Category: Top Dog

I haven’t had a puppy since I was in grade 4.

Now I’m a mom with a husband, toddler and a cat. I’m not sure why I expected this little 12 week old puppy to be calmer. I was told he was such a calm and sweet pup. So I wasn’t expecting velociraptor pup so soon. I’m home during the day and my toddler is in daycare – I thought potty training would go pretty smooth as long as I stayed vigilant on taking him out every 1/2hr.

Nope. He will sniff around outside and go potty maybe 40% of the time outside (I reward profusely) but I’m vigilant on watching him and still he sneaks off and goes inside when I let my guard down for even a millisecond. I’m terrified of bad habits forming so I get super stressed.

Then my son comes home from daycare and it’s just mayhem. Puppy nips at him and toddler runs away crying which causes chasing as im running after them yelling and losing my cool. I’m trying to teach toddler to stand his ground and teach the puppy “leave it” (which is actually going okay – but when he really wants something he won’t listen to the command) and then the puppy poops on the floor even though I’ve just had him out for 20 minutes after I fed him, trying to get into a routine with meals – it’s all just chaos from 5-8pm

Oh. I also have a cat that’s 1/2 outdoor and if the cat is outside when the puppy is, he’ll zoom back and forth taunting the puppy so the puppy won’t go. So I have to try and single handed throw the cat inside without my toddler opening the door to let him back out.

When does it get easier? I’m trying my hardest to just relax and not stress over every accident and be the calm in the chaos. Puppy really is extremely cute, it was meant to be in a way, and rehoming isn’t happening. I just gotta deal better I guess. I’m really, extremely overstimulated and stressed though. My husband did say the timing wasn’t great but I wanted the puppy lol. Now I feel awful for feeling how I feel when I wanted this. I had visions of us going on daily walks together, the park, I just envisioned it being a bit easier. It feels like 20% all too much right now. I haven’t cried but I’ve been close.

I wish I had a remote like in “click” just to fast forward this part lol.

My partner and I have an almost 6 month old borador, for the most part, she’s absolutely wonderful (excluding the natural puppy problems). My biggest concern is that recently she has decided that cars are super exciting and as soon as she hears any vehicle, she starts spinning around in circles and as the car approaches and gets close, she attempts to chase it.

Whilst I can handle it and resist the pull, my partner is already struggling. I’d like to eliminate the behaviour before she ends up getting herself hurt or worse

Does anybody that has had similar issues have any tips or advice for dealing with it?

Thanks!

my little puppers is almost 6 months old. I swear the first three weeks she was home were horrendous. she peed and pooped everywhere in the house. I about had it after the first month. she never understood when/where to go outside, so I resorted to pee pads.

she got it almost instantly. the pee pads were always in one place of the house, in front of the front door. also, we kept saying “go potty!” and gave lots and lots of treats. if she missed, we would catch her immediately and put her in her crate.

after two months of that, we took her outside & since she knew what the word potty meant, she started going consistently.

just sharing my different approach to any desperate puppy parents. it gets so much better!!!

My almost 6 month old puppy (got him at 4 months) is pretty chill in his play pen but becomes a typical puppy outside of it. I WFH and during the day have him in his play pen (crate for bedtime) which is also practice for when I eventually have to go into the office. I check on him a few times and we do potty breaks, etc. Mornings and evenings are pretty much all about bonding and training.

He has a bed, food and water, toys, safe items to chew on, and usually a frozen kong. When I leave the room he ignores everything and just lies there looking sad. This is still a huge improvement from when he couldn’t stand me being out of his sight, but is this okay? If I get inside the play pen with him he’s pleased to see me at first and then will finally go for his bully stick or kong and ignore me.

I’m trying to figure out the best way to give him time/privileges outside of the playpen too but he immediately starts trying to eat things he shouldn’t or jumping on furniture. Should I just not allow him out unless I can fully supervise to help correct/redirect? He’ll play with a toy or chew on a bully stick for a minute or so then for for my shoes or rug or generally need me to pay attention to him. I tried letting him out today while I made lunch but ended up putting him back because he wouldn’t stop going for things he shouldn’t.

I’m trying to work on him choosing independent activities that are appropriate but since he ignores everything while in his play pen (unless I’m in the room, sometimes) and then doesn’t usually make good choices outside of it it’s been tough to build on that. Is there anything else I can do, or is this something to continue on and with age/maturity he’ll probably get better?

I think being out of the play pen is obviously more exciting and I want to eventually trust him to roam but we’re not there yet!