Category: Top Dog

I’ve had this puppy for a little over a week and simply don’t think I can do it any longer. Since getting him my mental health has significantly declined. I keep getting told that it gets better but I honestly don’t think I can make it without losing my sanity. He is pretty good and it’s a couple of things that I feel like I can’t keep living with like him biting, having accidents in the house, all the hyperactivity. I feel bad and have a lot of shame about giving the puppy back and really wanted for this to happen. At the moment I have no faith that it’s going to end up working out, I’m on the fence and not sure what to do. Any advice?

Hello all! First night with our puppy (10 weeks) and we’re nervous about messing up.

Took him home— about a 40 minute drive— and took him on a walk to use the bathroom. Nothing. When we took him inside, he immediately peed in the house.

The same happened on our second walk. We were thinking it was because he’s on a harness while we walk him and we took it off of him when he was in the house, but he peed the second time while wearing the harness.

Our plan right now is to keep him in the harness until he successfully goes potty outside.

Are we overthinking?

16 week old puppy is doing great with potty training. He can hold it overnight at least 8 hours and also hasn't had an accident during the day in some time. I'm still taking him out at least every 2-3 hours just by doing the "necessary" breaks every wake up, 15 mins post meal, and any heavy play.

When can I start to take him out less? I know there's that Age in months + 1 rule but this never made much sense to me since you have to take them out after every 2 hour nap time anyway? I trained him with potty bells and he's ringing it as needed so should I just wait until he stops ringing as much himself? Should I skip some wake up or post meal breaks?

So, my dogs very quickly associated the security camera alert on my phone to someone about to knock or come in the house. This expanded to basically any of the same tone (beep) type alerts. Now they bark suddenly and seriously whenever my phone alerts to anything. I have to change the alerts for each application to a different type /sound every other week or so to keep the peace.

Now I never recognize my own phone alerts in public. They will even send me looking around at home until I have the dawn of realization that it is a bizarre new alert. After a while, they will become familiar to me. About that time, I have to start over.

It's been the same ever since she was a puppy, no matter how much socialisation we did, she's just absolutely terrified of other dogs. She's 19 months now. When we go on a walk, the moment a dog is seen it's game over – i can only describe it as terrified screaming and will pull me all the way home. We've tried to do lots of training with her, and even spoke to a vet who is a behaviourist and she basically said she's a lost cause and told us to give the dog away because we've just had a baby 🙄 (the vet has only ever seen her in the vets, where their are dogs EVERYWHERE, so obviously she's only seen her at her very worst). We've tried taking her to a private field several times, but she doesn't even want to run around, she just wants to stay right by our sides, won't play fetch or anything. We have a big garden that she loves to run around in and parkour off all the furniture and chase the birds. We've decided to stop walking her, as all is doing is making her extremely anxious, and since we've stopped walking her she's been much calmer in the house too. My question is: is stopping walking her the correct going to do? And is there anything you would suggest to make sure she's getting enough stimulation at home? I'm on maternity leave, so the back door is open for her all day every day, but obviously a lot of my time is taken up by the baby.

Thank you

My girlfriend owns a 7 month old, intact Standard Poodle puppy with severe FOMO. The other dog in the household is a rescue and has been missing out on some one-on-one time since the puppy came home. When my girlfriend tries to do some training with her first dog out in the yard, the puppy loses his marbles with incessant barking that does not stop. This is the case regardless of whether he is loose in the room indoors, crated, in the catio where he can see the yard, or tethered outside. For this reason, he also can’t be left home alone when she takes the other dog for a walk.

I can very rarely visit the household to help, but ideas on how I could are welcome. He can’t be left to “cry it out” either (even though she also wouldn’t put him in this position) because of a fear of noise complaints. No one else in the household is able to watch the puppy while my girlfriend trains or goes for a walk.

My suggestions have been the relaxation protocol which I need to revisit and be able to demonstrate in person to her as well as place training so he can learn to lay on a mat outside while training of the other dog is taking place. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey all,

Myself and my partner have recently moved in together (May) and along came her furry friend Milo. He’s an 8 year old Border Collie mixed with a Kelpie that she has had since a pup. He’s a lovely dog but has absolutely zero training growing up, and it’s causing some issues that I’m hoping we can resolve before things get rough between myself and partner (were both super stressed most of the time and we’re both in agreement that it’s mainly due to Milo)

Firstly, walks are an absolute nightmare. He pulls like a train, has zero recall and doesn’t even want to know you when outside, just wants to pull forward as much as he can, and if he sees another dog you best believe he’s going to yank you towards it barking his head off. We have tried various methods, harness back and front clips, Halti harness (seems a little better but not much) tried a slip lead but he ends up just chewing it as he doesn’t like them.

Secondly, consistently barking in the house, doesn’t matter what we’re doing at the time, could be playing with him, cleaning, chilling etc he will just bark constantly.

Being a more senior dog with a lack of guidance at younger ages, do we think he’s beyond the point of training? Or does anyone have any recommendations? Getting rid of him is an absolute no, but at the same time for the sake of our relationship we have to find improvements somehow as it’s been an incredibly tough 6 months since he has been with us.

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Calling all dog trainers / experienced dog owners! I adopted a one year old certified good boy last week. For starters, he has not even been in our home a week. In my opinion, he has been adjusting really well! The boy LOVES his crate! He has slept through the night every night since day one with no issues. But…I did discover early on that he will not tolerate being in the crate alone without me in the room and will start with the whining and barking. I have done a disgusting amount of internet research and have taken to some training tips / suggestions, but I was hoping for more guidance (and honestly some reassurance). He seems to only feel comfortable falling asleep in the crate in my presence. He will willingly go in, I will shut the door, and he will fall asleep on his own while I fold laundry, read, or doom scroll on my phone. I have practiced exiting and entering the room a lot to reassure him I am always coming back. In the beginning, I had given him a treat when I returned. Now, I do not really acknowledge him, I just pass through. I have gotten away with leaving him alone in the crate for almost an hour today without hearing a whine or bark. I think this is good sign? The last thing I want to do is push him too quickly and then end up having a real problem. Is this actual separation anxiety or is it part of the adjustment period for a rescue? I am aware of the 3-3-3 "rule" and while I respect it, I honestly do not believe this totally applies to him. He has never been timid, shy, or hid. He is rather friendly and loves to snuggle up on us. He is also really smart and has been picking up on routine that we have (attempt) to establish so far. Please! Any and all advice welcome! Thank you in advance for the replies!

My Cockapoo 2 years old has developed shadow/light chasing 6 months ago.

It’s only been 3 weeks since I really pushed hard to prevent him shadow/light chasing

• I put up blackout blinds as we have high sunlight in back of our house

• Anytime I see him starting to shadow/light chase I will clap my hands or “uh!” Command and move him along

• I will walk him morning for hour and afternoon for hour (play ball in park if weather permits)

• Hide treats in kong toys to play

• interact with him daily playing ball, doing tricks

He is showing improvements and feel I have 70-80% of my doggy back! But he still has that ‘urge’ to shadow/light chase even if there’s no light or shadow in the area!! It’s disheartening to see each time, I am probably over sensitive to it

He sometimes grabs a toy and lays down eyes darting left and right to things not there? So I will shoo him off but he will Godo elsewhere within seconds before I shoo again and he may be good or relocate

Worst days is the really sunny days Best days overcast

Night time coming slight problem from lights in house but only certain lights affect/trigger him??

Anyways

Any extra tips or suggestions to help train him out these habits?

I know a vet behaviorist is an option but medication along with what I am already doing?

So, he's not my dog, he's my grandmother's, but we see each other often. I've really bonded with this dog over the past year and a half-ish that she's had him, which is something I'm proud of because he was incredibly afraid of people when he was found (he'd been dumped on a country road). But now that he completely trusts me, he always chews on my hand. And I think it's in a sweet way, but he's a big boy with big teeth and sometimes it's too hard and he doesn't understand it can hurt. I've tried redirecting his attention to the many bones and chew toys he has available, and sometimes that works, but he usually ignores the toy I'm giving him and goes back for the hand. He does this ALL THE TIME, and I hate getting onto him, so I just kind of let him do it until it hurts and then I'll yank my hand away with a dramatic "OW!" and leave, to try to show him that too hard means no more. But he doesn't get it. He'll follow me and try to take my hand again. And he'll only really stop when someone with a more authoritative voice tells him too. He just seems to see me as a playmate rather than someone in charge.