Category: Top Dog

I have a 6 month old lab x puppy that we adopted at just under 3 months old. His mom came into care pregnant and so he was born in foster care and then neutered and placed up for adoption. He has come a long way since first getting him (was easily aroused, mouthy, extremely confident and reactive). I’ve trained and worked with many dogs however he has definitely tested my ability. He has been in puppy classes / puppy socialization since we brought him home and has come a long way in his impulse control. I am aware he’s in his adolescence stage however this was an issue before but has now increased. He has very little ability to mange his frustration. When we are training and he becomes frustrated we reward a sit or down and calm behaviour. He’s desensitized to walking by dogs and is excellent at wait and leave it, sitting at doors and loose leash walking however he is still easily set off by frustration. A lot of the suggestions online are regarding impulse control which he is quite good at yet it doesn’t seem to be helping with his ability to manage his emotions/frustration. He is still going to training however I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions of additional things I can start working on to increase his capacity to manage excitement and allow him to learn to settle. He knows place and go to bed as well as kennel. An example of the behaviour is he sits at the door and waits to be released and we continue down the stairs to go outside – then out of nowhere he starts biting ankles and immediately escalates. Asking him to sit he will and I give treats and reward the calm – often waiting for 5 + mins but then the minute we attempt to move again he immediately escalates and jumps to bite arms. Another example is he loves to play and will read other dogs body language but is a bit delayed in his reading – we’ve been helping him by supervising and using high reward treats to pull him out give everybody a break and then let them play again. Often he can engage and disengage however there’s also times where he gets frustrated and escalates to where he is unable to calm down enough to play appropriately. I’m feeling lost as I’m having trouble figuring out why his ability to tolerate things change despite little to no change in the scenario and I’m looking to help him increase his ability to tolerate being frustrated. Thanks in advance

Sometimes I know my dog wants to play fetch but I just don’t have the energy to go get the toy if he doesn’t bring it back.

Is there any toy you know of that I can throw and get it back without moving?

Like a ball attached to a wire so you can pull it back if needed

We have a 5-month old Pembroke Corgi who has been with us for just over 2 months. We've been trying to train her recall, but she's pretty hit or miss. We've been using boiled chicken—should we stick to just that every time to help her remember it better?

And my other question is: what high-value treats would you recommend that can be cooked at home? Thank you very much! ☺️

Hello! My golden boy is just over 5 months old and he is amazing! He does well with everything expect the car, I’m using a car harness that buckles into my car seatbelt like I’ve done with all my other dogs (not goldens) but he is so rambunctious and excited when I drive he ends up trying to crawl into my lap and obviously this isn’t safe- the seatbelt gives him to much ability to move around. Does anyone have any better suggestions? I’ve looked on Amazon but I don’t see anything and he is growing fast (31+ lbs currently) I can’t really fit a crate in my car that’s big enough

My almost 6 month old pup and I have been working a lot on his separation anxiety (had him for 7 weeks). He's now pretty okay if I leave him in his play pen and go to another room to WFH, but he won't engage with anything in his pen (food/water/kongs/toys/safe chews) unless I'm in it with him, or sometimes if I'm right outside of it. I'm trying to help him learn alone time/independent time is good but since he doesn't engage with anything, it's hard going. He naps or lies there looking sad. He WILL play/chew outside of the pen so it's not the items he has access to.

If I'm in the house still he will settle down on his own now (sometimes immediately, sometimes it takes him 10 minutes or so) but if I have to leave he just barks the whole time. I'm trying to avoid him getting above threshold but it is unrealistic for me to never leave him alone ever and yes I have tried ALL of the things and we continue to work on them (rewarding calmness, Door is a Bore, kikopup's videos, leaving for a short time and returning, etc.). The fact that he is now okay with me being in another room is honestly huge progress, but how can I encourage him to use the things in his pen? I feel like that would really help him for when I have to actually leave.

Yep my Swiss shepherd is exactly like your dog. Not bothered by planes she can see taking off and landing but contrails generate panic, fear and running to find safety. Every 4 seconds all day long looks at the sky searching for contrails. I have no idea how to desensitise a dog with these as there is no way to replicate or know when the contrails will arise

We've got our Cavalier at 7 months. He initially slept through the night until about 7am, but keeps waking up earlier. This morning he started at 4.30am. He is crated trained.

We tried ignoring it, or a quick QUIET which makes him quiet for like 10 minutes. It starts with a little whining which turns into more whining and then some barking. It's not toilet either.

Also tried more exercise during the day. It's very frustrating and we're all very tired.

He sleeps in his crate in our bedroom.

I've read people having success with alarms, but not sure how that would work as he sleeps in our bedroom. We could look at putting him in a crate in another bedroom, but that could wake up the rest of the house.

Any other tips?

Hi everyone,

We have a 5 month old puppy that we are struggling to get to like going outside. We carried him outside for the first few weeks we had him because he was still learning how to walk down stairs. He would do his business outside just fine then dart back to the door to go in. He’s now comfortable with stairs (the inside stairs are now his personal agility course, ha ha), so I know it’s not that. We’ve tried treats and celebration when he is in the yard. We’ve also tried high reward treats just for outside, but there is no treat we’ve found that the reward is high enough. Won’t even go near the door on his own. Just wanted to see if anyone had any other advice.

Not sure if this is related, but could be. He was older than I’m used to when getting a puppy from a breeder (18 weeks) and I don’t think he actually went outside much while living there. They had a really nice deck built out to an artificial outside area.

Thanks in advance!

I have a 4 year old lab and a 3 year old golden, I know they’re young but they’re both prone to hip dysplasia + other joint issues which is why I’m looking specifically for orthopaedic beds

It doesn’t need to tick every box, but other features I’m looking for are: water/moisture resistant lining, machine washable cover, minimum of 4” thick, heat regulating (the golden is a fluffy boy who overheats easily)

Ideally the design would be a mattress or would only have 1 head rest (they like to sleep sprawled out)

I’ve seen the beds available on VetRelieve and Big Barker and whilst they look amazing the price is just a bit too high (Big Barker only ships from the US so it’s the shipping costs that push it over)

Thank you for any recommendations