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Hey, me and my girlfriend recently got a puppy. she’s been super good with using the bathroom outside. But with it being the winter season and us having snow all the time now she only wants to play outside. She doesn’t have free range of the house and one of us is always home. she gets all the things she needs to be a good pup, she used to be able to left out the kennel without watch for a while without worry (4 month pitbull / husky). but recently she will not use the bathroom outside. like at all. Me and my girlfriend set 15 minute timers and have a designated spot for her bathroom which she did super good at. But now bc of the snow she won’t, even when she’s taken out every hour with no entertainment during these bathroom breaks. She doesn’t have free range of the house yet and she also knows this due to not going in certain rooms without being told. but she just pees and poops only inside. i’m trying my best to stay afloat and work with her but it feels impossible when she is being taken out and worked with by someone at almost all times of the day for her to just go inside the house literally the moment she comes inside. and she knows it’s wrong bc when she uses the bathroom inside she’ll do it while looking at us and will run to the other dog. my landlord is being weird about our other dog now also, and i don’t want to give up one or both. the puppy is super goo outside of this and her training is great but she has been running the walls due to where she uses the bathroom inside.

My 9 week old golden retriever pup has LOADS of energy. Which yes, of course many pups do.

Some things we do:

EACH THING we keep to 10 minutes or so and try not to overstimulate her with a bunch at once.

-Scent games with snuffle mat (honestly she sucks at it 😂 and gets bored of it quickly because she can’t find them. Actually seems to frustrate her more than help)

-obstacle courses

-sniff walks (my vet okayd this by the way. I see many people say you can’t bring your pup outside for walks but mine said as long as you keep her away from dogs you don’t know or dog parks and don’t let her go by other dogs poop and just have common sense basically it’s fine)

-training (very simple stuff. Sit and leave it are what we’re sticking with for now) this tires her out A LOT.

The sniff walks probably work the best.

Playing with her toys and stuff seems to just amp her up more and get her into intense biting

What are some things that have worked for you and your pup?

Let me add I know she’ll always have energy and that’s normal for her to 😉 I’m not expecting to have a puppy that’s just chill all the time.

My husband and I will be bringing home a lab puppy sometime in April or May of 2026. We found a breeder and mama we love, and we are expecting her to go into heat sometime this month. I am a teacher, so finding a puppy that would come home as close to my summer break as possible was important to me, but it may be closer to the spring time just depending on what nature decides.

That being said, both my husband and I work outside of the home. I know that I will be able to bring puppy to work, and my husband may be able to take our puppy to work, too; however, I am concerned about both the idea of taking puppy to work with us and the idea of leaving her at home.

If she were to stay home, she would be alone from 7:40-3:40. My husband can come home midday, and we'd hire a pet sitter to come for an hour in the morning and afternoon.

Pros: We can be consistent about outside potty training, puppy would be exposed to less people and less germs, feels generally "safer"

Cons: My husband would have to work longer each day to make up for the longer lunch break, puppy won't have as much socialization opportunity, and will be alone for approximately an hour and a half a time.

If either one of us were to take her to work, we'd have a little pen set up in either my classroom or his office which would include a crate space, play space, and (potentially) a potty space. My main concern is allowing her to use the grass outside somewhere that is not our home that may have had contact with wild animals or unvaccinated pets. I've never seen animals other than squirrels and birds outside of my work, but we have dumpsters, so I'm sure raccoons are about. I also see people walk their dogs on the sidewalks near our school, and while I haven't seen people in the grassy areas around our school, we are fairly residential, and I couldn't guarantee that it's clean and safe the same way I can in our fenced in back yard.

I would feel safer with her having an indoor potty set-up, but I'm concerned that it will delay full potty training. We would implement a "four off the floor" rule for any time she wasn't in her pen and make sure people washed their hands before holding her.

Pros: puppy isn't alone, increased socialization opportunities

Cons: potential for more exposure to germs, potential for delay in potty training

We are getting this puppy with the intention of her being a therapy dog prospect, so early exposure to children particularly is important to me. Has anyone played with the same decision that we are, and if so, what did you decide?

We have two dogs, a Cavalier and a Boxer. I guess the Boxer is more adolescent than puppy now but there we go.

I will say this is not his fault, he's actually been very good through our difficult week but I need to let it out so I don't snap at him.

Myself and my partner have been significantly ill. Like flu of death can't get out of bed ill. Luckily it hit us in a staggered way, me first and then him as I'm on the up and recovery.

But this has affected walk and play time as you can imagine. We've done our best with walks and puzzles but due to the significant lack of energy, ability and current weather where we live, walks have been lacking as at first me and then my partner have had to take both dogs out each day rather than one take one as we would usually do.

Our Cavalier couldn't care that much, she hates winter so she's quite happy to just not go (not really an option as she does need to lose weight but it helps still).

Our poor boy has done his best, he's evidently concerned about us, has tried his best to behave but it's obviously getting to him a bit, alongside the stress of mum and dad obviously dying, he's won't stop whining. Not really for any reason, tried playing. He's fed. I've tried lots of affection. But because he's a bit pent up and worried so he can't help but whine.

Especially now my partner is the iller party. He loves his dad so much, but currently my partner is having to spend a lot of time sleeping and doesn't really want to be touched, can't play and needs to basically just be left alone. This is hurting our pup cause he evidently thinks he's done something wrong. He isn't getting his usual before bed snuggles with dad, so he's struggling to settle to sleep and stuff too.

Other people taking him out isn't really an option right now, he's just getting out of reactivity issues that he had from when he was younger and I'm not having people mess that up as most we know wouldn't follow protocol unfortunately. And I can manage splitting his walks into two but we're having to miss out on adventure type days right now.

I can't wait until we're well again and I can take him off into the woods and give him a nice long wander about and a fun day. Poor baby. But he just, needs to stop whining or I might not make it 😅

My pup will be 7 months old this weekend. I feed him Purina pro plan puppy. I follow the feeding chart which is based on potential full grown weight. My pup is a mutt. A lab for sure mixed with maybe a Bassett hound. He is getting the max for the estimated weight as an adult. I also give him tons of treats.

He eats at 7 am, 12 pm, then 5pm. He sits at his bowl maybe 3 out of 7 days a week at 8pm asking for food. I usually give him a handful.

He is 30lbs and gets 2.5 cups of food a day. I guess he will be about 40-50lbs. Treats on top of that. I’ve tried spacing his food out more but dinner never seems to be enough. I can’t picture him accepting only being fed twice a day in the future.

Has anyone else had this issue with the feeding suggestions of this brand? He goes to the dog park 1-2 times a day because he hates walks and really burns energy.

Any suggestions?

Should I get a dog? I am a 24f who lives in a house that I own. I love dogs, have always grown up with them and my parents still have 2 that visit occasionally for a night or so. I work from 7:40-4:00 most days but occasionally can go until 6ish. I have a large fenced yard with grass and a covered patio (where the dog would spend its time during the day). I live an active lifestyle working out before work every day which could be incorporated with a dogs new routine. I also have a dog run in my neighborhood that I could utilize after work. The dog in specific I am looking at is a 4month border/heeler mix whose owner is rehoming it due to work travel. My parents have a border heeler mix so I’m very familiar with the breed. The owner says she seems to be low-medium drive, is crate trained, and basically potty trained. The only real thing holding me back is fear that with my schedule it’s too much. Occasionally, (every other week basically), I leave town on Friday nights for the night and return the next day- mid day. My family has said they would be willing to help as long as the dog is trained but I feel that it is not a good idea to get involved in getting a dog, knowing you will rely on others for help. Thoughts? Is it too much for me or am I overthinking needing support? Thank you.

Hi friends, so usually when I correct my pup (in the case of biting) I will grab him by the scurf simply to stop his range of motion, not hard as to hurt him but enough to hinder his movement. Today we were playing and he started to bite my hands but when I went to grab him he quickly pulled away and caused me to yank on his fur. I am so scared to mess up with him, he is my baby and I would hate to lose the trust we have built. How do I come back from something like this and show him I am not scary? He isn’t showing signs of fear but Im still nervous :/

I would also hate for this to happen again and am completely open to new methods of stopping biting, EXCEPT redirecting which has not seemed to work for us.

Buster has been with us for 9 weeks now. We got him at 8 weeks old.

The first 4 weeks was crazy hard! Every day I cried and struggled and talked about letting him go. But I am so happy I didn’t! After these 4 weeks things got easier. We startede getting to know each other. We started puppy training – this really made our bond stronger.

Now.. he hadn’t had a putty accident for 5 days! He has a “pee-button” he activates when he needs to go. He sleeps from 9-10 in the evening and until 5-5.30 in the morning. He is really easy to train and great at walking with a leash. He can be home alone 4-5 hours without any crying or accidents.

Over all thing are just great! And I am so happy I didn’t give up.

But those first 4 weeks!!!

Only thing we are still struggling with is him being a little too much for our old dog. Its getting better too, but still some way to go.

And his best friend is our cat Loke 🙂

Hang in there! It gets easier!