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First time (potential) dog owner. It’s difficult but let’s get some non biased opinions on whether or not owning a pet dog is truly worth it? The good the bad the ugly.

My little 3 pound poodle (Luna) has been a real doll, she is so tine and cute. We have been able to easily manager her, because we just pick her up and move her whenever needed. The baby bladder has been a little struggle, but she is getting better.

We have another poodle mix, 5 years old (Bella) that when I come home for lunch, we play ball in the back yard, and the little one has become her little shadow. She keeps up run for run with the older dog and is soooo fast. But now that she has discovered full on speed running, I can't get her back in the home. When I say time to go in, the older comes inside, baby is out chasing dandelions. As I approach her to pick her up and bring her in…boom she is off like lightening, zigging and zagging. I ended up taking 15 minutes of my lunch hour trying to wrangle her back into the house.

She is too young for formal train (not fully vaccinated) -< she is not ones for treats yet either. How can I encourage her to stay in place so I can scoop her up when it's time to come inside. I don't feel it is safe to leave in the backyard unsupervised. How do we encourage, train her to stay in place or come and that it is not a game?

You guys, I don’t know what to do. My husband and I had been looking for a dog for some time. We even fostered a big lab who we loved, but due to my connective tissue disease, we ended up not keeping him because of how much he pulled on the leash. Then, one of our friends ends up with this 8 week old “pit/lab mix” and we met him and fell in love. Here’s the big issue – he’s not a pit/lab mix. He’s pretty much all Jack Russel Terrier, and that is not a dog we had planned on having. He’s a super high energy working dog, and we just don’t seem to be the right environment for him. He does a lot of normal puppy stuff, but he also does some things that are just not okay.

He gets so distracted when he’s outside (usually chasing cats or eating deer poop) that when I bring him in, he’ll realize he has to poop and just do it wherever (he’s poop on the couch, on our bed, on our 3-year-olds toys). I started putting him in the fenced back yard, but we have chickens and I caught him today, mounting and humping one of the chickens. He’s much bigger than they are and I’m concerned for their safety. We only have one fenced area, so I can’t split them up. He digs, chases, chews, and doe pretty much everything we don’t want him to do. He’ll go into my daughter’s toys and take some out to eat. He chewed a hole in the netting of his kennel. He eats the cat food, chases the cats and ducks, steals food of the end tables, takes my hair ties out of their bin and eats them. My husband and I have started raising our voice because it’s so often that he’s being naughty, and now our daughter has started doing the same thing.

I feel awful. Our daughter loves him (though she does get very frustrated because he WILL NOT leave her alone), but suddenly our household has yelling, and to avoid that, he’s being crated more than he should be. He needs 100% supervision when he’s out of the crate, and I guess we weren’t as ready for that as we thought. We will not be getting another dog, as it’s breaking my heart to consider rehoming him, but it feels like it’s best for his happiness and for ours. I know we’re right in the thick of it with him being 5 months, but we haven’t even really gotten to bond with him because he’s literally always doing something he’s not supposed to. I know he’s a puppy, but I’ve never had a dog that’s constantly pooped inside despite large amounts of time outdoors. I’m afraid he’s permanently altering the health of our household (we never raised voices or yelled before), and that because of that, we aren’t treating him how he deserves to be treated.

I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want this to hurt my daughter, but I also don’t want her to think that yelling or crating a dog for extended periods of time is okay. We never would’ve adopted him if we had known he was a Jack Russel, we know we aren’t people who can handle a high energy working breed, but now I just feel so confused.

Hi! My partner and I are bringing home our very first puppy in about a month! Her name is Maple, and she will be 9 weeks old when we pick her up. I knew I wanted a puppy about a year ago; since then I have consumed SO. MUCH. information about puppies' development and training, and a lot of it conflicts! In particular, every dog trainer on the planet seems to have a slightly different crate training philosophy.

I've heard that you need to build up to confining your puppy on the crate over several days, but I've also heard that you should start crating on day 1.

I've heard that you shouldn't put anything soft in the crate because they could chew it, ruin it, or it could prolong potty training, but I've also heard that you should make their crate a comfy, safe space.

I've heard that you should ignore your puppy when they bark or whine in the crate, but also that you should comfort them.

I've heard that you should put your puppy's crate in a different room than where you sleep, but also that you should have it right next to you.

Because of all the research I've done, I'm feeling confident about training in a lot of ways, but crate training is something I really don't want to mess up. In mine and my partner's opinions, it's so important and it is something our household is really going to need. I would really love to have some experienced dog owner's opinions on the things I've listed above. I want my puppy to feel safe in the crate and I don't want to do anything that can damage our bond, but I also will NEED her to be in the crate over night and for naps during the day from the get-go to keep her safe and well rested. I want her to feel comfortable, but I don't want the crate to be optional. How did YOU balance these things? Any advice is welcome.

Thank you!

I have a female 4 month old (probably) border collie/labrador(?)/terrier mix. She's super smart and cuddly, very people oriented and active dog. Now…

She knows where to go potty on a pad and always goes there when im home but when she's alone she goes everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. I took out half of my furniture out temporarily because she'd pee under it…she doesn't whine or seem bothered by being alone at all, no separation anxiety, I give her lick and sniffle mats and toys for mental stimulation + light music for dogs or white noise and dim light. I take her out for 2 hour walks daily, throw treats in grass for stimulation around 15 minutes, train her for at least 20 minutes and work on socialization and desensitization. I feed her highly quality organic kibble for puppies 3 times a day (at 3rd meal i mix in cooked sweet potato or pumpkin) + lick mat (banana or apple sauce) before bed + homemade treats during walks and training.

When I get home the whole room she is in is filled with pee and poop (she eats her poop and carries it around …) and I stay up until 3 am cleaning. What am I doing wrong?