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I love this girl so much. I picked her up from the rescue back in October and she's 9.5 months old now. She's so sweet, she's trained well, cute as a button.

But my god do I regret getting her. I miss my alone time. I miss being able to relax. I miss not having to worry about her every minute of the day. I miss not having to plan every outing around her schedule. I miss my money. I miss my freedom.

I swear I wasn't fully unprepared for this. I've raised puppies and honestly she's been the easiest one I've had. She is so easy to train and is just the sweetest. But I'm alone this time and being the sole caregiver for a living thing is so much more pressure. I also had friends encouraging me to adopt that said they'd help out if needed, but they never do.

My job situation also changed unexpectedly since I got her too, so money is much more tight than I had anticipated and it looks like I might be traveling for work now. I don't know how I'm going to handle this.

I'm serious when I say she is a great dog. A little too much energy sometimes, but she's an almost 10 month old lab so that to be expected. I feel so bad because all of this frustration and resentment I feel toward her is not her fault at all. But I find myself crying all the time because I am so overwhelmed. I snap at her when she's just being a puppy and she doesn't deserve that.

When will all of this regret end? I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel like I did with my past pups. I just see unending stress and responsibility.

I have a 11.5 week old showline male German shepherd puppy and I was reading guides on socialization and it’s kind of stressing me out. The guide Dr. Ian Dunbar recommends three strangers enter my home every day and hang out with the puppy. I barely have 3 friends that would be willing to hang out with me in a location close to them. I’m starting to worry that I’m not able to socialize him correctly and want to know what others suggest and have done with limited friends. I have him people watching at parks but that’s pretty much it since he’s not fully vaccinated. I also take him to puppy play skills and puppy class each week but that’s only 2 hours/week. I don’t have family that live anywhere near either.

I have a 4 month old mini schnauzer who is driving me absolutely mental and I honestly feel like giving up and rehoming him. Every single walk he is pulling to the extreme, like my hands are seizing up by the end of it and he is way too overstimulated on walks so will not ever poop/pee on walks either.

I take him leashed into the backyard to go potty in the same spot but he is suddenly now to overstimulated and distracted and just sniffs/digs or chews leaves and sticks and does not go, then comes into the house and goes inside. When we go outside to potty he is on a short leash and I do not allow him to wander. He gets huge praise and treats every single time he does outside and it’s been this way since we got him at 8 weeks old. Before, he would go reliably outside, within a minute or two. Now, when he realizes he can’t wander and play he eventually just either sits down and stares at me or sits and listens to everything happening outside and will not go. He barks at absolutely everyone and everything as well. Losing my mind. Please give me your tips!

I have a 4 month old puppy. We have had her for a month now and I’m having the hardest time potty training. She doesn’t care about sleeping in the dirty crate and steps all over the pee/poop. She also doesn’t like going to the bathroom outside. She is from a shelter and is used to going to the bathroom in her space. She’s also a very nervous dog and doesn’t love people, except me and kinda my husband. She’s terrified of my 7 year old daughter but that’s a whole different issue.

We also have a pen connected to the crate and she prefers to pee on the floor in the same place (yes I use the enzyme cleaner) So now I started using pee pads. I swore I wasn’t going to use them but the cleaning up the pee/poop off the floor multiple times a day was draining me and now she’s learning to use the pads. I’m relieved but also worried it will turn into long term.

So how can I get her to go outside more? She’ll pee outside 50% of the time but she hates pooping outside and prefers to do it in private, overnight. I’ve tried taking her outside every 15 mins and back in but she holds it. One day I was watching her like a hawk inside and she got into the poop position so I took her right out and nothing and even stayed out for 45 mins and then she didn’t end up going until overnight so that was atleast 8 hours later. I’ve tried on the leash, off the leash, in the same location, long walks, short walks but she prefers to do it privately overnight on the floor or now pee pad. Should I keep using the pads for my own sanity and get her fully pad trained then work on transitioning to outside?

She’s from the shelter and is some type of lab and Jack Russell mix.

Hi I would like to hear some of your guys experience/advice. I got my own puppy, a 13 weeks female lab/pitt mix, who's about 15Ibs right now. My sister has an older (9yr) maltipoo mix female who expresses a dislike for the puppy. The reason they dont get along is because the puppy wants to play too rough for the little dog to handle. I dont allow play between them for this reason and while usually this isn't an issue because we live separately, there are times the older dog will come and stay with us since shes bonded with my mom. Our house is small so its hard to keep them separated the few days she is here. Any advice on how to manage better? I dont want the puppy to develop a dislike for the older dog down the line. The older dog has been tolerante of other dogs with time. Sorry for the long post Any advice or experience helps! Thank you!

My 12 week old puppy started demanding to go potty yesterday. last night, he went to potty at 3 am, and he peed. i kept it boring and not interactive and returned him to the crate. he started to bark, so I took him out again and he didn't do anything, returned to the crate and he settled back to sleep. i now know that letting him out that second time was a mistake and might have reinforced the behaviour.

it's now 4:30 am and he needed to potty at 4 am, he had a big pee. back to the crate, he barked again, so i took him out again – but be actually peed and pooped this time. back in the crate, i turned on some calming music for him and he barked and barked for about 5 minutes, and is now sleeping again.

i am just confused with this behaviour because it started yesterday – who's to say it'll repeat tomorrow, but i have a feeling it will. he was sleeping through the night beautifully for about 10 hours! is he going to learn to sleep through the night again? i kept the potty breaks very boring- no lights, no treats, no interactions. i'll put him on a leash next time too to prevent wandering. also, please let me know if i'm doing something wrong (other than letting him out a second time…i'll make sure to stay longer next time on a leash to make sure he did everything needed the first time!)

She was too warm 😭. after like 3 trips outside, water, even laying in front of the crate, I let her out and she laid down near the AC vent. so far since getting her it has been about 70F in the house but it was warm enough today that we had the house set to 72 on AC. she’s also very fluffy and due for a first groom.