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Hi all,

I am currently fostering an 11 week old pup, and we have had him for about a week. I am still a student (working on my thesis from home) and my wife works most days of the week. We are working at getting our pup better acquainted with his crate, and he is actually doing really well at night! A few whines here and there, but in only a week he's made a huge improvement. He's even gone the entire night (around 6 hours) without a potty break the past two days.

He is a busy boy, so to get any work done during the day, I typically have to crate him for an hour or two at a time. This is preceded and followed by extended play sessions outside, walks, bathroom breaks, and play time inside as well. When he is crated during the day, it is directly beside me. He has plenty of safe toys in his crate as well (though he prefers to chew his bed, grr). This is my first experience with a foster pup, I've only fostered older dogs that were already somewhat adjusted to a human lifestyle. This pup was kind of thrown onto me for a home, so I'm definitely out of my depth.

1. Am I doing the best thing possible for him here, or is his bit of whining and chewing his bed more of a destructive behaviour due to lack of attention?
2. Should I move his crate out of my office, to an area where he can't see me? Is him being right beside me working him up further, or teasing him unintentionally?
3. Any other ideas? I am doing my absolute best to give him as much time as possible, but I also feel like he should be sleeping way more than he is, at 11 weeks old. I feel like I am somehow not giving him enough attention to suitably tire him out. Just to be clear, the schedule is currently -> wake up 5am with wife -> potty, short play -> crate from 5:30-7:00am when I get up -> breakfast, play, walk, potty until 10:30am -> crate until 12:00pm, and cycle, until around 5pm when we take him for another walk, play, etc. until bedtime between 10pm and 11pm.

Bathroom breaks are roughly hourly throughout the day, sometimes 2 hours if he is asleep in his crate.

Thanks everyone!

So my pup is 7 months old and he's been great. He is still a bit mouthy and of course Hes gotten some sass as he's entering adolescence. But his potty training is flawless and he for the most part is house trained, rarely chews up anything and still listens pretty well. We have slowly made the crate that we use for nightime and naps optional for him and gave him free roam of the house as long as someone is there. Is this to early to give him so much freedom? So far its been 3 weeks and he's been fine but I'm worried about him entering adolescence and maybe regressing on his training

Looking for suggestions for my dogs crate setup. We currently utilize an oversized bed sheet as his crate cover and have our camera setup outside the crate, under the cover on the floor. Looking to get a nice cover, but all the covers I’ve seen online seem to fit the crate perfectly and doesn’t seem like a camera would fit while covering the crate. Anyone have recommendations? I was thinking potentially upgrading crate size to put camera in the crate behind a divider but would rather not go this route if possible

I have a 15 weeks old puppy and I have this harness from pet paw (it’s available at petsmart) it’s not one of those mesh ones it forms like a Y shape on her chest.

I thought that one would be great to start, but I was wondering if anyone have specific links and recommendations?

I was able to get it on her via luring with a treat but she chews the chest area but it’s also her first time wearing it- any tips and recs would be helpful! Thanks.

I adopted a puppy, she is 6 months old. I felt pressured into it (a story for another time) but love animals and dogs so decided I could figure it out. It’s been a month. There has been typical puppy oopsies, like tearing up things and potty accidents. I have tried to be strict when training her but there’s no difference from day one to now. In fact, I feel like she knows less and listens less now. I’ve tried to tell myself that training and learning can be figured out and takes time.

But now my main concern is that she has been starting fights with her older sister. This dog is 3 and I have had her for a year and half. 90% of the time they get along but the last few days they have been getting in horrible fights. Neither one backs down and it’s truly like they want to kill each other. The older dog now doesn’t want to eat. I’ve been able to get her to eat treats and bones over the last few days but now she doesn’t even wanna do that because of the puppy. I’m worried for both of their safety, even when I’m around, as these fights have happened with me around. I’m also worried about the well-being of my first dog. I can tell she’s been more depressed and angry since getting the puppy but has tolerated her but I fear it’s getting worse.

Giving the puppy back breaks my heart, as I never thought I would be that person. But i truly am worried about my first dog and obviously both of their safety. Giving the puppy back is the last resort, but i need reassurance on if it gets better for my older dog or if the fights will continue to escalate and get worse. I never wanna make an emotional decision but need to do what is best for both of them and idk what that is right now.

My dog is a miniature pincher/mini poodle mix, plus some other stuff (rescue). For her entire life, at almost every meal she tries to flip her bowl of kibble over, spilling it everywhere or covering it. Then she’ll take one piece and run to another room with it to taste it. Only then will she come back to eat the spilled food.

I’ve seen other posts here that mention burying, but she’ll still eat the food right away, and she has done this almost every meal for 8 years lol. Also the running to another room with one piece feels like an added wrinkle.

Any idea what’s going on there?? Thank you!

Mine just passed at 12 and some are saying that was a long life and some are saying that dogs just dont live as long these days. Im genuinely curious what is the average in a randomized group of us reddit users.