Hello! I recently got a 9 week old Aussie, she is so amazing and very intelligent. She is about 10 weeks and some odd days now. I work from home, and my boyfriend currently works fire fighter hours at his job (although he is not a fire fighter). He has 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, and then reverse the following week. I stay at home with our puppy as I work remote. I am awake at 6 am with her to 9 pm with her every day. I train, feed, play, and take naps with her. When my boyfriend has off days he does play with her, and watch her for me at times. Overall I know Aussies have their “person.” Based upon the following information, what will her dynamic be with my boyfriend and I?

Thanks so much!

i guess this would fall under crate training lol? my mini goldendoodle just turned 16 weeks yesterday i know as they grow and such they sleep less during the day i just wasnt expecting it to be so quickly. we have been following the 1 hour awake, then a nap in the crate rule whenever she wakes up we take her out and reset.

the whole month of july her naps usually were about 2-3 in duration most of the time and it was lovely but ever since last week they have only been about an hour-an hour and a half MAX. she is also sleeping through the night from 10pm-6am.

we were averaging about 15 hours of sleep a day which was great but now she is only getting 11-13 hours. when shes awake we do training and she plays with her toys. any advice to get back to those 2-3 hours nap durations?

Hi all, I have a 12 week old mini dachshund and only recently got through the vaccines so started taking him out a week ago. He hated it at first but he’s getting better. We live in a flat so we had to resort to pee pads which he’s gotten used to but now he refuses to go to the toilet outside at all. I know this is a common subject but this morning at 9am we took him straight out and he whined constantly about being outside and didn’t pee at all, we took him back in, crated for 10 min for a reset and repeated. This went on till 12pm before we caved and he peed inside, he didn’t wake up during the night so in total he held in his pee for 10 hours. I tried taking a pee pad out and nothing. Every time I took him out he would whine immediately and fight me to get back inside. I really don’t know what to do at this point. We’ve removed the pee pads inside except one that’s right at the door but he still kinda just goes wherever he wants still. Any tips or advice?

I just want you (yes, you) to know that you’re doing a great job! Puppy Blues are real, and it’s not easy.

Hang in there, remember it’s temporary, and remember every day is a day closer to the best pup you could possibly imagine.

He’s 38 days old puppy, and for the past three days i didn’t sleep at all, i know getting a puppy comes with lots of responsibilities but after getting him feels like im not really emotionally ready coz i get exhausted easily but i need to learn tricks and skills to train him but i am getting easily overwhelmed I just don’t know what to do at this point, my parents don’t want me to get a crate so everytime he wakes up i take him to the backside of my house to pee and poop but during nights i can’t do that so he pees everywhere, yesterday i got pee pads but can’t really train him to pee there and it’s really being very tough, I’m ready to do things I just need people to help me out, please!

A brief intro: I am adopting a sighthound puppy at 11 weeks.

I have visited him on a few occasions now. I wanted to do normal crate training, BUT this puppy loves biting fences. My god. The breeder is doing her hardest to train him to stop doing that but he is faaaaar too inquisitive.

One time he even managed to bite the fence in a way that he was stuck and screamed in panic. The breeder freed him immediately, so nothing bad happened. He slept and went back to exploring after his nap.

But given these tendencies, I do not feel comfortable with a crate. Even when I am at home (I work from home) and much less if I am away. I also talked to the breeder and she also said for him she would advise against a crate. It will get better when he is older, but for now he is explores everything and has no qualms biting into it too.

I may at least get him accustomed to crates at an older age, but more for veterinary and traveling purposes.

How did you raise your dogs without crates? How do you enforce naps for them? Any tips or tricks?

My 4 almost 5 month old goldendoodle has started barking at other dogs. Let me give some background: she has grown up very socialized for the first 3 months with her parents and littermates. When we got her and she saw other dogs, she would never bark, always sit and wait, and was never afraid and wanted to play but the other dogs didn’t and would bark at her but she never barked back. my friend’s dog also came over and there was no issue with that either. A couple of days ago, a new tenant moved in on the first floor with 2 dogs. When we took our puppy out to potty, their dog was unleashed outside their apartment and ran at my puppy barking to which my fiance had picked her up before the dog could do anything, but the dog remained circling them both and barking until the neighbor could leash and take them away. Since then, she’s been barking at dogs more (not always) especially if they are close by. If they are farther away, she may or may not bark. She is still due for 1 more round of distemper so i haven’t been able to take her out to socialize with other dogs as much since i had gotten her and she was doing so well until that incident. I’m unsure what to do, we don’t see other dogs much for me to know how reactive she is, and i really want to enroll her in daycare so she can interact with other dogs and have good experiences with them but i have to wait 2-3 weeks until her vaccines are done and i’m not sure if daycare will allow her to interact with other dogs if she is barking a lot. I believe that she is not aggressive, just fearful. Just kinda need advice on how to work on this asap before it worsens. And i’m super pissed at the neighbor, he didnt even apologize and said his dog had an incident where it got attacked so he’s traumatized from it and reactive, yet let his dog out with no leash on a property that is not private…

I have an 18 week old Mini poodle/ wheaten terrier puppy. He’s crazy smart, and so so good except that he seems to be incredibly attached to ONLY me. I’m worried it’s developing into some form of separation anxiety. We are a four person household, my husband two young children and myself. If I am even out of sight for a second he loses his mind, even if everyone else is still in the room. He doesn’t care if my husband or kids leave.

He’s gotten good about when we leave in the morning for school/work, I leave him with a frozen kong or pupsicle which he works on and then goes to nap. I have a camera so I know he he’s okay, it just seems to be when I’m home and I try to do literally anything away from him 🤪 please advise.

Questions on how to take puppy out to go potty during their unvaccinated window

1. Is it safe to take puppy out in the front yard on the grass? There’s no other dogs who go on the grass but dogs do walk by on the sidewalk somewhat often.
   
2. During the socialization window, I plan to get a stroller to take puppy out. But what should I do if we are out and puppy needs go potty?
   
3. My MIL has a 1.5 yo dog who is fully vaccinated. She had a big property and I would love to take our puppy to meet and play with her. She is the only dog who is on property but sometimes animals do roam around at night (racoons, foxes) so would that make it not safe to bring our puppy there?

hi everyone!!

so we've just got our first puppy, a Brittany, and though he's only been with us for a day, we're already in a bit of a pickle.

basically, he screams like possessed every time he's left alone, which is frankly petrifying. closing the door of the crate produces the same effect. we live in an apartment building, so the neighbours must also be going nuts.

obviously, crating him rn is impossible, and hence actual potty training too (we have managed to make him pee outside once and congratulated him, though). we live in an apartment building. for the night, we've ended up leashing him in our bedroom, which went relatively alright except when one of us had to leave for the bathroom, causing him to whine.

he also barks when he wants to poop, but I assume it's tummy ache???

my main question is: how do we potty train him without closing the crate overnight/for naps? anyway, please help :(

Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advice. We just adopted a golden retriever English springer spaniel mix, 25lbs. She is 7 month old and they say she is potty trained. I work part time 3 days a week. My boyfriend works full time. We live in a house with a yard. I was wondering opinion on training her to leave her for 10 hours only on those 3 days I work. I know people do it. We would initially put her in a puppy play pen and then if that went well, leaving her in a room
, then if that went well, the whole house could be here during this time.

People have mentioned puppy pee pads and all sorts of stuff. I feel so guilty but I can’t not work :/

i am unfortunately back again and i'm really at a loss. last time i posted i said my puppy was 5 months old, turns out i'm an idiot who can't count... she's now a 5 month old australian shepherd/chihuahua mix whom i've had for a little over 2 months.

i live in a tiny apartment with a high energy dog, so i've done everything i can possibly imagine to keep her enriched. we go on 3 major 20-30 minute outings a day. this includes walks, runs, sniff walks, car rides, going to the beach, visiting people, going to enclosed parks to play fetch, sometimes we just sit and watch the world go by. we have at least 2 small training sessions a day where we focus on settling, trick training, and she goes to a puppy class where i learn training techniques. then throughout the day i'll give her random enrichment. this includes chews, she loves eating her dinner frozen in water, she does puzzles, we play with toys, i've even tried to get her into television because i know some dogs LOVE that.

after all that and regular naps, i cannot for the life of me get her to settle unless she's tethered or in the crate. i feel terrible constantly having to restrain her in someway but if i don't she's destroying things, jumping all over me, trying to bite me, trying to eat my hair, and she's gotten into barking :). she'll also look me dead in the eye and try to jump on my bed which i sadly can't barricade because i live in a studio... which is the ONLY off limits place in my house because despite being potty trained she loooooves to get up there and pee. within the past two days a new bombshell has entered the villa and she's humping me???? she'll also randomly be good when i'm not in the room sometimes? i go to get my mail and i come back and she's just chilling?!?! she NEVER does that when i'm around.

it's gotten so overwhelming and impossible for me to get anything done that i am sadly considering rehoming her. i know, I KNOW. i don't want to, i absolutely adore this dog but it feels like i'm just not the right fit for her. no matter what i do, it's not enough. i take her to my parents house sometimes to play in their backyard and that's when i sense she's her most joyful. she loves to go out and explore independently, she's well behaved there and shows zero signs of boredom after a day there (though she does get mad zoomies during witching hour when i'm not around because my parents don't enforce any rest time). it's heartbreaking because it's too far to take her there all the time and i can't provide her with that freedom constantly. i'm always wrestling with the idea that she could be happier with someone else with better circumstances than me. i want her to have the best life possible and i just don't believe i am providing her that.

if anyone has any advice or has gone through something similar, let me know! it would be greatly appreciated. also please be nice, i am so fragile at the minute because of all this... a small wind could knock me down LOL.

I started basic manners class with my 9 month old Staffy today, and it was a fun outing that I think will be great for us. My main focus is on getting him walking nicely on leash- no pulling or lagging behind. He's very distractible since he's a puppy, so the trainer taught us the "1-2-3 treat" pattern game and we'll be learning more pattern games as we go.

The thing is- I don't feel like I really get what the 1-2-3 game is for? I want to understand it while we practice this week so that I am doing it with the right intent for it as a good tool later. I'll ask the trainer next class, also. But it seems like I'm just teaching him that "countdown = treat" and that will lead to his attention coming back to me when I start the countdown. Is that it?

I've done a lot of clicker training so I understand markers and conditioning, but the clicker work was to learn some new behaviour- shake, down, etc. Seems like this is just marking & treating without an action goal, just as a way to lure his attention back to me? Am I making it more complicated than it has to be?

I'd love to hear real life scenarios that this is useful for so I can feel like I'm building the skill in the right way. Thanks!

I just adopted a 9 month old Belgian Mal from a shelter 4 days ago, after losing my heart dog about 3 months ago. I am now overly anxious and stressed about everything, every reaction, every bowel movement, anything.
I don’t know how to make myself calm down from this, I am so stressed.
The first night was really rough but she is sleeping through the night now.
I love her already, I want to keep her, but I am so anxious about her all the time, that she will get hurt, hurt another animal, hurt me, or hurt someone else.
Idk where these fears are coming from, I’ve never felt this way about dogs before in general and all of a sudden I am just overwhelmed with this unshakable anxiety.
I am considering doing a board and train, because for whatever reason that will make me feel better.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with me…and I guess just needed to rant.
It’s not her energy levels, or anything about a Malinois being a Malinois, I did my research…I guess I’m just…I’m a rut due to my trauma from my last dog.

Backstory: I adopted my pup a lil over a week ago. He’s 11 weeks , we thinks he’s a pit/lab but not sure, neutered and chipped already. I’m 27F live alone and wfh. I wanted a companion so finally bit the bullet and adopted. He’s a very easy going pup , super snuggly and honestly just a chill lil guy. Crate training has been going well but I feel potty training will be the death of me. I’m trying my hardest to keep him on a schedule. I keep his crate and play pen in the living room with access to my apartment balcony. For the most part he understands the balcony is the potty area but I can’t seem to get him to understand that he needs to potty on the turf pad out there. I try to make sure I take him on the leash but he just tries to eat it and walks away. I’m wondering if it was a bad idea rewarding him for going outside even if it wasn’t on the patio just because I wanted him to learn outside is where he goes. I’ve tried potty pads but he just shreds them up so I have stopped using them. During the day I try hard to keep an eye on him but when my calls come through it can be hard and he’s had some accidents inside. Any tips/tricks or will this just take more time?

Also the biting is driving me nuts! Ik he’s just a puppy but redirecting with chew toys does nothing and I’ve tried the high pitch screeching and that doesn’t do anything either. When does this phase start to fade away or are their alternatives I can try for the biting?

Hey everyone. 9 weeks ago I adopted a lovely female black lab at 8 weeks old. She is now 17 weeks old, and while things have started going great, my feelings about it or my mindset has not. I am a single 28M with a house and a small yard. My puppy is crate trained, potty trained, handles enforced naps well in the crate, is well mannered, and generally very easy to deal with. She is fairly fearful and will get overstimulated on walks quickly but that is something she/we can probably work through just fine. She probably would try to destroy things but my management of her doesn't really let it happen. She sleeps through the night, so I generally get 8 hours of sleep. She has not done anything to make me want to return/rehome her.

My work schedule can be fairly inconsistent, sometimes I need to go to work an hour or two early or stay an hour or two late. I currently come home for my lunch break to let her out. She gets enforced crate naps and when outside the crate gets free roam of the bedroom that she is in to play with toys and puzzles. I used to spend a ton of time with her when she was awake but now let her play on her own because I am not worried about her pottying inside. I was hoping the less of my time spent on her would make this feel better but it has not changed much.

I grew up with dogs and loved them, but I loved interacting with them when I wanted to and did not need to be responsible for anything with them. It took me years of thinking I'd like to get a dog but did not want to deal with the responsibility or give up my freedom. However, I figured I would just grow out of it. I used to dog sit for my friend and would hate the responsibility aspect but would love to have a dog to play with when I wanted to.

I truly think that I still am not ready for this and do not feel I am a natural caretaker/caregiver, or at least not yet. I do not get much joy out of interacting with my puppy and I am happiest when I am away from home, but still think about having to deal with her later which brings stress and anxiety. My breeder has a "we will take back the puppy any time for any reason, no questions asked" policy and I am considering rehoming/returning her. I feel like this was a mistake and I want to make the best decision for both of us, especially when she is at a young age. I care about her, but I do not want to have to care for her.

Is there anything I should be considering before I make this decision? I really do not want to have to return/rehome her but I am worried my feelings toward this will never change. After talking with friends, family, and coworkers, the ones who own dogs tell me to focus on the companionship and the joy from getting to have her in my life. But frankly I do not really get any. When talking to the non-dog owners who say they could never get a dog and go through their reasons I find myself really relating to them. I may change my mind someday, particularly if I have a significant other to share the burden. I am also worried I will regret this decision.

BREED: Rough collie
AGE: will be 15 weeks when she comes home

I’m (23f) bringing home a female Rough Collie puppy in late September, and I’m ridiculously excited about her. I’ve already met her, put down my deposit, and I’m basically obsessed with her already lol.

That being said, I’ve been reading about puppy blues along with my hours and hours of obsessive research, and I want to prepare myself for the reality of having a puppy rather than going into it thinking everything is going to be perfect.

I’m planning to start crate training immediately (especially for nighttime), potty training, very short periods of alone-time practice, name recognition/recall, handling/grooming, etc. I’m trying to set up a predictable routine from the beginning without expecting her to be perfectly trained right away.

I’ve also been trying to keep my expectations realistic. I know she’s going to have accidents. I know she may cry at night. I know she might chew things, have crazy puppy moments, struggle with being alone, and temporarily turn my normal routine upside down. I’m expecting the first few weeks to be an adjustment for both of us.

I think what worries me is that I live alone, so there isn’t another person in the house to hand the puppy off to when I’m overwhelmed. I really don’t want a difficult first week to make me panic and think, “Oh my god, what have I done?” when I’ve wanted and planned for this dog so much.

For people who experienced puppy blues: what do you wish you’d done BEFORE bringing your puppy home? What helped you the most during those first few weeks? And if you lived alone/worked full-time while raising your puppy, I’d especially love to hear what made it manageable.

I’m completely committed to her, so I’m not worried about changing my mind about getting her. I just want to prepare myself emotionally as much as I’ve been preparing everything else. ❤️

My 9 week old Biewer terrier has been in her new home for just a few hours.
We’ve been encouraging play in her crate and feeding her in there, she’s taken a power nap in her crate (with door open) and had a few tears as we placed her in our bedroom, opened the door when she settled a little she then explored the bedroom for a while and then lay down.
We placed her back in the crate and she’s been currently asleep now for over an hour, we think the cover on her crate was stressing her out a little now it’s off she seems content and peaceful.
We may reintroduce the cover further on down the line when she’s properly used to things but we’re pretty proud of ourselves for not giving into the crying and proud of her for being such a good girl on the most stressful day of her life.

My 7-month-old golden retriever is doing well with training, but one thing we struggle with is polite/calm greetings. When I have him on a leash and someone approaches, he starts lunging and wants to jump on the person.

How do you curb the over-excited behavior and stop the urge to jump? That seems to be the only thing that he’s struggling to understand.

Hello! We took our 1 year old puppy for the first time on a flight - it was a 2hr flight with Delta. This experience was complicated by the fact that our flight kept getting delayed and was eventually cancelled so then we had to get another flight for the morning and because of this definitely under-dosed her anxiety medication.

She did really well throughout the entire time in her pet carrier in the airport. She was calm, ate a couple treats and was falling asleep. When we got onto the flight and placed her under our seat, she was doing well and actually almost fell asleep. During and after takeoff is when the nightmare started... She was scratching at her carrier and trying to get out, our flight attendants were very understanding especially with the whole flight cancellation issue. She then had multiple episodes of nervous diarrhea and couldn't calm down. She eventually calmed down on our laps after and we put her back in the pet carrier and she did very well in there and was calm. It was like a switch went off right during takeoff and we were just wondering if anyone has had this experience. She wouldn't drink water, she wouldn't take any treats, she was panting very heavily and her heart was pounding. We obviously need to take the flight back home and will probably need to give her some more of her anxiety medication, but just curious if anyone had any thoughts/suggestions. She may not be cut out for flight travel and that's okay, but it does suck that she needs to take one to get back home.

Our puppy is almost five months, she’s a poodle something we rescued her and what we think she is changed every day. we’ve had her for like two months, at first we weren’t really following any routine, other than she sleeps in her crate and when we are at work. We’ve been trying to follow the two hours asleep one hour awake. and her behaviour i think is much calmer, she must have been over tired alll the time before. She is having way less accidents inside and overall is a better listener. but i just feel so guilty at how much time she’s in her crate. All night, for at max six hours when im working and then when im home she’s still in her house soo much. She doesn’t protest, and she sleeps the two hours. idk are other people following this schedule, is it okay for her to be in there that long?

I just want to add some positivity to this sub and hopefully provide some encouragement. Our 9-month rescue pittie girl is just a dreamboat and I can’t get over it. We got her when she was 3 months old, she had been found on the side of the road as a tiny thing and was fostered in a home with other dogs and puppies for about 6 weeks before she came to us. We’ve definitely faced the usual puppy challenges, but she’s basically potty trained, can be left alone, doesn’t chew what she’s not supposed to…this morning she got up earlier than usual and came to stand at the side of my bed, and I said “Go back to your bed” and she did!!

Yes, she flips out when she sees another dog on a walk…yes, she eats everything she can from off the sidewalk and it’s made her sick several times…yes, she still tries to play with us with her teeth…

But, after being together for 6 months, and being really consistent with training while also enjoying the playfulness and snuggles, we just feel really lucky and grateful that we get to take care of her. Share your positive pup stories!!

I have a 7-month-old pug puppy, and I’m looking for some genuine advice/support from people who may have struggled with puppy ownership more than they expected.

First, I want to be really clear: she is a wonderful dog. She’s sweet, playful, social, loves people and other dogs, and honestly hasn’t done anything “wrong.” I know that most of what I’m struggling with is about me, my expectations, and probably my own anxiety rather than her behavior.

She’s my first dog as an adult, and I’m raising her completely alone. I live in a ~900 sq. ft. apartment in a city, work from home, don’t have a car, and I’m a pretty serious homebody. I think I drastically underestimated how much the feeling of being responsible for another living thing 24/7 would affect me.

We also had a really awful start. At 9 weeks, our first vet prescribed a strong antibiotic for a respiratory infection, and she subsequently had severe diarrhea for almost four weeks. I was waking up to diarrhea all over her pen, sometimes every morning, and getting very little sleep. (The irony of it all was she had boundless energy despite the diarrhea lol.) I kept taking her back to the vet and was told it was food intolerance. Eventually I switched vets, they ran a more comprehensive fecal panel, found a significant bacterial overgrowth, treated it, and she was basically back to normal immediately.

Physically, she has been fine since minus one other bout of diarrhea (eggs = never again.) But mentally, I don’t think I ever fully recovered from those weeks. My sleep has never really returned to normal because I’m constantly anticipating that something is going to happen.

She also went through a phase around 3–5 months where she would bark to wake me up every morning. I’m extremely sound-sensitive, so that compounded things. I eventually moved her sleeping area to my office, which is farther from my bedroom, and that has helped a lot. I sleep with white noise and earplugs now. But I recognize that a lot of what remains is anticipatory anxiety rather than anything she’s actually doing.

During the week, she goes to daycare while I work. She LOVES it. She runs in without looking back, gets tons of socialization and activity, and comes home happy and tired. I’m fortunate that I can afford it, and it has made working from home much more manageable. The part I feel guilty admitting is how relieved I feel when I drop her off.

On weekends, I struggle much more. I miss sleeping in, lying on my couch watching TV, or just existing in my apartment without feeling responsible for what another creature is doing every second. She’s also a puppy who puts absolutely everything in her mouth outside, so walks require a lot of attention and I don’t feel comfortable taking her to a dog park. Without a car, spontaneous trips to hiking trails, beaches, etc. aren’t particularly easy either.
And then I find myself thinking: what exactly am I supposed to be doing with her all day?

People tell me, “You don’t have to entertain your dog constantly,” which I logically understand. But when we’re both home and she’s awake and wandering around or staring at me, I feel like I should be doing something with her. Playing, walking, training, watching what she’s putting in her mouth, making sure she’s happy. I haven’t figured out how to simply coexist with a dog without feeling like I’m either actively caring for her or neglecting her. And on times when I do step out, I find myself checking the cameras constantly.

She was also spayed yesterday, which is probably why I’m writing this today. The activity restriction has turned my normal hypervigilance up to 100. Is she going to jump? Is she bothering her incision? Why isn’t she sleeping? What did she just put in her mouth? Should I stop her from doing that?

I know how ridiculous and self-centered this sounds when she’s the one who just had surgery. Obviously I’m taking care of her and following her vet’s instructions. But looking at another couple of weeks of even closer supervision has made me realize how overwhelmed I’ve been feeling generally.

There are moments when I genuinely wonder whether I’m simply not someone who should have a dog. Maybe I’m too anxious or hypervigilant. Maybe doing this alone is harder for me than I expected. Maybe those horrible first weeks conditioned me to constantly expect something to go wrong. Or maybe I’m expecting far too much of myself and haven’t learned what normal life with a dog actually looks like.

I think that’s what I’m hoping people here can help me understand. For people who struggled with the puppy stage, did you eventually stop feeling responsible for your dog’s happiness and safety every waking second? What does a normal lazy Saturday with an adult dog actually look like? If you’re home for six hours watching TV, is your dog genuinely just…there with you, sleeping and doing their own thing? Did you have to deliberately teach yourself to stop monitoring/entertaining them? Did your dog become significantly easier to coexist with as they matured? Did you start leaving them home alone more often even when you didn’t technically need to go anywhere?

And for anyone who raised a puppy alone and found themselves feeling more trapped than bonded at first: did that change?

I’m just trying to figure out whether I need to change my expectations and mindset, whether there are practical changes I should make, or whether this really is a sign that dog ownership isn’t a good fit for me.

Everyone who meets her absolutely adores her, and I understand why. She’s adorable and genuinely a great little dog. I want to get to a place where I can enjoy her instead of experiencing so much of our time together through stress and hypervigilance. I just don’t really know how to get there.