Needing reassurance! We took our 8 week old puppy home yesterday and WOW I am just shocked at how hard the night was. I did get her to sleep in her crate 11-5 but she whines/escalated to howling every 30min-1hour. I would let her whine for 3-5 minutes but if it escalated I took her out to try and pee (nothing all night) then gave her some love and put her back in the crate. I slept next to her crate on the floor until she settles herself then went to bed to try to get some rest.

I will say on a positive note I was consistent with the routine of putting her back in her crate all night and she settled down faster to sleep each time. And then peed outside at 5!

I'm just.... Exhausted and didn't realize it would be this hard. And I know it was just the first night and she's SO little. I have 3 kids (5, 5 & 8) and they are doing great with her. They day with her was AWESOME, if I could just figure out how to crack night sleep I think I can do this. I'm medicated for anxiety and I just feel like this could really cause a spiral 🫠 I just need people to tell me how hard the first few days were but then it got better, please!

Just wanted to share that my boy has FINALLY started to lose his baby teeth! And boy are they popping out faster than I thought!😳 but thank goodness cause the teething has definitely been ROUGH so we’re getting close to the end!🙌

Our little fellow turned 14 weeks on Friday and we have had him for 7 weeks now. We have been going to puppy class and there is no doubt he is worst puppy in class. He is a beagle and schnauzer mix and just a delightful puppy all around but his ability to focus when there is anything else around is awful. He loves his crate and will go to bed at night. Yesterday we had to leave him for a little longer than normal and he didn’t even have an accident in his pen. We work with him every day and he loves to learn. He is so full of energy it seems like progress is slow and he is extremely bitey towards me. Yesterday I was googling is my puppy ever going to calm down. This morning when I went to let him out of his crate he was so snuggly and wanted pets and to be held. After breakfast I decided to work on stay with him, we have two more weeks of puppy class and I’m afraid he’s going to fail because stay is not in his vocabulary, but this morning he got it! He also let me put him on the couch and I treated him when he was calm and he actually stayed on the couch quietly while I walked to the kitchen to get more treats. I feel like we have turned a corner today and I’m so grateful for it.

I got a new puppy two weeks ago. She is now 10 weeks old.

I brought her home at 8 weeks. She is the same breed as my current dog, a six-year-old female. My older dog recently had two tumors removed from her mammary area. It was a major surgery, as they had to remove a significant amount of tissue, but thankfully, she has recovered well and is now tumor-free.

We want to protect her, but as soon as the puppy met her, she immediately tried to nurse. We had to stop this behavior right away. Despite being well-fed and not needing milk, the puppy constantly—absolutely persistently—tries to nurse from my older dog. Keeping them separated while still in the same area has been extremely exhausting.

Will the puppy eventually grow out of this behavior? My older dog seems frightened by the situation, and I’m concerned about how this is affecting her.

Hi! I got lucky enough to adopt a lil lady on Friday :) She was found by a couple of college boys and wasn’t chipped, nor did anyone claim her. The boys loved her so much, but judging from her behavior, she didn’t have many rules at their house for the week she was there. She’s 4 months old and h a t e s her crate. I know it’s supposed to be slow going, but there are times I need her to be in there due to my job, etc. I’ve been feeding her in there and have been trying to make it fun. However, she’s a chewer and we’ve already had 1 ER visit from eating what she wasn’t supposed to, so no more toys or anything in the crate. I also read that she should have some time in there throughout the day so bedtime isn’t jarring. But rn she is going crazy in there, and my nerves are pretty shot. Any advice would be happily received! Please help a first time mama out :)

I had heard of sleep regression in human babies but i have no other word for what’s gonna on with my 5 month old goldendoodle. Looking for some advice on how to get her through it without setting her back.

From when she was 2 months old and came home, she has slept through the night (7-8hours) with no problem in her crate. Crate is in our bedroom. Black wire crate, with only a blanket, dog bed, and one soft toy inside. We have always had it covered at night with a blanket (draped over top, sides, and back) to make her feel a little more enclosed.

In the past week (she is just now 5months old) she is waking up and rattling her cage door all throughout the night like she would if it were morning to let us know she is awake. Its hard to ignore her, but even if we get up and take her put she’s back at it 2 hrs later. We tried putting water in her crate in case she’s been thirsty, and now she drinks it all and then genuinely does need to pee in the middle of the night.

Any advice? Do we just need to ignore her when she starts rattling around? Keep the water? Ditch the water?

We got a lab puppy, and named him Moose, because he might as well be one. Our 13 year old boy, Winston, is obviously getting up there, but he’s in GREAT shape. Even the vet is like, “Did you do some kind of magic? For all intents and purposes, he’s six.”

What a great time to get a puppy! He can teach the next generation how to be a good boy. His legacy will live on. We are so, so smart.

However, he believes that I brought Deceit Incarnate into our home instead of a goofy moose.

They are still separated, Moose has his own area still, 5 weeks later, where they can see each other if Winston chooses, only meeting each other here and there on leash or opposite sides of gates/fences.

Sometimes Winston graces Moose with his presence. A little nose bump here, a little wag there, a spinning playful attempt to act cool, all followed by a vocal harumph and growl where he seems to swear that the puppy breathed on him and he shall now be leaving the vicinity to cleanse his soul.

When we walk them or take them in the yard on leash, Moose sits intently, waiting for Winston to acknowledge him, sometimes with a smol bark or whine, hoping his fan girling will pay off and he will get a sniff of Winston. Meanwhile, Winston looks around, sniffing the air, completely aloof as if to say, “Did anyone hear anything? I thought I heard something, but I guess it was just the wind.”

Winston is a loose canon sometimes, by the way. He’s a scrappy 50lb mutt who moves like a Fae King of fairy tales, and had times in his youth, many moons ago, where he surprised us with his choice to tackle and take down what he viewed as a threat to his family. The threat was his best dog friend, who was as unfortunately a bulldog that ended up on its back rolling around like a turtle that couldn’t get up just because he looked at Winston’s kid. Another time it was an unsuspecting door dash driver that tried to hand my teenager a drink they forgot to deliver, and Winston chased him off to his car, jumping and nipping at his elbow.

My favorite was my teenager’s dad (my ex) that Winston jumped over an apartment balcony (first floor), and chased through the parking lot as my ex screamed like a little girl.

Winston is wonderful, but I’m terrified to let them off leash in the off chance that Winston will decide the puppy is actually the devil that he needs to deal with now that there are no restrictions, especially since he hardly ever pays any attention to the fact that we brought a new pups into our house.

Any advice?

Dear community, I just got a puppy from one of close friends of mine. I am inexperienced in potty training for puppies. I would like you kind assistance in this matter.

Over the past month our girl got so comfortable with the pen. Went in there for naps on her own. Went in at night. Stopped whining as much when we closed the door. She would still whine a little when we left the home with her in it. Heck, when we boarded her, the boarder said she was absolutely great with the kennel when she left. Yesterday I left and heard barking but she stopped within 15 min (I checked the ring camera). When I came home, it looked like a murder scene but with poop (since it's a pen not a crate she was able to get it all over the walls and it's bigger than her so she got it on the floor and her bed). She had never done this before in the 2.5 months we had her. I was beside myself.

Of course, now she's terrified of the pen, I'm terrified of her doing this again, and we need to start all over. It's even harder since she is legit not treat motivated, barely praise motivated, and is the houdiest hound (smart as can be, but refuses to listen until she hurts herself) when it comes to teaching anything. Just needed an outlet to rant a little. It took 1.5 hours to clean the area and I'm still doing laundry.

I know people said don't be afraid of cleaning up but man, it is easy to say when you didn't clean poop off the walls and smeared into the floor. I almost hoped in a pen since there is room to differentiate, she would have left it. But by the time I came home I didn't even know which side she did it on. And no, it was not sick poops, it was normal poop. I would have been less frustrated if that were the case.

I got an 11 week old puppy a few days ago, I’ve been wanting one for a while now. But my entire family cast judgement and their opinion the day I was going to pick him up. Let me preface, my retired mother lives with me and isn’t fond of dogs, doesn’t hate them or anything but just doesn’t really care for them (she told me she was okay if I really wanted him), and a big reasoning the were resistant was how it would impact her and the fact I’m often out of the house for the entire day when I visit the office (I’m hybrid).

It left me feeling a lot of anxiety and apprehension as I was bringing him home. Their points were valid I can see their side. I can’t shake the feeling of wanting to cry all the time, and I feel physically sick. My siblings who were against are now all lovey dovey with him/boarder line obsessed and so are their kids. But I can’t shake the feeling of sadness when I look at him. He hasn’t been bad or anything so far he’s been pretty good bar the whining when he goes in his crate.

I spoke to the breeder if it was a possibility to return him and he said yes, and now I’m left with this decision, I told my siblings I might take him back and they’re now making me feel worse that I would do that so it’s adding guilt at the notion of returning him or keeping him out of guilt to please my siblings. I can’t explain the way I’m feeling towards the dog because they’re all so “elated” and happy around the cute puppy when they visit.

The last year hasn’t been great for my family, I wouldn’t say I’ve struggled with my mental health much in my life but it’s been worse this year and as cliche as it sounds I really thought getting a dog would help me, something to focus my energy into outside of my job and it’s just left me feeling absolutely shit. I guess this is just to vent cause I’m feeling awful and none of my friends seem to get why I’m feeling this way.

Does anyone have experience adopting an older puppy from its previous home? I recently adopted a 4.5 month old puppy from a family who had gotten him from a breeder at 3 months. Unfortunately, they could not take care of him and had to move suddenly so they put him up for adoption.

Does anyone have any advice for adapting for the puppy and/or myself? I can tell he still looks around for his previous family and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. I try distracting him and it mostly works, but is this just a phase he will have to go through? On walks he will sometimes aimlessly look behind him.

Really just looking for some motivation/help/it-will-be-over-soon support from anyone who has been in a similar situation. It’s made all the puppy behaviour harder to adjust to because I feel bad for taking him away.

Thanks in advance!

My puppy is 14 weeks old, I have had him for two weeks. He does decently well in the crate when I need to leave. He will whine for a few minutes, then settles down. He has no accidents in the crate and he is always asleep when I return (he is never in there for more than 3 hours). He also will willingly go into his crate during the day when I am nearby, as that is where his food is. I give him a lot of praise for going in the crate. I always make sure he has played, gotten attention, drank and eaten, and used the restroom before I put him in there.

For whatever reason, when I put him in his crate and I do not leave the room, he is not able to settle. I understand he is disappointed because he wants to be near me, but there are just times I need to use my room and have him contained. He is still learning to not chew on chords, and there are times I cannot supervise him properly and need to be in the room. There is not somewhere else I can put the crate. I have a cover I put over so he cannot see me, I have white noise machines, and try to keep relatively quiet.

How can I help him settle in the crate when I need to stay in the room? I do not want him to learn a negative association with the crate, but I also sometimes need to put him away to take care of things I need to take care of!

Dog: Rottie mix rescue. Got him at 4 months, 3 months with us now.

Medical: Renal Displasia (he will at some point die from kidney failure, prognosis is anywhere between a few months and 3 years).

Training: puppy socialization (completed), puppy manners level1 (completed).

The issue(s): even though our dog does fairly well with training (inside the home, and at class), he is, and I really try not to be hyperbolic here, uncontrollable outside when we walk.

Literally anything that moves, makes a sound, or any other trigger will cause him to go absolutely nuts (so: virtually anything).

He pulls so hard on the leash that I have developed calusses on my hands. He frequently pulls me off balance (and I'm a 6'4" / 200lbs guy).

He bolts right through us to grab a rolling leaf, with zero care about his own safety/health (he will literally run into a wall doing this).

He is SO amped up that he sometimes needs 30+ minutes to come down from his behaviour.

We're even running out of options for calm spaces, because even his crate he will gnaw at anything in reach because he is so nervous.

We're at a point where we just don't know what to do any anymore... He is food motivated, but outdoors you could literally hold a roasted chicken in front of him and he will ignore it over chasing anything that moves.

We're very worried that his behaviour won't progress (in all fairness, we've seen it go downhill mainly, he didn't use to be this nervous at all).

We can't even let him in the (big) yard, because he will eat the cedar hedges and rabbit poop until he vomits.

It's almost as if he has no filters.

Any advice?

So I got an 8 week old black lab yesterday. Shes great, slept the whole night, minimal whining. Nippy but that’s expected. On the car ride home she slept while she wore her collar most of the drive and was fine (it was 2 and a 1/2 hours). But now she keeps itching and rolling on the ground to get it off. With the leash it’s even worse. It’s a martingale collar by the way, but I tried clipping it so it wouldn’t tighten, she still hates it. I’m sure eventually with enough of getting used to it she’ll be fine, I’m just not sure how to start off so she at least tolerates it? Thanks

I'm getting a hunting lab soon. My last pets were ferrets, which are obviously very different animals, but when they got sick later in life I learned that I should have been getting them used to soups while they were growing up so I could easily add their medicine whenever they inevitably get sick in old age.

Of course, ferrets are more prone to disease later in life than the average lab and they're also known to imprint hard on their food as kits. I understand these are not quite the same issues that labs have, but it was such a painful struggle to get my sick ferrets to take their medicine that I want to be prepared this time.

My dad has a hunting lab that used to be great about taking pills wrapped in a pill pocket/peanut butter/whatever when he was young, but he has grown picky in his old age and it's a battle to get him to take pills now, no matter the method.

Is there anything I can do for my puppy to prepare him to easily take medicine when he's older?

TLDR: Is there something I should be doing for my puppy at a young age to prepare him for taking medicine later in life?

Hi Reddit!

We are due to get our puppy in four weeks. We are both first time dog owners so, to ensure we are fully prepared, I have been putting together a list of things we need to get - which feels VERY overwhelming.

I have been researching for all of these items in the last couple of days and some seem so insanely expensive - should I be spending nearly £200 on a crate which the puppy will outgrow?! Could someone please tell me what we must ensure we have - and provide any links if possible?

Thank you in advance!

Hiya! So, I have a six month old puppy, as the title says.

Is this too late to socialize? She has met one stranger dog and was scared out of her socks, but she also has three adult dogs in the house with her and a cat. Will that help with future socialization?

How can I fix dog-dog resource guarding?

She also has an issue with biting our other dogs/humans when they go out of her leash range and come back in. How can I fix this?

Is this too late to teach bite inhibition? I was.. rather inconsistent at first due to being new to puppy owning (I'm a minor, wasn't even my decision to get the dog don't come at me lol)

We are having issues with our 6 month old English Cream golden retriever puppy consistently eating his poop. Aside from consistently following him out to clean it up right away, does anyone have ideas on how to get them to stop? Also, this has nothing to do with him not getting enough to eat? I feel like it’s instinctual since he gets 2.5 cups a day. I’ve had Golden’s before and they have done this but I don’t think it’s gone through 6 months. SOS!🆘

my family and i got a mini golden doodle puppy 2.5 weeks ago. he’s 10.5 weeks old. the first couple nights with him were pretty terrible. he didn’t like his crate and would bark all night long. we got a snuggle puppy for him, but he just tried ripping it up. then we discovered that “shushing” him works wonders. we ended up buying a machine that will “shush” him all night long. when putting him in his crate, we have to sit there for a few minutes before he falls asleep. otherwise he’ll start barking like crazy. we have a blanket over his crate, but he can hear us moving. he’s definitely gotten better, and our bed time schedule typically looks something like this:

• put him down between 9-9:30
• he wakes up for his first potty break between 11:30-1am
• he wakes up for his second potty break between 3-5:30am
• he wakes up between 6-7:30am for the day

the second potty break and his wake up are where issues arise. we do our potty breaks in shifts. i stay up until 1, waiting for his first break. my mom is on duty for the second shift. then my sister is awake for his wake up. my mom and sister really struggle to get him to go back to bed for their shifts/get him to calm down and we’re struggling to understand why.

night potty breaks are boring. we don’t speak to him, don’t pet him, don’t make any noise or turn any lights on. it’s simply pick him up, take him outside, and immediately back to his crate. this works great for me. i can sit by his crate for no more than 15-20 mins and he’s out. for my mom, she sits by his crate for 30-45 minutes at a time. we’ve gone over what we each do and see if there’s any differences, and there don’t appear to be any. everytime she tries to sneak away, he’ll hear her and start barking.

as for my sister, if he wakes up between 6-7, he won’t go down for a nap until 10:30-11, no matter how hard she or anyone else tries. i know he just slept for a long time in the middle of the night, but everything i’ve read says puppies need 18-20 hours of sleep a day. he is NOT getting that much. i told my family we should strive for at least 14, and have started doing enforced naps as of a week ago. these work out decently well, but he’s still not getting 14 hours. i read that for enforced naps, you should do one hour up, two hours down. for him, he’ll do one hour up, one hour down. he doesn’t sleep longer than an hour and a half for these middle of the day enforced naps. i know he’s tired. he’s biting, acting crazy, and yawns a lot, but he refuses to calm down to sleep. we don’t play with him when it’s time for a nap, we speak to him calmly, and try to create a calm environment so he can chill and nap.

with this said, how can we get him to sleep during the second shift and in the morning when he’s been awake for hours but clearly needs a nap? we know he’s tired and it’s obvious in his behaviors, but we just can’t get him to calm down for the life of us. it’s frustrating, and we don’t want to stress him out because we’re frustrated but we don’t know what to do. i would appreciate any advice that you have to give!

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any good resources or recommendations for how to get a 10 week old puppy to use the inside potty tray? I’ve had her for 2 days, but that’s what the breeder was using to housetrain the puppy. So far, it’s been a game of putting the puppy on the tray and having her run off to bathroom somewhere else. I reward her for the few and far in-between times she actually does use the tray, but I feel like we’re going backwards.

I have a 4 month old Pitbull mix (I think Pitbull Lab mix but not entirely sure) that doesn’t like to walk past our front lawn or go far from the house when I walk him by myself. If I am with someone else like my partner or family member he feels less scared as they walk in front and he follows or goes to them if they call him. I want to try to bring treats to lure him further away from the house but I don’t know if that will create bad habits.

Please help!

Also, we hook his leash to his harness rather than collar.

I got my now 9 week old puppy 7 days ago and my puppy blues are so bad. I feel guilty about this because while I’m soo stressed she’s a very good girl. She already knows how to sit, shake, lay down, and twirl. She’s only had one accident in the house despite me having to leave her home while I work and have people stop in intermittently to let her outside. And she sleeps in her crate at bed time after only a minute or two of fussing. Last month I had to put down my soul dog due to severe medical issues at only 5 years old. I brought my new baby home and I know it will be okay and I fully believe in her but I’m struggling to believe in myself. Please give me advice and reassurance that we can do this. The adjustment has been so bad that the anxiety has made me physically ill I’ve vomited every day this week just so stressed and sad rn

I have a 7 month old mixed breed I’ve had for almost three months. For a while she had stopped biting and now has gone back to it, it seems worse than before. She is biting hard enough to leave marks, I’ve noticed she tends to do it more when she is bored, anxious or excited but sometimes if I’m just laying down she will bite me. Any tips to get her to stop? She does not respond to scolding or when I tell her no, which has been very frustrating (and painful). When I previously asked a trainer about it she just told me to make sure all of her needs were being met to decrease her tendencies to bite but this hasn’t been a totally effective solution

And yes I've read many of the others threads and saw all of the most common suggestions, unfortunately my girl is a PITA & doesn't like any chews (and trust I've tried ALL of them), Trazadone does nothing to her and she won't have anything to do with any enrichment toys or activities ever (snuffle mats, puzzle toys, throwing food in the grass, etc.) Literally all she wants is to dude play ball, go swimming, go to the beach or go hiking. None of which work with healing stitches. Plz help before we both lose our minds 😅