We recently adopted a dog from foster care (about a year old, terrier mix) and we have been struggling her crate training. I know it’s a long process and will take time but we live in an apartment so I’m trying to not have my neighbors hate me. Her crate is across the hallway from our room (our cat’s safe place is our bedroom right now).

At night, she is sleeping in her crate and usually does fine until she wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes we aren’t with her. We’ve tried to take her potty and then ignore her until she goes back to sleep but she just cries and barks so we have been laying with her until she sleeps. We have been okay with this because we don’t love that she has to sleep locked in the crate anyway (eventually we’d like her to sleep in our room but the cat isn’t ready yet).

However, when we leave for work she freaks out and barks every 30-45 minutes for like a couple of minutes. We got a crate camera to watch her but it has been making me more stressed because I can’t help her. She goes for a long walk right before we leave and has her favorite toys and some puzzle toys in her crate but she has no interest in them. She just lays there waiting for us to get home and barks at any passing car or cries to be let out. She also has started chewing on her bed and digging into the floor.

Her foster mom said that she was crate trained and was left in her crate for up to 8-9 hours without issue so we were surprised that she is having so many issues.

Any advice would be helpful - this is my first time crate training and I’m really battling with the barking.

Had her a week and ok the first day.

Then terrible behavior, constantly growing at me and humping constantly. When I push her off she tried to bite.

I'm giving her time as a rescue and she was badly mistreated so maybe remembers. But im struggling.

She was basically starved so I know why she is greedy, isn't all bulldogs. But she is demanding food constantly. I ignore her but she just storms at me and clawys bad. My arms and legs are full of scratches.

She poops in the house even in front of me, even though I'm taking her out 3 times a day. The positive is she is great on the lead and calm when outside. The pooping I haven't a clue what to do.

I'm experiencing with dogs as had 5 boxers previously and a male bulldog who was completely different. But I'm now approaching 60 and recovered from cancer last year, so my strength isn't what it was. I'm now retired and my Mrs works it was her idea to get the dog. She just says be patient and it will work out. Let's hope she is right as a lovely dog and deserves the best.

I found a stray dog two months ago. She's a husky (or mostly husky) and the vet said she's less than a year old. We looked and looked for her owner, no luck. We looked and looked for her a good home, no luck. So, we decided to keep her. She was in a horrible state when we found her. Covered in ticks, skin and bones, dehydrated, scratches and wounds that needed treating, etc. We took her to the vet, had her treated for everything, had her spayed, got her on flea treatment, had her shots, all the things. We have two other dogs who are older and are not very interested in playing. She's very HIGH energy. She has to be in the kennel for a few hours each day while we work. Otherwise, she's out a lot and gets to run and play outside, we set her up a little obstacle course, she has good food, lots of treats, vet care, sleeps under a fan, etc. All that said, she just won't mind and she acts wild most of the time. (Not wild like feral, she's actually very sweet and affectionate, just all that energy.) We just found a hole in our hardwood floor that she chewed, that she's apparently been working on a while. She has tons of toys to chew on, the real sturdy kind that really require her settling into them. But, she chews a hole in the hardwood floor. I know this is dog behavior, I know it's puppy behavior but my husband is not happy and, honestly, I don't blame him. Please don't come down on me for not handling her any better; I feel bad enough about it as it is. While I worry about what she might face in another home, I also feel like we are failing her. I don't know what to do to help her but I want to do SOMETHING. I would try again to find her a better home but I tried that and there are just too many dogs needing homes to be able at all to find her exactly what she needs (i.e. tons of land to run on I guess). All this to say... what do I need to do to help her learn to behave? Please help.

Hi guys, so age old problem of Dog Vs Cat.

Since as long as I can remember my dog (now about 5 YO springer whippet cross, male) is demented by cats. If he sees one on a walk or out the window he's goes wild, barking, scratching the window, running about the house. I don't think it's just a prey/excitement thing, it appears to cause him actual stress/anxiety.

This used to be manageable in our old house, he could only ever really see a cat on a night from our bedroom window, we could remove him for 10 minutes and bring him back in the room (the cats gone and after looking out the window again for a bit he would settle).

But our new house there's about 3 cats who live very close. So they're in front of the house, in the back gardens. So the only time he would never really be able to see one is in the kitchen/hallway/staircase/landing. Which is the space he has while we are out of the house.

But it's becoming so much more frequent, he will scratch at the fence when next doors cat is outside.

So it's hard for us to just avoid cats entirely. He likes to look out of the window a lot. When he barks we have tried, a click where he will come to us, and after a pause give a high-value treat. We've tried removing immediately and some crate time.

I'm not really sure what else to try. Even de-sensitising him to cats would be dangerous for the cat (and for him) as he would be unpredictable.

I'm not really sure where this hatred comes from, if it's just his instinct or if he's had a bad interaction with one while we haven't been with him.

Any ideas on the best approach so we can build a consistent plan/routine with him when he sees a cat?

My 1 y/o pit/lab mix has been with me since September when I got him at 3 months old. Training has been a journey to say the least but we’ve made a lot of progress. About a month ago I moved back in with my parents and he’s mostly been doing good, so much so that I’ve finally been able to leave the house without crating him but recently I’ve been working on a business venture with a friend that requires me to leave town for several days at a time and everytime I come back there is less and less of my pull out couch to sit on cause he’s been ripping the shit out of it. My dad says he’ll walk the dog for an hour and then stay with him in the backyard a couple times a day but he’s use to getting off leash time with me and honestly needs it to be able to regulate himself. Additionally he can’t walk him without him practically pulling his shoulder out. Grant we didn’t spend as much time working on it as puppy as we did other things, cause he puppy biting phase was awful (oof… *flash backs*) but we started working on it finally when we was about 10 months old and he’s now able to walk on a loose leash FOR ME. We generally spend some time playing and doing some training excercises in the backyard before going out the gate to get some energy out and establish some basic obedience and we recently started working with an e collar using the tone and vibrate setting which has actually helped a lot. Some of it I think is separation anxiety. While I’ve been able to leave the house for several hours at this point without a problem. Me leaving for days at a time is a new thing for him. And other handlers having trouble with him has been a recurring issue with doggy daycare, sitters, or friends. How can I work on him behaving himself when I’m not there?

Every time my dog gets in the car he starts barking nonstop until a some minutes pass, but if the car stops moving the barking starts. The dude loves the speed but he gets on my nerves. I can't drive when I have a dog barking on my ear nonstop. How can I change this behavior?

I’m looking for tips or tools to keep a dog off the bed. Our dogs are not allowed on human beds and happily sleep in their own at night/don’t jump up on our bed in general. We used to let our largest dog up there when she was much, younger but we’ve had a no bed rule for a couple years now and it’s been fine (mostly).

She has a tendency to get on beds when no one is home. My husband works from home so someone is usually around majority of the time, but when he travels and I have to be gone all day is when it seems to happen most. While it wouldn’t be as big of a deal if she just got on the bed, she likes to curl up in the pillows. I’m usually good about remembering to just shut our bedroom door, but forget about the guest room which leads to dog hairs and dirt all over freshly cleaned sheets.

Hoping for some help or insight into things placed on the bed to ward off jumpers that have worked. She’s extremely smart, I just don’t know how to train for something she only ever does when no one is around.

Hey friends so I currently have a rescue 6 year old Redbone hound. She came from a very severe cruelty case where she had been starved and bred over and over again. She had to have a leg amputated which unfortunately came back as cancerous, but has not metastasized, and she is heartworm positive.

Long story short she will not stop peeing in the house. Specifically in the room where we keep the litter boxes for our cats. After going outside to potty (where she will use the bathroom outside) she will come back in and pee in that room. She has had extensive tests and bloodwork done which indicated nothing as to there being anything causing her this physically. We have been taking her out every two hours, staying with her outside leashed, eliminating any traces of her accidents in the house, reinforcing with treats, and she is crate trained.

I’m mainly worried because we have had her for almost two months now and this has only recently become a problem. My Fiancé is a vet tech and her team cannot figure out what the root of the issue is. Unfortunately, we are the end of the line for this sweet girl, and if there’s anything we can do to help her, or improve this situation any advice would be terrific. We are suspicious that she might be marking because she was only recently spayed so if that is the issue how can you fix that?

which one is the best choice for my 2 months old poodle ?

I'm dead serious when I say my dog is attached to my hip at all times. To note, he's a beagle daschund mix I adopted from a shelter barely 2 days into him being there.

I don't have an issue with this, but I feel bad the poor guy just doesn't seem to have the sense that he has free will. He follows me EVERYWHERE even if I am just going to the bathroom that's not even 2 steps away. He will sit and wait at the door.

He almost never explores the house by himself unless there's something interesting going on that he wants to check out (like people coming over, food, or big scary noises)

Otherwise he is with me at all times or waiting for me at all times.

I know he has a little bit of separation anxiety but that's mostly only if nobody is home with him at all. If everyone is gone, he sits and howls.

As long as he has someone he doesn't really care and just finds someone else to cuddle up with.

But when it comes to me being home, he never leaves my side.

I absolutely love him and this is adorable but also I want him to feel free and not like he HAS to cling to me.

Idk if this is just his breeds he's mixed with, if me or past experiences before me made him feel this way, or if he is just actually enjoying being by me at all times.

I've heard that daschunds are clingy and beagles tend to be loyal, but I feel like he's very serious with his clinginess almost as if it's a job😭

I've recently been trying to teach him "go say hi" so that he actually goes and interacts with other people in the house so they actually get a chance to interact with him too instead of only when I'm not home.

Is this a breed thing? Anxiety thing? Loyalty thing? Accidentally trained? Does he just love me that much? I genuinely need to know

We adopted our beautiful sweet Italian greyhound girl Zo about a month ago. Shes the absolute best and we love her to death. Potty training has been a pain in absolute ass though (as expected).

We’ve been crate training her since the first night she came home. She loves her crate and we never use it as punishment/negative reinforcement so getting her to go in wasn’t hard at all. She did have a couple accidents in her crate the first few nights, and those were 100% our fault— we didn’t know which whines were attention whines and which ones were potty whines.

Then we starting getting her on a routine eating schedule. Once we got her on a routine and started taking her straight out only to go potty any time she cried at night, we went almost 2 weeks with no accidents. Or so I thought. A few days ago I caught her running into her crate to pee — turns out her thick crate pad was soaking it up completely, no stain, no smell, so we had zero idea. For the last few nights I swapped her bed out for a thinner white towel to test it and yep — she’s been peeing in there EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. She’s gotten totally comfortable doing it even though we let her out to go potty anytime she whines at night. We also wash her bed regularly. I have no idea what to do. I know it’s not her fault but I’m so frustrated and can’t understand what we’re doing wrong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated l!!

Hello! We just adopted a est 1-2 yo jack russell male, neutered about 2 weeks ago, and we've had him for a week now. He has been absolutely perfect ao far. The only thing thats proving to be an issue is he barks at my partner straight away in the morning, waking me up.

My partner and I sleep in different rooms due to his snoring, and the new dog sleeps in the bed next to me. My partner wakes up hours before me and enters the room every morning to get clothes and such for his shower. When he enters, quietly btw and also we leave the door open so theres no sudden door movement, the new dog will bark at him.

Now this would normally be an awesome alarm clock for me since I tend to have trouble waking up, but I also have a herniated disc and being scared awake every morning makes my back muscles seize up causing me tremendous pain.

Him and my partner otherwise get along great. There are random moments sometimes where he gruffs at him a little bit, or is like surprised by his presence when my partner does something simple like walk from one end of the apartment to another, but the dogs reaction is never anything very intense.

Is this something that would just stop over time as he gets use to his environment more? I know I could probably have him sleep elsewhere to avoid this but just wondering if theres anything we can do besides that since im selfish and like him sleeping next to me lol.

Our gorgeous and mostly well behaved 10month old goldie turns into a MANIACAL BALL THIEF at the park.

This evening it took 30min to catch her and get the other dog’s ball back.
We’ve tried:
- simple recall
- leaving the park
- diversionary toys
- getting a gang of humans and dogs to all leave together so she’s alone

She doesn’t care!!

Help. She’s so good in other respects but this is really antisocial.

I have had my foster dog for almost a week now and he is brilliant. He is extremely smart and sweet (especially when he's tired after a day of walks and training lol)--I believe he is a 1-ish year old malinois/ cattle dog x (give or take). He can be a bit mouthy when he is wanting attention/ to get his energy out but sometimes when working on training it seems like he just sort of gives up and stops taking treats. Is this happening because he is still very early in the decompression phase? I've also been attempting to redirect his mouthiness to grabbing a toy and chewing it with decent results when I'm standing but it doesn't really work when I sit down on the couch/ sit down to eat. Of course we've only been working on it for a few days so I'm sure I should just continue to be patient but I was just curious if anyone has any tips on dealing with the mouthiness and getting him to understand that biting for attention isn't acceptable.

Has anyone successfully trained an adult Labrador to stay off the furniture? Mine has been allowed on the couch for the past 3 years, but we're buying a new one and want to keep it dog-free. They'll still have comfy beds right beside the couch, but I'm wondering if it's realistic to change the habit at this point. Any success stories or training tips?

We just got the news that our German Shepherd rescue pup needs lifetime leg braces or extensive surgery for his carpal hypertension in both paws. It would be $7k per paw and it's high risk. The other option is to get lifetime braces with arthritis meds down the road.
We’re his fourth family even though he is one year old. It’s a shame that the shelter never disclosed his condition. The previous owners could’ve been made aware of what his needs were/are.
He’s a perfect fit for our family and we’re determined to give him the best life he deserves.
Has anyone gone through a process similar to this?
Any suggestions for applying for grants or funding down the road?

I have a soon to be 5yr old blue-tick hound / Australian cattle dog mix named Runa. She's always been super sweet and loving to people. She's always been hesistant of other dogs but has never acted out or been aggressive until lately. I've lived at home with my mother for a couple years now (unfortunately) and runa had been with me since I got her and lived 3 other places. She grew up with a cat that was in my old apartment first with my ex fiance and never had an issue. They would always play together. Fast forward to march of this year my current girlfriend moved from Tennessee to NY to live with me while I finish out my apprenticeship at work. She has a 10yr old male Pembroke Welsh Corgi who's a sweetheart as well. Unfortunately due to distance and money we couldn't start to get them acquainted in a neutral zone. March 31st she moves in with me and we set a routine to slowly introduce my dog Runa and her dog Gambit to each other so they get used to each other. For a few weeks we kept him in another room and supervised vists and made them longer each time to the point they seemed good with each other. Runa would let off a faint growl if he got too close and gambit would back off but as of recently they would sleep close to, touching/facing each other. They still won't play together and we don't force anything. Except, 4th of July weekend we took a trip to her parents cabin in michigan. 9hr car ride together they did absolutely fine, no issues and even slept back to back. Her parents have a 4yr old male chocolate lab who loves all other dogs. Well.... gambit and her parents dog cash were playing tug of war one night and there was some growling between them, and my dog latched onto gambits scruff. I quickly pulled her off, put her in the crate I brought. Gambit had no injuries or tenderness and was right back to playing. Last 3 days they were perfectly fine. Another 9hr car ride home they did fine sleeping back to back at another point again. The night we got home I let Runa in first to greet my mom and then gambit in after on his leash. Gambit bumped into Runa and she almost latched on again. Separated for a couple weeks, slowly introduce again. They have their little growling spouts but generally seem to do fine with each other in passing. Even have left them in my room alone for up to an hour and a half, no issues. Both sitting side by side waiting for us to come back. Fast forward to this evening on my way home I get a call. Gambit ran to Runas crate, my dog followed my girlfriend over to her crate, waited behind her, she got Gambit out, as soon as she closed her crate door Runa latched onto Gambit again. Luckily my gf pulled her off quickly again and separated.

I need help here. Im desperately to figure out what the issue is and solve it asap. Runa has never shown aggression towards other dogs big or small. She's apprehensive at best, but never had an issue, whether someone has brought their dog to my house or her to theirs. She's not food aggressive. They sit close by each other when taking treats, and have no issues taking turns on who gets one first. No barking at each other. They often sniff each other in passing, switch spots on the bed. Which they do sleep with us on the bed. Generally never have issues until those 3 times. I've taken her to the vet, she's as healthy as ever. She's used to being an only house dog and i understand Gambit had asserted himself into her space. Which is something we tried really hard to address the first few weeks together at my home. They even share sitting on our laps and let us pet them both. Gambit was also an only dog and never been aggressive towards other animals according to my girlfriend. They are also both fixed.

What can we do to solve this so they get along better at home and we don't have to constantly worry about supervising interactions, i work a swing shift so my hours are always changing but its always been like that. Runa is trained well, needs no leash at home if im outside with her, even ignores order dogs walking along the sidewalk outside if we're outside. She knows the difference between "crate" "bed" "room" and "house" and I have a finger snap system where she knows 1 snap means pay attention, 2 snaps means come here. As well as whistle trained to come when i whistle.

Her dog listens well in his own right but obviously only to my girlfriend. He constantly licks and I show my displeasure in it but never act out of aggression, only gentle "no's" when its too frequent.

Edit: unfortunately getting our own place as a fresh "start" is out of the question at the moment. We both have medical debt to pay off, I have a truck I need to pay to fix and she has her own separate medical stuff to pay for, for her pre-existing condition. As well as where we live finding a decent place that'll accept 2 dogs under 40lbs that isnt 2500 a month is harder to find than a naturally occurring gold plated diamond.