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So I just got an 8 week puppy and the breeder said she was getting the puppies on water and I'm having a little trouble getting her to drink water, so I've only been giving her milk for the last few days I've had her… What do I do

My 3 month puppy absolutely loves taking slippers, stealing them etc. I'm aware this is a normal dog behaviour but I'm curious W H Y slippers. What is so alluring about slippers? He dosen't like his toys we have a wide range of toys for him. Hard ones, squishy ones, plush ones, ones for teething etc. He'll play with them if I shake them or entice him but if he had the choice to pick, its a slipper.

I'm thinking maybe part of the reason is because slippers move (when on people) and theyre attracted to the fluffy moving objects.

But I just watched him run to another room and come back wielding a slipper, which means he voluntarily picked it while it's immobile. Actually now that I think of it his toys are scattered everywhere across the house so perhaps he can't access the ones he wants when he wants to. But I used to put a few different toys on his mat or his pen and he's not interested in them.

I mostly wanna know so I know what sort of toys to give him. He likes swinging them around, mostly. Considering buying him his own pair of slippers for him to play with. I just want to know why he (and puppies and dogs) love slippers.

we ended up with an unexpected new puppy when a family friend found an extremely malnourished 8wk old dog living in their backyard. we took her in bc we have two well behaved, active adult dogs she can socialize with and we also have enough space, money, and time to care for her. everyone gets along super well the only problem is the puppy bites. like a lot. my other dogs were adopted at 4mo old and this is the 1st dog we've ever had that was this young so i really dont know how normal or concerning this is. she bites at your feet and legs when u walk by her. she bites your face if she can reach it. she jumps and bites hands and arms and doesnt let go unless we open her mouth to release. its never aggressive as in no growling or hair standing- she's very excited when she bites people and gets super wiggly and happy. high pitched yelps when she bites does not work like it did when the other two were puppies. she understands "no" commands but ignores it when shes biting. if you try to separate yourself she chases you and keeps biting like its a game to her. our adult dogs do play with her by mouthing each other (no real biting or skin breaking) so maybe thats why she thinks its a playtime thing. truly the only way to free yourself from her biting is to be in a separate room or on a higher surface like a bed. shes 20wks now and over 20lbs so obviously shes doing more damage. she has broken our skin before which sucks a lot. we desperately need this problem under control and i fear we have let her get away with it for so long it may be really difficult to redirect her. it is absolutely our fault for not taking this behavior seriously for the first few weeks but if anyone has any advice on how i could correct the mistakes we made at the beginning or can direct me to any sources of information that could help, i would really appreciate it.

My labradoodle puppy is over 5 months old now. She is happy being left alone in her crate but not being left alone in a room. We would like to be able to let her have more space when we go out but she just seems to scratch at the door or whine which she doesn't do when crated. She is happy being left to do her own thing mostly but only when we are in the same room or when she's in her crate. The problem is that she doesn't really have fun in the crate, she will eat and sleep but doesn't have space to really enjoy her toys. So I'd like it if she could be out of the crate and play with her toys when we're out which should keep her more entertained and less bored. I'm really not worried about her destroying things or peeing everywhere, she seems to not be destructive.

Most of the time she isn't really left for more than a few hours but we'd like to be able to go out for a bit longer sometimes and know that she's not just bored in her crate when she wakes up from a nap.

I got my puppy at 6 weeks as a stray, and she had been practically fearless until this last week. She especially always loved people, to the point of being in a frenzy about it. She’s never been scared of noises. She never did love the car, but she could settle with treats and toys.

I know she’s going to change and evolve as she grows. But she is also my first dog and I’m trying to understand her. What’s changed is a state of panic she gets herself into that is truly alarming to me.

She’s become very anxious in the car (unable to be soothed), running for her life if she hears deep bass from other cars, and reluctant to leave go out the front door first thing. All that is kind of like – ok, I get it. This seems like normal developmental stuff I read about.

But she works herself up now into a state of panic when we’re just walking around the yard and we get to going really fast – she’ll start panting and losing her mind in a way I only saw early on before we had a nap schedule.

She still LOVES people, but now she seems to work herself up into a similar panic about every person she meets (panting, unable to handle the excitement). There’s times she is absolutely losing her mind when nothing seems to be happening and she’s only been up a short time (we’re still on a 1 hour awake, 2 hour nap schedule).

I’m wondering if the panic coinciding with these new, more traditional fear developments could all be part of the same phase. I’m really hoping so. We’re just not in the age range I’d read about for fear periods. I’m just learning as I go.

Hey everyone,

I need some advice.

I unexpectedly will be going back to the office five days a week soon, and I am already stressing about what to do with my dog during the day. She is a young Belgian Malinois, really smart and packed with energy. While I was working remote, we had a routine with training, walks, and play time throughout the day, and she is used to having me around a lot.

I will be gone for about eight hours, and I live in an apartment with no yard. I am worried she will get bored, anxious, or destructive being alone for that long.

Doggy daycare would be the obvious solution, but it is expensive where I live. It runs about $700 to $1,200 per month, which is roughly $32 to $60 per workday. That would eat away at a lot of my paycheck, and I am trying to find lower cost options that will still keep her safe, comfortable, and mentally stimulated.

Has anyone been through this?

• What actually worked when you had to leave a high-drive dog for work hours?
• Any affordable alternatives to daycare that you would recommend?

I really want to do right by her but I am feeling stuck. Thanks.

Hi everyone, I have a big short-haired dog (a Rhodesian Ridgeback) who stays in an indoor space at night, but the door is open so he can go outside to pee and poop when he needs to. The problem is that the floor is made of stone, and it gets really cold during the winter.

I’ve tried giving him blankets and rugs, but he ends up tearing them apart with his teeth. I really want to keep him warm and comfortable, but I’m not sure what type of bed, rug, or setup would work best for a dog like him — something warm but also durable and safe.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or found a good solution for a dog that destroys everything soft? Any advice or product suggestions would be super appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

For context: She’s 5 months old, a shetland sheepdog, crate trained and on the 1 hour awake 2 hour sleep schedule

I’m a stay at home wife so 90% of the time i’m at home (and if i’m not i’m with my husband) so all of my pups time awake is spent with me. Our schedule during the hour she’s awake looks like this: wake up, potty, go back inside play tug or whatever she’s in the mood for, training, play a little more, grooming if she needs it, and if there’s anything specific she needs to work on we do that as well, then the last 10-15 minutes she is in her play pen alone with a chew or her favorite toy, then back to sleep. Once a day we go on a walk and then during the afternoon we run around in the front yard or if the weather is too hot or too cold she gets puzzle games to do inside

Sometimes this deviates if I have stuff to do during the day and it does feel sort of exhausting to spend every hour constantly doing something with her. She has no separation anxiety and I can leave her and she will just play by herself but I feel guilty whenever i do that because i feel like she isn’t getting enough physical or mental exercise. How realistic is this and how much time should I really be interacting with her?

I know puppies should be left to be bored or play on their own but she’s just already good at that. If i need some time away she’s just fine to play in her playpen by herself or if i need to leave the room it’s no problem. I guess i’m just unsure of just how much time i should be spending directly with her playing or training or what not.

I brought him a 9 week old puppy last week, turned 10 weeks old today. He will not be fully vaccinated until end of December or early January. Some things are going great (he sleeps through the night in his crate from 9:30-6 or 7am!). Other things are hard, namely managing his energy inside.

We do enforced naps and loosely follow 1 hour up 2 hours down. Sometimes it’s more like 1 hour up 1 hour down or 1.5 hours up 1.75 hours down. But I still feel like he doesn’t have a good outlet and it’s really hard. My apartment is concrete floor so I don’t want him running around too much because it’s bad for his growing bones.

Games, training, and enrichment toys so far don’t do much. Lick mats he will just tear off the wall or floor and chew on them, bored within 1-4 minutes. Sniff mat with food he just flips or chews on the edges before getting bored within 5-10 minutes. Stuffed kong he doesn’t really understand, will lick it for a minute or two before getting bored. Training he enjoys but I can’t hold his attention for more than 2-3 minutes before he wants to chew the carpet or something. He also likes playing with me but 1) tug of war or a little fetch doesn’t wear him out 2) I work from home, so I can’t spend enough time playing with him during the week from 9-5. Sometimes he’ll get the zoomies and just run from one end of the apartment to the other, but 1) I worry about the joints 2) this is usually chaos because he’ll be grabbing things he shouldn’t or chewing on things along the way.

My trainer also recommended he primarily be leashed in the house to keep him from getting into things he shouldn’t/develop good habits and help potty training. Which does absolutely help but I feel terrible when he clearly has all this energy he needs to get out. I’m tired