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Hey guys so my husband and I adopted our second dog recently and he is a 4 month old shepherd mix. He has a neurologic condition and has a hard time standing and walking so every time he goes outside he gets super dirty. We have gentle puppy wipes that we use after every outing but he gets pretty dirty much faster than we’re used to. We would like to bathe him around once a week but I’m worried about drying his skin out and irritating it. Is that way too often even with the circumstances? If not, are there any recommendations for moisturizing shampoos/conditioners that would make it safer for frequent washing? We just have a standard oatmeal puppy shampoo at the moment. Any advice is appreciated 🙏🏻

I’ve got a 5 month old Labrador who is super social but for whatever reason she has gotten anxiety when walking. She’ll act like she wants to say hello to someone that’s about to walk by but once they stop to try and say hello, she gets nervous and will either let out a few barks or get behind me and go in between my legs. What’s weird is that she doesn’t act like this when I drop her off at her social she goes to once a week. She’ll end up greeting everyone there. Any suggestions to help her?

I'm 17M and my parents are giving me a dog for my birthday. The breed will be a dachshund, minature or standard (undecided) and around 12 weeks old. I've heard puppies need constant attention and surveillance which will be no problem since I do online schooling.

I have a few questions concerning how I should care for the dogs hygiene and well-being listed below:

1. Where should I put my puppy's play pen and should I have it sleep in a crate or an open space within the playpen?

2. Should I buy something like a heating pad for my puppy (winter in a few months) it can get around 5°C at night.

3. What age do I start brushing their teeth and what's a good australian dog toothpaste brand?

4. When do I start bathing my puppy and how often, warm water I'm guessing?

5. Should I visit the vet immediately after getting the puppy or wait a few days?

6. What can I do with my backyard to make it a safe space for my dog?

7. I've heard puppies can be pretty destructive how can I minimise the damage?

Thanks for reading and do not worry I'll be asking my vet a TON more questions I just wanted some general advice and info from puppy owners.

sorry I'm posting to this reddit a lot!! i have a 5m old chihuahua and he is a brilliant little boy. I live in an apartment and controversially I've actually been happy for him to go potty on a pad sometimes (only when i let him, i dont have it down all the time) and we've worked out a system that works for us. we've been doing a combination of outdoor and indoor, some days he is 100% outdoor potty and some days he has a mix depending on if our routine has changed (e.g. the below issue) and im working towards entirely outdoors but im not putting the pressure on massively, mainly because of the following issues. for nearly a full month we've had no accidents at all, he's always going on a pad or outdoors, so i consider it a half success for now

the problem is, i didnt realise until now how rough my area is that i live in. i take him on a minimum of 3 walks a day, and the 6am walk is usually fine, no one else is up yet round here other than other dog walkers

the lunchtime walk is hit and miss – a lot of people have reactive dogs around here that lunge at him and they insist on trying to "let them say hi" and i have to be firm and say im teaching him neutrality but they always say "what's that". i also seem to get the weirdos come up to him and try and pet him which he hates, and i have to step between them. safe to say, neutrality training is going awful because of this, despite colourful "DOG IN TRAINING" harness and leads. he's started pulling to smell people passing which is not what i want at all

the biggest problem as of recently is a new neighbour who lets their very big and very badly trained breed run around in the carpark/street, off lead. we were on a walk and the dog came right over and i was shouting for the owner. i picked my boy up in a panic which elevated the situation. the owner eventually came out and i asked several times if he was a friendly dog and he didnt reply, just was screaming for the dog to come back, so i assume not. he said the dog keeps breaking through the fences, but when i looked his gate was literally wide open and no holes in the fence so i think either the dog has worked out the latch or they arent vigilant at closing it. This dog is a major problem in our area and everyone who walks their dogs in the nearby green patch has been heard screaming for the neighbour at some point this week to come and get the dog, one lady walked it back holding the collar and informed the neighbour it had gotten out again but he didnt seem fussed, and one man was so angry as his dog was having her first season and this neighbours dog is unneutered. its incredibly irresponsible and has caused me a lot of anxiety now.

im scared, to be honest. its his favourite potty place and i feel like i just cant risk taking him there anymore. my plan is to take him the opposite direction, but what is the best way to handle the moments that the dog approaches? was picking him up wrong? im seeing the beginnings of some fear-based reactivity coming out in my boy and have booked in for some puppy classes to try and nip that in the bud, but walking him at night in the dark has become so fearful for me that tonight i put his pad out for him in fear of the dog being out there in the dark. am i being silly?

We have had our now 5 month old border collie puppy for almost 2 weeks. She is getting there with toilet training with today being the first day with no accidents inside!

I wanted to just check if people think this is normal (yes she will be going to the vets and has already had a check up last week)

Today for example she did 10 poops and 17 wees between 6 am and 10pm

She is fed on kibble with no wet food. We have cut out all treats and she gets kibble as treats as she’s super food oriented. She has 3 meals a day 8.30, 12 and 4.

Is this amount of toilets normal for her age/breed? All of her poops are solid and doesn’t struggle or appear to be in pain.

Yes, I know it's normal. Yes, I'm doing my best. But I just need to say it out loud.

Our pup has been with us for a month now. She's incredibly smart and trainable, which I'm grateful for. She does have some fear reactivity, not a fan of other dogs or strangers, so it's been a bit stressful, but we have a trainer and it's genuinely working. She's getting better every week.

Me, on the other hand? I'm falling apart.

The exhaustion isn't even really about the puppy. It's that I already had so much on my plate and completely underestimated what I was taking on. I'm a mom, so I'm sure I was this tired when my son was a baby a decade ago. I just apparently blocked that memory entirely. I have a very demanding job and I am pretty involved in my kid’s life.

I'm so burned out I can barely keep up with work and my other commitments. I'm nauseous constantly. I've lost 10 pounds in a month. What was I thinking?

One silver lining: my job has been amazing about it. I'm supposed to be in the office twice a week, and they're letting me stay home as long as I need while we work through her reactivity. I'm really lucky for that.

But still. I am running on empty in a way I haven't felt in a long time.

Just needed to get that out. Please tell me it gets better. 🐾

Hi everyone! I'm about to have a puppy for the first time. He is a Shihpoo, and he was born 1/13/26, so he's about 10 weeks old. I am beyond excited about this, but I am obviously a bit scared.

I am in a very lucky position right now as a graduate student, and the only time I will have to be away from him is from 7:30am to 11:30am Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Despite having all the rest of my days and nights free, I am terrified to leave him for 4 hours on those days in a crate. I've been reading and watching a ton about crate training, but I know that his bladder will probably not be able to make it for 4 hours, and I don't want him to have to sit in his accident for hours. Any and all advice is appreciated

My puppy is 10 months old, I’ve had her for two months. Unsure of her breed since she’s a rescue but assumed to be spaniel/JRT/lab

I’m sure it’s probably breed dependent but how much sleep should they be getting around this age?

Typically after 3 hours of being out of the crate, she starts to become a witch and I put her into the crate for nap time. I just want to hangout with her longer especially on work days when she’s by herself for a big portion of the day.

She probably sleeps for 16-18 hours in a day between crate while I work (she gets a walk mid-day) and sleeping through the night.

She did really well this past weekend, maybe only 4 hours of naps during the day.

As the title says, I got a new puppy that I am struggling to feel attached to.

For context, I am autistic and have difficulty with emotions yet a very strong connection with dogs. 3 years ago I lost my soul dog very suddenly and traumatically. He was a 12 year old Aussie and absolutely perfect in every way. Before he got cancer, I’d gotten another dog that helped bring the puppy back out of him but after he passed, my other dog developed behavioral issues and ended up attacking us years later and needed to be rehomed in January. He’s doing very well in his new home, for anyone concerned.

As for the new puppy, she’s great! I got her about a month ago. She’s sweet, loving, playful, hardly has any accidents, sleeps through the night, and is extremely cute and smart. She’s honestly the perfect puppy aside from some fear of strangers and chewing, though both are successfully being improved.

I know it will take time, but with my difficulties processing emotions combined with the two very different kinds of trauma I experienced with the other two, I worry it’s going to take a long time for me to adjust and I fear I won’t ever love her as strongly as she deserves.

The funny thing is, I struggled to connect with my soul dog for months after adopting him until one day something just switched in my mind and he became my entire world. I hope that happens with her, because she’s amazing and really deserves to be loved like that.

I’ve had this puppy since last Friday. He’s an H1B Cavapoo and will be turning 11 weeks tomorrow and while I love this dude, I can’t deal with this screaming anymore.

It’s been the same story since I got him and it hasn’t gotten any better. I’m trying to get him into using the crate but the problem is if he’s in the crate and I leave he turns absolutely irate and starts this mad screaming to the point where it looks like he’s going to hurt himself. And I don’t mean leave the house, I mean if he’s next to me in the room and he’s in the crate and I go to the bathroom he starts up. He’s been sleeping in bed with me at night but this is not the first time he’s slept in the crate before. I just took this video a few minutes ago as I’m laying in bed right next to him and he going crazy as if I’m not there.

https://streamable.com/lngswu

I’ve tried putting him into the playpen and he moves the fucking playpen! He’s 4 pounds! I tried to run to the supermarket on Wednesday and I set him in the playpen and set up my ipad with a pet security cam app so I can watch him and communicate with him and he moved the playpen to the point of knocking it over.

This is insane. How am I supposed to live my day to day life and go to work if he acts like this? I’ll be heading back to the office on Monday and my plan was to feed him and get him to potty, head out at 8:15 and leave work early and be back by 1:00-1:30. Since the playpen is pretty much useless and I can’t just put him in the crate for that long, what else can I do? I can’t be tethered to him 24/7.