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Hello, I have adopted an 8 week old maltipoo yesterday from someone that was selling her and I've noticed that she doesn't react to any noise not even the vacuum !! I've checked around and there's so many different answers, could she possibly be deaf? Or just overstimulated and confused?? The previous owner didn't mention this and I know I should've asked beforehand, but my husband made a vet appointment for this week, I don't care if she's deaf or not she will be loved the same as before. I just want to know if this is normal or has happened to anyone else with maltipoos!! Thank you.

We have a 14-week-old Swiss Shepherd that we’ve had for 3 weeks. He has a major fear of being confined. Crating at night is fine, but during the day, the second he’s in the crate and I leave the room, he screams like crazy. It feels like every time we try it, it’s getting worse. Last week, he could settle in under 5 minutes, but now it’s over 10, which seems way too long.

We do daily crate games, and he happily goes in on his own, but once he’s actually locked in, it’s a whole different story. The playpen is even worse, so we basically gave up on that.

In about a month, he’ll need to be left alone for around 2 hours in the mornings, and right now that feels impossible. Has anyone dealt with something similar and seen improvement? Any unconventional tips?

The tricky part is that he will only nap in the crate and won’t settle outside of it, so crating is absolutely necessary. He just needs to learn to be okay alone in there too.

Help!

Hoping others have experienced this.

We hit 10 weeks today and the past few days we have encountered a whole new beast. Our pup has always been a heavy biter. It's testing but we were managing it with regular enforced naps. Things have shifted into what seems like aggression? Is that possible at his age? The biting seems to be intentionally to hurt us and is accompanied by this awful sort of growling (?) / barking sound? He's sounds outright NASTY tbh. If he were an adult do i'd be frightened of him.

What's going on here? He's recently had a vet check and we mentioned it to check for pain but he didnt show any signs of pain at the vet and tbh it isnt triggered by touch. He doesnt it when we go to clip his lead on and he goes crazy doing it at our feet 😭 This is my first time experiencing the puppy blues with him and its because a) im scared im getting an aggressive dog and b) he's truly unlikeable when he does this.

Is this all part of the puppy phase? Does anyone else have a nasty little ferret on their hands?

ETA im really not sure i described the sound well. It's the sound they make when your playing tug with them? Not a growl really? It's an awful sound.

Hey all,
I could really use some outside perspective because my brain is fried and I honestly can’t tell anymore what’s normal vs what we might be messing up.

We adopted a Border Collie mix puppy about a month ago. Her age isn’t 100% clear (we were told 4–5 months), but we’re guessing she’s around 5 months now, since she still has her two upper baby teeth. She’s super smart, curious, and playful baby.

Shortly after coming home, she was diagnosed with Giardia and just finished her first 5 days of meds, so we’re still very much dealing with that.

Our vet initially advised us to sleep on the couch with her to help her feel safe while slowly building positive crate associations. Later, again on vet advice, we stopped letting her on the couch and moved her bed next to it, which actually worked pretty well. She mostly prefers sleeping on the floor anyway.

During the day, she goes in and out of the crate on her own and sometimes naps in it. At night though, it’s different. She can mostly sleep in the crate as long as we’re in the same room, but the moment we try to move back to the bedroom, things get hard. The vet suggested slowly increasing distance, but she gets really unsettled when we’re not nearby. Nights are inconsistent, and she often gets a weird energy boost late at night.

What were already doing:

Longer walks in the morning, shorter ones in the evening

Training and mental games during the day

Puzzle feeders/l icking mats

Trying to keep evenings low-key

Between the Giardia (lots of night potty breaks) and her still adjusting to a new home, I’m struggling to tell what’s normal and what we might be doing wrong.

Main questions:

• Are we pushing the crate too fast?
• How do you build a routine that actually helps a puppy rest?
• Should we pause crate-at-night expectations until she’s fully healthy?
• Or stick with structure even if it’s messy right now?
• And specifically for Border Collies: what helped you manage the herding instinct in a healthy way without overstimulating them?

Not expecting perfect sleep, just trying to set her up for success and not accidentally create anxiety.

Would really love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with crate training sensitive pups or Border Collies in general. Thank you so much!

Our rescue was fostered with other dogs before we got her, and she loved being chased by them. She's 2 years old, about 35lbs, mostly staffie, but with long legs, and she loves to run FAST. She loves saying hi to other dogs and people, but in the past six months or so, she's been really overreacting when other dogs play rough with her. I don't think these dogs are trying to hurt her, but when their teeth come out at all, she goes after them like she's defending her life. That happened today, and no one got hurt, but she really scared the other dog.

Does anyone here have experience getting their dog (and themselves) socialized to recognize play versus real aggression?

My mini aussie has always had a bit of anxiety and has always been a grazer but would eat on her own when she wanted. We drove from Dallas to Virginia (for the second time) last year and since then she refuses to eat unless I hold her bowl. The longest she went before I caved was 5 days without eating. I've tried different bowls, food, etc. Even actual meat and rice she won't eat without me.

The exception is ice cream cups and occasionally she'll eat from another dogs bowl. I have no idea what's causing this or how to fix it. Any help is appreciated

I have plans to go hiking in the beginning of march, and i’m considering bringing my dog. My corgi will be 14 months old by then. It’s 4 miles but it’s also quite steep, there are a lot of ledges, and it can be kind of busy. The hikes he’s been on were mild in comparison.

He is also not a fan of other dogs so Ill also have to manage that. But I think if all goes well he’d be a very happy and tired dog. Have anyone else had luck hiking with their dog in similar conditions?

My terrier is needing surgery on his face. He has lived his whole life chasing toys, playing hard, investigating the yard/city/beach etc.

That will need to be paused for a week while his eye heals and he wears a cone.

He is a terrible patient. Terrible. Not the kind of guy to let anyone handle him if he isn’t instigating it.

He is going to lose his favorite activities of fetch and sticking his head into bushes and his toy basket to rummage. This will last at least 5 days, depending on how things go w the surgery.

I am thinking of scent games I could set up in the house to help bridge this gap and would love suggestions. He’s 15 and he has seen a lot of the country but we’ve never done play with him that wasnt chase type so I’m not sure how that would work. Majority of his play is fetch/chase and super long walks in our area but I want to be able to give him something new and fun if he can’t do an activity that will readily bust his eye back open. (And can scent games work with a cone?)

I will definitely ask the clinic of course but wanted to come in with some ideas before the appointment next week.

Just want to make his weird quarantine engaging and seem less like a punishment for him.

I have not gotten a German shepherds yet but I would like a German Shepherd and I have a couple questions first of all I would like to trade my dog to respond to a whistle and then a command so first I blow the whistle and then I give the command the dog will not respond to the command unless I blow the whistle first second I would like the dog to come to me if I blow the whistle and have no command to give third I want the dog to be able to play fetch so how can I achieve these things and also how loyal are these German Shepherd dogs and how do I make them super loyal (disclaimer I am a cat person but I want a dog that can protect me and play with me and walk with me) is it possible to train the dog to do any of these things thank you

Hi! I'm currently looking for a mini dachshund, any dachshund breeder recommendations?