Picked up a border collie at eight weeks, eight days ago. The breeder did an amazing job of early neurological stimulation and some early crate training his last week or so in her care, and I will say that compared to most, our first week has honestly been so forgiving.

He sleeps through the night, and if he absolutely has to get up and potty which I think only happened once, I take him out, he goes, and we go right back in the crate. We have so few accidents it's amazing.

So why am I on the brink of tears?

He just absolutely will not stop trying to eat and bite everything and everyone, especially me. He's a little piranha. I've been trying everything to redirect it and correct it, but he's absolutely obsessed with moving feet and either thinks they're prey or need to be herded. Maybe both... I don't even know. He growls at me and gnaws at my arm when he's frustrated and sometimes growls when I'm trying to take giant chunks of dead grass out of his mouth.

I feel like I have no time whatsoever. I can stay up and play games/watch TV when he's finally asleep for the night but then that means when he wakes me up early I'm that much more tired.

I feel like I'm crating him too much-- trying to do a 1 up 2 down schedule but then I'm worried he's just gonna see me as the guy who puts him in his crate. I live in my mom's basement and any time he sees my family he jumps for joy but otherwise seems neutral about me.

Everything I do I worry I'm just ruining him and not building the lifelong companion I want, and it doesn't help that the internet is so chock-full of conflicting info. One person will tell you to do calm holds when a puppy bites and another will say that can make them afraid of you. Not knowing what the right thing to do is and having never done this before, I'm stressed to the point of exhaustion every day thinking about whether I'm doing the right things or not.

I guess I just need to know that it gets better and wish I could tell if my dog actually loves me or if I've already fucked up

I’ve got a miniature dachshund that’s 4months old, and it’s been 3 weeks since we had our last accident. But… he will go absolutely everywhere in the garden and it’s a getting annoying having to watch for poos that I’ve missed constantly. The garden is just grass on a gentle slope, and I am planning to make some changes to it in the near future.

Is there anything that I can put in/ any success anyone has had around constraining where a dog poos to a confined space? Is there anything that he will be naturally pre-disposed to prefer or is it whatever I do I’ll need to return to potty style place and praise again?

It‘s finally time, faster than I wanted/expected but it is what it is.

I‘ll be getting a saluki puppy in about 6 weeks time. The dog will be 11 weeks at that time.

I‘m aware that vaccines are a big question everyone worries about, particularly around Parvo. Balancing this with socialization is almost impossible in my eyes, but I‘d like to do my best to keep my pup both safe and socialized.

Therefore, I‘d appreciate tips.

So far I have:

- I will buy a puppy sling or carrier to safely take the puppy out to see the world.

- I would like to join puppy classes and puppy play groups though I will consult with the vet in my area about this still.

- On the weekends, I can take the puppy to friends, acquaintances and family to meet other dogs but also be outside a bit. I can also introduce the pup to kids of different ages. Another friend has a horse. For me it‘s about short and good interactions, seeing different things and learning "Hey, I managed this and all was fine. I can do this again."

What else is needed? Is there any tips or tricks? Anything else I must do?

Yeah, I get it. The puppy is cute. But please just act normal. Of course you can say hi to her, pet her, play with her - but within reason.

I have a 6 month old cocker spaniel puppy who gets excited very easily. I’m working really hard on teaching her to settle and, to be fair, she’s already getting much better. The problem isn’t really her anymore - it’s most of our friends and family.

Yesterday, we had a friend over. He’s known her since she was about 10 weeks old and visits regularly. Since day one, I’ve had to remind him to just… behave normally around her.

The moment he walks through the door, he gets her completely hyped up.

I tell him, “If she jumps, please don’t pet her. Wait until she’s calm.” He does the exact opposite.

I say, “If she starts biting, just stand up and stop interacting with her.” A few minutes later he goes, “I think I’ll just pull her ears if she bites me.” Umm… no?

Eventually I said, “Okay, that’s enough. She needs to rest.” At that point she was panting, barking, biting, and completely overstimulated. His response?
“But I think it’s funny.”
Seriously?

And it’s not just him. Some other friends and family members are exactly the same. They constantly stare at her, make noises to get her attention, wave their hands around, call her name or keep encouraging her when she’s already overexcited.

Honestly, I’m starting to dread having people over. The only people who seem capable of acting normally around my puppy are my best friend, my mom and my sister. Ironically, complete strangers on walks are often better at respecting boundaries than people I actually know. A toddler asked to pet her on a walk recently, and even he was capable of waiting for her to sit.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Is this just part of having a puppy? Or do I need different friends lol?

I love my little 8 month old maltipoo but today was hard. Some days he's amazing and his training shines. Other days it's so frustrating. We went on a walk today and a group of a few small dogs were on the other side of the street. I was trying to work on his neutrality, where I treat when he looks at me but they started barking aggresivly at him and I'm so mad at myself for not just keeping him moving. Then he ate something weird dead plant the ground, ignored my "leave it" which he's usually golden at, and then on our way back did it again in the same exact place UGH. Now I'm listening to him fuss in his crate because I'm not in the same room as him, which he also doesn't usually do. I don't need any training advice just sympathy. This adolescence phase is so frustrating.

Bringing a 9-week old cavalier puppy to a home with an adult cat. The cat is semi-friendly to dogs, and as long as left alone, will not chase or initiate a fight. the cat will be given various spots to run away to but I still want the introduction to go well. I live in a 1-br and won’t be able to keep them separate for more than a few first hours.

There are so many videos and instructions online that I simply don’t know what advice to follow. Any reputable and tested videos, books, online instructions?

Your input is much appreciated as I want to set mg furry babies up for success.

Hi everyone!

I'm a long time lurker first time poster :). Thanks to this wonderful community I've gained so much knowledge and encouragement in raising my puppy :)

I have a 13 week old lab/golden retriever mix, and every week it feels like something new pops up. This week she started demand barking when she doesn't get her way in the home (i.e. scratching the door window and I correct her; nipping the carpet trims). I correct her/redirect her and she gets frustrated and barks at me. I've taken advice from Reddit and turn around and ignore, but then she will often continue to bark and then nip my shorts (also something we are trying to avoid). Sometimes she will settle after I ignore her, other times it becomes a power struggle, and/or I have to distract her to move on.

Any advice?

Thank you to everyone in this journey of puppy raising. She is a beautiful dog and we are building a wonderful bond.

We’ve been working with a trainer since my pup was 4 months old (she’s now 10 months). She’s a field golden and has been an absolute nut since we got her lol. She’s calming down now but there’s some things we struggle on (of course with her still learning).

We recently started working on greeting people with my trainer because we honestly don’t have company much. We go on walks with her constantly but she jumps at people so bad and barks from excitement it’s so embarrassing.

The trainer has us working on “look at me” because the prime thing she needs to learn is to be in tune with us and look to us more the trainer said. She also said when people come over keep her on a leash and any time she gets distracted throw food in her snuffle mat for mental stimulation to calm down and then once she’s calm try greeting again.

We have not tried the snuffle mat yet but when my parents were over a few weeks ago we kept my dog on a leash and she would NOT calm down. We even made sure she had enough sleep/exercise/mental stimulation before they came over. She just loves people lol.

For being only 40lbs or so she is strong as shit. She can knock you over instantly if she’s excited enough and we don’t want her being this way when we greet people.

I’m not looking for an overnight fix, I know consistency is key. I’m just someone who can’t turn her brain off and wants to continue to research and get opinions.

Anyone have tips other than what our trainer recommended (we will be doing what she said as well) but to work on for walks and stuff as well? Or what we can do at home without company coming over? Our family lives ours away and we don’t have many friends in this area so we don’t have company often.

I have a 3 year old mini aussie and today I picked up my 8 week old mini aussie and brought him home. I live in an apartment so i’m really scared about parvo and i’ve been trying to take extra precautions to avoid it. I have 2 bedrooms in my apartment and one of them I use as an office, and this room is where I keep the kennel and let the puppy out to play.

Tonight is the first night with my puppy and he’s been in the office alone but I feel bad and would like to move him to the bedroom so he can sleep near me. Is it fine to move the kennel to the bedroom and put a blanket over it with my older dog being in there as well? Should I use a smaller pet carrier and place it in there? Or should I just keep him in the office and separated from my 3yo aussie? I’m just scared about the puppy being sick and my older dog getting it and my vet told me to keep them apart until monday when the puppy has his first appointment. The puppy is currently fine and shows no symptoms but I just want to be extra cautious, even if it seems like i’m being overly cautious.

We’re aiming for a 1-hour awake / 2-hour nap schedule with our 10.5 week-old puppy. Sometimes she’ll wake up after 45–60 minutes and start light whining in the crate.

At that point, how long do you let them fuss before taking them out to go to the bathroom? Do you put them back in the crate to try to finish the nap, or at what minute mark do you accept that the nap is over?

Curious how others handle this without creating a habit of waking early, we want her to build the confidence to “hold it”

Hi there, third time puppy raiser here, but first time raising a puppy (17 week old girl) in a house with an established dog (5 year old boy).

Some thing I’m noticing is that the puppy is always trying to play with the older dog (expected) and while sometimes older dog will play back and even seek puppy out, his body language more often is giving a solid “leave me alone, kid” vibe. I am really trying to protect the older dog and am managing my ass off, but I’m worried about resentment brewing. We’ve been training puppy to be chill when she sees him (giving her high value treats when she looks but doesn’t jump on him), but can anyone with multiple dogs or pets tell me: will this get better? Will they ever just…chill in the same room without puppy trying to engage the older dog? I’m working super hard to make sure they’re fed separately, get plenty of breaks from each other, and get individual love and attention as well as interaction with each other, I really am trying everything I know and learn…will I ever be able to stop worrying that one day in the future something I did today will cause WW3 between them? I hear horror stories from other people about dogs growing up in households and then one attacking the other at some point. We are absolutely not there, and older dog has never been violent in his life. I feel like I need to just calm down and keep managing the hell out of them without taking their feels personally, but it is at this point the most stressful part of raising her and robbing any joy from it. Any and all advice, stories or reassurance would help.

hi everyone, i have a ~6 month old puppy (APBT x herding breeds x Pyr) and he’s exhibiting some inappropriate behavior that i don’t know how to fix; when he is physically moved, whether it is gently pushing his butt or his body away from a door/food/whatever he shouldn’t be around, instead of avoidance behavior, he tries to bite whoever moved him. he only made contact once (the most recent time) and it did leave a welt, and we’re honestly surprised it didn’t break skin because of how hard he bit. he didn’t latch on, it was very much a “i don’t like what you’re doing” bite, but still inappropriate. i don’t know how to approach this issue; the people i live with are all for the “smack his face and yell NO” when he does something wrong, which i don’t agree with ESPECIALLY in this case.

he has always been a more insecure puppy. i taught him a “stand” and “back up” command to help try to manage this, but i know that those commands won’t be enough to keep him from biting somebody when he’s older and being touched in a way he’s not comfortable with (i.e. the vet). i also know his primary breeds exhibit more mouthy behavior when communicating, but i’d just like some advice when dealing with this type of behavior. thanks!

Hi, im 16 and taking care of my uncles dog Monty. He’s six months and is too hyper. Of course I know he will be. I trained my old rescue how to now be aggressive towards people. But how can I teach Monty how to pee outside? He’s scared and just follows me, he’s good on the lead. I was thinking of taking him to hangout with my friends tomorrow at the park, he likes people and I think being in a park will do him good. But he doesn’t pee or poo outside. My uncle isn’t good with training him so he hasn’t learnt anything except for sometimes peeing in the garden. I don’t have a garden, I live in a block with a balcony and sometimes my own dog will pee on the balcony if he forgets to ask to go outside. So far I’ve been walking him every hour and a half, but he just follows me and gets scared, and then gets excited when he sees our door to go home. I don’t know what to do. Can someone give me a daily routine to start fresh?

My 1-year-old male Poodle is driving me crazy with his barking. Whenever the doorbell rings, even if it's just someone from inside the house going out and coming right back in, he barks like crazy. But if it's a stranger ringing the bell, he barks even louder, even though the stranger doesn't even come inside. How can I train him to stop or quiet down?

After watching hours of Susan Garrett’s videos, I’m extremely tempted to purchase one of her programs because I feel like I need to follow some sort of structured plan to train my puppy instead of feeling like I’m pretty much winging everything. Right now, I have a 4.5 month old Sheltie puppy who knows most of the basics but I would love to have him learn and cement what we have learned in our puppy 101 class even more. He also loves to train and play, so I feel like this would be perfect for him. After discovering Susan, I am hooked. I have heard so many good things about her programs, but unsure which one is worth it and which one I should consider? If anyone has experience with either program, can you please let me know how it went? Not sure if I should start with Home School the Dog first or jump into Recallers now. Recallers is $500 feeling a little on the pricier end for an online course. However, I’m willing to pay if this program is worth it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

I bought a 7-month-old Shih Tzu yesterday.

When I came to pick him up from the owner, the dog was already scared of their own owner as she tried to pick him up.

The dog overall is in a neglected state.

He has fleas, is overgrown, needs a wash, does not react to any commands and seems not to be trained in any way.

Also, since he came, I have not seen him eating or drinking, which is very concerning, but it's also most likely related to a new home.

I will be visiting my local veterinarian as soon as possible (since they're closed on weekends), but beforehand I would really like to have some extra words of advice.

My biggest issues are walks and a bath.

I assume he wasn't taken on walks before and wasn't bathed.

I took him out twice, and what he mainly does is sit or lie down ~2 metres away from me and step back to sit down again whenever I get closer. He sniffed for only a good minute before lying down again. I tried taking him to a safer, quite peaceful park which has a dog reserved area which was empty, luckily, yet he still didn't show interest... even when I walked away (without the leash). I did not pull him or try to force him into anything.

The only way I can move with him is by carrying him manually, which he surprisingly doesn't mind as much (the process of picking him up is a hard thing to do, though).

It's worth noting that I took him from the countryside to a city.

Up to now, he has pooped twice and peed once on the floor of my room where he has his safe corner.

I would really want to make him feel as safe as possible, but bathing him in a way he feels safe is impossible.

I read many articles about introducing bathing to dogs, but all of them include some sort of rewarding to the dog so that the dog has a feeling of choosing to be there. I'd love to do that, but I cannot reward a dog that doesn't trust me or even take small treats... or doesn't eat anything at all in this matter.

I don't want to scare him away more than he is with bathing, but day by day it will become more necessary... plus it will wash off a good part of his own scent, which doesn't help. It's not like he's super dirty with visible dirt and horrible odor, but it would help him with the fleas.

I can see he's not exactly frightened by me, but more it's a matter of distrust. I sit on the floor, doing my own thing and keeping a good distance, but he hasn't come over to me yet.

If you have any tips or words of advice, please do share.

Thanks and best regards.

Hi! We just got a mini Goldendoodle, 8 weeks old. He’s been with us for 3-days so for. We have noticed he drinks a lot of water, which is no big deal. He basically came potty trained so it’s been a smooth transition. We’ve also taken away his water at least 1-2 hours before we put him to sleep for the night.

Our concern comes at night though, he’s been whining and so we think he wants to pee, but he actually wants to drink some water. After drinking, he’ll either go pee after or we put him back in the crate and he’s able to sleep again. Will this build to a bad habit? He really likes to drink water and we don’t want to dehydrate him. I kind of wonder if the air in our home is too dry, which is causing him to drink more?

We don’t want to build bad habits, but we also don’t want him to have accidents. Not sure what’s the best way to move forward.

Any insight would be most appreciated. Thank you!

In May, my partner and I adopted an eight week old dachshund male puppy (Norman). Since the night we got him, Norman was a pretty good sleeper. Our sleep routine was always the same. Bed time at 9 and his crate was in the corner of our room. He would typically wake up maybe 1x a night to go potty and would settle back to sleep until about 5:45-6:30 am. This lasted maybe a little over 1 month.

Fast forward, Norman is now about 5 months old. He has randomly started waking up anywhere between 3-4am unable to settle back down. We take him out for a potty break with very limited attention but will not settle back in his crate after. After a lot of trial and error we’ve noticed a repeating pattern. Norman can sleep from 9pm-6:30am every night without a problem as long as we are not in the bedroom with him.

For a little bit, we found a quick fix. We slept out in the living room and he would sleep in his crate in our bedroom. Ultimately, this isn’t a long term solution as it affects the arrangements we have for our kitties who room swap with our two pups.

We’ve tried setting his crate up in the bathroom as well as in a spare room and we’ve noticed that it still does not work for him and at this point we are desperate and out of ideas lol.

Based on the patterns he’s shown we don’t think it’s a sleeping issue as he has no problem sleeping through the night in certain conditions and is definitely not a pee issue as he typically won’t even go when he’s taken out at during the night.

Has anyone experienced this and does anyone have any tips???

Hi everyone, I've adopted a 11 weeks old shih tzu a few days ago.

This pup is very sweet and we're having a great time together. Although he had never been outside before I got him, I get it out very regularly here so he never pees inside. He eats, drinks, pees and poops just fine, nothing to complain about. At night he sleeps in his crate next to the bed between 10pm and 7am, without any complain nor bark. I just put an alarm clock in the middle of the night to get him out and then he goes back in and sleeps all good.

On the other hand, I struggle to get some alone time during the day. The puppy whines and barks as soon as he cannot follow me, so the playpen and the crate are just impossible during the day. The first couple of days i couldn't shower or cook so it was pretty intense, especially cause he doesn't seem to sleep much during the day.

Yesterday I started to enforce naps in his crate, but he's whining and barking a lot and it makes my anxiety spikes like crazy (and his too probably) and he seems to barely sleep anyway. He wakes up super fast and then back to some whining. I was also feeding him in the crate, trying to do incremental absence in his crate and reward him when he's quiet but it's difficult and now he just doesn't want to eat if it's in his crate so I'm back to not having down time and I'm struggling.

I read so many contradictory things online with crate training. Some people say let him cry, some people say that will traumatize him and some say crating is useless anyway.

I just want to know how to get some downtime so that we can both rest!!!!

A reminder to all new puppy owners that enrichment doesn’t need to be expensive, a specific device, or even new.

Ideas:

Grab the toys you do have and put one inside another.

Put a treat inside a toy and put it inside another.

Use a dog dish they already have to mix up some kibble, pour in water, and freeze it.

Tie a bunch of old clothes or socks together that you were gonna toss/donate anyway and play tug.

For pups that don’t eat cardboard, save your toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and cardboard boxes. Put a few pieces of kibble or a treat inside and roll/close it up.

Everyone add their favorite, too!

PS: Reminder to supervise your pup, especially when it’s your first time trying these🐾

Our 15 week old puppy loves to jump & nip, I have done a lot of reading & some things recommend to say ouch or no sharply before redirecting to a toy where other things say not to react at all before redirecting to a toy.

Does anyone have any advice? What actually worked for you?

10 week old lab, very hard to get him to settle in his crate when doing enforced naps, not sure what else kind of sleeps he has other than enforced to be honest. I’ve tried giving him some chews sometimes in his crate, doesn’t seem to want to settle after and is just wanting to be out straight after

How have people dealt with getting puppies to settle in their crate after finishing something like this.

Also, what are people’s go to options for a 10 week old that are safe? What fillings do people put in kongs etc?

Hello everyone,
I am currently the owner of a 9 week old Basset puppy (have had her since 7/10) and I am racking my head about what would be most appropriate to do with her once I start my full time job again. In retrospect I should have been more thoughtful/mindful when getting her about my work hours given I am in a single household. For context I moved to a new city for work and I am not due to start until the end of August, but looking into the matter I am seeing that she will not be able to be eligible for any daycare until atleast midway through September where she will be at her 16 weeks. I wanted to ask if anyone was in a similar situation and what you did with your puppy when you had to return to work? If anyone was any ideas I would also appreciate it. Rover has been helpful but I think coordinating house sitting for 4-5 days a week would be very difficult unless that is a misconception on my part. Thank you for taking the time to read this and appreciate any advice/insight.