Category: Top Dog

My parent bought a dog about 10 months ago now. It’s a Pomeranian I think and I would say this dog has been outside 5 times in that space. My other parent was angry and said that they won’t be looking after this dog as they didn’t consult with anyone else before buying it. If my siblings and I were asked we wouldn’t have wanted the dog either.

The main problem is that the dog goes to the toilet on a training mat that the parent changes whenever needed however they’re never home on weekends and it’s left for my siblings and I to do. The dog also pees on rugs occasionally. I asked for this dog to be trained to go outside but the excuse was that no one will want to walk the dog? We don’t want to clean up inside either so why even get the dog?

There is always wet paw prints in the house and we have to watch out for poop in the mornings. I feel bad for this dog but i can’t just let it roam in our garden and we have big dogs outside who will attack this one. I don’t know why it was even bought and it’s so frustrating. Any advice would help

Hey everyone,

Just need to vent a bit and maybe hear from others who’ve been through something similar. Our pup, is 10 months old now. We got him when he was 6 months, and he was already really fearful from the start — never aggressive, just scared of almost everything.

There were periods when things actually went really well — he met other dogs, played happily, walked together and seemed to be opening up.

But lately, things have gotten worse. Now, if he sees another dog from 20–30 meters away, he completely blows up — barking, whining, pulling, just losing control. It’s not an aggressive behaviour but it’s because he desperately wants to get close and play. Walks are stressful again, and it feels like one step forward and two steps back.

It’s also really hard in daily life — we can’t socialize with him, can’t have guests over, and he’s constantly on edge outside. I don’t even mind that it’s uncomfortable for us — what hurts most is seeing people judge us during walks because he’s whining and they probably think he’s being mistreated but he is just very vocal about his frustration. People have no idea how rough he had it in the shelter before he came to us.

I’m guessing we’ve hit the teenage phase and everything just intensified. A behavior therapist is coming soon, but right now I’m just feeling pretty down about it all.

Still, I really hope that with a consistent routine, patience, and helping him feel safe, he’ll eventually overcome this fearfulness. Deep down I know he’s a sweet, playful dog — he just needs time and the right support. Has anyone else been through this and seen their dog come out calmer and more confident in the end? I just want him to be happy and not anxious anymore. I could really use a bit of hope right ntow.

Hi all! November 13th my boyfriend and I were approved to pick up our dream puppy, being adopted from Romania (we live in France). The puppy is currently living in a foster family in Romania, so it already knows life inside a home. December 6-29 we had a trip booked to the United States to visit my family over the holiday season, but now we are considering moving it to December 16-29 instead. Either way, we would leave the puppy in the countryside with my boyfriend’s family for these days, it would be extremely well taken care of and rarely, if ever, left alone. It’s really unfortunate timing, but also we won’t not go to the states for Christmas. After we get back at the end of December, we won’t travel for at least another 7 months, so everything will be stable then. Moral of the story is, would it be the worst thing to have this instability in the beginning with our puppy, even if we are leaving her in trusted hands? If it’s going to be extremely detrimental we may cancel our adoption of this puppy. Let me know your thoughts 🙂

Urination issue. Background: Picked up a 5 month old mini American shepherd 3 nights ago that's vaguely a rescue (long story). She's very good about not eliminating in her crate (thank you to the previous rescuer), but has had a couple urination accidents, all within the first 24 hours. She has yet to poop outside. She's pooped in the house once a day since we picked her up. She had been using potty pads (heavy sigh, but there were reasons). We've been taking her out first thing, last thing, and before and after crate time. As of two nights ago, we got more educated and are following general potty training advice of taking her to a specified potty spot, giving her 5-10 minutes, and if she fails to pee or poop, back into the crate for 10-20 minutes, then back out to the potty spot, rinse and repeat.

Issue: We did this 4AM-11PM yesterday, as well as two 20-30 minute walks bookended by visits to the potty spot. She never crouched to pee. It's now been a full 24 hours since I FOR SURE saw her pee (it was a little panic tinkle by the crate as I was clipping on her leash yesterday morning, and she's very quickly becoming not afraid of the leash noise), but she has sniffed around intently, lied down in the grass for 5-20 seconds, then sprung up and started sniffing and trying to engage or head toward the door on some of the potty trips. Pretty sure that's her peeing. Since we aren't sure when she pees, we wind up staying the full 5 minutes minimum outside, and she occasionally gets bored and just sits and stares at us until it's time. She seems overall happy, comfortable, and energetic. She's eating, drinking etc. and seems fine. Doesn't seem to mind being in her crate as long as we're in the room despite how much time she's been spending in it, but I'm kinda not okay with it. We're taking her to the vet tomorrow for her first checkup in our care.

Questions: What the what? Has anyone seen a puppy lie down to pee? How the heck am I supposed to praise and reward her for peeing outside when I can't tell if she's peeing or just chilling?

Hi there! My corgi puppy is 7 months old. He's been very good about not pottying in the living room for the past month so I decided to try and introducing him to another part of the house, where he promptly peed.

My question is, how are you supposed to teach a puppy not to pee in other parts of the house if you've been confining them to one part of it? Is it a going back to basics sort of thing where I take him out hourly again? I've tried searching the subreddit but I haven't been able to find any concrete advice on the matter.

My puppy got his final vaccinations 2 days ago and we were told by the vet we could take him out in a week , just to stay away from canals etc for now , I’ve read online that you should wait 2 weeks to take them out after vaccinations and now I don’t know what to do , there’s a outdoor shopping centre near me that I was planning on taking him to in a few days but there is usually quite a few dogs there , if I take him and keep him away from the dog drinking stations and lampposts etc will I be okay to take him out ?

My mini goldendoodle is a few weeks away from being a year old and we are struggling now more than ever. He was so well behaved as a puppy but this teenage stage is almost unbearable.

The worst is the biting. If he’s not sleeping, he’s biting us. He will grab our clothes and yank on them and rip them. We have tried ignoring, we have tried telling him off, we have tried redirecting but he does not care about any toys other than our clothes. He also just ignores most of our commands now too. He runs off during walks (which he never used to do).

We walk him twice a day, both hour long walks, as well as mental stimulation on an evening. We also have a cat which he’s been fine with, but will recently chase her everywhere and now I’m worried he’s bothering her too.

Will neutering him help? Someone please tell me it gets easier than this!!