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  • I need help with my Golden

    I adopted a 10 week old Golden Retriever just over 72 hours ago. She has not had any accidents, she sleeps through the night, and the only times she barks is when she wants to play or needs to poop and I didn’t notice her initial cues She’s come to work with me twice, and is very happy to either bite me or curl up and sleep under my desk. I verified with my boss prior to adopting, and she was fine with it Ultimately, I hope to train her as a service dog (yes I have a legitimate disability/reason, I have seizures), so long as she doesn’t wash out. Even if she does, at least I’ll have some help at home instead of everywhere

    A few problems –

    Crate training. We’re working on it, but I live in an apartment and can’t make my neighbors too mad. I’m hoping we can maybe work on it a bit at my parents house a few times this week, but am not sure if the training would actually be as effective outside of our home, if that makes sense?

    I CAN’T THINK OF A NAME FOR HER. This doesn’t really fall under the ‘puppy blues’ tag, but I can’t decide on a name for her, and I need help. I’m a bit limited by my seizures. As I’m coming out, I slur my words a lot, so I’m trying to find a name that starts with either a ‘J’ or a ‘Sh’ sound, something that’s already slurred a bit. It’s just not going very well

    This is the most food obsessed dog I have ever met. Which is great for training! But she tried to climb me like a jungle gym over a singular cold French fry. I’ve only had two actual meals since getting her. I don’t know how to get her to understand that she doesn’t get any human food. I’m not sure if the breeder/breeders kids gave her human food or not. But she barks and barks if she doesn’t get my food, and again – the living in an apartment issue. I’m assuming this is a ‘patience is key’ situation, but yikes

    I am exhausted. This is were the puppy blues tag comes in. It’s been 75 hours and 48 minutes since picking her up, and it’s been non stop ever since. Yes, she sleeps in the car and is completely fine, mostly curls up on the passenger seat for every drive. Yes, she sleeps a ton. Yes, I knew it would be hard. But yikes, I did not expect this level of exhaustion. I don’t know how to manage a baby/puppy along with everything else in my life. She comes to work with me, and I’ve carried her through the store a few times when I realized I needed something else for her – mostly long lasting bones for her and caffeine for me lol

    This is basically the same as most other posts on here, but I’m gonna ask anyways. Any advice? (I’d also really really appreciate name suggestions 😅)

    submitted by /u/Almost-a-Failure
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  • Advice Please: Every time my puppy poops he starts running?

    Just like the title says, I’ve got a 4 month old pup, potty training is going mostly alright but he does this strange thing where midway through pooping he often takes off running. This creates a messy situation where we have to search the yard for them and honestly I have no idea why he does this.

    We consistently praise and treat for going outside, loops are normal and regular. Anyone have advice on how to stop this or at least also have a sprinting pooper?

    I have tried holding his collar while he was going and he freaked out that he couldn’t run away.

    submitted by /u/Pink-Polar-Bear-
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  • Breeder food transition

    The breeder is feeding my Corgi puppies Purina puppy food for LARGE breeds. When I get the puppys, can I put them straight onto Purina puppy food for MEDIUM breeds? So essentially the same brand and everything, just modified for medium breeds, or do I still need to transition them from the large version to the medium version?

    submitted by /u/Fortunate_One111
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  • The Mellow Dog Toy- The Yellow Duck

    So I've been bombarded on both Instagram and TikTok with the Mellow Dog yellow duck toy. I have a new rescue puppy that is eating EVERYTHING!! But not only am I wondering if the toy is too good to be true, but also the cost of $99 retail with $59 on sale!?!

    No dog toy is worth that, is it? He's a lab mix and can tear through toys that aren't strong, but I'm seriously doubting the value of this toy. Does anyone have any experience with the miracle yellow duck? Any other options to consider that are hearty?

    submitted by /u/MysteriousLS
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  • Teenager101? – difficulty with loose leash walking

    Not sure if this is even the right place for this anymore but alas. My Bernese mountain dog is 10 months now, 85ish pounds. Potty training went great (besides a load of diarrhea issues but onto prescription kibble and we are good). Had some puppy issues but honestly never really experienced big puppy blues. I knew puppies were hard and a lot of work and was excited for him to grow up.

    He knows so much now, I can just speak and he knows mostly what I’m trying to explain to him. (If that makes any sense) leave it, let’s go, this way, basic commands all work mostly well.

    What I’m struggling with is loose leash walking. He’s a big guy, his breed was bred to pull carts. I’m struggling on walks to not be pulled into oblivion. I’d say 70% of walks since he was 3months have had food involved to learn heel and listening. Has that worked no. Our latest resort has been a (blank) lead to hopefully not get pulled over on walks. This has helped a bit but not completely and hard to keep the leash on the right spot on his neck. I guess my question is: am i just in a teenage stage? Is this going to be how it is for 1.5-2 years. We practice recall on a 30ft leash on weekends on 3-4 miles walks through the woods/hiking. We go on 2 walks a day, sometimes 30ft leash in a field with a ball. He has lick mats, a load of toys, carrots still. We did obedience training, puppy classes (now he likes dogs maybe a bit too much). Genuinely not sure what to try at this point. I’m a strong fan of positive reinforcement but at a certain point it’s my arm getting torn or a different solution. I don’t want to get judged but I’m struggling to find a solution. I likely will not resort to that but it’s been a thought.

    If anyone has any advice or just a (you’ll get through it eventually) that would be great!

    submitted by /u/Shifted-982
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  • Crate in bedroom or another room

    Doing everything I can with it. He cries when in it, fights when out into the crate. Do I just move the crate out of the bedroom and let him cry it out so he doesnt see me or my other dog?

    submitted by /u/Mental_Expert6493
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  • Should I take him out for a last potty?

    Our pup is 4.5 months. He’s slept through the night basically since we got him at 9 weeks (woke up a few times the first week). Currently, he crashes around 7 or 8pm and then we take him out to go to the bathroom at 9pm when we head upstairs, and then put him in the crate.

    He hates that last potty. He’s deep asleep and generally just lays down a few times outside until I finally get him to pee.

    My question is, is a last pee at 7ish too early for the night? He wakes for the morning around 630 when we wake for work. I’m scared to skip that last pee but hate waking him when he’s out.

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/MMM2000000
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  • Serious advice needed on puppy resource aggression

    I've made other posts but this one is a cry for help. My family goldendoodle puppy is now almost 5 months old, and she has a very serious issue when it comes to what I think is resource guarding. When she gets items that shes not supposed to have, she becomes very defensive, growls and tries to run away. For some things I've been able to get her to drop them using liver treats and other high value items, but I've had a few very bad experiences so far that I will describe below. Other than this problem, shes actually a very good dog. She is sweet, listens to most commands, is learning to walk well and is just generally a good dog. But these experiences are making me scared of her.

    The first happened at the vet when she was about 3 months old. She had grabbed a paper that fell onto the ground, and when my dad tried to take it out of her mouth she bit him and broke skin pretty badly. Other smaller instances happened between this but this one was the first major one where blood was involved.

    The next was when she got an espresso mug off of the table when we weren't looking about 2 weeks ago. I tried to get her to drop it by using liver treats, but instead she growled, grabbed the treat with the broken mug shard in her mouth, and held on. I was forced to stick my hand in her mouth to take it out, and she gave me a very bad scrape on my knuckle.

    Todays incident was the worst however. My mom accidentally dropped a bottle of eye drops and the dog grabbed it. Thinking I could get her to drop it with a very high value food, I grabbed some cooked chicken. It did nothing to get her to back down and drop it, and her growling turned into barking at my mom. At that point I realized she was keeping the bottle deep in her mouth, so I stuck my hand in to grab it. When I did, I got the bottle out but she wouldn't stop growling and biting on my hand until i got her to her crate. She broke skin in multiple places and I'm just very shaken by it all.

    I am planning to call a trainer that specializes in this kind of behaviour this week. So I guess aside from sharing the story, can this behaviour truly be fixed? I've become wary around the dog and I'm constantly nervous when giving her anything. My family and I aren't new dog owners, we had another goldendoolde for 13 years and she was a very sweet dog, never doing anything like this.

    I'm also wondering what might have caused her to develop this behaviour. My mom thinks she may have had to fight for her food with her siblings at the breeder we got her from.

    I truly love this dog, but I'm just feeling really defeated right now.

    submitted by /u/EpicDragonz4
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