Category: Top Dog

My mother lives with me and she got a puppy without consulting us. She’s been keeping her in her room and takes her out often. Unfortunately, she keeps her too long in the kennel sometimes and has poo inside. Mum now has confide on me that she doesn’t want to keep her but I don’t want to take her back to the kennels because they have already a huge problem in our area with dogs.

So can anyone please help me find a routine for her? She’s 17 weeks mixed dog. She’s very cute and I think a good routine would benefit her greatly. I think I’m going to have to be responsable now for this dog. I live in a Tiny house with three cats already. Maybe I could put the crate in our place. Husband is livid. We didn’t sign up for this. I need help on: How long should she be in a crate? How do you impose nap times? How long and how many times do you take her out to wee wees and poos? We live in a big land next to a somewhat busy road so I need to keep her leashed for now until she understand the danger. She only has been able to understand the command “sit”. We got her a week ago. Even pointing out to where to go from here would be so helpful.

Thank you in advance

Hi, I have an almost 6 month old Jack Russell beagle mix puppy, and crate training him has been very tough for me. I live with my brother and my sister-in-law who both work, and so do I. My sister-in-law works just downstairs, and my brother and I work farther away, so my sister-in-law tries to come upstairs and let him out during her shift if she can, but every time she does, he’s already pooped in his crate. I always make sure he either poops the night before, or in the morning before I leave, but it doesn’t seem to help. I used to feed him in the morning, and again when I got home, but I’ve now had to stop feeding him in the mornings. It worked for a few days, but he started pooping again, and I’m unsure what to do. I’ve tried making his crate smaller, but that didn’t work either. Is there anything I can do to stop this behavior? Or will I have to ride it out until he’s a little older?

Hey guys, we got a 2 month old sheltie about a week ago. First few days were kinda okay (still needed a lot of attention), but manageable. But last two days, he sometimes goes completely nuts, biting us uncontrollably, making angry noises, not even looking like it’s playful anymore. I’ve watched so many videos online about how to stop this, but I cant seem to properly execute it.

We live in an apartment and our vet told us not to take him outside yet, because there’s been a lot of parvovirus cases around here recently. He’s getting his second shot tomorrow (I already dread the visit to the vet), but that still means we’ll be stuck inside for a while.

I work from home so he’s getting a lot of my attention. I try to play with him, train him, use treats, but he just loses interest. Lately he doesn’t even want treats at all. He’s such a smart puppy, he learned sit and down really fast, but now he just ignores everything and goes straight to biting. Sometimes he lets me pet him but he never really shows affection, it’s just bite bite bite all day.

I even try to help him sleep, since I read this kind of behaviour can happen when puppies are overtired, but it doesn’t work at all. He just keeps going like crazy.

I try to take him out every day at least 3 times, just carrying him so he can see the world a bit. I can’t tell if he’s bored, but I’m really afraid he is. Shelties are such energetic dogs and I’m scared he’s just frustrated being stuck in the apartment.

Do you think it’ll get better once we can go outside? It’s been just a week and I already can’t imagine doing this for another month or more. I’ve been reading this subreddit a lot lately and I know many people go through similar stuff, but this feels like an absolute extreme I wasn’t ready for.

Basically the title. I play with a toy for a while with her and get her excited, and then throw it a short distance away, and then she runs, boops it, and runs back very excitedly. And then I can't give her anything!

Sometimes, she'll bring it back nicely and I'll praise and treat, and then play with the toy again with her, and throw it, and then she goes back to booping it and is confused when she doesn't get anything.

She's also generally better about grabbing the ball indoors rather than outdoors, for whatever reason.

She knows "drop it" and is pretty good about it.

She's also a Golden Retriever, so why is she not retrieving?!!

I also got my friend, and threw a ball, which he brought back to me and I handed him an orange or something that he ate, in front of my dog so I thought she would understand, and then did the same thing for her, and she just didn't give a care.

She even chases it when its not moving anymore and its very far away, so I don't think it's a matter of movement.

Some of the times she does bring it back, though, but mostly not.

TL;DR, Title.

Hi, I have a 1 year old GSD mix who's overstimulated every time he see us. We have him on our backyard, but we check on him multiple times during the day and let him roam free a bit inside the house.

I try to give him enrichment, exercise and actual training every day, but it doesn't seem to be enough because I'm having a hard time teaching him to settle. I can stay with him an entire hour in the backyard doing nothing, but he just moves around picking stuff to chew.

We have cameras and we can see that when he's alone he doesn't have problems settling, but every time some of us go outside it's like a never ending loop of chewing-resting 1 minute-grab something to chew and repeat.

Could it be that he's settling while he's chewing stuff? Imo he's still aroused, otherwise he would sleep just like he does while we aren't around.

Help me please, I really need some tips on training settle

(PD: he neither sleeps with us present)

I used to work a a doggy daycare a few years ago. And there was a dog that went there named Lucy and she was my best buddy. People thought she was my dog because of how attached she was to me. I loved her she help me with getting through the passing away of my own dog.

Anyways I ended up quitting to work in hospitality. I have missed Lucy so much. I want to get my own dog eventually, just can't afford to right now. I have lots of pictures of me and Lucy on my phone and I just miss her so much lol.

Yesterday I was at the mall and I saw a dog who looked exactly like her, I went up to the lady and asked if her dog was Lucy and it was! I told her how I used to work with Lucy and how much I missed her and how I quite literally thought about her everyday. She awkwardly asked if I was interested in dog sitting her. And of course I said yes. She said it probably wouldn't be for several months and I said it was no rush just whenever she needed it to let me know

I texted her my number and mentioning in the text that I would even do it for free because I really love the dog and sent a photo of me and Lucy. She didn't answer respond to the text or anything which is fine. But I worry if I came on too strong saying that " I thought of Lucy literally everyday" and then that I would dog sit for free .

I'm worried she thinks I'm crazy and gonna steal her dog lol. Do you think I'm okay or did I mess the whole thing up?

Tl;dr Did I freak out or offend a dog owner about missing her dog from when I worked at the doggy daycare 3 years ago by saying I think about her dog everyday and that I would dog sit for free if she needed it

I really wanted to like the Barney Dog bed that I ordered. Upon arrival I wasn’t ready for it since our living room (where it was destined) was under construction. So this past weekend I setup the bed and I had ordered the waterproof cover and one of the teddy bear covers. Which means totally disassembling the bed.

Upon removal of the mattress I was appalled to see what looks like water intrusion and black mold spots. (They want to assure me it’s not mold. i’m sure, test it then) Then the mattress itself will not fully puff back up. It’s got creases that won’t go away. On top of all that, the bolsters are flat. No rise on the long side ones and maybe 75% rise on the shorter ends.

Was this all worth nearly $700, NOPE! The mattress foam does not seem orthopedic in any way as well.

Upon reaching out to customer service things kept getting worse. In order for them to do ANYTHING about my issue I first have to take the bed to a shelter and donate it then show them the receipt. This assumes a lot, like that the shelter wants this used bed, like I want to drive 90 minutes to get to a shelter, and that this is what I signed up for considering the price. Nope.

Then they claim all my problems are known issues. The not puffing back up is because they packaged it too tightly and literally burst the bubbles in the foam. They claim the black wet spots aren’t mold but fabric dye. How exactly does enough moisture get into alllll these bags to the point where there’s 2+ Oz worth of water in there? yea no. They were kind enough to also point out that a few days after I purchased they put these all on final sale because they need to clear the inventory as they supposedly fixed their nonsense. Too little too late for me, I’ll find literally any other bed mfg and buy from them instead. What a joke.

We got a puppy a little over a week ago and he is honestly a sweet boy. However, I can’t tell if it’s just puppy blues or more. I’m having a serve reaction to him being at home. I have suffered pretty severely in the past with anxiety and depression but I’ve felt really good for years now. Now with a little puppy, I’m absolutely going through the trenches. I can’t sleep (not even because of him) my stomach is in absolute knots 24/7. I throw up if I eat. So I’ve lost 7lbs already. Constantly on edge and starting to get extremely depressed and not waiting to do things that brings me joy. I’ve consulted a doctor and have been put back on anxiety and depression medication but those take time to work. Now I’m just in a constant state of heightened anxiety and I don’t know what to do about it.

I don’t want to be with the puppy but being away from him and knowing I have to go back is killing me. I have a family who is doing a lot to help but I’m still absolutely exhausted and sick all the time.

Is this really puppy blues? Or did this puppy trigger my mental health issues?