Category: Top Dog

Until about 2 weeks ago, our 7mo GSD could be left alone to wander the house while I worked from home. She'd sometimes nap on the couch, sometimes take toys up and down the stairs, sometimes just hang out in the loft outside my office.

Now? Now shes racing through the house at Mach 12, pulling blankets out of the box and dragging them all around, chasing the cats, dumping every toy shes got all over the house, finding anything she can and isn't supposed to chew on (she has chews), and all around being a menace. The worst part is, she knows she shouldnt be doing it. When I come downstairs, even without me seeing anything or the body language or tone to suggest im upset, she goes racing away from whatever it is she has that shes not supposed to!

For now im trying to keep her settled in my office with me, but she spends most of the time pacing, whining to be let out, getting into things around the room, and scratching at the door or headbutting the handle to be let out. She has toys, her chew, her water, and bed and gets treats when shes chill.

I cant trust her alone, I cant work with her in here, and I dont want to leave her alone in her crate all day. Do I just need to wait it out? Is this just teenage rebellion and something that will ease with time? Or is there some training I should be doing to stop this?

I should also mention, she gets 2-3 walks a day, and plenty of time to run around the backyard. Her meas are given in puzzles and snuffle mats, and we do daily training. She's got exercise and enrichment, so I dont think this is a boredom or too much energy thing.

I have a 9 month old cockapoo and I guess he's in the guarding phase of barking. He barks at nearly every single little noise. We've been working on the quiet command and he does pick it up good when someone has knocked the door and I say quiet he stops before I open the door. But when he just almost randomly starts barking at nothing he goes on, and on, we got told to ignore this type of barking.

I work from home and he isn't allowed in my office so it's almost like he's home alone but not as i only leave my office every so often and not in and out all day ( hoping this will help with him not developing anxiety sep & settle himself). He sits at the top of the stairs and looks out the window, if the neighbour is outside he barks, people walking by barks. I've sat with him and just watched people go by and he's fine if I'm there but when I'm not he barks, I will say he has got better and barks less, but still a lot

He absolutely HATES dogs barking at him on walks though. He only barks in his garden but not on walks at other people or dogs or anything( he more so pulls and wants to go over to them that's a whole other issues i'm working on slowly)

Is this something he will outgrow as time goes on along with learning the quiet demand. Or have we just got a barking dog? any other advice than just the quiet demand and ignoring the unwanted barking. We are also working on his exposure to more busy place, busier parks, seafront, taking him to pet friendly shops etc (we live in a small town and on the outskirts so it's really not a lot of foot track about outside out house so it's far and few between but once he barks he's going for a while)

This is my first dog as an adult and my childhood dog wasn't a barker but I don't remember him in the puppy phase, so maybe he was at the same age?

Which pet insurance is best for you? Are there any that may cover your dog's current treatment? Did your dog get injured during the waiting period and want to know if you're covered?

Here's the place to ask.

Do know we cannot help you here with medical concerns, and lying or not disclosing things to the insurance company is illegal so we don't allow that either.

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.

Dog is 3 years old and I thought house trained but has recently pooped in the house twice while alone for several hours. This hasn’t really been an issue in a long time but I also couldn’t point to any specific reason why it happened. Also no psychological stress or changes in environment I could point towards. The two instances were a few months apart but close enough to each other where I am starting to be afraid that it could become an issue. Would you already consider this enough reason to change habits and do additional house training or more of a wait and see situation?

I would like to say I appreciate all of the Feedback I’ve gotten from the last post and made drastic changes my puppy is now 7 weeeks going on to 8 and you guys have really helped in giving me the right information. So I was wondering if there’s any other info you guys have so I can help my puppy further.

Hi! This is a combined vent but ALSO a real request for community advice on this issue. We've adopted a 6 month old puppy from Greece 1.5 weeks ago. He is amazing in all ways: so cozy, great with other dogs, nice and polite to people , smart and fun. BUT he is terrified of noises outside, and just being outside in general really: he does his needs and then wants to run inside.

We have made some progress in the last week (mostly from walking with other dogs, then he gets a lot more confident) but that progress all sets back to 0 if we are outside and a big truck goes by/someone slams a door when he's nearby/a plane flies above – then it doesn't matter if another dog is there or not, he panics and just wants to run off. Literally anything that makes a loud noise will have our little guy completely panicked.

We live in a city so we are not able to control his environment everytime we go out, even though our street is fairly calm (but not entirely noise free still). And I feel like I'm traumatizing him even more every time we are outside and there's a loud noise, and that makes me feel terrible thinking we won't ever have a safe and happy dog outside.

He's lived in a great rescue during the first 6 months of his life, so he hasn't been traumatized by sound, so I think it mostly is that he's never experienced loud noises before.

I've read a lot of advice online and we are in contact with a dog trainer who will help us in the coming weeks, so I know some classic things to do – but still would like some input from this great community.

Does anyone have any experience with this or a similar issue? What did you do? And how long did it take to get a secure and confident dog outside?
I just hope that he won't be like this forever…I see so much potential in him becoming a secure and happy dog but right now I struggle a bit with hope on this front as I've read so many "horror" stories of dogs never being able to get over there noise fears.

Thanks in advance.