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We have a 6 1/2 month old dachshund and an INSANE amount of bunny poop in our yard.

We’ve tried “No”, we’ve tried keeping her away from the piles, but nothing has worked and has only started bad habits forming.

Now when she is chomping away if we try to get it out of her mouth she will occasionally growl and start to resource guard, she doesn’t have a “drop” command reliably yet, and she’s started to run away or pull when on her leash to try and get to the poop we are keeping her from.

We’ve tossed around the idea of muzzle training her, because it’s getting incredibly frustrating and gives her super bad upset tummy, which is making potty training even harder since she isn’t reliable going poo and/ or her tummy hurts so bad she can’t signal before she’s going.

I’m just nervous for any stigma attached to a muzzled dog or outside judgement. Which is probably silly because it will be what is best for her and us right now … any advice??

Hi everyone! I recently adopted a (now) 14wk old German shepherd. I love him to bits and grew up with GSDs so I do have experience with the breed. However, he is my first puppy and the first dog I have personally adopted. I enrolled him in a puppy socialization and training course that starts in a couple of weeks and I am absolutely terrified he will be the least trained/worst behaved dog there.

He knows sit and lay down (these are the only commands he’ll do with no food incentive). We’re making amazing progress with crate and potty training. And I have just started training him the “leave it” command and recall. With this being said, he still play bites, he really only listens when he wants to (when he knows food is involved), he loses all training when meeting someone new or playing with another dog, he’s not leash or walk trained at all (he’s not fully vaccinated yet so I carry him everywhere), he still jumps on people when he’s excited, and I have no idea how he’ll act around 3-5 other puppies and new people.

I know it’s probably just my anxiety talking and we’re literally going to a training class but I see all these videos of amazingly trained puppies and can’t help but feel behind. We train for 5-10mins multiple times a day but I have no idea what else I should be teaching him. Am I behind in something? Should he know something that I don’t even know about? Is there something he NEEDS to have mastered before this class?

This might just be taken as more of a venting post but honestly any advice is is really appreciated!

I used r/puppy101 as a huge resource when I first adopted my three month old puppy. I was having a very hard time doing it alone, in the middle of winter, and living in a walk-up apartment.

One thing that I saw suggested a lot was to get puppy on a schedule. I made a choice early on to actively go against this advice because I have an unusual hybrid work schedule and aligning my puppy with that would mean I would be getting up at 5am every day instead of the twice a week (at most) I have to for work.

My puppy is now a dog and I was thinking back on this choice because I had a friend comment how remarkable it is that my dog lets me sleep in until 10am some days. It seemed very simple to me that this would be the case because on mornings I sleep in, it’s often because of late nights prior so I just take the dog out later at night before we go to bed.

Not to mention this also makes it very easy for me to drop her with a friend or family member for a night or two because they can just vibe. It also keeps my social life open and free as a single dog parent because I’m not rushing home for 8pm pee time. Just something I’d throw out there for anyone struggling or waffling about with tough potty training. Every dog is different and they are very adaptable creatures. Sometimes you can and should make choices that support your lifestyle! Within reason of course.

We just adopted a 12week old puppy but the timing isn’t great with the holidays unfortunately. I’m thinking about driving to my family’s house and bringing the puppy along. It would be about 6-8hours of driving (not including all the stops) for 3 days.

Am I completely insane? Any suggestions or tips for making this trip go as smooth as possible?

Hi! I recently adopted a puppy from the animal shelter. She is sick(kennel cough) and just had surgery a few days ago. It's pretty cold outside and the puppy does not like being out there. I got her a sweater, hoping that would help, but so far, it hasn't done much. I'm having a hard time getting her outside super quickly when she tries to potty inside because I'm worried about her stitches. I'm not sure if they ever took her outside at the shelter.. she has no idea why we're out there and will just try to cuddle up on my feet for warmth. When she starts sniffing around inside, I take her out, but she will not go potty outside 🥲 Any tips?

Our pug is 17 weeks. He only pees/poops outside successfully if we are able to catch his signals and literally place him outside. He gets a treat and praise each time. Other than that he will go anywhere in the house when he has to. For example sometimes I will say go potty, put him out there and he’ll run right back in just to pee or poop a few minutes later, which I guess means I need to shut him out there until he successfully goes? but I’m not understanding why he would do that in the first place instead of just going when he knows that’s what he’s put out there for.

He won’t go to the door and bark or scratch or do anything to let us know he has to go and to open the door for him. We can’t do a bell because my daughter would have a field day with it. I was debating trying a clicker but tbh he’s a big dopey idiot so I don’t see him catching on to that either. I was also trying the method for a few weeks of crating in between attempts if he didn’t go, but he may pee and once free in the house poop somewhere or vise versa. And it’s not for a lack of supervision, ten minutes ago I’m sitting next to him on the couch and he just squats and starts to pee. I’m losing it.