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I can’t get into the person who usually does them so I think I might just do them myself. However my dog is a chocolate lab so she has black nails and I’ve never cut nails before. Should I/ how should I do this?

I know there ar lots of post like this one, but I just need to write this down und maybe get some supportive words.

I have two dogs, the older one is 6 now and mostly an angel now (it wasn't always like this). About 2 months ago I got a second dog, an Australien Kelpie, as I am active in agility with my first dog. She is about 5 months now and I really think she is the devil in diguise.

She will only ever sleep when put in her crate. Outside she is mostly calm now, but sleep? Oh no. She barks all the time. Doesn't get what she wants? Barking. Strange sounds? Barking. Running? Barking. Other dogs? Excessive Barking. And also she is constantly nipping and annoying my older dog who doesn't correct and lets her do everything (no worries, i protect her from the puppy). I think that is also why she knows no boundaries around other dogs. She is the respectles and naughty.

I mean, I've read a lot before, especially about the breed. I've felt prepared, but this… Don't get me wrong, it's not all bad and she already has learned quite a lot, but sometimes I am at my wits end.

I’m 24 and just got a raise at my new job and I live in a 550 sq ft studio. I’m thinking of getting this puppy that is deemed to be a cattle/golden retriever mix. The person fostering it said the veterinarian deemed the dog to be 30-60 lbs full grown. I work on site at my job 8 hours a day but in the evening from 1:30-10 pm. I figure if I get the dog I could spend 6am-12 pm with the dog then go to work, hire a person to drop in like on Rover and then come home to take more care of it. I don’t live far from my job, less than 10 minutes away. My family lives an hour or two away so it’s not in the cards to have family take care of the pet. My family also thinks the dog will bark all day when I’m gone but with proper training I could help the dog adapt to my lifestyle I think? I haven’t gotten the dog yet but I will go in person to see the dog and also talk to the person who’s fostering the dog to get an idea of their temperament. Please let me know what you think but please no judgy or rude comments it’s just to get an idea since I live alone. TIA

TLDR: need tips for our overly excited leash pulling puppy, to make walks doable and fun again!

Hi all!

We need some advice on our overly excited enthousiastic puppy of 10 months.

He loves everything and everyone. And when I say loves I mean LOVES. However, this makes every walk outside super frustrating as he wants to meet every dog and every human and pulls the leash until he stand on his back legs. Multiple trainers have compared him to a person with ADHD.

It seems like a mix of really wanting to play and a mix of normale adolocent interest.

So for context: – he is a Dutch breed, which is kind of like a 30 kg spaniel (bird dog) – We have never let him meet anyone on leash ever since he was a puppy – He gets multiple long walks during the day and goes out with a dog walker to play with other dogs in a fenced field 2 times a week. – we do adolocent courses, sniff courses, hunting training and try to find as much mental stimulation as we can – he is crate trained and sleeps both inside and outside of his crate

The problem: – outside he seems untrainable when it comes to his hyperfocus on other dogs/people: no interest in the best treats (think chicken, cheese, beef lung, etc.), no interest in playing with us, being near us, or reaction to us doing anything at all

• we have also tried training him by sitting at a safe distance for other dogs and trying to get him to settle/focus on us. He doesn't settle, he doesn't make contact, for months already he just stares at the dogs and gets overexcited.

• when he is in a new area he starts to leap forward pulling on the leash as hard as he can. We never have let him pull one bit – we say no and walk the other direction, try the 1,2,3 for contact, make him come and sit move forward. But he doesn't seem to want to learn as the world is much more fun!

We want to take him everywhere! But every walk is a nightmare and painfull as he pulls and pulls. Yesterday at the beach he even started hyperfocusing on dogs 300 meters away!

I feel like it's a combination of overstimulation, adoloscense and the breed that is not super human focused. But we would love to have the golden tip to help us out!

At the moment we can't really go anywhere new, can't let him run loose as he will just run and jump on people/dogs and not come back as he has forgotten about us

Inside he is the perfect little angle though!

Thanks for helping 🐶

This is me venting as I need to get this off my chest.

I have had my 12 week Chug for two weeks tomorrow. I have never owned a pet before and I am absolutely overwhelmed. Some days I am fine and some days I wonder what I got myself in to.

I live and care for my mother who has mild to moderate alzheimer's. Both my brother and I think it will be good for Mum. We live in an apartment.

I have been constantly caring for our puppy for the last two weeks, haven't gone out except for groceries or supplies for pup. Started puppy school last week.

Toilet training is a hit and miss, more misses than hits. The puppy has been sleeping with me as could not handle his cries the first night so I gave in. He cannot sleep during the day unless it's next to me or Mum on the lounge.

I have been a little upset with him today, telling him 'no' more than 'yes' and 'good boy', because I have had little sleep and he has been peeing in his playpen. He has ruined the playpen as he chewed around the doorway and I can't close it anymore. His bed in there stinks so I've gone out and bought another bed and playpen.

Whenever he poo's he sometimes does it on training pads and sometimes not. Never in playpen. I have caught him eating his poo a few times, not every time. Is this normal behaviour or am I doing something wrong?

Unfortunately I have not been able to put him on a lead, I managed to get collar on him after having tried a harness which he did not like. The lead I manage to get that on but he plays with it and whenever I get it he becomes fearful and doesn't want to move. So I just give up. Is this normal?

The only way I manage to take him out is in his carrier, in my car and he seems to enjoy that.

I love him so much and don't want to ruin training him. Is it still too late for him to learn, I can't wait for puppy school to get answers and suggestions.

I don't want him controlling my life, I want to have a little freedom. I keep being told that things get better, I really hope I haven't ruined the chance yet.

I wouldn't give him up for the world, we love him so much.

I'm sorry my venting is so long and maybe very confusing. Not sure if anyone can make sense to what I am saying.

If you got this far, thank you for at least taking the time to read this.

Hi guys! I got a cockapoo pup 2 weeks ago, she’s 11/12 weeks old. I’ve had a dog before when I was a teenager and my husband hasn’t.

We naively thought this would be easier than it is, we knew it would be hard but not this hard!

She cries when I’m around the house and she’s in her pen alone. When we leave for work she cries of course but settles down relatively quickly so I’m not sure if it’s separation anxiety or not? I work shifts and my husband wfh 2 days a week so she’s not always alone for hours and hours. She sometimes will pee and poo when we go out and I try not to be annoyed because she probably just needed to go but sometimes when we go upstairs to get ready she will just poo because you leave (or at least that’s how it feels) 😅

She loves her crate and she goes in there by herself when she’s tired or to calm down. We had a pen that we opened up but I now think I’m going to close it up again into an actual pen for her to use.

But please, how long till it gets better?! We’ve had a tough year and thought it would bring some happiness into our lives and it has but also a world of stress and tiredness and frustration. She’s just a baby and we know that but it’s hard!

My best friend’s 6 month old puppy tonight snatched the poppy right off my jacket. I noticed immediately and I grabbed his mouth, we retrieved the red piece and the black piece of the poppy from his throat, but no pin in sight. My heart dropped, thinking he swallowed the pin we rushed him to the vet ER, about an hour away. I was devastated that I’d been so careless, I didn’t even think about how he might go for the poppy. After making it all the way to the ER my friend stepped out of the truck, and that’s when I noticed it… on the floor right where his feet had been, the pin for the poppy. I’m still so overwhelmed and devastated by how bad this could have been, and how scary it was. I’ve been crying thinking about what ifs all night, wishing I had the foresight to see that happening, and I feel awful for all the stress I caused my friend tonight. However, I’m so very thankful to share an ending to the story that is happy, and that it turned out okay. It was lucky finding the pin, before having X-rays and all that done, and needless to say no one’s going to have poppies kicking around with this puppy near

Hi guys, so thankfully I'm not dealing with a puppy anymore, but I do have a stubborn 1 year old dog! And I'm hoping for some advice …

She has recently developed a fear/dislike for rain. If we try and go for a walk in the rain, she will hang back on her leash and/or stand still (we have tried positive association, it's still early days, but it doesn't seem to be too helpful yet). The issue I'm having is that she has started to potty inside, and stopped telling us when she needs to go (she usually stands by the back door and hits it lol) but now she has just been doing it inside, in front of us sometimes.

The big issue is we live in the UK so rain is basically all the time!! I will stand outside with her and do positive reinforcement, I have tried catching her in the act and immediately moving her (it just doesn't seem to have the same effect as it did with a puppy!), and I've also been giving her more frequent toilet breaks. She seems to hit a freeze response if she's in the rain and will just stand still, then make a dart inside when she can.

I'm just unsure on where to go next! It seems like creating discomfort (e.g. Moving her mid toilet) isn't having the same effect now shes older, and it actually seems to do the opposite and scare her more. I feel like my next option is to try and tackle the fear, any tips please?! Thanks in advance, if you read all this.