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I’m looking for advice and experiences from others because I’m starting to feel stuck.

• Dog: 7-year-old medium Cavachon
• Problem: Pulls on the lead during walks, inconsistent behaviour
• Household: Family of 3, all walk him, which seems to make training harder
• What I’ve tried:
  
  • Slowing down or stopping when he pulls
  • Treats and “sit” cues
  • Harnesses
  • YouTube tutorials / online advice

The worst part has been that walks have become a chore instead of enjoyable. Even my mum has complained of back pain from the pulling: the thing is he’s not a big dog!

I’d love to know:

• Is this a common problem with older dogs?
• Has anyone successfully retrained an adult dog to walk nicely on the lead?
• If so, what approach actually worked?

Any experiences or advice would be hugely appreciated.

Hello! I decided a puppy would be a good addition to my home about 2 months ago, and I found a breeder through the AKC website after deciding an English Lab would be a good fit. I have grown up with American Bullys and helped train past puppies with my family's help, but this would be the first puppy I train with minimal help from them and full financial responsibility over this dog. I am currently a college freshman living at home, and my winter break starts a week before the puppy will be ready to go home. My next semester requires me to be on campus twice a week for 2 hours at the most, so I really think this is the best timing possible for me to get a dog.

As the title states, I am looking for advice on how to best prepare for my baby to come home and what to expect in the first few weeks! If anyone has recommendations for supplies that're commonly overlooked, that'd also be appreciated!!!

I am open to addressing anyone's opinions or concerns 🙂

I’m starting to feel like there is no solution after a dog has grown up. Am I the only one dealing with this?

I have a 7-year-old medium-sized Cavachon who has pulled on the lead. We’re a family of three and we all walk him, which I think has made it hard to teach him consistent discipline with every person. I’ve tried so many things over the years: slowing down, stopping when he pulls, using treats and ‘Sit’ whenever he starts pulling, buying a harness and watching yt videos. Nothing has seemed to work for a prolonged period of time. Some walks are okay, others feel like he’s dragging me the whole time.

It’s getting to the point where daily walks feel more like a chore than something to enjoy. Even my mum struggles with him and she’s complained about back pain from the pulling, he’s not even a big dog.

I’m curious if anyone else is struggling with older dogs, or if anyone has successfully retrained an adult dog to walk nicely on the lead?

If so, what was your approach?

I’d love to know what others have experienced with this issue and whether people have found reliable ways to fix it. Any experiences (good or bad) would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!

My aunt lives in Pennsylvania and has an older border collie. A UPS delivery person claims the dog bit him (she received an email from UPS). [The dog has no prior bit history]. She contacted her homeowners and they said they will drop her policy unless the dog is gone.* She’s had no luck finding a local rescue to take the dog and so will have to euthanize it. Does anyone know of shelters in the PA, NY, NJ area that would take such a dog?

• She tried finding alternative insurers but they all refused to write a policy if she kept the dog.

Hi all. We've had our 6mo mutt for a little over a month now and he is overall a great dog. My one problem I seem to continually have is non-stop barking in his crate when are at home in a different room. My partner and I work full-time, so he is crated during the day (sleeps outside the crate at night), but I come home mid-day to care for him so he is not left the entire workday. His general schedule currently looks like this:

Morning- potty, breakfast, short walk

Mid-day- potty, lunch, longer walk

Evening- potty, longer walk/playtime in the yard, dinner

The times of each of these are consistent. When my partner or I leave the house, he is quiet in his crate. No signs of anxiety or distress even without some kind of stimulation or toy. Similarly, when we eat dinner we crate him and he is fine–but we eat dinner in the same room as his crate.

HOWEVER, as soon as I need to get something done in another room for more than five minutes, he is non-stop crying/barking/pawing at his crate. His crate has blankets, toys, etc. and I normally leave him with a stuffed Kong with his favorite treats & peanut butter. I have been doing the normal crate-training protocol with games, treats, etc. and he goes into his crate with a command no issues. My partner travels for work frequently so having someone to watch over him all the time when we are home is not an option. I am losing my mind over here as to what I am doing wrong and if this constitutes some kind of separation anxiety that I need to consult a vet or behaviorist for. Any advice welcome.

Hi, I am a new puppy owner! We have had our 14 week old bernedoodle boy puppy for about 1.5 weeks now. He has learned commands exceptionally well, especially when accompanied with gestures. He knows where to find his water, a mirror to stare at himself, and the door to come back inside.

Unfortunately, our puppy doesn’t seem to enjoy going outside to potty. This might be a wrong assumption so I would love any advice to help! We have him on a pretty regular schedule all day, 1.5 to 2.5 hours in the crate, immediately potty, play, then feed if it’s time. However sometimes during play he will just stop suddenly, no cue, and start peeing. We have a bell on our door that tried jingling and giving treats with every time we went outside, saying the word potty too. He still has yet to ring the bell or even remotely stand near the door if he needs to potty. Every time we go out to potty, he always pees. Immediately praise is given and an extra special treat is given too.

Would love any advice! Also any advice on getting him to listen better outside. Inside he does great but outside he is often exploring and doesn’t respond well to verbal cues but will eventually respond to physical cues.

Thank you so much for your help!

Hi all! My mini poodle/terrier mix is a year old. We recently adopted him from a shelter. He has been a great dog and so funny and cute. He’s reliably potty trained now inside our house. The issue is, his potty spot in the backyard is under about 1 inch of rainwater (as is most of our backyard) due to poor drainage. I have an astroturf mat with weeds he has peed on stretched out and ready for him on the garage floor. We have a covered backyard patio. He is interested in the potty mat currently in the garage, just won’t go potty. Do I need to move the mat to under the back porch? Would having it outside instead encourage potty success? Or does it not make a difference and I need to just be patient and wait him out?

Any advice or help here is super appreciated!! Thanks for reading!!

We have a 10 year old corgi. Very well tempered and loves humans. Getting shyer in his old age. In general he’s been around bigger kids but only one small toddler in the past. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the toddler visiting but we figured because it was because he was not used to the energy being a kid free household.

So fast forward, we now have a 7 month old baby. When we brought baby home, we did the blanket thing, did all the stuff to “introduce” dog and baby with smelling. But I general, we kind of kept them separate. Dog has never ever shown aggression toward baby. Is often in the same room with us while she plays with no issues.

Baby is now mobile. Crawling all over. Dog wants nothing to do with baby, just wants to be near mom and dad which is fine. He turns his head and kind of backs away when she comes near. Did we mess up by basically telling dog that baby is “off limits”? Because now he seems afraid to even be less than 3 feet away from her.

Today I was petting him and she was crawling up to me, and dog went toward her and booped her face with his nose… did not make any aggressive noises or anything so I honestly don’t know what the intention was. But it kind of freaked me out. This is the first time it happened. Tips welcome… but please be nice.

ETA we do keep our baby in a playpen often to keep baby and dog separate, but I just want to know if there’s any hope in making my dog comfortable with baby in the future. (Not to be left alone, just to be closer). I’m looking into an in home trainer, but just looking for candid feedback now.