I got my first dog about three weeks ago (she’s about 11 weeks old now) and I have a cat I got four years ago. Initially, things were fine between them. Puppy would try to play, kitty wasn’t a fan, but nothing aggressive.

Now, my puppy chases the cat whenever she can, corners her, and starts growling. She also paws at her and tries to block her path. This started basically overnight, and I separate them and redirect puppy’s attention whenever I can, but I’m really worried about leaving them alone. My cat now HATES puppy and has started trying to claw puppy’s face when she corners her, and I’m worried she’ll blind her.

The only solutions I can think of right now that mean the safety of both of them are keeping them locked in separate rooms (my apartment is not big, so this feels so cruel to both of them) or to rehome my puppy. I love this little dog and it would break my heart to give her up, but I just want them both to be happy and safe. Am I right to interpret puppy’s behavior as a threat to kitty? What should I do?

Hi, all.

Our Aussiedoodle at 4-1/2 months is doing very well with her potty training. She signals reliably with her door bells, and accidents within her allowed area inside are almost zero.

The issue is with the parts of the house outside of her allowed area.

We currently allow her free run of about 2/3 of the downstairs, the area which is our primary living space. The issue we're having is when we neglect to close doors, and she wanders into the recording studio (a converted garage), the more formal living room, or upstairs. She feels free to pee or poop in any of those areas, and since we can almost never catch her in the act, there's no way to redirect her outside after the fact.

I would like her to respect those areas as off-limits to eliminating, as eventually I want her to have free run of the entire house. Maybe she's not quite old enough for this yet, though.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

So we’ve had our Pooch for two weeks now, and last Wednesday was an absolute nightmare which made the puppy blues kick in like a real thunderstorm… And also: getting a new dog had brought up the loss and sadness over our last dog extra hard. As in: I’ve been crying for two days now, and I feel like I crap. Anyone has experienced this too? Tips?

Hi All,

I adopted my Shepsky after fostering it for a few weeks, and he never took to the crate regardless of how hard I tried. At some point, we reset, and I've been putting him in the crate at night to sleep, and he'll lie down on the floor during the day (he prefers the hard wood floor I guess because it's cooler & I have a mat in the crate because i'm nervous about his hips- that breed is pretty bad with them.)

I had a talk with a trainer and she asked how long he's been sleeping and I told her i'm not sure? A few weeks ago I started to leave him in the crate from like 9am-11am, 3pm-5pm, and then bedtime around 11pm-7am in the crate, but I'm not sure how often he's actually sleeping in there?

I'm using a cover because the guy likes to whine at me when it's off, and he seems to not do that when he can't see me, and then when the door side's cover is up, He's usually hunched over looking at me to get him out- so I try covering it fully once he's in.

Basically, I'm not entirely sure if he's napping during these times or just waiting for me to get out, and I'm not sure how to train him to nap again? Because honestly I've only seen him FULLY asleep a couple of times here and there outside of the crate(he usually "runs" in his sleep or whines). I do go for multiple walks a day, but I'm just not sure how to tire him out to help him get tired.. he just seems ON 24/7.. Any help would be appreciated

Currently watching a friends 2 year old dog with my 1.5 year old dog. Male and female. They’ve been great friends on previous hikes and meetings but I’ve woken up and had two fights in an hour.

My dog is very friendly with all dogs — usually a submissive puppy — and his dog is a trained service dog so I’m very surprised that this has been coming up. My dog got zoomies at the park, just them two. She tried to wrestle (which they both like) and it quickly turned into a fight that I broke up but my friends dog was coming back for more. She’s always taken corrections pretty well and backs off immediately, so I’m confused. I love watching her with other dogs because she can sense when one is anxious, aggressive, or older and back off.

After these fights, I’m anxious it’s all ruined. She’s a very happy go lucky neutral dog with no resource guarding. These fights haven’t been over anything material. I plan to continue to give them separate safe spaces. I just feel nervous for my dogs future with other dogs :(

hello all! we currently have a soon to be 7 month old mini aussie/papillon mix. i'm typing this post at 10am. last night, our crazy boy decided he was just not going to sleep. he was whining heavily in his cage, jumping around in it. we would take him out to try to calm him down and give him snuggles, as we had another person in the household who had to work early this morning and didn't want to disturb their sleep. he slept maybe 3 hours, broken up of course. and finally passed out at 4:30 in the morning for good after being up since 3:30 when i got home from work. it was a messy night and i was just wondering what the cause for that could have been. we got him a new cage recently this week, but we even brought up his old cage to see if he would sleep in that, but he refused. we could tell he was tired, and was fighting the sleep HARD!! this is the first time anything like this has happened, as he's usually a pretty good sleeper. any advice for next time this happens (although i hope there won't be one) or reason as to why this happened?

I’ve had my puppy a week, and she’s 10 weeks old. I’ve been training a little bit every day, and teaching her basic commands like sit, stay, paw, and come. Potty training has been difficult, she pees on her puppy pad or right next to it. Pooping on it is every once in a while, or again, right next to it. I take her outside when she wakes up, and after she eats, and before bed. But she goes outside and eats leaves, or sits down, or begs me to take her inside, which i think is because she was cold or it was raining (or both) and she rarely pees and never poops outside, except for 3 times she’s pooped and i rewarded her heavily. I’m worried because she doesn’t seem to be picking up on it. Sit and come are really the only things she knows how to do, but it either takes her a second, or she stops listening to me or gets distracted. This is my first puppy, and i’m worried i’m not doing enough, or not doing something right, or am I just overthinking it, and she just needs more time? because i know she’s still a baby. I just don’t know the timeframe in which she should be learning stuff…

Getting a female black lab tomorrow, the drive back home with be 2 and 1/2 hours. We’ve already got a playpen and a kennel. I’ve figured out the training I want to use. I’m just nervous. Ive heard so many bad things about getting a new puppy I’m scared it’s gonna go horribly and I’m gonna hate everything about it. I need tips to help keep my sanity for the next 24 hours and the next couple weeks I’ll have a brand new puppy in the house. (We’ve owned a dog before)

Hello! I'm not looking for any medical advice, but rather just other people's general experiences with spaying their pet.

I was always under the assumption that 6 months was when most small breed puppies are spayed, and our breeder also advised us similarly. We have a female mini schnauzer, but our vet actually told us the new advice is to wait until they are at least 12 months of age.

We plan to listen to our vet and wait until our puppy is 12 months, but I was online and trying to look for more information for small breeds in particular, and came up short. Is this a really recent change in veterinary care?

my 11 week old male chocolate lab is having a hard time leaving our pet cat alone. during the day they are kept separate as he is in his crate and the cat roams free, when i get home (i come home during lunch too) from work i always take him and try to introduce sometimes he’s so sweet and will just sit there and look at him but then randomly a switch just changes and he bites the cat. any tips on how to make him stop??? yes i tell him leave it, no all of it.

My almost five month old puppy has really started to go backwards this week and I have no idea why or how to fix it! He started sleeping in my bed a month ago which started out great and he was sleeping through the entire night no problem! Now all of a sudden, we can only sleep a handful of hours at a time before whining at the door (which is weird because I take him out every time and he never has to go to the bathroom), scratching at the wall/outlets which is weird or just play fighting and biting the WHOLE night. I don’t know what changed but my hands are sliced up and I just don’t know what to do because I’m so tired from all the interrupted sleep. He is crate trained a bit and did start out sleeping in the crate but he kinda conned me into letting him sleep in my bed and it’s been that way since😅 his energy just won’t go down no matter what I try!

Update: I did check his teeth today and sure enough he has started losing his teeth! Guess that’s one mystery solved!👀

Hi

We are fostering a 6 month old mini poodle with the intent to sign adoption papers in a week. He’s so adorable and our precious little thing, so we want to get insurance right away to give ourselves a peace of mind.

After reading several posts here and checking petinsurancegurus, I decided to start with Lemonade.

Here are the options we chose:

Accident and Illness Coverage: the base plan seemed too barebones. I have no clue how much vet visits costs and dental illnesses too. Add to that, this little guy is so hyperactive, including the physical therapy sounds like a no brainer to me.

Preventative care: Routine vet care

Coinsurance: 80%

Deductible: $250

Max payout: $50,000

Maybe some of this is an overkill but I struggle to understand how any of these options are not important. It does not look like this would save us anything in the long run but I feel the same way about all other insurances I pay towards (car, home, medical).

I’m interested to know what type of coverage everyone gets, how you made your decision, and what your experience was like with who you went with. I’m just asking the community if I’m making an informed decision as I know nothing about hidden costs of having a pet. Thanks!

We've had our two Yorkies for 3 years, since they were puppies. Best friends. They are VERY jealous of each other over my wife, as that is their person, so when she picks one up, the other gets upset. But that's the way it's always been, and they've never done more than just bark.

We just got a third puppy in February. Everything was normal, they were all fine. A month later out of nowhere, a fight ensued between the two older ones. Now in the 3 yrs we owned them, they fought 3 times but it was always over SOMETHING. A toy, a treat, something. But this fight seemed to be random. And it was VICIOUS. Sounded that way at least. No blood luckily, because they seemed to have gotten a hold of each other's hair, and I was able to pry the one that had a hold of the others mouth open and get her to let go as they're only 5lbs.

Now, when they see each other something has changed..they have to be separated, cause they want to kill each other all of a sudden. Very little can they be unrestrained with access to each other unless we're holding their attention. All of a sudden they'll look at each other and then boom it's on.

These are All girls. No one is aggressive towards the puppy. One of the fighters is in heat, but they both have spay appts on the 23rd of May.

What happened!!! What do we do? These dogs were best friends, and now seem like mortal enemies. When they can't get to each other, they look at each other and bark very different then just normal barking. It's aggressive barking.

Please please help.

My husband and I adopted a little German shepherd mix pup a few days ago. We currently have another 2 year old German shepherd mix. So we understood the needs of the breed. The current puppy that we got just turned three months old. She’s got all your typical puppy issues. I knew all this when adopting. But now having her in the home has been so difficult. Our other dog was honestly an anomaly. He never barks or whines. Was crate and potty trained within a week. We have done some training with him and he is a perfect dog. This puppy has been the exact opposite of his. She does not like her kennel. At night she cries forever. Once she falls asleep she’ll wake up and hour later and cry. We are consistently taking her out every two hours during the day and at night. So I know she’s not crying because of that. She doesn’t seem scared of the crate either. We play games with her in it, she eats food in there. And I was able to get her to take a nap. But it just takes forever for her to settle down and then the minute she’s up she cries. She also cries whenever she wants something or if my husband or I leave the room. It has been so difficult for me to deal with. We don’t like to give her attention if she whines for it because we don’t want to reinforce that. But it has been so hard. The foster said some of her litter mates from the rescue were struggling with separation anxiety. I feel like this is already the case and we’ve only had her for a few days. She always needs to be right next to us. Again she does all the puppy stuff bites, jumps, chews. So I know that with time and training it will get better. But it’s so hard. I cried all day yesterday and it got to the point where I told my husband I’d almost rather die than have to deal with this. I don’t feel connected to her and i just wish we hadn’t adopted her. I do struggle with my mental health, so I know this is all a contribution as well. My husband recommended returning her to the rescue but I feel like a terrible person if we do that. I really want another dog, but I’ve just been struggling so hard. Everyone says my mental health is more important but I also don’t want to just give up either. I’m not sure if this is typical puppy blues or if it’s much more.

I'm writing this right after coming home from dog school and I'm feeling devastated. My dog was doing so well from week 8 to month 7. He was always super energetic but when we started these classes (at month 5) he was one of the best in the class.
I got him castrated 3.5 weeks ago and he seem to have lost his focus. He can pay attention to me when the task is just to lie on the ground but he really struggles looking at me and following my commands when we need to move away from a spot and do something. He can't seem to stop sniffing the ground and he pees on the toys/obstacles.
At home he loves and enjoys training and we practice daily outside in all kinds of busy environments too. He tends to do so well and that's why I can't handle him being all over the place.
He was the only puppy that wasn't able to perform all the tasks that were given to him today. He got some of them right, but mostly just sniffed and peed.

I have two more lessons of this class and then he's signed up for obedience, the next series of lessons but I'm seriously considering quitting school for a few months until he's more calm (if ever!). I cried all the way home and I'm feeling discouraged. I've put so much effort in his training, I don't think I can handle him being like this all the time.

What should I do?

Hi everyone, things were going great until the last few days where I became very angry at my sweet and rather sensitive Hailey and pulled her leash strongly, picked her up very hectically which probably scared her a lot. Afterwards she was running away from me and unwilling to walk back home. She seems very stressed now, she kind of freezes in place a lot but also demanding a lot of attention right now which I'm giving to her. It sucks so much since Hailey is having a lot of difficulties adjusting anyway. It was going super well the last couple of weeks and now this. Does anyone know whether she will recover from it and what I can do to help her do so? Thank you

Im sure this has been answered before but I can’t find it. My 8 week old aussie/heeler mix who I just got 3 days ago is getting a lot better with his crate and usually falls asleep at night after a minute or two or whining. However, during the day when he is put in his crate he will not whine if I am in the room but if I leave his sight for more than 30 seconds he freaks out. When I go to work I cover the crate and he is fine but if I go to the kitchen for a few minutes he whines. Need training advice

We have a lab puppy and this toy is lifesaving. We fill it with cheerios and she loves it

https://www.chewy.com/kong-spin-it-dog-toy/dp/236382

okay so… for context, our puppy is almost 11 weeks old. she’s a lab/terrier mix and was a rescue. she was found in the middle of the road at only a couple weeks old, then fostered from 5-10 weeks old. now we have her. she was separated from her mother from a very young age. then put in a crate at night at her foster family’s. my confusion lies around how the cry it out method will effect her. studies have shown that the cry it out method has been found to be harmful because of the jarring transition from leaving their mother and litter mates to being in a strange new place. the cry it out method does not work because they cannot self soothe because they don’t know how as their cries are an emotional response. it can also cause them to inadvertently learn that crying is the way to get attention (which i still don’t understand but i believe the experts). BUT.. my puppy was not ripped from her family after getting to be with them for 8 weeks straight. she was around 5 weeks old.

will cry it out help or harm based on the aforementioned qualifications that define how it harms a puppy’s development? if i do not enact cry it out and attend to each cry to avoid the negative consequences of cry it out, will i be accidentally teaching her that crying is the way to get attention?

i am also concerned about 5-weeks separation syndrome. i did not know this existed until i was researching cry it out. my puppy was separated before 5 weeks. she is being really bitey but i thought that was just because shes a puppy. she was living with another dog (border collie) at her foster family so she had some socializing, but im still nervous. will she be permanently effected by her history? behavioural challenges are serious and i want to get ahead of any and all.

any advice would be much appreciated. thank you for reading all this💕

I spent a obscene amount of time reading, learning and watching YouTube to learn about puppyhood but I must say, I still wasn't ready for what was to come. While there are plenty of videos on training and discipline, here are the things that I only learnt from experience.

1. Prepare for a puppy just the way you would for a human child. The first 2-3 weeks, you 'HAVE' to give your puppy undivided attention. That means literally 24x7. Trying to raise a puppy while trying to maintain your lifestyle and do your 9-5 and go on date nights is a recipes for burnout. Invite your friends , family or whoever necessary to stay and help out.

2. Spend as much time as you can early on training and building a bond. The more you spend now, the less you need to do later. Three things I decided to drill on early. Sit, stay, no biting ,leave it and 'knock' ( for poop and pee). Between me and my partner, we spent 12-20 hours outside. No pee pads indoors. From day 1, he was training to poop/ pee on the grass outside. We still had accidents but it stopped beyond day 4. He has not pooped inside even onve.He just never had the chance to learn to pee or poop indoors. By week 4, all biting stopped. He is not entering his teenage phase so he is fussy and rather annoying and trying to see what he can get away with but when he hears 'come', he comes..even if reluctantly with a 'uuughh whatever' Attitude. I'll still take that!!

3. if you don't want them to pick up a bad habit, don't introduce them to it. Not even once! If you don't want them to rush to the food tray while you are serving, make sure to make them sit or stay. No exceptions. And 'yes' when you are ready to allow them to eat . Friends and family will do the 'ooo let him do xyz!!!! He is just a puppy!!!' no sir/no ma'am! You break the rule once, you teach them it's ok to break it when they want and they will test you!! Good luck trying to explain to a puppy why it was ok to do it y'day but not ok to do it today!!!

4. Teach them the right social skills. A big reason our pup stopped biting and jumping on people is because the moment he would do it, I would immediately get up and leave for 2-3 mins while he would be in his play pen wondering why the fun stopped. Do that again, I walk away again. Jump on me or scratch , no belly rubs or treats I'll ingore..the moment you sit calmly, all the treats and the hugs in the world.

5. Understand you breed well! No matter how much physical training I gave my pup, he would be unhappy and whine. Turns out he is a terrier and needs mental stimulation! 20 mins of tug or walk is not enough, 5 mins of hide it and find it is more than enough to get him happy. Toys? No thanks! but obedience training, hekkkk yes!!!

6. Most important!! Lower your expectations!!! The Internet gave me the impression that you simply spend 20 mins teaching them something and they magically learn it and viola! That there is a ticking time line you have to follow or you failed! If they aren't learning, you are a shitty teacher! If you pup still pees inside after first 4 weeks, something is wrong with them or your training! Not true all. they are as out in the wild with all this stuff as you are! Sometime, it takes more than 1 try to click. Just because they aren't responding doesn't mean they aren't learning. KEEP AT IT REGARDLESS! I had such a hard time teaching my dog to not jump and shake his playpen all the time. I would give him treats to mark calm behavior, but then next day, it's the same thing, he would rattle and scratch the pen until you paid attention. It took a whole month and I was ready to give up until out of nowhere, he just quit! He hasn't rattlled his play pen even once since that day! Same goes for other training like biting and learning fetch! So annoying when you do everything right to teach him fetch except he would just grab the ball and run away. Until one day he didn't!!! Simply brought it back and waited for me to throw again! It takes time but with enough repetition, it works!!

I hope I have helped someone out there struggling like I did for a good month!! You got this! This is your rite of passage for that beautiful dog waiting for you on the other side!

So I want to start this off that I know it's his breed to nip and bite. I'm very well aware of it, but excessive biting is a little too much. When he gets his little bursts of energy, he's just super unmanageable and won't listen to me at all. He's normally very well behaved and obedient, but when he gets like this it is impossible to get him to stop. I always end up with cuts and bruises all over me.

He is a 6-month-old Australian Cattle Dog and is honestly my favorite thing in the entire world but when he gets like this it makes me mad and I don't know what to do to get him to listen. This isn't my first dog and won't be my last but I am at a loss right now. I've had herding dogs before but I just don't know what his deal is. Any advice on how to improve this behavior?

I DO plan on getting a DNA test at some point, but I’m not gonna lie, money is kind of tight right now. Maybe in the next couple months I’ll be able to splurge on a DNA test, but the shelter I adopted my 6 month old pup at was a transfer from a shelter in another state, so who knows REALLY what kind of mix he is?

They said he is a GSD mix, and maybe he is, but at the very MOST, one of the parents was also a GSD mix and not a purebreed. Him being a GSD or not is a nonissue, he is 100% precious. I guess to narrow down my inquiry, I know GSDs are herding/working/guardian dogs, but is there a good way to know what kinds of activities are most beneficial for my particular pups wellbeing prior to knowing their specific breed type? I read posts on here about how some breeds will go on long walks but it’s simply not enough for them to feel fulfilled/some require these types of activities, etc.

As my pup has now entered adolescence, and it’s only growing hotter outside where I live, long walks might not always be an option. He definitely loves playing fetch and using tug toys, and LOVES jumping, although he’s a little clumsy. I guess I just want more options? And maybe a steer in the right direction of how to better provide physical/mental exercise for him other than what he already has?

My pup is currently 4 months old and untill now she always had an enforced naps schedule (1 hour awake, 2 hours in the crate).

I have noticed that my pup finds it very hard to settle down when not in the crate, like when im in a restaurant or something. Even at home she never settles down outside the crate.

What I am planning to do is to let her sleep wherever she wants. I'll still try to get her to sleep at certain times, but it doesn't need to be in the crate.

Hopefully my pup will learn how to settle down on her own this way. Does anyone have made the same transition, any tips? I'm mostly concerned with potty training, because she pees whenever she wakes up.

I just wanted to share where I have come in the last week. I posted about possibly wanting to give my pup back due to some leash issues which included an incident where he got too over stimulated and went at me. I decided to call a behavior consultant trainer (want to make sure there isn't any aggression underneath his issues) who we have an appointment with. In the mean time, my partner and I have been working on him sitting when people or other dogs come by and focusing on us.

He has started to sit on his own when he sees other people! It feel like such a huge relief and step towards him learning how to relax. I have gotten better at leash control and his control during these events so I have been able to see his body language better and he is wiggly and it seems playful. I am still on edge because of the one event but I feel like we are making progress and (hopefully) that was a one off event. (I didn't let him get pet by someone because he was too hyper.) I am still being careful but feel much better about him and the fact that he was never trained how to calm down and is a high energy breed.

So they got a puppy and I’m helping them out. However she is pretty young. Trying to kennel train her and it’s been hell. Whining and crying. I can normally last about 10 mins before checking in on her and give her some pats and walking away. I know for kennel trying I have to just let her whine so she knows it’s ok to be alone. Her cage has all of her toys and a nice fluffy pillow to relax on

I normally put her in her cage as soon as she passes out. Any other tips y’all got? I’m slowly going crazy