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My boyfriend and I have had our puppy, Kuma, for a week now. (Kuma is an 11 week old toy poodle, and he is our first dog.) We introduced Kuma to the crate on his first night home, which is in our living room and is where we spend most of our time during the day.

Kuma has blankets and a snuggle puppy in his crate, and we play a white noise machine. During the day, we play crate games and do 5-10 minute sessions where we close the crate door and cover for a few seconds.

Kuma cries for a bit when we put him in at night, but he seems to settle and sleep on his own. We let him out for a potty break at 12 and 3/4 a.m. We haven’t had success having him sleep in the crate during the day, but he will lay down and play in there if someone stands in the playpen with him.

Yesterday, he seemed reluctant to go inside the crate for bedtime, though. My boyfriend put him inside at one point with some treats, locked the door, and covered the crate. Kuma cried a bit but then went to sleep.

We’re very afraid of building negative associations with the crate, which is why we don’t force him to nap in it. His reluctance to go into the crate yesterday has us questioning if we’re crate training right.

Any and all advice is welcome! We are first time puppy parents, so we’re honestly a bit lost on how long this whole process should take.

What do you guys do with the last inch or so of the stumps(probably not the right word but oh well) of collagen sticks? My puppy is just shy of 5 months old like 3 days shy, a shepherd/cattle dog/black mouth cur/who knows what else. A 6” collagen stick(in a holder) gives me about 1.5-2hrs of peace… I just don’t want to have to throw out the 1” of remaining stick if I don’t have to. Can you microwave them like bully sticks or yak chews to get a puffier treat?

Quick post for anyone looking for high value treats for training, I have tried a BUNCH of different cookies (store bought and homemade), bites, training nibs of all sorts and I have not found anything more VALUABLE to my pup than the freeze dried style treats. We currently have Salmon bites, Beef liver and Lamb liver freeze dried treats and my pup is losing her mind over them. I cut them into small pieces and they are so great for training. Another plus is they are typically SINGLE ingredient treats because they are literally pieces of meat. Just wanted to put this out there in case you haven't tried them yet!

hello!

next week i'm getting a 10 week old lagotto puppy. I'm asking for advice mainly regarding crate training and housebreaking, since that was something I never (fully) trained with my previous dog (poodle) and i don't want to make that mistake again.

I'm a college student that travels, I'll be away from home 4-5 days a week for 3 to 5 hours. I'll try to minimize any other outings while the puppy settles so I can train as much as possible.

I'm looking into crate training because quite frankly, i'd like to not have my house destroyed while away from home, i debated just leaving the puppy on my fenced porch during my outings, and i might do that sometimes, but i'll try to crate train because i've heard about the positives and how it accelerates potty training.

my main questions are:

how do I go about crate training? in a sense that is it okay to from the get-to start leaving the puppy in a crate for 4 hours daily during outings?

when can i start expecting the puppy to be able to sleep through the night?

when can i expect the puppy to be okay with being a travel buddy? (I have a beach house and I occasionally stay at my boyfriends house, i'm curious how long it took for you guys to start trusting your dog enough to bring them to other houses and stay overnight without accidents, as in start giving freedom)

I've never crated a dog so this is new to me, thank you!

We have a 12 week old Italian Greyhound puppy. She's in a playpen/crate at night in our room. She goes to bed REALLY well around 10:30, when we go lie down. She wakes up around 2:30 to go potty, and then she does NOT want to go back in her kennel. She'll lay with me on the couch and sleep for a few more hours – so clearly she's still tired. Any suggestions on how to get her to spend the whole night in her kennel (meaning we still take her out to potty, but then she goes back in the kennel)?

My 15 week old Chihuahua is a wonderful little pup. He was rehomed to me at 11 weeks old, and the breeders did a great job training him up until then.

He is doing great with toilet training, with very few mistakes and if there is a mistake it is always on a puppy pad inside. He sits on the puppy pad and stares at you when he wants to be taken out, or I ask "do you need the toilet?" and if he does, he jumps onto me in order to be taken out, its very sweet.

He routinely gets his naps throughout the day and plays nicely and is occupied easily. Very rarely are we bitten and it is always due to overtiredness if it does happen.

He always sleeps through the night, bar waking up once to independently toilet on a puppy pad. He sleeps in his own bed, but on my bed with me. Occasionally he sleeps in my arms which melts my heart.

What I am wondering: is the toilet situation in the night okay? Or will this be undoing the outdoor toilet training? And will him being carried outdoors to the toilet be an issue too? He currently doesnt have open access to the back door, so its just easier this way at the moment.

Thanks in advance

My little guy (almost 5 m/o standard poodle puppy) has a neurological condition that causes him to be blind and have some mobility/learning issues. He is doing great with potty training and house manners but has trouble learning other types of commands – he knows 'sit' but can't follow a lure so teaching down and the like is difficult. He has a hard time walking in a straight line so things like 'heel' are tricky as well.

I have been trying to find ways to engage his mind and burn some energy while he is awake. I usually give him a turkey tendon chew while I do some grooming and a peanut butter Toppl in his crate if I need to do things while he is awake, and I have been doing 'find it' with treats on the ground for him to sniff out and learn to use his nose. We have lots of toys that he likes to play with and my other dog will wrestle and do bitey face with him, and we usually take one to two short 'walks' (more like 'wanders' because of how he walks) but I am looking for any other ideas of activities or things I can try to teach him to engage his little brain!

My FIL has a litter of puppies (poodle mutts, 4 weeks old) and we are planning to take one once they reach 8 weeks. We visit at least once a week, so we have access to the puppy for a while before we take him home. My question is this- is there anything that we should focus on during our visits when it comes to behavior/training/bonding? Any stimulus or socialization that we can start on right away? People who didn’t have access to their pups before 8 weeks- what do you wish you’d been able to do with them sooner?

My parents and I have had our now 11 week old Goldendoodle for 2 weeks! She is super sweet and very smart. All has been well aside from a few accidents inside at the beginning which I know is normal when they’re adjusting. She knows sit and will do it without treats, walks down the stairs to the front door to signal going outside, and hasn’t been barking when I leave her for 2-2 1/2 hours in the crate during the day!

Main thing I am struggling with is nighttime in the crate. The first week she went in the crate around 11:30-12 ish, and we woke up at 6:30-7 ish no barking, we would just get up and let her out. This past week has been a bit different. She has barked around 3:30-4 a couple nights in a row to the point where my mom had to get up bc she wouldn’t stop. She let her out, then came back in and fell asleep for another hour or so.

I know puppy progress isn’t linear especially when there’s so many breeds out there, but I’m just kind of stuck and unsure what to do. Do I start letting her out in the middle of the night even though she has gone 2 weeks without it no accidents? If I start now will it throw off her routine? Any advice is appreciated! TIA

Hey everyone, I recently got my license and a car, so I’ve finally been able to start doing something I’ve always wanted, which is taking my dog up to the mountain for hikes. He’s a husky, almost 5 years old. He is trained in general, but he’s not really used to being around a lot of people or super open/busy environments like trails. Because of that, he gets really overstimulated out there. He pulls hard on the leash, barks a lot, and just seems super “on edge” or overly excited the whole time. I’m not sure if it’s just excitement, him trying to take control, or just typical husky stuff, but I’d really like to help him be calmer and more manageable so we can actually enjoy these outings together.
For those of you with experience (especially with huskies or high-energy dogs):

• How do you train a dog to stay calmer in new/open environments?
• Any tips for reducing pulling and barking in those situations?
• Is this something that just takes exposure over time, or should I be doing specific training beforehand?

I love the guy and I’m not expecting him to be perfect, I just want to make these trips less stressful for both of us. I appreciate any advice!
Thanks