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I just want to say thank you to everyone posting words of encouragement for new pup owners. I cannot believe how challenging this puppy journey has been for me and my family. I listened to all the podcasts. I watched all the YouTube videos. Yet still I was not even close to truly understanding the full body drain that was headed my way. Reading encouraging and uplifting posts here has truly kept my spirits up. Thank you to all of you. I have recently compared my mental state to post partum depression, which I had after both of my daughters were born. This puppy stage has brought me back to those dark times, and it is taking every bit of me to pull myself together and keep myself together. Anyway thank you again everyone. I had no idea how impactful this subreddit was going to be. Our puppy is almost 11 weeks old and we are making progress every day. Thank you thank you thank you everyone. Knowing I am not alone has been my everything.

My dogs have never used either of them before, but I don’t want them to have to wait 9 hours until I get home to go potty. One of them has been having a small accident every so often, which is understandable.

They’re obviously small dogs, and they don’t really drink a lot of water during the day and are fed at night time, so I’d assume they would probably pee 1-3 times max a day – since they’re fed at night, I haven’t had any poo accidents.

Pee pad concerns: I don’t know if they will use them and I don’t know if they will just start assuming they can pee on things because it’s inside? For a little bit, they were peeing on my rugs when they were free roaming, so maybe it would be a good idea. The 13 y.o is also very reluctant to go inside and will hold it until she HAS to go, and will look really guilty (I got her at 3, I think her previous owners scolded her for going potty inside the house). I don’t want her to feel bad about going potty inside on a pad 🙁

Fresh Patch (I’d probably try faux grass too) concerns: longevity with the smell and obviously being alive; I wasn’t sure if because they really do pee so little, if it would last longer and not be so stinky, and maybe more recognizable for them because it looks like grass, so maybe my 13 y.o wouldn’t feel so bad about doing it. It also makes me think they wouldn’t pee on random stuff in the house because it looks and smells like grass.

What do you all think?

I imagine there are others here who have been in this boat, so hoping for some guidance – my husband and I split up over the summer. My 12-year-old Shih Tzu preferred her papa but he was moving to an uncertain situation and I am her primary caretaker, so she stayed with me. While we were together, he would take a trip on his own once a year and she would get really sad – sleeping a lot and moping by the door for days – so we thought it would be better if he didn't see her anymore because we thought it would just keep upsetting her. He ended up leaving the area, at any rate.

I took a brief leave of absence from work, but when I started going back to the office, she started howling endlessly. Before that, she'd never howled once in the 7 years we had her. When we first adopted her, she liked to sit by the door when we went out, and would sometimes whine when one of us left, but she got over that years ago. I've been trying to manage her anxiety now with medication and extra walks, but it's been two months and it's not getting better. I hate the idea of keeping her drugged up and don't have the time right now to dedicate to training. She doesn't like other dogs, so day care isn't an option.

I read an anecdote of an adopter from her same rescue whose pup had bad anxiety right after being adopted, but then he went and spent some time with his former foster and was suddenly fine. For sure, something has clicked in her brain where she realizes he isn't just on another trip, so I'm wondering if she at least knows he's alive out there, somewhere, she'll be less anxious. Has anyone whose pups have been separated from their person had this experience? Video calls won't work – she's never been able to figure out the phone screen. Thanks for any ideas!

Our 4 year old golden is starting to get grey or lighter colored on both front legs/hips. He’s not gray on his face at all. Could it be something causing it, or is it normal?

Tried to add a photo but it won’t let me.

Hi! I’m looking for good toy recommendations preferably rope toys that aren’t rope, or toys that give off that rope texture. My Jack Chi Rocky loves rope toys but also tends to swallow the rope which then he vomits up after having too much of it (it is also the same situation with tennis balls). He does like squeaky toys however it is not enough to keep him entertained by himself so that i can work during the day. I feel terrible because once i have to throw the rope away he seems soo bored and will sleep the day away (unless he gets the urge to fake fight with me). Does anyone else have these kinds of issues? Any and all recommendations help. Thank you in advance!

Long story short, my family inherited a 7 year old mail chihuahua 3 months ago, we own a 5 year old toy poodle. They both have jealous tendencies, both were raised around no other dogs for their whole lives.

The chihuahua chases and is angry at the TP when she is chasing toys, or getting any attention like being picked up, he tries to bite at her. The TP tolerates him but a few things set her off such as him going near her toy she sleeps with (I understand this aspect) or him trying to get up onto the couch or bed where she is.

Any help or advice on this is appreciated

We have a young beagle/aussie mix, right at one year old. She’s been very difficult to train, tons of energy and constantly getting into things she’s not supposed to.

For the most part, we’ve been doing well training her not to destroy our child’s toys, and potty training.

She does not respond to vocal commands, she’s driven us crazy to the point of yelling but that never works. We have to physically remove her from whatever situation she’s causing.

Our main issue we can seem to correct is barking, specifically at our cat. If she’s wanting something or alerting it’s easy enough to just remove the thing causing the issue, but with the cat it’s fight on sight. The cat simply won’t go to another room, even when being barked at or attacked. He simply keeps coming back which makes it impossible to get our dog to leave him alone.

Does anyone have any ideas to train her to leave the cat alone? We try to redirect to playing but when the cat is around that’s all she wants to focus on

My husband and I have a 5 month old chihuahua border collie mix. She is full of life, love and energy. She loves my husband and I and has bonded very well with us. However…she is healthy terrified of strangers. Usually when we have friends over, she will pick a corner and hide there until they leave. It wasn’t until they started giving her treats that she began to warm up to them.

So here’s my idea, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. I live near a college campus. What I would like to do is go to a public bench in the middle of campus and set up a sign that says “Give My Puppy Treats”. I’ll have a bag of treats that I usually give her and if someone is interested, they can come up and give her a treat. I wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her, only hold out their hand and let her take the treat. I would only allow someone to touch her if she was ok with it. She hasn’t bitten anyone…yet. But I know the potential is there, so I would rather she come to them for attention and treats instead of being forced into it.

The outcome I’d like to have as a result of this experiment is she will associate strangers with positive interaction. (A side benefit would be giving a bunch of students the opportunity to give a puppy treats during mid term season.) Additionally, in the unfortunate event that she gets lost, I’d like for her to seek help from strangers instead of running away from them. That way it increases the chances she is found safe.

I’d like to know some thoughts and possible drawbacks. I haven’t done this yet, but I would really like to give this a try!

Hi, I have a 7 month old collie x golden retriever with what we believe may also be some spaniel (not fully sure as the breeder wasn’t honest) she has been pretty good with recall since I had her and started training it at around 3 months old. Recently her recall is slipping she gets high value meaty treats when she does come back to me but I’m finding she isn’t recalling well at the moment. Just this evening my friend left with her dog and my dog ran after her and somehow escaped through the gate and was running in the road. I tried calling her name and using the ‘here’ command I have always used and she just continued to run into the road with traffic.

I’m aware I panicked and did also start shouting as I realised there were cars coming from both directions and she was not listening and continued to run around and I know that my reaction would have made that situation worse.

However my question is how can I get back some recall with her and more importantly how can I do so around distractions and in dangerous situations where she has escaped (she’s always on a lead on walks near roads) and how can I change my behaviour in situations like tonight’s to keep her safe.

Whenever we are out I always carry basic treats and also high value meaty treats to try and make it more enticing for her to listen I’m just not sure what my next steps should be as I know she’s hitting adolescence and also showing signs of her first season (vets have confirmed this) and when out on walks we do use a whistle although she also is selective of when she listens to the whistle

Thankyou and I hope it’s okay to post I did have a look on the wiki page however the distraction recall page says it was deleted.

I adopted a dachshund/corgi mix from the shelter last year. She’s approximately 1.5 years old and I’m pretty sure she’s forgotten all her training. It’s like these last two months someone men in black mind wiped everything she’s been taught. We went through 8 weeks of professional training and I still do all the things that we were taught. Is she just being rebellious? Is this like a teenage dog thing? What should I do to help reinforce the training? Thanks for any suggestions!