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My Cavapoo just turned 10 weeks old. I’ve had him since November 1st.

He’s taken to his crate really well. He will cry for a bit, but subsides within minutes. He rarely cries to be woken up.

My issue is he cries in his play pen often. When I walk away or am sitting nearby outside of the pen.

How do I teach him to stop the crying?

It doesn’t seem to be a major distress cry. Note that his play pen and crate are in separate rooms.

I have a 16 week old female golden retriever puppy. She is still actively working on being crate trained and has made some pretty good progress. During the day I use the crate for enforced nap time. She needs to be watched every second she’s out of the crate because she chews on baseboards, furniture, rugs etc despite all of the toys she has. She’s teething like crazy. I redirect and positively reinforce when this happens. Lately I have been struggling to find time for myself to cook real food, clean, or shower because it requires me to put my attention elsewhere. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight and feel disgusting most of the time. If I take my eyes off of her for 20 seconds she’s doing something bad lol. Husband is currently not here and it’s made it even harder since it’s just me. Most would say do these things during naps, but the slightest noise wakes her up like the shower or cooking sounds and she’s on a barking spree. I worry about creating a negative association with the crate if I put her in it unless it’s nap time or if I am leaving the house briefly. She is already slightly reluctant to go in it for sleep. I brought up to my husband possibly getting a playpen to expand from her crate so I can walk away for more than 20 seconds and know she is safe and somewhere she can still walk around and play in. He basically told me, in nicer terms, I was being extra and dramatic, put her in the crate, and let her bark because dogs will be dogs and bark. Would the playpen be as beneficial as I feel it would be or am I just being insane. I thought things like playpens were bare minimum for raising a puppy and that people frequently use them alongside crates but my husband has made me feel like I am being crazy and spending unnecessary money on things she doesn’t need.

I can see the requirements on the website, is there any youtube video or guide you guys can recommend to train my dog for the AKC CGC test?

Hi All,

My husband and I currently have an almost 2 year old black male Labrador. In a little over a month, we are welcoming in an 8 week old female yellow Lab. We are so excited and know Boomer will be overjoyed to have a sister. I want to make this transition as easy as possible for all 4 of us.. Are there any books, reading materials, YouTube videos, etc. that you would recommend? I have seen many recommend their initial meeting be outside and to have shorter interactions the first few days to let them both acclimatize to eachother. Any other tips? I have never owned 2 dogs at once so any advice is appreciated!

I need some major help!! I’m at a loss of what to do!! I have had my dog for almost a year and just in the last several months has created SEVERE separation anxiety when I leave the house. I have tried what feels like everything, crating, keeping her to one space, free roaming, anxiety meds, calming treats and I’m constantly coming home to destroyed linens, poop and pee accidents she’s even destroyed some clothes. I am on my second dog trainer with her as they have been no help in this department and having a dog trainer gets expensive but so does going through bed sheets, clothes and meds. Anyone have any suggestions or ever been in the same boat? She is a little over 2 and I do have 2 roommates at home with her almost all the time and she still does these things when they aren’t around either. I am on a single income and can’t afford to be home with her all the time so have no choice but to work a full time job. Eventually I will be living on my own again with just her and she won’t have other people to let her out during the day so this is something I need to figure out very soon. I’d love to send her to a dog boarding facility but I cannot afford that on my income. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! FYI she is house trained where she does know where to use the bathroom but chooses to have accidents when I’m not home.

Hi everyone! I need some advice as a first time dog mom. I have a puppy that I’ve had for about 6 months. I’m having a hard time telling if he has separation anxiety, confinement anxiety, or all of the above and could use some opinions as I’m working on crate training him.

When we first got him, he did just fine in his crate and would settle and sleep the majority of the time if we had to leave the house. I work from home so I don’t have to leave him often and typically he would be left alone for max 4 hours on the weekend. He would also sleep in the crate in our bedroom. He has been my little shadow since the week we got him and as he has gotten older he seems to be hating his crate and I can’t tell if it’s being away from me that bothers him or being confined in the crate. So here are some notes and you tell me what you think –

• He sleeps in bed now so no more crate at night
• I have recently started putting him in the crate to nap while I’m in the room and he does fine with that and will settle and sleep
• When I leave him now he will cycle through phases. First barking/whining then he might settle and lay down for a little bit then he’s back up again barking, panting, moving around. He has torn up 2 beds and sometimes will pee but not every time
• If I put a blanket on the crate, he loves it while I’m there but will tear it down when I’m gone
• When I’m home working, he’ll wander the house. Typically he stays in my office with me but sometimes will go lay in our bedroom or on the couch. He also doesn’t mind sitting outside alone.
• If I leave him out to wander while I’m in our garage working out, he will mostly sit by the door and sometimes whine but will quiet down. – We left him free in our bedroom 1 time and watched him on the camera and he seemed even more anxious, pacing back and forth, crying/barking
• He will sometimes choose to just lay in his crate when we’re home
• I give him a frozen Kong in the crate. Sometimes he will eat it, other times he won’t until we get home
• when I get home and let him out of the crate he runs around super excited, jumps and whines (I try to stay neutral when I come in) and then after about 30 seconds of that he’ll typically go get his unfinished Kong

So based on that, do you have any thoughts on if he has separation anxiety or just anxiety with the crate? Do you have any tips?

I have been feeding him in the crate, practicing with him in there and I’ll leave for a few minutes and come back, lots of treats in there, started having him nap again when I’m home, is there anything else I should do? How many times a day should we be practicing?

Ideally I would rather him be able to be left out alone while we’re gone. However, I think it’s important for him to be comfortable in his crate. We live away from our families and when we go home to visit for Christmas for example, we’ll be at my moms which will be unfamiliar to him and I’d like him to have a safe space if we’re all out of the house.

Thanks for reading my long post and I appreciate any advice you may have!

I still have all my old dogs bowls and leads that are perfectly good and i’m getting my new puppy soon.

My wife is adamant that theres no point buying new bowls and leads etc when we have perfectly good stuff but i’ve always felt it would be wrong to use my boys stuff with a different dog. I have kept my dogs leads in its usual spot since they died (4 years ago for my lurcher and 5 weeks since my staffy died). They have sat in the usual place by the front door and i wont ever throw them away but i also cant bring myself to use them with the new puppy.

Does anyone else do this or is my wife right that its strange to waste perfectly good (and expensive) leads and stuff?