Category: Top Dog

How can I help my dog stop barking so much at night. She barks at any little movement. She likes to sleep outside so bringing her in is not an option.

I got my border collie/Boston terrier mix about two months ago now, and she truly is a sweetheart. But the more I get to know her, it’s becoming very apparent she’s a very anxious dog. Her head is always on a swivel.

For the first few weeks I had her sleeping in her kennel which I keep in my room. And she was totally okay with it and would enter her kennel willingly. We built trust and I decided to let her sleep with me in bed. It was great, no accidents, she’d sleep through the night, easy sleeping for the both of us.

Then at 6 in the morning one day I wake up to her in a frantic panic because my fire alarm conveniently died and started chirping. The poor dog was distraught and ever since she goes into a blinding panic whenever I bring her upstairs for bed time.

She’ll whine for hours if I let her. She’ll claw at the door. She’ll do anything in an attempt to break out of the room.

In an attempt to calm her down I brought her kennel upstairs, put it in my closet with a blanket over it, and she was still a frantic mess, clawing at her cage to escape. I gave up when my neighbors knocked on the wall at 3am, so I just put her downstairs in her kennel. I just don’t know what to do.

She’ll sleep the night away in her kennel (now in our living room), but that’s not a permanent solution. My roommate and I share an apartment and he’s communicated that he doesn’t want her sleeping in the living room. I understand, I don’t want him to feel responsible for her if I could to bed earlier than him or wake up later than him. But at the end of the day, I don’t want to force her into a space she’s terrified of.

I just feel like we’re going backwards. I’m frustrated with myself because I haven’t been the most patient with her — I’m just exhausted. I’m going through a break up and this dog is requiring so much from me, and I’m at a loss.

Any advice for a struggling dog owner would be appreciated

Looking for recommendations on a bed or pad my dog wont absolutely destroy out of spite. She’s a 50 lb lab shepherd mix that gets bored and look for a job to do when home alone so unfortunately I have to crate her. For her safety as well as my sanity and home. After 4 kennels destroyed, 1 couch arm chewed through the hole she made, and 3 curtains yanked through the slots scooting herself over to the window I went ahead and bought a Gunner for her as well as the ortho pad insert. It was not as tough as I thought and on day 1 was in a million pieces 🙃 I feel bad she’s on the hard plastic but she finds a way to shred anything I give her.

He really upset me today, he broke all the rules I've been trying to get him to understand plus he started baring his teeth at me when I stopped him from going through the bin. I'm genuinely upset I never hit or lay a hand on him for punishments so I don't understand why he'd do that? Is there any way for me to show him that I'm really upset with him?

Any tips for my 5 month old puppy overcoming fear/uncertainty towards children? We socialized him quite early (pre-16 weeks) to see children from all ages, but many of them were from afar. Some have definitely come in contact but it was often in a large mixer/crowd, and he never reacted poorly. It's only been recently that we realized he's never had 1-on-1 contact with a toddler/child…until we did, and he was incredibly fearful.

He barked, ran away, somewhat shaking. Today, he "borf'd" and did a low rumbly growl when a kid tried to come up to him. I don't think it's to the point where he would bite, but we are extremely concerned.

Unfortunately we don't really have many friends with kids, and since he never reacted during his 'socialization period', we never thought much of it.

I have taken him to playgrounds/elementary schools nearby to watch from afar – and no reaction. He's happy-go-lucky, as long as there is distance. It seems like it's ONLY WHEN there is a child 1-on-1… and given that we don't know anyone with kids, I'm not sure how to go about this?

I have a 4 hour ophthalmologist appointment next week, and I’m not sure how what to do with my pup. If all goes perfectly to plan, I’ll be gone 5 hours, but I live in Houston and traffic will probably mess everything up.

My pup will be almost 14 weeks old. She does well in the crate and has been sleeping consistently 6-7 hours in the night since we brought her home. I feel like she MIGHT be ok for 5 hours, but I worry that’s pushing it.

I’m not sure what the right thing is to do. I could ask my husband to stay home from work to help, but that’s not the best option.

Any ideas?

My puppy is six months old and still needs me to take him out to pee every two hours on the dot. If I don’t he’ll pee in the house. Also, every time I take him out he pees A LOT, even if he hasn’t drank that much water. For context, he is from a shelter so I don’t know his exact age. He can hold it through the night, but is it normal for him to need to pee that much during the day?