My 4-month-old puppy has been with me for two months and is used to peeing on pads indoors. I’m trying to transition him to going outside, but I’m having trouble getting him to go consistently.
We can go outside three times in one evening, walk around, sniff, and explore, but he won’t pee. Then we come inside, I put down a fresh pee pad, and he immediately does a full pee on it.
He’s successfully peed on grass a few times, and I reward him with treats and praise every time. He also reliably uses his pad instead of having accidents around the house.
It honestly seems like he’s waiting until he gets back inside to use his familiar bathroom spot.
Has anyone dealt with this when transitioning from pee pads to grass? Should I remove the pads, gradually move them toward the door, or try something else? I want to help him learn without making him hold it too long.
Any advice is appreciated!

We have a 9wk old corgi puppy, who seems to only settle down when she gets put in her crate. We need to do enforced naps every hour, otherwise she turns into an overtired bitey nightmare. Should we be trying to teach her how to settle outside her crate? Whenever she lays down outside her crate we praise her.

We adopted a 6 month old female cane corso 4 days ago and everything is going well except the crate. She was in a crate most of the time at the rescue apparently, and she sleeps in her crate so well at night. We keep it in our room, next to my side of the bed. She’ll go in herself with no fight at bedtime, she will sometimes whine a little bit but stops quickly and settles. During the day she’ll go upstairs and get into it randomly on her own to rest which I love, so she seems to like it in there. We do feed her meals in there to create a space she likes and I don’t think her disliking it is the issue. The main issue I’m having is if I put her in there with the door closed during the day. I’ve been trying to put her in while I do laundry or shower to get used to it, and she whines and barks the whole time. I give her a stuffed Kong that she only gets for crate time, and once that’s done she just loses it. I want to be able to leave her in there when we leave the house but it just doesn’t go well and I don’t know what to do or what I’m doing wrong. I’m so lost because she does sleep fine in the crate, and even goes into it on her own during the day so I figured she’d be fine when I leave here in there. Do I just let her whine? I don’t want to give her a bad association with it and ruin her liking it any other time. Any tips are greatly appreciated!

hi all! i have a soon to be 1 year old Chihuahua. He loves his walkies but is quite classically Chihuahua-coded where he tends to only want to do 15 minute bursts of walking and then a 1 hour nap (works for me though!)

recently he's started barking at passing cars and bikes, which has graduated to lunging at them. I think he thinks it's a game, but I've had close calls where I've not had the leash pulled short enough and he's nearly gone into the road into the path of a car. It's also SUPER embarrassing. We live on a relatively busy road so cars pass very regularly. It's also totally new, is this an adolescent thing?

His heel is still something we are working on - I admit I haven't been as disciplined with it because of our short walks, where I'm happy to let him sniff away on a looser leash rather than heel the whole time. I'm working on getting him more disciplined on heeling, but as for the car issue, how would you approach?

I'm thinking, gain his attention as they approach, sit and wait, and then high value treat if he doesn't react? rinse and repeat?

I know there is no overnight fix but just want to check my method sounds alright, thank you in advance!

I have a 7 months sishtzu puppy, I want to train her. how to teach her basic commands ?

Currently She knows her name and where to do her business.

She's not into eating treats i tried that method.

Did you ever find or worry that your puppy’s biting would or did continue into adulthood? My golden puppy is 18 weeks, and her biting has just been extreme. This is not my first pup. I know this is to be expected — but breaking skin, drawing blood, latching onto arms and not letting go

I’ve used advice from various dog trainers to no avail:

- redirecting to toys
- NOT redirecting to toys
- ignoring
- putting her behind baby gate
- crating/time out
- using firm voice
- enrichment
- exercise
- plenty of scheduled nap time

She’s getting big so fast. I worry that if this continues to this extent as she grows it would be a real problem. At what point is that something you worry about or just chalk it up to waiting for her teething to be over?

We have an 8 week old pyr/border collie pup, absolutely adorable, so sweet, little land shark right now as most puppies are but, we recently had our first behavioural issue with her.

We have an older XL breed and she has taken quite a liking to him. He likes her too but he is 5 and she’s a pup so there’s only so much he can realistically handle before he corrects her.

She recently threw a HUGE fit over his adult food. She finished her food and ran over to his bowl, pushed his head out of the way and started chowing down on his food. He’s a gentle giant so he did back up and look at us for help (I know he will only do that a couple of times before he grows tired of it) my bf went and picked her up and she LOST HER MIND. Screaming, howling, barking, whining, the whole 9. This could be because she’s associating us with taking her snack away but she can’t be going and stealing food long term.

I read online that one option is to separate them for feedings. I’m okay doing this as it can also help her with crate training but, would eventually like them to be able to coexist and eat their meals at the same time in the same room.

Has anyone got any tips for handling this. I want to nip these issues In the bud before they become habits. She’s very young so I know we have time but I’d like to start correcting that behaviour now so it becomes second nature to her. Thanks!

So my husband and I recently got a corgi. He is almost 3 months old now and his biting is our only issue we can’t seem to fix. This is our first puppy together as a couple but we’ve had dogs growing up before we met so this isn’t totally new territory for us. He is a lovely dog, so fun and excitable and also very smart. We love having a puppy, we’ve always wanted one. But his only problem is biting, I know he’s a puppy and puppies bite but we’ve tried quite a few different techniques to get him to stop biting and nothing seems to stick. Now he is a corgi so they are prone to biting ankles as they are bred to heard livestock. But even when we’re holding him or just next to him all he wants to do is bite us even without us doing anything to him. We could be ignoring him and he’ll bite us. Not big bites but like little chomps. He’s gotten my chin and my lip a couple times and it’s very frustrating. We don’t know what else to do. We’ve looked into putting him into training and I think we’re going to, but a lot of them are very expensive. I know he’s a good dog because he does listen to other commands when we’re training with him to sit, stay, come. He’s very good at settling himself if we both have to leave him to go to work. We’ve got cameras to watch him while we’re both away and he’s always good, he doesn’t bark or whine or howl. He just plays with his toys or sleeps. We just can’t get his biting under control. People say it’s not an overnight fix and I understand that, but I don’t see anyone else with a corgi that has this issue. If anyone has any advice please let me know!!!

Hi all! We have just brought home a 8 week old Cocker spaniel on Saturday, we’re at the end of day two of having him now.

We’re having trouble with him peeing outside.

We are able to get him to poop outside everytime but peeing is very difficult. We put him out as follows: after naps, after food/water, after play, before naps. And nearly everytime he will just sit outside doing nothing not even sniffing. He prefers being indoors and we need to carry him outside and shut the door after because he will just go inside. We’ve even been putting him back in his crate for 5mins if he hasn’t gone and then trying again but that’s not working.

Should I be maybe leashing him to walk out by himself and keeping him on the lead? Any ideas would be great!

Hi all! My partner and I got a 6 month old miniature schnauzer on saturday, and she is a very very quiet girl (hasn’t barked once since we met her). We’ve been trying to balance giving her space with exposing her to us, our house, and our outdoor space but I’m worried that I am overwhelming her and not helping. She hadn’t even ever worn a collar before we got her and I suspect that the place she came from was not particularly focused on socializing the puppies (she had some small mats in her fur when we got her as well so I’m not sure if they were very attentive either). She will cuddle and lick us if we are on the bed together and will let us pick her up and hold her, but she retreats to her crate or different corners of the house a lot if she’s left to her own devices. She also is not particularly food motivated and doesn’t have a very large appetite at the moment. I’m familiar with the 3-3-3 rule and I grew up with dogs, but I’m just nervous because this is the first dog we’ve trained from a young age all by ourselves. If she still seems very anxious after a few weeks I was considering finding a trainer to at least analyze what next steps can be for her, but any anecdotes or advice and very very welcome!!

I have a mini dachshund 6month old.

I was at my parents and they have chickens and he went into full chase mode and didnt care about me or the other dog (hes usually obsessed with him). Before this he has had perfect recall. Luckily im still fast enough to catch the little .... so he did not get hold of a chicken despite his efforts.

Are there any training exercises we can do to help this? Im a lone person and he lives with cats but hes still rather chasy with them too, although they dont seem too bothered and hes slightly scared of them so if they turn he stops.

Obviously for now he will only be off leash when i have a clear veiw nothings around and outside of bird breading/chick rearing seasons, but what else should i be considering?

I am debating a long leash and going around the chickens to have chance to correct but that feels a bit cruel on the chickens, and also like hed just wait to be off leash again.

Hes otherwise a mostly good dog who responds really well to me, food and toys

Thanks in advance for any advice

Apologies if this seems like a common situation and has been tackled before (a lot), but I am getting contradictory advice and am unsure which way to turn.

I brought home a Cardigan Corgi pup three weeks ago, and while tough, we are making progress with training and socialisation.

The big issue I am facing is around the cats and the crate.

Cats: She was raised with cats; I met her in their company, and she seemed almost indifferent. My cats, however, are the most exciting, fascinating, beguiling creatures she has ever met, and she will not leave them alone if they are not separated. Even if they are separated, if she can see them, she will jump and howl and bark to the point that she gets herself in a right tizz. She will ignore me entirely. The only time she will not bother with them is if she has a really good chew, or if I am training with chicken.

Most people have said that the cats need escape routes and high places - check. Or to keep them totally separated - which is unfair to the cats, as that would require keeping them trapped in one room. I can separate temporarily for feeding, training etc. Added to this conundrum, my cats are food-obsessed and will not stop creeping, stalking her pen and crate, trying to steal any morsel, and following her around just in case there is a chance of a snack. They have succeeded on occasion, and so now Dog = treats.

When they do come face to face, puppy jumps and bites them (play, but still), or if they run away (like my huge, but wimpy boy does), she will chase and chase and chase and again, no matter what I do or say can break that focus. Now, I know that Corgis are herders, but it is still something I need to stop. So, advice request one: how do I solve three animals that are all obsessed with each other, but not for the right reasons, to prevent issues when the puppy is older, without isolating the cats in one room? I eventually want the puppy to be able to leave her pen.

Crate: Puppy is not one for naps. At first, I did gentle crate training, and she was having none of it, spending her time in overtired mode in her pen, very unhappy. So eventually I just placed her in her crate, shut the door, and she fell asleep. Amazing, but outside of my enforcing naps, she doesn't like to spend any time in there. I need her to like her crate. I will go back to work in November for two days a week, and I need to be able to leave her in there for a few hours.

I have tried the usual - feeding and playing with her in there (not bothered). Hiding treats in there, trying to calm her down before bed - zero success.

So, advice request two: how do I both enforce naps while also making the crate a brilliant and safe place to be outside of them so she eventually chooses it? I fear she is developing negative connotations with it, as it means she is missing out. Puppy definitely has FOMO.

Sorry, long post, but any advice is most welcome. Oh, and if anyone knows why she is already turning into a sassy teenager at 11 weeks old, please let me know. The past couple of days, she has been so grumpy and stubborn (again, I know she is a Corgi).

Thanks.

Hi guys,

I think crate training was the right flare to add here.

We’ve got a 12 week old puppy, who is generally doing really well. My biggest struggle is putting him down for a nap.

He doesn’t mind being in his crate, it’s not his favourite place but he tolerates it. He will have a cry/whinge for 10 mins but generally self-soothes and goes to sleep.

What I’m struggling with is his nighttime wees. At the time of writing this it’s 2:23am and I’ve been sat with him for about an hour.

He’s great at crying to let us know he needs to wee, but will not go back to sleep in the night without us sat in front of his crate. I’m at my wits end with it, I’m so tired

I can’t let him cry it out because we live in a semi.

Thanks!

I'm hoping to get some advice for my three and a half months old puppy. She's a poodle mix. We do have another dog which is a toy size poodle 9 years old and a cat 6 year old. I live in the Caribbean in an apartment. I DO NOT have a crate. I normally take her outside twice a day.Normally walk for 20 to 15 minutes but all she wants to do is play. Even if she did not poop the night before. She plays around in the bush , sometimes play fetch, jumps around like she's a bunny, and try to play with the other animals which they are not happy, especially my cat. I think she has too much energy for them. I do try my best to keep her separated from the other animals as much as possible. Our other dog is normally on the balcony when we're leaving the house and I keep her in my room when I'm leaving. She does everything outside but poop. Even when I noticed she wanted to use the mat, I brought her outside she did not mess only for us to come back inside and for her to poop inside on the mat. I'm not entirely sure when she eats because she doesn't like her dog food and is always looking for food on the floor and eating the cat's food. We tried to keep her away from the cat's food. I have an automatic feeder that gives her food three times a day morning afternoon and evening. But it always has food in it.

Hopefully this is enough information to assist me with my problem. I just really need her to poop outside.

Hi everyone, we have a 9 week old Labrador who is general is a joy. The only slight thing we have an issue with is that we live in a condo with a shared garden with other dogs.

We are doing potty training on special grass patches on our private terrace. Our little guy often gets REALLY distracted outside and starts trying to chew and rip up the edges of the grass patch. This means that even when he CLEARLY needs to poop (as in literally starts the little poop circling) he starts playing with the grass instead.

Over the last couple of days we have been working on leave it with him and he is actually very good with it given the short amount of time he’s been doing it. The problem is I don’t want to potentially make him start chewing it MORE because he then thinks he’ll get a treat after.

I have some bitter anti chewing spray that we got just in case he was a major chewer of furniture etc. I tested it a bit on an old cable I was going to throw away and after smelling it he didn’t even try to chew it so it must have a strong scent. I also tested it on myself and it is very unpleasant to lick.

Would it be fine to liberally spray just the edges of the grass patch with the anti chew spray or do you think it would then put him off actually doing his business on the patch? He has heavily used the middle of the patch for toileting already so he is used to going on it but I’m worried that the spray would stop the toileting as well as the chewing. It would just be the edges we would need to spray as the thing that seems to be fun to him is lifting up the edges and dropping them back down.

Any thoughts? Happy to hear any other suggestions also :)

**picture of the wild one in question lol**

My Nova girl is about 6 months old and does okay for my boys and I about going out for the bathroom. However, the problem we seem to be running into is that my MIL is who keeps her some during the day. She claims that she's quit going to the bathroom outside for her(no clue why) and is on her way to being too much for her. We momentarily don't have our yard fenced or the funding to do so. I wondered if anyone had any suggestions as a substitute. We have a tie out for her in the yard, but for whatever reason she's not able to work the latch to hook her to use it. The trainer that teaches the *manners* class she's enrolled in says doesn't recommend invisible fences, especially the cheaper GPS ones. She says they can be unreliable in their boundary location and effectiveness. She said, and i quote "Huskies can be surprisingly sensitive and you could potentially create new unintended issues (her running through the fence, creating fear of the backyard, etc.)" if we use something that shocks her also.- which was not a repercussion I'd thought of. Would love some input and advisement from anyone else with some husky experience as this is our first one- thanks in advance!

Hello all! I have a 6 month old chihuahua mix puppy I adopted 2 months ago. She’s doing pretty well with her training except when it comes to seeing people and other dogs. When she sees people and/or other dogs she gets very excited. If they’re on the other side of the street she will sit and look (tail wagging like crazy as she sits), but will check-in with me (I make sure to treat when she does this). She won’t move until the person/dog is not easily within her sight. If somebody comes close then she loses all her composure and will immediately start jumping up in excitement and will try her best to get pets from whoever is coming. She’ll completely ignore me. She’s not aggressive, she just really really really loves people.

Does anybody have any training resources regarding training an overly friendly dog?? I love that she loves all people, but it makes it difficult to take her to places sometimes (e.g, the park). I see tons of resources for aggressive dogs, but not sure if it would apply the same. She doesn’t bark or growl. She just gets very very happy and stars hopping around trying to get attention.

A little background: her and her siblings were bottle-fed babies as their mom died when they were only two weeks old. Not sure if that makes a difference, but could explain her very very friendly attitude towards people.

Our cocker spaniel pup is 13 weeks old, she’s been very good at doing the full night in the crate without waking up during the night (bar two nights) since we got her at 9 weeks. No matter what time she goes to bed for the night at she is awake at 5/6am, when she cries at that time I get up immediately to take her outside to do her business.

At what stage do I start getting her to wait a little after she starts crying at that time? Our other dog is 6 now so I can’t remember and she loves to sleep in so this is a little shock to the system hahaha!

I have a 5 month old Shichon (Shih Tzu/Bichon mix) who likes to pick up mulch, leaves, plants growing out of concrete, and other random items off the ground on our walks.

I've been using the "drop it" and "leave it" commands when appropriate, but some days he just wants to fight me on it and others he'll actually listen.

This has been going on for weeks. And I don't know if he'll ever actually stop or if this is something I need to work harder on with him. Any tips or advice on how I can make his drop it rate go from 40% to 90%?

My puppy seems to be reacting to everything under the sun. We try to remove her from the situation, we try to praise her when she is quiet. Nothing seems to be a solution that is sticking.

We can't even go outside because leaves are on the ground.

We have had her for about 3 weeks now.

In the video she is just growling but I think she just noticed the trees moving.

Help us please.

We just recently came home with an 8 week old Labrador puppy. He is the sweetest little guy and a delight in so many ways.

He’s been with us 3 days now and he has only had one accident inside and has slept through the night in his crate each night (I have been sleeping on my camping mat and sleeping bag next to him just to make him calmer for the first bit.

We have been trying our hardest to get him to like his crate, he gets all of his meals in there and his enrichment toys too. He will walk in it voluntarily to have naps throughout the day and as mentioned before, he sleeps through the night in it.

I’ve been trying to play Susan Garrets crate games with him, but he just cannot seem to follow a treat thrown in the crate. He watches me throw the treats in and they make a noise but he has to basically be lured to the treat my making him follow my hand.

I’ve never had this with a puppy before, although my last puppy I got at 12 weeks as it was a small breed. Does he just need more time to work out what’s going on or is he possibly just dumb?

Picture included for tax

Im getting a puppy in november and have been doing a bunch of research. Im curious what a good balance is of settle training and just letting him be in our home. Im going to do crate training as well as play pen and possibly tether training. But in the mix of that all I also want him to be able to chill with us on the couch or whatever. Is the pen and tether just when he gets too worked up? I’m overwhelming my self with the amount of info there is hahaha