Category: Top Dog

I had been talking with my boyfriend about getting a puppy as we were ready to get a dog to train for our goats, however he surprised me with a when I came home, Awesome ! That was until I learned he had gotten a 6 week old Aussie puppy that a lady was selling in the Walmart parking lot, which is apparently a common thing here since we live in the middle of nowhere.

Now he has no clue about the ages of puppy’s and when they should be adopted home as all of his pets he found on the side of the road, etc.etc. And I’m honestly distraught, we can’t find this lady agian, and unfortunately in my state it isn’t illegal to sell puppies under 8 weeks of age. I do not agree with backyard breeders in the slightest and this is really taking a toll on my mood now.

I’m hoping we dont stunt her social growth by having taken her at such a young age, She has had her 6 week vaccinations thankfully, so we take her out with us in the buggy when we go shopping to pet friendly places (not touching the ground of course and no meeting other dogs yet). I’ve looked at a bunch of things online to try to research but I’m just stumped, any advice from people in similar situations?

(Edit: I am also adding that I have only ever adopted senior dogs from shelters before, while he has owned puppies before which is why I’m needing some advice guys)

How much is too much crate time for a 12 week old? My puppy unsurprisingly has tons of energy and is teething, so if I have to shower or run errands or get chores done around the house, I’ll put her in her crate for an hour or two maybe twice a day to force her to relax and take a nap, since she usually doesn’t know how to calm down herself 😅 is that a good amount of time? Is that too much? I don’t want her to be depressed or have separation anxiety, but I truly cannot take care of myself or clean my home if she’s running around trying to chew on everything in sight

(Unsure if I have the correct flair)

Does your puppy allow you to trim their nails? Mine had tried it at home a few times before I got her and it went okay the first times I did it here, until I accidentally cut to low ☹️ she has light nails so it’s easy to see where you can cut, but her nails are so tiny it’s hard to not trim too much (even though there’s a backstop to the scissor), and she’s not exactly sitting still. Of course after I cut her she won’t allow me to trim them really. I can handle her paws fine usually but not if I have the cutter. I have thought about buying a nail file for dogs instead, but I wanted to know if anyone had any tips?

I’ve tried lots of treats, licking mats etc, but she usually won’t allow me to go near her nails with it anymore (I don’t blame her). I got one nail cut the other day, no accident, but she still made a little noice. It’s not that they need constant trimming but she’s 14 weeks and I’m trying to get her used to all this stuff like brushing teeth, fur care and stuff. Anything I need to do later on.

Alternatively I have a vetplan at my vet so I can get a free nailtrim whenever I want, but it would be nice if I could just do it myself, I really love anything about the dog grooming process, she loves getting her fur brushed now, brushing teeth is still pretty much a chewing game lol

I’m completely at my wit’s end trying to get my 2.5-year-old dog fully housebroken. I feel like I’ve tried every possible method, but nothing seems to stick long-term. When my girlfriend first adopted him as a puppy, she trained him using a combination of training pads and outdoor potty breaks after work. That routine lasted for a few months. Once we moved in together, we switched to taking him outside three times a day, and he hasn’t used training pads in ~2 years.

Despite this, he still occasionally decides to pee on any of the area rugs in our home. We’ve cleaned them thoroughly with enzyme cleaners, but he’ll still return to them now and then. We’ve also tried crate training and actively still do every night, but the issue persists. At this point, I’m wondering if this is just something we’ll have to accept. Does anyone have any tips or suggestions?

I'm curious how different all-life-stage vs puppy vs adult food is to a dog that should transition to adult food.

My puppy is 14mo so I technically have a little time to transition.

But She's both a picky eater and a reluctant eater. She's already on the skinny side, so I'm curious as long as she stays skinny what's the downside of keeping her on the puppy food indefinitely?

Hey everyone. So I just got myself a new puppy, Shih Tzu Chihuahua mix, from a co-worker. I had dogs before but even then I don't really remember the bby yrs for then.

My new puppy follows me around alot. He's slowly starting to go outside into the grass to do his business, without me having to go into the grass. No accidents inside the house luckily. Hoping house training will be easy.

We're trying to teach him that its ok to be alone for a bit outside. He has a open crate with his toys and bed that he does go in. But once you go inside. He goes to the door and starts to whine and cry alot. 1st day it was a mix of crying and barking.

Its now the 4th day. He's gotten it down to a whine but still stays at the door and hits it sometimes with his legs. The other problem is he's learned to use stuff to climb on top of our washing machines. We just removed the stuff he uses as stepping stone to climb his was up. So now that should help so he doesn't get hurt.

He eats well but if I feed him and walk away to either do something else outside or to maybe go inside, he'll stop mid-bite and run to towards me and only if I happen to pass by his food bowl he'll quickly get another bite and run back to where I am. So read around bout what I can do bout that and basically, I feed him breakfast around 7-8am. If I walk away to do something and he stops eatting to follow me. I do give him a chance to finish his food but if he doesn't. I remove the food until it's lunch time (12pm-1pm) hoping that would teach him to finish his food and not leave it there all day.

Some might say to tire him out before leaving him outside for a bit, but I do. I spent 30mins to an hour running around outside with him, playing with him to the point he's panting, with breaks of course. But once I go inside or anyone in the house goes inside. The whining and hitting the door starts again.

I know new puppies can be hard at first and I'm hopping he'll grow out of it. It's only day 4 with him. Might be a little overwhelm with him right now. So taking a little break for some me time typing this up. Any advice can be helpful.

I use to own 3 Chihuahuas and 1 small terrormix, 1 passed at 13 and the other 3 passed at 16. Its been roughly 3yrs since my doggo passed and decide I was ready to give another dog the same love and care.

How to correct it because I get frustrated on such things , I am single and I've 2 dogs both are adopted indies and both are very cute and great but 2 times they did this in 4 months duration it's not acceptable behaviour.

What I am doing wrong to handle this ? I don't punish them for it but I get frustrated for like hour for it because I have to wash and dry do everything unnecessarily.

🐶 3 simple dog brain games that my dog LOVED!

I’ve been testing out some DIY mental enrichment games with my pup lately, and these three have been a total hit — kept him busy for like 20 minutes 😅

They’re super cheap (just paper bags, muffin tins, etc.) and great for rainy days.

I actually made a short free PDF with the 3 games and how to do them — if anyone wants it, I can drop the link!

What other easy enrichment games do your dogs enjoy?

I think I need to give some background context here. We have a puppy and she’s been with us for a week- 9weeks old. Adore her. We have been very consistent, very firm and loving as she will be a large breed. Everything feels like it’s clicking into place, she has great manners a sweet nature. We’ve been socialising cafes, vet, ducks livestock etc and we really are trying very hard to make sure she’s a good doggy citizen. Today we had an incident with a balloon. Totally avoidable in hindsight but just one of those freak things. She ran away round our dining table and it was trailing behind her. She even did a poo with the shock. It cannot have been more than 3 seconds in total. I’m so devastated I feel we have failed her. Will she be anxious going forward? Have we ruined our confident funny puppy? What should we do to build her confidence back up ?