My 9 month old puppy barked (overexcitement, wanting to say hi) for almost our entire hour class tonight.

The two kinds of treats that I brought did not keep her attention.

I couldn’t juggle handling her leash and trying to constantly feed her treats to keep her focused. The second I’m out of treats and reaching in my bag for more, she’s back to barking at the dog next to us.

When my instructor gave us cheese, she finally focused enough to do what I was asking.

She’s so good at home with no distractions. She knows so many things, but was way too distracted and overexcited today. Everyone says it’s part of class. My instructor said that my pup is super smart, and they’re usually the hardest.

Just still feeling so embarrassed and defeated and behind.

Hi all r/puppy101 😊

I’ve been reading a lot about early puppy routines lately and realized how unrealistic some “perfect schedule” advice sounds.

So I tried to sketch a realistic first-week routine based on common guidance (AKC, vet blogs, trainers) — but I’d love reality checks from people who’ve actually lived it.

Here’s what I’m seeing as a practical starting point:

Sleep & Naps zzZZ

• Puppies sleep a LOT — often 16–20 hours/day.
• Rough rule: 1 hour awake → 1–2 hour nap.

Does that rhythm actually hold up in real life?

Potty

• Immediately after: waking, eating, playing.
• Roughly every 1–2 hours at first (age dependent).
• Overnight breaks are normal in week 1.

Meals

• 3–4 meals per day
• Predictable meal timing → predictable potty timing.

Did consistent meal times make a noticeable difference for you?

Training (keep it tiny)

• 3–5 minute sessions
• 2–3 times a day
• Focus on name recognition, sit, recall foundations
• End before they disengage

From what I’m reading, week 1 seems less about productivity and more about:

• Building predictability
• Preventing overtired meltdowns
• Lowering expectations

Would you agree?

———————————————————————–

I’m not a trainer or vet — just trying to organize what’s out there into something realistic.

If you’ve been through the first week recently, curious to know:

• If you could go back to week 1, what would you set a repeating timer for? Every X hours for ___?

Hi all, we adopted a 3 month old Aussie about three months ago and we're having a hell of a time with potty training. We take him out at regular intervals, about every 45min- hour. He is TOTALLY ok at night and when we leave and he is in his crate. He's also mostly ok when we're home except, According to my husband, when he's around me. The worst part is, he doesn't crouch, cower, nothing…he walks and it dribbles out, so it's VERY hard to catch. I have no idea what to do. The vet we were seeing said to pen him for longer periods of time, but as a puppy (and an Australian shepherd at that) I just couldn't do it. She very much made it seem like this is a potty training issue, but the dribbling is what gets me. My husband seems to think he favors me (I take him out and do a lot of active running and playing, I'm the one that does the more intense training), but I don't really see it in terms of "favoring" me. I have no idea what to do and this is just getting to be out of control. Some additional info:

• he is not our first Aussie, we're very familiar with the breed, but he is our first puppy -he did come from a shelter. We're unsure of the circumstances exactly, but the shelter staff said it was a "landlord" issue, so my best guess is someone thought a fluffy, merle colored Aussie would be super cute but had no idea the actual commitment, or needed to get rid of him asap, or both
• He was neutered before we brought him home ( 3 months post op) -we have three children (his "sheep") ages 9 and 5 year old twins. He likes to herd them, but apparently the accidents don't happen around them
• the only peculiar medical issue he has is his right pupil will dilate randomly (maybe just when he's excited?) It's not all the time and I brought it up to the shelter and another vet. We've been assured it's nothing, but who knows

He's definitely more protective of me, but not in an aggressive way, more like he'll get between my husband and I if we're snuggling and he has zero tolerance for intimacy (crate training is not coming along fast enough 🙄). I just don't get it…when it happens we're not playing, I'm usually occupied or relaxing, but he's also not trying to play in those moments, he's just moving from place to place, so it doesn't feel like it's for attention. We still take him out almost every 45 minutes, trying to teach him the bell, but it also seems like he's not fully emptying his bladder (which might be another issue). We live in western NY so he gets TONS of play time out in the snow.

It should go without saying but just to make sure it's clear, I've never hurt him or screamed or anything like that. We also have a great family, my husband and I are best friends and rarely bicker, kids are kids but we don't do a lot of shouting in our house. He's a really happy, amazing dog, and there is no indication he's going to pee when he does – it's a lot sometimes but he pees as he walks so it gets everywhere. I'll take him outside as soon as I see it and he STILL goes. I'm not convinced there isn't a bladder issue but my husband swears he only does.this around me. Any help is very appreciated!!!

Hey!

My 9 month old golden has clearly started his jaw setting phase – se noticed once he started chewing on our trim (which he hadn’t done before so this is fun!)

He’s been panting and whining more than usual since we noticed the teething last week. Is this normal/has anyone experienced this?

Just wanted to know what your thoughts are! When he first went through teething his main priority was to chew us, so this new phase is new to us!

TIA!!!

Please share first night, and any other, tips!

I have a 14 week old male chocolate lab. I have had him for about 6 weeks. I’m super lost on potty training. I have a female chocolate lab from the same breeder and had no issues. The 14 week old constantly uses the restroom in his kennel. He is never in the kennel for more than 2 hours at a time. I’ve tried using a divider, he will lay in it. Tried feeding him in the kennel, taking him out every 15 minutes, Taking him out, waiting for him to go, bringing him in and not even 5 minutes later he will go again. He never goes in the house, only his kennel. I work from home so I am able to take him out non stop but this is getting super defeating & frustrating. I am cleaning with an Enzyme cleaner and following all instructions on the bottle. Any tips would be appreciated.

I recently moved from a high-rise apartment to a ground-floor place. When my puppy was younger, she was trained to use a grass patch on the balcony and would press a button to go outside. She basically had free access to potty on the grass patch when needed.

Now that we live downstairs, I can take her out properly for potty breaks. The issue is she has no consistent pee/poo routine. She goes at random time (press the button at night several times)

and I can’t find a clear pattern. Sometimes she presses the button just to go outside, does a tiny pee, and then just wanders around.

We also moved recently, so she’s still adjusting, and her appetite has been a bit off.

I’d like to transition her into a more structured routine (e.g. predictable morning poop, scheduled potty breaks instead of random button presses).

How do I shift from “free access grass patch” to a proper potty schedule without confusing her?

Any advice from people who’ve retrained routines after a move would be appreciated.