Category: Top Dog

We adopted a now 6-month old Pomeranian. We live in an apartment, so we've been training him to use a potty pad, and he's done very well with it. He also gets a daily walk where he will occasionally pee.

However, he recently started to mark pee around the apartment. It's clearly a different behavior because he will mark pee and then minutes later walk to the pad and squat and pee. It's in different spots throughout the apartment.

Why is this? And is there a way to train this behavior to stop?

i’m getting a puppy soon and i’ve been reading this subreddit and all the puppy blues stories are slightly traumatising! what are some things you love about having your puppy/dog to remind me exactly why it’s worth it!

Hey 👋 I just got a puppy and I was wondering if you guys can share some useful tips that you have learned. So far I have only had older dogs which were already trained so any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello, this has probably been asked 1 million times, I have a five month puppy we’re having a ton of trouble potty training her. She’ll go to the door and sit to go to the bathroom but when we take her out for 30+ minute walks, she does nothing until we bring her inside and she immediately pees/poops on the carpet. Curious, if anybody else has had this issue/solutions anything helps.

Hello. My husband I got our first dog, a springer spaniel, 6 days ago. She is 8, almost 9, weeks old and we are currently in the crate training trenches. We have a crate that is covered and a small space appropriate for her size. Whenever she falls asleep, we put her in the crate so that way she knows that is where she sleeps and is a safe place. She does great with this during the day when we are home. The problem we are having is night. She can’t seem to be away from us without crying, whining, absolute squalling. It sounds like she is getting mauled. I don’t think it’s separation anxiety? Or maybe it is? She can be outside by herself just fine (I keep a close eye on her when she is by herself). Anyways, the breeder told us to put her in her crate, covered in a back room and let her cry is out for probably 2 nights. Me and my husband tried it and she cried nonstop for over an hour before we went in there. I feel like this would cause more damage than help? Am I right in thinking that or does the breeder have a good idea. Me and my husband have been present with the dog since we got her but we will both have to leave for our job in 3 days. My MIL can check on her mid day but I feel like I’m running out of time to prepare my pup for that. Any advice PLEASE!

Hello! I need some advice. I recently got a super sweet bernedoodle, and she has been doing great in almost all aspects of training (potty, leash, crate, etc) but my bf works from home and has been doing so at my place because she cannot be left alone. Anytime she can’t see one of us, especially while crated she loses her mind. I don’t wfh and am hoping to be able to leave her home while I work and come home for my hour lunch, but anytime I try training / practicing with her she barks so loud you can hear it from outside my apt complex. I’ve tried the following training: – walk away for short bursts and coming back – rewarding her in the crate when she is quiet – keeping her occupied with a frozen kong or chewy

So I need advice, should I continue the training and hope it eventually works, hope that her barking will settle after a bit, or something else?

Thank you all!!

Hi all, my puppy is a 9 month old foxhound/aussie mix who is just starting to show signs of herding instincts. We adopted her in May when she was 10 weeks old and for the first 3 months we had the house all gated off and her on a leash at all times around the cats. (We have two cats) Our puppy currently free roams when we are supervising but the house is still gated off to certain rooms for the cats to go as they please.

Our 2 year old cat who is a very loving boy, instantly took to her and will come up and headbutt her, she no longer has interest in chasing him because he’s always hanging around in the same area.

Our 1 year old cat who is the queen of the house has been having a much more difficult time. The closest she will come to the puppy is if she can be 10 ft away and up high. She has learned she’s allowed to hiss and scratch the puppy if she gets too close, which is often when our cat is hiding under furniture and our puppy shoves her head under to see her. Our cat will approach her when she is sleeping to take a sniff but will always go back into hiding after.

I am starting to get worried that our puppy is viewing our cat as a toy she can’t have, or maybe even a prey thing. She’s started locking in on her and will try to chase her, they even do a stare down between the two of them when our cat is out of reach.

I’m starting to feel really bad for our cat as her life has shifted so much, when our puppy is in the crate our cats come out and have a great time but the one immediately goes back into hiding while our boy cat is unbothered. We’ve had our puppy for almost 7months now and I thought there would be more progress.

I have gone back to leashing her while our cat is in the same area and I always reward her for being calm around the cats but this just doesn’t seem to be improving.

Our cats were here first and I would hate to rehome our puppy because of that but I feel like I am trying everything to make it a safe space for all of them. I really thought after almost 7 months they would be fine.

Ugh sorry this was so long but thanks for reading. Any advice on this situation??

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.

Just need to rant a bit about a recent experience where I considered adopting a shepard-breed from a ranch rescue. First off, I believe they’re well-intentioned people. They just seem to have this ignorance when it comes to what it takes to have a dog in an urban area.

1 – They didn’t like that I don’t take dogs to the dog park.

Like, seriously?? Dog parks are probably the worst place to socialize and/or exercise a dog. The percentage of shitty dog owners at a dog park is much higher than the overall average because dog parks are a prime resource for lazy dog owners. When I said I bring my dogs to sniffspots, they had no idea what that was.

2 – They kinda freaked out when I asked if the dogs are muzzle and crate trained and insisted that type of training isn’t necessary for their dogs.

OMG…ensuring that a dog can tolerate being crated and muzzled doesn’t mean that they’re going to be locked away 23 hours a day. Muzzles and crates are safety and management tools that are sometimes needed. They become torture devices if you need to use them with a dog who has never been trained on them.

I also asked if the dogs were leash trained and they said not really because the dogs are used to just running around on the ranch.

Again…I think these are well-intentioned people but they don’t seem to realize that their dogs might be better set up for success if they learned about urban / suburban dog lifestyles and prepared their dogs to transition into them.

Worst of all, the kind of people that “match” their preferences—dog park goers who don’t train / manage their dogs—are awful dog owners (esp in a city or suburb).

Super aggravating.

I’m going to be traveling from Boston to San Diego (probably with a layover, so my dog can pee and stretch). I am moving for summer employment.

Last time I tried to fly with him, we were told that he was too big to be in the cabin. He’s 14 lbs, and fit in the carrier, but he couldn’t stand up and spin around without touching the sides of the crate.

Does anyone have advice for which airlines will be less strict about this?