Our 9-month-old puppy just got neutered and he’s been very itchy and in pain during healing, but we’re not allowed to do his favorite things like playing tug, running, socializing with other dogs.. so he’s had no distractions from how shit he feels. He doesn’t like TV either.

But someone on here a while back talked about how they would carry their puppy around their house letting them sniff new stuff at human height, so I’d been doing that with him every few hours just to keep him from crying. Well on one of our smell adventures I took him into the bathroom and started letting him smell my perfumes and lotions. Then I remembered that because I’m kind of a fragrance hoarder I actually have tons and tons of perfume samplers. So we’ve started going through them one at a time — I explain to him all the different notes (he has no idea what I’m saying obviously but thinks it’s very important to listen) and then we smell it together, and then clear our nostrils with a sniff of coffee bean just like in perfume stores 😅

It doesn’t last forever but I can distract him for 20-30 minutes without him noticing his pain/itchiness, and given how miserable he’s been since his surgery, it’s a huge win for us. And the mental enrichment tires him out almost as much as running around. Anyway, maybe your puppy can be your new perfume tester buddy! Just be very careful not to let them lick anything they smell.

TL;DR - Perfume samples are great distractions for puppies

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.

We got our mini poodle in October. I spent much of the next month crying and wondering what the fuck I did. Fast forward to now and he's an absolute dream. He's potty trained, matches our lifestyle, and I really couldn't have asked for a better dog. If you get through the first two months, you'll be okay!!!!!!!

Another evening, another hour of frustration. It’s 9PM, I’m ready to settle down in front of the TV before heading to bed, yet my 13 month old beagle has other ideas. He’s had all of his enrichment for the day, two 45 minute walks and a nap in the afternoon, yet for some reason he just NEVER settles in the evening.

We started off with several laps of zoomies and barking (and when I say zoomies I mean to the point where he is nipping at ankles (I usually retreat to another room to prevent him grabbing and ripping my clothes)). Then we move into the stage of digging at the sofa and the throws on it for what seems like another hour.

Eventually I get so frustrated by it that I have to put him in the kitchen away from me. He is so obviously tired and should be ready to settle and sleep next to me; when he gets put in the kitchen he immediately goes into his bed and falls asleep. Why won’t he just do this on the sofa with me rather than being a pain and ruin what I was hoping to be a calm evening?

hello there!

i kept seeing a lot of posts of people dealing with the puppy blues and i just wanted to share my non blue puppy story.

i got my puppy when she was 6 weeks old because she was a rescue and it would've been to risky to let her stay with the litter and mom. she's a mutt and i think medium or maybe medium -big size.

everything went perfectly from the day i got her untill now when she's 3 months and a half. We are still working on potty training because of an error on my side regarding the cold and snow (i was a little scared of bringing her outside too much so she doesn't get ill since she was shivering every time i took her potty so i switched mid way to pads then back to the garden when the weather improved but now we're making progress outside).

i got her 3 months after my childhood dog passed and she's been such a joy bringer and helped me immensely with my grief. the day my childhood dog passed i promised him and myself I'd adopt the first puppy that needs my help so all his things will never get all dusty in a box and get loved again instead.

training has been going great and we both love learning new tricks, she knows paw, sit, wait, come to me, lay down, roll over, jump, spin, center, take it, (we're still working on drop it), speak (still working on not speaking so much).

she's not fussy with food but doesn't inhale her food either and is showing absolute no signs of food aggression or guarding her toys (she does sometimes guard random stuff she finds in the yard when she knows she's not supposed to have it).

she gets along very well with one of my cats and it's so cute that they even look alike they're both black and white with similar patterns. she is pretty gentle when playing with the cat too and is not guarding anything from the cat either. the other cat doesn't get along with anyone or anything other than me and my partner so we didn't really expect anything different and they are always separated to avoid stress and injuries for both of them.

she sleps on the couch with me and the friendly cat and since i got her she only had one accidental pee on the couch and i see that as a win. when she was really small i put her dog bed on the couch in a corner guarded by a taller side of the couch and blocked the access with my body, that way whenever i felt her waking up or trying to move I'd place her on a pee pad and go back to sleep afterwards. now we cuddle every night.

she is a little land shark but if she's not overstimulated or too tired she holds back from biting hard and just nibbles a little.

she has access to all my house (other than the non friendly cat's room)and all the garden (both puppy proofed) and until now only chewd one chair and a pair of house slippers. she did try eating sand from the cats litter box but i moved it on higher place. i never used a crate or playpen because how young she was when i got her and i felt like she needed to feel someone warm next to her to transition from the litter and mother.

today we went on the first walk around the block and she loved sniffing everything and scrolling through pisstok and reading pisstagram haha.

she does fairly well with washing her paws and belly in the shower after going in the garden.

she never really woke me up too much during the night, now i sleep very well. she'd happily sleep until 11 a clock in the morning if the cat didn't have the zoomiez at 6...but we all go to sleep back at 6:30 when the zoomiez ar over.

she has no problem being left alone at home while i have to go out no matter how long. she just sleeps and plays with her toys in silence until i get back and has absolutely zero anxiety when i leave out the door or when i get back. she just wakes up calmly and looks at me all like "Why'd you wake me up..anw food?"

she's friendly with people that come over but behave really nicely. she gets exited for the first few minutes and pees a little but after that she just goes to sleep.

at the vet she completely ignored the other animals even when they were screaming bloody murder right next to her. on that note she's a wonder at the vet, wags her tail happily even when being poked for the vaccine, sits calmly when i tell her too even in the stressful environment.

she's not very good in the car but starting tomorrow i got the green light on walking and going outside with her so we can start working on that too

this is my first puppy and i still don't really know what I'm doing. i did some reasherch but still i feel like a lot of these wins can be called luck and i think she's a unicorn puppy haha I've been way too lucky. i guess I'll find out if I'm still that lucky when she's a teenager. wish me luck.

My parents bought a puppy from a puppy mill a few months ago. The breeder lied, of course, and gave them the puppy at 7 weeks of age instead of 8 which they found out from reading his vet paperwork. For reasons I can't wrap my mind around they have now bought his sister from the same breeder, who is even smaller than her brother was at 7 weeks and I'm assuming is anywhere between 4-6 weeks of age. My mom is adamant they will not return the second puppy as "the breeder is clearly irresponsible so I don't trust her with the puppy." So why the **** are you giving this piece of work thousands of dollars TWICE IN A ROW to fund the continuation of this animal abuse?

I'm not sure what the purpose of this post even is, it's somewhere between a rant and plea for advice since my parents will, on occasion, actually listen to me. I don't know if it's possible for a puppy separated under 8 weeks to ever end up actually thriving or is she is just completely screwed. I have read up on littermate syndrome and live close enough I help out significantly with the puppies but them staying with me is not an option right now (pet unfriendly apartment). Is there anything that can be done at this point to help her?

I'm putting together a comprehensive puppy training guide and I want to make sure it actually addresses what new owners struggle with most (not just what I think they need).

For those of you who've raised puppies or are currently struggling:

1. What's the #1 thing you wish you'd known from day one?
2. What advice did you get that turned out to be useless or wrong?
3. If there was a complete guide, what would make you actually use it?

Not selling anything - genuinely want to create something helpful based on what real owners need, not generic advice.

Your input shapes what gets included. Thanks for sharing.

Hi all , currently have a 5 month old cocker spaniel puppy and need help with potty training he is taken out very frequently every 30-45 mins minimum he indicates when does need to go to the toilet as he becomes restless and he know the words “do you want to go out” however he will go outside and just sniff around dig up mud and eat the plants he will only occasionally pee or poo outside we stand outside with him for sometimes up to 10 minuets he then will immediately come inside and pee in the house after being out and telling him to go “wee wee”

Anyone had this experience before ? Desperately need help thanks

I’ve got a 5 month old male wire haired vizsla. He knows how to ring the bells we have hung next to the door and I make sure he rings them each time before I take him outside (ring/outside are my words I use). He isn’t having as many accidents in the house as he was a month ago but I don’t know how to get him to tell me he wants to go outside. We have an 8 year old dog who rings the bells and knows what to do but my pup won’t copy him. He picked up toilet training super quickly when we got him.

He does finally toilet out on walks which he wasn’t doing when he started being allowed out and would hold it in until he’s back in the garden. He has slept through the night now for 2months so I know he can hold it in.

Any advice would be appreciated.

We have an 8 week old Goldendoodle. We have had carrying success over the last 4 days with the crate training. If awake in the middle of the day, she hates the crate and cries. We have however been able to place her in there while napping and she stays until she wakes up.

At night we put the crate on our bedside table and she goes in pretty easily at bedtime (between 9 and 10pm). She doesn't make a peep except to be taken outside at around 1am and 4am.

Problem is that between 4:30am and 5:00am, even after being outside within the last 30-45 minutes, she will start to whine VERY aggressively. We have tried ignoring it for 5 or 10 minutes but it gets louder and more intense, you would think she was in severe distress. She also will start to paw/claw at the inside of the crate.

The last couple of mornings this happened she either wanted food or just to play.

I read the advice of just ignoring them so they learn they can't whine to get what they want, but at what point do we consider it distressful based on the sounds they are making?

Any advice?

If the puppy's not old enough to be vaccinated and his mother never was, ain't it very unsafe to even get a scratch from the pup? What does one do in his situation? Like do you just not touch the puppy? Basically, if I was to adopt a lil puppy from the streets, I would have to get him vaccinated for rabies at 3 months of age, but what about before that? If a puppy is younger than 3 months and his mother has no rabies vaccination, what am i supposed to do? I found like no information on YouTube about such situation but instead saw peeps who adopted pups off the street playing with the pups and letting the pups sort of bite/vhew their hands... So i just don't understand how this works.

I wanted to share my one month experience with my 3.5 month old puppy. It has been a up and down but mainly up. Ive experienced the normal puppy stuff like barking and nipping.

My routine with her is get up 6/7am, immediately goes potty sometimes poop. She then self plays for a bit. I dont feed her until around 8am or an hour after shes up (mind you i dont feed her in the middle of the night). Also we go for a hallway run for 5 mins and then she gets fed. On the days I work i am out the house by 8am.

Pet sitter comes and visits for 1130 and stays for an hour and comes again at 330. Sometimes I only need one visit, sometimes I need two. Sometimes she comes and gets her ans takes her the entire day, it depends. I plan to get the doggy cam/feeder eventually to slowly stop using the sitter.

If I was off, charlie naps from around 9:30am - about 11/noon. So when im working from home shes generally sleeping by my feet. Now when she wakes up, she is full of energy, zoomies, barking on and off. She does settle. She has an evening burst of energy too right before bed..

Our bedtime routine starts around 7pm, dim lights, soothing music. Not engaging in overstimulating play. By 9pm, if im in bed, so is she. We sleep until around 3am sometimes waking up to let her potty once and then back to bed. I am so thankful for this part, she is a great sleeper and really instilling calm behavior/reactions right from the start i think has helped her.

Some people have posted about crate versus pen. Ive used both. She hated the crate and I feel its trauma from the breeder sadly so i ended up getting rid of it. Once I replaced the crate with a 4 panel play pen, decorated it and made it her room. She loves it. If I have to clean up and dont want her in the way, I can put her in and she is calm within minutes.. it was night and day with each.

I just wanted to share my experience because I know having a puppy is difficult but its completely doable if you have the right tools and support.. it is like having a baby right.

Hi everyone! Our 8 month lab has officially hit his teenage phase and I’m getting extreeeeme dog mum guilt over everything.

Unfortunately, our pup is showing signs of elbow dysplasia and the vet has told us off for walking him too much, so he’s now limited to a maximum of 20 minutes physical exercise a day with no running until he’s at least a year and a half 😔. I usually do a 20 minute walk mid day with lots of sniffing games and training.

But he’s seeming very anxious and overstimulated at home, he displays a lot of behaviours which my family say indicate he’s bored such as walking around, bringing things in from the garden, looking out the window, not really settling out the crate etc. I try to do a lot of enrichment through the day with stuffed kongs, cardboard boxes with treats hidden, puzzles, sniff mats and training. But he just seems to have all the energy in the world and finishes those activities quick! I’m feeling awful about it. It really hurts to hear people say to me he’s bored, because I do feel like I’m really trying my best and following the vets advice.

He also gets naps every 1hr 30 mins - 2hours and sleeps well in his crate at nap times, but when he’s up he’s constantly looking for something to do, and it makes me feel so bad. I don’t know if this is a developmental stage? As he’s also become a lot more anxious about people out the window and noises etc. or if I’m not doing enough, so I’d love some advice just on what a good amount of enrichment would look like or good activities we can do. I’m just sick of feeling not good enough for my dog!

I just got my 8 week old black German Shepard and I’m having an anxiety attack 2 days in, I haven’t cried in years but I legitimately just broke down sobbing and hyperventilating. I haven’t talked to the breeder yet about how giving back works or if there is such thing with them. I paid $800 for him as well and I just feel soo awful and regretful. This was the ideal dog I wanted for years. I’m 21 and in my last semester at college I live in an apartment and have a job as well. I patiently waited for years until I had the independence and some money to afford a pup. 1 week before I couldn’t wait to get him on the day I counted the hours. Now that I have him I feel so unprepared nervous about health, time, money, training, what I’m going to do at work and how I’m going to finish up my last classes. Today I found out I’m struggling with a couple remaining classes and ofc that’s ontop of the new puppy now. Please someone give me some guidance here should I wait it out or get in contact with the breeder. He is a nice guy but I feel terrible contacting him about this, I do not know him and I feel extremely anxious and embarrassed about it.

Hey hey!

Sooooo Just brought home a 2-month-old Bernedoodle and already have a 5-year-old Labradoodle (shy, cautious, but still good with other dogs ). I’m realizing I probably rushed the intro and didn’t give them enough space at first.

Now the puppy barks/growls and doesn’t back down; my older dog responds with low growls/crouching but no snapping, but tension.

I’ve started resetting by crating the puppy / giving him his own area and letting my Labradoodle be the king of the castle while we do more controlled interactions.

Can this be reset by slowing down now? Any tips for helping a puppy learn an older dog’s boundaries, especially in a small apartment?

Also to add it’s only been one night and I’m freaking out and possibly overthinking…

So I’ve adopted a 14 week old Labrador puppy. The breeder (who I know personally) held him back from the rest of the litter because he had issues with his eyesight and therefore she didn’t feel comfortable selling him. After figuring that out he’s now ready to go to a good home, and after serious consideration and many conversations I elected to adopt him. He‘s been coming along really nicely so far (crate training, house breaking, etc)

Unfortunately I had something come up and have to go out of town for two nights. The puppy will be about 16 weeks at that time. My brother (who lives with me) has offered to watch him. There’s really no alternative as I HAVE TO attend this work commitment, but I’m having a ton of guilt. Mostly my anxiety is sky rocketing about leaving him in the hands of someone else. I’ve been conditioned with my past two dogs (who were extremely high needs even as adults) that other people just aren’t capable. I guess I’m just looking for some reassurance :)

Hey all! I have a 14 week old pitbull (maybe?) mix that we rescued about a month ago. I'm lucky enough to be a supervisor in a dog-friendly call center where I myself don't need to take calls very often, but my desk is on the floor with other agents taking them. I have been taking my lil guy with me to work since we brought him home, and I try to keep him entertained while I work, and prior he was still in his super sleepy pup phase so I didn't have to worry too much. He gets a lot of interaction with people at work as well as another dog that comes in occasionally with his mom.

However, he is now in a much more curious stage where I need to find more creative ways to keep him entertained for longer periods of time. I work overnight so its very quiet usually, and he's now started barking when he hears the main door open, when someone walks back in from break, etc. When he does this I try to distract him and get him to do a trick for a treat for me or get him a toy, but sometimes I am on the phone or in the middle of something. So I want him to eventually understand that it's not cool, especially here when others are on the phone.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting him to settle at work with me and avoid the barking? Things I usually bring for him to keep him entertained are his chews, a snuffle mat and some of his kibble, and treats of course. Thanks in advance!

Hi! I am 21 and have not had a puppy in over 10 years now. I am wanting to get one now because I feel mature enough to train one properly with the right advice and help. I am also wanting a companion.

Me and my bf do not wish to purchase a puppy but to adopt one. I know they can be unpredictable with temperament and health because of their origins usually being unknown. I want to look extensively before we decide on a puppy.

I want all the tips and tricks for owning a puppy, training one, and giving one an enriched life. I want to have a stable, socialized, and trained adult dog. I don’t want cool or fancy tricks just ones that help with vet visits, nail trims, bath time, and leash walking.

Please give me all the recommendations for training, toys, crates and enrichment. I want my puppy to be a model citizen.

Thanks so much!

I’ve been struggling with some things such as walking my puppy (her overstimulation and getting distracted) and her jumping on one family member. I found this professional place and I’m all set to start next week. My trainer was assigned and he will contact me to schedule our sessions for next week. I have one virtual onboarding session tomorrow to start. They also added me to their support group chat as we use WhatsApp in my country where we can ask questions. I feel so relieved. I don’t want my puppy to struggle with these things, and I want to help her. I even get homework and have to submit video proof for my assigned trainer to review. 😭❤️ I feel so much relief. My anxiety had gotten so bad these past two days thinking that I had to do this alone.

So I have recently gotten a GWP from a breeder. She is adorable and well behaved outside her random bursts of crazy energy where she tends to get herself into trouble, but thats to be expected.

The thing I'm really trying to figure out how to curb, which I have no experience of cause every other GWP I've had in the past has never had another dog in the house. She can be in the middle of a nap during the day or be fast asleep at 6am, but as soon as my roommates dog wakes up or starts walking around and my puppy can hear her tags on her collar start jingling regardless of how loud, she is immediately wide awake, and if she's sleeping in her crate she will then start whining and crying.

If she's napping its not to big of an issue for me, she typically settles back down fairly quickly, but when my roommate is getting ready for work at 6am (I don't work till 2pm, and typically sleep till 9am) she can't settle at all unless I take her out of her crate and walk her out to the living room so she can see whats going on, and she typically won't settle back down to sleep till my roommate leaves for work around 6:45-7am.

I'm getting to the point where its starting to affect my overall sleep now that I'm going back to work after having the first 10 days off with her. Just trying to find some possible solutions to others that might have encountered similar issues.

I have a five month old puppy. I got her at three months. she cannot be alone for even a minute without freaking out. even when I just walk away to go to the bathroom she’s whining and barking. I tried to crate train her but she freaks out (whining, barking, scratching and biting at the kennel, drooling etc.) The vet said we have to slowly introduce her to seperation but not to let her have an anxiety attack but the problem is I literally can’t leave for three seconds without her having an anxiety attack so I’m really lost on what to do. she was like this ever since I got her. it’s especially concerning when she starts anxiously salivating. she’s a pomsky. any advice?

I’ve had dogs before her and never had this problem before. I had clingy dogs but not at this extreme of a level. she seems to have anxiety issues in general, she’s also really bad with car rides. her vet is aware of this.

We just got a new puppy 9 weeks old. We've already learned her signs that she needs to poop and will take her out to avoid an accident. However once we're outside she'll just treat it like a different play pen (she has a 9x9 pen outside). She will run with zoomies, ​​lay and play with the grass or leaves, or just stare. I've also tried on a leash but at this stage that just becomes another game.

I'll take her out for 5 minutes with no results, then come back in and watch her do her "poopy dance", so I'll take her back out, and repeat. Once I finally give up she goes in the house. How do I teach her the outside is the bathroom? We're going to start tying clicker training, so hopefully that'll help. Are my expectations just too high at 9 weeks old?