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!🙌

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?

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.

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.

…the puppy parents who don’t have a full size washer and dryer in their home/apartment and still decide to raise a puppy. Y’all are brave and have my respect.

Bringing home a second puppy today and already have laundry lol. I can’t imagine doing this via laundromat. I SEE YOU AND YOU ARE AMAZING! Keep at it you stalwart humans!

This might be a dumb question but it’s my first time with a young puppy. My puppy is currently on a strict crate training schedule and when it’s playtime it is a mix of tug, fetch, and lots of outdoor fun (she is a high energy breed). However, I just got a wagon for her socialization to take her to the park and let her watch people and dogs. Is this considered part of their “playtime” and is it stimulating? We play so much out of her crate so she knocks out really quickly during bed time and no issues. Not sure if people watching should be accounted with her crate time instead of actual “playtime” and how long is your socialization ? Like 30 minutes of people watching? Shorter? Longer?

My puppy is coming home with my tomorrow. She’ll be about 11 weeks old and have her first vaccines with the breeder (but vet office said they won’t count it which I understand). However I am scared, I am a first time puppy owner, I am scared of her getting sick, me failing to train her properly. I’ve read every puppy book and constantly check this community on Reddit, I am excited and nervous. Any advice and tips would be much appreciated

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.

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

Our puppy is a 3.5 month Maltipoo. We've been doing so well with potty training and he's been going to his spot all by himself for the past 2 weeks now. He's also been sleeping through the night for at least 6 hours in the crate without any problems. Last night, we might have slept through his sounds and this morning when I woke up to take him out he was soaked in his own pee. I'm feeling terrible and also like we've gone back 10 steps in training. How can I prevent another accident from happening in his crate? When we tried letting him out every 2-3 hours he would just go and sleep in his spot and not actually pee, we'd have to end up putting him back in his crate

I posted here a week or so ago feeling totally overwhelmed with our newly adopted 8mo golden mix (adopted three weeks ago today) - I was struggling so badly with her barking in her crate all night.

Well… today she got into something somewhere (still a mystery) that made her really sick from both ends. Got her to the emergency vet, she is ok thank goodness but they said she may have a couple accidents before she’s back to normal and to just watch for signs dehydration.

Rather than crate her, I got her set up in the basement bathroom - all tile, so it’s easy to clean and she won’t be surrounded by any bodily fluids if something happens. I put her bed in there, some of her favorite toys, and water.

She has been SILENT. I’ve been waiting three weeks for this but now my heart is breaking. I feel awful that she hasn’t made a single peep. I’ve been checking on her regularly and have alarms set to check on her throughout the night. She gives me tail wags so she is happy to see me when I go in. She is still peeing outside as usual. I’m hoping her silence is just because she isn’t feeling well but I’m also scared that she’s going to lose any progress she’s made in feeling comfortable here. Like what if she’s just so traumatized by today that this makes things worse for her?

I think I’m just in my head and seeking reassurance. I’m sure she just isn’t feeling well, is exhausted from the day, and maybe even just enjoying not being in her crate. She’s crated for now when we aren’t home (very rare) and at night when we sleep, just while we work on learning what to chew and not chew. So maybe this is a good thing? Maybe we should try always keeping her in there overnight instead of the crate? It’s a spacious bathroom that’s pretty try much never used.

My dachshund/chihuahua mix is just now at the 3 month mark. He used to be very gentle and easygoing but now he tries to bite my hand every time it comes close to him. I’ve tried giving him toys, playing with him plenty, etc etc. I can’t seem to even pet or touch him without him trying to clamp my hands/feet. Any way to stop this??

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!

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 have a 4mo 3wk old mini schnauzer puppy. He has toys of every different type, soft and fuzzy, rubbery, soft fabric, thicker fabric, tennis balls, wuffle mats, etc. The guy has NO interest on chewing on any of them. If he’s chewing on something we don’t like, we try to redirect him to a toy and he takes it for maybe .05 seconds and then is right back to whatever he had before. We have moved most things we don’t want him to have out of reach, but then he starts in on things like our clothes, our blankets we are using on the couch, one of our cats tail, etc. He has edible puppy teething sticks (N Bone brand) that he takes okay, but still rarely chews a whole stick before he’s back onto something unauthorized. We’ve also tried carrots (regular and frozen) but he’s not into them. I think he’s getting plenty of mental stimulation, we do lots of training in short bursts throughout the day, and we live in an apartment so any outside time is pretty stimulating. He also gets his food in a slow feeder, and a snack/meal in a puzzle feeder or wuffle mat every day. He is crate/play pen trained, and we are doing enforced naps in one or the other every hour or two.

Any suggestions for either longer lasting edible chews or a toy that may really tickle him? My last schnauzer wasn’t much of a toy guy either, but I got him when he was 2 so never had to work through this stage.

My Labrador male has just turned 1. Overall he’s a good dog but there’s still a lot I need to work on.

There’s 3 main areas I want to improve on:

• loose lead walking
• recall
• being calm in public places.

My problem is I’m finding it all very overwhelming and I end up doing a little bit of each which in turn seems to be getting me nowhere. Is there a good order to teach these things?

If anyone has any training schedules that you use that would be awesome!

My puppy (golden retriever) is almost 19 weeks old, we’ve had him since he was almost 8 weeks old. He is approximately 35 pounds..?.. we weighed him last week at 33 poinds. When he is home, and my cats are in sight, he just chases them and pounces. When he is at my mom’s house, which is 3 times a week for 8 hours, he goes after her 2 small dogs. Now, I understand he’s just a puppy and it’s in his nature and he is just trying to play. On the other hand, it’s incredibly unfair to the other animals who have been around longer, especially my Moms dogs who can’t walk around their house freely. The puppy is never alone freely with the small animals- he is either crated or has supervision. Does anyone have advice on how I can help him correct the behavior? Any commands? Assurance that this is just a phase? I know he’s just a baby but it’s unfair my cats and my mother’s dogs can’t walk around the main floor without being chased. Right now I just grab his harness and tell him to stop. We actually are meeting with a trainer in a few weeks, unfortunately we couldn’t get in sooner, but hopefully he can also help us.

Six month old dear puppy

My 6 month old female yellow Lab is an absolute dear. Lots of licks and kisses. She has been in puppy daycare since 12 weeks old. She gets along great with other dogs. We have noticed that lately, when someone comes to our door, usually only a delivery person, she just about goes through the door! Growling, barking etc. She is a very aggressive female Lab and I have had 3 Labs before her. Just concerned about this behaviour. Will she outgrow this or if not how do we curb this aggressiveness’s??

**After talking it over with my sister, I've decided to edit this -- these episodes are usually triggered by the pup having eat grass or a leaf or fuzz/string from the carpet so I've edited the post to reflect this**

Hello all, I have an issue with an almost 4 month old puppy's issues with putting everything she shouldn't in her mouth, and the resulting issues with eating: she is on a cycle of eating [insert unfortunate object here], eating normally, then experiencing fussiness with food, lessening of appetite, food refusal, then vomiting up the bile/foam of an empty stomach accompanied by grass/leaf/whatever the offending object is. Then after much cajoling, she eats again and the cycle continues.

I need to get off of this roller coaster -- how in the hell does one keep a puppy from ingesting what she shouldn't? We are working on "leave it/drop it" but to be honest, she grabs stuff that we don't see. We try, but we can't cover every split second. It's massively stressful, and no way for any of us to live.

Many thanks.

Good afternoon everyone looking for some advice and tips. I have a 3 month old terrier mix. She’s a lil ball of energy but I also have a 2 year old child. The problem is she keeps jumping and scratching my child in the face. What can I do to ensure that this doesn’t keep happening?? Definitely in need of some help here

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.

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!

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 😅