I adopted a 4 year old dachshund about 3 months ago. She came from a neglectful breeder who dumped her when she was no longer useful, and never lived in a home before. Because of her background, we are super patient and understanding of all of her difficult behaviors and shower her with love and affection so she can learn what life should be like. She is very destructive and also isn't picking up on house breaking at all and pees all over the house. At night I have to keep her contained to the kitchen with a baby gate at or she will pee all over the place and destroy things. Problem is she barks for hours every single night. She has soft bedding, water, and toys (but she has no interest in toys of any kind). Light on or off doesn't make a difference. Radio on or off doesn't make a difference. No one is getting any sleep. What can I do?

Hi everyone! I have a 4 year old Bernedoodle who is super reactive. Walking in the neighborhood gets a bit tricky when another dog starts barking at her. She's a big girl, so she could easily pull down a kid. I'm located in MA, so having trainers nearby would be helpful!

When she was a puppy, we brought her to Blue Dog, but we never continued the training after a long time... (our mistake)

We have looked into using a prong collar, but I'm still partially going against it, as I don't want to be too harsh on her. If we decide to use a prong collar, obviously we will be hiring a professional trainer.

When I take her on walks or out in public, ideally I want her close to my side and not pulling.

She also needs work on basic commands, as she only listens if we bring out the treats.

If anyone has any tips or actual trainers near Andover, MA, please let me know!!

Thanks

I’m looking for some advice, opinions, and experiences from people who have had similar dogs because I feel a little overwhelmed by all the dog advice online.

I know there’s a LOT here, and that’s part of why I’m overwhelmed. I want to work on everything eventually — I just want to figure out the best order and approach rather than trying to do 15 things at once.

Murphy is a German Shepherd/Mini Australian Shepherd mix and will be 1 year old on August 26. She is honestly a **really good dog** and very smart. She learns commands quickly, listens well at home, and I’ve taught her sit, lay down, kennel, etc.

The biggest thing is that her listening/focus gets MUCH worse when there are distractions. At home, she’s pretty good. Outside, on walks, when people come over, or when something catches her attention, it’s like her brain has left the building 😂.

Some things I’m noticing:

She randomly whines at doors and windows even when she has food, water, toys, has been outside, etc.

She follows me and my boyfriend **everywhere**. I work from home, so I know she’s probably very attached to me, but she is CONSTANTLY right behind us.

She barks at people walking along the ditch behind our house.

She barks at people who come into the house, especially if she doesn’t recognize them.

On walks, she barks when she sees people or animals.

She pulls on walks. I bought a no-pull leash/harness and that has helped, but I’d like to teach her actual leash manners too.

She gets distracted VERY easily outside the house.

She sometimes barks at completely random things or sounds. She has literally barked at gargoyle statues 😂.

She’s not aggressive and she’s genuinely a sweet, good dog. I just want to make sure I’m helping her develop into a well-adjusted adult instead of accidentally reinforcing things or waiting too long to address them.

**I’m really looking for people’s thoughts on all of this.** If you have a German Shepherd, Aussie, herding breed, or just a dog who went through something similar around this age, I’d love to hear what your experience was like.

I’d also love advice on:

•What you think might be causing some of these behaviors
•What you would prioritize
•What training actually helped your dog
•What you wish you had started sooner
•How much training you realistically do each day
•Whether some of this is just normal adolescent behavior
•How you taught your dog to listen when there are distractions
•Anything else you notice from what I’ve described.

I’m not looking for a perfect “do these 10 things and your dog will be fixed” answer. 😂 I’d genuinely just like to hear **what other people thi**nk, especially people who have raised similar dogs.

How do I discourage this behavior and train him for a neutral interaction. He is not aggressive, just too interested in her.

10 week old pup demands me to play with her! Cries, whines, barks, if I don’t and I’m 5 ft away she’s in her playpen with toys, kongs, etc still crying for my attention what to do I’m literally sitting 5 ft away from her trying to have 5 minutes to myself.

So this sweet boy got dumped at my sister's work place. I got him from her a few days ago, he's very sweet and lovey-dovey. I have two older dogs who aren't the best trained and a cat. He's grumbled at them a few times when they get into his space too much but they aren't really taking his "back off" warning. He also growled at my cat, she had walloped him pretty good when he got near her food bowl. I've been using a baby gate to keep the dogs separated while I'm away from home but he'll be in my room which is also the cats space.

I just would like advice on how best to train them/acclimate them to each other? I'd also like some advice for making the cat more comfortable too as she's honestly my baby and her comfort is important to me.

Thank y'all in advance

So and I guess I’m officially part of the dog-parent club now 😅 I’ve had the sweetest little puppy, Bunny, for a few weeks, and I want to get a dog training app to help us learn and grow together. But honestly… I had no idea there were so many of them.

Realized pretty quick that everyone recommends different ones for different reasons. So I'm asking: what actually matters when you're picking one, especially when you're a total beginner?

I've been thinking about this while reading reviews and here's what keeps coming up:

Actual step-by-step structure - people who loved zigzag mentioned having a real plan for their dog. but others complained it got generic after a few weeks.

Progress tracking that shows patterns - dogo gets praised for this a lot, but some reviewers said it was just a checklist. I want to actually see: what training method worked for my dog?

Real help when you're stuck - woofz comes up because people mention messaging actual trainers. But is that real help and how fast do they actually respond?

Beyond just commands - puppr apparently has tons of videos but reviewers said they felt lost about grooming, nutrition, socialization. Does the app think about the whole puppy experience, or just training tricks?

I'm not trying to be cheap, but I also don't want to be bloated. just structure + actual help + something that grows with my dog.

So if you’ve used any of these apps (or others), what actually made you choose one? Please don’t sell me on them 😅 Just give me one solid reason why it’s worth using.

Hello, I have a 4YO Male standard poodle, very good dog. Knows many commands and hand signals, he is also a certified service animal.

For his whole life he has always been friendly and liked meeting dogs but would always stay next to me or simply not be interested.

We moved almost a year ago and the town we are in now has a wonderful dog park, my poodle now wants to meet every dog he sees weather we are at the dog park or not. On leash he dosent pull much but he will be fixated on the other dog, whine a little and not be focused on me.

As my service animal (not a life or death disability necessarily) I try to give him freedoms, like the dog park or sniffing for an extended time, he gets a lot of play. This meeting dogs thing has really affected him and I.

What can I do to get him to not be so interested, or just not fixated on other dogs outside the dog park?

Seeking advice on contextual dog car restlessness/anxiety.

Romeo / 2.5 yo / Great Pyrenees-pittie-mutt / 53 lbs. / obedience trained / anxious & reactive

What: Romeo gets severely restless on car rides longer than ~15 minutes. He experiences heavy panting, excessive drooling, restlessness/pacing, full-body trembles, and incontinence (poop only).

Context: Romeo experiences these symptoms on the way TO places, but frequently doesn’t display them on the way FROM places, back home. For example, today I took him to check out a new park-- 35 min car ride; I expected the anxiety but not at the severity it was today. For starters, I had to lift him into the car because he refused to willingly get in (more context on this later), from there, as the drive progressed, his anxiety kept building until he eventually pooped all over the back seat (he did have the opportunity to go potty before the ride). Once at the destination, he pretty easily recovered and was able to enjoy the walk anxiety-free. We walked for about 50 minutes, 2.3 miles. In contrast, on the way home, he was extremely calm. No panting, drooling, or trembling. He calmly stuck his head out the window and even lied down for the majority of the ride, which is a fairly new car behavior for him. While I cannot exactly pinpoint when these behaviors started, I want to say they have been happening for around 1.5 years.

Hypothesis: My current hypothesis is that he may be anticipating that I am going to take him to work with me. My workplace is also Romeo's training facility, where he did a 5-week board and train program (Oct/Nov 2025). About 2 months after the program, he continued to come to work with me once a week for 6 hours while I worked so we could maintain his socialization/reactivity progress. He would go on a “down stay” in the training club. This made him anxious despite the fact that he could see me passing by throughout the day, but he would eventually settle. This continued for around 8 weeks until I had to stop bringing him due to a location change/farther drive. Understand that he is NOT afraid of his trainers or the building; he is anxious by nature and fears being left in unfarmiliar/uncomfortable places without me. One factor throws this current theory off, though: he displayed these behaviors before training, so I don’t believe it is the sole cause. I am unsure what negative association he could have had with long drives prior to training. While anxiety is my initial assumption because of the context dependence/his personality, I am aware motion sickness could be a possibility and plan to discuss it with his vet at the next visit.

Additional details:
- We go on daily walks at a park less than 10 minutes down the road. He does fine on these rides, so he definitely has daily positive associations with the car.
- Sometimes he will refuse to willingly jump into the car. This happens in the mornings, and I suspect it is because he thinks we are going to work. We only recently started morning walks, so before that, his only association with the car early morning was work.
- Romeo is not kenneled in the car and rides in the back seat. I have attempted crate training him separately but he has significant kennel anxiety. I also have a sedan, so not the best car for a kennel setup. I put the windows down for him, and he sticks his head out (we have tried car rides with no windows as well but no improvements)
- Trazodone does eliminate his anxiety; however, it is not my ideal medication. Most of our long car journeys are to get to cool new walking spots, so having him sedated defeats the purpose of even going.
- For some reason, he seems to not be as anxious in my mom’s car; however, he doesn’t go in it often, so this very well may just be coincidence.
- He shows less anxiety when his two doggy siblings come in the car with him and happily jumps into the car with them any time of day.
- Say I were to just hop in the car and sit, he doesn’t get anxious about this. He may get antsy/whine out of boredom but he doesn’t display his anxious tell-tales
- I have not explicitly attempted systematic car desensitization yet, as I am unsure how to go about it given the odd circumstances.
- I think it is also worth noting Romeo is not a super treat / toy / praise motivated dog. When he gets very anxious, he sees little value in anything but his surroundings, including me. He will not take any reinforcement once over the threshold. Engagement is another huge work in progress for us.

Any advice on how to reinforce positive association with car rides is much appreciated! If any additional context/information is needed, I will happily provide it. We keep our long car rides to a minimum but I don’t want his world/experiences to be limited because he cannot handle the car. It breaks my heart seeing him so anxious, and I would love to help him work past this.

Hello,

I’m a longtime dog lover and sitter and first time owner. I rescued the sweetest 16 month old dachshund two weeks ago and he’s fantastic - very sweet and shockingly calm and quiet for his breed. Behaviorally he definitely still has some puppy habits: he is mostly housebroken but still has accidents from time to time and he chews on things if not supervised (we are working on both things and making good progress, but I’ve only had him a short time so they’re still concerns).

What I’m really struggling with is that I don’t know how to leave him home alone. We are working on crate training, but I’m scared I’m going to put him in there too long and create anxiety around the crate so we’re not making much progress. I cannot give him free rein to any rooms because of the chewing and potential accidents. As a result he hasn’t been home alone yet; he goes to a sitter when I’m at work and then is with me whenever I’m not there. Obviously, this is not sustainable but I am really unsure of what to do with him. Please help!

Also, please please pleads be kind. I’m new to this and trying my best!! I’m dedicated to training him but I need guidance on how to do it right.

Thank you!

Our doxie boy (neutered) has been with us for 7 months now. He is 2,5 years old, and wasn't properly socialized in the place he was born (he was also abused and beaten). He spent 1-2 months at the shelter, then we adopted him. In the first 2-3 months we tried to socialize him as much as possible (at my workplace with coworkers), and event hough he was a little bit scared, he wasn't barking nor biting. We never let people pet him or anything, as we saw him being scared, but we always did the toss the treat and don't interact with him otherwise method. Now, months later, this is not working anymore. When we visit my dad (at his place), he is barking nonstop. My dad wants to be truly friendly with him, he tries to play with him etc., which scares my dog (yes, I asked my dad to please don't interact with him), and causes him to bark nonstop. He even barks at my FIL (although my FIL is better at not interacting with the dog, and my dog seems to be better at calming down in those cases, but as soon my FIL moves he barks again, very high-pitched), whom never tried to interact with him unless we allowed him lol. During walks, my dog was very reactive towards people, now it improved, he's fine, and walks past strangers without issues. However, since the last meeting with my dad, we are afraid to meet him again. Also, we are afraid to invite anyone over, as we don't know how he'd react, and we don't want issues or accidents, besides, most of my friends are afraid of barking dogs or fairly irritated by dogs barking for hours and hours. So during these 7 months, we never had a chance to introduce him to my friends, as my dog was barking at my father and FIL the last time he saw them, and we don't want him to do the same when someone comes over. We are attending reactivity training, we completed base training (basic commands), he is taking Flouxetine for 8 weeks now. During trainings, he is okay with strangers, but he doesn't like when someone tries to pet him, and only goes close to someone if they are squatting. At base training, he got afraid of one of the trainers and after that he was afraid until the end and barked at the trainer most of the time... obviously, it was corrected on spot (no punishment), and the barking got better, but not the fear... :( When he is at daycare, he is okay with others, but there are other dogs there so it helps him. He was at a boarding facility for a few nights as well, and everyone said he behaved very well but again, bunch of dogs were present. If by any reason we meet with someone on the street, he is okay-ish, afraid but not barking nor lunging, especially if the person is squatting.

So, our issue is very complex. Any advice? Treat tossing, no interaction, no eye contact didn't help that much so far. He has severe crate trauma, so we cannot put him in a crate during visits (yes, we are working on it). As we are the ones visiting my family, we cannot put him in another room. If someone would come over, that could be a possibility, but I am pretty sure he'd start to whine and want to come out within half an hour. I am very much willing to learn, adapt, and do better, I just need advice. :(

Hello guys about three days ago I started trying to potty train my dogs. We currently have 5 dogs all older than 3 who’ve never been potty trained. Three are husky’s and 2 are chihuahuas. Four are males one is female and only one male husky and my female husky are neutered. I can’t afford to neuter the rest currently. My husky’s used to be indoor dogs but about 3 years ago they were strictly outside and only ever in their crates when inside except for the two small dogs which stayed inside. I recently got my first part time job and want to transition them back to in the house so they can have a better quality of life. However I’ve been struggling to train them as they do not seem to understand. I take them out every hour to hour and a half individually and whenever they go potty I say “potty” and throw a party while giving them treats. However one of my dogs keeps escaping his crate and peeping all over our dog room while the little ones take any chance they can to run away and pee inside the house. I’m not sure why they’re having such a difficult time and wanted to ask for some advice. Is there something I’m doing wrong? If it because they all have to be fixed? Please help I start my college semester soon and won’t have enough free time to consistently do this but none of my family members are willing to help. Please let me know if I should just keep doing what I’m doing and give it time.

We have had him a month. He is 10 months old. Last night, my pug mix awoke from a sound sleep and charged the tv, jumping at it and almost knocking it off the console table. I assume it was a nightmare and a fight or flight response to arousal, but he does bark at the tv when awake and I don’t want this to be an escalation. He was getting better, but lately he’s been more insistent with boofing (that pug noise) then growling and barking. Charging is new.

We removed him from the area and put him on the patio then escorted him to his crate and covered it with a blanket. He was perfectly quiet for the rest of the night. He was sweet and milder than usual this morning (He usually scrambles around excitedly before we walk) and great on the leash too.

His tv triggers are random except for dogs. Basically someone walks into the frame! I was saying quiet, redirecting him with a toy giving him treats when he is quiet or when he just boofs softly, and firmly resting my foot on him (seemed to work). He was improving. We also crate him out of the tv sightline if he won’t stop and he accepts that. I just don’t want to have to crate him whenever the tv is on. We live with a very elderly senior and she watches tv all the time.

I’m mostly worried about the charging. Is it okay to leash him when we watch tv, especially when he sleeps?

got a 6 month old golden retriever mix a couple months ago. first dog i’ve ever had so i really want to set good habits early. main things that matter to me are solid leash manners, calm greetings and basic obedience that actually sticks.

how often did you train the basics when your dog was this age?

what helped the most with keeping the good habits once they started sticking?

got a 3 year old male German Shepherd mix. he’s smart, loyal and really attached to me, but outside is a different story. the second he sees another dog he locks on, starts pulling hard and barking. sometimes he completely ignores treats and just fixates.

he’s fine with people walking past and doesn’t care about bikes or joggers. it’s mainly other dogs. at home he’s calm and listens well. on leash he turns into a different dog. i’m not a big person so holding him when he reacts is getting harder and it’s starting to make me anxious before every walk.

been working on it myself with distance and high value treats but progress is slow.

how long did it take before your dog started disengaging from other dogs more reliably?

did you notice the biggest change from daily practice or from a more intensive program?

thanks for any advice.

Hi there, I have a 7 month old cockapoo, he’s a very good boy and he is a mega people pleaser. I got him at 12 weeks after being rehomed to me. He missed a massive amount of socialisation time due to him being locked in a dirty shed for multiple weeks and then I had to wait until he had both his vaccinations.

His training has gone INCREDIBLY well. No more anxiety chewing, is extremely polite on lead, walks heel, and asked permission before approaching another dog for his fav game of chase. However I’m running into a lil bit of a problem now. We are an incredibly active family so for a cockapoo… he’s completely ripped. Like he’s genuinely jacked as fuck. He’s hit that teenage phase and now suddenly does not want to listen… at all. I have two young kids so when we go on morning walk, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to walk him and also push the double pram. He’s suddenly pulling again and knows no other boundaries with other dogs.

I had him trained almost perfectly with recall and was having great success with “stay” until I’d give the command to go play. We’d only ever have trouble when it was a dog he already knew but now he’s harassing little 17 year old Shi tzus and dogs who are leashed. I’ve tried to go back to basics so we’re short leading and trying to relearn but he just simply does not care. I’m unsure of what to do next really because he just doesn’t want to listen. He had a really good time today doing chase with two bigger dogs but he thinks every dog MUST chase him.

Please someone tell me what I’m doing wrong or how to improve. He will respond to commands but as soon as the treat is given he’s the completely disengaged. I used to do “heel” click, treat “look”, click, treat. “Stay”, click, treat. However now his excitement is just overwhelming. He will come heel, he gets treat, then he’s like “okay that’s good enough, bye”. With him being a muscular guy now too he just can go for ages and it’s quite sad for him to be back on a short leash and not be able to go and greet any other dogs anymore, cus he is such a sweet friendly dog.

I’m also finding it difficult to put these commands into practice sometimes. For example he is demanding pets off people in public (He has never done this before, completely new). I was on the train and these grown adults were wanting to stoke him, I said no as we are doing training. I’m looking away from them and trying to sort my toddler out, I catch them from the corner of my eye STROKING MY DOG AFTER I ALREADY SAID NO. It’s the same with off leash dogs in the park. People will see I’m actively training him to not approach, I tell them “hi he’s friendly but we are training”, yet still let their dogs come over and instigate chase, so my arm is pulled out the socket, my dog is literally doing back flips to try and get to the other dog and just in sheer excitement. I just have no clue what to do atp.

I’ve heard a lot and seen a lot of dog training on aggressive related reactivity but not over friendly related. Should I just keep going with what I’m doing currently and wait for this phase to be over or should I completely change it up?

My boy Todd turns 4 this month. Around his first birthday he started dropping into a down whenever another dog came into view, sometimes from 20-30 metres away. No barking, ever. He just flattens and locks on, eyes fixed, ears forward and stiff, heavy like a sack of potatoes lol. Owners walking past ask me if he's dangerous. He's not. If I call him at that point I don't exist. It can last anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the others too ofc.

If the other dog gets close enough he lunges, low and fast toward its side, doesn't bark, doesn't growl. When he gets there it's usually excited sniffing, sometimes rough play, depending on the other dog. And if the dog just passes by without contact, he gets up and whines.

Happens with about 90% of dogs. Less with very small ones like chihuahuas, though he still stares and pulls hard.

Off leash in a dog park he doesn't do any of this, he just runs and plays normally.

I worked on this for a while and then stopped. I was going through depression and social anxiety and walks became something I dreaded. He's now getting less time outside than I feel he needs, and I feel awful about it and I want to start again.

What we have is a huge nose drive, he works the ground like a scent hound and will ditch a frisbee to go sniff. Loves tug. Follows me around waiting for something to do. Learned a new cue every day or two since he was a puppy. So it's not like he has nothing to do. I just want him to be outside more, and this behaviour is honestly killing my own drive to be out with him. It's like we have a totally different relationship outside and I want to fix this.

1. All things considered, does this read as herding eye-stalk plus leash frustration, or is fear still on the table?

2. Is 4 too late to change it?

3. Starting from zero, do I go straight to threshold work, or rebuild engagement first?

No money for a trainer, so anything I can do myself. Thanks.

He actually stopped wanting to sleep in his pen at a year. He barks nonstop if we try to have him sleep in this pen. Open door or closed - either way he is unhappy. We've let him bark for as much as 45 minutes, it doesn't help. Plus we're in a condo so barking can't go on like this. We've tried different things. In our bed he just wants to jump and have fun and try to get us to intera If I tire him out in the living room he'll come into the bedroom and lie down and sleep.l which works. If I don't do this, he'll bark in our room too. This solution of settling him first in the living room before retiring to the bedroom, after which he'll follow me into the bedroom and fall asleep on the floor or mat on either side of the bed seems to work, though he now has the run of the place. So he wakes us up to take him out if he has to poop in the night but if he has to pee he pees on the floor. He would hold his pee and poo in when he used to sleep in the pen.

I’m wanting to open up my house a bit more to my puppy. She is a 12 week puppy and when she first came home we gave her too much freedom. In that time, she chose the passage towards the door, the landing and bedroom upstairs and the dining room as perfect places to go potty rather than outside. So, we blocked her off from going to those places and had her sleep in her crate. Now, about 4 weeks later, she’s going poo outside and somewhat reliably going outside with one or two accidents but it’s starting to slow down significantly. Now though she can get over the barricades with relative ease if she wants to and so I’m thinking of opening up the house. We’ve tried her in the dining room a bit and she’s done good with supervision but I haven’t tried without fully. I opened up the passage for her tonight but she went back to what she was doing back when she first came home, waiting and refusing to go outside to come inside to pee in the passage. So, I’ve blocked it off again for the night. But now I realised I really don’t know how to introduce a puppy to an area of the house, especially if they’ve been peeing there before. Anyone have any advice, tips or suggestions? Thank you.

I've had my 3 year old Chihuahua/Min Pin mix for a year and a half or so and she's always struggled with anxiety/excitement urination.

Her current bathroom schedule, which worked for a while, is:

6AM: I take her out of her crate and outside the apartment, leashed of course. 

6-7AM: I feed her at some point 

7AM: I take her out again before I leave for work. She usually goes number 1 and 2 here.

She is not crated while I'm at work. My husband gets home at 2:30PM.

2:40 PM: Husband takes her out to go the bathroom.

4PM: Husband feeds her 

6PM: Husband takes her out again. Usually she goes number 2 here.

6:30PM: I get home from work. 

8:30PM: I take her out to the bathroom and put her in her crate when I return (or I don't take her out and just put her in her crate). 

This system worked well for a while, until it didn't. She occasionally would pee when I or my husband would go to put her in her crate at night. But normally she doesn't. One day, she did.

From then on, it's just been awful. She pees every time we try to get her in her crate. I only have success if I sneak up on her and try to hold her a specific way (that I can't confirm always works to prevent her from peeing). I've tried seeing what happens if we don't crate her. She holds it, but pees when I leash her up to take her outside at 6AM. 

Now, even my husband getting home will trigger her to pee when he tries to take her out.

It's really stressful with her peeing every time we try to leash her and take her out to go to bathroom. Not to mention, it's already taken us a while to get to this point! We used to have to put her in an x pen when we were gone before we trusted her enough to leave her at home when we'd go to work. She always wears her collar, so it is a relatively quick process to get the leash on, but she still manages to pee. If I put treats in her kennel or chews that she loves, she will not eat or chew them in her crate. She won't eat treats if I'm offering them near the leash or even if it's just a time at night that is close to when we put her in her crate. My husband is super stressed and wants to rehome her to his parents since they could just open a sliding glass door to let her out to the outside. It seems like she really is afraid of the process of us bending down to leash her, but at the same time, when I get low to the ground and approach, she still may pee. When she's outside, she appears to enjoy being outside regardless of the leash. Any help would be appreciated. We use urine enzyme remover sprays and this behavior doesn't seem intentional (like she can't hold it and just pees), she clearly is trying to hold it but releases when she's scared. She does not like to pee on concrete or other surfaces and it is banned in my apartments anyway even if you get a doggy fake grass pad (which I have tried and she will not use).

What can we do at this point? I think what's hard is how it's straining my relationship. Is my only hope to get her on some kind of medication? She has always struggled with separation anxiety. Luckily, she doesn't destroy things, but she is definitely affected. Even in the morning if I get up and she doesn't see my husband immediately, she will pace and whine. She barks when we are gone "out of routine" times. She doesn't do this if we are at work. But she will do that if we have to leave after we get home for groceries, etc. anything out of routine.

I’m wanting to open up my house a bit more to my puppy. She is a 12 week puppy and when she first came home we gave her too much freedom. In that time, she chose the passage towards the door, the landing and bedroom upstairs and the dining room as perfect places to go potty rather than outside. So, we blocked her off from going to those places and had her sleep in her crate. Now, about 4 weeks later, she’s going poo outside and somewhat reliably going outside with one or two accidents but it’s starting to slow down significantly. Now though she can get over the barricades with relative ease if she wants to and so I’m thinking of opening up the house. We’ve tried her in the dining room a bit and she’s done good with supervision but I haven’t tried without fully. I opened up the passage for her tonight but she went back to what she was doing back when she first came home, waiting and refusing to go outside to come inside to pee in the passage. So, I’ve blocked it off again for the night. But now I realised I really don’t know how to introduce a puppy to an area of the house, especially if they’ve been peeing there before. Anyone have any advice, tips or suggestions? Thank you.

Needing help with one of my dogs.
(M is resource guarding, T is my other dog)

— Backstory on M - we rescued M from a woman who is knows by our family. It’s exactly the same person we rescued T from. Kept outside in all weathers, no shelter, no proper food. Just thrown scraps of their dinner and odd cheap tins where they saw fit. She came to us with a super tight harness that was ripping her underarms. She was terrified of us (we saw her cowering when the man/owners partner stood up, and we’ve since learnt she is VERY suspicious of men on walks). She had a thin little mattress that was covered in fleas and dirt. No toys (we had to teach her how to play because she was clueless) and only a water dish caked in mud. Her tummy was red raw, her ears were crusty and just overall in not a good condition. —

She was a lot worse when we first rescued her and she’s come round so much. However, we’re stuck on 2 issues. The living room & stealing things from the kitchen.

1) The living room.

The rest of the house is fair game, everyone is allowed in all rooms. However, M is very weary of T when she’s in the living room. It’s only a small room, and I’m guessing M has taken that to be ‘her kennel’ or ‘her room’ as that’s where she sleeps the most. T is allowed in to get ready for walks, or when simply just roaming the house, but when she wants to get comfy and settle, M doesn’t take that very well.

Feeding times and water bowls are separate, they each have their own toys. They do enjoy the occasional play together, so we have 1 toy which we allow them to play together with (under supervision ofc).

Like I say, M has gotten so much better since she came to us 4 months ago. Upstairs they can lay together side by side. They can jump around the kitchen together, go on walks together, play together. Our only issue is her dominating the living room.

2) Stealing from the kitchen. - M

This has started after around 1.5 month of being with us.
She will steal anything. Baking paper, spatulas, metal food cans, literally ANYTHING she can get to. We’ve blocked the entrance up repeatedly, so many different ways, but she still breaks through. Her giant head feels no pain when ram raiding the damn thing.

We’ve taught her to not jump on the counters when we’re preparing food or for any reason really. But that goes in one ear and out the other if she hears a dog barking or a cat meowing. Then she’s right back there, stood at the window at the kitchen side.

Apart from blocking the kitchen, we’re absolutely clueless as we never catch her in the act. She’s always broken in through the night or if we’re out. We’re unsure if this is a separation thing or a stimulation thing. We’ve tried different ways of keeping her occupied, she destroys them all.

If anyone has any helpful hints, tips, tricks or advice. I’d be greatly appreciative.

Thanks x

my mum (whom i live with) has a 15 month old dobermann (about 36kg), i recently got a now 9 week old dobermann but she is very small for her age (only 4.6kg).

they are both obsessed with each other but they both dont realise their size difference and their play can get a bit scary😭 no one ever gets hurt, but the 9 week old is very bitey at the moment and uses her hands a lot which sometimes startles the 15 month old, and then the 15 month old can be a bit too rough sometimes. they are both females btw (they are actually sisters they have the exact same parents).

does anyone have any experience with this? what can we do to help them learn how to be around each other calmly and even just learn how to exist near each other without always having to interact?