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we’ve had our 13 week cocker spaniel for 3 weeks and we’ve not made much progress with daytime crate training. he’s fine with it at night and he will dip in and out during the day, but he’d never settle there. he’s still not ok with the door being closed unless he can see we’re about to give him a treat. this is all a work in progress and I know we need to work in slow, small increments of increased duration.

we’re also working on his separation training but again this is still at the level of closing the room door for a few seconds and re-opening.

my question is, how do we enforce naps for a puppy who isn’t crate or play pen trained? currently the only way I can consistently get him to nap is by sitting on my lap to calm down but I fear I’m setting him up for bad habits. even if he does fall asleep in his soft bed or on the floor, the minute one of us goes to leave the room he wakes up to follow and thats nap time over.

feels like a vicious cycle because he’s so overtired all the time which then makes crate training harder

Hello! This post is very long because I wanted to share any information possibly necessary to help you guys help me out. I summarized it at the end. Thanks in advance!!

We brought home our mostly angelic Maple about 3 weeks ago. She is a 12 week old Havanese. Training is going mostly really great! We are having lots of success — minimal potty accidents, learning basic obedience, our bond is getting stronger every day — but we are having a weird crate issue! From day one, she has slept AMAZINGLY in her crate, covered with a blanket and listening to white noise. She takes about 4 2-hour naps per day with mostly no issues, except that she cannot settle in her crate on her own.

We have been doing tether training from the second week that we brought her home, which is going great. Depending on how energetic she is, she will settle and fall asleep in between 5 and 20 minutes of tethering. Once she falls asleep, we move her into her crate and she goes right to sleep without fail. HOWEVER, if we try to crate her without doing the tethering routine, she will scream and cry literally endlessly. (I don't remember this being a problem the first few days she was home with us, but she was obviously very overwhelmed and tired then from the new environment.)

(For example, I have an essay I need to work on today so my partner hung out with her and took her on a nice walk, then brought her home and crated her before they left for work. She *seemed* to settle for a minute, and then started screaming. I am really trying not to let her associate screaming with freedom but I also don't want her to associate the crate with screaming, so after about 15 minutes, I waited for a lull in the crying, took her to potty, and put her back in the crate, and she started screaming again. I took her potty another 15 minutes later during a quiet moment, and she started screaming again. I waited another 10 minutes, took her out of the crate, tethered her, and she was asleep within 5 minutes, so she was obviously exhausted!!! I put her back in the crate, and now she's sleeping soundly.)

We are continuously working on positively conditioning the crate. We feed her lots of good things in there, we work on laying down calmly to be let out, etc, and it seems to be working! She generally likes her crate and will pop in and out of it on her own throughout the day! I'm not sure how to fix this particular issue.

TLDR; My puppy sleeps great in the crate, but only if we tether her first and let her get really sleepy before we put her in. Otherwise, she will scream and whine endlessly. Seeking tips on how to help her with this! Happy to answer any questions!

Hi all, my fiance and I got our 7 m/o rescue about 6 weeks ago. He's a great dog, and learning fast, but we are working on leash training. We're very outdoorsy and love taking him on hikes and runs, and he is always on a leash. Even when we play fetch at the park, he's on an extended 33 ft lead. We live in New England, and I have noticed that about 85% of people on the trails and in parks here just fully walk their dogs off leash and the owners NEVER have any recall power over their dogs. They always run up to my leashed dog and the owner always says "they're friendly." Since I know being leashed around loose dogs can lead to reactivity in my dog, I always stand between the loose dog and my dog. But how to deal with the owners?? They never apologize, they never put a leash on, and they never even acknowledge it's a problem. I don't want to be rude but come on… It's driving me nuts!!

(P.S. our dog wears a soft muzzle as we train him out of scavenging for acorns and sticks- you'd think their pooch approaching a muzzled dog would make them grab their dog but it never does.)

This might sound like a really stupid question, but my main focus lately has been recall training… for the sake of upping difficulty I’m looking into going from a 12’ leash to a 30’ leash. Is there any downside or reasoning not to use a retractable leash for this? I know keeping no leash pressure can be important, so I wasn’t sure if a retractable keeps more tension than what would be ideal. If not, the idea of not having to manage a 30’ leash freehand and just going with a retractable seems ideal.

It is very cold and snowy in Wisconsin and the puppy doesn’t like freeze. Understandable but it makes potty training hard. She’ll often hold it for too long just to avoid outside. When she’s really got to go, I still have to carry her out, and then she’ll often go.

I have sweaters and booties which she hates but help her stay out beyond five seconds. But here’s the question, how do I teach her to ask to go outside when it’s the last thing she wants?!! I have a bell, and I have gotten her to ring it but then I open the door and she runs 😂 poor baby.

How long did it take before your puppy understood that potty goes outside, versus just getting lucky she went while you took her out? Once she understands I think this problem gets easier to manage.

My puppy swallowed a 6 in bully stick yesterday and we spent 7 hours at the vet. He is okay, thankfully. I feel like a bad mom! Did you guys ever experience anything similar?

I have an 11 month old large mutt mix, and a corgi that I’ve had for a few years. My puppy is very high energy/ high anxiety. Several months ago my corgi got fed up with her and he attacked her and they got into a fight. She plays hard and is a lot bigger than my corgi. Since the fight per my trainers advice I have had the dogs separated by gates. We are working with a trainer every week but still advised to keep them separated until we make more progress with the pup. I try to give them as much equal love and attention as i can but whenever i have one out with me i feel so much guilt when the other one is crated or behind the gate. This has been so hard and I’m always going back in forth in my head if I should rehome her or if I should keep going with the training until we are at a place they can be back together. I love her so much and she has severe separation anxiety I worry how she would feel if I brought her somewhere and never came back for her. Has anyone had experience with a dog fight and their dogs being able to live together after?

Hi, with my wife we can't agree on name for our Havanese dog we're getting next week. Can't share photo, he's male. We're thinking about Loki, Timmy and Eddie. But we want to know other name suggestions, that might land better for that little new family member.

I'm looking to get a standard poodle. Currently live in an 850 sqft apartment. No backyard, but I am already an outdoorsy person and go outside a lot. I WFH and have a 5 yr old as well.

I've been thinking about getting a dog all year and haven't fully acted on it because of financial reasons. It's not that I don't think I can afford an animal, I don't know what to expect with owning an animal since I don't have one and don't know anyone who owns one. I get there is emergencies that are unpredictable, but food, toys, routine visits, and other necessary things a dog needs and not knowing how much that all costs is worrying me. Any insights would be helpful! If anyone feels a standard poodle wouldn't be right for me, I'm open to other breed recommendations!

I have a very fit/solid 60 pound BoxHerd (Aussie Boxer Mix)…. we go out all the time in uber cold so I started her on a jacket which she has come to be OK wearing.

Because of her shape I can't find one that fits well….she has that enormous Muscular Boxer chest and when I find one in which her front legs can move freely, it doesn't gather up again at her waste. We tried every one they sold at Petsmart. The ones that fit her waste were choking her chest and neck, and the ones that fit her Shoulders looked like the was dragging a tent, AND the neck hole was ridiculously loose.

The one we have now is a little too tight on her chest , but at least it's not trailing…..Would like to find a Better Boxer/Dobie, muscular dog type of fit. Any idea's? Customs brands? any info would be appreciated.