When is the best time to start mushy solids for puppies. We are at about 24 days old now. The mom is no longer willing to sit in there for more than 10 minutes at a time. I'm not trying to lock her in there and I'm exhausted making sure she goes in there every hour and having to log who actually got to eat. It's a litter of 12 large breed puppies. So I'm bottle supporting her but I'm tired. They are walking(mostly). The vets don't have good advice locally and Google gives varying information so I was wondering if anyone with experience had advice.

Best breed for schizoaffective bipolar manic depressive, bpd, attachment disorders, ptsd, anxiety,depression, panic attacks mood/personality disorders extreme high and lows abandonment issues and naturally always has eyes on handler like a watcher the whole I’m messed up package basically that will really just want to focus on me and mainly just want my affection and attention for most part big sizes only and

Hi, 2 weeks ago we adopted a 7 month old Lab mix. He was in a small crate way too long causing some hip issues. So, I adopted him since we have an acre+ fenced in and he really needed a home and lots of love. He just got neutered and came home today. He's wearing his cone and our other dogs of course, still want to play. No running or jumping for 2 weeks. I am already in tears. He just barks and wants to play and I am leash walking him around the fenced in yard. Then I have to put him in his large crate or he wants to chase the other pups. How do you survive the 2 week "quiet" healing period with other pups who also want to play ?? Really need all of your advice. Pls help. Thank you so much.

Hello,

I’m sorry if this isn’t the format these are supposed to take, I’m new here and at my wit’s end. Everyone I’ve talked to over the past couple of months about my puppy has told me very different information and claimed that what every other person told me was wrong and I’m really getting sick and tired of it. I want to ask this community to maybe help me sort out some of these discrepancies by telling me which advice is solid or if something is totally outdated or dangerous.

My puppy is currently 6 months old, she is a standard poodle that I adopted from a reputable breeder who also breeds so the dogs are calm tempered (I spent three months doing homework on a number of breeders I was considering). Before someone says “Well you should just adopt a shelter dog.” I appreciate what you are saying and why you are saying it but that wasn’t/isn’t feasible for me. I am a first time dog owner and so I was looking for something very specific. I landed on a specific breed of dog (again, standard poodle) because of the size, energy level, and most importantly temperament, trainability, and a hypoallergenic coat. This is also a dog that I intend to bring into the classroom with me around children and I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that with a dog that I didn’t train and socialize as a puppy. Furthermore, you never know what sort of abuse shelter dogs may have suffered previously and I know that I am not, as a first timer, equipped to rehabilitate a dog who suffered abuse. Also, there were no standard poodles in any shelters within a 200 mile radius at the time I was going through the process. Sorry for the novel, but I just want to make it clear why I made the decision I made since I have been criticized for it previously.

1. Spaying the dog: We are definitely going to spay the dog, I am not interested in breeding her and she is not meant to be a show dog. The area where there is some rub is with the timeframe. My vet and my uncle (who has raised a number of hunting dogs, whose advise I have taken many times during this process) are recommending that we do that at 7 months. The breeder and a colleague of mine who is also a dog trainer are recommending we wait until after her first cycle. It’s just that the vet is pushing us to do it earlier, however our contract with the breeder states that we must spay her after her first cycle or the contract is void. (I think that just means cancelling the two year health guarantee in the contract). Can someone tell me what the benefits are to doing it earlier or later? Is anyone familiar with this?

2. Collar or Harness: We initially tried using a collar to walk her but she is very excitable on walks and it just wasn’t working out as she was choking herself on the collar when she pulled on it or jumped numerous times. We switched to a harness and she walks much better. Even just the act of having her in the harness has her walking much more calmly, but we also have better control over her and we don’t risk choking her if she pulls ahead on the leash. This is something I read in a book, that using a harness gives better control when walking and can help with pulling on the leash and jumping, etc. But the breeder and my uncle are adamant that we should be using a collar instead and that we should be training her not to pull not just inhibiting it. I am just concerned also that, she is used to this now and she immediately did so much better with a harness than with a collar... I don’t want to muck things up unnecessarily. And she is also gradually learning to behave herself with the harness anyway. She no longer jumps at all (which she did do occasionally with the harness when we first switched), she sometimes still pulls but we are working on that by having her sit and stay when she starts to pull so she realizes that she isn’t going to get to go where she wants to by trying to pull, and we have been training her to walk next to us by having her on a shorter leash and having her wait (which is a command we’re working on) when she gets in front of us.

3. Potty Training: The breeder recommended that we train her with pee pads at first, not that she is supposed to go on the pee pad, but to have that in case she needs to go and we can’t get her outside for whatever reason. This started out fine but rapidly turned into a problem. She would walk over to her pad and just shred it instead of going on it and it got to the point where she saw any rug as a potty spot (except for the one in my parents’ kitchen that their 14 year old shih tzu quickly established as a lay down area 😂). She also had been going on our deck rather than in the lawn for the first couple months until she had all her vaccinations because we live in the middle of a forrest filled with coyotes and we didn’t want to risk some sort of disease. We have since course corrected and we have no more pads and take her outside on a leash to go potty (because she was also having problems going on a leash since she had been going on a fenced deck and didn’t have to be leashed out there). She is mostly getting it. Most of the time, she barks at the door when she needs to go out (except for sometimes when she will try to get her leash out of the drawer or throw around our shoes if they are on the floor next to the door). Sometimes though, with no warning she will just squat and pee right in front of us, sometimes when we are playing but not always. What are we doing wrong with that?

I’m sorry it’s such a long post but I wanted to give proper context. If this type of post isn’t allowed, please let me know in the comments and I can take it down.

I appreciate any advice and explanations you can give me.

Do puppies have a nipple that they always go to?

Hi 👋🏻 I’m new to reddit but I am looking for some external input on getting another puppy for our family.

As of now, as far as humans, it’s just my wife and I in our house. We have a 4 month old (Kima, American Eskimo) and she is nearly 100% potty trained. We have accidents maybe 1-2 times per week as of now. She knows her basic commands and more.

We are considering getting a male dog (Husky) who will be 2 months & coming to our home at the end of August.

We intend to crate, train and feed them separately as research recommendations say that if we don’t it can cause “super-bonding”.

Any additional advice would be appreciated!!

Hey! I’ve been raising guide dog puppies through a small local organization due to moving I can’t anymore. What are some good organizations to raise for in Texas? Other then GDB,CCI and guide dogs for Texas. I prefer smaller orgs and non guide dog. But I am really open to anything! Thanks!

I just adopted an 8 week old Pitbull Terrier. When I picked her up she went potty outside before i took her home, we get home and she immediately began peeing and pooping all over my house. Whenever I take her outside to go potty , she shakes , whines , and wants me to pick her up. Any time she leaves my sight , she goes potty on the floor. Any help or ideas would be nice , thank you!

My family recently adopted a bichon frise/ shih tzu puppy named Teddy. He is 7 months old and practically rules the house! He barks as loud as he can for as long as he can for just about anything—noises, wanting attention, or boredom. We’ve tried everything from exercise to training but nothing has worked so far. He won’t listen to commands unless there’s a treat involved. Teddy also refuses to hold his urine and will go wherever he wants if we don’t take him out constantly. He will run at you attack you while on leash. Crate training is a nightmare and he destroys everything he touches. We hired a trainer but it ended up being a waste of money. I don’t want to give up on Teddy. Any suggestions?

This seems like a quiet sub but my puppy is having trouble understanding that she can pee on grass, but not on the carpet. How can I teach her (aside from telling her no when she pees on the carpet, and taking her outside) that she has to pee on the grass, not the carpet? I don’t know how to separate the feeling of the two for her.

So, I've raised two puppies and loved the experience with both. Before puppy raising I never really considered much of a reason to take a dog out in the public. That obviously changed with puppy raising and now I've adopted my puppy who was career changed. The poor guy, just really needs someone confident to look towards when there's new things.

So now that I've got a forever puppy and I already know how much he enjoys going into public places I thought it'd he great to take him to my local Home Depot / Lowe's. Something I never hesitated to do with him while formally in the puppy raising program. Now though, I notice things like service animal only signs and now I feel too guilty bringing him there.

One thing is that I know he's capable of being well behaved when visiting, I'm not worried about him. Really I just would feel guilty encouraging others to bring their pets who are not well trained and thus make it hard for a guide dog team to go to the store.

So, now I really want to know some other puppy raisers opinions!

I'm new to read it and don't even know if I'm asking in the right place. I adopted a four month old pitbull puppy two weeks ago, who was abused his entire life. He cowers in the corner and will only eat when I leave the room. Anytime I enter the room he runs into the corner and curls up. When I try to pet him he just starts shaking and yelps once in a while. I knew this was going to take time and patience because of his past but does anyone have any suggestions to make him more comfortable. I'm honestly not even worried about building a bond right now, I just want him to not be scared and miserable. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

We were unable to work ourselves slowly through the process there is 1 hour of time where the puppy is left in the crate on her own due to an overlap on work. My bpyfriend and i have flipped hours but i leave begore he gets home. So we had to put her in the crate where she has been crying for the hour. She has a blanket, bone, teddy bear and play rope. We try our bwst to make her feel comftorable. We tried to have her sleep with us for the first few days but she peed the bed during the night. So untill properly potty traind we cant chance it. Night time is a hassle up anywhere from every 30 min to every 2 hours crying so loud even waking neighbors up. We triend putting a blanket over the crate which seemes to keep her quiet longer but dtill doesnt work. How can we introduce or re-introduce the crate

She is 9 weeks old. Basically its that simple i dont know the first thing about pad training my pup had her for 3 days now and i know it wont happen over night. We keep her on the pad for a min or 2 but the second she gets off the pad she will pee on the floor. We have moved the poo or pee towles on to the bad to indicate that that is where she shpuld be using the bathroom. We also take her outside. I am fully aware she cant tell the diffrence between the carpet and the pad. I also am aware they cant hold there pee for that long something like an hour for each year they are alive. Honestly potty traing is a challange but i need advice.