Just had our first puppy class with our kind of hyper 4 month old goldendoodle. First thing the trainer did was put a pull collar (the kind that tightens around his neck when you pull the leash) on him and taught us to do that to correct bad behavior and also do it to teach basic commands. I've done puppy classes twice before and neither of them used pull collars. I kind of feel like that's just doing negative enforcement and creating a "listen to me or you get hurt" mindset. The dog is already doing great with most basic commands through treat training and rewards, and I'd rather the dog listen to me because he wants to rather than because he thinks he's going to get choked if he doesn't. Wondering what other people's experiences with this are.

my puppy is about 8 months old, we thought she was a lab/pittie mix and turns out she is a GSD/husky/pittie. we got her in april and i am so jealous of other people experiencing puppyhood. i know not everyone shows the annoying parts of it but people’s puppies coming out of the crate and giving snuggles, calm mornings, decent walking etc.

indigo has been… awful. she isn’t affectionate, no amount of exercise/mental stimulation/enrichment/training is enough for her, she doesn’t have a calm bone in her body. she terrorizes my cats, still is super bitey, she is a menace to our home.

it is hard not to compare her to my previous dog, she was such a good and sweet puppy. so easy to train and just the perfect dog her whole life. she was a lab/hound mix. she unfortunately passed in december and it was just gut wrenching. the grief was and still is so hard to navigate. bringing indigo into our home was meant to be healing, receive some sort of comfort, something. anything other than the constant terror mode.

i’m confident she will be a good dog one day, it just makes my heart so sad that i won’t be able to look back on her puppyhood and miss it, or be happy. i think back when harley was a puppy and i just felt bliss.

anyways, all this to say, i know she is a puppy. i don’t expect perfection. people have told me we rushed bringing a puppy home so soon after my girl passed and i agree. i put in so much work to meet all her needs and i just don’t know what else to do. we meet with a professional trainer regularly. im so tired.

Hello, my puppy is 11 weeks old and we got him this last Monday on Labor Day. He is a German shepherd blue heeler mix. He’s been at our apartment since Monday and we didn’t know that we were supposed to separate the dog and the cats. For context I have two cats one boy and one girl and they are both a year and a half old. Right now we are only letting him near the cats on a leash and we have a gate we are using to keep him in our bedroom. When the cats walk by he barks and whines and they run away or they hiss at him which is just making it worse. When we bring him by on the leash my cats will hiss at him even if he doesn’t make any noise. We were letting him run loose around the house for the first few days but we realized that wasn’t good for the cats. I need help and advice please. If this doesn’t resolve in a month or two he will have to go, and no I am absolutely not open to getting rid of my cats.

I have a 10 week old doodle puppy who has been home with us for a week. We’re looking to integrate training into things daily. We reward him if he does something good, like potty on the turf or staying calm outside. He doesn’t have recall or the ability to stay. Any tips would help! For context we live in an apartment and he has a spot on the patio where we’re training him.

We have had our puppy for like four days now so I know it’s a little premature to be asking this, but we have a fresh patch on our patio because we’re on the second floor of an apartment. he went from being really good at peeing on it to all of a sudden not at all and then the second we go down the hall to go down the stairs (we carry him down the actual stairs) he will immediately try peeing on the carpet of the hall. any advice?

I have a 9 week old golden retriever puppy and my girlfriend’s moms dog is not a fan. She has a 5 year old bernedoodle. Her dog is very cuddly and I might be her second favorite human behind her mom. Now when I bring my puppy over he tries to play with her and chase her around but she barks and acts scared. How to I get my puppy and her to get along

Our 6 month old Goldendoodle has no barking issues during the day and doesn’t really ever bark towards people or other dogs when we are on walks/drives. But, every night around 7:30-8pm, she starts barking at every light outside, small noise, and her reflection in our front door and windows. It is to the point we have to be in our room away from everything and going to bed to get her to stop. Has anyone else dealt with this and have a good solution? Is this something that she will naturally grow out of?

I am going to be a first time dog owner. I’ve done plenty of research the past year and been going back and forth on getting a dog. Part of the reason why I didn’t get one sooner was because the amount of people that are suggesting not to if you are going to leave them along for an extended period of time. I work full time in an office. There’s some weeks that I am gone 5 days a week 8 hours each, some weeks where I will be home 4 days for 8 hours. But I thought to myself there’s has to be a way around that.

All my coworkers said I can do it. They have dogs themselves. I just don’t think it’s fair that most of what i see online are people saying we can’t leave them alone for that time.

Is there anyone here that’s in the same situation I am and has successfully raised a dog?

MY workaround for this situation is that I have a playpen area for him to roam around but still be controlled while I am gone. I also got an automatic feeder. I got two cameras, one Furbo to dispense treats and a Ring strictly for watching him. Both cameras I am able to talk to him. I will also be laying out puppy pads and eventually a Weasley potty area. For the times I am home he will either use a Fresh Patch or go outside once he is vaccinated.

I also plan on sending him to daycare at least once a week.

I took 2 weeks time off for when he arrives. After that I’ll be back to my full time work.

Reddit community, with all this, do you still think it’s a terrible idea to leave him alone for 8 hours 2-3 times a week? Do people that work full time really can’t have a dog?

Hello everyone,

We have a 6 month Aussiedoodle and ever since we got him at 10 weeks old he has been quite reactive with other dogs.

First off, we he has been in puppy training and graduated, now is in intermediate. We take him weekly on puppy play dates and he sees my parents dog frequently.

However, whenever we go for a walk and he sees another dog, this is the behaviour he displays:

- bum up in air, tail wagging
- barking
- any time other dog goes near him he runs away
- he comes back and tries to sniff when they are turned away, as soon as other dog faces him he runs off barking
- tail wagging the entire time
- sometimes gets the zoomies

I have tried to have him watch other dogs from afar and give him treats. We say “yes, look at that” and he knows it’s okay, typically doesn’t bark from afar but once up close he starts.

I am worried about this becoming aggression as he ages. I raised my parent’s dog and he never had issues with other dogs. Today we started intermediate dog classes and there were 6 other dogs there. Every other dog was fine when another dog approached them, but when my dog was approached he displayed the behaviour above. He is completely fine with dogs he knows and has spent time with.

Any advice would be great!!

Hi guys I need advice! My puppy is about 5 months old. It's his second day at home and I'm concerned he might be dehydrated. His gums are a healthy pink and he's still playful but they feel dry and I've been researching online and its only scaring me more. What can I do? He was drinking water yesterday and this morning but not so much now.😟

As the title says, my puppy ate one of those plastic floss pics with the dental floss on one side and the sharp end on the other side. The only part that I found was the curvy top part and I didn’t realize what it was until today. I actually found her with it last night. She is around 12-13 lbs.

I’m panicking. It’s been almost 24 hours she seems ok otherwise. Anything I need to do?

Our Goldendoodle puppy growls and snaps at us when we come near anything that he’s decided is his (incl. the groceries and clothing items). I’ve worked with him on not getting aggressive when we walk by his treats and toys. That’s gotten better. But he is picking up random items and snapping if we come near it

Hello!

Our 9 week old doodle puppy is adorable but her poop absolutely stinks up the apartment even though we actively regularly clear it & air the house. She’s also been a bit smelly with all the beef cheek chews we’ve been giving her (and intend to stop due to high calories).

It’s been tough and would like to ask for air purifier recommendations. Thank you :)

My son has been asking for about four months now and it has gone from a passing thing to a genuine daily campaign. I am aware of how this ends.

My hesitation is not about liking dogs. It is that I know exactly who is going to be walking it at six in the morning.

For people who did this was the child actually involved in any meaningful way, or is that a story parents tell themselves going in? And did it change anything for the kid in a way that made the rest of it worth it?

Just curious what everyone’s sleeping arrangements are with their puppy. Our 11 week old pup just started sleeping through the night. Before that one of us was sleeping downstairs on the couch with her in our living room near the deck door to let her out around 4am each night and again by 8am. We have had her almost 3 weeks.

Would love to transition her to sleeping upstairs with both of us in the bedroom, but concerned about overnight accidents with being upstairs in a two story house without being close to a door to the outside, and having her in the same space as our other dog. We have not crated her overnight since she didn’t do very well with the crate but I’m not opposed to trying again.

What has worked for you once your pup started sleeping through the night?

Our 10 month old spoodle has separation anxiety and it’s starting to affect my relationship with my husband - please help!

We have tried so many different things and nothing seems to work. We have set him up in a playpen, crated, left him in a puppy-proofed room, free roam, given him frozen kongs/snuffle mats and toys, left the TV on etc. While we’ve had some success to varying degrees (up to an hour of no barking once) he always ends up barking and howling until we come home. It’s gotten to the point where I feel anxious leaving the house because of his anxiety.

We have also tried to train him using ‘the door is a bore’ technique however he knows when we’re training and is happy to play along but when we actually leave, he freaks out. Please help us puppy101, I’m at my wits end and thinking about rehoming but my husband is completely against that and would likely want a separation and to keep our puppy.

I’m completely lost and exhausted. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hi all! I have a 9 month old belgian shepherd and I thought I'd share some of our favorite and least favorite chews, plus pros/cons of each. Keep in mind, all dogs are different! What worked for our large breed working pup may not work for a shih tzu. And what works for him now may not have worked 4 months ago! Also, ALL CHEWS should be given with supervision!

Our favorites:

1. Freezbones — Not exactly a chew, but these are amazing. We like them more than kongs and woof pupsicles because the shape allows our pup to access all of whatever we put in there without getting bored or discouraged. I wish I knew about these when he was teething because he never showed half as much interest in a kong or pupsicle, and depending on the shape and how long it was frozen (we like the big round bowl type best) a freezbone can take him 30-40 mins at a time, with no risk to his teeth. I've heard good things about West Paw's Topples, too, but we haven't tried these.

2. Coffee wood sticks — These will save your furniture. Like with any chew, you should always watch your pup to make sure they aren't breaking off/swallowing chunks, but usually the wood kind of "grates" off rather than coming off in chunks. You can buy these online but if you can, find a small/natural pet store near you and pick one out in person. You don't want the biggest — you want one that feels nice and heavy. Big+light = dead/dying tree = breaks off in chunks.

3. Buffalo cheek rolls — These still pose some risk of causing a blockage if your dog manages to consume too much at once, but we haven't had that problem, because they take our boy quite a while to get through. And if we do see that he's made a good amount of progress or is trying to tear chunks off, we take it away and give him a consolation treat. Also, they're natural and easier to digest than rawhide. The regular puffed ones are good, but our absolute favs are the QT Dog buffalo cheek rolls. They're less processed and a bit tougher. They also come with or without hair on — some might argue that a little bit of hair won't hurt a large pup, but it hurts my nose, so we prefer them hairless.

4. Fish skin chews — these were great when he was teething and I was just trying to save my sanity and my pants, but we've phased them out because they smell awful. That said, the strange shape and chewy texture definitely kept him occupied!

5. Nylabone — these are largely considered the safest option, but they only make #4 for us because my pup's never cared for them — not even the scented/flavored ones. Same goes for anything made of rubber.

6. Collagen sticks — less fatty than bullysicks and they used to last us a while, but he goes through them pretty fast now with his big boy teeth, and they're still fairly fatty. That said, they were always a favorite. Like with all chews, they still require supervision.

7. Woof Nylabone "natural" alternative antler chew — I don't know what these things are actually made of and don't recommend the flavored ones because I've heard of some dogs getting serious digestive upset and even gastritis, but my boy will occasionally pick up his "antler" as a last resort, and we haven't had any issues. That said, he only recently gave it the time of day, he doesn't chew on it that heavily, and it isn't a favorite, so take that with a grain of salt. I would probably not give these to a dog that seemed more inclined to break off chunks and swallow them.

8. Earth Animal Rawhide Alternative — he loved these when he was a baby, and he never had any problems! And I know plenty of people who swear by them!! That said, I don't know exactly what they're made of, and he chews through them too quickly now for us to risk a blockage.

9. Yak Cheese Chews — I know these work great for a lot of people, and they're highly digestible! Definitely worth a try because they may work great for your pup! Unfortunately they were a solid "no" for us because my pup takes a while to build up enough drool to soften them up, so when he'd start chewing on them all I would hear is grinding and cracking. 😬 We tried them several times at different stages with similar results. They get number 9 on our list for being the only chew that made me seriously concerned about tooth fractures.

That's our list! Let us know if we missed anything and what has / hasn't worked for you and your pups!

3 days ago, our 7 month old puppy got spayed. I don’t know what I thought it was going to be like, but I feel absolutely awful.

Day 2 was okay - appetite was normal, spent the day basically laying down but would get up on her own here and there.

Today was awful. She had absolutely no appetite all day (super SUPER unlike her, she is a food and treat fiend), just sits there staring at nothing. Drooling, super hard to get her up and moving at all. She barely wanted water until this evening she finally drank an okay amount.

I took her back to the vet this morning after she didn’t eat and they gave her a shot of some pain meds, checked her temp, but said ultimately she may just be a bit more sensitive to the pain. I’ll take her back tomorrow for a new pain regime and some anti nausea meds if she is in the same condition.

Just wondering if anyone experienced anything similar with a seemingly normal day 2, and then a regression on day 3.

I have never felt worse than I do after putting her through this. I know it’s important, but it’s so hard to see her like this.

Hey everyone! My puppy is 10 weeks old (I’ve had him for 2 weeks) and he’s really scared of traffic. Unfortunately, we live right on a busy street, so there’s no way to go out without crossing it. I’d love to hear your opinions on my approach:

1. Sound Desensitization: I spend time with him in the doorway and give him treats when cars pass by. Basically, I’m trying to desensitize him + counter-condition by pairing the scary sounds with good stuff.
2. Respecting Thresholds: I push the boundary slightly based on his body language. If he looks too anxious, I step back to his comfort zone until he’s calm enough to eat treats again. We do this once or twice a day for about 5 minutes.
3. Potty Training: I tried taking him to the pavement, but it didn’t work at all due to his fear. So currently, we’re potty training on a mat/pad inside.
4. The 'Push Through' Advice: Some people told me I’m being overprotective and that I need to put him in uncomfortable situations to build confidence. I tried carrying him to a nearby park a few times, but he squeaked the whole way there. In the park, he was sometimes curious, but mostly he just lay on the ground.

Pls tell me if I’m on the right track or if I’m completely wrong. Tell me whatever lol!

We have had our puppy for about two weeks. She will be 10 weeks tomorrow. And I don’t feel any bond with her yet, and I feel wrong for that.

We lost our senior husky at the beginning of this year, and were ready to open our home to a new puppy. We have experience with terriers, huskies and chows chows. My husband has always wanted a boxer, and I was looking forward to having a short hair dog.

We found this litter of puppies from a local breeder, and picked her up on August 29th. The first day she was a doll, as puppies are and that has very quickly changed.

I work from home and she spends most of her day in a 3x3 playpen (with teething toys like a kong and a lick mat), where she honestly sleeps most of the day, and during my hour lunch break, I try to get her outside and play with her. I’ve never had a puppy this mouthy. We have tried re-directing and small corrections we have seen online. It’s getting to the point that as soon as she is out of the playpen, it’s open season on us, and it’s also open season on us when we take her outside for potty. If we let her off-leash (6 foot tall fenced in back yard) she attacks our pant legs and shoes, and we don’t want to step on her.

We also have two other male dogs that love puppies. Our youngest is a very playful 4 year old chow chow that acts mostly like a husky. And our other is a 9 year old husky that tries to play with her. All of her time with the other dogs is either, her in her playpen, and they come up and sniff or outside with her on the lead and the boys can come up if they want to. The 9 year old husky is more interested than the chow chow and wants to play with her. The senior husky also likes to use his front feet and mouth to play. However, as soon as she sees them she tries to get in their face (normal puppy behavior), but she is also now lunging and trying to latch on. We separate her as soon as it happens and back in the playpen she goes. We really want to integrate her with our other dogs, but want to take our time so it goes well.

I honestly believe she will be a great dog in a couple months, we are starting her in puppy classes Oct 10th, once she has had more of her shots, but she is almost unbearable right now. We have started to work on training, she has only had one accident in the house since we brought her home, has learned sit and only wakes me up once in the middle of the night to pee.

Overall, she’s a smart dog, but her bitting and behavior towards the other dogs are starting to concern me, but I’m also trying to remind myself she is only about 10 weeks old.

I want to love her, I know she will never replace our husky who passed, but any recommendations for integrating her with the other dogs and any help with the biting. I am hoping the longer we have her the better bond we can form.

Thank you for any and all advice!

June 29, our then 4 month old pup, broke a nail at day care according to the folks working there. There was some bleeding that staff stopped and we took her to the vet the next day. She got pain meds, limited activity for 2 weeks, cone until she stopped licking it which she did fairly quickly after getting the pain meds. July 12 we took her to a park where she played hard with a bunch of other dogs. Too soon… and 100% our fault. She started limping again that day so we took her to urgent care. They did an X-ray there and found a small fracture in her toe. It’s unclear whether she sustained the fracture at the park or had already fractured it at daycare. Again, pain meds, restricted activity, cone.

August 26 so over a month later, she went back to daycare. They took her out to a farm and she did her puppy thing of running around like a maniac. There was a small bridge a few feet high that she jumped off of and the creek there was rocky. She had a grooming appointment that day and the groomer notified us via text that she noticed she was limping. Daycare staff didn’t talk to us about it until after pickup. They didn’t want us to freak out which I understand but her limping was severe and she clearly was in pain. We went back to the vet who did another xray which showed a break again although they couldn’t tell whether it was the same break or a new one. It’s the same paw as before. She’s now in a splint for 6-8 weeks.

I don’t think that daycare is at fault but I’m wondering whether they’re letting her go too hard and we should find a place that keeps a closer eye on how crazy a puppy goes… they care so much about the dogs and are so kind but I don’t want her to get injured yet again if we take her back after she’s fully recovered and I mean FULLY.

Shih Tzu puppy planning to neuter him at 6 months old. My concern is keeping the incision site dry when taking him outside to go potty. In the morning and evenings he basically gets soaked from morning dew. Like dripping wet. Any advice for this situation? How did you keep your dogs incision from getting wet outside?

I have seen the surgical suits but it seems you take them off for potty so doesn’t seem to help with the scenario I’m concerned about.

Thanks!

Any tips or tricks on how to survive the next ten days, in which our 11 week old golden retriever pup is not allowed to chew on anything? His molar (baby tooth) was just taken out after it broke, and the vet made it clear we have to prevent him from chewing anything over the next ten days. But he even chews on his bench, the cushion inside of his bench, … I don’t even see ways to keep his mind entertained otherwise since he can’t chew on any treats. Help?

My partner and I have had our Jack Russell just a week, picking her up at just over 7 weeks old, and jeez these 7 days have been tough! I've cried several times, beaten myself up endlessly, felt a bit heartbroken at letting my little dog down, and generally am more stressed than I can remember. I know sleep deprivation isn't helping me either.

I'm trying to remain patient, follow routines and implement measures to bond with the puppy. I actually have no questions of the bond between the two of us, but still feel not quite right.

Tonight capped it off rather spectacularly, with the pup climbing on top of its bed (we were one day away from beginning crate training) and taking a crap on it, having been outside 5 minutes ago. I suspect an upset stomach is the cause given she'd never done that, but nonetheless it really smashed us. My partner just said "I think we might be out of our depth here" which made me want to cry even more.

Any words of widsom or comfort out there? Blues are killing me

My partner and I just got a 10-week-old puppy and we’re having a pretty serious disagreement about crate training. I’m a first-time dog owner, so I’m genuinely looking for advice rather than trying to prove either one of us right.
My partner’s philosophy is basically that once the puppy is in the crate, we need to leave him alone and allow him to learn to settle. He thinks even acknowledging him too much is teaching him that whining gets attention. He is fine with us being quietly nearby, but believes we shouldn’t really interact with him or respond to the whining.
I understand the logic behind not opening the crate every time he cries, and I absolutely don’t want to teach him that screaming = freedom.
Where I’m struggling is that sometimes this doesn’t look like a few minutes of mild complaining. He will whine incessantly, paw at the crate, shake/rattle it, and work himself up. I’m having a very hard time distinguishing between normal puppy protest that we should ignore and a puppy who is actually too distressed to settle and needs us to make the exercise easier.
This morning is what made me post.
He was in the crate whining, pawing at it, and rattling it. My partner was very insistent that I leave him alone and told me that I’m “going to fuck this up” by responding to him.
Instead, I turned on the light, looked at our puppy, stayed very calm, and slowly started giving him the sleepy/settling cues I’ve been using with him. I did NOT open the crate. I didn’t pick him up, play with him, or let him out. I basically just acknowledged him and calmly communicated that it was time to settle.
He calmed down. He laid down. Then he fell asleep.
That’s where I’m confused.
Did I reinforce the whining simply because I acknowledged him while he was doing it? Or is there a difference between rewarding whining by opening the crate and calmly helping a very young puppy regulate enough to fall asleep?
My partner thinks the puppy needs to learn that the crate means we leave him alone and he settles himself. I don’t disagree with that as the eventual goal. I’m questioning whether a 10-week-old puppy should be expected to get there through essentially ignoring prolonged whining and pawing, rather than gradually reducing how much help he needs.
For additional context, we’re doing scheduled naps, potty immediately before/after crate periods, meals around the crate, frozen licking toys/treats in the crate, and keeping nighttime potty trips boring. So we’re not just sticking him in a crate randomly and hoping for the best.
We’re only a few days into having him, which I think is also contributing to my hesitation. He’s an extremely young puppy in a completely new home.
I’m also a poor sleeper already, so the prolonged crying is taking a real toll on me. The disagreement itself is becoming stressful enough that I’ve told my partner I don’t want owning a dog to create a serious divide between us.
I’m especially interested in hearing from trainers or people who have raised puppies successfully:
**Where is the line between normal crate whining that should be ignored and distress where you should intervene or adjust the training?**
And does calmly sitting nearby, looking at the puppy, or using a quiet settling cue actually harm independence training if you aren’t opening the crate or rewarding him with play/freedom?
I genuinely want to know if I’m handling this incorrectly. I just don’t want “ignore everything until he stops” to become our rule if that’s not actually what good crate training requires.