hi friends. my partner and i recently got a chihuahua puppy. we got her on 10/31 and was about 7.5 weeks. she weighs 1.9lbs (so tiny).

i have a couple of concerns and wanted to see if anything her could provide some guidance or advice.

1. potty training/accidents
2. we bought her one of those fresh patch grass pad so she can use the restroom outside our front door since she is not fully vaccinated. we didn’t want to use pee pads inside as we thought it would be a really hard habit to break. so far we try to take her out every 40 minutes to an hour, right after naps, after playing, and typically 30-40 after eating. she has about 2 or 3 accidents inside a day.
3. she knows to use the grass patch and that it’s supposed to be for her to potty but the issue is she will not walk to the front door on her own. she will run and hide underneath the table until we pick her up and take her outside and she then will relieve herself.
4. when should i stop lifting her up to go potty? if we see her sniffing or assuming position we immediately pick her up and take her outside.

5. she’s not treat motivated so i don’t know how to get her outside 😭

6. not food/treat motivated

7. she eats about 1/3 of her kibble, we try not to leave the food out so she doesn’t get used to free feeding but im also concerned she isn’t eating enough. is there something i can do to get her to eat more? (we have a vet appt on the 22 and will also be relaying my concerns)

8. we try to train her 3 times a day, the issue is she is not very treat motivated. she will maybe eat 1 or 2 and then loose interest in the treat. i tried to do it with a high value item like a toy but she also loses interest fast. i know she’s a puppy so we can’t expect immediate results but are there any tips or advice for training? i see other posts about puppy’s her age knowing simple commands and i feel like im failing her!

9. the biting

10. omg the biting, poor thing. i know biting is a normal part of puppyhood, but my god she is a menace! she loves to bite and pull on my hair and bite our couch.

11. we started with redirection and that works for 5 seconds until she loses interest and my chin and neck are her next targets.

12. i have also started to do the “no bite” get up and ignore her for 15 seconds and sit back down. this also hasn’t seemed to be effective for her either.

13. is there another tip you would recommend?

14. harness training

15. my god she will not stop biting it. she’s also really small so i’ve gone through like 4 different harness trying to find one that fits.

basically i don’t want to raise a mean, unsocialized, stereotypical chihuahua. she is really sweet and i want to give her a fulfilling and enriching life.

My girl cannot stand to be in the car for more than 15 minutes before she starts to get sick. A vet told us to try Dramamine but that didn’t really do much for her. Anyone have any other recommendations we could try?

Hi, would appreciate any advice but i recently adopted my girl who used to be an ex-breeder dog. So she doesn’t know how to play with toys and when i try to put her on the dog bed, she walks off instantly.

Does anyone have any advice on how i could guide her on this? Bought the bed as i wanted her to be comfortable. 🙂

Our beautiful little Cockalier Poo puppy just turned 9 months old, and seems to have entered the teenager phase. She was quite a difficult puppy but with consistency we managed to nail her training and she finally started to settle into a good routine and her behaviour regulated.

However, the last two weeks it’s all gone out of the window. The main issue is, she’s ridiculously restless. It’s like she can’t regulate herself – she refuses to sit or lie down for a nap, and is constantly displaying anxious/bored behaviour: chewing everything in sight (doorframes, furniture, walls etc.), barking, nipping and pacing. She literally doesn’t sit still, it’s impossible to get anything done as she needs constant supervision. She’s crate trained so when things really get too much, we put her in there as a time out and she immediately falls asleep, but she just can’t seem to recognise when it’s time to settle down by herself – something she’d never previously had an issue with.

We walk her 30-60mins per day with plenty of time for sniffing and loose lead training, she has ~30mins per day of fetch/training outside in the garden and we have various mental enrichment toys like Kongs, puzzle feeders, yak cheese bones, snuffle mats etc. to ensure she’s challenged. I really don’t know what more we can do to enrich her – we both have full time jobs (working from home) and previously she’d just potter about by herself when we were on calls, but now she cannot be left for even a minute without causing trouble.

I know doodles are intelligent dogs and need stimulation, but taking care of her right now is honestly like a full time job, it’s relentless and we’re supposedly doing everything right. We ignore bad behaviour and redirect with chews, toys etc. and we reward good behaviour. Can anyone give me hope that this is just the teenager phase, or do these dogs genuinely have to be tended to every single minute of the day? I’m worried we’re encouraging/embedding behaviours – everything online suggests you should ignore attention seeking behaviour, but she’s destroying the house I can’t just ignore her! Any advice would help massively!

Today I noticed a new spot/mark in my dog’s chin. He is 6 months old, and I haven’t noticed it before today (he spends a lot of time upside down so I think I would have noticed before now).

I think it is probably just a change in the colour of his skin, but it looks like a bald patch? There is a bit of hair around his new chin nipple, and it doesn’t look red or sore, just pink and black lol.

Any advice or clue as to what it is will be greatly appreciated

So, my boyfriend and I (both 29) are at that stage of life where getting a dog feels like the next big commitment…

We live in an apartment, but we’re not couch potatoes. We’re out hiking, hitting the beach basically every weekend and on long walk and park every day. He runs a lot (like 15-20k every couple of days) and the dog would stay at my parents’ place whenever we’re not working from home they have two very sweet, well-behaved medium schnauzers who are down to chill with other dogs. So the dog wouldn’t be alone much, if ever.

We’re drawn to big dogs. Love the look and personality of Irish Setters (a close friend has one) and German Wirehaired Pointers (but reading about pointers energy levels has discouraged us). I’d say I’m a decent amateur trainer and totally willing to level up with classes or a program if needed. So: thoughts on these breeds or any other breed you can think of?

dogbreed #energy #pointers

when the pup came for the first day, my older dog was fine (1.5y) and was even cuddling the pup. However, come 2nd day he’d snap at the young pup when we gave it attention.

If i’m not home and they’re left alone, they’d be ok, playing or the pup might hide from him. it happened about twice, he bit the pup when i was playing w him on the bed so i know that’s not natural ground. But what can i do about this situation?

I’ve placed the little one in a crate and letting him out every now and then.

Our 1yo rescue Chiweenie we've had for about a month came to us pretty traumatized, but she has been really resilient and is adapting fast. We adore her, and she is getting along pretty well with our 5yo Chipit (Chitbull?) so far, but the biggest problem we are having is that she won't let us pet him or let him cuddle with us. She forces herself in-between him and us if he tries to sit next to us, she will bite his face like she wants to play with him if we try to pet him, and she will run and take his spot on the bed before he gets there. It's starting to make my dog depressed and it's not making me very happy either.

I want to assure you, this little gal is NOT hurting for attention. She is an unstoppable force of nature and a complete ham in a house of 3 adults who love her and work from home. She is in somebody's lap most of the day unless it's by her own design. But when I try to pay attention to our other dog, who has been extremely patient throughout this, she acts like we are going to instantly forget about her. We've done the dual petting, and in the first few weeks we did everything fairly synchronously. We do try separating them so they get their own activities, like taking one for a walk while my husband plays with the other in the back yard, or quiet time in another room behind a closed door. We do a lot of "group snuggles" in order to fit both dogs in, but that kinda feels like a shared birthday. It would be nice to not have to do that and be able to just love my dog when I want.

I have two mutts, and I've finally decided to take the plunge.

Do people have preferences for one service over another? Cost is an issue.

As far as I can tell, there are five different services.

Embark

Wisdom

Basepaws

Ancestry

DNA My Dog

Any others? Does anyone have experience with one of them? I'm really looking for recommendations.

Thanks.

She used to be a little menace but she just finished her first cycle a while ago and she's the sweetest thing now, still very playful but no longer has any destructive tendencies, a lot more obedient as well, I can also say for sure she's not pregnant, I thought she would go back to her usual self after..I'll always love her no matter what but ngl I appreciate that's she's a lot more chill now.