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We adopted a 10 month old Standard Poodle. We are working on kennel training, and getting her used to our schedule of being home alone for 3-4 hours at a time. We havent seen her totally shred any toys, but to be safe I am avoiding frabric and plastic (Puzzles, lickmats, stuffed animals) We have a kong, but I am hoping to find more than 1 option. She does try to eat socks, so snufflemats are out. Any suggestions appreciated. TIA! 😊

Hi everyone,

I’m writing this with a heavy heart. Due to an unexpected emergency, I have to relocate to another country, and sadly, it’s not viable to take my dog Pluto with me. He’s a 4-year-old Siberian Laika–German Shepherd mix — loyal, intelligent, and deeply loved. Unfortunately, the climate in the new country just isn’t suitable for him.

One of his sibling’s owners has kindly agreed to adopt him, and while I’m incredibly grateful, I’m also devastated. Pluto has grown up with my daughter, my wife, and me. He’s very attached to us, and the thought of leaving him behind is breaking us apart.

For anyone who’s had to rehome a dog they love — how can I make this transition as gentle as possible for him?

• How early should we start taking him to visit his new home?
• Would it help if I spent time with him there for a few days before we move?
• How long does it usually take for dogs to settle emotionally in a new environment?

I just want to do what’s best for him, even though my heart feels shattered.

Thank you all for reading — I really needed to share this somewhere people would understand. ❤️

Life will never be the same again without Pluto

Thank you ❤️

We have a 5-month old Pembroke Corgi who has been with us for just over 2 months. We've been trying to train her recall, but she's pretty hit or miss. We've been using boiled chicken—should we stick to just that every time to help her remember it better?

And my other question is: what high-value treats would you recommend that can be cooked at home? Thank you very much! ☺️

Sometimes I know my dog wants to play fetch but I just don’t have the energy to go get the toy if he doesn’t bring it back.

Is there any toy you know of that I can throw and get it back without moving?

Like a ball attached to a wire so you can pull it back if needed

My almost 6 month old pup and I have been working a lot on his separation anxiety (had him for 7 weeks). He's now pretty okay if I leave him in his play pen and go to another room to WFH, but he won't engage with anything in his pen (food/water/kongs/toys/safe chews) unless I'm in it with him, or sometimes if I'm right outside of it. I'm trying to help him learn alone time/independent time is good but since he doesn't engage with anything, it's hard going. He naps or lies there looking sad. He WILL play/chew outside of the pen so it's not the items he has access to.

If I'm in the house still he will settle down on his own now (sometimes immediately, sometimes it takes him 10 minutes or so) but if I have to leave he just barks the whole time. I'm trying to avoid him getting above threshold but it is unrealistic for me to never leave him alone ever and yes I have tried ALL of the things and we continue to work on them (rewarding calmness, Door is a Bore, kikopup's videos, leaving for a short time and returning, etc.). The fact that he is now okay with me being in another room is honestly huge progress, but how can I encourage him to use the things in his pen? I feel like that would really help him for when I have to actually leave.

Hello! My golden boy is just over 5 months old and he is amazing! He does well with everything expect the car, I’m using a car harness that buckles into my car seatbelt like I’ve done with all my other dogs (not goldens) but he is so rambunctious and excited when I drive he ends up trying to crawl into my lap and obviously this isn’t safe- the seatbelt gives him to much ability to move around. Does anyone have any better suggestions? I’ve looked on Amazon but I don’t see anything and he is growing fast (31+ lbs currently) I can’t really fit a crate in my car that’s big enough

Yep my Swiss shepherd is exactly like your dog. Not bothered by planes she can see taking off and landing but contrails generate panic, fear and running to find safety. Every 4 seconds all day long looks at the sky searching for contrails. I have no idea how to desensitise a dog with these as there is no way to replicate or know when the contrails will arise

Hi everyone,

We have a 5 month old puppy that we are struggling to get to like going outside. We carried him outside for the first few weeks we had him because he was still learning how to walk down stairs. He would do his business outside just fine then dart back to the door to go in. He’s now comfortable with stairs (the inside stairs are now his personal agility course, ha ha), so I know it’s not that. We’ve tried treats and celebration when he is in the yard. We’ve also tried high reward treats just for outside, but there is no treat we’ve found that the reward is high enough. Won’t even go near the door on his own. Just wanted to see if anyone had any other advice.

Not sure if this is related, but could be. He was older than I’m used to when getting a puppy from a breeder (18 weeks) and I don’t think he actually went outside much while living there. They had a really nice deck built out to an artificial outside area.

Thanks in advance!

We've got our Cavalier at 7 months. He initially slept through the night until about 7am, but keeps waking up earlier. This morning he started at 4.30am. He is crated trained.

We tried ignoring it, or a quick QUIET which makes him quiet for like 10 minutes. It starts with a little whining which turns into more whining and then some barking. It's not toilet either.

Also tried more exercise during the day. It's very frustrating and we're all very tired.

He sleeps in his crate in our bedroom.

I've read people having success with alarms, but not sure how that would work as he sleeps in our bedroom. We could look at putting him in a crate in another bedroom, but that could wake up the rest of the house.

Any other tips?