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I acquired, or bought a puppy maltipoo for some cash. what are things I must ask the seller before I finalize the purchase ?

As of recently my dog has been terrified of walking in the wood floor. It is totally a mental thing as she has gone back and forth with this behavior in the past. This time is different, absolutely refuses to walk on the wood floor. We have tile, carpet, and wood. The tile and the carpet are perfectly fine. Any ideas of what we could do to help her?

I just adopted a 2.5 year old Australian Shepherd 2 weeks ago. She is the sweetest and most gentle dog but she just lays around and sleeps all day in her crate. I take her for long walks in the morning and early evening but beyond that, she doesn't do anything. She's never had toys or treats until now and when I try to get her to play with a toy she looks confused and uninterested. She also gets scared of the squeaker on toys. I want her to have some mental stimulation but she's just not that motivated and is fearful of a lot of basic things. The one thing I got her to chew were these turkey tendon chews but they dont last long and only do so much. She comes from a breeder who I don't think took good care of her. When I brought her home, she had an earinfection in both ears and fleas. She felt really dirty and the breeder said she never had treats or toys so didn't know what those were. It seems like she was just used for breeding and slept outside in a kennel her whole life… they didn't keep her because she was producing oversized puppies. I'm trying to ease her into the home and so far have been seeing small improvements with her getting more used to the home and routine, but I can't seem to get her to play at all. Even with other dogs, she just runs away… Any advice here? Has anyone successfully taught their dog how to play?

We currently have a 5 month old Rottweiler and are currently looking at a 1.5 year old German shepherd to bring home. We are having cold feet because everything says you shouldn’t bring a second puppy home before ours is old enough, but it doesn’t say anything about an older dog. We think an older dog could benefit our puppy as he continues his training and we also want a second dog at some point regardless. The gsd we’re looking at already has some training and was very well mannered around us on the meet. We brought our Rottweiler with to do a meet and greet and they did great. We are just looking for some guidance on the situation as our trainer didn’t necessarily tell us it was a bad idea either. We are wanting to do as much due diligence as possible for both our puppy and the other dog to make sure our decision is right.

I realize there is some individuality in there, but I'm speaking generally.

I am in the process of adopting a 3 year old German shepherd. My house has 2 floors and is it ok if I put a doggy fence at the bottom of the stairs so he wouldn’t come up at night? I’m also thinking of putting a little doggy door into the backyard (there’s a fence) so he can go out on his own if he wants.

Our 8-month-old Aussie/doberman is 100% fine with our son. His friends and other kids in the neighborhood are the concern. They make him anxious and he barks at them and their scooters/bikes. We’re trying so hard to desensitize him/keep him in his pen/have friends over at nap time/etc., but it’s impossible to stop our son’s friends from coming over to see if he can play. He’s a little kid and deserves a great life full of friends. Our pup deserves to feel safe and not scared too. We started adolescence and a fear period so it’s even worse. He’s such a smart dog and we’re in obedience training and he does so well. He loves his “brother” (our son). It isn’t realistic to only expose him to neighborhood kids from far away. Even if he’s inside and sees them outside the window he barks and scratches at the window, etc. Is anyone willing to share what worked for them? Is this just adolescence/fear period and he will learn this is normal and part of our lives?

Forgot to mention: The reason this is new is because our son went to an aftercare program more often when he was a younger puppy. We still had play dates, but he was kept tethered or in his pen. He didn’t bark like he does now, but he would be anxious to meet and sniff the other kids. He never growled or nipped. He was more like an excited greeter and wanted to jump (same as he does with adults). We are training this too and he’s still excited but learning and eventually goes down into lay down or sit position when meeting new people.

We live on a quiet, dead end street. For us to go on a walk, we must walk the entire block before we can make a turn and start our walks. All of a sudden today, we get 1 house away from the end of the street and my pup went into panic mode. He kept staring statight ahead, and all I could see was the school across the street on the Avenue. No fire, no loud noises, nothing out of the ordinary. We had just taken a walk about 3 hrs ago, and all was fine. He will be 1 yr old tomorrow, and about 85lbs. Hes a gsd/husky/dobie mix. He was so terrified, that even me holding leash with 2 hands and was choking himself. About halfway down the block, I released the leash and told him home. He ran back to our house and yard. I just tried to take him out again, and this time we walked past just 1 house before he again refused to walk, and turned to run home. What could be causing this?

Our 4-month old puppy is doing really well with toilet training. We leave the sliding door open for her, and she just toddles out and takes care of business.

Except for when it's raining.

The first few weeks we brought her home was a pretty dry period, so all her early training was on sunny, dry days. Now, the only accidents she has inside are when it's raining. I'm guessing she doesn't want to get her delicate little feet wet.

Any suggestions? Should we just take her out regularly when it's raining like we did when she was first learning? Maybe she just hasn't made the association with wet ground and going outside yet?

Any and all advice would be very much appreciated.