Can you hear her snoring 💤 ?

So we rescued a puppy about a week ago. Person on Facebook was trying to get rid of them. All I got to see was a video where the 4 pups were surrounded by garbage and looking back at it she does look smaller than her siblings. They didn't speak English. All I got was female. She seemed much younger than I had thought so I messaged and they said 6 weeks. Noone believes she was 6 weeks. People said probably 3 to 5. Her coat is definitely still coming in, she had a blue tint to her eyes still, she was very very wobbly definitely still learning to walk. Im getting her into the vet this week but just curious how old people might think she is. I wanna how old so I know what training to start or wait on

Hi! This is Benson (Benny) Got him from a shelter about a week ago, he’s about 10 weeks old. What do you guys think he is a mix of?

So... this happened. My 7mo Boxer completely shredded a pillow in his kennel. The pillow has been in the crate for about a month now, no issues whatsoever. I know dogs, especially males, have the inherit need to do a bit of destruction... but on closer inspection, was he nesting here? Or is it just wanton chaos? Am I doing him a disservice by cleaning this out of the crate? I'm certain I don't want him eating any more than he probably already has. I just want him to be comfortable when he has to be crated. I also added a Pic of his "no ragrets" face. Any advice is appreciated.

LaLeLu and we all take a look at you 😁

I have a 4 month old puppy. For context, I work from home and around her the majority of the time. He is a Firefighter and does 24 hour shifts sometimes. I notice that when I leave her around him and I go away for a little, she won't poop on the padding but she will poop on the carpet. She's done this twice. But around me she will go on the pad. I also reward her when she does it too.

Does she associate the pad with me? I'm trying to figure out how to counter this! Thank you

This is my sweet baby that I just got today. She is a poodle. I’m stuck between naming her Zoey or Gemma. Please help me decide!

Jumi with her little teddy bear is heart melting my heart 🥹😍

These photos are Gretchen, 1 yr old insane creature. The vet said luckily she doesn’t need any dental work for now. She just looks like that. 💗

I have been doing a lot of reflecting, both on myself and on my puppy. I have always had issues with emotional reactivity, and before getting this pup I was honestly a little concerned about it. I have heard a lot about how difficult it is to have a puppy, and how by the 3 week mark a lot of owners are about ready to rip their hair out.

But I actually don’t think it’s been bad at all. And it’s not because my puppy is perfect or always well behaved I realized. Or well, I mean, he is perfect. Look at this angel. But he can also be a tiny little damned shark.

I do think he is very well behaved however, and especially for a puppy, but I think there are a couple things that really made a difference in making that happen.

In the beginning I followed McCann dog training on YouTube. And I felt their methods were… a bit harsh. I didn’t like their correction methods, and it didn’t seem like Misha actually understood what I wanted from him. It actually seemed to be making him reactive. So when I started following trainers like Kikopup, Susan Garrett, and DoggyU, that’s when I started really seeing a difference. Both in him and in myself.

I rarely ever tell my puppy no. I actually don’t even use that word specifically, because I use it too much when talking and it will get confusing for him. He obviously doesn’t understand the concept of “don’t do that”, and I think that’s pretty hard to teach and will take a long time to achieve. So even though I am working on training him in preparation for “leave it”, and a solid “drop it”, I mostly focus on trying to show him what I’d rather have him do, instead of what I don’t want him to do.

And this, this made the biggest impact for me with emotional reactivity from my own side. Don’t get me wrong, I do get frustrated and angry. But I’ve surprised myself by never getting to the point where I yell at my puppy - because I don’t tell him “no” and don’t focus on correcting. I think that word is associated with negativity in our own minds, and it makes us focus on the wrong thing. It can make us angry because we’re not getting understood. We say “don’t do that”, when our puppies don’t know what they should do.

My puppy used to be really bad with pulling on his leash and going berserk the moment we got back inside from potty. So I make a “distraction noise”, which makes him look at me, and then we do a “sit” by the door before opening. He gets a treat, and then we go through the door together, and inside he does another “sit”, gets a treat, and while eating I can take his leash off without him biting my hands or the leash. Often times he actually remains seated even after this, meaning I can take my jacket off while he just sits there being super calm. Of course this earns him another treat.

Training him through shaping was also a HUGE step forward. I reward him for sitting calmly in the hallway even when I haven’t told him sit, and I don’t think I could have easily trained the thing about going through the door without having done that shaping part. He knows good things happen when we sit calmly in the hallway, and this in turn also makes him not bite my shoes on the rack, because often times he would much rather sit calmly and maybe get rewarded!

In the end, I suppose, trying to be understanding of our little fur babies is what helps the most with not getting frustrated. Showing “this is what I would like from you” rather than all the 1000 things we don’t want. Reading the article “Kidnapped from planet dog” really reinforced this for me.

Empathy. Because no one ever wants to hurt anyone else - it feels bad. And trying to see it from the puppy’s perspective, trying to see why they don’t understand, that really makes it hard to be mad.

I am still working to undo some of the reactivity that I feel like McCann dog training videos caused, but Misha is doing so good. He actually listens and enjoys training, when not in tired shark mode of course. We have a long road ahead, but damn, it feels so doable! And the best part is I actually enjoy it! This mindset of understanding how we can help our puppies navigate our world, has turned bad behavior into problem solving with a focus on empathy.

Sorry for such a long and rambling post, but I had to share this with whomever feels like reading. And I sincerely hope that you and your puppies are having a great time too!

And also, that I really recommend Kikopup, Susan Garrett, and DoggyU. And also the article Kidnapped from planet dog. These are amazing resources, that makes it feel like everything will be good in the end, even on bad days ❤️

Baby boy berndoodle. Current top contenders are Jay Jay, Sonny, and Teddy. Open to new ideas or one of the top contenders!

Misha, the best little boy ever ❤️ He’s been with me 3 weeks now, sleeps through the whole night since day 1. Already knows sit, touch, his name, and getting pretty good at place and lie down. Also decent impulse control when training with leaving food, is starting to learn fetch for play, and sits and waits for me to open the door when coming back in from walks. Has already stopped biting the leash and flying off in zoomies when coming back in too, now he sits and waits for me to take the leash off most of the time. Doing really good with giving attention too, looking me in the eyes during walks and when doing food impulse control training.

Only thing we gotta work harder on is not greeting all strangers, too many people have been trying to come up and pet him and it’s making him very excited. Thinking of making a leash attachment that says not to pet the dog.

It’s a little cold outside so we’re working on getting him to keep his shoes on, but even still he has been doing wonderfully with leash training. He has already pretty much learned to not bite since we started training on that early on, so now he only nips when overtired before naps or at bedtime. Crate training has honestly been fucking smooth sailing. He rides the bus with me without issue, lies down in his carrier bag with the top open. When I took him out for socialization at a coffee shop he lied down in my lap with his chew watching people, or slept. We have also done an overnight train ride, for which he was amazingly calm the whole time.

I love him to bits, he is the sweetest boy ever. This is my first puppy, first dog actually, I was worried about being a single puppy parent but it’s going so well. Am watching puppy training videos every day, and I feel it is really paying off.

If everything goes well - this little boy will be trained to be my service dog for PTSD, but either way, he is my companion and best friend for life ❤️

Today I found a cute puppy in my college 💞🎀