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I adopted a 4 year old puppy mill breeder. I am having trouble getting her to potty outside because she will only potty when no one is around.

She will hold it all day and potty in the middle of the night when we are asleep. She is used to pottying where she is laying. So if i crate her overnight, i wake up to a mess and she needs a bath. If i leave her loose overnight she will potty on pee pads.

I take her outside every hour. If i walk away and leave her outside, she sometimes will potty on our porch, but only after I leave the area.

Im not sure how to train her to go in the yard because she wont potty while anyone is around.

My now 11.5 week puppy has growled 4 times in the past few days – once when trying to put her harness on (she hates that), and three other times when she’s been snuggling in a lap and it’s time to get up so we go to move her. It’s not that she’s in pain because we pick her up plenty of other times with no issues. She loves to snuggle and I get not wanting to be moved when you’re cozy 😂 but sometimes it’s just necessary so would definitely like to work on this. Anyone else experience this/any tips?

Hey everybody!! 👋 Hope it’s okay to share this. I’m part of a small team working on Scrubby, a new booking + CRM tool specifically for groomers (salon, mobile, and grooming + boarding/daycare). We’ve been talking to a bunch of groomers lately and keep hearing the same things:
• most software is expensive
• a lot of it feels clunky or not grooming-friendly
• and nothing really fits small shops or mobile groomers well

So we built Scrubby to be super simple, affordable, and built around actual grooming workflows.

We’re opening a small early adopter group this week. If anyone here wants to try it out, you’re more than welcome.

It includes things like:
• online booking
• client + pet cards
• reminders
• payments
• mobile grooming tools
• grooming + boarding/daycare (v1)
• and a free plan option (10% commission) or a $40/mo plan with 0%

What’s the catch?
Honestly nothing big — the only thing we ask is honest feedback. What works, what’s confusing, what’s missing. That’s it. 💚

Since I can’t share any links here, just send a message and I’ll send you the early access details.

Happy to answer questions or show a quick demo too. Wishing you all a great week and smoother schedules! 🐶✂️💛

What ways are your puppies not following text book recommendations?

One of my examples is I’ve learned she absolutely cannot play before nighttime bed. All the experts say you want to sleep at night? Make sure they play before bed.

I tried the first weeks to wake her up to have play time around seven (her post dinner nap) but she’s way too tired. It doesn’t help her sleep later in the morning either so what’s the point? She essentially puts herself to bed at 6 or so and I wake her up at 7:30 to carry her out for a whee, back to sleep until bed, then one more carry out for whee. She won’t even walk outside herself she’s so tired.

Hi! I recently took in a foster dog — a 75-ish lb Husky/Shepherd mix — and the rescue didn’t tell me until pickup that he had been hit by a car and had two dislocated hips in the past few months. He’s incredibly sweet and affectionate, but he is terrified of cars and the road. Because he’s such a big, strong dog and I’m a pretty small person, managing him outside has been really difficult.

I’m running into a few problems and would love advice if you got it:

He paces around the house at night, which is keeping me from sleeping. He hates being in the crate, but letting him roam also stresses out my resident dog. I’m trying to balance helping the foster feel safe without overwhelming my OG dog.

He’s extremely scared to go outside of our home, he cowers at cars and runs back to the house after making it a few feet (he does act like he wants to go out the front door at first but we don't make it far). He’s only 2 years old and I don’t know how to give him proper exercise when he’s so fearful, but I definitely don’t want to force him.

I feel a bit unequipped to help him, but I really want to support him while he’s with me. Should I let him stay inside and skip walks for now if he’s scared? Are there ways to slowly and positively build his confidence without pushing him too far?

Any advice or experience is so welcomeeeee and so appreciated

So my 8 year old GSD has some new weird obsession with my front door. Previously, she trained herself that it's some sort of wall that she can't go through(she always leaves through the back door, not front). But for the past week or so, she's been sniffing at it when it's closed and today when we was carrying in groceries, she started to growl(like seriously growl. Not like a play growl, never seen her freaked out like this). Nothing's happened that we've seen. It's never bumped or hit her or any of us. It didn't make a loud noise or anything new. Just the same old door we've had her entire life. She got a clean bill of health at her vet appointment a month ago

Any ideas because we are stumped 😭

I don’t know if he’s already become reactive or if it’s normal. He’s a 12 week old GSD. His dog experiences are the following: 1. Last weekend a playdate with friend’s large senior dog. He barked at her for two minutes or so on and off at the beginning while sniffing her before engaging in playing with her. Had a great time. 2. Weekly puppy class. There’s no free play but we are nearby 4-5 other puppies for an hour. He will bark at them at times on and off during the class, mainly if they lunge towards him for some reason or we get too close (like within 5 feet). But he’s easily pulled away and then focuses back on me and will settle for long periods during the class.

Today we did some intentional dog exposure where I took him to a high traffic dog area. We sat in my trunk and watched people with their dogs. If a dog was 20-30 feet away, he watched calmly/intently. HOWEVER if any dog got within 10 feet of our car, he would lose his mind. Barking like crazy until the dog left that radius. I gave him lots of treats during this session (like 15 minutes total).

Is he reactive already? Is he under socialized? I’m really scared of having him be unable to tolerate dogs and I just don’t know if this is normal puppy behavior or a deeper issue already.

My seven month old puppy is going through a phase where he will only sleep in two scenarios:

1. When I’m not home. He doesn’t have separation anxiety- no whining/crying when I’m gone and settles into his bed quickly and takes a nap until I get back.
2. He is on top of me. Whenever I’m home, even when he’s tired after a play date or long walk, he will not settle to take a nap unless he can curl up on my stomach or in my lap. I love a cuddle, but his nap time is also a great opportunity for me to do some chores, work, focus on hobbies. But if I get up, he’s awake and restless again.

I’m looking for advice on how to train him out of this. I don’t know if it’s an attachment thing (he’s definitely a Velcro puppy) or what, but I just want him to be safe and healthy and emotionally cared for. Thanks!