Category: Top Dog

Our puppy is soon 8 months old and he recently developed a very barky behaviour. It is a pretty barky breed, and he has been somewhat barky his whole life, but it was to a manageable, acceptable level. Since about 2 weeks back, he has started having tantrums or something throughout the day, where he suddenly starts non-stop barking. This can last for upwards of 30min unless we give him something to chew on or a kong, and the barks are very loud and earpiercing. It is both annoying for us, but he does this all the time, including morning and night, which gets us stressed due to us living in an apartment and not wanting to disturb the neighbours too much. The barking can have a lot of reasons, sometimes its because we are cooking and he can smell food, sometimes its because he hears noises, and sometimes it is just for seemingly no reason.

Since this behaviour developed quite recently, we feel like it could be due to adolescence. Does anybody have any tips? It is hard to live with this constant, piercing bark going on all the time.

I am at my wits' end with potty training my 8-month-old cocker spaniel puppy (girl). I feel like my whole day revolves around thinking about her potty schedule and watching her like a hawk.

We have her on a very strict schedule and yet she still can't seem to hold it more than 3-4 hours, so we take her out to pee every 3-3.5 hours. Still, she keeps having accidents a few times a week and worst of all pees on our bed occasionally (literally right in front of us too!!!!). Almost all of the accidents happen in the evening before bed, so we take her out even more frequently and I've reduced her water intake before bed which has helped, but not completely. She can hold in 8-10 hours at night though no problem.

I have tried positive reinforcement, not cleaning up the accidents in front of her, I give her so much praise and several treats immediately each time she goes outside, but I still don't know why she's not grasping it. I always use an enzyme cleaner and wash the sheets/bedding at 40-60 Celsius.

I don't believe in crate training (yes I know it may be helpful but we already live in a small apartment), but have thought about trying a small puppy pen, I just don't want to invest in something that is only going to be necessary for a few months. Yes, I know we shouldn't allow her on the bed, and we're really working on that.

For info, we live in a small second-floor apartment in a big city, so that also might be having an impact on the process.

I have a dog that I’ve had for 3 years, I got him from a family that was giving him away. Ever since we got him, he just pees everywhere, we take him outside but he still pees inside, I’m not sure if his past owners trained him to pee outside. But there’s also a thing about him, when we got him, he was really scared of any adults that were in the same room as him, I’ve tried my best to accommodate him to the present of any adults but it doesn’t work,I’m at my wits end but I still to help him.

Which one do you guys recommend??? I just got a husky and her fur takes forever to dry after a shower 😩

Hi, My puppy has been eating adult food/pâté and treats but has been constipated could this be the issue ?

My 7 month old GR puppy died 5 weeks ago. She was staying at my sister's house for the day and unfortunately she ate something she shouldn't have and she sadly passed within hours. I'm so sad still even though it's been 5 weeks and I regret so much. When we first got Bella I did have puppy blues for a while especially the first 5 weeks. There were days where I wouldn't join my husband on walks as I just needed a break and I was sleep deprived and exhausted but now all I could think is why didn't I go with them? Little things like when Bella scratched the hardwood floors or the wooden coffee table, I did get annoyed with her, never punished of course but momentarily annoyed and now I wish I didn't get annoyed over a piece of furniture and I now look at those scratches and makes me miss her more. I cherish every scratch she made. I just regret so much, I hate that I even had puppy blues and wish I cherried every moment with her. I miss her so much and we both loved her so much. I do hold a bit of resentment towards my sister too as we were always so cautious and careful with Bella, sometimes too cautious, like extra worried parents! I actually didn't feel right about letting my sister look after Bella but I thought to myself we can't be too cautious and let others help. I've dealt with grief before but nobody really close to me. We had Bella at 2 months old and we always wanted a golden, I just feel so sad, feel lots of regret and I wish things were different, my thoughts are consumed by this. Anyone else gone through losing their pets so early?