Category: Top Dog

Briefly: adult collie is herding the puppy, over-correcting him, and often acting jealous. Puppy just wants to play – any advice on getting them to coexist with less growling would be great. He is already distracted away when he pesters to play – she isn't being left to deal with an excitable baby.

Puppy is a large sighthound cross – 17 weeks and 14kg, expecting him to be 40kg+. He is already the same size as the adults. Been with me less than a month. Adult dog is a mix of collie breeds, from farm lines – she's very much a working dog. We also have her sibling, he's not the slightest bothered by or interested in the puppy.

Collie is very bossy, very much the fun police (she will "fetch" her sibling, and stop him from doing anything she decides is naughty). Both adults get a lot of puppy-free time; they're not living together all week, and on top of that we make sure they get individual attention when they're in the same house. But she's an absolute cow to the puppy – she herds him into one spot and won't let him move, she growls and often over-corrects him for such cardinal sins as walking past her and existing when she comes for a fuss. She gets a time out when the over-correction starts – but we don't tell her off for a first correction.

Puppy asks her to play but is getting frustrated that his overtures are resulting in a telling off – but he is determined and despite getting removed and then distracted, he wants to be her bestie. The more she tells him off, the worse he wants her to love him. They both respond well to side-by-side training (he's just about gotten sit and lie down) or outside walks. But if anyone has ideas on how to get them both to be cool with the other, that'd be great.

I work from home and sometimes I have 1:1 meetings.

I was in an important meeting and I could hear my dog in the kitchen going through the trash. I couldn’t stop the call I just let it be and continue.

A few minutes later my dog comes, lays under my desk and 5 mins before the end of the meeting I start smelling gas.

Windows were open so I finish the meeting, check the kitchen and I saw that in his counter surfing he had reached the eggs pan I had just used and on the process he had turned on two burners.

I am going to find ways to avoid him to get into the burners but I just wanted to mention in case you have a food oriented dog and want to be careful with this. I have him for 12 years, THANK GOD, we are both alive…

Hi, I'm coming there for advice. Also, English is my second language so I'm sorry for mistakes.

I have almost 11 weeks old borzoi puppy, and I'm experiencing puppy blues and have a feeling that I don't know what to do with him.

I'm a masters student and I work part time, my partner works from home, so he is never truly alone at home. But he is fixated to me and when I leave, he starts to cry and sometimes pees himself, even when my partner is in the room with him. I know I should try to ignore him more, but I feel really guilty, if I don't pay attention to him.

Another problem is with his biting, he doesn't bite my partner that much, but when I'm with him, he bites me nonstop, I tried to stop walking or interacting with him, I tried to tell him to stop, I even gave him a little slap, but seams like nothing works.

He has trouble taking naps, when I'm in room with him, he wants to be doing something with me nonstop. But usually calms down when I leave him in one room and go to another.

He also bites my legs on walks, he is very good for like 5 minutes and then he starts to attack me and he won't stop. Even when I take him into my arms, he still bites.

I also don't know how to calm him down after meals, he gets a lick mat after every meal, but it lasts only like 10 minutes and then he starts to run around and bite.

On the good side he's really good at potty training, at night he wakes up only at 4am to pee and then goes straight to bed. He never pooped in home.

It's my first borzoi, and my first dog in general, we always had dogs at home, but they were family pets, so it was different. I'm so scared that I will mess it up somehow, so I'm just looking for some advice and reassurenc. I talked to his breeder and she told me, that it's normal puppy behaviour, and that I should try to ignore him more, so that he knows its normal, that I'm not around all the time.

Hi! I have a 12 week Spoo puppy and for the most part and aside from all the puppy things, she’s amazing.

My very last minute, not great planning dilemma: I have an appointment today that I scheduled it before I got her. It is self care but would also cost not a small # to cancel at this point. So I would like to still go and need to. The whole journey could take anywhere between 3.5-5 hrs depending on traffic and getting there.

She can be alone for up to about 3.5 hrs in the crate for sure. By rule of them, she should be able to do 4. It’s everything after 4 hrs I’m worried about.

My apartment isn’t big enough for a true play pen but she only has access, generally, to the kitchen and my desk area (the space is like a long English basement if that’s helpful) so my options are: 1. Take a chance with her in her crate and see how she does. My friend said she could come let her out but not until like into hour 4 so not ideal but she’s never soiled her crate before so maybe that means she won’t? But I’m really concerned about opening the door to her peeing in her crate and that being a new challenge for us. 2. Let her free roam. She’s never done this lol so it scares the shit out of me and I don’t have a camera to watch her yet. So it’ll be a let go and let god situation till I got home 😂 she would basically have free rein of the space she already has access to and her own crate. There’s only one thing I can’t move and am kinda worried about her getting into but otherwise, the worst that could happen is her going to the bathroom but we’re still having mostly poop accidents so it’s not the end of the world or the most major set back.

Any thoughts? She isn’t a destructive puppy but I also don’t let her get into much to be super destructive. So idk what she’ll do if left to her devices? Both cause me stress but #2 at least means she won’t go in her crate and only my house will be impacted. And she’ll have access to water then. But hours alone and free seems like too many new things imo? The crate is a gamble maybe but I’ll know she’s safe and she just has to cope with the time alone? (It’s like 11:30 to 3:30/4:30 basically if that’s helpful) please don’t judge me haha I’ve never had to think about how much time the distance adds to this 😭. Just looking for last minute thoughts if folks have them!

An