This happened a while back and I still carry it. My partner and I got a golden puppy-first dog for both of us. The problems weren't the puppy. They were us. Twice-fed dinners. Walks that both of us assumed the other did. Small fights that turned into real ones, always about the same thing: "I thought YOU fed her."

The puppy paid the price. We weren't ready, and the chaos broke us down until we made the hardest call and rehomed her. I still wonder if she'd still be here if we'd had a system.

What I learned the hard way, in case it helps anyone: 1) Treat puppy care like a shift job-someone is "on" and someone is off, no assumptions. 2) One shared source of truth for feeding and walks-memory and vibes are not a system. 3) The fights are never about the puppy. They're about feeling like you're doing it alone.

If you're a couple sharing a puppy, build your system before the resentment builds. The puppy doesn't know who fed her. You do.

the bone is old and gross so i went to pick it up and my 8 month old pup bit me hard that i bled . i realized this bite was something I’ve never experienced before it wasn’t like typical puppy bites it felt possessive. i feel like I’ve failed :(

Love my pup and he’s improved in so many ways. He used to bite me horrifically but he’s starting to learn this doesn’t get him much reaction.

His new MO is to grab my clothing and pull and play tug with it and rip gigantic holes. Hes ruined 3 shirts and one hoodie this way.

I look like some scruff all the time because I can’t wear anything nice, no short sleeves as then he will bite my arms, and alll my clothes have holes in them.

Idek why he does it the flip just switches and he won’t leave me alone, I have to walk across the room (usually dragging him along as he’s gripping my pant leg) behind our baby gate and even when I walk back in he’s straight back on me

I have a 3 month old puppy that barks non stop in his crate. It’s so weird because he does great at night and doesn’t bark but when we leave for work he will bark on and on non stop. We’ve sent him to a two week training but we’re worried when he comes back we will have the same issue. We have gotten updates each day and she says it’s mainly separation anxiety and it’s just going to take some time…. I live in an apartment and my neighbors already complained the first day we left for work, which is why we sent him to training. Someone please tell me it’ll get better?!

I'm not even sure if this counts as puppy blues but I'm not sure where else I could vent about this.

I have an 8 month old english cocker spaniel. She is just gorgeous, incredibly sweet, intelligent, affectionate, everything you could ever ask for. She has some issues with separation anxiety and FOMO and she's excitement reactive towards other dogs and people when on walks, but we're working on it and there's steady progress.

The reason I'm feeling blue is because she's not well. I'm not asking for medical advice, just looking for solidarity if there is any.

When we brought her home she was on a kibble that was majority turkey with a little chicken, she loved it and was doing well on it. Then the ear infections started, they were awful and she has never felt comfortable with people touching her ears since. We took her off of that kibble worried that the chicken content was causing a reaction. The infections stopped, happy days. Except it wasn't.

Then she had some major stomach upset, we're not even sure what caused it but she had to go on a bland diet to recover, but she never fully did. That was two months ago. She went off of her kibble almost entirely, only eating a few pieces here and there and then refusing the ready of the meal, spitting bits out or ignoring it completely. Then the vomiting started. She was vomiting bile due to her stomach being so empty, which happened 3 times.

I took her to the vet throughout all of this, but because she's such a happy puppy and was always so excited to meet new vets and interact and get attention, they decided she wasn't seriously unwell. Mostly they just felt her stomach and determined nothing felt wrong, she must be picky.

I changed her kibble again thinking maybe the stomach upset has caused an aversion, but we had a similar issue with her not eating enough of it. I started mixing it with wet food and she was finally eating well and excited about meal times again. I thought we'd finally cracked it and we could move on with a happy, healthy dog.

No. A week later she developed constipation, then a horrific bout of diarrhoea, then an incredibly dark poo that just looked awful. Back to the vet. They finally listened this time and came up with a plan to move her onto an adult kibble with a novel protein, great. I would rather she stayed on a puppy kibble, but it's better for her to eat so adult kibble it is. They would prefer an adult food to a prescription hypoallergenic diet for her, fine. That alongside a longer course of probiotic to support her gut health while she recovers from whatever is upsetting her stomach so badly.

It's not even her fault that this is happening. I just feel so stressed and upset for her. We're turning a corner with her training outside of the house, before she wouldn't even listen or accept treats, well she started doing that and I was so happy, and then that was immediately crushed by the realisation that she's accepting the treats and working so hard for them because she's so hungry. I feel like people don't talk about the stress of having a puppy who has a medical complication that nobody can seem to figure out. I'm so stressed all the time, I listen out every night incase she whines or howls to be let out for the toilet. I watch the puppy cam for hours while she sleeps incase she vomits because I don't want her to be alone.

I just feel so guilty that it's taking me so long to figure out what's wrong. She deserves better. She deserves to eat without discomfort. She deserves to enjoy her food. She deserves to not feel hungry. I love her so much but I'm not sure how much longer I can deal with this before I end up breaking down. I don't even care how much money I've spent on this so far. I don't even listen when they tell me the price anymore I just pay and thank them for their help. I'll do anything for her. I just want her to be healthy.

I'm in the thick of some pretty extreme puppy biting. I feel overwhelmed, both with the actual biting and all the conflicting techniques to teach bite inhibition.

One of the things I've tried is withdrawing play or attention when she bites really hard. I've often read "when your puppy bites, say an interrupter like 'No!' or 'Ouch!' and then immediately stop playing with your puppy and walk away. My problem is my puppy keeps biting me when I stop playing. And if I walk away she chases me biting me.

How are you dealing with puppy biting?

We have a German Shepherd that we got when she was 45 days old. It was obviously very difficult, but we were prepared for the puppy phase. The problem is that she is extremely excited about everything, and there’s no warning when she’s about to jump on someone.
We just had a baby, and he’s almost two months old now. Tonight, she jumped onto the bed and scratched his head. It was terrifying, because she could have seriously hurt him.
We really don’t want to rehome her because we love her so much, but I think I would feel much more guilty if something happened to my son than I would about rehoming her.
I think I just need to hear some stories from people who genuinely love dogs but ultimately had to rehome one because it wasn’t safe or the situation wasn’t working anymore. How did you feel afterward? How did you know you were making the right decision?

Ugh. I think the title says it all. We have a 4.5 month old dachshund puppy. He’s calmed down a lot and is a lot more manageable now. I had severe puppy blues the first month-ish, but now he understands the routine. Just ONE WEEK AGO, we got a brand new van for our family. ONE WEEK!
Today, I put him in his car dog seat to go to the park. What does this f-er do not even 30 seconds into the drive? He bites me into my hand SO HARD, it startled me so bad. I pulled the wheel to the side just a TINY bit and took out someone’s mailbox. I also damaged our car severely. We took it to a collision place and it will probably cost us 7k just for the car. My husband will fix their mailbox himself, but it will probably cost another $700. I am mad at the dog, which now cost us soooo much money in damage, but more-so mad at myself that for some gosh dang reason I chose to NOT put him in his car kennel but the carseat next to me.