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Hello everyone, I have a question about crate training. I’m planning on getting a puppy in a few months and I’ve already been doing a bunch of research and I keep seeing people talking about crate training. Overall, I understand why you should crate train your dog since it has multiple benefits like giving you free time to work or have the puppy in a controlled space when guests are over or just keeping the puppy safe when you cannot supervise him.

I’ve seen a lot of of people saying that you should start crate training your puppy overnight from day one. I honestly don’t really understand why though. And all those videos I never see anyone explaining the reason for it. I don’t have any exposed cables in my bedroom and have it closed overnight so there wouldn’t be anything he could damage. So why do so many doc trainers recommend having your puppy in the crate instead of having it sleep in the bed with you? Does it have any major benefits?

Thank you in advance 🙂

Hi! My 4mo puppy is sitting awkwardly, and uses both back legs while doing the steps outside. Should I be worried?

My 15 week old Havanese runs up to strangers like she wants to say hi, but when they engage (reach to pet, lean in) she darts away. Same with dogs: she shows interest, may approach, but if they engage she runs off especially big dogs. At puppy class she’s the only one not playing but she watches like she wants to. She is only 3kg so she’s tiny!

Took her to a park today. She was sniffing/exploring fine, then we sat and watched from a bench. After a while she started trembling/shaking so we went home. A huge dog came up earlier and I picked her up and held her facing over my shoulder + tried to act calm and stroked the dog. The owner and I had a chat.

Will she always be fearful? Am I reinforcing fear by picking her up? What’s the best plan to build confidence without overwhelming her?

Hello

I have recently began fostering a dog that’s been crated every single day all day for the last five years of her life. Which as you can imagine, has led to some problems.

Biggest problem, she chews the wires to the point she destroyed her teeth. A $3,000 surgery later, and her mouth is cleaned up and all she has remaining is one (very weak) canine and some back molars.

I have tried leaving her gated in the back room so she’s not restrained to the cage, however she has either managed to scale the gates with no problems, or rip the gates down (they’re pressure mounted), or go through the small cutout in the drywall (window height) that leads to the living room. The issue with this is that she pees and poops in the living room when we’re not home. Even if she’s let outside while we are at work midday (about 4 hours into us being gone). Definitely anxiety related.

Ideally, the end goal is to make it so she can spend her days while we’re at work out with the other two dogs, however that will not be able to happen until she stops peeing and pooping on the floor. She has 0 accidents while we’re home, and I know she can hold it for 8 hours because she holds it while in the crate and for about 8-10 hours at night in the bedroom, however she loses her mind and tries to chew on the crate for that 8 hours we’re at work. So far we’ve managed to reduce the crate chewing by putting a cone on her while in the crate, however she has managed to figure out how to get it off and I don’t want her to destroy her gums or the few remaining teeth.

Has anybody tried soft sided crates with a dog like this? I’m hesitant because I feel like she’d destroy it relatively easily even without many teeth. I’ve also looked at the rufflands but the door concerns me (getting her tooth stuck). I do not have the money for an impact, even though I’m sure that would be ideal.

I’ve thought about repurposing the spare bedroom for her, however that would require a lot of work (carpet and she loves to pee/poop on carpet specifically), and I’m not sure if that would cause more anxiety locking her in there during the day, even if she’s uncrated.

Which pet insurance is best for you? Are there any that may cover your dog's current treatment? Did your dog get injured during the waiting period and want to know if you're covered?

Here's the place to ask.

Do know we cannot help you here with medical concerns, and lying or not disclosing things to the insurance company is illegal so we don't allow that either.

Hello, our 8-month old golden retriever has suddenly started focusing on one random dog at each dog park we go to – he is not yet neutered, just turned 8 months, and will find a random dog at the park that he won’t leave alone. Any size, any breed, not sure of their sex. But he follows them around. He won’t leave them alone. Today he followed a little terrier on top of a picnic table multiple times, keeps trying to play, refuses to pay attention to anything else. It’s going to become a problem. What can I do?

What do dogs think about when they’re just sitting around?

As the title states, my puppy smells like fish when he comes in from outside… Why? He doesn't get into anything rotten or fishy (I accompany him to be sure). Tried giving him a bath, but as soon as he goes out and comes back in – fish! It lasts maybe 5-10 mins or so before the fish odor dissipates. My other dog smells fine.

Asking here because I couldn’t cross post from ask Reddit

My dog (6 year old lab/german shepherd mix) is suddenly scared of the food and water bowls he’s had for years. He does eat and drink from them, but he’s very apprehensive when approaching them, he acts a little jittery while eating or drinking, like he’s constantly ready to flee, and he sometimes gets startled by seemingly nothing when eating or drinking. This started a little over a week ago. Everything else is normal, I haven’t noticed any odd behaviour when he’s walking, playing, sleeping, anything really. It’s just the bowls he seems to be scared of. I’ve already put them in a different spot, his bowls used to be next to a trench convector which makes more noise during the cold days so maybe that scared him, but I can’t really think of anything else. He doesn’t wear a collar, so it’s not something clanking against the bowls that scares him. The bowls are reflective stainless steel, and I’ve read stories of dogs being scared of their own reflection in the bowl, but I don’t think it’s that either, because he’s had these bowls for years now. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this?