Blog

we got our puppy at 8 weeks old at the end of 2025. we started crate training right away and he’s been really great about it. alerts when he needs to potty and sleeps in there until we wake up. recently at about 1:30am he’s barking nonstop and won’t let up unless one of us is sleeping on the couch and he’s sleeping out of the kennel in the room. this is a huge departure of our routine and my husband and i are not sure what is causing it.

some added context is that our bedroom is a level above where we keep the kennel and the bedroom is too small to have a kennel in it. we have a room adjacent to our bedroom that could fit the kennel, but we’re not sure if that would help the problem.

any advice on how to break him out of this habit while also getting some sleep? is this normal for dogs around his age (5 months)? he’s been so good up to this point.

Hi everyone,

we’ve had our puppy Emma for 8 days now (11 weeks old, ~8 kg) and could really use some advice.

Emma is a 25 Aussie/25 Berner /50 Goldie mix.

Main issue is rest/sleep. He has a really hard time settling during the day. He seems overtired, starts chewing everything (even walls), digging, and just won’t switch off. At the same time he only sleeps about 8–13 hours total, which feels way too little.

We’ve tried:

• keeping everything very calm (almost no walks, low stimulation) • just sitting/lying quietly ourselves • chew toys (sometimes help, but often just keep him busy) • crate/bed (he struggles to relax there) 

What kind of works is limiting him with a short house leash – then he eventually calms down and falls asleep. Without that he just keeps going.

What confuses us:

After 1.5–2h of sleep he’s super calm and perfect… but after just a few minutes of activity he flips back into that overtired chaos.

So now we’re wondering:

Is this just an overtired puppy phase? Or could he actually be under-stimulated? And is it okay to limit him like this to help him settle?

We also have cats, so there’s definitely extra stimulation at home.

Would love to hear if anyone went through something similar 🙏

So my dog Toto (beagle) is very chill and fun kinda dog. He's 1 year old and we have him from when he was a baby. He's a good company to be around UNTIL we reach the vet clinic😩Then it's an absolute downfall! He gets anxious and scared and I literally require 2 people to drag him from the door to the doctor!😭 I am his mom and I feel very bad but checkups are essential and inevitable. Any of u going or went through it, PLEASE GIVE ADVICE! I need it!!!

My family is preparing to bring a puppy home. I haven’t had a dog since I was a kid, and my mom mostly walked the dog.

So… this feels so dumb to ask, but where is it ok for a dog to pee/poop? I know to carry poop bags and clean up after the dog… But is it okay if it happens at the edge of someone’s yard? What about pee? Am I supposed to only let the dog go on the sidewalk?

I have a fully fenced in backyard, and we’ve made a smaller enclosed area for puppy. So I’m not worried about the dog not getting grass time. But should my goal be to train the dog to only go on sidewalks when we’re out?

My dog has been acting really weird lately. She not as acting her self the last few days. I’m not sure if she just getting old, or if it’s cuz I’m 33 week pregnant with our first child.

We still do our daily walks 2 times a day she doesn’t seem to struggle she also rolls around in the grass on the walk she normal.

She eats all her food no problem.

Me and my husband usually work Monday- Friday, but now I’m home all day cleaning and getting things ready for the baby. She never really howled when we would leave for work but now she does when I leave to the store.

Since I’m home I take her for a walk at 8am and to pee until 5:30 for her second walk and my husband usually takes her out around 8:30 before bed but she won’t move when he calls her she just looks sad and doesn’t wanna move, she started doing that with me today.

There are these toys she bring with her around the house, we try to play with her but she just cry’s and looks all sad and after trying to play with her she just takes it and lays down.

Idk if it’s the changes or if she getting older or if she just knows I’m pregnant or if me being home all the time is giving her separation anxiety cuz she always wants to be near me.

Ps I’ve had her since she was a puppy.

Any advice?🫤

Hi, every time my dog meets a dog out on a walk, he will happily go up to them, sniff them etc, but as soon as the dog goes to sniff him back he will starts running around, and what looks to be him trying to get away from the other dog. This is not him trying to play as that looks VERY different to this. He’s trying to back off and not let the other dog sniff him back. If the other dog disengages he will happily walk off with me and will often shake as we walk away, yet if the dog doesn’t leave, which unfortunately is the case most of the time, he will continue to do this running around thing until the other dog leaves. If I try to get him to come with me, sometimes he will but the seconds the dog tries to sniff him again he’s doing it all over again. I’m really unsure why this is happening, since on the odd occasion the dog he greets doesn’t want to sniff him/is un interested, he’s happy to interact and hang around them, even sometimes barking to try initiate play. So that’s confusing me. It’s very difficult to handle these situations as dog comes up to us a lot, so it’s hard when he’s constantly spinning around, tripping up etc. does he need more training? Does he need more dog interactions in more controlled settings? Or is this just how he is. Because I don’t see any other dogs doing this 🙁

I know there are a bunch of other threads about poop bags, but I haven't seen one specific to Canada, so, what are the best, THICK poop bags available in Canada? Note that I'm not interested in the thickness to prevent tears, I'm interested in the smell not getting on my hands during the time it takes to pick up the poop.

I've seen people recommend Earth Rated (tried, not thick enough).

I've seen people recommend double-bagging (tried, doesn't work reliably).

I've seen other brands recommended but they aren't available in Canada, or shipping to Canada is expensive.

I've seen one or two brands recommended that would probably work but are 50c/bag, which is too much for me (2 dogs).

The only bags I've tried that worked reliably are some of the ones from dispensers in parks. They're super thick. Not all dispenser bags are as thick though, and the thinner ones don't work as reliably.

The fewest bags I've seen on a roll for a small dispenser is 15. If someone made a roll of the same size but with only 10-12 bags, that would probably do the trick.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations for Papillon breeders in Europe who focus more on temperament, trainability, and dog sports (agility, obedience, etc.) rather than primarily on conformation.

What matters most to me:

• Stable temperament and good working drive
• Early socialization (noise exposure, different environments, etc.)
• Ethical breeding practices and home-raised dogs

I’m open to traveling anywhere in the EU for the right breeder.

If you know any breeders that fit what I’m looking for or have personal experience with one, I’d really appreciate your recommendations!

Thanks in advance 🙂

My 2 year old German Shepherd has worn his bottom canine teeth down so the tips are flat and no longer pointed. When his ball is not being thrown he holds his rubber chuckit ball with his front teeth and chews/mouths it non-stop. We've taken the ball away to avoid making anything worse but he's lost without a ball to play with.

Does anyone have any ball alternatives that may be made of some teeth safe material for a mouthing dog?

Hi all,

I’ve been working on my dog’s recall for quite a while now, but every time I think she has it down solid she’ll do a complete 180 and ignore me.

To preface, my dog is a 4YR Australian shepherd/border collie mix. She’s got a ton of energy, as you can imagine, but I wear her down a lot before I start training anything. We go to the dog park pretty much daily so I can run her.

She’s not very food motivated and more toy motivated, but if another owner brings in a toy for their dog she stays right on them until they either give it to her or I come over and grab her. She won’t listen to my cues at all and just acts like I’m not even there. I can’t even redirect her with her own toy because she wants whatever isn’t hers.

It’s kind of embarrassing and it feels like a setback with all of the recall training we’ve been doing. She’s always been distracted extremely easily, but we’ve slowly worked through it. Though, with her recall I’ve been feeling pretty defeated since it only works if certain conditions are met.

Any advice on how to go on from this point would be appreciated.