Puppy Owners Feeling Overwhelmed by Training

“My 8 month old dog has been with me for the past 3.5 months. He wasn't properly socialised with people and would constantly jump on them to play and bark at them. He would bark at other dogs as well and would want to lunge at them not sure if he wants to play with them or fight since he's pretty playful with the neighbourhood puppies and their mother. Please somebody help, how do I socialise him with people especially when people in my county generally dislike dogs. Also, he's crate”

“My 8 month old dog has been with me for the past 3.5 months. He wasn't properly socialised with people and would constantly jump on them to play and bark at them. He would bark at other dogs as well and would want to lunge at them not sure if he wants to play with them or fight since he's pretty playful with the neighbourhood puppies and their mother. Please somebody help, how do I socialise him with people especially when people in my county generally dislike dogs. Also, he's crate”

“I am working with a 5 month old female GSD, bred from working lines. This is my second shepherd, but my first "working dog". We have both been making great improvements, my training abilities have been getting better, and her training, behaviour and attention have all been improving consistently. Overall, I am very happy with how we are doing. For the most part, I see huge improvements each training session when compared to the previous. Every so often though, like today, nothing seems”

“My first puppy 12 years ago was ✨extremely✨ easy. I am familiar with conditioning and rewarding good behavior but not when the behavior I don’t want is constant. My new puppy today is 9 weeks old golden retriever - barks at any frustration, cannot handle even lick mats without barking at it if it’s hard - verrryy low tolerance for frustration, see above - super possessive or driven? She fixates on things she has no matter how high of value item I try to trade. If she chose to collect whatever sh”

“Hello ! I'm reaching for help. I have a 5 month puppy. I've had her for about 2 almost three months (she's a rescue) and she's a siberian husky mix, we think mixed with german Shepard, we also have a Catahoula that is around 2 years old and we've also had her since she was a puppy. My dog (5 month old puppy) is usually very sweet and laid back, but when it comes to food she gets aggressive. I have owned boxers and other dogs and never really had a problem with this, but I not”

“Hello, I have an 8 month old puppy. I do not know what breed she is. She's always been a ball of energy, out of all the dogs I have ever owned she is the most energetic. I feel like I am not giving her a good enough way to use her energy so I'm looking for ideas. She is a STRONG chewer even if she's small. She destroyed her Kong toys and i had to take them away because she was eating the pieces. She LOVES playing catch with her ball. What I often do is use two balls and throw them ba”

“I think I screwed a bit my puppy Teckel (10w almost 11w old), he was receptive to me. A couple of things have happened Trying to potty training him and doing some socialization with the environment --> I am going to the main entrance of the building and to the paved sidewalk of the garden. As he is not yet fully vaccinated, me and my gf were quite protective on that (Paris, thus fear of rats everywhere 🙃) so we were controlling everything that he put on his mouth, taking it directly... Figur”

“This may seem like a obvious question but my mini Aussie is now 15 weeks old and I can tell he’s really smart and wants to make me happy and get his treats. Sometimes I feel like I am confusing him or he gets frustrated. I try to keep it simple and always give him a lot of wins/yes with new commands. In a single training session should I be doing a variety/circuit of commands or just focusing on 2-3? Right now he’s pretty good with: -sit/siéntate (until release) -down/acuéstate (until release) w”

“Hi everyone, I have a 5 month old puppy who is extremely timid/scared of everything when outside. He knows his basic commands/ recall and does them perfectly when inside the house. Unfortunately, I have not been able to have any success while outside. It seems the smallest things scare him or completely distract him outside. When I do try to slowly train him, even just in the apartment hallway, he doesn’t respond to any verbal praise and refuses to eat a treat. Do you have any advice? subm”

“my dog (GSD) never ever ever ever barks when im around and when we're training even if i hold a high value toy/treat to get him frustrated, he'll just find something else to do/smell other than that, he's pretty good at everything. basic commands, fetching, biting (rope toy), heel, etc. asking for advice on how to get him to start barking given his issue of being very non-verbal. Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/hhhharderdady [link] [comments]”

“So my 7 month old dog was a rescue dog and for the past 3 months I have been training him. He was very untrained when I took him, our walks were chaotic, he used to be dragging me, pulling on leash, eating everything, barking at people. Now he doesn't do any of that and is a very good dog on a walk. I have taught him a few commands like sit, stand, down, spin, guard etc. However as a first time dog owner, there are a few things I couldn't teach such as him being over excited with visitor”

“My boyfriend and I brought home a corgi puppy back in January, who is almost 10 months old now. We love her dearly, she’s so smart and can be sweet (when she wants to be lol). However, she’s the most difficult dog I’ve ever owned and it’s getting really overwhelming and stressful. Whenever we take her on walks and see a dog she goes into a frenzied barking and growling and will not respond to commands or treats. Even if the dog is far away, across the street etc she freaks out. Luckily we have a”

“I visited a groomer yesterday with my 6-month old puppy. At the end of the session she told me that my puppy lacks obedience since he can’t take commands from her. It is the puppy’s first time with her. She said he is difficult to work with. He has been with 2 other groomers and they both said he was fantastic for his age. Now, I’m a bit confused about this statement. A full-on groom is already hard for a puppy. A groom at a new location with a new person even more so. He also just entered adole”

“"Hi everyone, I’ve had my 8-month-old puppy (an unneutered male miniature schnauzer) since he was 2 months old. He’s in great health, but I feel like he’s a bit slow to settle down and learn some basics. (yeah, i know he´s an teen now and some disobedience comes with that...) He’s my second miniature schnauzer; I had my other one (my soul dog) for 15 years, and he was completely different—smart and calm. My current one is very hyperactive and disobeys certain things. He sleeps well and has”

“So we have a German shepherd who's currently 6 months old . He is a very energetic pup from the start tearing clothing obliterating plants running around eating un identified substance what not. One thing about him He's very anti affection especially when it's from me. He seems happy and exited when he sees other members like my brother my mom and dad but he just takes a look at me and sits away from me 💔 haven't wagged his tail once when I try to play with him. He's almost”

“Backstory: My boyfriend and I have a 4 month old German Shepherd puppy. We had a German Shepherd before who sadly passed away but as I fell in love with the breed I figured let’s get another one! We’ve been working on basic commands at home and it’s going super well! We joined a 6 week puppy class for the benefit of being able to reinforce commands in a new environment and the in person tips & tricks we can learn. Tonight we joined our first class and to be honest, my puppy was barking quite”

“6 month old GSD mix. Started barking and growling at a 7 year old that was staring at him. How do I train him out of this and is this common? submitted by /u/picklelyjuice [link] [comments]”

“Occasionally our 9 week old puppy gets pretty riled up and it doesn’t seem like he’s being playful, but I just can’t tell. Maybe I’m overly cautious but I want to make sure that we train him correctly and do what we need to do to be responsible owners. We have had dogs before but adopted them when they were older, this is our first puppy. Any tips/tricks/suggestions would be helpful, especially if you have raised a pup before! I will say he is very snuggly too and friendly it’s not all questiona”

“Give me your top 3 best training tips for new puppies. Our dog is 3 months old. submitted by /u/Salt_Rock_3058 [link] [comments]”

“My dog used to be the sweetest and most well-behaved dog in the world, but once he turned five months old, he suddenly became a complete menace. He is male toy poodle. He jumps all over us and gets right in our faces whenever we’re eating, even though we never give him any human food. He started barking whenever the doorbell rings. On walks, he pulls on the leash literally every second. He wants to jump on everyone he sees, tries to eat everything off the ground(like even cow shit) and when I ca”

“I have a GSD mix pup that is almost 5 months old, I adopted her from the humane society 7 weeks ago. She is doing so well with commands at home, we’ve been able to stop verbal commands and use hand signals. She’s so smart and eager to train until we get outside or go to anywhere. Potty training was a breeze! She’s reserved and prefers quietly watching people and dogs but will not listen to any commands whatsoever in class. After class or before she will listen and do as asked most of the time. W”

“My puppy is a 3.5 month old mini poodle Chinese crested mix, I’ve had her for a little under a month now and I love her but she’s unbelievably mouthy. She bites me all day long and even though there are 2 other people in the house she seems to mostly be interested in biting and being next to me and only pay attention to them when I’m busy or not home. She screams and cries whenever I leave the room if I close the door behind me, she sometimes won’t even eat if I walk away from the kitchen. She’s”

“Hi all. We have just got a white Swiss Shepard puppy who is 9 wks old. We live in a flat so we are taking him down stairs to go toilet outside. We also live in a very dog friendly city and saw how nervous pup was when and adult husky came over to say hi.... I got myself between the big dog and the pup and asked the owner to leave the pup alone. But he didnt go to the toilet then... im looking for advice on two fronts. 1) when pups are very very young, and not got his vaccinations yet, how do you”

“For context, I have a 2 year old Labrador who can get pretty anxious. She’s not the most trained dog in the world but she also isn’t incompetent! Last summer, I decided to train her in things that weren’t just necessary for a calm life because we both enjoy doing it! I mean stuff like hunting scents, fetching specific things, etc. rather than just sit, toilet, whatever One of the things I trained her to do was to wait then go when I called her. Typically I can walk up to 30 metres away and call”

“I recently adopted the first puppy I’ve had on my own. He’s a 5.5 month old GSD mix. He has been around my older GSD and my mom’s GSD mix since 10 weeks when we adopted him. He was in puppy class and private training the very next week with other dogs. He has started growling and barking at other dogs since he was 3 months old. I took him to daycare for the first time today, and he growled as soon as he got in the building. The trainer says he’s insecure and fearful. I feel so fucking sad and de”

“So 4 years ago we got a miniature dachshund puppy, I was a frequent on this sub and learnt so many great tips. We put a ton of effort in and rules from the get go, she was incredibly stubborn and in the end she turned out to be the greatest little companion, my true soul dog and I couldn't love her more. My family fell in love with her and the breed and my mum decided she wanted to get one. I tried to prewarn about the effort involved and all the training, she passed me off. So fast forward”

“I have a 7 month old mixed breed who never calms down. He’s constantly biting and barking and always on go mode no matter how much he sleeps or how much exercise he got. There’s no peace in my house, no change since I got him at 8 weeks old. If I try to get him to stop he will nip, bare teeth or pull away. We have a 13 y/o dog in the house and she plays with him but when it gets to be too much she stops and lays down, but he tackles and nips at her and barks until she plays again. I don’t want h”

“This is Benny, our 16 month old Swedish Vallhund. He's our first dog and we've had him since 9 weeks. He was well socialised as a puppy but I feel like we didn't get everything exactly right because he's our first. Since about 16 weeks he's had significant nervousness around strangers, especially in our house. He would bark at everyone, even as a little pup. We have worked very hard with him and he is pretty much fine on walks now. I have been using methods to get his attenti”

“My puppy is now 7 months old, and he is a coonhound/lab mix (DNA tested). He has been doing this since the day we brought him home, and I'm wondering if it's a behavior that comes from either a lab or coonhound, or maybe it's just unique to him, I am just curious. What he does is he will come up to you while you're laying on the couch, sniff your face and then rest his face on your face, and after a few seconds he will push all of his body weight into your face, and eventually la”

“Hello! I am trying to train my 6 month old puppy to do some tricks but she’s absolutely insane. She got sit and shake within minutes, but when I try to teach down or sit pretty, she goes batshit. I try to (gently) push her down to teach her the command, but she fights me. Would it be better to have her run around for a while and get her tired out before training sessions? Are there better things I should be doing to teach the commands? I try to do them sometimes with my other dog around so she c”

“Hi, so my fiance and I are sharing a home with another couple. They moved in with a dog that is 11 years old, which is super obedient and calm. When we went to go adopt our puppy (which everyone agreed to) they ended up adopting a puppy as well. The house currently has an 11 year old, and two 4 month old puppies (all girls). Their puppy is a lab-pit mix, and we were told our puppy is a husky- Pyrenees. They also both just got spayed 5 days ago. We’ve had the puppies for about two weeks, but it i”

“We just sent our 4 1/2 month old German Shepherd puppy away for some obedience training. She’s already a good dog, but we want her to be well behaved and listen well. Anyways, it’s only been one night and we miss her terribly. How did everybody deal with that and how do you think the dog feels? We talked about it and I told my wife that they will not turn her into a machine and that she would still be the same loving dog. She will be gone for 6 weeks. We will still go out and work with her and t”

“I did not properly socialize my first puppy enough (we got him from the pound with an estimated age and our vet was adamant that he not leave the house... Well by the time he had all his shots we realized he was 6 months old and it was too late) and I'm trying to avoid that with my new puppy once she has all her shots (started way earlier on this one!). My problem is choosing a training program. I have decision paralysis and I'm not super well off financially but I'm willing to put i”

“I think yall make it harder than it has to be! If you’ve not raised a baby you will be overwhelmed! Puppies are like babies/toddlers! Constant eyes and monitoring! You live in their world! Start a schedule and Show them what is acceptable behavior, what the rules are and be consistent! submitted by /u/Fair-Branch-1295 [link] [comments]”

“Hi all, my husband and I are having a difficult time with our IT puppy. She’s currently 3 months old and we’ve had her for about one month. She’s very sweet but gets aggressive when handled or restrained in any way. We know they are independent dogs but she growls and can aggressively bite if we don’t allow her to do what she wants. The growling is different than a play growl. Has anyone dealt with something similar and have tips or recommendations? We don’t live in the countryside and live in a”

“~7 months, Borgi, one week in. He is still extremely shy, but thats okay, I can work with that. He's been eating, and I'm in the process of kennel training, but the real issue is that I currently have no way to check on him during my two 12 hour shifts that I have to work weekly. I make sure to feed him well enough in the morning before I leave to skip lunch. He seems more than happy to be in his kennel most of the time considering his timid behavior, but for so long just feels wrong, co”

“Hi all. I have a 5 month old golden puppy who we have had for 3 months now. Inside she acts like a totally normal dog. Outside is another story entirely, mainly in the back yard, as this behavior does not occur on walks or when we take her out in public. When we let her outside in the backyard to use the bathroom it's like she loses her mind and is a totally different dog than the one we see inside. She tries to eat dirt in an almost frenzied state and when we take her away from the dirt she”

“My girl is 16 months, mixed breed, and I’ve had her since she was 8 weeks old. We’ve done the training (in another class right now), the enrichment, the structure, the socializing, all of it. My entire life has been poured into this dog since I got her and it just hasn’t really gotten easier. I know she’s in her adolescence which is difficult anyway, but I guess I’m looking for some encouragement on if/when it’s going to get better. I can’t have people over my house because she loses her mind, s”

“I have the sweetest, and most hard-headed, puppy. She does not listen… at all… ever. Repetition and praise has been our main way of teaching, it has worked for the 10+ other dogs we’ve had. She uses the bathroom wherever she feels, she chases our cats (not in a violent way, she just wants to play), she barks nonstop, she doesn’t move when asked, she jumps, etc. We’ve had her for 3-4 months and she’s 6-7 months old. We got her when she was young, and have been as consistent as possible. She is ca”

“have a 4 month old border terrier who I am incredibly proud of so far. His engagement with me in public is amazing and I’ve got him calm around people. Working on dogs. He’s going to be gluten detection and panic support or however you say it. I am fairly anal about his routines and don’t let him say hello to everyone. We live next door to two young girls and they came round yesterday for 1.5hrs. I let them fuss him and they even picked him up which. I don’t normally allow. Then they came Round”

“Hi, I’ve been lurking and reading a lot of the advice on how to respond to a dog who is very attention seeking. Unfortunately, a lot of it says to completely ignore the bad behavior and reward the good, which is difficult in our situation. We have a fairly high energy 9month old puppy (maybe whippit / collie mix?) and a 2.5 year old lab mix. The dogs have free access to the backyard through a dog door and go on walks most days. They also get LOTS of love and attention. The puppy however, is espe”

“Hey guysss, I am planning on buying a German Shepherd puppy as my first dog. We are a family of 4. While my parents have had dogs before they were raised in a different country with completely different practices. This time we want to raise them our way, like being less harsh ifygm. Our house is decently big and it has a decent-sized garden. However, i have to mention that my fencing in garden is not the best atm but i was thinking maybe of not letting the dog out freely and always keeping them”

“For those of you who've had puppies who were ABSOLUTELY menaces, how do you cope? I have a 12 week old purebred labrador retriever (male) and he's always been been *that dog*. I love him so much. He's sweet and so cute and INCREDIBLY smart, but you know what they say: With the intelligence comes all of the attitude and self awareness. He's 1 of 3 of the fussiest pups in his litter of 9 even before we picked him up (saw over puppy cam). He's a crazy chewer, eats everything, th”

“Hi everyone, i have a pembroke welsh corgi she is almost 5 months old and she responded really well to some of the training we did she knows the elementary comands but i have a problem with teaching her to not eat everything she sees and to walk on the leash. She likes to eat a lot and when we are walking she tries to eat everything so i wanted to ask if anyone has some tips on teaching her the drop it command. And on the topic of walking she just hits breaks and wont move i try to lure her with”

“I have a 9 week old pug puppy, I got her at 8 weeks. She’s really smart and curious and if the sun is out she wants to explore. Of course, if she stays up all day she’s a demon in the evening and I can tell she’s not happy and she’s overtired. During the day I have had some success getting her to nap in her crate, but she will not nap longer than 30 minutes. If I catch her starting to wake and I go back and sit next to it, she might fall asleep for another 30 minutes. But I am trapped in a loop”

“My golden doodle is now just barely over one years old and is still really bad about stealing things and ripping things up. He also does a good bit of play biting and when he gets tired, he gets really rough. I’ve done the mandatory sleep times but when I’m home with him, he refuses to get a good sleep when he’s tired. He’s good about sleeping through the night but during the day he doesn’t wanna take naps unless I make him (by make him I mean I put him in my room where he then lays down and goe”

“Help me with my Dog!!! My German shepherd is a sweetheart, he does jump but only to lick your face and try to be close to you. He's not violent or anything but when someone comes to the house they might be scared by him (he's 2 already and a big dog). So we tend to put him in a room (and we check on him a lot. We dont just leave him). And it was simple when my was a puppy but now he just doesn't listen to us when we tell him to come to us in the room. He sees someone outside and just”

“Hi everyone! I’m curious as to when you all started noticing the little teenage gremlin come out in your puppies? I have a 7 month old cattle dog mix, who has recently started exhibiting some adolescent behaviors. Constant chewing, digging, unable to settle, forgetting all the training we’ve done for months, etc. We used to manage well with redirection, but these days she’s completely turned her ears and eyes off. For context, we always make sure her needs are met, and still enforce crate naps w”

“I have a german shepard puppy who is 4 months old, and I also have a husky who is 3 years. They get along great except for the amount of play fighting they do. He is constantly biting her trying to play and she does for a while but I can see her getting tired of it. I do give commands saying “enough” and a lot of redirecting but he only responds to it for a bit before he goes right back at her. It’s just getting exhausting constantly watching and redirecting. comment to add is I did have a house”

submitted by /u/pawzr4life26 [link] [comments]

“Hi so recently rescued a 5 month old German shepherd girl, she was kept in a kennel and run with her 2 brothers that just picked on her. Every time I have her out she barks at people kids and dogs basically anything! Sometimes she is petrified when she sees dogs and they are barking, can't introduce her to dogs as she just doesn't stop barking, she's nearly nipped someone aswell. What can I do to help her? Any advice tips or anything will be appreciated thank you 😊 🙏 🐾 submi”

“I have 2 puppies. The first is a cane corso bully mix I adopted at a festival from a well regarded shelter in the area. (We were told she was a German shepherd bully mix but got her dna back and she’s cane corso, Billy, German shepherd and pit bull). She is the SWEETEST thing ever. She will be 1 on Friday 8/7 and I got her on 10/12/2025. She is a high energy dog who I just put through a 4 week board and train program to assist with basic obedience like heel, sit, down, place and staying in those”

“I have a 11 week old toy poodle. I’ve had her for 3 weeks now. She’s a lovely dog. I was worried that my post on here was going to be me going crazy. But just to humbly brag, she’s good with her crate, she uses the pads (with accidents sometimes), she does commands very well. She already knows, sit, paw, down, leave it and her name. She does pretty well on car rides, and she loves food/treats. I would say the one thing stressing me out the most is that she can’t be without me or alone. If I leav”

“seven month in. the poodle intelligence is real but it interacts with bernese stubbornness in way that makes training feel inconsistent if you do not understand what is happening. she picks things up fast but if she is decided she has opinion, that same intelligence works against you. short sessions multiple times day beat one long block every time. she checks out around minute ten regardless of how engaged she seemed at minute five. food motivation helps enormously. Being consistent about which”

“I understand that everyone at my puppy class is there to learn, and people can’t help their puppies as they are all young and learning. But oh my god, there is a big puppy who just would NOT stop barking at my 5 month old puppy, who was only sitting next to me. We put up a barrier between us, and I kept giving my pup treats for being calm and attentive towards me, but the barking did not stop. He howled and screeched so loud that I couldn’t hear what our trainer was saying. My ears still hurt. N”

“Hi! So I have a 12 months old white Swiss shepherd, he’s very sweet to every humans and every dogs, he doesn’t seem too sensible, isn’t scared of anything (apart from the random object laying unusually on the street?) and learned the basic commands quite quickly when he was younger. Since he was a puppy already I saw that he was very excited to greet and play with other dogs, so we quickly started not to allow him to meet every dog he saw during a walk. He could still play with some, but not ALL”

“Hi! So I have a 12 months old white Swiss shepherd, he’s very sweet to every humans and every dogs, he doesn’t seem too sensible, isn’t scared of anything (apart from the random object laying unusually on the street?) and learned the basic commands quite quickly when he was younger. Since he was a puppy already I saw that he was very excited to greet and play with other dogs, so we quickly started not to allow him to meet every dog he saw during a walk. He could still play with some, but not ALL”

“my family recently got a puppy, she’s exactly 11 weeks today, we got told her mom is a Samoyed and german shepherd mix and dad seemed like some shepherd mix too, recently i started noticing she has started biting us more and more, we tried giving her toys, leaving the room and all that stuff but none of it is working, As soon as we try to pick her up she starts growling and flashing her teeth, she has bitten our face and arms multiple times already, she will literally scream and growl at anyone”

“I have a 5 month old German Shepherd, and he is doing super well with his training! But one issue is he will not settle on his place, and seems to find it pretty frustrating - he usually won't break position, but he sits alert and will bark instead of settling down properly. I practice place with him after walks/games/training when he does not have excess energy to burn off, and although he will act more calmly in the house and seems relatively laid back as opposed to being neurotic or restl”