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Just wanna make sure we're on the right path; we started giving our girl a little more freedom, and she has started signaling that she has to go out by barking. We're still in the progress of teaching her to ring bells to go out (she's a little scared of the bells so we're teaching her to touch the strap they came on with them removed first).

Sometimes she warns us by barking, and we confuse it with demand barking (which she does a lot of at this age) and that is 100% on us – if we know we haven't taken her out in a certain time period we should be listening better.

But not even 10 minutes ago she just had an accident where she barked to alert me, and starting running towards the back door, but halfway through the house she just peed on the floor (I was in the middle of getting up). It was in the back of my mind that I should take her as she got up to bark, so I guess both of us were just too slow.

Is this normal for this age? It seems like she's aware of it but maybe just couldn't hold it long enough to get to the door. I'm proud of her for alerting me, but I'm a little sad we don't have it quite down yet, after having her for almost 7 weeks. We clean the pee with enzyme cleaners (either Zep urine cleaner or Angry Orange pet odor remover) after every accident and also Swiffer regularly (and mop), so it's not that she's drawn to peeing in certain areas or anything- most of her accidents are literally on the way to the back door.

I need to leave the house 2x a day for 30 minutes and my 4 month old is just not having it. She hates the crate during the day. She will eat and nap in the crate for no more than a hour at a time. She does sleep 7 hours at night in the crate perfectly fine. I tried a playpen as well and out has the same effect. We have used calming chews inside a long type ball. Put all her favorite toys. Gone on long walks beforehand and after hand. I tried small increments of time but I also take care if my elderly mom so I have to be realistic. I need to leave at some point. Having someone at home all the time is impossible. My other dog loves her crate so I am at a loss why this one just hates being left. Please all help is appreciated. I am going nuts.

Its ruff raising a pup, but let's appreciate how our little four legged friends have grown.

My 6 month old decided she was not going to chase the cat when she saw her. And we placed on many beds at the petstore, with distractions, so I could pick one out for her.

7-month old Schnauzer girl has been in the car regularly (several days a week) since we brought her home at 8 weeks. Was fine for a long time – she'd sometimes stand up on the console or whatever to look outside, but usually would just settle in and lay down. Didn't seem to bother her at all.

Maybe 5 or 6 weeks ago, she started to act real nervous in the car. She won't lay all the way down, but sort of hunches over (head ducked down, but body is off the seat). Only thing I can think of is that I drove over a bump pretty hard around that time – there was road construction and I didn't see it. I think that alarmed her, but I'm surprised she's still nervous.

Naturally, sometimes we are going to unpleasant places (vet, grooming), but far more often, we're going to fun places like daycare (which she loves), Grandma's (who spoils her), or walks/parks etc. I've also tried treats in the car to give some positive association, but she doesn't seem any more comfortable. Most recently, she's started going to the very back of her crate when she knows it's time to go in the morning.

I feel bad that's she's nervous about the car, and I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?

We have a new puppy in the house (yay!) but she is our first puppy we are actually raising alone as adults. We want to do everything as right as we can. She is currently 10 weeks old , we have her on a consistent feeding schedule, eating schedule, we have gotten her tons of toys and are currently trying to redirect her biting (playful only) to them but any tips, tricks, or general suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance.

Got my puppy last night. He seems so perfect, I get surprised when he moves, he doesn’t seem real. He’s so funny, he follows me around, sits behind me and just stares at me. He loves a cuddle.

He did his first poop this morning, it was outside on the deck. The poop seemed kinda cute, and I wondered if it’s like real estate… “location, location, location”. For example pooping outside is great, pooping on my bed won’t be so great.

He’s peed on two blankets already. I didn’t find that cute. I took him out at midnight and he peed in the garden. Then when I woke up at 4am I figured that 4 hours was a long time for him to have not gone. He watched me walk around the house like a lunatic looking for my slippers. I finally found them and realised he just peed.

I slept on the couch with him, he’s a bit of a hog, hopefully we can sleep in the bed without him peeing on everything tonight. Or should I be trying to get him to sleep in his bed?

He hasn’t eaten anything since we got home from the breeder. Perhaps it’s just the shock of it all? The breeder gave me some changeover food, but he isn’t interested. I guess he’ll eat when he’s hungry.

Last night, I had 20 minutes until the supermarket closed, so I decided to get some chicken necks, placed him on his bed, and went out. I was gone maybe 10 minutes, when I got back he was sitting on the couch. I don’t know how he got up, the couch is twice his height.

For context, my family of 4 just adopted 2 Dalmatian puppies from the same litter born aug 31st. We’ve had many dogs before and our last two dogs were also Dalmatians. However, we’ve never gotten them so young and we weren’t exactly expecting walking away with two. That’s where the dilemma lies. We found out about sibling syndrome the night after picking them up and scrambled to get the girls separated and in different places with one dog living and being raised by my parents and the other with my sister, who lives in the same building as me. My sister had been talking about wanting a pet but has a very busy social life, a new relationship, and has a habit of entertaining ideas without fully thinking them through. She’s doing an amazing service to our family and the dogs stepping up to the plate of raising her but is rightfully feeling frustrated at the imposition a puppy places on her ability to hang out and have her own life. We’re trying to help out as much as we can but she’s refusing to cancel a majority of her plans till spring so that she can prioritize the dog and we don’t know how to explain properly to her the sacrifices one has to make to raise a puppy so young. What can me and my family do to help my sister while simultaneously making it clear that she too needs to get serious? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

My German shepherd Nova is in the Great Yarmouth Mercury Pet of the Year competition and would love if you would consider voting for her 🥰

Her photo reference number is 109 and Publication is Great Yarmouth Mercury 💕

https://newsquesteventsscotland.wufoo.com/forms/z1obikq04808t5/

I have a 7 month old mutt (maybe lab mix? maybe boxer mix? maybe pit mix? who knows). On the whole he's great; we love him to bits. I just get so frustrated with the nipping. Constantly. And we're doing everything we have been told – get a toy to redirect it, if we can't/that doesn't work, do the reverse time out. Doesn't seem to matter. You're sitting there and he wants to? Nipping. Walking down the stairs? Nipping.

We've been better about enforced naps recently, but it doesnt' seem to help. I just need some kind of reassurance about the landshark phase!