a 5 year old poodle who usually gets 2 walks a day, about 1.5 hours/6km minimum. It’s becoming colder here and so hour long walks are more difficult to do and will continue to become more difficult due to the snow. I feel like my dog also still has a lot of energy after walks, and doesn’t want to go home even after a 30-45 minutes one. She looks actually sad, energetic, and like I haven’t brought her out at all. I’ve been trying to play with her but she always ends up biting me and still has energy after (separate thing I’m trying to work on). Could I be setting myself up for failure by walking her so much?