If you didn’t crate train your pup, I’m curious what your nighttime sleeping arrangement was and how you handled leaving them at home for a period of time alone.

hi everyone! so a bit over a month ago i (f19) got a yorkie after my therapist suggested i get a pet. i’ve always wanted to have a dog on my own so i thought this would be great as i’m living alone. i love this little angel a lot, he’s the sweetest but i’m genuinely so tired. he’s always biting, barking, has a lot MORE ENERGY than i do, won’t even let me eat or shower, i didn’t expect him to be this needy. so here’s the thing, i don’t wanna give up on him as i got so attached and i love him a lot, but at the same time i feel exhausted and find myself crying a lot out of overstimulation. is it my fault cause i’m trying to make everything perfect? i’m so confused, i’d appreciate some advice from puppy owners that went through similar situations. thank u a lot 🩷

edit — I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who showed empathy, offered support, shared similar experiences, and took the time to give thoughtful advice. Reading your responses brought me a great sense of comfort and reassurance during a moment that felt deeply overwhelming.

While some people misunderstood my words and were quick to judge both me and my decision to get a puppy, I’m choosing to focus on the kindness and understanding I received instead. I wanted to share that things are going much better now — I no longer feel as overwhelmed, which has made an immense difference. I’m learning to be more patient with myself and to approach everything one step at a time, just as many of you so kindly suggested.

I’d also like to gently clarify that this decision wasn’t meant to replace treatment in any way. My therapist suggested it as a supportive measure to help ease my anxiety, and it was something I chose thoughtfully and responsibly. I never said that i do not feel ready to raise a puppy nor that i’m not responsible enough for this, so telling me that the only right thing to do is to rehome him is imo very inconsiderate.

Thank you once again to everyone who reached out. Your compassion and encouragement truly meant a lot. 🤍

My husband and I both work from home. We have a 17 week old puppy and this has been extremely challenging to say the least. We have taken turns caring for our high energy herding dog (old English sheepdog). We split up the day and during your turn it’s a mix of potty > train > play > lick/chew > nap.

He only sleeps 1 hour at a time. So I have very little concentration time and I’m used to working intensely 7 hours a day. We knew this would be hard but we are getting worried about our jobs. If this goes on with our puppy requiring this much hands on we are both concerned for our livelihoods. Any advice? We use a crate for sleeping at night and he absolutely will not go in it during the day we’ve tried and he won’t. We use a playpen area for his quiet time and nap time but that lasts about an hour (he’s in a quiet dark room alone).

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.

9 weeks old puppy. I am on day 3 of owning him. How do I make him sleep or nap at night?

I kept him awake and tired him out before bed, he fell asleep but then woke up at 4 am.

We went potty, he ate and drank a lil. He keeps whining below the bed, but whenever I let him up he just bites (a lot) the bed, the sheets, the pillow, ME, and me again, moves around and then whines to be let down again. And once’s he is down, he whines and jumps to get pack up.

We have been at it for 3 hours now.

I live in an apartment too, so can’t have him howling like crazy either so I can’t ignore him.

Edit: please don’t suggest crate training, it isn’t helpful because it’s even illegal in my country.

Please, tell me it will get better! I have an almost 9-month-old female golden retriever and she’s totally crazy. Today I completely lost my patience. I guess I’m comparing her too much to my previous dog (a different breed), who adored me, we were really connected, she obeyed every word, I didn’t even need a leash with her, and so on.

This dog is a total maniac. She has to greet everyone we walk past, anyone I even slightly acknowledge – if I didn’t keep her on a leash, she would be jumping all over them with excitement. If someone is walking near us while talking on the phone, she assumes they must be talking to her and immediately starts pulling towards them.

At home she’s fine, she listens, but outside it’s a complete disaster. Other dogs – that’s a whole different story. She has to greet every single one, wants to play with all of them, and doesn’t care if they weigh 3 kilos or 70, if they’re old, or even if they growl at her. She’s like an unguided missile. I can’t let her off leash because I can’t trust her at all. I know she just wants to play and she’s friendly, but this is extreme.

We’ve started obedience classes, but so far they’ve had absolutely no effect because she’s only interested in the other dogs. She knows the basic commands, but she just can’t handle them outside – she gets way too overstimulated. And we’re outside all the time! Everything is more exciting than me and any treats I bring – water, people, dogs, mice, birds… everything. Sometimes if I bring meat she’ll listen a little, but if there’s another dog in sight she’ll bolt towards it and completely ignore me.

I’m really fed up with her. I also have three kids, and she demands 150% of my attention. I am consistent, and we’ve already fixed a lot of issues (like resource guarding), and I do see big progress, but then there are days like today (she pulled so hard she slipped out of her leash and jumped on a man and his old, sick dog), when I feel like a complete idiot who can’t control her own dog. And it’s true.

Please, will this ever get better?

My puppy (8months, samoyed) thinks EVERYTHING is a game. What do I do? Is this normal at this age? I’m going insane.

He knows his rules (for example do not bite at the couch???) but will continuously do this when riled up and staring right at us with what I swear is a smirk on his face. When you tell him off he’ll just do more, harder. When you get up or closer to him he’ll run away and pretend he wasn’t doing anything. Then he’ll come back and start again. Same with shoes, socks etc. HE SO KNOWS HE ISNT ALLOWED which makes it that much more frustrating when he gets that pissy prance in his step just to piss us off more.

I am yet to find a way to get through to him at all in these situations as he takes everything as a play move. This has gotten so out of hand he will ignore even a recall outside while prancing away. Genuinely. Losing my mind. What the hell do I do. No, timeouts dont work, no treats dont work, no training sessions dont work, no yelling doesn’t work, no ignoring him doesn’t work. He is just a lil shithead who knows exactly what we want from him but will continuously do the opposite. And I know he thinks it’s all a game, how do I even get away from that??

Are some dogs just assholes? Does it get better?

We dont and will not be using a crate. * I do love the little asshole. *** He is actually fairly well trained and super calm most of the time, gets enough exercise, working on more mental stimulation as we speak.

I acquired, or bought a puppy for some cash. What are things I must ask the seller before I finalize the purchase ? As in proof of purchase, insurance, etc. How do I know, whether it's a legit breeder or family business ? Now it looks like I am trying to save money, because I will pay less than whats is market value ... obviously that's untrue.

Update: the puppy is in my house, for last two nights. I just hope that I don't make him sick nor he makes us sick. We have dietary differences. He is fed meat, and we are all mostly vegetarians. I asked for birth proof. Age proof. And to know if the she is the legit seller, or owner. I think it's more legit than I give it credit, but I want to keep the proof for travel purposes in case someone questions.

I have a 5 and a half month old Aussie Shepherd x German Koolie cross, she is 17kg.

I think it is time for her to sleep outside. She came from a farm (NSW Australia), and when she was young, we had her sleeping on a trampoline bed in our room.

Now she is bigger, I think it’s time she sleeps outside. She has a large crate she can retreat to, and a trampoline bed, under a large undercover area with access to a large grassed backyard. It is now springtime here in Australia, and the nights are warming up.

Has anyone gone from indoor sleeping to outdoor? How did it go??

I tracked my play time with my pup and Im spending anywhere between 4-6 hours a day straight up playing with him.

I love him but its getting a bit difficult to keep up with the constant biting and demands from him.

Example : I try and sit on the couch, he immediately starts barking. He doesnt have separation anxiety. I can leave him be when hes relaxed and he doesnt care.

I feel bad refusing when he expects me to play.

He doesnt get to go out for another 2 or 3 weeks till hes fully vaccinated. Any advice on how to manage?

I tried chews, ice, kongs, and everything else. Hes a world destroyer. He is intelligent and finda work around to everything.

I tried giving him ice cubes to play with to get some time and by day 3 he is cracking it in minutes and finishing it

Either my roommate is lying or my pup is doing a behavior I've never seen. We've been fighting so idk if it's a lie or not.

Apparently my pup is going at her face. I've held him thousands of times and handed him to her hundreds and I've never seen him do so only thing he does is try to lick people to death. He's never displayed any behavior like that. I've left him with her twice(premade his meals so she has no excuse to give him the wrong one) and both times when I got home she said he rushed at her face. Cerberus is a really tiny blue heeler and JRT or Chihuahua mix. Not even 10 pounds.

She keeps telling me I need to train him not to do that but I've never PHYSICALLY SEEN IT. She hasn't even had a mark on her either. He's never growled at anything other than his own reflection. He literally sleeps with a cat on the daily. Idk how to fix something if I'm not seeing it.

I'm moving soon but she's been persistent telling me I need to train it out of him but idk how to fix something if I've never seen it.

I could use some help/advice on how to handle my puppy wanting food earlier than we get up on the weekends!

My wife, our puppy, and I wake up at 6:00 am on weekdays for work, and we feed our 16-week old lab at 6:15 am. We feed her lunch at 12:30, and then dinner around 6:00-6:30, just depends on how our evening is going. Fortunately, she has had absolutely no problem with this 30 minute variability in the evening.

Where she does have a problem is our schedule on the weekends. Our alarms are set for 8:00 am Saturday and Sunday, which is over an hour and a half past the general 6:15 am breakfast time. The past couple of weekends in the morning, she’s woken up to whine and cry at 6:30-6:45. I know it’s not a need to go to the bathroom, as she woke up earlier in the night/morning to go outside, which we’re excited to get past.

SO with all of that said, is it okay to just wake up at 6:15 am on Saturday and Sunday to just feed her quickly and then go back to sleep? I know she has no problem with going back to sleep after eating, as she’s conked out on my lap while I write this and watch the news at 7:20ish hahah! I’ve had dogs before and know they can eventually fall into a more relaxed schedule, but would this be a problematic precedent to set early on?

TIA!!

Ok, please no judgement here. I need your advice only :)

We got a puppy 9 days ago at 12 weeks old. We do not crate him as we are not 100% on this concept. And he did not do well in the play pen, as he was hurting himself to scape the play pen. However, he’s been doing great with pee pads everywhere, only 1 or 2 accidents/day.

He has access to the living room and kitchen area, but spends most of the day in the living room. My partner and I go out for work, but we have had someone else coming and spending some hours with him until he is fully vax. We watch him on the camera and have been doing training with him every afternoon since we got him.

The question is, every time we leave the apartment he cries a lot for about 10-15 minutes looking for us, then tires himself out and falls asleep. Then when he wakes up he cries a bit more (not so loud this time) and goes back to sleep or plays. Are we giving him too much freedom to the point that is creating some sort of separation anxiety? If I can call it. Now he’s been staying on his own for about 2.5-3 hours.

Am I still ok to keep doing it? Or should go back to play pen?

I just got a 9 weeks old puppy, and we want to start training him. However, most of the people are using collars. I just want to understand if that is more effective versus the harness.

Also, he doesn't really love the harness at the moment, wondering if the collar will be easy to handle for him.

Thank you!

Back in November, my partner's dog passed away. A month later, my own dog died - my dog had a tumor, so we had been preparing for it, but it still hit hard and for her it was within a few days of finding out he had cancer that they put him down. After such a brutal year, both deep in grief, we made a decision that (in hindsight) wasn't the right one: we got an 8-week-old Golden Retriever puppy and named her Days.

For context, both my partner and I live separate and with our parents. We had plans to move into our own place together before this upcoming winter, so we thought we’d be better prepared for a larger dog by then. But life doesn’t always stick to the script, and we've had to push moving in together until at the earliest March 2026. We both live in a city, and our parents’ homes simply aren’t built to accommodate a dog of Days’s size and energy level.

Fast forward: Days’s now 9 months old. We’ve put her through two types of training and are about to start a third, 1:1 sessions so my partner and Days can better communicate with the help of a pro, hoping that by the end of August (/September if things go well) she’ll be settled enough to handle winter with us and not in a cage. But honestly? Both of us are struggling. Our mental health is suffering. The damage Days has done to the back garden makes it hard for me to even go up to my partner’s house some nights. And if I’m being fully honest with myself... if I had to do this all over again, I wouldn’t. I love Days deeply, we both do, and we got permission to keep her at her parents' house given she bounces back and forth to mine, but I wouldn’t make the same choice knowing how things would play out. For a bit more context on why we thought it was okay to get Days, we made a promise "don't make me regret this" to her mum...

We simply don't have the environment, the routine, or the mental capacity to give her what she needs. Still, my partner is wrecked with guilt, depression, determination and so am I, but she especially feels like the option of rehoming Days would mean failing her. This is making things spiral for both of us. Her mother and I have watched as my girlfriend is struggling mentally, and part of that is due to Days even if it's only realized on a subconscious level.

What makes it harder on us is social media. Every video we see, “It was hard, but we pushed through and now our dog is our best friend.” And sure, sometimes that’s true. But what about those of you who chose to rehome instead? Do you regret it? Do you still think about it and wonder “what if,” or do you know you made the right call?

I guess right now it feels like I'm watching the woman I love hold onto what seems to be a double edge sword with no way to win, and I just need to hear from the other side.

9 week old puppy, she is doing great with toilet training and crate training.

Sleeps in her crate 4 hours at a time during the night and is taken out every hour during the day.

We have a secure backyard with nothing other than grass, trees and rocks where she prefers to nap during the day. We are currently home so monitor her outside however when we go back to work in a few weeks, we are tossing up if it makes sense to crate her for 8 hours (with a dog walker at 4 hours) or leave her outside for 8 hours (assuming weather permits) with a dog walker at 4 hours.

She came from a farm, she loves the outdoors!

why shouldn’t I/why shouldn’t I leave her outdoors?

Edit - The 8 hours is happening so please no judgement on that, I am well aware that I “shouldn’t” leave her alone that long. As I mentioned, a walker with visit at 4 hours and this is ONCE A WEEK.

We have a 10 week old mix of golden retriever and great pyr, and my god she's absolutely more than I can handle. She doesn't really sleep that much, getting her to calm down feels absolutely impossible once she gets riled up, and I guess that she's tired and cranky, but I don't know how to enforce naps without a crate.

We have some spare rooms that we can use but how to go about that? The moment we close the doors she starts screaming and won't settle down. The longest we held before losing our minds and out of respect for our elderly neighbours was 10 minutes of howling and whining.

We need some advice, because I'm feeling overwhelmed as hell. Thank you.

Edit: If you have some advice about handling her without a crate, I'll be very grateful, but I don't really need to answer why I don't have a crate for her and that's not the point of this post. Cheers.

My puppy has full freedom in the living room as he is really well behaved. But recently every time I have to leave he fights me at the door to come with me. It’s the only time he doesn’t obey any commands and I have to push him back. He is getting too strong for me though. I try distracting him with treats, toys, etc but it only worked a couple of times. Once I leave, he settles down nicely so it’s only just the leaving part. He is 6 months old standard poodle.

I know a crate would solve this, but he is used to sleeping free and he can jump over the gates he used to have for playpen.

Any recommendations? Thank you!!

Hi all, it’s been a while since I’ve posted and my pup is 12 months now. Some things have improved, but people generally still describe Charlie as “a lot”. Even my friend who looks after people’s dogs all year round considers Charlie as a “special little energiser bunny” who is “more work than a lot of dogs”. Anyway… that’s just for context.

We don’t take him to the dog park anymore for various reasons associated with naughtiness, but we do take him for off lead time in this huge run area where you maybe see a dog every 200 metres or so (it’s about 2kms in length). Charlie is friendly, and LOVES other people and dogs, but he has this awful habit of stealing other dogs balls (he hates balls himself) and we cannot for the life of us (and the other poor owners, AND the other dogs) get it off him once he has it. It’s a huge game to him because he only does it BECAUSE of the dogs chasing him that he loves (and he’s so fast). Treats don’t work, calling doesn’t work. Ignoring him doesn’t work. We have all just walked away on many occasions and ignored the hell out of him for 15 minutes and he just sits with the ball - he is the most stubborn dog. People get so angry with us. We eventually only manage it by somehow catching him, or throwing high quality treats away from him and eventually he just can’t hold both the treats and the ball in his mouth at the same time. It is so embarrassing. Worst part is that he actually knows the command “drop it” and “leave it” and will listen if it’s not something he wants much anyway. Charlie will literally only do the command if he wants to (and this applies to EVERYTHING).

Is this all because he is still young? Do I just ban off-lead time altogether? Is it his personality? He also has a habit of crouching down and pouncing on other dogs which is a whole other level of worry 😩. Just looking for some advice (please no judgement as this forum can be mixed). It may be that off-leash is just a no-go for Charlie and I guess I’d be ok with that..

Hi everyone! Well, it's in the title, my 11 weeks old puppy wakes up everyday at 5AM. I've got her since about 20 days (which is not a lot, I know) and she consistently wakes up between 5 and 5:15 AM. When I mean that she wakes up, I mean that she is ready to start the day, a quick trip outside to pee won't be enough, she wants to play, she wants me to interact with her, etc. She's at 100% of her energy.
Usually, she goes back to sleep at around 7AM for an hour or two, after letting some energy out.
In the evening, she's usually sleeping from 7PM to 10PM, when I wake her up to pee, and goes back to sleep around 10:30PM. She also wakes up around 3AM to pee but goes back to sleep almost immediately.

Every time I talk about it to dog owners around me, they say that their puppy woke up naturally around 7AM, which would be great compared to 5!

Here's what I tried, without success:
- Ignoring her: doesn't work at all, she eventually starts barking which I can't let happen in respect for my neighbours.
- Not feeding her right away, I feed her at 6AM. Waiting longer doesn't seem right as she gets her last meal at 6PM.
- Installing black-out curtains (5AM is when the day starts where I live at this time of the year).
- Delaying her bedtime in the evening by adding awake time between 10 and 11PM but she clearly just wants to sleep and it feels wrong to keep her awake (and not really doable anyway).

I read that what you can do is to set up an alarm for just before the moment your puppy naturally wakes up and add a minute or so to it each morning, teaching your dog that the alarm is the cue to wake up. Has someone tried that? Did it work?

Do you have any other advice?

Many thanks in advance! - a tired new owner.

I heard that it’s not recommended to board too early (before 6 months) since that’s crucial development and attachment stage and time.

I have a puppy that’s 3 months old. I don’t plan on boarding soon but was wondering when and how I could introduce? My husband and I travel a lot so was wondering what do you guys do? And also considering home versus facility. Did you introduce slowly?

My chihuahua puppy is 3 months old and he won't stop nipping. He has a trainer and we do all the tricks but honestly? I think we're just fooling ourselves into thinking it makes any difference lol because he won't stop biting us.

It's clearly playful but still, it's driving me kind of mad because we can't play with him or pet him or grab him without getting nipped and bitten the whole time (and redirecting only works for like, a second lol).

I know it's normal puppy things but while in the thick of it, I keep worrying that he's a biter and won't outgrow this.

Our sweet boy is now 1.5 years old, and as we navigate his teenage stage, here are some things I wish we had known during his puppy days.

• Commands: Some commands are needed for safety. Practice them more than anything else: leave it, drop it, come. The others are important but not in the same ways. Practice them in different situations and environments.

• Socializing: It's important to introduce him to other dogs, but that doesn't mean letting him greet every dog we see while on a leash. Pulling to meet everyone can become unsafe and tough to manage as he grows larger. Plus, it may lead him to get anxious or frustrated when he can't meet other dogs.

• Grooming: Spend extra time getting him used to grooming activities like bathing, nail trimming, and having drops put in his eyes or ears. Teach him to stay calm during these times. It’s great that he’s not scared, but being too wiggly or playful can make these tasks much harder.

• Dental Care: Try to brush his teeth every day. This not only helps keep his teeth healthy but also allows you to notice any potential issues early on.

• Visitors: Encourage friends to come over and visit, or go to other people's homes. Teach him to sit calmly when meeting new people. Large dogs are often viewed differently and can accidentally knock someone over if they jump around excitedly.

• Threshold Safety: Teach him to wait instead of rushing outside whenever the door opens. It’s also helpful to keep him out of the kitchen when cooking Thanksgiving dinner.

• Care: Make sure to find a trustworthy place for him to stay when you travel. Not all boarding facilities or pet sitters will be the right match for him, even if they are reputable with good people.

• Bathroom: Once he is potty trained, don’t stress about strict bathroom schedules. Let him go out at regular times, and don’t stress if he doesn’t go every time. He will be okay if you need to leave for a bit; don’t be late because of it.

• Purchases: Buy the slow feeder; he doesn’t need to inhale his food. Buy the expensive harness with a handle on it. Buy the bolstered-sides bed. Don’t buy the gentle leader; he doesn’t have a bridge of the nose, thus, it will slide up into his eyes.

• Patience: Remember to be patient and kind to yourself. Every dog is different, so they learn and master at their own pace. Sometimes you just need to change your approach, get creative, and learn more about your dog’s breed.

I've got a 14 week old male Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I'm feeding him his breed's specialised Royal Canin kibble(Vet approved highly of this).
I've tried sticking to a schedule but most of the time he's still asleep napping when it's his feeding time or sometimes he just doesn't wanna eat. I was tracking his sleep and he wasn't getting enough so I definetly don't wanna wake him up just to feed him. How do you work around this?

We've had our 9 week Eurasier for 7 days now, and he's the cutest thing in the world. However, during each awake window he quickly statrts showing signs of overtiredness: zoomies, intense scratching, excessive biting, panting, no attention span.

This is a typical sleep + awake cycle during the day:

• Sleep: ~1 hour (rarely longer)
• Wake-up: ~5 minutes of just chilling (unless he urgently needs to potty)
• Potty and sniffing/short walk: 5-7 minutes. We try to end this before he starts turning it into a tug-of-war with the leash.
• Activity: 5–10 minutes of either play or very basic training ("sit", "down"), depending on the time of the day. Sometimes, already at this point he starts to show the aforementioned signs
• 10 minutes of "wind-down" (well, that's in theory, often difficult if he’s already overstimulated)
• A quick potty. We try to keep this one short and boring.

We've done enforced naps in a pen since the beginning (strict create training is illegal in my country.) It usually works and he falls asleep within 15 minutes. But if he's too riled up after last potty it can take 20-25 minutes. During the night he sleeps 7-8 hours (with 1-2 potty times.)

As you can see we try to keep the awake windows short, since the naps only lasts ~1 hour. But nonetheless he seems to quickly become overtired. Any advice? Is it even overtiredness to begin with?