I have an 9 week old I brought home 3 weeks ago, he wakes me up at 12, 3 and 5am every night, like clock work, then he won’t go back to bed so I’m up trying to get him to stop parking for an hour before he sleeps just to wake me up again.
I’ve tried everything, water restrictions and making sure he goes to the bathroom before bed. It’s every night then whines when I put him back to bed. Even right now, it’s 7:30am, he woke me up at 5 and has been up since whining the entire time.
And not to mention I take him outside he pees then comes inside and automatically pees inside, he chews on everything besides his toys he’ll even bite said hand that’s holding the toy. Please help.

Edit: sorry I forgot to say, I found him on the street, the vet took some blood test and estimated his age and found his breeds, he’s a: Pitbull, Lab, Boxer, Rottweiler, Husky. Idk if it’s relevant but just in case.

So my puppy is a year now and she’s great, except when she steals everything from everywhere!

Something I left on my desk? Not anymore. My headphones I left to charge? They are now in her bed. Dirty underwear? Her favourite. Etc etc

Today she stole my AirPods and chewed them, that’s not something I can directly replace so I’m very frustrated.

She has tons of toys, natural chews (like cow ears), she was playing with her kong (staffed with boiled egg, her favourite) just moments before I left my AirPods on my desk and went to another room for literally less then a minute. And when I returned they were already in her mouth

As I said I’m very frustrated about this behaviour and I don’t even know how to punish her in those situations. I don’t hit her or scream at her, but now I’m thinking maybe I should a bit ? Or how else can I show her that this is unacceptable behaviour?
It’s just getting out of control

I think one of the biggest challenges of raising a puppy is figuring out when to play with them and when to let them learn how to relax on their own.

My puppy is 1yo, a dachshund, and I've had them since she's still a puppy. So far, I've tried walks, training sessions, chew toys, and puzzle toys, but she just doesn't care.

I know puppies need exercise, mental stimulation, attention, and plenty of rest. But I also think learning to settle independently is an important skill. I don't want to accidentally teach my puppy that every quiet moment means it's time for another activity.

I'm trying to find a balance between meeting their needs and helping them become comfortable relaxing while I'm working or doing things around the house.

How did you teach your puppy to settle down on their own? Did you use a specific training method, reward calm behavior, or follow a consistent nap schedule?

I'd especially appreciate advice from people whose puppies struggled to switch off even after playtime.

My 5 month old puppy used to be super food motivated and love his kibble. We feed him Purina Pro Plan (puppy food). There were plenty of times where he would be shaking with anticipation right before I put his bowl down. I even had to get a slow feeder because he inhaled his kibble too fast.

But recently he is less excited before meal times. There are even times where he doesn't even come to me when I am holding his bowl. He would take a sniff and just sit and stare at me or go run away to his toys. I've added toppers and that helps sometimes, but other times he still doesn't eat or only eats a partial amount. Today he ran to me when I was holding his bowl super excited I put it down and told him to eat and he took one sniff and ran away.

I think this may have started when I gave him a lot of freeze dried chicken treats while trying to potty train him. He is also teething right now and his baby teeth are falling out so that could be a reason too. We do soak his food in water every time.

I'm not sure what to do. I've seen advice about just taking the bowl away after 15 minutes, but he's just a puppy and I want him to get his full nutrients. Also, he gets so hungry in the mornings that he starts throwing up yellow bile. I have taken him to the vet and they say he is healthy as can be. Any one else experience this and was able to get them to eat kibble again?

I also eventually want him to eat whole foods and get him off kibble anyways. If you guys have any brand recommendations that would be helpful!

6 month old golden retreiver/pointer mix. He is on a set schedule and is in the thralls of adolescence and teething but was having issues with being gentle with his siblings (2 cats, 1 chihuahua). Decided it was time to take him to the dog park and went around the time work was getting out.

At this particular dog park I guess there is a good group of people that are there consistently and know each other's dogs. And what a difference it has made for my pup. Within 2-3 visits to the dog park he has learned so much about playing and respecting boundaries.

He still needs some work with reacting to them (e.g. if the chihuahua has zoomies) but I now let him out in the yard with the chihuahua and don't need to hold onto him if the cats are around.

Dog parks can be scary for sure, but any way you can get your pup socialized does wonders. I guess a recommendation would be to go to where the dog park is and just people/dog watch outside of the fence. Go a few times, see people there that are consistent and try to match times.

Puppies bring so much love into our lives, but let's be honest: raising one isn't always as easy as it looks! Between unexpected behavior, training struggles, and those moments when you wonder if you're doing everything wrong, puppy parenting can be emotionally exhausting. Even the cutest little troublemakers can test your patience!

If you're raising a puppy right now, what's been your biggest challenge so far? And for experienced dog owners, what's one piece of advice you wish you'd known when you first brought your puppy home? Let's share some encouragement and remind each other that we're all learning along the way!

I got my whippet mix puppy three weeks ago. He's 13 weeks old now and an absolute legend. He sleeps well, settles down easily and can entertain himself.

There is one behavioural thing he does that I can't wrap my head around and don't really know how to respond to. When I take him out of his crate (which I do very calm and he lies down before I put on his harness) he almost immediately latches on to my clothes.

I feel like it's his way of telling me he needs something, like when he's hungry or needs to go potty. I've tried a lot of different things; ignoring it, distracting him with a toy or food, pulling his teeth apart, telling him a firm "NO!", walking towards him. The puppy trainer told me to try to prevent him from getting to my clothes so I've started putting on his harness inside his crate and immediately going outside when I take him out so he doesn't have to wait for me putting on my coat etc. That helped a little, especially with him wearing his harness inside and being able to grab the leash and hold it away from me until he calms down. Still I don't feel like this is the solution, as it only seems to get more and not less. It's not only when I take him out of his crate, also when he's overstimulated or when he's just chilling he can suddenly switch his mind and go after my feet or trousers. It really is a different behaviour than playing, he's very determined in latching on and NOT letting go.

Do you have any tips or tricks I can try? I would love to show him a good alternative for this behaviour, but not sure how to approach it.

9 week old Welsh Terrier, not fully vaccinated yet. Been following the 1h up, 2 hours down guidance.

Awake period: potty, meal (if necessary) some play together, sometimes let him play alone while we supervise, sometimes exposure to new things, potty try again, then in crate for 2 hours (roughly).

Asleep period: he's getting a lot better with his crate and knowing it's time to chill out and rest. He might cry a little but never freaks out. After about an hour he usually wakes and we can either:

1. try to talk him back to sleep for another cycle
   
2. let him pee and go back in for another hour-ish or
   
3. let him pee and keep him out to start the awake/sleep cycle again.

Problem: after about 45 mins awake he becomes a menace. Really hard biting, humping, goes feral. Reading online it seems like he could be overstimulated, but what to do you? Shorten the awake period to closer to 40mins instead? Make the awake period more boring? Seems like such a short amount of time awake.

He currently doesn't know how to sleep without being in the crate, he'll just keep going and going.

I have a puppy 10 weeks old. Some days I feel like my puppy has unlimited energy while I'm running on empty. What activities actually keep your puppy busy without requiring you to constantly entertain them?

Puppy 12 weeks and breeder had not vaccinated. I was all set to collect then thought it will delay its socialisation majorly even if pup gets vaccinated today! Anyone else think this is a red flag? Pup was advertised from 8 weeks old and is now the last in the litter to go. Can see it with its mother. Am I missing out or was this a good decision?

As the title says. Only had her about 4 days and she’s doing well in most other areas. She’ll fall asleep in her crate if she is already very tired and im sat next to crate.

Soon as she wakes up or notices i’ve left, she howls and screams and gets herself worked up. Most ive left her is about half an hour and she screamed the whole time.

Do I wait it out? Or will it truamatised her? I’ve tried leaving for a few seconds and coming back but theres really no gap in her crying.

TIA

I have a 5 month old puppy and I’m severely struggling with training. I’ve only managed to teach her to come when I call her, leave rooms when I tell her to and to stop when she’s doing something she’s not supposed to (she doesn’t always listen though and usually tries again seconds or minutes later) I still love her despite this and would never give her away but my husband is getting kinda fed up and I don’t want him not to like her because I feel bad for her lol. I’ve been considering a trainer but don’t really know where to start, if it’s worth it and how much is too much for the cost.

My 12 year-old dog died unexpectedly and I meant to get a year or two year-old dog and I somehow ended up with a puppy. I thought in six months he would be a dog. I had no idea that I had years of this. We cleaned up the back deck for him and power washed it and made it all pristine and perfect, and I just caught him with a bolt in his mouth. I hope he didn’t eat anything else. I don’t know if I can do this. I can’t imagine doing this for two years.

When does it get better? When does it get to the point where you have a companion that doesn’t eat all your furniture and swallow tool components, and pee all over the house?

I should’ve got a two year-old dog.

Here’s the context. When we got him from a rescue, the foster parents gave us the heads up that if he is bored etc he will start chewing things he’s not supposed to. That was the understatement of the century. He has chewed the fabric of our couch, the stairs, the walls, wooden furniture, a blanket on our couch. If he can chew it, he will. We give him plenty of bones and stuffed animals. We’ve even tried the like frozen carrots and other similar things. So my question is, will the chewing ever not be as severe as it is now? The anti chew sprays work but not all the time and we couldn’t possibly spray every single inch of our house with it. Don’t know what else to do. Just really hoping he eventually grows out of it.

We have a 7 month old male lab puppy that we've had less than a week. We are his third home and I don't think any previous owners took the time to train him at all. The first couple days were full of accidents in the house but we already made extreme progress with potty training/re-training. He's down to a handful of accidents a day versus covering the floor in pee every ten minutes. He is making progress but obviously, he's still a puppy that hasn't been trained and hasn't had consistency yet in his life.

We are still trying to figure out a schedule that works best for him but as of now, he is confined to our laundry room during the day while we're at work and my boyfriend stops home 2-3 times to let him out. We are doing two walks a day and I've been taking time to try to train him sit/stay/etc. while playing in the yard after work. The most recent problem is that he found the smallest bit of linoleum that was sticking up on the laundry room floor and he tore up a huge hole. I know it's because he gets bored being confined and alone. I understand why it's happening. We are using kongs with frozen food along with a couple other chew toys but they aren't enough since he hasn't fully learned to self soothe yet.

He has a hard plastic crate but we are still in the process of getting him comfortable with it. I've been putting his food bowl in there for each meal and tossing his treats in there when rewarding him for outside pottying which seems to be helping him start to get comfortable. He has yet to actually lay in it or be confined to it. Ultimately, I know if his destruction gets worse, we'll need to start confining him to the crate for his own safety and our sanity but I'm worried about rushing into putting him into it for long periods of time before he's comfortable and making is seem like a bad space. I also feel guilty about keeping him in a crate during the workday even though he gets a few potty/outdoor breaks while we're gone.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions to help keep him occupied, distracted, or content before we have to ultimately resort to crate confinement? Thank you!

My 6 month old is going through a fear phase I think! He’s all of a sudden become very wary of strangers when we’re out and about. He even started barking at a lady yesterday just because she had her hood up. I have been giving him treats when he spots people in the distance but doesn’t react and getting him to ‘check in’ with me also. How can I make this better? I really don’t want him to become reactive it’s my worst fear!
Thankyou.
He is an english staffy.

My puppy can be an absolute handful at home, but the moment someone else is around, I start wondering if I'm the problem 😂

I know puppies are still learning and consistency matters, but it's hard not to get frustrated when you feel like you've been working on the same thing for days and there's barely any progress.

Some days training goes well, other days it feels like we've forgotten everything we learned yesterday.

I guess I'm just curious if this is a normal part of raising a puppy or if other people have found something that actually helped.

I have a 7 mo GSD. He went from bully sticks lasting hours and hours to I'm lucky if they last a single hour. He goes through them so fast I had a few instances of not getting to him in time and he's swallowed the nub.

After reading a few posts about the bully grip I got one (a small). On first use it took me so much effort to get the bully stick into it I was thinking I maybe should have gotten the medium. Fast forward 30 minutes and he was able to pull the stick out of the Bully Grip. He's done that 3 times now.

Is there a better option for something that will keep him from swallowing the nub if I miss it?

Thanks

Golden Doodle, picking her up at 8 weeks old and already in love. It’s been two months of me just watching every training video and how to own a puppy video and I feel completely overwhelmed.

So I’m asking the questions below, but please feel free to give me first time puppy owner advice as I want to be as prepared as possible to help raise a happy, healthy, and well trained doggy.

Okay questions

1: do you put a bed in your crate when crate training

2: how many treats is too many when training your puppy (do you go though basic commands with their meals or are you just loading them up on high value treats in-between meals?

3: here is my schedule with my husband, will the puppy be okay/ is this realistic?

5:30-7am
wake up time
(Immediately go outside to potty then do a meal with training and lots of potty outside time)
Snuggles then crate

9:30-10am
sitter comes for potty and a little play

12 -1pm lunch time hang (similar to wake up)

3pm home from work
Similar to morning routine food&train&nap w/lots of potty outside 🤞
Nap time/hanging out

9pm-10pm(no water after 10?)

Similar to morning routine food&train&nap w/lots of potty outside

Snuggles then crate for bed

1. What are you putting on your lick Matt/ in kongs/ in those dispensers that people put in the freezer
   Does this count as a meal?

If you got this far thank you, I just feel like I need guidance. I set up a vet visit on day one just to create a relationship but I don’t even know what the first puppy visit is supposed to be!

I’ve wanted a dog for so long and I can finally have one and I just wanna be a good dog mom

I have a 5 month papillon puppy that I’ve had since she was 8 weeks old.

Right now we do a lot of “sniff walks” where we’ll be out for 30-40 minutes and we usually just get a walk around the block in that time because she’s sniffing. I’m NOT fussed by this and am not discouraging her.

She does have moments where she walks at a natural heel for a good stretch; rarely pulls on her leash, and is easily motivated to move on when she’s spending an extra long time in one spot.

Just curious for roughly the age you’ve noticed dogs are more interested in the walking aspect of a walk rather than being largely distracted by the world around them.

TYIA

I need some help. I don't post much so if i make any mistakes let me know.

I adopted a 1 year old 26 lb. mixed breed (not sure the breed) puppy 5 days ago. I have a 10 year old cat. When i adopted her (the dog) I asked the staff if she was good around cats. They said that while they had not seen any interaction and they assured me that she would be fine.

Since bringing her home i have separated the animals behind closed doors and swapped blankets between them. They have not seen each other at all, only hearing and smelling each other under the door.

This morning however the cat slipped through the door and the dog saw her. The dog was leashed (as she is always when out of her crate) and i removed her and put her behind a baby gate. My cat poofed up and growled a little but when i put her back into the room she calmed down and ate some treats. I did not yell and stayed calm throughout. After I let the dog our she raced around the room searching for the cat and paced back and forth whining, sniffing and searching for my cat. Her hackles were raised and tail stiff.

This has me concerned as my number 1 priority is my cat's safety and I don't want to risk the dog hurting her. I understand this interaction was my fault and I want to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Please let me know if this is a serious concern and/or if this dog is not the best fit. Thank you

Basically the title says it all. A bit of TMI, but it seems like my puppy just leaks out his anal gland "juice" (?) only when he lays next to me. Other than that, it doesn't seem to happen. Anybody experience this?

I have a six month old Morkie. He is a sweetie, but loves to play more than anything, he’s still teething it seems, and bites quite a bit, he was potty trained for about a week and now has forgot. He wants to play, and get into everything he shouldn’t. He does know better because as soon as he does something he shouldn’t he runs away from us because we try putting him in his playpen. When do they chill out a bit? Haha

Brought home an 8 week old golden retriever puppy on the 16th of October. Since then he's been good with toilet training with expected accidents the first couple of days and is up to usual puppy antics. He knows sit, touch, go to bed and leave it and is halfway there with lie down.

Crate training is where the problem lies. Since getting him I've taught him "go to bed" and will lock him in for increasing periods of time and leave the room and he's doing okay with that, the occasional whine but when released is happy to get treats etc.

Through the day I've enforced crated naps however after the other day where we had to leave him alone for 45mins in his crate to go food shopping he's regressed. When we came back his paws were drenched from sweating and his chin from drooling which I know is a massive sign of stress, I felt absolutely awful when I got home.

He used to go in the crate himself during the day and night and put himself to bed but now will only fall asleep on the couch or floor and has to be moved to his crate. He's obviously lost trust.

He also has a bad habit of contact calling through the night. If he wakes up and barks I'll take him out, he'll wake up once for a pee or poo around 1-3AM however wakes up and doesn't need a wee sometimes. I've started learning the difference between an "I need outside" cry and a "I want your attention/contact" cry. When we first got him I'd take him out the crate and let him fall asleep next to me which is where I think the problem lies, he's gotten used to being let out to fall asleep.  I've stopped doing that the past week or so and instead open the crate door and block it with my knees so he has to fall asleep in the crate. He'll grumble and whine but finally settle down. He won't quieten down if I sit next to him and keep the crate locked.

My problem is I can't keep sitting next to him each time he wakes up to whine and he doesn't need the toilet. If he settles in the crate and I move before hes asleep he starts crying for me to sit back next to him. I've been sleeping on the couch since we got him. It's the same when I leave the room during the day even if he's out of the crate - he'll sit at the living room door and cry for 5-10 minutes before settling down - the issue is sometimes he doesn't and will cry until I return to the living room.

I know he's only 10 nearly 11 weeks now but was wondering if anyone has any tips for reducing this behaviour or how I should move forward rebuilding that trust?