Category: Top Dog

I bought a well reviewed snuffle mat with lots of fabric loops but expected it to have pockets where I could hide the treats. I'm not seeing any pockets; is there a trick to using these? Without pockets, my puppy could send all the treats flying with one head shake.

I’ve only had her for 6 days so I’m completely understanding that she won’t get it within a week, however, once a month we visit family and stay for the weekend due to being 2 hours away.

We can’t stay there unless my puppy is toilet trained to go outside, and obviously we’d prefer her to go outside as well.

Currently she’s using puppy pads and we’ve gradually moved location of them. She’s now urinating right next to the back door which I think is a massive positive step, but she’s still pooping somewhere else away from the back door.

I take her outside after naps and playtime, as well as when I see her needing the toilet, but this girl just refuses to go.

Last time I took her out we were outside for 15 minutes. As soon as I got her back inside she went for a poop in the living room on her puppy pad.

I have 3 weeks before we’re going to stay at family’s so ideally she’s toilet trained within 3 weeks. Any suggestions would be great as I’m a first time dog owner!

Hi all! I have a 3 month old mini dachshund puppy, she is now fully vaccinated so ready to go outdoors. I live in an apartment and have pad trained her really well, she always goes on the pad without fail. Since yesterday she has been allowed in the outside world and I’m struggling to work out how to get her to pee outside! She currently is holding it in until she gets home to go on the pad and I can see she is holding it in and is uncomfortable. This morning I took her to the outside area of my building (there is grass etc) and waited over an hour and still nothing even though I could see she needed it. After this I took a pad outside and she eventually peed on it after about 20 minutes. Does anyone have any tips on letting her know it’s okay to pee outside? When she went on the pad outside I gave her a treat and positive reinforcement but it still hasn’t clicked for her. Any advice appreciated 😊

My pup is 8 months old and just this past week or so he has started whining constantly. This is new.

He’ll come into the room at 3 am, jump on the bed and just whine and whine. Every single night. Theres a dog door so I know he doesn’t need let out.

We get up for our day, I feed him, play with him, walk him and he is STILL whining.

There’s no signs that he’s in pain.

Is this just a phase? Is he feeling lonely? We have a 9 year old GSD but he doesn’t care to play or interact with the puppy, he just ignores him.

Hey so I just got a new puppy yesterday and although my partner and I are able to be with him most of the time, there is about a 2 hour time period later today where we will both be away from home. That being said are there any tips or tricks you have to making sure our puppy isn’t too loud in his crate? We live in an apartment so i’m worried about him making too much noise and disturbing our neighbors. Any advice helps!

Hi everyone, for context, I have an adorable 11 week old german shepherd mix. She knows some cues like sit, lay down, touch, shake, leave it, drop it, go to bed, give me kiss, etc. I have been trying to get her to learn heel and how to settle, but i seem to be getting nowhere.

Specifically with heel, i have watched countless videos where they have you take a step back with a food lure and flip your wrist to bring her in position and say yes, then reward. She can do that as long as i do the food lure but i feel like she isn't understanding why she's eventually getting the treat. I don't think it clicks for her that its because of how and where she is sitting in relation to me. I have tried doing that against the wall so she cant stray far but she will just walk in front of me and sit.

As for settle, I feel like she doesn't know how and I am at a loss for how to teach it. Sometimes she'll sit on her bed with her toy and we tried rewarding for that. But then she would forget the toy and sit with her ears perked waiting and anticipating the next treat. We started with small increments of time before rewarding, if she stayed on the bed. We slowly brought the time up between treats but then if it wasn't as fast as she would like, she would come jumping with her two front paws on the couch asking for attention or treats. She doesn't seem to be able to settle unless she has a long lasting food, like a bully stick or lick mat, and even then, its 85% of the time she'll stay with that but still a small 15% of the time she eventually gets bored and comes asking to be brought up.

We brought her on the couch and first time, after playing a bit, she fell asleep on me. Then the next two times, she won't settle at all on the couch without her bully stick. She won't relax and stop moving or even register that sleep is a possibility.

I get that she is a puppy and they have high energy and no regulation yet, as well as get overtired but she sleeps the recommended amount of time for a puppy – always somewhere between 18-20 hours and it is in her crate in the living room.

Please help with any pointers, it would be so appreciated!!

I’ve recently adopted a one year old terrier mix (seems like he’s part border terrier), and overall he’s been great. I’ve grown up around other family dogs, but this is my first dog as an adult.

I’ve had him for about 1.5 months. He isn’t really reactive and is great around people and other dogs.

Only thing is, it doesn’t seem like he knows how to rest on his own and is getting comfortable/restless to the point where he’s destroying hand towels, digging in the trash, and digging in house plants (which he didn’t do for the first 3 weeks).

In the morning, we go on a 20 min walk, have breakfast, then have about 30 mins of play time. My partner and I wfh 3 days during the week. On these days, he usually naps from 9-12 while we work, and we take him out during lunch and play with him for about an hour, but he’s usually really restless in the afternoons. Then when I get off in the evenings, we have dinner, do another walk, then play/train for another 2-3 hours before bed.

He hardly ever rests or naps unless we crate him during the day/until it’s around his bed time. If he falls asleep and you get up, he also gets up. His crate door is open at all times of the day yet he never goes in voluntarily.

As for potential solutions, we have started rotating lick mats, puzzle feeders, and pupsicles.

We’ve also started the protocol for relaxation (not to get him to stay on command but in the hopes that he’ll voluntarily chill a bit)

Apologies for the long post. My question is, how can I help him rest and get him to stop getting into things he isn’t supposed to? I feel like we’re giving him enough stimulation (correct me if I’m wrong).

Our next idea is to take him to day care on the two days we don’t work from home. He was previously in a foster home with other dogs, so he may be lonely, but do you have any other suggestions to help him rest and stop getting into things he isn’t supposed to?

Nothing serious, really just curious.

I booked my dog in for a spay appointment and they asked if she’s had puppies. I said yes over 2 years ago and they said it was an extra charge because she’s had puppies. So what I’m really asking is, is it normal for there to be an extra charge? This isn’t something I’ve heard about. I’ve tried searching on google but I haven’t gotten results that cure my curiosity.

“We are running a very small closed test of an animal-first app. Not a social network. We are looking for calm testers who understand observation over performance.”

https://accverse.app/contact.html

So, to help understand how this happened, it's worth mentioning I'm from the UK and in our neighbourhood the public pavements (walking paths) are right next to the front lawns and driveways of the houses.

So it's very normal to have dog-walkers passing by and their dogs having a sniff or two around the edges of peoples front lawns/driveways

However this morning (on my camera I saw this) a dog owner was casually walking his dog on a lead and watched him walk on to our lawn (a couple of feet in) and allow him to do his business. After watching him and letting him finish, he did go over and collect with his poop bag.

But my question(s) is:

• Is this bad etiquette on his part – to allow him to poop there in the first place?
• Or is it a case that, once a dog has decided where he's to poop, you cannot (or should not), disturb him from doing so. And therefore can only make a move once he's finished?

Personally I found it alarming/disrespectful. But I'm wondering whether that's just me not being aware that, in fact, it's very normal?

**EDIT – I forgot to mention on our public pathways there are grass verges and plants / trees where, normally, dog owners allow them to do their business