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  • New 3 month old puppy is very scared and I don’t know if I should crate him

    I just got this puppy today from a friend. He’s clearly very scared and overwhelmed. I bought everything I would need from various posts and he still hasn’t acclimated to me or my home after 6-7 hours. Some posts and advice said it would take 20-30 minutes. He has started to eat but still crawls back under my table. He hadn’t pottied so I looked it up and it said to carry him over to the pad and put him down multiple times. I think I shouldn’t have because he started snapping at me after the third try. I didn’t get upset or angry, I know he’s scared. An advice post said to crate him for the first night, but I really don’t want to pick him up again. I laid out his puppy pad and such. I feel like I need to get him comfortable before I do any training. Any tips or advice on what I should do? I left him in my living room with his crate, bedding, toys, an old shirt of mine, food and water.

    submitted by /u/Rurikar1016
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  • My puppy won’t eat unless I’m in the room with her

    My puppy is a beautiful 7 1/2 month old who didn’t have this problem at my last home as it was open concept and she could see me. But when I moved about a month ago to a closed concept home, I noticed she eats when I’m in the kitchen with her (cooking, cleaning). I’m not sure if I should move her food to the living room where I am most of the time, or allow her time to adjust. Has anyone dealt with this before?

    submitted by /u/Quirky_Breakfast_574
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  • Dog neuter post surgery advice

    My dog is getting neutered on December 11th, my only concern is he has learned how to take off his cone and the last thing that needs to happen is him licking or biting his incisions. Im not to sure on what to do, I feel like if I get him a onesie he’ll just rip it off his body and if I put a cone on him he’ll get it off in a matter to minutes.

    submitted by /u/HeadBell3810
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  • Potty Training a Fearful Pup

    Hi everyone I am in need of some advice. I recently adopted a dog the vets believe to be around 11 months old. When she was surrendered at the shelter she was covered in fleas and flea dirt, had worms and was extremely timid.

    I believe she may have had prior owners that would hit her for going potty in the house. She gets extremely nervous when she has to potty, she will hide and hold it as to not go in front of me. When I notice her acting this way I take her outside but it’s the same thing, she will not go. I have another dog trained to go on a mat, and it’s a system that has been working well for us. I have tried placing her on the mat but her entire body freezes up like she’s scared to move until I walk away. She’ll then run and find a place to potty when I’m not looking.

    Needless to say we’ve been having a lot of accidents. I’m using enzyme cleaner and trying to show her I’m a safe human but I wanted to ask y’all for some help. Any ideas on how I can get her to trust me when she has to potty?

    submitted by /u/Interesting_Meal275
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  • What’s the most dramatic “double standard” your dog has?

    My 3-year-old lab mix has a vibe switch that’s unreal—and it’s pure double standards. When I get home from work? She barely lifts her head from the couch, flicks her tail once like “cool, you’re back,” and goes right back to napping. But if my roommate (who feeds her once a week when I’m out) walks in? She’s doing zoomies, spinning in circles, and licking his hands like he’s the messiah who brought bacon.

    Worse: I can’t move her from the couch to sit down—she’ll huff, grumble, and give me the side-eye like I’m committing a war crime. But if a stranger stops to pet her at the park? She’s practically in their lap, leaning in like they’re long-lost family, no personal space required.

    And don’t even get me started on treats: I offer her a cookie, she sniffs it and walks away. Same exact cookie from the barista at our local café? She’s sitting perfectly, tail wagging so hard her whole body shakes.

    So spill: Does your dog have wild double standards? Like, rude to you but a saint to guests? Ignores your commands but obeys the mailman? Or acts like your couch is boring but loses it over a stranger’s lawn? Tell me your funniest/most confusing stories—extra points if you have no idea why they play favorites!

    P.S. Here’s a pic of her giving me the “meh” face while my roommate gets all the love (linked below)—she’s not even hiding the bias anymore.

    submitted by /u/Financial-Walk-3820
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  • Scratching at the same spot?

    My dog keeps scratching at the same spot in the corner of our living room, and he doesn’t do this anywhere else. It almost looks like he’s digging when he does it. He lays down there afterwards occasionally, but not majority of the time. He usually looks at us on the couch in the middle or after he does it, like he’s trying to tell us something. He doesn’t whine or bark at it, he just seems curious and slightly concerned.

    Some facts about him: -he’s a Great Dane -he’s almost 4 this February -he doesn’t have any known health conditions -he doesn’t behave anxiously

    submitted by /u/spinklepango
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  • Is quiet whining at bedtime normal for an 11-week-old puppy?

    Hey everyone!
    Looking for some reassurance or experiences from other puppy owners.

    I’ve had my puppy for almost two weeks now. She’s an 11-week-old mini schnauzer, and during the day she settles really easily in her crate. She naps every hour or so in the living room and usually falls asleep pretty quickly without making any noise.

    At night she sleeps through the whole night, which is great. The only thing I’ve noticed is that when I first put her in the crate at bedtime, she does some quiet little whimpers for about 15–20 minutes. Nothing loud or distressed. She just looks around a bit, shifts positions, makes a few soft noises, and then eventually falls asleep. Once I go to bed, she’s totally quiet.

    I use the same crate for day and night, just move it from the living room to my bedroom.

    Is this normal “settling in” behavior?
    Did your puppies also whimper a little at night even though they nap easily during the day?

    Would love to hear your experiences! I just don't want her to be upset with me lol.

    submitted by /u/Randominterests_1993
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  • Advice for taking puppy to work?

    For context I work at a vet clinic, and there is a boarding area in a back we no longer use.

    My puppy is 10 weeks old at the moment. She is welcome to come to work with me, as long as she’s not super disrupting. Im able to bring her out for a break about once an hour. I decked her kennel out like it was a playpen at home, lots of toys, chewies, food in puzzle toys, etc.

    The first shift, she whined for a bit at first, but quickly settled down. This second time, she could not seem to settle and was whining and barking the whole shift. I’m worried I won’t be allowed to keep bringing her if she keeps it up.

    Any tips for helping her calm down, kenneling, etc? I still need to go to go to work, and the alternative is her being in a playpen at home which is obviously less than optimal. She also has been climbing out of her playpen, so I’m nervous about leaving her alone for too long now.

    submitted by /u/Rust_For_You
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  • Help with Potty Training & Weening off of Diaper/Belly Band

    My puppy is finally fully vaccinated and can now go outside in the yard to pee/poop. He used to go out back to use the bathroom but after a couple of scares in our backyard, I started keeping him indoors at all times. He also picked up a crazy water drinking habit during this time and started peeing every 15-20 min and destroying the carpets upstairs. (He’s fine) My family and the vet essentially came to the conclusion to keep him in a belly band for the a couple of weeks to save our sanity and the floors.

    Well, this has been great but now that he can go outside I’d really love to ditch the diapers. However, I have to leave him at home for a couple of hours at a time between 9-3ish while I’m working and I’m terrified he’s going to destroy the carpets again because he pees so so often!!! We have sectioned off the main living room upstairs with a camera where he stays while alone and this area is carpeted. He definitely pees a lot while I’m gone because his diaper is full when I get back home but I can’t physically see him peeing on the camera. I don’t want to crate him when I leave because he pees in his crate anyways and he will settle by himself outside of the crate so I’d like it to stay that way. Is there any solution here? My family has made it clear they want to keep the diapers on when he’s unsupervised but doesn’t this just confuse him and avoids him ever having to actually hold it? They mentioned using pee pads upstairs but I’m opposed to doing that because I really want to teach him to go outdoors.

    I’m on holiday break from work in two weeks, should I keep diapers on until then when he can be monitored 24/7 and I can take him out every 30 minutes? I’m just not sure how to approach potty training from here and how to properly go back to square one when I can’t commit to being with him 24/7 like I was at the beginning. He is a 17 week old toy poodle for reference.

    submitted by /u/Neat-Pudding-632
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  • Flying Copa with a small dog – tips for carrier!!!

    Hi! I’m flying JFK → Panama → Montevideo roundtrip with my Cavapoo (she’s ~12 lbs) on Copa. I’ve never flown internationally or domestically with my dog before and would love some advice.

    • My layover is in Panama and only about 1.5 hours. How do people handle dogs not having indoor relief areas during layovers? During security, do I need to take her out of the carrier, or stay with her the whole time? -for my carrier, I’m undecided between Sherpa Medium and Large. The Large would give her more room, but it’s slightly bigger than Copa’s under-seat dimensions. I’m not sure how strict they are. Any advice or experiences? -Any tips or anything that made international flights with a dog smoother on Copa?

    Thanks in advance for any advice!

    submitted by /u/TonightSensitive3693
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