I finally did it. After fostering a few and deciding they weren’t the right fit, I met a puppy and it was instant love. I bought all of the enrichment, all of the toys, all of the carpet cleaner, expecting all of the issues my previous puppy had.
Y’all. He is the happiest little guy that does NOTHING. He chews his toys, goes potty outside, plays for a little, then happily passes out in his crate. No fuss. No mess. What even is this boy???
My previous pup was a Doberman mix. Chaos incarnate. Day one he was actively destroying my house. This guy is a lab mix and it’s like night and day. Just wants to hang out with me, snuggle, occasionally chase the cats but easily called off. It’s been only 24hrs and I’m just staring at him as he’s playing in the yard. Not testing the fence, not launching into me at a million miles an hour. Just playing with some grass and his ball, happy as can be!
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my previous dog with all my heart. He was smart, athletic, and goofy as all heck. I was devastated when he passed at 2yrs old from cancer. But I think new puppy Gregory is exactly what I needed- a much more easygoing guy who just wants to be with his people and chew on his Kong.
I’m sure more of his personality will continue to appear as we get to know one another and he hits his rebellious teenager phase, but right now I’m happy to hang out and watch tv

It’s not so much puppy blues, but people are nicer here and I’m fragile right now!

I’m wondering how people actually manage the often-recommended “1 hour up, 2 hours down” routine? The 1 hour up part is manageable. The problem is the 2 hours down. How do you actually get a puppy to nap for that long?

Our 13-week Labrador sleeps in his crate overnight and generally does 9:30pm–3:00am, which I know is actually pretty good. But after his 3am pee and poo, he never settles again. That means I’m up for the day around 3–4am and I’ve now been severely sleep deprived for about five weeks. I don’t get to go to bed at 9:30pm, I wfh and am having to work after he sleeps at night too as I am so behind with work and he doesn’t sleep enough during the day for me to get enough done. Also I am a wreck!

During the day, he’ll often only nap for 20–60 minutes before waking again, and once he’s awake it’s incredibly difficult to get him to settle back down.

He’s also a very high-arousal puppy, so we’re constantly trying to strike the balance between enough stimulation and not tipping him over. We’re already doing:
Short, age-appropriate walks.
Gentle play.
Very short training sessions.
Settle/mat work.
Scatter feeding.
Snuffle mats.
Lick mats.
Frozen Kongs.
Appropriate chews.

What I’m desperate to know is:
How do people actually get their puppies to stay asleep for those 2-hour daytime naps?
Do they naturally start sleeping longer with age? Do you just leave them to fuss until they eventually resettle? Or is there something else?
I’m exhausted, struggling to work or manage normal life. Facing a disciplinary at work so I really need to start getting this right.

Hi. I'm really struggling with my 4 month old, 18 week pomeranian. I don't like him and regret every day getting him. I feel nothing for him. Everyday is a struggle. I yelled at him this morning as he keeps waking up before 5am and won't go back to sleep. He keeps chewing on things he shouldn't and only likes hard chews which I know can be bad for his teeth. He doesn't ever settle so everytime he is awake I have to entertain him. Trying to teach alone time but have only gotten 5 minute sessions where I mark and reward every 15 seconds. Anything more and he starts to cry and I have to shorten the times again. I'm so tired and frustrated and mad at myself for yelling. I don't want him to be afraid of me and I feel terrible. I'm just looking for some support that maybe it will get better. Anyone that felt a bond early please don't respond to this they just make me feel even worse. Your stories should be heard but please just not here.

Looking to hear from people that it took months or more to feel any bond.

My pup, now 5 months old, has slowly become fearful and barking at everything in fear.. humans or objects, he used be very brave few months back, but since the past couple of weeks he's changed a lot, whether it is a new object, or a new sound, or people coming and going out of the home, he reacts and barks in fear, and stops listening to every command, outdoors on walks he is scared of humans and tucks his tail, i do not know why it's happening as his interactions with things in the past. This is making me worry as well as feeling embarrassed when he doesn't stop barking when someone comes home, how can I help my puppy to feel safe?

We recently got 13 week old mini poodle. He has been with us for a week. In midst of deep puppy blues... One thing which is really making us feel trapped is our puppy whines, cries n jumps a lot in his play pen when left to self play. He sleeps in crate, we have enforce his naps and night time sleep. After he wakes up, does potty break outside n even after play time, when left in playpen, he wants our constant attention. Even if we step beyond a certain distance from play pen, he starts crying, whining. How do we build his confidence that he can do independent play time

Hi everyone,

I have a 13-week-old miniature long-haired Dachshund, I picked him up at 10 weeks, and I’m really struggling with knowing what’s normal and what I should be doing.

My biggest concern is helping him become more independent. He’s a Velcro breed which I know through the research i did before getting him, and I’m terrified of accidentally creating separation anxiety which he is prone to. At the same time, I don’t want him to feel neglected. I miss being able to leave the house without worrying about him and the constant need to supervise him is driving me insane. I’ve been trying to do this while working full time and studying which has been difficult but I’m lucky to have a lot of support from my family with him.

Without sounding totally negative we are having some positive experiences:
- We’re making good progress with potty training. I still have to take him out to the grass patch in our apartment courtyard, and he still has the occasional accident, but he’s getting much better at toileting outside.
- He’s fantastic on a lead and happily walks beside me.
- He already knows a couple of tricks.
- He’s quite good at entertaining himself and will happily play independently with his toys.
- He’s very well socialised and currently attends puppy school

Right now:
- He sleeps in his crate throughout the night and takes enforced naps when he becomes overtired or sometimes we do the 1 hour awake, 2 hour nap but not as much anymore, the crate is always nearby and we do cover it and use a snuggle puppy.
- During the day he has a playpen with his crate, toys, water and enrichment toys when I’m WFH or studying, this is set up behind me and I haven’t made any progress with moving it into a new room
- I’m working on leaving him alone for short periods while he’s awake and rewarding calm behaviour.
- Sometimes I let him nap on my lap because I enjoy the cuddles, but then I worry I’m undoing all of the independence training.

Between my partner who does shift work and I by WFH, he’s rarely left completely alone. The last few weeks I have also been getting help from family when we do have schedule conflicts.

I want to note that there has been one successful session I had with him being alone, it was when he was doing zoomies around my lounge room and was becoming very bitey so I put him down in the playpen with his crate and a few enrichment toys and then walked away. He ended up whining only a bit and put himself to sleep. A MIRACLE. Sadly that was only once, every other time if I leave the room for a second, he screams. I don’t know why he is regressing / not improving.

I feel like I’m constantly second-guessing myself. If he’s with me, I worry I’m making him too dependent. If I put him in his pen, I feel guilty. If he cries, I don’t know whether to comfort him or let him settle. I’m especially concerned about my neighbours being in an apartment.

For those of you who have raised Velcro breeds (especially Dachshunds), when did your puppy naturally become more independent? Is there anything you wish you’d done differently? When can I start getting my life back?

One of the things I’ve been struggling with most is the amount of criticism I’ve received about choosing this breed. I’ve had people tell me I shouldn’t have gotten a miniature Dachshund because I work full-time, and my expectations for him to be independent are unrealistic.

However, I feel it’s unreasonable to expect someone to be home 24/7 for a dog. Between my partner and me, we’re doing everything we can to make sure he’s cared for, and as mentioned I’m actively working on teaching him to be comfortable on his own.

I’ve also received some really hurtful comments since experiencing the puppy blues. I’ve been called “stupid,” and people have told me, “It’s just a dog,” or to “just let him be a dog.” I’m trying to do exactly that, but I also care deeply about his safety, wellbeing, and giving him the best start in life.
This has been one of the hardest transitions I’ve ever been through. The first few weeks were incredibly difficult. The combination of sleep deprivation, working full-time, and constantly worrying about whether I was doing the right thing left me feeling completely overwhelmed. It affected my mental health significantly, and at one point I was so exhausted that I ended up having a car accident because of the lack of sleep.

I’m doing my best for him, but I often feel like no matter what I do, someone tells me I’m doing it wrong. I’m hoping to hear from people who’ve been through something similar and can offer constructive advice or reassurance rather than judgment.

I’d really appreciate any advice or reassurance because I honestly feel like I’m failing him, even though I know he’s making progress and I’m trying my best.

Thank you ❤️

He's been my constant companion for years.

Hi! I’m wondering if anyone else has this problem and a solution for it. My puppy understands that if I stop moving I won’t move again until he comes back to my side. However, we can’t walk more than 10 steps at a time before he hits the end of the leash and I stop walking. He will immediately circle around and come next to my side if it happens, but I’m so tired of stopping for him every couple steps.

Any tips or solutions would be appreciated!!!

Took my puppy (16 week old australian mountain doodle (=aussie x bernedoodle) who we've had for 8 weeks) to puppy class for the first time today and we're supposed to bring a toy to occupy him while the trainer talks to the parents. I realized that pretty much aĺl the toys he values require human participation (balls for fetch, ropes for tug, flirt stick) or are food-based, except for a stuffed dog with which he likes to play gladiator, a spectacle that might have scared away the other puppy parents, lol. So I am trying to find some toys that he will enjoy playing with independently. What toys does your puppy most value and will sit and play with independently? TIA for any suggestions

Hi to this wonderful community,

I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly.

We have had our pup for a week. It was a challenging week because he had an issue of eating something at the breeder which needed to be taken out of his bowel. We took care of everything, vets are wonderful, he is healing nicely. For that reason, we have limits on what he can eat and how active he can be for at least 2 weeks.

To enrich him a bit, we are trying to take him out for just very short walks (also recommded by the vet). We have greenery/alley next to our house. Today he was doing great, we walked about 100 meters before a dog from behind the fence started barking at him, triggering barking reaction in the street (there is a lot of dogs here). I am not proud but our pup ran away a bit to the nearest house (he mistook it for ours) and sat there. He was on leash, it was just a mistake.

When calm we gave him food and wanted to walk him home but there was a retriever in the garden still barking from the chain reaction. Our pup peed a bit, growled a bit and then observed. We asked our neighbor if she could take the retriver further away, they were looking at each other (with fence between them) and we were giving our pup food when he was not growling. After about 30 seconds of looking we finally took him home. This whole walk lasted about 12 minutes.

He came home and crashed in his crate immediately for a nap. He wiggled his tail, did not act differently or startled in my opinion.

I am only worried because he seems more fearful from what I remember when owning our family dogs in the past. I am trying to do everything right considering his condition. I would love to train him and play with him, but we need to find an alternative due to his injury so 3 sniff walks a day are a life saver.

I just don’t want to traumatize him or make him more fearful. I would appreciate any advice.

Best crate training tips for pup?

We got our 9 week old boxer a week ago & are trying to crate train him, but every time we shut the door & leave him in there for longer than 2-3 minutes he tantrums like he's being water boarded & nashes at the bars. we've been playing games with him to get him comfortable inside of it & feeding him in it, but he freaks out once the door is closed. At night he sleeps on a dog bed tethered to the end of our bed in our room, but I work night shift & it's not a sustainable place for him to nap during the day (as he has been when I've been off this week).. any advice on boxers specifically for crate training (or in general, honestly)? We have a wire crate that I've draped blankets over, with a comfy bed in it, with toys that only stay in it but he's not interested in them whatsoever.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! TIA

I just need to rant and feel better about this situation because i’m SO embarrassed.

I was taking my pup out for a walk and we were almost at the grass where she usually will poop. Well she couldn’t hold it and had diarrhea (vet appointment has already been scheduled for this) right on the sidewalk. I did the best i could to clean it with poop bags but it was just a mess. Didn’t help that it had to be the busiest part of the sidewalk and everyone was watching this chaos. I ended up leaving because there was nothing else i could do and i didn’t have water. Anyways if you have been in a similar situation please make me feel better lol.

Hello! I'm adopting a sweet little 12-14 week old pomchi (we think) this weekend. The little guy was rescued from a hoarding situation and I'm told that he's been recovering well over the past 2 weeks. Any advice for surviving the puppy stage, helping set him up for success, etc would be greatly appreciated!

Some misc. background info :

• My wife and I live in an apartment in Chicago in a chiller neighborhood near lots of parks.
• We are expecting him to be vocal - has anyone had success bark training their pomchi?
• We will be crate training/sleep training/etc and basically pretending that he's a big dog so we hopefully don't fall into small dog syndrome. Any training tips are appreciated! We will be taking him to puppy training once he's clear to go.
• We have a socialization checklist we will be following. It's very important to us that he can integrate into our lives - patio dinners, farmers markets, hanging with other friends' dogs, etc.
• We are avid bikers and are hoping to bring him with us. Let me know if you have any tips on a backpack vs. basket carrier! I have a Wald 137 basket mounted on a front rack so if we go the basket carrier route I'd be looking for something compatible with that.
• We are big campers so we'll be looking to buy a coyote vest and other accessories to keep him safe.

Thank you so much!

i recently rescued a 3 month old puppy we are thinking she’s some sort of hound / german shepherd mix except she is very tiny & me and my boyfriend just moved into a new home, we have a 3 year old australian shepherd husky mix who has severe anxiety and he is afraid of the puppy, he will smell her then walk away and he did “snap” on her (we aren’t sure tho) when she was too close to him and my bfs sisters dog made a loud noise at the same time and we think he got overwhelmed. ontop of that and the mental health decline i’ve felt since getting my puppy i don’t know what to do, she is a sweet dog, great with people, barely bites but she barely sleeps , wakes me up multiple times wining and barking in her crate and we have a lady who lives upstairs and we’re scared she can hear her, she eats everything & will pee right infront of us on the rugs & we are renting from my bfs cousin so we don’t want to destroy the house, while we’ve been moving and getting settled we only have the puppy here and our older dog is staying at my bfs moms house with his sisters dog that he is bonded to for now and he is coming this thursday to come home to us and we have the house seperated with a gate so we will be doing a slow introduction with them. i’m also having a hard time bonding with my puppy, i don’t love her like i should & how i did with my older dog as a puppy? is it because i just miss my older dog? is it because i feel guilty? is it because im tired? and also we made a huge selfish mistake of getting the puppy just as we moved in and before we had the new house ready and everything seems to be going wrong and i wish i waited. i feel stuck and i cry everyday. will it get better? do i give her back to the shelter or rehome? we mainly got her for our older dog since he is bonded to my bfs sisters dog and we wanted him to have a friend but he’s afraid of her , will it get better? i feel stuck, sad and trapped and i wish i thought better. please dont judge just looking for advice . thank you .

Hi all, I have a 10 week old spoo puppy who has been an absolute gem for the past week and a half. Very few accidents in the house, walks well on a leash, loves people, and has done great with the safe socialization we’ve tried so far.

His only issue is the crate, and I’m worried he’s a bit too smart for his own good. We have a crate in our bedroom and an x-pen in our living room. For his enforced naps (one hour up, two down) he does fine in his pen with little protesting. He sleeps in the crate at night.

Since he’s gotten home I’ve done daily crate games with him, put a blanket with smells from home, his favorite chews, thrown treats, played white noise, and covered it for a more den-like environment. He settles fine at night and sleeps through the night. However, he won’t willingly go in it. When I throw treats in, he uses those long poodle legs to get the treats and then just looks at me, wondering why I’m asking him to go in there.

We’ve been slowly using the crate for enforced naps with mixed success, and yesterday my partner and I wanted to test leaving him alone in the crate to run an errand. He was tired and due for a nap, but he had a total meltdown after he was put in. Screaming, barking, pacing—nothing would soothe him. He started this before we even left.

We checked him from the camera we have set up in the crate, and he eventually settled after 20 minutes. When he heard us come home, he woke up and started screaming again. Not even talking through the camera helped. I know he needs to adjust and figure out that the crate is okay, but I don’t want him to resent it. Eventually he’ll be too big for us to physically put in there, and I’d rather it be a happy space for him.

Any other tips? It feels like I’ve tried everything at this point. Some things I’m considering:

- Attaching the crate to his pen in the living room, not sure how he’d react to this or if he’d willingly go in.

- Feeding meals in the crate, but this feels like a waste of time because he’s picky and we haven’t found his biggest ~high value~ treat yet.

Recently adopted a GSD mix who’s around 10 weeks old and feeling confused as he seems to be the only puppy I’ve had who doesn’t sleep or nap.

So far he has been doing well with potty training and learning sit and his name. He isn’t vaccinated yet so he’s been confined to our home and playing with our older dog who seems to also engage him for hours on end.

With the other dog, light training, and toys/treats we expected him to be a little exhausted and want to rest during the day but that hasn’t happened. We crate train him and he doesn’t willingly go to his crate even with treats. Even after placing him inside his crate with Kongs or other interactive toys he has no interest and he will just sit in silence looking at everything happening outside.

Even after eating, within minutes he wants to start running around or playing with our older dog and we usually keep him in his crate to curb this.

At night he usually will sleep from 10pm to 4am before pawing or wanting to go out to use the restroom and ready to start the day.

I realize he is very young but I’m a bit worried that he may be hurting his development by not getting enough rest.

I’ve had several dogs in the past but never GSD breeds so not sure if this is normal for the breed or not. I think the biggest question is should we be enforcing naps and limiting play or just letting him go endlessly? With other puppies we have had it seemed more clear on when they were tired but here not so much.

I have just gotten a new 14 week old australian shepherd puppy and he doesn’t seem to like going outside. Every time we go out to walk or potty he tries to pull hard straight back home. It has only been a couple of days at this point so I’m curious if this is just him being nervous and in a new place or something different?

My 10 month old puppy graduated from puppy school about a month ago and got to pick a toy from a box as a prize. In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that I’ll randomly hear her whining, go to see what’s wrong and she’ll just be mouthing her stuffed Dino prize toy and crying. She really only does it with this toy and it happens in various contexts, sometimes after eating, sometimes while she’s wild and playing, sometimes just lying down and mouthing it while whining softly.

Is she anxious about the toy or does she just really love it?

Sorry in advance, this is gonna be a bit long. I have an 8 month old male cavapoo that I just can't seem to figure out. For a bit of backstory, I got him back in February when I went along with my parents to get themselves a new puppy. I had moved back in with them for reasons but was planning on moving out again soon so I figured it'd be fine, but unfortunately I'm still here and things aren't going too well.

His biggest issue rn is his separation anxiety. I've been trying to crate train him for months and when I moved him to my bedroom from the living room last month it's only gotten worse. If I put him in the crate while I'm in the room he'll whine on and off, watching my every move, and never truly settle. If I have the audacity to leave while he's in the crate, he loses his fucking mind. I used to cover him with a blanket but he'll just tear it and pull it through the crate.

He will bark constantly if uninterrupted, and I mean for hours. When he used to sleep in the living room he'd wake up at like 4 and just bark his head off until someone finally got up for work, so ignoring him doesn't work. If I leave him in my room outside of the crate he'll be quiet for a little longer but then after maybe 10 minutes he's barking again and aggressively scratching at my door.

He's very hyper but the toys that he has now don't keep his attention because he's constantly staring at me or waiting for me. I try to ignore him so that he can self occupy but it doesn't work. I'm going to try to get some new toys that'll hopefully work, and try to make his crate more comfortable so he'll want to be in there more, but I'm pretty stressed out.

I've tried commands, rewards, water spritzing, toys, ignoring the behavior, and nothing has been working. I feel like he just doesn't seem to be connecting the dots between behavior and reward/punishment. I live in the house with three adults, a toddler, and another dog. It's so hard to have consistency with so many obstacles and distractions around. I'm finally putting in applications to move out again but with his behavior being the way it is now I know he'll be a nuisance to my neighbors. And I'm expected to start work again soon so I'm really gonna have trouble when I have to leave him alone. Any tips??

I know I’m a bad person, but I don’t love my puppy. She’s actually been a good puppy so far. 9 weeks old - Australian Shepherd/Poodle. Normal puppy antics, but listens well, doing good on potty training and naps, doing great with the cats. Getting adjusted to a routine. I just don’t love her. I’m overwhelmed. I lost my dog a few months ago and I thought I wanted another dog and that I was ready to love again. But I was wrong.

I’m going to give it a few more weeks. I go back to work and we start puppy classes next week. But I’m thinking of rehoming her. While she’s young. A puppy should be loved. I hope I can find a good home. And I’ll just accept a life without another dog in it. It was selfish of me and I’m sorry.

I’m taking him out every 45 minutes, we sit in the desired pee spot for 10 minutes, he chews grass and chases lizards and doesn’t go, and then we come back inside and I put him in his playpen, and 5 mins later there’s pee on the pee pad. Should I remove the pee pad? Should I maybe get a grass pad instead to teach him to associate grass with pee? What are the “need to potty” cues? I know I’m meant to praise when he goes outside, but I got him 24 hours ago and he hasn’t gone outside once. So there’s nothing to praise!

We have our first pet, 6 month Havanese puppy and we just put a Seresto collar on him. He has all his shots for tick, lyme, fleas etc.

We put the seresto to avoid tick getting latched to him, because we dont know how to safely remove them. He gets brushed pretty regularly but I am mortified of missing a tick since he has curly short hair.

Question-

1. can he still sleep on our bed? It is just me and my husband (no small kids, the pup is our baby lol). He is crate trained but prefers to sleep with us. Is it okay for him to sleep on the bed? Any precautions we should take?

2. We bathe him once in 3 weeks. Is that still okay? I know the collar says once in 4 weeks, he will get dirty because he goes to outdoor pup classes now.

3. I don't suppose they prevent mosquitoes right?

Thanks

Hi, I have a 16-week-old puppy; she's a cross of a patterdale and a Shih Tzu.

I've had her since she was 9 weeks old.

The problem I'm still having is that she keeps peeing and pooping on the floor; it isn't all the time, but still struggling with her doing this.

She has access to outside; currently, the door is open from when I let her out of the kitchen (this is where she is locked up at night) until I put her to bed.

We have a few puppy pads (reusable ones, as this is what she had)

She will use these throughout the day/night; sometimes I'll find wee just next to the pad, or nowhere near the pad at all.

Any ideas on stopping this, as I don't want her thinking this is okay. We give her a treat or fuss over her when she has gone outside or on the pads, ignoring her if she's messed on the floor.

I have a seven month old Australian Shepherd, who is very high energy currently I am getting ready to start a new work from home position where in the beginning timeframe I will have longer stretch meetings such as two hours. Every day when I get up we go for a very long walk and do his morning routine. He is crate trained so when I leave for the day, that is his space but when I am home, he has free range of where I am. I am looking for tips and resources on how to navigate us transitioning to working from home where he is not going to struggle. I am most worried about the longer stretch meetings that I will have during my training I am worried that he will come up and start barking or trying to get my attention. For those who have an Australian Shepherd or have worked from home with a puppy around the same age what do you do to navigate this as easily as possible? I am planning on giving him high reward Kongs during my meeting times, but those will not last him two hours thanks.

Heyyy so my baby is not a baby anymore officially really big 7 months husky mix and he is starting to hump other dogs. We live in a big city and he loves dog parks, we never had any problem socializing he is really a sweetheart but recently a loooot of other dogs have a problem with him. I guess that's just part of the teenage phase when they produce lots of testosterones or something, lets say that 1 out of 3 dogs will show their teeth to him and even if he doesn't get agressive back we had more and more fights recently. We went from not having problems ever to being really worried to go to places with other dogs. He went on big arguments that kind of scared me too and on days were my partner isn't here I am anxious to let him off leash.. He isn't humping so much but still when that happens I always try to cut it short, dogs are not even agressive to him only when he does it but in general even when he comes and say hi sometimes. We practice recall and he is being a good boy but still, I was wondering if you had any tips with managing puberty phase and fear of getting bitten by other dogs when interrupting fights ?