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How long did it take for your puppy to sleep longer? I have a 4 month old Cavapoo, and he wakes up at 6:15-6:30 everyday….. Granted, he sleeps through the night but I am so TIRED

I have an amstaff mix who’s 8 months and has started puberty around a month ago. As expected his behaviour changed and a lot of times I’m so overwhelmed by everything! He’s started being way more interested in most of the dogs we see on our walks, as soon as he smells the pee of a female dog in heat he’ll literally throw himself to the ground, doing EVERYTHING in his power to smell that spot when usually he’ll listen if I say no to him as soon as he pulls on the leash to smell something. He’s started misbehaving inside our home again and seems to have way too much energy to handle. Honestly my biggest fear is not being a good owner, making mistakes and „ruining“ him in this sensitive period of time. Any tips on how to handle dogs who have started puberty??

For additional infos: -We go on three walks a day: short one in the morning after which he usually sleeps for a few hours, one hour walk in the afternoon which is for sniffing, exploring and training tricks, playing games etc One hour of going to meet with neighbour dogs outside where they can chase and play etc

-He is not allowed to greet any dogs anymore, he has his „friendgroup“ with the same 4 dogs of different ages etc -I do force him to take a nap which can be a pain in the ass as he doesn’t want to miss out any fun stuff my family might be doing outside my room

Hello!! 10 days ago i almost had to put my dog down due to kidney issues that are working themselves out (i’d get into the details on how but it’s a LOT of explaining), and the day before i cut off some of her fur to keep to remember her, and i cut off the very end of her tail fur (not the tail itself, just pure fluff) and now whenever i touch her tail around there she seems like it hurts, she could jus be mad because i took the tip of her tail but im worried. i looked it up and i only got things about tail docking which is not what i did💔

Very long story but we had to make the very, very difficult decision to rehome our Great Pyrenees due to him attacking my daughter twice and showing pretty bad aggression towards some other young children.

We took MONTHS to find him a new home. We had at least a dozen conversations with potential new families for him and after our long search we found him the perfect new home.

3 weeks ago we packed up all his belongings and drove 4 hours to his new home, a farm where’d he’d have indoor and outdoor access and a large fenced in area to roam freely.

The new family has a 10 year old dog and I was clear that our dog is slightly dog aggressive at first and will need to be introduced slowly.

The day after we dropped him off, they sent me pics and he was doing great! They introduced him to their dog and he said it went very well.

About 4 days went by and all was still going well.

Then on day 7, I received a text saying that with a heavy heart, they would not be able to keep him.

They said he had shown 3 incidents of aggression towards their dog (growling, barring teeth), that he was experiencing pretty severe separation anxiety (he broke part of their fence when they were at work). And for these reasons, they wouldn’t be able to keep him.

We convinced them to give him some more time and sent them a vets order to increase his dose of trazadone.

2 more weeks have gone by and he said that they aren’t keeping him due to the separation anxiety.

I’m extremely frustrated, disappointed, and upset. My family went through this emotional roller coaster of making the decision to rehome him, making the drive up there, saying goodbye and now because things have gotten a bit hard with the transition, they are giving up on him.

I worry that if I take him back and try to rehome him again, he’ll have even more behavioral issues. But I don’t want to leave him with this family as I fear they hate him and resent him.

What should I do?

Welcome to the fortnightly separation anxiety support group!

The mission of this post is to provide a constructive place to discuss your dog's progress and setbacks in conquering his/her separation anxiety. Feel free to post your fortnightly progress report, as well as any questions or tips you might have! We seek to provide a safe space to vent your frustrations as well, so feel free to express yourself.

We welcome both owners of dogs with separation anxiety and owners whose dogs have gotten better!

NEW TO SEPARATION ANXIETY?

New to the subject of separation anxiety? A dog with separation anxiety is one who displays stress when the one or more family members leave. Separation anxiety can vary from light stress to separation panic but at the heart of the matter is distress.

Does this sound familiar? Lucky for you, this is a pretty common problem that many dog owners struggle with. It can feel isolating and frustrating, but we are here to help!

Resources

Books

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Don't Leave Me! Step-by-Step Help for Your Dog's Separation Anxiety by Nicole Wilde

Be Right Back!: How To Overcome Your Dog's Separation Anxiety And Regain Your Freedom by Julie Naismith

Separation Anxiety in Dogs: Next Generation Treatment Protocols and Practices by Malena DeMartini-Price

Online Articles/Blogs/Sites

Separation Anxiety (archived page from the ASPCA)

Pat Miller summary article on treating separation anxiety

Emily "kikopup" Larlham separation training tips

Videos

Using the Treat&Train to Solve Separation Anxiety

introducing an x-pen so the dog likes it (kikopup)

Podcast:

https://www.trainingwithally.com/the-podcast

Online DIY courses:

https://courses.malenademartini.com

https://www.trainingwithally.com/about-2

https://separationanxietydog.thinkific.com/courses/do-it-yourself-separation-anxiety-program

https://rescuedbytraining.com/separation-anxiety-course

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Introduce your dog if you are new, and for those of you who have previously participated, make sure to tell us how your week has been!

We have a 7 month old GSD. Sometimes, she acts like a german shepherd. She's clever and eager to please. Then the next day its like we've never met and shes never been trained on anything.

Yesterday I couldn't walk past her without her mouthing at my hands, she pulled our whole walk in the morning, she kept trying to get into the cat food, and picked up all manner of things she wasn't supposed to, then acted like "drop it" was a foreign concept.

Today, our walk was beautiful. Barely any pulling, was focused on me, sat when we stopped. Shes been quietly playing with her toys and isn't jumping or mouthing.

The absolute whiplash of it all, not knowing which dog I'll wake up to has been…. interesting. She's showing promise that once it over, she'll be remarkable though.