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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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  • stray dog staying at home for the night. How to prevent spread of fleas/mites/ticks to other pets?

    a series of unprecedented events led to a stray long haired doggo staying at my house for the night. Hes a real sweet boy and hes staying in my bedroom bc there’s nowhere else he can stay at my place. Im worried because I saw bugs on his fur and im sure he has mites or ticks or fleas and I have other pets at home. He is currently laying down on a rug in my room. We’ll get him checked at the vet tmrw but for right now, what can I do to minimise risk of my other pets/me/my furniture catching parasites? he is separate from my other pets but hes staying where my other animals usually hang out, so once he leaves my pets will be in contact with everything he touched. Im sorry if this is not the community to ask for this kind of advice.

    submitted by /u/i_like_nwjnz
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  • Personality types

    I really need to figure out if a Husky is a good pet or not for ny fam

    submitted by /u/kinkyballerina444
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  • Anyone cut their dog hair at home?

    I decided to groom my dog at home. My cousin did grooming for my dog with her home clippers and it looks nice. I bought a Wahl Km10 and an air blower for my dog. I’m not sure what clipper set and guard comb set to get. I bought the scissors as well already. I have a Havanese.

    submitted by /u/metalgearsolid2
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  • Dog suddenly getting up in the middle of the night.

    Every few nights, my dog has been getting up in the middle of the night and he looks around at something. Sometimes he just stares at nothing. Sometimes it’s only 10 minutes but it’s lasted to up to an hour. I don’t know if he’s hearing sounds but he’s never done it before. It’s been going on for about 2 weeks. He is 5 years old and we had a vet checkup 2 months ago with no issues.

    submitted by /u/OwOtheUwU132
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