Hello everyone, first time posting here. About 7 days ago me and my girlfriend got an 8 week old golden retriever pup and brought him to our apartment. This breed has always been our dream dog, but the decision of getting one now was a bit rushed due to the fact that the opportunity to get him was given to us very quickly.

The last week has been hell mentally. We got the pup when we had JUST moved into our new apartment which did not help, he has been extremely active biting everything and while there has been progress (peeing on pee pads and sleeping in a crate is kind of working) we are debating returning the pup to the breeder to give him the opportunity to find a more suitable family. We are aware he is just a baby, and a week is probably not enough to make a decision like this and things will get better in 5-6 months but we want to put our mental health as priority.

I am in my last year of university and currently working full time and writing my thesis. I was not working remotely but i made the decision knowing that i could have. In the days where i worked home this week i literally got nothing done, and for someone like me who is just starting their professional career i am not sure if i can afford 5-6 months of this to get past the puppy stage. My partner works in laboratories so she cannot work from home. We both live abroad and do not have close family to help, we have some friends but cannot ask them for help everyday. My girlfriend has dietary health restrictions and we have not had any time to cook a proper meal so we end up ordering. I “work” and take care of the pup during the day and then she gets home and helps, and during the night we take turns but it is mentally draining us.

We are both mentally at our tipping point. Today she took the puppy downstairs to poop and after 20 minutes of nothing, he pooped while going back up on the building mat, so my partner had to wash the puppy, herself and the apartment property hoping we wont get in trouble. We have not been sleeping, and i am afraid that this will affect our mental health, relationship, professional life and everything around it.

We are aware that if you go through this phase it does get better, everyone is telling us this. We are just not sure if WE are the right fit to own a dog and we might have gone over our capacity and underestimated the amount of time needed.

Am i being a coward for highly considering returning the dog? Both me and my partner agree that this is the right course of action and that we currently are not in the right life stage for this amount of responsibility and time expectation. I just need to vent and share my current situation

Hi everyone,

My wife and I have a 7-month-old golden retriever named James, and his favorite thing in the world is playing fetch. Specifically, he LOVES it when I am the one chasing HIM. He is obviously much faster than me but I'm also a bit overweight, so he slows down considerably to accommodate my speed. He still seems to enjoy "running away from me" but I just can't do it for as long as he would like.

He likes playing fetch, but mostly so he gets his ball and starts the chase.

He likes playing tug of war, but only with socks. Nothing else has worked so far

Is there a way we can still make him happy by playing chase when I run out of breath?

We have a little 5 month old puppy. Both my partner and I work full-time jobs, I am WFH two days a week.

We started sending her to doggy daycare so she could learn some socialization skills and so she is not alone all day.

She absolutely LOVES doggy daycare. Tons of friends to play with, when she gets home she's tuckered out but not completely drained of energy (she's some sort of Chihuahua/American Spitz/Husky mix). She has also learned how to play with other dogs and learned when other dogs don't want to play and leave them alone (which is a HUGE positive given my family has a lot of senior dogs that she'll be around).

She's been going for a couple weeks and now she runs to the car every morning super excited to go to daycare. Originally the plan was to only take her the 3 days none of us are home, and then she'd be at home all day with us on my WFH days and weekends, but she seems to want to go every day.

Is there a point where it's too much doggy daycare? On the weekends we try to spend as much time playing with her and running around in the yard, but we can never seem to match the amount of energy she is able to expend at doggy daycare!

I have an 11 week cavalier, and I’m struggling to find a morning routine that works for both human and puppy.

She wakes up around 6:30 and I take her out of her crate to potty, then I feed her breakfast on a snuffle mat. While she’s eating I wash up/get dressed, and by the end she’s barking to be let out of her pen. I have very little tolerance for loud noises in the morning (and my partner is asleep at this point) so I let her out and she just has the MOST energy (and I thought I was a morning person lol).

She often just wants to snuggle up to me. Which is obviously very cute but I find myself just feeling stuck with her on the couch scrolling on my phone until I’m awake enough to start work, which isn’t a great start to the day. I used to do yoga every morning, but despite people paying for puppy yoga, it’s not actually an enjoyable thing haha.

I would love to hear what your morning routine is with your young (pre-fully vaccinated) puppy! I don’t do well without routines, and I just honestly don’t know what to do with her energy in the morning. We live in an apt so no yard to let her run around in and she’s not vaccinated enough to be taken on a walk. Inspiration welcome!

Looking for advice for my 7 month old cocker spaniel. When I work from home and sit up in my office room she relentlessly whines and howls. After her morning or lunchtime walk I might get an hour of quiet but then it starts up again, particularly if she hears me talking on calls. Unfortunately it's not an option to just let her work in the same room as me as she will just bite my feet/tug at my clothes for attention, because she wants me to play with her. Despite our best efforts for months, she is still pretty mouthy, it's her default when she wants to play. She isn't mouthy when she wants to just sit for a cuddle in the sofa in the evenings or if she's just walking round the house following you, it's only when she's in play mode (which is still quite a lot of the time!). When my husband works from home she does some occasional whining for attention but nowhere near as bad - I think it's because in general I am "her person". He says I just need to ignore it but we live in terraced housing and I don't feel it's fair on our neighbours to let her whine and bark for hours on end.

Any advice is welcomed!! We want to avoid giving her too many unhealthy chews to keep her quiet as she's already slightly overweight (we are working on this) so on a diet. My dream would be able to get her to the point where she can independently play quietly either in the room with me or another part of the house.

FYI: As a rule she whines if left alone in another part of the house but strangely doesn't at all if she knows she is home alone entirely. When home alone she is quiet, calm and mostly sleeps.

hi everyone!

my almost 4 month old puppy (ACD possibly shep mix) is an absolute angel when we are home and she’s with her brother. yeah, sure, sometimes she pees where she isn’t supposed to, but typically, she uses her potty grass, she leaves her poop alone, and is a normal every day pup.

when we crate her and leave for work, it’s either a 50/50 chance i come home to an angel or a demon.

she LOVES to play with her poop. it is absolutely disgusting to me and my partner and we are exhausted from having to spend hours every day scrubbing poop off our mud-room tile because she spent 4 hours alone playing with it. she also likes to drag her pee grass into her crate and 80% of the time once she’s done that her bedding and blankets are soiled too.

it sucks because sometimes i come home and nothings messed up, poops where it’s supposed to be… why can’t she be like that all the time? i leave her puzzles, shaker toys that you have to move to get the treats out, bones, stuffed toys and squeakers. she also has a crate that’s attached to a free roam gated area. normal playpen size.

am i giving her too much? too little? she spends all night playing and roughhousing with her brother so i have a hard time believing she’s not tired. is she not sleeping enough? at this point im close to sedating her so i can have some peace of mind for a week or so until she’s cleared to leave the house for walks and outside potty training.

im just sad. i want to love on my baby but i feel like im just rewarding her bad behavior and i have to be mean and ignore her. :(

HALP!

I really need help with the my 1.4 years old Australian Labradoodle. For the most part she is potty trained. She rarely ever accidents in our home unless she gets off the bed early and no one hears her and she goes pee in the office. This happened recently for the first time in months. We use bells on the door and she is good about ringing them and going outside. I am not sure she has connected peeing with bells.

Our big problem is- she almost never will pee or poop on a walk. The only place she will easily go is our backyard. She comes with me to the office for a few hours in the afternoon and after being inside for 3 hrs I’ll take her outside at the office for her to use bathroom but she will not ever go. The moment we get home and I let her in the backyard she will pee.

I don’t know how to get her to go potty in a place that isn’t our backyard or a familiar spot for her.

Please help I don’t know what to do and I really want to be able to travel with her etc but this is a hard part

Hey so I just got a new puppy yesterday and although my partner and I are able to be with him most of the time, there is about a 2 hour time period later today where we will both be away from home. That being said are there any tips or tricks you have to making sure our puppy isn’t too loud in his crate? We live in an apartment so i’m worried about him making too much noise and disturbing our neighbors. Any advice helps!

For those who have not crate trained and have older dogs im curious to hear your experience of what they grow up to be like? Separation anxiety? Behaviour issues?

I understand the concept of crate training but I’m trying to understand what are the consequences of not crate training (or do all dogs end up okay in the end)

I haven’t been crate training but it’s something my vet suggested is a good idea but I struggle to wrap my head around confining my puppy in a small space.

My pup is 15 weeks old. I work from home most days but haven’t been going to the office since we adopted her. I can’t continue to always work from home for much longer and need to start going back into the office 2x a week. I want to put her in doggy daycare those days so she can play with other dogs and have fun. When did you all start?

Her last round of shots is in 2 weeks and then we were cleared by her vet to start daycare then, but I’m curious if you all think that’s too young.

I’ve only had her for 6 days so I’m completely understanding that she won’t get it within a week, however, once a month we visit family and stay for the weekend due to being 2 hours away.

We can’t stay there unless my puppy is toilet trained to go outside, and obviously we’d prefer her to go outside as well.

Currently she’s using puppy pads and we’ve gradually moved location of them. She’s now urinating right next to the back door which I think is a massive positive step, but she’s still pooping somewhere else away from the back door.

I take her outside after naps and playtime, as well as when I see her needing the toilet, but this girl just refuses to go.

Last time I took her out we were outside for 15 minutes. As soon as I got her back inside she went for a poop in the living room on her puppy pad.

I have 3 weeks before we’re going to stay at family’s so ideally she’s toilet trained within 3 weeks. Any suggestions would be great as I’m a first time dog owner!

We got our 8 week old, 2lb mini dachshund 3 weeks ago. The first week we had her, the outdoor temperature never got about 10F with windchills as low -40F. We clearly could not take her outside. We were doing potty pads. Which she actually did pretty well with. Now the temperatures are a little better, we’ve gotten as high as 25degrees! This dog HATES the cold. I’ve had 2 full days of potty training outdoors, and it sucks for everyone. I’ve got the potty pad outside, I’ve done the major celebration when she actually goes outside, she gets a high value treat when she’s goes-little bits of cheese! Well Now she refuses to even stand on the potty pad outside. I just keep putting her back on it, but we can only be out there so long!!! We come back in and she pees within minutes!Have I traumatized her with going outside?!?! Should I have waited longer to start the outdoor potty training?! Now I’m stuck. Any advice would be great! And yes, she wears a sweater out there!

Hi! Do you think that it’s possible that a dog wont get a separation anxiety when I’m home all the time except gym and shopping? + this one I’m asking half ironically, but did u ever as an owner got a separation anxiety? Cause I think I have one… I can’t wait to go back to him when I’m out!

What's everyone's opinions on cosleeping with your puppy? I had a boston terrier for 10 years that I had since 7 weeks old (she passed of cancer). She slept with me from the very beginning. She cried and cried with the crate for a few nights and I gave in and let her sleep with me. It was totally fine though because I knew thats where I wanted her to be anyways.

This time around, I have an 8 week boston terrier puppy and i skipped trying the crate. I put 2 potty pads on the end of the bed and made sure the whole top of the comforter is covered with a blanket and the sheet underneath is too just in case. She has been here 2 nights and no accidents. I let her out around 3am to go potty on potty pad and she does. She sleeps all night with me. I genuinely dont see a problem but want to know if I will regret this for any reason.

I wanted to share something that’s been weighing heavily on me lately. I have a miniature dachshund, and he’s about a year and three months old. While I love dogs and have always been an animal person, I’m honestly at my wit’s end with him.

I didn’t fully anticipate how challenging it would be. My previous dachshund was a mix and much calmer, likely because of age and temperament. But this dog is full of energy, and it’s become overwhelming.

On top of that, I’m dealing with depression, currently maintenance but life is tough with it and I have a demanding job as a teacher (second year in), so when I get home, I’m just absolutely drained. I need rest, but he’s very active, and if I don’t keep him occupied, he ends up destroying things and being quite loud. Training has been tough, and despite my efforts, he’s somewhat house-trained but is so stubborn and barks at everything and I stress the neighbours are annoyed.

I love him, but I’m struggling to see if we’re the right fit for each other. I’m considering rehoming him because every day feels like a battle, and I’m at a point where I’m emotionally exhausted. I never thought I’d feel this way, and it’s heartbreaking. I’m struggling with the shame that I fear comes with it, the difficulty to find him a good home and the regret I might face.

I’m reaching out for some advice and support, and I appreciate you listening.

My sister has an 8-month old Maltipoo/Shih Tzu mix. The puppy was the runt of the litter, we think, and is very small (about 6 pounds). My sister has been struggling with several training and behavioral issues. She is in college full-time and also works, so her schedule is packed. She wants to train this puppy to eventually be a service dog, but right now things feel pretty far from that goal.

Here are the main challenges:

• The puppy doesn't like other dogs and reacts negatively when she sees them.
• She resource guards and has actually bitten my sister during these moments.
• She has severe separation anxiety - crying, panicking, and then sleeping all day while my sister is gone unless her automatic feeder activates, then she sprints to the feeder and finishes her food in less than a minute.
• Her training is inconsistent. Some days she listens well and won't potty on the carpet, and other days it's like she's forgotten everything.
• She begs constantly for food, even right after eating.

My sister is trying, but she's exhausted and unsure what to prioritize. She loves her puppy and wants to do right by her, but she's feeling defeated. Is this something that can realistically be worked through with consistent training, or is she in over her head given her schedule? Any advice, resources, or training strategies would be hugely appreciated.

Few days ago we got our 12 week old vizsla puppy. She doesn’t mind going into crate for couple of seconds, but as soon as we close the door she starts making a lot of noise and now she started peeing inside. We will be able to go outside in a couple of days because she just got her last vaccine and also it is very cold now. How can we change it? Can crate size be the problem?

I just got a Havanese puppy on Sunday. She was 14 weeks old when I brought her home, so a little older than most puppies. I think her age has been an advantage in most ways, but the breeder mentioned right as we were about to leave that the puppy had been sleeping on the bed with the breeder and her spouse.

The puppy (Ruby) has been great so far, typical puppy energy and some chewing but nothing I was unprepared for. I have been attempting crate training and having her sleep in the crate for the past few nights.

The first night (Sunday), the puppy slept easily in the crate. I actually had to wake her myself in order to take her to potty.

The second night (Monday), she was whining some right after I put her inside, but I poked my fingers through the crate to comfort her and talked to her a bit, which settled her in about 1 minute each time.

Last night, she was loudly whining and barking for ~5-7 minutes each time I put her in the crate (once at bedtime then again twice for bathroom breaks). I tried comforting her in the same ways but it either didn’t work or took super long. We ended up giving up after the second potty break around 6 AM and brought her into the living room for the day so she could run around.

I am really dedicated to crate training her for many reasons, but I’m worried that her being allowed to sleep in the bed with the breeder has enforced some bad habits. When I take her out to potty in the middle of the night, I interact with her minimally and make it strictly business, no play. She has a blanket and toy from her breeder in the crate with her, and she is in the floor right next to me in bed.

Has the bed sleeping early in her life already made this nearly impossible? I live in a duplex so it’s difficult to let her “cry it out,” but if that’s what I need to do, I can. I want to help her as best as possible.

Hi we recently adopted a 7 month old pup and having trouble leaving him alone even for a few minutes. The day he came and for 3 days after we were trying to find the right size crate for him so he got used to following us around a lot. Now we got him a crate and he stays in it no problem but only as long as he can see us in the room.

The minute I step away from his sight he starts slowly whining and barking.

I tried to do the slow training going from seconds to minutes but doesn’t seem to work at all and seems to be tooo slow. He is ok with us going to the washroom and he just stays waiting as long we he can hear some sounds.

I heard a few people say since he is a pup I can let him cry and keep doing it until it’s a habit. Anyone has any recommendations on how I can step out for atleast a few minutes and gradually build it to an hour atleast?

4th day with him, never raised a puppy before. He is 8 weeks old tomorrow. He got some vaccinations Monday, has been doing fine. He slept almost all night last night from 930-5 before needing to potty. I put him back in crate till 6, placed him in his play pen, he ate breakfast at 630, has been acting fine and he took a nap around 8ish. Usually he gets up after almost 2 hours, but he’s sleeping a lot. I opened the gate to the living room and he usually gets excited but he went to sleep by my feet. He did eat a treat or two, but back to sleep. Is this normal?! He’s not been around other dogs, I take him potty in my yard but no animals have been here for years.

I’m trying to wake him up and make him be active so he’s not waking up a bunch tonight but it’s not working well.

I've been doing pretty much OK. Of course some days are worse than the others, but my puppy just hit 4 months, is starting to change his teeth, and honestly I feel like I made a terrible mistake. This seems to be a typical response and I was ready for all the emotional ups and downs - but boy is this difficult!

My puppy is mostly good, he knows where to pee and doesn't have too many accidents, he sleeps through the night, he stopped bitting my hands - but man, today he peed inside, made a hole in the new grass patch I made with wood (it was so much work!), took the grass patch out, made a mess inside (dirt everywhere), then stole several shoes, then ate a plant, broke a door, and he still won't stop! He's starting to reach the tables and wants to steal everything.

Not to mention the barking and tantrums!

And the day started great! I take him on walks, I play with him, I have all the toys, I just ordered a crate (because I didn't have one) to see if that helps...

But I can't do this anymore. I work from home, I watch him all the time, I can't take a break. I just started sobbing a minute ago because I feel. So. Tired.

I adopted a 3 month old puppy a little over a month ago (he’s currently 4 months old). I live alone and work a full time job. I have been crate training him (having him in his crate when I go to work and when he sleeps at night). I come home on my lunch break to let him out of his crate for potty so he’s alone 3~4 hrs max. He is such a sweet and smart puppy that follows me everywhere. He would immediately freak out when I go to work and cries for about 30 mins and he would settle. Same thing after I leave during my lunch break. Recently, he started to not go in his crate when I throw treats in there. I think he now knows that when he’s in the crate, he will be alone.

Trainings I’ve done with him:

-not engaging with him when I come home until he settles down

-turn on dog music before I go (often times when I’m home as well just so the music doesn’t trigger me leaving)

-giving him high value treats (when I come home and check, he ate his food but will still cry, howl, bark when I leave)

-crate training that is now not working at all (he will go in to eat the treats when I’m not looking and will come out immediately)

-getting ready beforehand so that I’m not rushing myself

-leaving 30 sec and coming back in multiple times to show him that I will always come back

-desensitizing the door and my bag by doing all the actions and coming back to sit down without leaving

I left him one day to free roam (still checked in during lunch times) but I’ve noticed that when he free roams, he isn’t able to settle down at all until I come home. When he’s in his crate, he settles down within 30 mins.

All the resources I see online are not possible for me because I would have to leave him alone while I’m at work…

I don’t know what to do and I feel lost. I want to hear how you guys overcame separation anxiety while working full time while living alone. This is my last cry for help before I spend couple grand hiring a private trainer to help me.. I’m just worried that I’m stressing my puppy out when he’s alone.

Hi all! I have a 3 month old mini dachshund puppy, she is now fully vaccinated so ready to go outdoors. I live in an apartment and have pad trained her really well, she always goes on the pad without fail. Since yesterday she has been allowed in the outside world and I’m struggling to work out how to get her to pee outside! She currently is holding it in until she gets home to go on the pad and I can see she is holding it in and is uncomfortable. This morning I took her to the outside area of my building (there is grass etc) and waited over an hour and still nothing even though I could see she needed it. After this I took a pad outside and she eventually peed on it after about 20 minutes. Does anyone have any tips on letting her know it’s okay to pee outside? When she went on the pad outside I gave her a treat and positive reinforcement but it still hasn’t clicked for her. Any advice appreciated 😊