Puppies Won't Eat, Won't Potty Train, Won't Crate
These posts focus on the challenges of puppyhood, including potty training, crate training, introducing food (veggies/fruit), teething, and dealing with anxieties. Owners are seeking advice and reassurance about their puppies' development and behavior.
SOURCES (60)
“I’ve been reading a lot on here about how puppies are getting sleep regression when they are a few months old. Has anyone not gone through this? My 10 week golden retriever has been sleeping through the night for 8.5 hours for about a week.…”
“Hey guys! throughout my life my family has always picked up puppies at the 8-10 week mark, and we've done training at home, puppy school etc. For my first dog, I found a great breeder who does a bunch of excellent health testing, the whole works, and also has an optional training program. Living alone and working full time (I live close to home so I'll be able to come home for lunches to let him out, etc), I figured 2 months of training would help tremendously. In the past, I've trai”
“Hey everyone, so im new here and my wife and I just got a new golden retriever pup from a breeder hes 9 weeks old and hes good on potty pad training but when it comes to taking him outside over the last few days all he does is grab the leash and play with it so he doesnt actually go potty, I have my 1.5yo son to watch too so I just feel kinda stuck like idk how to get him to stop biting the leash and just go 😅 submitted by /u/Punksanta98 [link] [comments]”
“I have a 10 week old golden retriever puppy. I am not very consistent with training because of work. Im here to see if theres any advice especially for an app or YouTube channel you guys would recommend so i can be more consistent. I just dont know where to start! I am overwhelmed anf forgot the puppy stage. submitted by /u/More_Supermarket_152 [link] [comments]”
“My partner adopted(not my choice) an 8 week old mini dachshund. Obviously there’s a ton of work involved with a lot of consistency involved as well. I work about an hour away from home on all PM shifts, occasional doubles as well. My partner works from home and so has the vast majority of the time with the puppy. He’s doing well with most things. Potty training has gone pretty well. Minimal accidents now (still have to have a constant eye on him). The biggest issue I’m having is that we haven’t”
“We have an 8-month-old Goldendoodle at home and everything was great for the first 5 months or so. Now that he’s full grown (still only 18lb), we’re becoming increasingly more frustrated by the day. The main concern is the BITING. I was under the impression that once’s the teething stopped, the biting would too. I was WRONG. It’s worse than ever, to the point that my right hand is needing to be iced because of him biting down so hard. Also, the eating E V E R YTHING. Remote, hats, shoes, paper,”
“Hi all. My family recently bought a puppy from a breeder—she’s a doodle (golden retriever/poodle), and she’s approaching 16 weeks old. We got her at 10 weeks. For context, this isn’t my dog; I‘m an adult living with my parents and they ultimately have the final say on what choices are made for her. I’ve been taking her to puppy classes at our local Petsmart, and she’s done great so far. She’s very eager to learn and receptive to 1-1 training. My main concern is how she behaves around the other d”
“We got our little boy, Leo, a week ago today when he was 8.5 weeks old. We're finding it a little hard to know if we're on the right track with his training and how advanced he should be by now. He is very well behaved and barely barks or vocalizes as we have not been rewarding him and only reward calmness. He will do it for about 3 minutes when we leave him in his play pen but then he'll settle himself down. He spends time playing independently and is sleeping on his own. He has dev”
“I just got an 8 week old Aussie who I’m am very excited to share my life with! I took a week off of work to spend with her and do as much crate and potty training as possible before I go back. My schedule was recently changed at work and I will be out of the house from 2:30pm-11:30pm 3 days a week. I am extremely worried to leave my pup alone for 8 hours+ 3 days a week. My two roommates will be home while I gone and have agreed to help take her outside and play with her. I am wondering if this d”
“10 week Goldendoodle I know puppy biting and nipping is totally normal I’m just wanting to make sure I’m handling it the best I can be to literally nip it in the bud. When your puppy is nipping on hands/feet/etc what are the best methods of dealing with it? She has plenty of toys and I’m teaching her what we DO want her to chew but I don’t want to redirect her until after we correct her biting so that she doesn’t think she’s being rewarded. So what are peoples best correction advice? submi”
“Picked up our 9-week-old puppy yesterday, and I’ve never owned a puppy before, so I’m completely new to this. He isn’t food or toy motivated at all. We’re having to hand-feed him his breeder-provided food because he barely touches it from a bowl, and he’s not interested in treats either. We’ve tried several bowls with no luck. He’s otherwise very confident, playful and loves attention, so I’m assuming the food issue may just be nerves from the huge change. He’s also having very loose stools, and”
“Hi all - I’m a new puppy dad, have had him for two weeks now. He’s a 12 week old golden retriever and is legitimately a wonderful dog and I love him to death. He is also, unfortunately, a level-5 clinger. While normally that doesn’t bother me too much, it makes it relatively easy to keep track of him during the day, he also doesn’t like getting into his crate during the day. To be clear, he sleeps just fine in his crate at night and during the day when he’s really tired. But otherwise he is just”
“Hi all - I’m a new puppy dad, have had him for two weeks now. He’s a 12 week old golden retriever and is legitimately a wonderful dog and I love him to death. He is also, unfortunately, a level-5 clinger. While normally that doesn’t bother me too much, it makes it relatively easy to keep track of him during the day, he also doesn’t like getting into his crate during the day. To be clear, he sleeps just fine in his crate at night and during the day when he’s really tired. But otherwise he is just”
“Hi all! Five days ago, we brought home our gorgeous golden retriever puppy (9 weeks old). She's from field/working lines and she's everything we could've hoped for in terms of her pedigree, her health background and the temperament of her parents. So far, she is pretty solid as a pup. She fell asleep on the vet's table, she doesn't seem bothered at all by the noise sensitivity of our other dog (who loudly barks when the front door goes) and she seems very bold and confident i”
“Hello! I recently adopted a foster-fail, a puppy somewhere between 4-8 months, likely a weenie mutt. We did a slow introduction with my older dog over the course of a week, feeding in kennel, sleeping in kennel for now. He’s been doing amazing overall, so today we attempted to leave him out of the kennel while at work. And it was a disaster . He gets so excited he pees every time he sees my SO, which is fine but normally he just does small zoomie circles. Today he ran through the entire living r”
“Hi everyone! New here, sorry if I don't know all the conventions about Reddit yet. Coming here for advice. I'm adopting a dog this Saturday, a 9 1/2 week old golden retriever. The thing is there was an unexpected event in my family which leads me to needing to drive for 7 hours that same day (and then 7hours back five days later). Now my presence at said event can be cancelled but I feel like I should be there nonetheless. During those 5 days I will have access to my flat in my hometown”
“or wait several days until they settle in? we just got ours yesterday and every moment feels like a potential teaching moment. he’s a 7 lb poodle pup. submitted by /u/Helpful-Ad-6408 [link] [comments]”
“We’ve had a 9 week old golden doodle for 4 days now…and I’m so confused. We had the crate in the living room and day one he enjoyed going in and out of it with door open and would happily let us shut the door for sleep. But my kids are home for the summer and he wasn’t able to get good naps in during the day, so we moved the crate up to our bedroom. Now that he only is exposed to his crate when we enforce a nap or for overnight sleep, he’s resisting the crate a lot and not happy to go in anymore”
“So just to preface we have already reached out to our vet and behaviorist. We have had our 10lb poodle mix since 2019 when she was a puppy, about 4/5 months old. We tried our very best to train and socialize her. We were living in the city at the time and had access to dog parks and lots of socializing possibilities. Unfortunately right when we were getting into a good stride the pandemic shut everything down. Not trying to use this as an excuse, but I think she regressed during this time of bei”
“So I got a puppy when he was 10 weeks old. He is a potential collie, lab or Aussie mix. Ever since I got him until about 4 days ago (he is now 16 weeks and about 27lbs) he would sleep in my bathroom (I have a master bedroom so the bathroom is inside the room) I’m assuming because he likes the tile floor instead of carpet floor in the bedroom. Took a few days to potty train him but he has been great at sleeping throughout the night with no accidents, so far he is not destructive besides I have to”
“We very recently (2 weeks ago) picked up our mini daschund. She is now 11 weeks old. She is still brand new and so young and I am not expecting her to be in the position any time soon for her to be loving her crate. We currently have her having every meal in the crate and every nap in the crate. When we feed her in there, she will often not quite finish her food before she starts complaining to leave her crate. If she is not desperately tired and already snoozy, she will cry, whine and begin to”
“So I stay at my bfs parents house for usually around 2 weeks at a time bc of long distance. Last November his parents pug had puppies. As of right now there’s two 9 month old puppies. One of them, the boy, is generally okay but sometimes poops inside. The girl on the other hand… she pees ALL THE TIME, she excited pees when anyone walks in the house, she excited pees pretty much anytime u give her any sort of attention, she pees sometimes for no specific reason, and on top of that she also poops”
“We got our 8 week Doberman puppy this past Saturday, and I feel so lost with training. Our other dog is 8 and I swear potty training and crate training wasn’t this hard. The breeder we got him from had a big litter so they relied on puppy pads for potty breaks. We don’t want to rely on those, but I know in order to transition to going potty outside we need to have them around the house in case of accidents. He basically refuses to go potty outside. I’ll take him to the back yard to go…stay for 1”
“He’s a 4 month old pug puppy and has so much energy. He has started taking him on walks and we play with him, but he never seems to just be tired. I do enforced naps or else I don’t think he’d ever sleep. After walks he comes home and has even more energy. Mainly, asking for any advice on what has helped you, or suggestions on maybe toys. submitted by /u/ImpressiveMap4445 [link] [comments]”
“Hi just posting to try and get some advice. We brought home our 8 week old GSD puppy yesterday and after much research and recommendations from trainers and the breeder we decided to try crate training. Potty training seems to be going well we’ve had no accidents in the house or the crate so far but he just isn’t getting anywhere near enough sleep. His crate is covered, in a quieter part of the house and is nice and cosy for him. We only put him in there when he has been awake for 1-1.5 hours an”
“1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs? * No, We’ve had multiple dogs in the past and currently have 2. Most were rescues, some were facebook puppies. Some both. 2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a [reputable breeder]( http://ownresponsibly.blogspot.com/2011/07/identifying-reputable-breeder.html )? * No. 3) Describe your ideal dog. * Relatively low maintenance, medium sized, short haired, not crazy energetic. 4) Wha”
“i guess this would fall under crate training lol? my mini goldendoodle just turned 16 weeks yesterday i know as they grow and such they sleep less during the day i just wasnt expecting it to be so quickly. we have been following the 1 hour awake, then a nap in the crate rule whenever she wakes up we take her out and reset. the whole month of july her naps usually were about 2-3 in duration most of the time and it was lovely but ever since last week they have only been about an hour-an hour and a”
“A brief intro: I am adopting a sighthound puppy at 11 weeks. I have visited him on a few occasions now. I wanted to do normal crate training, BUT this puppy loves biting fences. My god. The breeder is doing her hardest to train him to stop doing that but he is faaaaar too inquisitive. One time he even managed to bite the fence in a way that he was stuck and screamed in panic. The breeder freed him immediately, so nothing bad happened. He slept and went back to exploring after his nap. But given”
“Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advice. We just adopted a golden retriever English springer spaniel mix, 25lbs. She is 7 month old and they say she is potty trained. I work part time 3 days a week. My boyfriend works full time. We live in a house with a yard. I was wondering opinion on training her to leave her for 10 hours only on those 3 days I work. I know people do it. We would initially put her in a puppy play pen and then if that went well, leaving her in a room , then if that went we”
“Hello everyone. I recently got a puppy (cockerpoo, she's 10 weeks right now). This is the first dog I've ever had, so I'm going to dog training classes, and am trying to do everything right. The classes are held next to a pet specialist store, which is very useful for buying kibble, leads, etc, but resulted in my problem... I am overwhelmed by all the different dog treats. I understand why you need training treats, and it pays to have a few different types in the pouch (my girl has h”
“We had an unexpected trip come up for the last weekend in September. Our 8 week old medium bernedoodle pup was born the beginning of June. I don’t know what to do? In addition to health concerns I’m also worried about the bonding/emotional impact of leaving for multiple days. submitted by /u/hunibe [link] [comments]”
“Our golden retriever puppy is 9 weeks and has been with us for barely a week. He has a hard time resting inside, and will barely rest for an hour at a time - even if he rests, he readjusts and moves around a lot. We assume its because it is pretty warm inside, and he gets hot fast. If he is outside in our fenced yard, he falls asleep easily, and can nap like a rock for 2-3 hours. Otherwise he seems comfortable and adjusting pretty well to his new home. Im afraid if he gets used to napping outsid”
“I have a mini dachsund that is 13 weeks old. When I first got her she was 10 weeks old and the first few nights were as tough as anyone would expect. By night 4 she had actually gotten pretty good with the crate training and was sleeping through the night. She was doing amazing and I was super happy fot about 10 days but now in the past 2 days she has been regressing. Sunday night the problem occurred from my making because I wanted to have her in the crate from 5-9pm and even though I had her o”
“We just got a 10 week old mixed puppy, what’s some advice you can give me that you think all first time puppy owners need to know? Also advice on crate training and the constant crying, it’s breaking my heart 🥲 submitted by /u/iixelx [link] [comments]”
“I need some help and advice. My boyfriend and I brought home a border collie/Australian shepherd 13 week old puppy. She’s doing good with potty training and learning sit and lay down and we recently had our first puppy training class and she did great socializing with other puppies. Bedsides the not sleeping in and adjustment to new puppy life I think we’re doing ok. Some long days and tears but I wake up the next day ready again. But this weekend was awful. She was insane. She found a peice of”
“I have a 9 week old husky puppy, i think it’s important to note the breed. i’ve previously had a husky and a malamute and i did not crate train them. getting this puppy i wanted to try and do everything correctly. this is day 3, i’ve got a crate upstairs by my bed and she sleeps all night, doesn’t cry, settles, happy to go in. i have a bigger crate downstairs. she will go in there if i have treats, she will settle if i sit by the door but as soon as i get up she goes mad, if i leave the room she”
“Hi all, I have a 5 (almost 6) month old golden retriever puppy. She's always been pretty picky in terms of her food, but it's gotten worse and worse. It went from being able to use her Wholesomes large breed puppy kibble for training, to her spitting it out outside and refusing to eat it as a training treat, to her refusing to eat the kibble at all. She'll eat the topper and any treats I add in the food, but won't touch the kibble. Worried that I might have gotten a bad batch, I”
“Hi! We just got a mini Goldendoodle, 8 weeks old. He’s been with us for 3-days so for. We have noticed he drinks a lot of water, which is no big deal. He basically came potty trained so it’s been a smooth transition. We’ve also taken away his water at least 1-2 hours before we put him to sleep for the night. Our concern comes at night though, he’s been whining and so we think he wants to pee, but he actually wants to drink some water. After drinking, he’ll either go pee after or we put him back”
“Hey everyone! Long story short, I am helping out with caregiving for someone’s puppy temporarily (2 weeks). This is a 6 month purebred dachshund. This puppy loves people, is very food driven, and is very sweet and social. She also is basically not potty trained - there is frequent peeing and pooping indoors (3-4 times per day or more). I take her outside often - at least once every 30 minutes - but she often won’t pee/poop outside, and then does shortly after we come back inside. I have never ha”
“I got a purebred male labrador retriever puppy about 4 weeks ago... he is 11 weeks old now (got him at 7-8 weeks). He's a VERY loud, very fussy and bitey dog. I asked the vet about him absolutely SCREAMING when he's locked in a crate, but otherwise he was okay when inside with the crate door open... so they said that if he's otherwise good, he can wait until he's a bit older to start stricter crate training. He seems more comfortable with it now, as in, he's more willing to s”
“I know how important it is to have a routine for a puppy. I am a teacher who’s been off work since May 31st. I have a 6 month old GSP puppy. She is crate trained, has not had a potty accident in a month, loves everyone and every animal she meets. She is my best friend. I am so sad I have to leave this puppy bubble I’ve been living in soon. I work from 7:30 to 3:25. I have about a 30 minute commute to work. I am trying to think of what will be best for her when I’m gone at work. We did a doggy da”
“Hi all, sorry for a bunch of text!! And sorry if it is discombobulated, I’m a bit stressed about it, definitely overthinking a bit, and feel like there’s a lot of info to share. I got my puppy at around 4 months old. She is an 11 lb rescue chihuahua mix (we believe with dachshund). She has always had some separation anxiety that we have been working on. She did well in the crate from the get go, but we tried the playpen to give her some more freedom at first and she hated it and would try to esc”
“I recently adopted a puppy and already have a dog who is a few years old. My older dog has full reign of my apartment and hasn’t been crated in a few years. Now I’m crate training the puppy but unsure what is best for when I’m not home? So far, when I’ve tried leaving puppy in her crate in my room with the door closed, my older dog does not like that and tries to get into my room to get her out. They also keep only wanting to eat each other’s food instead of their own. Any tips in general for tr”
“Age: 4 weeks, breed mini long hair Daschund, will recieve him in August, first time owner to be submitted by /u/Brief_Ad_1466 [link] [comments]”
“I got a 9 week old puppy and potty and crate training have been a nightmare. I’ve been taking her outside when she goes to the door, after sleep and eating and when she’s squatting. But every time we go outside the only things she does is try to eat rocks, plants and just scavenge. And I know she’s not hungry cause she never finishes a bowl of food when I leave it out for her. I feel like I can’t use the crate either because it she’s started peeing in her crate rather than outside. She begs to g”
“Golden retriever male 14 weeks. We’ve had puppy since he was 8 weeks old, he’s amazing and my husband and I love him. Our first dog together. His progression has been great! He very very rarely potties inside the house, he is crate trained and sleeps overnight 10:30->06:30/7, knows several commands and tricks. He’s just still very much a bitey shark baby which is understandable. Hes losing his teeth and has found his coordination. Truly every week he is a little bit of a better dog and he tri”
“this is my bfs first time owning a puppy and it’s also my first time taking care of one. the puppy came early before my bf came back from vacation. so i took care of him for a few days and managed to teach him to pee and poop on the pee pad by monitoring and redirecting him in 3 days. he started to understand and i was able to predict his potty schedule after eating/drinking. however, after he moved to my bf’s house, it feels like we had to start over. he still pees on the pee pad most of the ti”
“Hi! I have two girls- they’re always around each other and whenever my puppy is crated/ in the playpen my senior dog loves to sleep near her and be next to her.. we’ve been working on expanding the puppy’s freedom but every time we let her roam she still does that initial try to jump on the senior dog. She will snap/correct swiftly and she backs off and takes her corrections.. but then it seems like she goes to try and do it again shortly after. My puppy goes to a daycare/training facility once”
“I just brought my 9 week old standard poodle home, I had today and will have tomorrow all day with him he’s been pretty good at potty training and a little crate. Trying not to force the crate just leaving door open and getting him to go to it, inside and getting him to fall asleep in it. I’ll be moving closer to work in about a month so when that happens I’ll be min away and can go home multiple times a day. So it’s only a month he would need to either be home longer or be a work. But Monday I”
“hello i’ve never posted on here so not sure if ill get any help/ advice but my puppy has been insanely hard and im unsure what to do to about this, he is extremely smart to add. We got him at 11 weeks old from a near by shelter (raising dogs is not brand new to me I raised a extremely large breed dog from 15-20 unfortunately he did get cancer and passed.. and grew up with dogs/ puppy’s my whole life), ever since we’ve had him he’s been very up and down either the most perfect dog in the world or”
“So we have had our 3 month goldendoodle puppy for a week now. We are trying to minimize overnight potty trips and i’m wondering if we’re feeding her too late? Her schedule is currently 7am breakfast, 12-1pm lunch, 7:30-8pm dinner, and 9pm crate for bedtime. We take her on her last walk around 8:45pm and sometimes she potties and sometimes she doesn’t. She wakes us up 2-3 times overnight to potty which i believe is normal for her age. But we have also recently started giving her the Woof calming”
“So I've got a 9 month old puppy, who's an absolute whirlwind of energy. I've reached out on subreddits for advice, and all I got was "when puppy is energetic, you must take him for a walk or play with her", or people slating me saying I cannot expect a puppy to calm down. Well, this past week, I've proved this wrong. I've been getting over a serious bout of food poisoning for a week now, so I am unable to play with or walk my puppy. My puppy's bed is in the loun”
“Hi All, Our puppy is 9 weeks old and we’ve had her for only 6 days. We spent a year before getting her really thinking about it, doing lots of research and learning, and we thought we knew what we were getting into. Since we’ve brought her home, I’ve been in a constant state of panic attack. I feel such a strong gut feeling that getting a dog was a mistake and I’m finding the whining and constant need for supervision incredibly overwhelming. My partner and I both work 9-5s but I’ve had to take s”
“Hey everyone, I have a 4.5-month-old Golden Retriever puppy who is currently in the absolute thick of teething, and I could really use some reassurance from fellow dog parents! Lately, when his teeth fall out, I’ve been finding small spots of blood on his chew toys . He also seems to be in a bit of pain/discomfort at times. What we've done: We actually took him to the vet the first time we noticed the blood. She checked him over, confirmed there is no infection, and gave us some painkillers.”
“We’ll be collecting our golden retriever pup in a few weeks at 8 weeks old. Planning to crate train without puppy pads. However, our garden / backyard is quite big (albeit enclosed) and I’m worried about him getting lost when he goes out to pee! How do you all do it? Thinking of using a pen but that won’t work immediately from the door- he’d have to get to it. Or a lead on him each time? Thanks for reading. (My first post on here!) submitted by /u/Safe_Neighborhood166 [link] [c”
“Hi! First time puppy owner here, so please be kind. For context, I have a 10 week old Goldendoodle! I live in an apartment complex on the third floor, but to get outside you need to take the elevator/stairs and walk through the lobby. My puppy is very aware that the grass is where he needs to pee/poop, as he immediately looks as us and waits for treats once he’s done going in the grass. However, we are struggling to help him realize that inside is not a good place to pee at all. We purchased a d”
“Is there such a thing as a dog trainer but for humans? Not a therapist, not a coach, but an actual person who’d patiently teach you how to do the important grown-up stuff (mom?) 🙈. Basically I hate that my whole discipline and focus problem has started leaking onto my dog. I keep reading that you’re not supposed to run on willpower or spend all your brain battery on it, you’re supposed to build an environment. Lists, reminders, apps, gadgets, communities… Basically set things up so your surroun”
“My miniature long haired dachshund puppy is now 10 weeks and 3 days old and I just feel like I give her 100% every day and I just get met with more accidents and more tasks to work on with her 🥲 She is crate trained/training, I have been super strict with this. Even when she naps outside the crate I will get her to follow me to her crate and lure her with a treat to go in herself. But her toileting just feels like it’s 1 step forward 2 steps back. She knows she goes outside as she will cry at h”
“Hello! My boyfriend and I are hoping to adopt a medium sized mixed dog, the specific one I’m looking at is a golden retriever mix who is about five months old. It will be my first dog that is not a family dog, as well as my first girl dog. We are currently living in a condo that has a lot of green around but no fenced in yard. We had previously gotten our dogs around that age (a german shepherd lab mix and a pitty lab mix) but none of us were very good or consistent with training so our current”