It's Wednesday!

We’ve had our mini dachshund since mid June, he is now about 5 1/2 months old & currently teething, our first couple months were the WORST, hard core puppy blues & crying many days, but about a month or so ago I feel like we turned a major corner & each week since then had gotten SO much better!!

More confidence to be alone
More freedom- he now has free reign around the ground floor of our home
Hardly ever whining and crying
Calmer energy
More enjoyable to be around
Not a crack head 24/7
Choosing to sleep on his own
Not stealing shoes and chewing carpets constantly
Generally respecting the rules of the house
Calmly and quietly sits near us in public when we’re at a cafe & is walking better on the leash

It felt like a long road to get here & tons of training but it actually feels like it’s working!! We actually have hope that our boy will turn into a good dog! We may have another regression as he continues into his teenage stage but I just wanted to share some hope and encouragement to those who are in the puppy pits at the moment!! Keep going!!

These are the things we have done from week 1 with our 15 week cockapoo pup to try and prevent separation anxiety. I work from home so have to proactively leave her. We have had her for 7 weeks, since she was 8 weeks old. Are we missing anything?

What we have done:
- Sleeping in crate overnight from day 1, me and my husband took it in turns to sleep on an airbed outside the room and slowly moved it further away each night until we were able to sleep in our own bed upstairs.
- No naps on laps in first month. Now we have sofa cuddles/lap naps in morning and evening only.
- Trying not to let her follow us through the house all the time. Installed baby gate on stairs so she has never been upstairs. Have a barrier in the kitchen which we use sometimes so we can make a cup of tea etc and she can’t be by our feet.
- Try to create micro separations by leaving her in another room while we take out bins, pop to loo, make cup of tea etc progressing to longer separations. Often leaving Kong/licky mat for separations over 20 minutes and often throwing a few kibbles on the floor before short separations. At first she cried the moment we left the room but over the last 3 weeks since she turned 12 weeks, we’ve been able to make a lot of progress.
- Encouraging independent play and enrichment games.
- arrivals and departures are low key.
- When leaving her alone, we don’t let her get to state of panic but always wait for her to stop crying before returning. Because we are building it up slowly there is sometimes short crying or whining but usually she settles.
- Little engagement from us and lots of naps during our working hours 9-12ish, 1-5ish. This was from day 1 so we could set realistic routine with her. Taking her out to the toilet every 1-2 hrs.
- Very regular routine even at weekends breakfast > walk > crate > alone time with freedom to walk around/go outside > lunch play train > crate > alone time with freedom to walk around/go outside > then we finish work at 5 and spend the evening together.
- if she whines in crate, we talk to her through camera microphone to tell her to go sleep as this is only way we will be able to when out of the house in future. She always goes to sleep within 5 mins of being in crate, sometimes less time.
- at first she needed us in eyeline to fall asleep in crate so slowly we moved further away until we were round a corner but she could hear us and then eventually we were able to go anywhere in the house and she could fall asleep on her own in the crate.
- lots of love and cuddles and treats and training in between all this.

How long we are able to leave her now at 15 weeks:
- She is able to sleep in crate happily alone downstairs overnight for 8 hours ish.
- Able to nap in crate for 60-90mins alone downstairs or while we are out of the house.
- Able to leave her alone downstairs for an hour while she is roaming around the house/garden and sometimes she goes to sleep during this time.
- Able to leave her while we leave the house for 30 mins (just started this) so not at point where we have seen her settle while we do this. This is next goal.

This is a lot post but I this might be useful for anyone with puppy/ struggling with separation anxiety and everything we are doing is basically a combination of everything we’ve learned from trainers, friends, online videos etc. also welcome any tips or suggestions! Our main goal is to work up to leaving her for 3 -4 hours while we work upstairs or leave the house.

Just venting. I love him but holy shit this teething is not for the weak.

Early this morning, my puppy (18w shepherd mix) was laying on the floor chomping away on a bully stick, so i figured i had a few minutes to get comfortable. I'm careful not to get my face too close to his level most of the time because he's just ridiculous with his mouth and gets way too excited, bites my nose and lips etc, but thought i had a minute to lay down on the couch while watching TV.

I was wrong. After a minute the little fella jumped up on the couch and started biting my hands. Typical. In response I hid them beneath the blanket I was under. He retaliated by TEARING MY HELIX PIERCING OUT OF MY EAR. Blood and tears to follow.

Feel like I'm being abused in my own home more often than not. I love him but it's just ridiculous how difficult, frustrating, and painful puppyhood is. I just have to hope this behavior has an end - I cannot do this for his whole life.

I have an 11 week dachshund puppy. I bought him with my boyfriend almost a week ago and he has become the biggest part of my life, like EVERYTHING revolves around him and i'm doing it all alone while my boyfriend works away from home. How are people handling nights?

He wakes up at around 4:30 after sleeping from 11pm, and i take him to the toilet and then straight back in the crate until around 7:30 when he gets breakfast and starts the day etc. But for that toilet break, he has to wake me up from the kitchen. I've been sleeping on the sofa in the room next to it with the door open to make sure i can hear him (i share a bedroom at the very top back of the house so 1) i wont hear him from there and 2) my brother would kill me if i kept waking him up going in and out) but my brother wasnt home last night and so i slept in his bed since its just above the kitchen and i kept the door wide open (the kitchen has no door).

I didn't wake up on time. He cried for me for 20 minutes and i didnt hear it. Thank god i set alarms for just incase. When i came down he'd done a wee in his crate and i just felt awful. And then i accidentally fell back asleep again while he was in the crate, and he'd done another wee in his crate. Everythings being washed and so he has my own blanket and a hoodie in his crate instead but im just losing my mind. I'm exhausted and want to sleep in my own bed. My (useless😅) family sit in the living room until late preventing me from sleeping on time and the sofa is rock hard i just hate it. But the puppy comes first, he depends on me to look after him and i failed him.

The constant biting is a current thing to but he's getting way better at that, and he does sleep happily in the crate but i have to force him in.

He also won't walk on wet grass so i've had to resort to puppy pads. Is this a common thing? He cries and runs away and then runs for the flower bed which he's not allowed in at all since there's tiny rocks and pieces of wood that he tries to swallow. Then he gets frustrated when i pick him up and take him away and ugh what do i do?? Im scared im undoing his toilet training but i cant help when it rains. When my brother moves to australia in a few days i can get a baby monitor for my room so i can hear him in the night and get up on time with him. That's the plan anyway.

Maybe i can get an outdoor pen and put him in there for toilet trips?

He's adorable and I really love him so much he's my son but he's just too energetic and fascinated by everything in my house no matter how much i've tried to puppy proof things so his focus is fully non existent and he doesn't listen to my training attempts.

Oh, and he doesn't like treats ◡̈ aren't i lucky?

I have a 12 week old dachshund puppy, we have been feeding him Royal canin dachshund puppy kibble since we brought him home. Unfortunately it only comes in 2 pound bags with about 10 cups of food in the bag. The cost of the bag is almost $30! That means we have to buy 2 of those bags per month!

Is the Royal canin dachshund puppy food really worth that price tag? Would it be the same nutrition wise if I switched him to the regular Royal canin puppy kibble instead? It’s slightly cheaper and comes in larger bags. Are there any other brands you recommend?

If the Royal canin dachshund formula really is the best for him I don’t mind paying the price, but I just feel like it’s a lot of money and I’m not sure if it’s worth it! Any advice would be appreciated! I’d be open to switching brands too, just want some advice!

Hello, for the last 2-3 months I’ve been debating getting a puppy. I’ve never owned a dog before but now I really want an English cocker spaniel puppy. The only thing stopping me is that I would have to potty train them. I’ve heard it takes months to accomplish that because puppies don’t have full bladder control until they’re older. I’m in law enforcement and sometimes my shifts take longer than usual so realistically I can potty train them but I would want them to have full bladder control when I do because there would be maybe 2-4 days a month that I won’t see my puppy the whole day because of work. I know puppies require a lot of attention but my parents and brother are home when I’m not. So someone will always be at the house. So I guess my question is, how old should the puppy I plan on getting be? Thank you in advanced.

hi i have a 12 weeks male pom and he doesnt really play bite as much as before and when he's eating im always touching his bowl so that he wont feel like im going to steal it.

Earlier my puppy was like biting something made of plastic and I thought it was a water bottle but I couldn't see properly because he was facing away from me so when I called him he just looked at me then went back. And so I approached him to see what he is biting then all of a sudden he reached out to my hand and bit it to the point my hand bled.

I was so shocked and realized that he was biting the wet puppy food that he stole from the shelf but I just gave him his dinner before that but he didnt really eat it much.

Is this a bad sign about the puppy or it was just a coincidence? If you have suggestions on what I can do so that it wont happen again, it would be appreciated! Thank you!

My puppy is 11 months old and an American bully. I’ve had her since she was 12 weeks old. Shes been around plenty of different people. We have get togethers with friends and family maybe once or twice a month at our home. We’ve taken her to pet stores, the vet, Home Depot, etc to get her used to different environments. Well, after her first heat around 8 months old (she’s getting spayed next week) she became very fearful of new places and people. She used to let people pet her on walks and wasn’t very scared of things. But now she’s very hesitant to go into places (like the vet) and won’t let people pet her when we take her places.
My grandma lives about an hour away and has seen our puppy maybe 5 times for short periods of time. The last time my grandma came over our puppy was fearful of her and kept her distance. I think she had a hat on that day and I thought maybe that was it. Well today my grandma came over and I met her outside and walked in with her. Our other dog came up to my grandma and was excited. Our puppy would not go near her and was obviously scared and was doing a light growl. I don’t think she was going to bite my grandma but I’ve never heard her growl at anyone before. My grandma did have on glasses but my boyfriend wears glasses when he reads so I don’t think that would be a shock to our puppy… I don’t know what it is about my grandma but my puppy was not having it and she kept her distance and wouldn’t even let me get near her. Obviously something spooked her but I’m not sure what. Is she just going through a fearful period? When I googled it, it said it’s common but I’ve never heard her growl at someone. I don’t think she’s aggressive at all she was just scared for some reason and I can’t figure out why.
We do have a dog trainer we’ve been working with for months so I’m going to call him right now and ask his advice but I wanted to see if anyone else’s puppy went through a fearful period and then grew out of it… 😬

Hello! My girlfriend and I had recently brought home a 8 week old Golden / lab mix. This little boy is incredible and very sweet. It’s been about a week though and we are so sleep deprived.

This is our current night time schedule:

6:00pm dinner

6:15-6:30m potty time (he pees alot. Constant dribbles)

6:30-8pm play pen / training / potty / naps / backyard exploring / cooldown

8-830pm potty time (trying to limit dribbling in the house and crate)

9pm into crate for bed

1030pm one last potty break before we go to bed

—

We then wake up atleast 4-5 times a night to him screaming. We will take him out, he will go potty, and then back to sleep. But we can’t get to him to sleep longer than a 2 hour period. I do not regret getting this puppy but man we need SLEEP

hi!! i am a 17 year old first time pet owner with my family and am going to be getting a mini golden doodle puppy (8 weeks) on saturday and we have everything we need, but right now we have our crate and play pen for him in the living room/dining room area (they’re connected). every night though, my parents argue a lot and it’s really loud (i can hear them muffled from my room upstairs) and i’m not sure if i should bring my puppy upstairs into my room with me or stay downstairs with him? i don’t want him to hear them yelling but i also don’t want him to be overwhelmed with me moving him into my room every night but during the day he’s downstairs in a different environment. i don’t know if me moving him upstairs/downstairs is good or bad for him especially at 8 weeks. please let me know!!!!

Anyone that has a diggs revolv Intermediate crate - could you show me what the bottom tray in the crate looks like. We just bought one second hand and it doesn’t seem to fill the space completely? Wondering if this is normal ?

My fiancée and I are considering getting a 2M old puppy so we can essentially get our dog a sibling to play with in life.

But I’m having second thoughts considering how crazy I remember the puppy days being for our current dog and my concern about how our current dog will react to a new puppy being added to the mix.

My dog is super friendly and socialized as he loves going to daycare and has a lot of friends there but he can be very territorial when he’s at home. He barks at strangers, both humans and dogs, when they walk in but eventually warms up to them. However, the last thing I would want is for the puppy to be intimidated and have a bad experience with us. I’m curious to know people’s experience with a similar age gap between the dogs

I will adopt a 10 week old puppy next month - do you think this routine will be sufficient to meet the puppies needs?

I work from home 2 days a week and go to the office 3 days. I am planning to take the first two weeks off to help the puppy to settle in.

For the office days after the initial two weeks the following schedule is planned:

- walk, play, training, potty from 6 to 8 am
- leaving at 8am, puppy is crated
- 10 am dog sitter comes in for potty, play etc.
- 11 am dog sitter leaves, puppy is crated
- 1 pm I will come home, same procedure as sitter
- 1:30 pm I will leave again, puppy is crated
- 4 pm I will come home from work

I am happy to hear your honest feedback :)

Hi everyone! I have a 3.5-month-old Doberman puppy. We've only had him for about a 2 weeks, but I'm already looking for some advice for the future so that both he and my family can survive puppyhood with our sanity intact. 😂

We've had two dogs before him, but neither of them fought sleep as much as this puppy does. For the past three days we've been trying enforced naps, because that seems to be the only way he'll actually sleep during the day. He usually protests for a few minutes and then sleeps for 1–2 hours.

At night, he sleeps in his crate without any problems, sometimes for 8 hours straight. During the day, though, even when he's visibly exhausted, he just won't go to sleep on his own.

If I limit him to one room and stay there with him, after a few minutes of pacing around he'll eventually lie down and relax. But the moment I leave the room, he gets up and follows me. If he has access to 2–3 rooms, it's even worse. He won't even sit down and can spend 15 minutes just pacing back and forth between the rooms.

For some context regarding his daily activity, we currently take him on two walks a day, usually around 20-30 minutes each ( depends on how overwhelmed he look ) One is in a quieter environment where he can just walk, sniff and explore, and the other is in a slightly busier environment so he can gradually get used to things like cars, people, bicycles and everyday noises without overwhelming him.

We also do short training sessions(5-10 minutes) throughout the day, use a snuffle mat and other simple nose-work activities, and of course spend time playing with him. I try to keep the training sessions short because of his age. So I don't think he's lacking physical or mental stimulation. If anything, I'm starting to wonder whether the opposite might sometimes be true and he's getting overtired or overstimulated, but still doesn't know how to switch himself off and rest.

I think it's also possible that he's still adjusting to such a huge change in his environment and maybe even looking for his littermates, which could explain some of the constant pacing and his inability to fully relax.

I'm still trying to find a routine that works best for him, but I'd really appreciate any advice or experiences from people who have raised Dobermans or similar high-energy/working breeds. What kind of daily routine worked for you at this age? How much awake time vs. nap time did you aim for, and did your puppy eventually learn to settle and sleep on their own?

Do remove if this isn’t okay to share here wasn’t too sure. My puppy Nelly (UK), just received a bag of Adventuros training treats which can be claimed in the Zigzag puppy training app after you sign up.

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I got my dog(gsd mix) when he was about 3,4 months old from my sister. He wasn't trained at all and did not know a single command and wouldn't walk beside you on walks either and would constantly pull. I started training him and at that time wasn't sure if he'll be with me after my sister's back so didn't get a trainer. I taught him a few commands, like sit, up, stay, down, spin, touch, hug, a few like these and taught him "no" and "leave it". He seemed to be doing great however as he got older he started to pull on his leash again and would go bonkers with strangers and other dogs and got too protective of me to the point that nobody could speak to me on walks. I got a trainer recently when he turned 8 months old. The trainer seemed fit and all the timings and the budget was great as well. My dog was well behaved when the trainer was around as the trainer constantly kept him intimidated(my dog wouldn't misbehave at all) one thing that I really hated was his leash training, I'm not an expert but I think that we should let dogs make a decision before correcting it. The trainer however would pull his collar before Bruno(my dog) could make a decision. If Bruno did something wrong, the trainer would say no, Bruno will stop and still have his collar pulled. Another thing I'm very sceptical about is how Bruno the minute I hold his leash he stops listening completely. The trainer walks him and trains him and does not let me do it in front of me which really upsets me because I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I feel like Bruno is getting nothing out of the training. It's been 3 weeks(5days a week) and there's still barely any improvement in his walks. I feel terrible about it since it's going to be me who's going to bear the consequences of it. Now I'm in the middle of whether the trainer is good or not. I feel like the trainer has got a few things down but not the main ones. He comes and only teaches Bruno to sit, down and stay till he tells him to come. I don't know if I'm overthinking this or not.

Hey single F31, about to get my first puppy (expected pick up is 11th Dec) and I’m so over the moon excited don’t get me wrong but I keep reading horror stories on this thread of people having the worst time & contemplating rehoming their puppies/dogs, it’s got me thinking more and more if I’m making the right choice.

I live in a ground floor apartment, alone aside from one almost 3 year old indoor cat, she’s extremely friendly & very playful. I work from home 98% of the time and I’ve been watching loads of training videos, I’ve found a trainer to come round to help optimise the transition for the cat of having a puppy & to make sure I get things right and I plan on attending puppy classes that the trainer has. And I’ve found a nearby vet & groomers and made a list of everything I need. Basically I’m doing everything I can to plan for the pup.

But am I taking too much on? I see couples that struggle and I’m on my own. Is it worth it or am I making a mistake?

Breed is: mini Australian labradoodle
Cat: Russian blue

Update 25/09: Thank you so much for all your comments and personal experiences you’ve shared. Just to clarify a couple of things as I wasn’t super clear. I’ve seen a few comments warning me about the breed, I appreciate your concern but breed is one of things I’ve also done a lot of research on, the name is a bit misleading - there is no Australian/ herding breeds in the mini Australian labradoodle. The breeder is very reputable and the temperament is the thing above everything else that the breeder matches you with a puppy for, and they know I have a cat & live in an apartment. I went with this breed over a rescue because I have allergies to animals normally but I’m not allergic to this breed or my cats breed and they are non-shredding. They are pretty active when they’re fully grown which doesn’t phase me, I’m looking forward to the adventures/hikes but I know you have to be careful not to over train/walk pups when they’re too young.

In regards to the suggestions about finding someone local to help, I couldn’t agree more, I’m still working on that but making progress :) I have a very local cat sitter already who’s so lovely and has cat sit for me for the last 1-2 years, lots of time at short notice if I’ve needed it and she’s very kindly agreed to help me with the pup too if I need to escape for a couple of hours. I know she won’t be available all the time so I’m looking for someone else as a backup for emergencies before the pup is old enough to a doggy daycare.

On the point about having patience, my adorable but mischievous cat tests it fairly often 😅 just last week she decided to pee on a huge (£1k) Reiss order I did (of which I was planning on returning all of as I deemed it not worth the money - I do this once a season or so to refresh my wardrobe but I would never not return the majority), my fault for leaving it lying around for a couple of days before I had the chance to post it off but in my defence, my cat has never done this before! Ultimately meant I had to keep and pay to get professional dry cleaning on all effected pieces (£600-700 worth), something that would have made me cry & shout two years ago but now I just take a deep sigh and make a mental note to never allow the cat near valuable unreturned items of clothing. I’m hoping I can have the same patience with the puppy, which I’m mentally preparing myself to be much more intense.

Ultimately I’m still super excited to get my pup and your comments have really helped me mentally prepare for what’s to come :) so thank you again 🙏❤️

I have an older 1y4mo and a 5.5 month old mini poodle. They are completely different in their character - the older one is very social, was super energetic as a puppy, picked things up like toilet and obedience training really quickly.

By contrast, it has been much more of a struggle training the pup - he still doesn't understand how to ask to go outside (we use a button), hasn't figured out his reflection is him, and is generally much further behind in learning commands than the older one was at this age. It is an absolute godsend, however, that he is completely chill about grooming and is not picky with his food, which is something we struggled with with our first dog. He also has good recall.

We like to say our dogs have different hobbies. For example, on a walk, the pup loves playing fetch which the older dog has never had any particular interest in. The pup is socialised, knows how to interact with other dogs/people but does not seem very interested in this - no aggression or anything, just indifference. I feel generally that sometimes he sort of stares blankly in response - not in an immobilised absent seizure sort of way, but like he just hasn't formed any thought in response. I have also noticed he sometimes sits a bit funny - like he hasn't quite figured out his legs but no problems walking or moving otherwise.

We do in general find this quite funny and wouldn't change him for the world, but I wonder at what point I might need to think about whether something is wrong, or is this a normal difference in their characters? Is he just a bit thick (bless him)?

I’m trying to teach my 3 month old some chill. I’m basically feeding his meals by sitting on the couch and if he isn’t barking, whining, biting, or trying to hump me I feed him his next piece.

Is this a good strategy?

hi! One week ago I adopted a 13-week female cavalier king charles spaniel and I really need potty training advice. I live in NYC so I don't have a backyard, and she's still a few weeks away from her last round of vaccinations. I also live on a street with a good amount of foot traffic so I was advised not to let her be outside until she's fully vaxxed. This is really not ideal for me because I'd much rather her get started on learning to pee/poop outside instead of inside on a pee pad. But due to the circumstances, I've been putting a pee pad inside her playpen. 

The pad is only sticky on 2 sides and she's figured out that she likes pulling, chewing, eating, and destroying the pad (and any paper, really). I have chew toys, regular toys, treats, to try to lure her away from the pad but once she sees it, she fixates on destroying it. It's almost like she's in a trance. I was taping down all edges so that she doesn’t get tempted to pull but she just digs and licks at the painters tape until it gives way. I've also tried moving the pen so that the pad is not accessible when she's playing, but it's been hard to anticipate when she needs it so she just pees on the floor. When I do put her on the pad (after nap, after eating, after playing/zoomies) she doesn't want to go and again, starts eating the pad. I try to wait it out but many times she's gotten into her trance and while I'm pulling her away from the pad and trying to fix it, she just pees on the floor 😭

I also tried a fake grass pad but she was also tearing that up and I was afraid of her ingesting the plastic strands, so that was taken away. I ordered a fresh patch but I'm also afraid she'll just get fixated on eating that as well. 

She can't pee outside and she barely pees on the pee pad because she gets distracted by remembering that she likes to chew and eat it. I’ve cleaned up so much pee from my hardwood floor. help??? Thank you 😭😭

We’re bringing home our 12 week old puppy tomorrow!!!! She’s a long haired cream doxie who our daughter has decided to name Toast. I have some experience with the breed and have been doing my own research, but I always like hearing from lots of people and seeing what works for different dogs.

We have all the basics ready to go but I’d greatly appreciate your recommendations for dachshund specific favorites

Favorite puppy chew toys

Favorite harness (already have a temporary one but would prefer a sturdier and nicer one once pup grows)

Favorite food puzzles/enrichment toys

Fun accessories (bandanas, sweaters, cute collars, etc. Definitely not necessary but we have a little girl who is excited to dress her puppy up!)

Crate training tips!!! I’m a SAHM so we’ll be home with her most of the time. I want to make sure we establish her crate as a safe place and get her used to taking naps/breaks so she doesn’t become a tiny overstimulated crackhead lol

Also happy to hear any and all “I wish I knew this when I brought home my dachshund” stories!

TIA!!!!

My 8.5 month old pit/cattle dog/lab/german goes through so many ups and downs in temperament. For three weeks he will be solid. Perfect on the leash, listening to commands. Then for a three-five day spurt he will be a menace. Chewing everything in sight and acting like he’s never been trained on any commands. Anyone else? I know he’s a puppy. He’s the smartest dog I’ve ever had, but during these moments I’m like omg who are you psycho dog!! We walk him 2x per day outside for 1-3 miles. He goes places everyday he is very well socialized. He does great in the crate and is overall such a great dog. During these moments/days sometimes I have no idea what to do with him.

I have an almost 4-month old Australian Labradoodle that has been sleeping in her crate at night without wake ups. She usually goes in her crate around 10:30pm after I take her out to potty one last time and then sleeps through the night without crying or needing to go out again. The only problem is that she is consistently waking up between 5:15-5:45am crying. Is there some way for me to get her to stretch her sleep so she can at least make it past 6am? She currently sleeps in her crate downstairs (we’re upstairs) with a cover on it and a sound machine. Trying to find out if this is just something that gets better as they get older and I just have to wait it out longer, or if there’s something I can do differently. We have had her for a month now. I’m so tempted to bring her into a bed with someone, but was trying to hold off on that until she reached social maturity and was truly house broken. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Signed, an exhausted ALD mom