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This is my first time posting in here so if this is against guidelines please redirect me to where it is allowed! I need advice, my puppy is about 16 weeks old, Shelter says she is a lab mix but i think she is part shepard. I’ve had her for about 2 weeks. Me and my sister both work 35-40 hours a week, I wake up at 6am and feed her take her out and stuff and leave at 7. She is only in the crate for about an hour or 2 until my sister gets up and lets her out of her crate while she gets ready for work and plays with her till she leave for work at about 10:45 I get home from work around 4:20. and she is out of her crate until bedtime at 10pm. I wasn’t sure if this info would help so i included it but I’m trying to train her and some of it is working but the biting is my biggest issue right now. I was outside giving her a potty break before going to bed and she likes to get in my fire pit so I tried nudging her away because she tries to eat the burnt wood in there and she wouldn’t stop and I kept trying to nudge her away. she then started biting my legs and growling at me I’m not sure if this is play or actual aggression. i tried just walking away but she started biting my ankles, jumping up at me while biting and yanking on my pants. When I was trying to walk inside she was just tugging on my pants so i basically dragged her inside by her grip on my pants. she let go when i walked through the door and then i dried her with a towel since it was raining and she started biting and tugging on the towel i took it away and she then started biting me again. The same as outside. Jumping and biting, latching onto my shirt and pants and going for my hands and ankles, and she did break skin on my upper leg, My sister called out to get her to stop and she ran in the couch behind her and stood there. Then when i went to walk away she ran back at me and started biting me again. my sister deepened her tone to get her attention again and the same thing happened, Couch, i turn to walk away and she ran back at me again. I then proceeded to put her in her crate. luckily she went in on her own even though we are definitely still working on crate training. Is this normal or should i be worried that she is being too aggressive? I try redirecting her with toys when i’m sitting on the couch and she starts biting my hands but most times that doesn’t work either. The whole situation just overwhelmed me and i started crying because i genuinely don’t know if im doing something wrong or if this is normal.

I am entirely new to reddit and new to having a puppy and a dog. A neighbour kindly shared this reddit with me cause he said it helped him with his puppy.

I am on day 6 with my new Doberman puppy. He is now 9 weeks old.

I am definitely suffering from the puppy blues, my autism (which I am hoping to eventually train him to help with) is not making things easier for me.

Good things are I have not had any accidents inside the last two days and he is mostly sleeping through the night.

The problem is today and yesterday he is not sleeping during the day much at all. First few days he was great, would go in his crate and sleep like the dead for most of the day. Today and yesterday I have been putting him in the crate and while he has eventually been settling, he is still staying awake and just staring at the wall (he can't see me from the one of his crates), and then waking up as soon as I move when he does eventually sort of sleep today.

Do I just leave him in the crate for a few hours? And if he gets up to go outside to toilet, do I do a bit of play at the moment or put him back in the crate? He is definitely overtired today.

He also hates his kibble. It is the same one the breeder fed and is what my vet suggests, but the breeder also fed him wet food and raw food. He will devour those, but will spit his kibble out or literally go the whole day eating almost nothing.

He won't eat it from the bowl at all, yesterday he ate from my hand a bit and was starting to give me hope. But today nothing at all and I know he must be starving since he has not had a big full meal since I picked him up. I have tried mixing it in with other food and he eats around it, I have tried having it super mushy with water and he will maybe nibble a tiny bit but will leave most of it to waste.

I want him to be fed on kibble in the long term, and I want to use kibble for some basic training by feeding him his meals mostly from hand and then only use treats for the things that need a really high value reward.

Hello guys!

I have a German shepherd mix, she's 14 months old, a girl. I've had her since two months old. She's incredibly smart and active. She's from a shelter – her, her siblings and her doggy mom were kicked out by the previous owner. They were found in the middle of forest on an illegal dump site.

We go on hours long walks, train – no problem. But as soon as she spots other a dog, she starts pulling, barking etc. She's not aggressive, she's anxious and excited at the same time.

We've started socializing her since she was two months old. She had no problems until she turned ~6-7 months old. We started working on reactivity immediately, but nothing works. She loves balls and treats but, if a dog is nearby… Nothing matters. She's perfectly healthy and she never had a bad experience with other dogs. We tried multiple methods but nothing works long time. I have two more doggies and they have no issues on walks or with other dogs.

So, i brought my now 7 months old 22kg puppy when he was 2 months old. I have another 9kg adult dog and they eat twice a day. until recently, i just told him "go to your place" and he would run to his fence and wait to eat there.
now we got rid of it, and he is really not a fan of eating in our bedroom and will cry to go out a lot, he usually eats the bare minimum and then stops, if i stay with him the whole duration he would usually eat in little pulses but the average has really went down this recent week, is it normal or is there a better solution?

also, another reason its even more important for him to eat in isolation is because they receive different food. my adult will never try to eat the puppy's food, but the puppy really gets distracted and sometimes will even try to get to the adult's plate which botheres him.
ive read online that for dogs his size its usually normal to switch to adult food at around 1.5 years, but they are both being fed taste of the wild, which as ive understood used to be food for all ages? so maybe its fine to put him on the "adult" food earlier?

thanks!

Hi everyone,

I have a toy poodle born in Jan (he’ll be around 7–8 months old by August/September). I’m planning a 1-month trip to Asia in August and trying to decide whether to bring him or leave him at home with my husband.

If I bring him:

– 12+ hour international flight each way

– Additional 2–4 hours of ground travel

– Total travel time over 15–20 hours one way

If I leave him:

– My husband is a resident (some days 7am–7pm, some shorter days)

– There’s a daycare nearby with pickup/drop-off

– A friend who works at my building can check on him a few times a day throughout the day

He’s still young and I’m worried about stress from long flights, but also about whether the care at home would be enough.

He’ll also be right in the adolescent phase (around 7–8 months), so I’m worried the stress and environmental changes might make things worse. (In both scenario because I’m the main caretaker)

What would you do in this situation?

Any similar experiences?

Thanks!

Hi- my husband and I just got our 10.5 week old long haired mini doxie. We have been working on training (and surviving) for the last few days- we've only had him for 5 days! He is making strides each day but so far doesn't love being in the pen. If we walk away for just a moment he starts crying. I know this is to be expected of course and the recommendation is to work your way up. However, we do both have to work. Tues/Wed/Thurs he would be left in the house (the pen with pads, his crate, toys, etc) for the roughly 6 hours that our schedules overlap. So many of my coworkers/peers say it's totally fine-expect crying, accidents, etc. but I am extremely

Worried. We've seen him act out in the pen in distress and I'm so fearful this will happen again and he will hurt himself or worsen his mental heath. What's the appropriate recommendation? If it's not great to leave him so soon, how long is okay? What should we be working up to realistically? I feel shitty asking my family to help and feel like it is also just a bandaid but I'm open to whatever options.

How is everyone going about this? I’m getting a golden retriever puppy in two months. I plan to keep her in the kitchen with the gate up while we are home, and crate training her as well. Should I keep her in the kitchen 24/7 (unless in the crate) or can I let her follow us around the house if we are watching her like a hawk?

Does “earning the house” mean while unattended or when you’re with the puppy as well?

So my 10 week old puppy has a hard time being away from me for more than 3 seconds. I’m trying to slowly teach him to self settle in his crate, and let him whine it out a bit.

But I’m having a hard time working out whether he’s making loud protesting noises, or whether it’s gone past that and into panic mode. Both noises sound awful to me, and I don’t want to teach him that any protest will open the crate for him.

Anyone got any tips/suggestions/things to listen out for?