Category: Top Dog

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?

We’ve got a 10 week old Labrador puppy, she’s been with us 2 weeks now and toilet training was going really well up until now. As she’s gotten more confident all she wants to do is chase and pick things up in the garden and won’t always go to the toilet. I’ve tried taking her out on the lead but then all she does is attack and bite/pull the lead, I’ve tried distracting her from that by trying to trade it for a treat or toy but that rarely works. I’m working with her on the lead inside which is going slightly better but still not great. Twice today we’ve spent ages in the garden waiting for her to go to the toilet but she just want to pick up leaves and rocks, I’ve brought her in to then try take her out again but she’s just come in and peed straight away inside.

I just need some advice and I’m struggling so much with my stress and anxiety, I think she picks up on that as well. I know it’s probably puppy blues and I feel awful for thinking it but I really regret getting her, I knew it was going to be difficult but I had no way to predict I’d feel this way.

Sorry for the rant 😭

I have an 18 month old male (neutered) yorkie. He is an amazing puppy and has brought so much joy to our lives. We got him from not the best place, so when he came home he had severe anxiety.

His previous owner/breeder also never took him out so he peed and pooped in his crate. Anyway since when we got him (he was around 7 months), we've worked really hard to potty train him.

We currently take him out every two (or at the most three hours) to pee, reward him, and praise him. If we are unable to watch him, we keep him in his playpen. He doesn’t have accidents in his playpen because we keep it pretty packed with his bed, toys and chews.

But if he's left out, he will pee. We've had instances of him peeing within an hour of going out for a potty break. But there are also days when he won't pee at all for 6 hours at a time. He recently went to the vet for a checkup and is in great health.

I have had dogs before and I don't think it took more than a couple months to potty train any of them. I just don't know where we are going wrong with our yorkie.

Someone suggested belly bands and we tried them for a month. It worked great and he had zero accidents. But he has now started peeing in the belly band, so we've had to stop that as well.

Any advice is welcome.

I had a five month old cavapoo puppy whose doing super well with potty training – waiting by the door and clawing at the door when hes desperate. We havent had an accident in a week (yay!). Although I have one thought..

If we go out in the future and hes home alone will he want to hold it naturally or will he just go on the floor because no one is home?

I have had my 9 week old Border Collie for a few days now, and we are working on potty training. While he sometimes has pee accidents, he is pretty good about barking and grabbing his leash to let me know he wants to go out.

To keep the schedule and expectations consistent, I have been putting his leash on, taking him to the front yard, and watching him so I can make sure he goes + praise immediately.

However, I have a fully fenced backyard and ultimately want to show him that he can choose to go out by himself through a doggy door if he wants to go to the bathroom between walks.

When/how did you guys introduce this to your dog? I don't want to confuse him or accidentally make him incapable of holding it at all if needed, but I also don't want him to suffer needlessly and have to wait for hours when he can just go outside.

I'm thinking about working front desk at a doggy daycare. What is it like? I'm a bit on the shy side and I know this is a heavy customer service job. But im thinking the more i do it the easier it will get.