I know every puppy and breed are different but how much are you feeding them? I’m following what internet research says but my mom said it isn’t enough.

I have a Australian shepherd/retriever 17 week old and we’ve been feeding him 2/3 cup of blue buffalo (three times a day) plus many treats when he goes potty outside. I’m stressing that he isn’t eating enough and I’m a bad dog mom.

I knew adopting an Australian Shepherd puppy would be a lot of work, but it seems that I constantly fail her.

She’s currently 7 months old, but shortly after we got her at 4 months, she broke her leg. We took her to the vet as soon as we noticed her limping. The surgeon we brought her to instructed us to restrict activity, and our puppy fully recovered and has been completely fine.

However, after her recovery she has: 1. Grabbed a wad of fiberglass. We bulk fed her after this incident per vet direction and she has had 0 problems. 2. Grabbed gum? Rat poison? Ice melt? She was also fine and didn’t vomit. 3. Today, I noticed her front teeth were a little bit chipped. Not to the root thankfully, but I have been distraught ever since. She sees a vet in the morning.

With her teeth, I am so devastated because I have been brushing them nightly and exclusively given her VOHC approved chews and whatnot. I have never given her antlers, Nylabones, yak chews, or hard toys. However, I stupidly gave her the VOHC approved Purina Pro Plan dental chews, and that’s likely what caused the chips. I also idiotically freeze her lick mats with kibble and water, and the ice certainly doesn’t help.

I knew that this would be hard. However, despite my best efforts, it seems like I can never get it right. I’m lucky she’s happy, healthy, sociable, and active. I just feel like I constantly fail her, though.

Hi!

I adopted a 13 week old puppy and am having a hard time mentally adjusting to a new lifestyle. For context, I’m a single woman in her early 30s professional living in a one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. I have an active lifestyle and am out of the house a lot but also quite a lazy streak and love to be low energy in my home. He’s a sweet baby (when not over tired or understimulated!) doesn’t bark except when he wants attention, potty trained, 90% crate trained. but we recently visited my parents who have a backyard and more space for him to play around in. I’m seriously having thoughts on if I’m the right fit for him and if he deserves a better life. I got his DNA back and it just wasn’t what I was expecting and it’s every breed I didn’t feel like I could handle training or energy level wise.

38% American Pit Bull Terrier 21% Supermutt 16% Siberian Husky 10% Border Collie 9% Australian Cattle Dog 4% Rottweiler 3% German Shepard

i would like help to fin a noce little tracker like an airtag or a tile tracler etc i dont know what is the best so i am asking for help

Dog:

• female spitz mix (Pomeranian / German Spitz maybe some type of Spit idk )
• ~8 months old, ~4.8–5 kg
• with me for about 2 weeks
• noisy shared apartment (Berlin): old building, loud stairwell + doorbell, roommates coming/going, sometimes loud music

Her breeds were originally watchdogs, and I really want to minimize and control the barking, not completely erase it.

Current behaviour / issues

• Outside: very nervous and easily overwhelmed – startles at noises, tail tucks, sometimes freezes, often too stressed to take treats.
• Inside: full little watchdog around my room door:
  • barks when roommates walk in the hallway
  • barks when they open my room door or come into my room
  • also reacts to building doorbell and stairwell noises
• When over-tired/over-aroused she flips into “demon mode”: jumping, humping, grabbing hands/clothes, hard time settling.
• She still has her big puppy canine teeth plus the adult canines already in, so she’s extra mouthy. Hand biting is slowly improving with calm “no/gentle” and offering toys instead, but it’s still a thing.
• I’m not sure if she’s already in her puberty phase, but it kind of feels like it?

She’s only been here 2 weeks and is still adjusting, so I don’t want to overload her.

What I’m currently doing

• Trying to give her more sleep and decompression (darkened room, pink/brown noise, calm evenings).
• Very early crate work – she’ll go in a few minutes for treats, but doesn’t sleep there yet.
• Pheromone diffuser + gentle herbal calming supplements (no meds).
• Almost no “real” training yet, mainly:
  • Recall with her new name (I renamed her)
  • Rewarding calm behaviour around the flat

No proper “go to mat” work yet.

Right now, when someone walks by my door or comes in:

• she rushes to my room door and barks;
• I sometimes call her back to me with recall and/or say “thank you” to mark that I heard it;
• if she really keeps going and gets intense, I also say “no” and try to redirect her;
• sometimes I go to the door with her to show that everything is okay, but I’m not sure if that’s helping or just feeding the watchdog behaviour. Thankfully she calms down quite quickly but still can't let it go out of hand..

My questions

1. How to start with door/room barking for a watchdog-type spitz?
   • In a noisy shared flat, is it realistic to aim for “one or two barks, then quiet” with a cue like “thank you, that’s enough”?
   • How would you structure this so I’m not accidentally rewarding the whole barking routine (rushing the door, staring, etc.)?
   • Any step-by-step ideas for desensitising to hallway/door sounds and building an alternate behaviour (look at me, move away from door), without making her more anxious?
2. Clicker or no clicker (yet)?
   • I have a clicker but haven’t used it with her.
   • Would you start clicker training now for marking quiet/calm moments, or keep it super simple for a few more weeks?
3. How much training vs. just letting her settle?
   • She’s brand new to me, possibly in adolescence, and still figuring everything out.
   • Should I focus mainly on routine, sleep, gentle socialisation and just recall for now, and only later add structured barking/door work and other training?
   • Or is it better to start tiny, easy sessions already (like 3–5 reps a day), so we build good habits early?
4. When to bring in a trainer/behaviourist?
   • I’m considering a positive-reinforcement trainer, but I’m unsure about timing.
   • Is it better to wait until around January so she’s more settled, or can it be helpful to get someone in sooner as long as they focus on management, decompression, and small steps?

Thanks from me and my tiny fluffy guard dog. 🙈🧡

Hey everyone.

My 4 year old dachshund is a wonderful dog, great with people and not an issue at all… Until I have to crash at someone's place. The issue is the non-stop crying when I put her anywhere but in bed with me. I have no issue with her sleeping on my bed at home, but she also sleeps on a separate cushion on the other side of the room.

When I'm somewhere where she isn't allowed in the bed, she doesn't accept anything else. Not her beloved cushion, not a crate – nothing… I can understand that it's strange for her being in someone else's home – but I am nearby (in the same room still) and she still goes nuts. Resulting in sleepless nights for me and other people in the house.

I have tried supplements, general behavioral training – so, SO much. But it doesn't seem to do anything. I am contemplating getting her calming pills at a vet for the nights I have to stay somewhere else with her, but it's not ideal to me.

I'd love to hear any advice ya'll have.

Hello. I've never posted before so this is new to me. We have a 8 month old Doberman/Australian Shepherd mix named Bluey, adopted her when she was about 4 months old from a local rescue, so we've had her for 4 months now.

From day one she has been hyper attached to me, which has been problematic since my 5 year old son is also attached to me lol. Now the two of them can actually play together real nice at times and Bluey is great with him. However, at other times she becones what I can only describe as jealous and gets really nasty.

For example, if my son is cuddling next to me on the couch, Bluey will jump up and either try to squeeze herself in between us or attempt to bite him. Last night we were just sitting playing Mario Kart and she just ran at him jumping to bite him on the couch.

We're at a loss on what to do. I would've thought that by now after correcting her so many times she'd stop doing it. We are at the point of do we surrender her back to the rescue or keep trying. Any advice on this is appreciated.

Hello, we have a Chihuahua/French Bulldog mix puppy who is about 5 weeks old. I purchased him from someone, he was supposed to be 8 weeks old. I asked if he could stay with his mom until 10-12 weeks but she said she needed him gone that day and would give him to someone else if I didn’t take him. Upon arriving, I realized he was way younger than even 8 weeks. He looks to be about 5 based on teeth, behaviors and how well he walks (still stumbles, is shaky, etc.) I don’t regret getting him because he was the last puppy left of his litter and I know he would’ve gone to someone else, and I know I will give him the best care I can.

I bought him a snuggle pup and he likes it but prefers to sleep right on me. This is his second full day with us and I’ve basically held him at all times, I’m feeding him wet food every 3ish hours and he is eating well, and seems to be getting the hang of drinking out of the water bowl. I was giving him water in a bottle to make sure he was getting enough.

I worry about bite inhibition and behavior issues down the line. We have three other dogs but they are bigger. A 10 yr/m Jack Russel Terrier/Corgi mix, a 7 yr/m Chihuahua/poodle/terrier mix and a 2 yr/f Belgian malinois/black lab mix. They love him already, I haven’t felt comfortable letting him down to walk around yet as he hasn’t had shots and I only let them sniff and say hi to him while I’m holding him. He is still sleeping much of the day, doesn’t play, or bark. doesn’t really even whine. Sleeps through the night.

I want to make sure I’m doing the right thing by him when it comes to his behavior and socialization. Any tips or advice would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

ETA: I have a vet appt for him in the morning.

please be nice hi! i have a 12 week old mini poodle and i live in minnesota and he absolutely hates the cold we got a fresh patch to put on the balcony but he refuses to go outside because he’s cold s we’ve moved back inside, we’ve tried a sweater but he just hops right back in the house or sits on the patch and shivers any tips on getting him to go outside?

Does your dog turn his head when he hears an odd noise? Does your dog bury their food with your pants? This is the thread to ask why.

Please keep this thread to non-medical issues only.