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  • 2mo old collie mix snapping when my face gets close

    When I approach her from above, with her either being carried or just on the floor, she barks and freaks out in self defense? or play? i cant tell if she is uncomfortable or sees this as a play invitation. i want to eventually kiss her and press my face to hers, and i understand that will of course take time. I am asking early because we are both new to each other and ive never had a puppy that didnt like kisses on the head.

    Last time she did this, I treated her how i think a dog mom would, and kinda just stared at her until she got relaxed and got tired and then gave her a treat for being sweet. I understand she is very young, and ive only had her 2-3 days but i feel guilty for kinda getting loud at her 😭 She just did it again, kinda snapping at my chin/face but not biting super hard. just like quickly. I acted offended by her and put her in the crate.

    i love her a lot and want her to grow up right, am i doing anything wrong? should i do something else or is this plan okay? i had a rough family life and imperfect parents, and adopting my kitty a few years ago (much easier than puppy) has taught me that i feel a lot of guilt for disciplining or raising my voice at my babies. Thank you!

    submitted by /u/withSoaringEyes
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  • 4 month old puppy won’t eat her kibble on her own

    I have a 4 month old Samoyed. and We've been having trouble getting her to eat her kibble. Shes supposed to get 3 meals a day but it's been a struggle. Our vet recommended just leaving it out and letting her eat throughout the day. But that doesn't work she just won't touch her bowl. We can only get her to ear 1 meal these past few days and it's only if I somehow get her to take more than one bite.

    She eats no problem if it's not in the bowl for the most part. But in the bowl she isn't eating. Were calling the vet tomorrow, but I also just want to see if anyone else had this issue and what worked for them? She isn't getting sick or anything so I'm not sure what the issue is.

    submitted by /u/tectonicalloy_
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  • Help me potty train my rescue puppy please!!

    I’m crate training my puppy and she’s about 8months old to a year Maybe? She’s in heat so I’m not sure if that’s causing issues on not wanting to pee/poop outside, im standing outside with her almost all day and she has gone a couple times but then she’ll come back in and pee/poop in her crate the second she gets in it. Her crate is not too big there’s only enough room for her to turn around and lay down, I’m not using puppy pads, I’m not over feeding her or giving her too much water, I’m praising her and using high value treats when she does go outside (cheese and hot dogs). I’m taking her on walks and she wont pee/poop at all on her walks, she sniffs and I think she’ll go but never does. We just got her so I know everything is still very new but I just don’t understand why she would want to go pee/poop in her crate when I thought dogs don’t like to go where they sleep? I’m just so confused and I need help please!!!!!

    submitted by /u/Otherwise-Dentist112
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  • Great Dane puppy "stalking" my kid

    My almost 4 month old puppy likes to do this thing where she playfully tries to be stealthy and stalk my kid, only to pop out and nip at him. She also on occasion will bark at him, or vocalize but not in an angry way, more to encourage him to play. My kid (5 years) doesn't like this game. I step in at every chance, and separate them when she gets too wild. Is there anything I can do to deter her from this? Should I be worried? Or will she grow out of this?

    For background we have no other dogs in the home for her to play with or to correct her. My kid does love her and they do get along most of the time, and generally she is a sweet puppy who is doing well with her training.

    submitted by /u/Soft-Consequence4396
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  • 6mo, Finnish Lapphund Potty Training Regression?

    My pup is a Finnish Lapphund about 6 months old. I've had him for 4 of those 6 months and he was doing fine in the beginning. Always told us when he needed to pee, asked to go out, and even used the pee pad when we had it. However, over the past month, he's progressively gotten worse. He started by just peeing on the hard floors but now he's peeing on our futon and even on my partner just this evening! We're at a complete loss…

    The breeder suggested we use belly bands and bells to help him with it but the belly bands aren't working and only make the problem worse, especially if we forget to put one on him. He's also not taking to the bells too well and doesn't seem to understand that if he touches them, he can go out. The breeder suggested we use a spray bottle and spray him if he does bad things or tell him "bad dog" and send him outside if he does pee. All of which we've been working with and nothing is helping!

    He's such a sweet sweet dog and we love him very much but the peeing is getting out of hand and we're at such a loss as to what to do about it! He's healthy and gets enough exercise so I'm completely confused. Is there something we're doing wrong??

    submitted by /u/keepquietand
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  • Stage 100 clinger pup

    I have a 6 month golden retriever. She’s generally amazing, but she is a stage 100 clinger. The problem is she will NOT listen to ‘off’ or stop jumping on people or trying to crawl inside your skin.

    She won’t stop jumping up to the counter, if someone comes in the door she bombards them, if someone sits in the couch she is trying to get as close as possible. We have ignored her, taught off, tried place, sit, stay, etc etc. I can see moments of her trying to choose the right thing but she just can’t contain her joy. Any advice??

    submitted by /u/Muted-Poem847
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  • Making sure puppy doesn’t get sick from older dog

    I'm bringing home a puppy tomorrow to a house with a 9 and a half year old border collie x kelpie who lives a healthy life but is in need of a friend. What did people find helpful when minimising risk of puppy catching something from an older dog? As you can probably imagine a border collie x kelpie dog needs her walk and I want to limit high traffic areas for my dog but this is very much in her routine and they say it's important for the older dogs routine to not change to ensure a smoother transition. I have procedures in place like wiping her paws down and feeding them separately and keeping them separately mostly. I'm interested to know what other owners found helpful

    submitted by /u/Possible_Mode9853
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  • Are bully sticks cheating?

    We have a ~15 week old puppy, and she's great. Typical puppy, Sharknado and all, so it's been a handful but nothing I'm too concerned about. But I can't help but feel like bully sticks are just, too easy? They really help her settle when we just need to take 5, and she doesn't absolutely freak out when we take it away, she just goes back to her usual silly sharky puppy self. But, like, it feels too easy with the bully stick. We usually let her chew on it for around 30 mins, and she loves it. I guess what I'm asking is, is it considered lazy and cheating, or do you think it's ok at this age?

    submitted by /u/SonOfAFrig
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  • Freeze-dried kibble for training

    My puppy has always been super weird about eating. She gets full very quickly and isn’t always food motivated. She’s also a small dog. I’ve taken her to the vet several times and they have assured me she’s healthy, but she only eats a couple times a day plus has a couple training sessions. Training complicates this further because she gets full from treats (I chop small treats into 1/6ths to make them last longer, but we still go through a lot). I’m trying to ensure she has a healthy diet though, so I try to use healthy and minimally processed treats like freeze dried beef liver. I saw an influencer rewarding an adult and very well trained dog with unkibble. I’m considering switching to a couple wet food meals plus several long training sessions with unkibble. Does anyone have a different brand they recommend? Does anyone have an opinion about if they think it will be high-value enough? I plan to mix in some other treats to reduce boredom, but I want to mostly train with a freeze dried kibble

    submitted by /u/Severe-Low8746
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  • Aging is hard.

    I got my dog at the age of 2 back in middle school. I recently completed a clinical doctorate and he is still with me…. somewhat. By all test measures out there and appearances, he's "great for his age." No one ever guesses his age correctly. Lately the impending death is getting to me. The decline in the last 2 years has been rapid. He's gone from 2 hour walks to 10 -15 mins.

    It's like there's a never ending fog over his mind that only allows food obsession and repetitive licking (me) behaviors. His life is: eat, toilet, lick, check for food. He has almost no personality anymore. Despite that he is still the happy dog he has always been.

    The last year has been horrible with the urinating in the house. Took forever to find a something that worked and would stay on him because of his awkward shaped body. Every night and any time I leave the house he has to wear a body suit. Even then he still sometimes wiggles out.

    This last week has been the worst. Now he's got some stomach issues. Pooping every night, every time I am at work. He's been delegated to his cage. He hates being in there despite it being large. I feel bad he's got to be stuck in there.

    It's been hard with my partner. He never knew my dog back when he was cool and fun, so its been hard for him to bond. He's sick of the house hold accidents. We have carpet.

    Getting old sucks.

    No, I don't need to be told to take him to the vet.

    submitted by /u/CheesecakeNew9781
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