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Hi everyone!

We recently got a Maltipoo puppy. She’s been with us for about two weeks now and is currently 11 weeks old. Overall, she’s adapting really well. She knows where to go potty, can keep herself busy without constant intervention, and gets plenty of playtime, mental stimulation, and different toys. She also occasionally plays with our older dog..during those brief, precious moments when our older one doesn’t hate her and actively avoid her 😅

We follow a roughly 1 hour play / 2 hours sleep schedule during the say, and she’s actually great at it. She falls asleep pretty quickly during the day. At night, she sleeps through until 8–9am, usually waking only once to pee and then going straight back to sleep. So overall… things are good.

BUT.

Those 2–3 hours before bedtime are absolute chaos.

She turns into a complete monster. She terrorizes our older dog, barks nonstop for attention, and becomes insanely distracted from everything—her toys, chews, puzzles, anything that normally works. When it’s finally time to sleep, it can take an hour or more for her to settle. She’s clearly exhausted but fights sleep HARD: barking, crying, digging her bed, jumping up, pacing back and forth. Nothing calms her down.

We’ve tried:

-Ignoring her

-Petting her

-Sitting calmly with her

-Making sure she potties before bed

-Feeding closer to bedtime vs. a few hours before

-Playing before bed

-Not playing before bed

Honestly… everything. Once she finally falls asleep, she’s out until morning like an angel. But before that? A completely different dog. She doesn’t listen at all and seems wildly overstimulated.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips or tricks that helped? Or is this something she’ll eventually outgrow and if so… when?? 😭

We're picking up two puppies – brother and sister and I want to get them harnesses. I know they'll grow out of them quickly but don't know what to get. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm working with a force free trainer but I'm still struggling so looking far and wide for anything that might help.

Background:

• Puppy is very confident and friendly. He wants to jump on everyone and meet every dog, and becomes frustrated when he can't.
• ~15 weeks old and fully vaccinated.
• Doesn't tolerate being carried in my arms so I avoid it.
• Only one entry/exit point from my building that it is very busy with high foot traffic and a tram stop a few metres away
• Park about a 5 minute walk away but also high foot traffic with fair amount of off lead dogs

What happens:

• Tug of war with the lead
• Trying to jump on everyone
• Trying to run up to say hello to every dog
• Frustration mounting when he can't do what we wants
• Once we're in a quieter spot and he's not surrounded by so many things, he then begins a routine of biting at my pants legs and growling. He also does this once we're back in the interior of my apartment building.

What I've tried so far:

• "Look" + high value treat to distract
• "Find it" + throw treat on ground to distract
• Quickly leading him past busy area with treat trail
• "Sit and watch the world"
• Bringing a legal tug toy to use instead (tug just seems to work him up…)
• Driving him to a quieter area (this helps but I don't always have time for this)

This has all been pretty frustrating because he's intelligent and high energy. I know he needs to get out and explore. I can drive him to quieter areas but I don't always have time for this.

I will probably eventually relocate but for the time-being any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. 🙏

As per my vet’s advice, I am waiting until after my puppy’s first heat to spay her. She is ten months old and a small dog, so I have been told to expect it soon (if it hasn’t happened silently already — though I’m pretty vigilant about checking). She’s been acting strangely this week — sometimes sitting down and refusing to move on walks except when there’s another dog nearby, sometimes sniffing so intensely that she tries to run into the road to follow a scent (she’s normally a pretty light sniffer), not eating even when her food has exciting toppers — so I keep thinking she must be about to go into heat, but I’ve been checking regularly (the vet said to press a tissue against her vulva) and there’s still no sign of bleeding. Is it probable that the behaviour change is caused by going into heat? Or is there something else that could cause this shift?