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I am working on a project to gain insight from puppy parents about training, navigating finding a dog trainer and stories about what went well and what did not go well.

As a current puppy parent, the first trainer I hired sent me FIVE EMAILS worth of homework. For a 9 week old puppy!! I looked elsewhere real fast.

It made me curious about others journey while looking for a dog trainer and their experiences.

My puppy is 5 months old, when I first got her, the first thing I trained her is preventing separation anxiety. She did wonders, I was able to leave her home without any barking or crying. Since she finally has all of her shot, I started walking her outside which she enjoys very much. Now when I have to leave to go to work she would wait by the shoe rack and soon as the door is opened she would bolt or walk outside. Every time we put her back inside she would cry, bark, and growl for 10 or 20 min until she self settled. Not sure why she suddenly started acting like that. Would love some advice thank you.

Things are really starting to get better with my 8 month old medium poodle. Over the last month or so I have seen so much improvement and feel so proud of my little guy. As a first time puppy owner, it was pretty overwhelming at times (as we all know). The beginning portion of his teenage phase was especially difficult (around 6 months old). Now, I can say has really settled into life and is starting to mature.

Things that have improved

– independence and mild separation anxiety. Now he routinely plays outside by himself and can easily stay home alone for 4 hours.

– leash walking: still not great but it’s improving every week.

– basic training: we starting going to petsmart beginner training classes and they have been great! Not as robust as other training programs out there but it’s still given us the tools and practice we needed for everyday skills.

– playing with other dogs: we’ve prioritized getting him more exposure to trusted dogs. His play etiquette is so much better.

– energy is more stable/predictable

Things that still need improvement

– he still has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night around 1-2 times per week

– he still loves to play bite my hands

– he barks at people and dogs that walk close to the house

If you are feeling discouraged, know that it gets better.

He's 4 months and my wife texts me almost every day at work saying how stressed she is because of this dog. 20/10 separation anxiety, and the bark that comes with it is PIERCING. Worse than a baby screaming by a lot. He also bites everything, including us/our clothes. The only time he's calm is if he's on someone's lap. Now she wants to hire a trainer and I'm just thinking OMG, because we paid 3 grand for the puppy, then hundreds more for vet appts, then more for pet insurance, and all this for a dog she gets almost no joy from owning (she nearly begged me for this dog, too).

For context I'm fostering a 2 month old maltese puppy till he gets adopted. He had gotten adopted before but his owners had sent him back within a day, and since then he's been with me. So far its been 5 days and he is already pretty attached to me.

These past 5 days he's been clinging onto me, following me everywhere I go, falling asleep only when he knows im next to him, and he searches for me around the house when he cant see me. I'm aware that this is just what puppies do but I'm afraid he'll think I betrayed or abandoned him once he gets adopted since that is what has happened before.

My dad keeps reassuring me that he would probably forget about me in 2 days once he goes to his new home and I want to believe that so bad but it breaks my heart thinking that he would think I abandoned him like his previous owners.

I've been uncontrollably crying for 40 mins (had to pull myself together as I'm going to the vet). We've had our lovely westie puppy for 3 1/2 weeks, and we got him at 12 weeks.

We knew it was going to be hard. We knew we were going to get things wrong. We've looked at so much advice, and got loads of toys, chews, and other nice things for him. My freezer is full of frozen cloths, carrots, kongs). The trainers and groomer commented on how confident he was, and how smart.

But things aren't improving. They are getting worse. He doesn't sleep anywhere near enough – he got up today at 8.30am. It is now 6pm and he's had a total of maybe 3 hours of rest (not all sleeping). He can't self-regulate and settle. He's got such a low frustration tolerance threshold and is constantly over-stimulated. We can't sit with him when he is in his crate/pen because it doesn't soothe him – instead he just gets increasingly frustrated he can't be with us. This means we can't train him because he isn't in the right mindset. He does know some commands but we can barely practice them anymore.

People just recommend the same advice (a regular structure, enforce naps, use edible chews, Lickimats, snuffle mats, various toys, music, exercise in moderation etc.). We tried so many things and it is getting worse and worse. The standard advice does not work for a dog like this. Poor little guy.

We have reached out to a lady who specialises in frustration in dogs and this is really our last hope. Waiting to hear from her. Even then we aren't sure that we will be able to give him the time and energy he needs to feel better and have a good life, as we can't take more time off work (ETA- I can work from home, but still) We are having to accept that we might not be the right home for him and grieving the life we imagined. His crate has a little name tag and I cried at the thought of him not being in it anymore.

Yes part of how I am feeling is the puppy blues, but this is way beyond what we anticipated. What do I do?

I recently had someone watch over my 4 month old puppy. They asked for an extra $100 to cover damages such as chewed up cords, etc. I am a little shocked because my puppy has never destroyed stuff at my house because I always make sure to keep an eye on her and keep valuable things out of reach. If I am not able to supervise her, I will crate her until I’m able to. To be honest I am a little shocked by the dog sitters request and I am not sure how to even respond. I feel that it is unfair to ask for more money since they did agree to take care of a puppy who is still learning.

Any tips on how to choose future dog sitters??

Hi all ! I have a wonderful senior lab who is many things – and stinky is one of them. He loves his dog bed and spends most of his day snoozing, so it’s full of hair and oils. I’ve washed it in my machine previously but the next few loads of my clothes were covered in hair and had a bit of a funk. I’ve also gone to a laundromat which was great! But there’s a cost in time and money as well.

What do you do? Is there a trick to doing it at home? I’ve even thought about just buying a new bed every couple of months because it’s such a hassle to wash!

My dog was recently put on palliative treatment (prednidale/prednisolone). One of the side effects is extra thirst and urination. He frequently is urinating at night, which started at random spots in the house until I got a belly band for him, which he doesn't like having put on, but contains the urine.

I'm going through them once a day though. It feels inefficient and expensive to be putting a 40 degrees+ full cycle wash on for just one band each day. Equally, I don't want bacteria building up, even if they seem/smell clean after a quick wash cycle.

I'm curious to hear from anyone else who has used them, what has been your approach to this and keeping them clean?

Hi everyone! This is already my second post here, but nothing seems to help, so I have to ask for advice again.

The problem is that my puppy simply won’t do its business outside unless we literally stand in the yard for 8 hours. The puppy is 5 months old and can easily hold it for over 8 hours. Every time we come back inside after 8–10 hours, it immediately pees a huge puddle and poops right away. So clearly, the puppy is holding in its pee and poop.

The puppy might go outside once in the morning, but won’t do any of its other business outside during the day. It doesn’t seem scared when outside—it sniffs around and explores its surroundings curiously. We’ve also rewarded the puppy a lot immediately when it does go outside, and we’ve never punished it for accidents indoors, so I really don’t understand what else could help.

Is there any other solution besides standing outside for 8+ hours every day? We’ve tried both standing still and moving around, but neither really helps.

What should I do? I’m completely exhausted from having to stand outside for 10 hours every day. Please help me in anyway I can't wait 10 hours every day, I have work.

She is a sheltie 5 months old and I have had her since she was 2 months old.