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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?

I have a 4 year old lab and a 3 year old golden, I know they’re young but they’re both prone to hip dysplasia + other joint issues which is why I’m looking specifically for orthopaedic beds

It doesn’t need to tick every box, but other features I’m looking for are: water/moisture resistant lining, machine washable cover, minimum of 4” thick, heat regulating (the golden is a fluffy boy who overheats easily)

Ideally the design would be a mattress or would only have 1 head rest (they like to sleep sprawled out)

I’ve seen the beds available on VetRelieve and Big Barker and whilst they look amazing the price is just a bit too high (Big Barker only ships from the US so it’s the shipping costs that push it over)

Thank you for any recommendations

Hey everyone,

Looking for some advice or reassurance. My 5 month old puppy, Murphy, used to love his crate. He’d nap in there for 2–3 hours during the day and it let me actually leave my apartment for a bit to do errands since I’m raising him solo.

After a weekend camping trip, he suddenly wants nothing to do with it. If I put him in, he barks and cries nonstop. The weird part is he’s totally fine sleeping in it at night.

Is this maybe a fear period or just a random setback? Has anyone else had this happen and managed to fix it? I’m feeling kinda stuck and just want to get back to where we were.

Why does my blue heeler “snarl” into our couch cushions or bed? He presses his nose into it and snarls

Can anyone help me? It's my 2nd day with our puppy(poncho) and I want to get him trained to pee on our pad.

He seems very resistant on going outside, hits the brakes every time and won't go to the bathroom when we take him out. Help!!!