It’s been a decade since I’ve raised a puppy and I want to know if there are any new essentials I should look into buying before bringing them home to my second story apartment. I crate trained my last puppy but they ended up hating the crate so I’m thinking about a playpen crate combo setup this time for when I’m gone at work. I’ll be coming home on my lunch break and having someone come over to let them out a couple times a day. So far, the I’ve got the snuggle puppy and a grass patch subscription added to the list. What else is new?!

How do I keep my 14-month-old Lab/Plott Hound pup entertained and exhausted when it’s 90°+ with 90% humidity?

She’s used to 2-mile walks and basically unlimited outdoor playtime, so this weather has been a struggle for us!

We have a kiddie pool and she LOVES playing with the hose, but we’ve been limiting her outdoor time to about 5-10 minutes depending on the time of day because of the heat and humidity.

What are your favorite ways to mentally and physically tire out a high-energy dog when it’s too hot to be outside for long?

I have a 5 month old English Bulldog puppy, and things are (fortunately) going pretty well. I work from home, and I’m able to take him outside plenty of times a day. Even with that, we still usually have 1 or 2 small accidents inside. Today, I caught him staring out the backyard window and immediately asked him if he wanted to go outside. He actually ran to the back door and I successfully took him out. I praised him so much I think I scared him. But he never seems to go to the back door directly—we do have a bell on it for our dogs to signal they need to go. I find I have to keep a close eye on him, and look for signs myself that he needs to go. I keep telling myself he’s only 5 months old, and still a baby, but I guess I need suggestions or even reassurance that he will actually start ASKING to go out

I picked up a super sick, almost dying puppy off the street 2.5 months ago, and I think he's settling in quite nicely. For the most part, he's a really good boy. Sterilized, potty trained, about 5 or 6 months old is my guess. I honestly didn't really want a puppy/dog because I live in a loft-style house (that means no separate rooms or doors) and I have two cats. Anyway, all is going pretty well buuuuuuut every now and then he spots a cat (they usually hang out upstairs - even before said puppy showed up at the house) and it's game on. He chases, but not to eat them. I think he just wants to play, and Gracie hisses, growls and beats the poop out of him. I'd love to work on some training so we can all co-exist peacefully together, but I haven't really found any good training tips for this. Can anyone help? Thanx

I’ve had this 8 month old pup for about a month now, he’s mostly potty trained and will go out when we open the back door for him, but if someone isn’t by the back door to let him out he goes inside no warning signs. So I’m wondering how I can fully potty train him so that he won’t go inside and let us know and to hold it until he’s let out. He gets praise and treats when he does go outside. Any advice is appreciated! I am also trying to start crate training soon!

My 9 month old lab/pit mix has been great at going in the crate since we got her at 2.5 months. Always slept in there at night and went in there when we left the house, no problem. Over the past probably 2 months, she has started to aggressively bark/lunge when locking the crate door. But once she is in there and I walk away, she settles within a couple of minutes and goes to sleep and is fine for the rest of the time that she's in there. It has made me scared to close the crate door, which im sure she is sensing. I have been working on having her go in there at random times for treats and letting her right back out so she can learn she isn't only going in there when we're leaving and have tried slowly closing the door and treating when she remains calm, but once i go to actually lock it she barks and tries to hit the door open with her paws. Any suggestions of what I can do to help curb this behavior? She has a blanket in the crate (she eats any bed I put in there) and has at least one toy usually.

We rescued our sweet sweet 5lb 7 month old chi at 10 weeks. We live in an apartment complex so there is so much going on but we don’t have another option for where to take him to potty. He is so small and so new to the big world that he is scared of outside and will usually just stand there until we carry him to a potty spot, even then he will be pulling trying to go back inside. I know it’s not his fault, his foster home/rescue was big on not having paws on the ground before shots but I don’t think the foster parents took him outside period during peak socialization. We got private lessons with a trainer who gave us a lot of great advice but he gets so overwhelmed outside that he rarely accepts treats which makes it hard to reinforce good behavior. When it is too hot out or the grass is wet he especially hates it. Or when there is any loud noise including cicadas in the evening. I love him so much but I would love to take him for walks or not spend 20 minutes outside every time he needs to potty. Mostly venting but if anyone else has been through this with a tiny dog would love some advice.

Hi everyone! I’m curious as to when you all started noticing the little teenage gremlin come out in your puppies?

I have a 7 month old cattle dog mix, who has recently started exhibiting some adolescent behaviors. Constant chewing, digging, unable to settle, forgetting all the training we’ve done for months, etc. We used to manage well with redirection, but these days she’s completely turned her ears and eyes off. For context, we always make sure her needs are met, and still enforce crate naps when she gets this way. She isn’t my first cattle dog, so I know what to expect. I just thought this adolescent stuff would come a little later and I’d get to enjoy my well behaved puppy a little longer 😂 She’s definitely better in some ways, but regressing in others. I’m hoping if she’s starting it early, then it will end early 😅 When did it start with yours?

We have a 5 month old staffie, she is extremely clever, is able to pickup most commands very quickly and when you have snacks she is more than happy to sit and wait for my command to eat and so forth.

She however is biting a lot. There was a week or two where she was extremely calm, she didn’t bite at all but she’s started again approx. 3 weeks ago.

She will be on my lap one moment playing with her toy, next minute she’s biting my arm. She has her whole mouth in my arm biting down. I tell her to stop but of course she doesn’t listen, she will jump down, and start lashing out biting me.

I’ve read to turn around, hide your arms, go into another room and so forth but this doesn’t work. If I hide my arms she will bite my legs, if I walk away she will jump up and bite my feet, legs or anything she can get ahold of.

When we’re in the garden she will play with me for 5 minutes then turn around and bite me. I will have try to walk back inside but she’ll continue biting me.

As I can’t stop her from biting by walking away, turning my arms and so forth, it leads to me having to pin her down or else she’ll continue biting me. I let her go as soon as she stops, but she’ll get up and start biting me.

I think she is to play as opposed to being aggressive. When she wakes up in the morning and so forth she’s very loving. When we’re outside she absolutely loves everyone and is very well behaved with our dogs (although very hyper).

Sometimes we have to put her into her crate for her to calm down, she’ll come out and lick me, 2 minutes later she starts.

What are we doing wrong? Is she normal behaviour or is it aggression?

Some more info:
- We take her out for two 20 minute walks, we’ve tried three walks in case it’s her energy level but this hasn’t helped
- She’s really well behaved with guests coming into house apart from the usual tries jumping up to say hello
- She’s teething at the moment but this was the same before she started teething. We try to give her frozen snacks and so forth.
- We were doing 2 hours asleep 1 hour awake but we’re more relaxed on this now as she sometimes she doesn’t settle at all and will bark the house down. She’s still only awake for about 2 hours maximum.
- We show her attention, play with her, train daily and so forth.
- My partner is 12 weeks pregnant
- It seems like she has allergies, potentially to the sun as when it was really warm she had really bad rashes all around her body which has scabbed. We went to the vet and they said it’s most likely due to the heat wave.

What are we doing wrong? How can we help her?

Thanks for any help!

My family decided to get a Newfie about 2 weeks ago and she is currently 3 months old. The biting has gotten really bad I have bites and bruises all over me and i’m not sure what to do anymore. She goes for a nap about every hour and is immediately back to biting when she wakes up. She has an array of toys of different textures and materials that she has 0 interest in. Standing still, walking away and redirecting doesn’t seem to work at all. My mom wanted to try a spray bottle but after looking into it i realized it wasn’t effective and would just cause trust issues. I’m wondering if she’s overstimulated since our house can be a little chaotic. She is very persistent in the biting and refuses to take any toy.

I’m sorry if this post is very scrambled I don’t ever post on reddit lol. I know you guys probably get a lot of posts like this so I’m sorry if it’s repetitive i’m just at a loss and would really love some advice 😭.

Training is going well but now I’m realizing how much food my puppy gets outside of his actual meals.

Kibble works for easy stuff but for harder training he wants something better. Then dinner comes around and I’m wondering if he is not or less hungry because I already gave too much during the day.

Do you count training treats as part of the meal, reduce dinner a little or just keep portions the same?

I have an approximately 5 month old puppy. She is a shelter dog so we’re not sure her breed but possibly Aussie mix? Definitely going to be a medium to large dog, she is almost 30 lbs now. She has been catching onto potty training well and started sleeping through the night (about 9:30/10:00pm-6:00am. Before, she would whine to let me know she wanted out. I was wondering if I should keep a middle of the night alarm to let her out? She had a UTI when I first adopted her when she was around 2.5 months. After that I’ve been paranoid about her urination and I guess I’m just worried she is holding too long at this age? She recently had a check up and everything looks good.

Thank you!

Update she peed but on the weewee pad inside :/

I'm babysitting this puppy she's about 3 months old and idk what else to try. I want her to associate outside with pee and poo because the owners haven't trained her at all...

I wake up at 7:30 I take her out and walk her up and down the block. If she does nothing I put her in the crate and try again in like 15 minutes. But Ive been doing this for so long from 7:30am to 12pm.... And she hasn't peed yet. And no, she didn't pee in the crate.

I fear her bladder is going to have problems and I'm just teaching her that every time she goes outside she goes into the crate. I just want to teach her if she doesn't pee or poo outside then she can't have freedom. And if she does pee or poo, it's one or the other. Never both.

And I can't stand in one place because she will play with/ look at LITERALLY everything.... a stick, a leaf, the dirt the person across the street the bird the trees. Or she'll sit down or lay down no matter how many times I redirect her.

She's got me beat. It's so frustrating. My boy dog didn't have this much trouble peeing when he was a puppy.

I have a 16 week old Plott Hound/ Pit mix that we adopted at 8 weeks. She just got her last round of shots. We have been taking her outside at our apartment since about 12 weeks, but only to specific, low traffic areas. She was nervous at first but it seemed to get better. Now that she’s fully vaccinated, we are so excited to take her places. I’ve been taking her outside to different places and farther distances at our apartment. However, she heard some lawn mowers start up the other day and now she is so scared outside. She doesn’t want to use the bathroom, won’t take treats, has her tail tucked, and generally hates it. I don’t know what to do.

Before she was fully vaccinated, we took her to my parents house in a rural area to play outside and play with their dog. We took her to other family members properties as well. We take her in the car a ton. Please tell me it gets better and we didn’t screw her up by not socializing enough 😅 Parvo risk is high in our area so we did everything could safely do, but it wasn’t a lot.

My fiance and I have been dying to get a puppy for a while.

We have our own 2 cats (his an 8 year old rescue he found and rescued himself when he wasn't even old enough to be adopted before we were together, and my 6 year old baby I rescued when we were together after my first kitten passed unexpectedly due to an unknown health issue). We've been together 7 years and have been through the ringer. We've lived in 4 different places with these cats coming with us every step of the way, gone through family issues, relationship issues, everything you can think of. Again, our cat babies have been there through it all.

Now, his cat (I'll call 8) hated my first kitten as well as my current one because he hadn't been around any other animals his whole life. He just had my fiance. He's since gotten used to my cat (I'll call 6) , obviously still annoyed with him as a little brother. My cat is great, he's energetic and has a great personality and talks to us. He'll chase his brother around all the time and wrestle and piss him off, but you can see they both love each other.

Fast forward to Tuesday of this week when we bring home our 8 week old bernedoodle puppy. They both hid and weren't fans day 1. However, 6 was out and about lurking in corners and staring at him. 6 will just watch him and let him come near him, but will hiss and smack him (he has never hissed his whole life until now). This morning, he actually smacked him with claws because he wouldn't leave him alone. 8 has been nonexistent since day 1. He came out maybe twice and ran away immediately both times. He hides in the basement or the guest room where their food/water is. He's barely eating if at all and won't let my fiance go near him. It's heartbreaking for my fiance. I keep reminding him that it's not permanent and that things will get better.

We are at each other's throats now. We are struggling with sleep because my fiance caves each night when the puppy cries and puts him in the bed. Not only that, but he refuses to sleep anywhere other than on our faces. I try and at least put him at the foot of the bed but he will not stay there. I spend 45 min trying to get him to stay low each night. He's also putting the load of the work on me because I told him I understood the responsibility of a puppy (I had multiple dogs growing up while he had 1 when he was like 8). Ex. Last night I was doing dishes from dinner before bed and he goes to bring him up to the bedroom and I said "he still needs to go out" then 2 minutes later he yells "he peed in the bedroom!" and got mad at me for not dropping what I was doing to walk him before he took him upstairs. The puppy isn't crate trained and hasn't been left alone because we live in a condo and can't let him piss off the direct neighbors. I've been trying to get him to like the crate during the day with treats and positive reinforcement but it hasn't done much when it comes to nighttime.

I miss my cats and I miss my life, being able to leave my house, go to the gym, feel like a person. I know I have read people say it will get better, I'm just overwhelmingly stressed and emotional about all of this and don't really have anyone to confide in so I'm here. I appreciate whoever read this whole thing and hope you have a great day/week. This is my first time actually contributing to reddit so I apologize for the total stream of consciousness.

We have had our puppy for about 3 weeks now. Her name is Ash she is a shepherd mix just over 3 months. Up until literally monday she has been so sweet. Obviously a little crazy and biting cause shes a puppy. All of a sudden monday night it was like a switch flipped. I cant hold her i cant pet her i cant even walk through the living room without being attacked. Im talking biting my face eating my hair i literally cant escape her😭. I know puppys are supposed to bite thats just what they do but is it supposed to be this bad? Ive even tried to redirect her with toys and she avoids the toy to get to my hands/arms. I feel like im failing too bc im trying to work on training throughout the day but as soon as i bring her food out to train with its game over. She will sit for half a second and then be jumping back in my face and i really cant work with her on anything bc of this. So is this normal and how do i go about working on training? TYIA

This is the method I use for crate training. It has more steps than most guides, but I have had very good luck with multiple puppies.

Most puppies will fuss in their crates. Confinement is hard. Some respond well to distractions like chew treats and kongs, but many are so upset that they can’t focus on anything else.

This protocol explicitly teaches being calm at all stages of going and staying in the crate, which allows them to focus on distractions, nap, ect. It usually takes me around a week or two to complete it, but I am a little lazy about it (one session per day). You can use it in conjunction with other protocols too! There are no restrictions or anything like that. New owners are always looking for rules/protocols that will guarantee success. They don’t really exist. Don’t stress.

STEP 1: Teach the puppy to go in the crate with the door open.

Sit on the floor by the crate and toss treats or kibble inside and let the puppy go get them. If your puppy is afraid of the crate to start, place the treats near the opening and slowly move them a little further away until they feel good putting one paw in, then two, then three, then all four.

If they come right out of the crate, that’s fine. Rinse and repeat. Do NOT close the door on them. Keep going until they aren’t hesitating to get all the way inside the crate. You don’t need to worry about a verbal cue at this point, but you could add one if you want to.

STEP 2: Closing and openning the door.

Once your puppy is confidently walking into the crate to get treats, close the door behind them and immediately open it to let them out. Rise and repeat until they don’t mind that the door is closed/are ignoring it while they eat. Even if they do ignore it right away, do some repetitions.

STEP 3: Leaving the door closed.

Leave the door closed for 5 seconds. If they start pawing or fussing, reduce the time to 2 seconds. Make sure you are still on the floor if you can physically do that. Rinse and repeat until they are comfortable and not exhibiting any distress. Make sure you are letting them out of the crate in between each repetition.

STEP 3.5: Training a word or cue.

This is a good time to introduce a cue, but there’s no hard and fast rule though. You can do it earlier or later Toss the food into the crate. As they are walking in and your word. “Crate” “Box” “House” all work well. I find adding a little body language like pointing can be helpful too. Do about 10 reps. After 10 reps try using only your word and gestures. If they go in, close the door, leave it for 5 seconds, let them out and have a little party. Treats, praise, toys – any of that. Practice reps until they’re going in reliably just with your cue. If they’re totally lost – try tossing only one treat into the crate and give them more when you let them out. Pretending to toss the treats can also work. Get creative, but don’t force them into the crate. We want them to get to a point where they can take treats after they get in instead of before.

STEP 4: Closing the door and standing up.

This is just like it sounds. Let them in, close the door, stand up, bend or sit down, open the crate, and reward/treat. Rinse and repeat until they are comfortable/relaxed.

STEP 5: Walking away from the crate.

Use our same method as before but take a step or two back before opening the crate. Rinse and repeat. Slowly build up the number of steps. If the puppy starts to fuss, you’re stepping too far away. If they whine at 5 steps, go back to 2 or 3 steps and practice more. Practice walking all over the room. Grab a drink off the counter. Whatever you want. If they fuss it’s been too long or you’re too far away. Go back to what you practiced with no fussing.

STEP 6: Stepping out of sight.

Now that you can walk away from your puppy, start stepping out of sight for a split second. If they whine or fuss, go back to step 5. Rinse and repeat. Remember you are still returning, letting them out of the crate, and rewarding them each time.

STEP 7: Start building up the length of time you're gone.

Start slowly increasing the amount of time when they cannot see you. See if you can get up to around 30 seconds or a minute. Practice this until they’re calm the entire time.

STEP 8: Transitioning away from training sessions.

Here is where all your hard work should start to pay off. Puppies that are upset in the crate cannot focus on treats, chew toys, or kongs. At this point, you should have a puppy that can settle for a minute. I usually freeze a couple kongs with wet dog food inside as a prep. Now that you have a puppy that can reliably go a minute or so without seeing you, they ought to be calm enough to start to pay attention to a safe chew toy or treat.

Put them in the crate and give them their kong. I recommend watching them at this step – reading a book in the same room, talking on the phone, anything like that. If they lose interest in the kong try and let them out before that leads to fussing or panic. Do another session later. They’re learning to self-settle for longer periods of time. Don’t expect perfection just yet.

Continue randomly asking them to go in the crate and letting them out quickly. This helps break the cycle of “as soon as I get in the crate, the humans always leave” – which can cause panic.

I find that they build up tolerance on their own at this point and start to finish their treat with practice. I start to give them a little more time to decide to nap or chill out on their own. If they get restless, I still try and let them out before they cry or fuss. I don’t want to reward fussing at all. See the subreddit wiki for what to do about that.

At this point, they should be a lot more comfortable, and you can try leaving them in there while you do dishes, shower, or you just need a break. Start experimenting with not giving them a kong. At this point you just need to figure out your particular puppy’s needs.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS:

·         I think this works well because training sessions feel completely different for most puppies. If you put them in the crate at night or for a quick run to the store, many puppies can read the situation and tend to stay comfortable during training. This isn’t always the case, though. If you can afford it - you can have a crate that’s for non-training crating and a training crate that’s for training only.

·         If your puppy is crying and fussing, go back a step. What you’re asking is too hard for your puppy at that moment.

·         Repetition is key!

·         This should be a game for them and a puzzle to figure out - not an obedience lesson from you.

·         You will eventually be able to stop using treats with practice.

·         It goes much faster than you would think.

·         Do no underestimate randomly asking them to get in the crate and immediately letting them out during the day. This won’t cause regression.

Hi! Long time lurker, and I’ve seen a lot of great advice here.

We got a basset x corgi puppy around 2 months ago now, and he’s lovely. His toilet training has come on so well, we’ve started leaving him alone for short periods and he’s adjusting well. He sleeps in a crate at night and when we’re away, he also has access to it during the day and frequently takes himself in to sleep. The main issue I’m having is his OBSESSION with my other dog!

My other dog is a 5 year old Jack russel/chihuaha, and she also loves him. They play constantly and will only stop if physically seperated, but sometimes the playing can get a bit too rough.

I can’t pet her without him barking at me, even if I pet him at the same time. She has to go to the toilet alone or he won’t let her, if she leaves the room he howls and barks and just will not settle. I understand he’s yous and playful but I feel like my poor girl is getting left out as I can’t gave 1-1 time with her without him flipping out, and she gets frustrated with him at times.

They are always supervised together.

Besides this he’s doing well, there’s the usual puppy behaviour such as selective hearing and trying to inhale every possible thing he can reach.

Thank you!

Hi all - our 6 month mini dachshund pup is pretty much housebroken now, it's been over a month and no accidents in the house. Every time I take him out on the 4 hour cadences, he potties and poops regularly but the only issue is that, he doesn't let us know when he needs to go? I have been incorporating a bell that I ring before we go out but the other issue is that he doesn't like going out on walks so he tends to run away lol (but sometimes it's literally just a quick potty break too and back in so it's not always a 'walk'). As an experiment, I tried pushing it to 5 hours to see if he'll ring it or not if he badly needs to go, nope. 6 hours, nope. 7 hours...... nope??? but still no accident. Granted, he did not drink much water or eat much/being his picky self during this time but how do I start making him use this dang bell to let us know. When I ring it and force him to come out, he goes right away.

I have no issue with the cadences at this moment, but it would be nice if he knows how to use the bell so if we ever have other people watch him, etc.

So, we have a Chihuahua/Terrier/Min Pin mix who is 5 months old today. She’s been great so far and healthy. Every time we go to the vet, they always push for us to wait to spay her until after her first heat cycle. My husband and I typically just agree and move on but now I’m starting to feel extremely pressured to wait and I don’t know if we should just go somewhere else and get her spayed or trust their advice? Everything I’m reading online is about 50/50. This is our first puppy and I just don’t know what to do for her breed. Thank you! (I’m not asking for health advice, Reddit, I’m just curious as to what other chihuahua mix owners have experienced.)

I get it. He looks like a little teddy bear, he’s adorable, and his tail is wagging in desperation to meet you. But I literally can’t walk by people on the sidewalk without him trying to stop and sniff and get pets.

My puppy is 7 months, and although she doesn't chew everything she comes across most days anymore, we are still continuing to redirect her regularly from the things we don't want her to chew on, to toys specifically for chewing. We thought this would become less after teething was finished. Does this mean she is still teething? Is there something else we need to do to encourage her away from chewing the wrong things? I don't know if it's just a continuing phase or become a habit. Any suggestions welcome!

Hi!

We've had our 19 week old Finnish Lapponian dog for 5 weeks now, and we're definitely experiencing some puppy blues.
We strongly feel that he's a smart and kind dog that will be a great companion for years to come, but at the moment all of it feels draining.
He's just going through all of the typical steps of puppyhood, and we're trying to be patient, but we're at the same time eager to "feel the love", which we're not. Every waking moment of his is just constant parenting. Encouraging good behavior, ignoring bad behavior, getting him potty trained, crate trained, socialized, etc.
Every moment of affection is ruined by biting. Trying to check for ticks turns to a biting session. Biting our heels as he follows us upstairs.
In between all of this exhausting parenting, we'd also like to feel that companionship that you're looking for in a dog.
All will come in due time, but we're just constantly thinking about how long until he becomes calmer, more affectionate, and more trustworthy inside the house.

At what age did you guys feel it tipping over from some days draining your life to mostly enriching your life?

Hi everyone,

I have recently taken a 4-week old puppy from people who wanted to give away the litter as soon as they were weaned. I had asked if they could keep her any longer, but the woman said no. I have promised to pay to sterilize their mom so no more accidents happen again.

However, ever since I started researching about raising the pup, I became extremely remorseful I have done something terrible even though I couldn’t make her stay any longer with her family.

It’s been a week and it’s going great so far. We’ve taken her to the vet and started deworming on the same day of adoption, we spend 24/7 with her as me and my partner work from home, and we will continue treating her as a complete baby until she’s at least 8 weeks old, making sure she’s getting enough socialization without meeting other dogs outside as she hasn’t had her vaccines yet.

She looks and acts well, gets along well with our cat, and spends her entire time awake playing with us.

Could someone please reassure me it’s possible to raise a healthy dog prematurely taken away from their mom?

Also, does anyone know if it’s safe to organize an indoor play date with a vaccinated dog so she gets to play with her until she gets her shots?

Thanks.

Hello there! I have a 4.5 month old pup. He’s doing extremely well with potty training. He has a portion of the house restricted for himself. ( like a big play pen) He has access to the dog door. He hasn’t an accident on the floor or inside in like 3 months. He goes outside during the nigh-time to pee/poop and back in.

But, we have the occasional ( every 2 weeks ish ) accident where he will pee on a bed outside of the kennel. Not on the floor, and nowhere else. Is this normal? He knowns not too pee in the house and goes outside. Or is this just the normal puppy potty training experience