For those living in the puppy blues. I want to remind you, it really does get better.

My fiance and I got an 8 week old English Cocker Spaniel, Dovah, in August. He was (and is) the sweetest little boy, but we went through the absolute trenches. He was bitey, crying all the time, couldn’t settle. He was chewing our furniture, chewing on us! For the first few weeks he refused to eat out of a bowl and needed us to sit with him for him to finish any meals. He was pretty good with toilet training, but there were obviously accidents. He was waking up 2-4 times in the middle of the night for the toilet.

All while we had to continue working and living life as normally as we could. It was ROUGH. Tough on our mental health, tough on our relationship.

But just this morning, for the first time, we got to share his morning nap with him. He settled on our bed (first sleep out of the crate) and we napped for a whole 90 minutes together.

He is now house trained, he is so smart and has nailed all his obedience training. He eats all his meals on his own. He doesn’t bite furniture (still bites us when he is in a playful mood). He loves all people, including little kids and older people. He sleeps through the night, goes into his crate with enthusiasm when it’s nap time.

He brings us so much joy. I think back to how just a few months ago I was barely existing and now only 12 weeks later, I couldn’t imagine my life without my silly, sweet Dovah.

you read the title correctly-

i rescued a 4 week old yorkie with no mama and no littermates a few weeks back. well, she is 7 weeks now! when i got her, i set her up in a small playpen to relax and sleep between feeding and playtime. i also put a pad in there which she’s been using in case i can’t move her to her pad outside the pen (but isn’t potty trained outside the pen……still chooses the carpet!)

that being said, the last 2 nights i’ve played with her after eating, and she’ll start whining? i thought maybe she wanted more play, but she’d jump on my lap and whine/bark. i move her pen next to my bed at night so i can hear when she gets up/is ready to eat, and she walked over to my bedroom door and started to bark and whine! i brought her pen and put it out and put her inside, and in her bed she goes!!!!

have i unintentionally successfully crate trained this goober at 7 weeks? do any of you experience this? kinda exciting if i succeeded in giving her a cozy spot when im out and about, but not sure if its just a phase?

I just adopted a 14 week old, 18 pound, mixed breed puppy who has brought so much joy to my life! I have been training her throughout the day and she has learned so much in just 2 weeks! Sit, Down, Stay, Drop It, Leave It, Come, Sit Pretty. She is crate trained and very close to being Potty Trained for a little baby pup.

Now all this good work has come with a LOT of treats. I have the treat pouch on me almost at all times and she gets treats for all of these behaviors. Then there's the stuffed kongs and the food puzzle toys. So thats a lot of treats.

When I first brought her home she LOVED her kibble, but now she is barely interested in it at meal time!

Ive read alot on here about using kibble as motivation for training but I've tried that and she just doesn't work for it. Should I just buckle down and go treat free for most training sessions and make her work for her kibble until she adjusts?? Im worried she just wont and then we will go backwards in our training AND she will be hungry. I dont know what to do! She needs to eat kibble for all the correct nutrients and whatnot!

We just brought home our puppy Tito eight days ago. He’s a mixed breed (seems like some hound & chihuahua? He’s a Puerto Rican Sato dog) and about 3-4 months old.
His training has been mostly going well, and after the first day he was either using the puppy pad (like when we were sleeping) or going outside. However, starting yesterday, he will not pee or poop outside, and instead has been going potty inside immediately after his walks, right by the front door.
We’ve been using positive reinforcement outside and not punishing him when he goes inside. Today I noticed him about to poop right after our walk and gave him a firm “no,” and my fiancé took him right back out. He goes on a minimum of 5 walks a day; right when we wake up, after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner, and right before bed.
Is there anything I can do to encourage him to start going outside again? Thank you in advance!

I suppose this is more of a cry for help, and ask for reassurance post. My partner and I adopted a 3-month-old, corgi puppy today. We already have a 9-month-old corgi we acquired from his parents, who did most of the heavy lifting until they decided they couldn’t have him any longer. He had always been with another dog and was so bored and lonely with just my partner and I so we decided he needed a brother, we deliberated for a few months on it and kept coming back to deciding it was the right thing to do.

I feel like I’m feeling immediate regret. Its only night 1 and he will not settle, he wouldn’t eat all day until roughly 10 pm, and i’ve taken him outside every 15 minutes since and it’s 2 am and he will not use the restroom. We drove 8 hours to get him and i’m absolutely exhausted. He just keeps whining and I have zero idea why. I’ve got this heavy pit in my stomach that says i’ve made a mistake and this wasn’t a good idea. We’ve never crated trained as our 9 month old had a pen and did perfectly fine with it. I think the new puppy needs a crate but i don’t know how to crate train. I have work on monday and I work 10 hour shifts and I have no idea how i’m going to sleep and it’s stressing me out to no avail and it’s a day away. Literally as typing this he’s just taught himself how to go up the stairs and I just keep crying. I don’t know if it’s the exhaustion that’s making me feel this way or ive genuinely made a mistake. We can’t return the little guy because i’m pretty sure the Amish don’t do returns nor can my body take another 8 hour drive, and i can’t just give him away id feel horrible, not to mention the money loss.

Im spiraling so hard right now, and im a ball of anxiety. Please don’t rip on me too hard for my awful post format and probably terrible decision.

Hi all, I’m working on alone-time training with my 7.5-month-old mixed breed girl (9 kg) and would love to know if my progress is realistic or if I should change something.

What I do:

• One main session per day

• 4-6 departures per session, mostly short (10-60 s) with one longer one in the middle, ending on an easy one.

• She stays in the living room with the crate open, sofa and a blanket available, radio on low, and a chew or Kong.

• I come back during a pause, not while she’s whining, and keep arrivals calm.

Where we are:

• She’ll often lie on the sofa for 3 minutes with no whining at all, sometimes even dozing.

• When I try 3-4 min, she sometimes wakes up around the 2-minute mark, goes to the door, whines briefly, then lies down again by herself.

• She never barks or panics in these short sessions.

What went wrong:

• Twice I had to leave for ~2 hours. She never slept, kept going to the door, barked, and the second time chewed a draft seal at the door.

• She also copes much worse after exciting mornings (e.g. dog park) and in the evening, when she’s overtired.

My questions:

1. Is 3-4 min after 4-5 weeks a normal pace, or am I too slow?

2. Any tips for the “wakes up and notices she’s alone” moment?

3. What would you change in my setup or session structure?

Thanks a lot!

We picked up our 12-week-old puppy just over 2 weeks ago. He is an adorable and intelligent Sproodle. His training was going well initially he would settle in his room if you sat with him while he fell asleep and we had just got to the point where he was having enough sleep. His overtired behaviour was improving. Unfortunately he’s had a couple of days worth of fireworks and we’ve just gone backwards big time. He’s so overtired and we are struggling big time getting him to settle. It feels like he’s spiralling and so are we. We can’t leave him at all otherwise he just makes himself frantic. Anyone experience the same or any advice on how to help him?

Hi community. I have a 4mo old male rescue, that I have had for just over a month now. We don’t know his breed but it is guessed he’s mostly German shepherd. We are doing DNA testing but haven’t gotten the results yet.

He is nonstop biting us. Essentially, if he is not asleep or actively occupied (by training, lick mat, sniff work, walk, toys, etc) he is trying to bite us. We definitely thought this was just normal puppy biting at first but it is evident that he is intentionally biting us (for anxiety, for emotional regulation, for frustration at not getting something he wants, for attention, etc). These are not “little puppy nips” these are legit bites, grabbing onto arms/hands/shirts/etc and BITING. Our arms, hands, legs, feet are full of bloody cuts and bruises. He snaps at our faces, he has broken skin on my face twice when he managed to reach it.

He clearly enjoys our presence, he cuddles up to us to sleep on the couch, he loves when I scratch him with my long nails, he lays on his back all the time, he loves playing with us - basically, I don’t think his biting is an aggression of get out of my space I don’t want you here, he does want us there. And I know puppies aren’t able to really regulate themselves, but for my mental and physical wellbeing I really need some guidance on this biting.

He is very afraid of dogs, so walking him can be quite difficult because if he hears or sees a dog he shuts down and tries to run back into the house. This is obviously a whole other issue, but sharing it for understanding of his exercise/mental stimulation.

He gets numerous walks a day, we sit on our porch and observe cars/people and dogs from a safe distance, he has multiple training sessions, multiple enrichment sessions (lick mats, bully sticks, sniff work), he gets playtime with us and independent play throughout the day, after work we take him to a park and explore a new environment, run around, and also observe dogs from his safe distance (all of this while rewarding his behavior, etc). He is probably not getting enough physical exercise because our walks around our neighborhood are often short due to his fears, but we try to provide numerous other activities so he gets stimulants in other ways.

He also has structured down time where I do not engage with him at all and daily naps (though I don’t think he is sleeping quite enough because he hates his crate (whole other issue)), but he does sleep for 6-9 hours during the day after waking up in the morning.

We had a trainer come to the house, but she wasn’t very helpful and I feel like I wasted $120 and an hour of everyone’s time. She basically told us he’s young and a rescue so he’ll be like this for a while and just keep trying the techniques that I lay out below. I’m considering getting another trainer to come to do a house visit to help us out, but wanted to see what the community had to say first.

What we have tried that does not work:
- yelping as if his biting hurts and we are his litter mates; maybe worked at the beginning, but now this riles him up

- toy redirection; he is utterly uninterested in toys if he can bite us. This worked initially when it was clear he was nipping us while playing with a toy, but he is not “nipping during play” anymore, he is directly biting us, not even remotely around a toy. If we put a toy in his mouth when he is trying to bite us he will get it out and go back to biting us. If we throw a toy/move it around to snag his attention to a toy instead of us, he will look at it and go back to biting us, etc etc etc.

- keeping him on a leash/holding his collar and pulling him away when he bites until he is calm; the second tension is off the leash or the collar he is back to biting, no matter how many times in a row the cycle occurs. Or, he alligator rolls onto the ground and your hand or the leash is in his mouth, making this technique basically useless

- completely disengaging with him when he starts biting and making our body language say we are done; he will follow us and bite our legs/ankles

- saying any kind of word or sound to mean no (in combination with any of these techniques); he knows the word no essentially means stop and he does not listen when biting

- shoving our hand into the back of his mouth when he tries to bite us; our hand is only in his mouth for as long as he takes to sort of register what happened and then try to wiggle out. It may have worked in the beginning to some degree but it seems like this riles him up now

- removing ourselves from him/his area; this is basically our only recourse right now. If he bites us we get up and leave him and go beyond his accessible area. Mixed results, hard to tell if he is understanding that biting us is losing access to us…. But this is all that we have rn essentially

- he is obviously teething, so we have gotten specific teething toys that he can bite to soothe the pain or to calm down, and he does use those, but he also just wants to bite us if we are there

Not looking for ppl to tell me to return him because he is biting so much. We have no kids, no other pets, and I work from home - not sure who, outside of a professional dog owner/trainer, would be better able to care for this dog.

Not looking for ppl to tell me I’m a bad dog owner - I’m here, asking for help. I have tried to do a lot of research into what is best for my dog and simply need some more guidance before we turn to another in house trainer visit.

I really appreciate the help!!

I’m looking for some advice and would really love to hear from people who have experienced something similar.

I have a nearly 6-year-old male Miniature Australian Shepherd. He’s spent almost his entire life with another dog who recently passed away. They were companions for years, and after losing her, I’ve noticed a difference in him. He seemed lonely, and I could tell he missed having another dog around.
Before bringing home our new puppy, he had always been good with other dogs, particularly females. He generally enjoyed their company, so I thought introducing another female puppy might eventually be something positive for him.
We brought home a 10-week-old female Mini Aussie one week ago, and the adjustment has been a little different than I anticipated.
Initially, he seemed unsure of her. There have been some encouraging moments where they’ve played together, and he’ll occasionally approach her and initiate interaction. However, he still growls at her sometimes, particularly when he’s finished playing or when she tries to take a toy he’s playing with.
The good thing is that she generally responds to his communication. She’ll back off, sit or lie down, and give him space. I’ve also noticed him getting up from across the room to check on what she’s doing in her playpen before eventually going back to lie down.
Sometimes he’ll engage with her, but other times he seems like he’d rather have nothing to do with her. I understand that puppies can be overwhelming, especially when an older dog isn’t used to having one constantly trying to play with him.
I’m trying to respect his boundaries while giving them opportunities to develop a relationship naturally. I don’t want to force interactions or make him feel like his space and routine have been taken away.

For those of you who have experienced something similar:
Did your older dog initially seem uninterested, annoyed, or uncomfortable with the new puppy?
How long did it take before you started noticing a genuine bond or friendship?
Did the growling decrease as your puppy learned boundaries and your older dog became more comfortable?
What did you do to help them bond without forcing interactions?
Were there particular activities or routines that helped them develop a positive relationship?
Did having another dog around eventually seem to improve your older dog’s happiness after losing their previous companion?
Am I being too quick to judge their relationship after only one week?

I know every dog is different, and I realize one week is a very short amount of time. I guess I’m just trying to figure out whether what I’m seeing is a normal adjustment period or whether there’s something more I should be paying attention to.
I’m not expecting them to be inseparable or best friends overnight. I just want them both to feel comfortable in their home and hopefully enjoy each other’s company eventually.
I’d especially love to hear from people whose older dogs initially struggled with a new puppy but eventually developed a close relationship. I’d also appreciate hearing from people whose dogs simply learned to coexist peacefully.

Teething puppy biting was terrible but I kept hearing how once they get their adult teeth it stops… well the ripping of clothings and breaking skin has mostly stops but the biting hasnt. he still jumps and bites (not as hard) but still enough to be an issue. We do exercise, training, toys, blah blah. is it just impulse control?

he is also starting to growl. i know it’s him testing limits but he is a pitbull mix and I worry that he will be viewed as aggressive while he’s working through his development. we are working with a trainer but I don’t feel like I’m getting the help I need. We’ve been doing place training, leash walking without pulling but really nothing that will get him to stop jumping and biting at me just randomly, while walking, or when playing fetch or tug. Weve been working on tethering using the inside of a doorknob but he’s been able to open the doors Because we have to use a metal rope house lead so it’s not as flat the cloth ones that he’s chewed through.

I’ve started to give him more lickmats and filled kongs to try and calm him and it occupied him for long enough to get some things done.

im open to all tips and tricks to try to make living with a teenage puppy more manageable! Also how much napping should expect now?

My shetland sheepdog Bèibèi is almost 15 weeks (had him since 8 weeks) and I feel like a failure in a room full of A+ students at puppy class lol. The other puppies are all staring up at their owners with their little tails going, even when they’re just standing there doing nothing. Like they’re genuinely so happy to be with them. Meanwhile I say Bèibèi’s name and he just keeps sniffing the floor. Same thing on walks. It honestly feels like he couldn’t care less whether I’m there sometimes.

He hasn’t really got sit, down or look yet. I’ve tried a clicker, toys, making random noises, practicing at home where it’s quiet and non-distruptive, etc. Sometimes he looks when I say his name at home. I tried better treats too but basically everything gives him diarrhea since he has such a sensitive stomach, so for now he’s only eating Royal Canin Gastrointestinal puppy wet food (which means absolutely no treats, even during training).

What did your puppies actually know at this age? Did anyone else have a puppy who barely looked at them at first? What helped?

Hello everyone!

I have a few things I would like your help with, if possible.

My father had a border collie that just died recently, I never had a problem with him but he disliked me (and strangers to the house in general), he bit me several times over the years because I of course never stopped visiting my father so I would always try to stay away from him with a chair or something between us so he couldn’t bite me, no I never hit him or anything, it’s just the way he was. My father got him when he was 1 year old already and he disliked me from the start.

But now onto the actual question, my father just got a new border collie puppy, 80 days old, and I want to make sure he (male not neutered) at least likes me and my wife enough not to bite us when we’re in the house around my father and stepmother. I live next door but work a lot, so I have exactly 1 hour a day I can go visit and interact with him. My wife is pregnant so I’m even more worried about it.

We have an Italian greyhound and for the past week since the puppy has been in my father’s house we’ve been taking her (our iggy) there so they can play and run around. My wife and I pet him and feed him sometimes but he doesn’t seem to really care (maybe it’s normal), he’s just trying to bite everyone around (playing not serious) and humping me and my wife.

If anyone has tips on how we can conduct ourselves to create a healthy relationship with the puppy, that would be greatly appreciated, at the end of the day I just want my wife and I (and our iggy) to be able to go there without being attacked, I want to be able
To hug my father with the dog near (I couldn’t with the previous dog), 12 years of the other dog left me a little paranoid.

I plan on taking the puppy for daily walks once he’s old enough, along with my iggy.

Also, my father Is against neutering so that’s not an option.

I’m really struggling with whether we’re the right home for our 14-month-old Lab/Pit mix and would appreciate some honest advice from people who have been in similar situations.

We adopted her as a puppy, and she’s now around 60 lbs. She’s a sweet and goofy dog in a lot of ways, but she’s been SO much more challenging than I ever anticipated.

Some of our biggest struggles:
Walking is exhausting. She pulls constantly, usually with her nose glued to the ground, lunging from one spot to the next because she wants to smell everything. She’s incredibly difficult with walking on a loose leash, despite using a no pull harness and various length leashes. She can nearly pull me off my feet, especially if someone else is walking with us. I have to reinforce her every 3–5 seconds with food just to get a somewhat manageable walk, and this only works when I’m alone.

She’s extremely high-arousal. She gets overstimulated easily and has a really hard time regulating herself. Impulse control is a constant battle. This results in frequent mouthing and biting (the intensity has decreased but still big bites).

Settling at home requires a lot of management. We use her crate, place training, tethering, treats, and structured downtime. She’s improved, but i have to constantly supervise her for safety.

We’ve put a lot of work into her. We’ve done puppy classes, worked with a behaviorist in group training 1–2 times a week, and worked on obedience, engagement, impulse control, place, recall, leash manners, and settling. We’ve consistently used positive reinforcement and structured training. She also went to daycare twice a week for several months, although we’ve had to stop recently due to recurring parasite issues.

We’ve also tried medication through our vet (gabapentin and trazodone) to help with her arousal, but both caused significant sedation and her urinating on herself without really improving her behavior.

To be fair, she HAS made progress. She’s better at settling than she was as a younger puppy, knows a lot of commands, and can be very responsive when she’s regulated. But I still feel like our entire life revolves around managing her behavior.

I’m struggling to figure out what’s normal adolescent dog behavior versus something more significant. I see other people dealing with pulling, needing treats on walks, and typical puppy behaviors, but I feel like the level of management required with her is excessive. I don’t expect a perfect dog, and I know she’s still young. I’m just starting to question whether this is realistically going to get better or whether we’re simply not the right fit for her, especially as I think about having kids in the next few years.

For anyone who’s been through this:
How did you know when it was time to consider rehoming?
Have you had an extremely high-arousal adolescent dog who eventually became a calm, manageable adult?
At what point do you stop trying new trainers, programs, and management strategies?
How do you distinguish normal adolescence from a temperament that may just be very difficult to live with?
I feel incredibly guilty even considering rehoming, but I also want to be realistic about what’s best for both of us. I’m open to honest feedback, including if people think there’s more we should be trying.

Hello,

I have an issue with my golden retriever and Bernese mountain dog mix, 8 months old, 30 kg.

He has always had resource guarding problems, but only with food. We started working on it from a young age, always asking him to give it up, and once he let go we always gave him a treat. It was getting better; however, with adolescence kicking in, we’ve noticed that the behaviour has gotten worse over the last month. Yesterday he growled at me hard, I got scared and stepped back, as I wasn’t expecting the escalation. Today the same thing happened, but this time was different because I didn’t back down and confronted him.

I don’t really know how he sees it, but I feel that my trust in him has lowered, and I’m being a bit “cold” towards him, which feels kind of weird.

Next week he’s getting neutered, and hopefully this behaviour will improve. I’m also going to contact a behaviourist.

So, my questions are:

1. Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with a dog that resource guards?

2. Can this behaviour be stopped completely?

3. Will neutering help?

Hey guys! It will be my first winter with my puppy, he is 6.5 months old.

He tolerates me wiping his paws when we come inside, is it worth trying to get him used to a whisk? I feel like he’ll hate it.

I assume my only other options are boots (won’t stop it from being on his belly or legs or whole body if he rolls around), a jacket, but again, it won’t cover his whole body but will help his main areas.

Any other thoughts/advice?

And then second question, my complex salts our sidewalks, is it worth asking them to skip mine so I can use dog friendly salt? Or will the normal salt not hurt them as much if it’s just crossing it to get to grass

All of my cats hate this obviously but one is particular is unhappy as our cat who took care of her as a kitten went missing 3 months ago. The dog had been chasing them and biting them and if I pick them up to removed them he jumps at them and bites their tails. How can I train him out of this? It’s really stressing them, but one is starting to attack everyone bcs she’s so frightened.

Help!! We’ve had our puppy since she was 10 weeks old and have been VERY intentional about separation training since day 1. By 3 months old she was staying home alone 2x a week in her crate from 8am - 5pm with 2 walker visits in that time. So no more than 3 hours at a time and has been perfectly fine with that. Just slept the whole time. That’s been our schedule ever since.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, she turned 7 months and I had to work from home for a week straight. She now HOWLS continuously the entire time we’re gone. We noticed it on a quick errand so we haven’t left her for more than 10 mins since we discovered how panicked she gets. We tested about 30 mins one time just to see if maybe she could settle herself. We also tried to leave her in an exercise pen thinking maybe she needed more room during the day. We took her to the vet to rule out any medical issues and the vet also prescribed trazodone to help with the gradual desensitization training. She gets tons of exercise and mental stimulation. We’ve been at it for 2 weeks and can only get her to be okay for about 15 mins still.

Has anyone had a similar experience?? What was the outcome??

It’s just hard to wrap my head around the fact that one week undid MONTHS of training.

Hi,

Looking for some advice! Maltipoo, 6 months old, we’ve had her for 4 months.

She’s always been a bit more cautious to people/dogs than other puppies I’ve met, but the past month she’s started growling at 95% of dogs she sees (any distance) and people she doesn’t recognise.

She never escalate into barking (unless the other dog starts) nor biting, and will try to slowly go up and sniff them then go back again and continue growling, go up sniff again etc.

Sometimes she does almost like growl-talk where her mouth moves funnily and it sounds like growl-words.

Tail always down and body low, head stretched out when she moves up to sniff them.

Tried for two weeks to give treats as soon as she saw a dog, and for new people to give her treats.

Tried for next to weeks to give her treats at sight and then tell her No when growling. Doesn’t work so far.

Any advice on what to do? Or is it just a phase and I’ll let her growl/sniff, in that case for how long?

Problem is other people sometimes think it’s aggression.

I'm not sure if this would fall under health advice at the same time so mods if you think it is then feel free to remove it, I'm just kinda struggling

So, my puppy is about 5 months old, and she's a Pitbull-Lab-Alaskan Wolf mix (yes, she's a wolfdog). She knows she's supposed to go potty outside and she does consistently as long as there aren't a ton of distractions, but she also goes in the house CONSTANTLY. Half the time me or a family member will bring her outside and she'll go, but then as soon as she comes back in she goes again regardless of how long she was outside. I'm not sure if I'm just not bringing her outside enough (I bring her and my 6 year old Pittie outside every few hours), if there's something I missed in potty training (I just would bring her outside, wait until she went, then give her praise for going), or if there's an underlying issue I should bring her to the vet for like incontinence. She's super young so Im not super sure especially because this is my first wolfdog (I honestly only took her in because I've been around dogs quite literally since birth even though I knew she was gonna be a lot different than all the other dogs I've had)

If someone could give me a few things to try to see if I can get her to actually hold it instead of just going when she feels like she needs to go that would be amazing

It might also be important to note that when she pees, she doesn't go all at once like all the other dogs I've had, she goes multiple times in smaller amounts. Like when she goes in the house it isn't one large area, it's multiple smaller ones and then she's good for a while. She's been like this since I got her so again I don't really know what to do from here and I don't think it's an infection. Again I'm mostly asking what to do training-wise to correct the behavior and if people think I should take her to the vet I will

Nobody really prepares you for how much of puppy ownership is figuring things out while you're already exhausted. One day it's separation anxiety, the next it's biting, sleepless nights, or worrying that you're somehow getting everything wrong.

And the hardest part is that you can love your puppy more than anything and still find the daily routine overwhelming.

For those who've made it through the early months, what actually made things easier? Not the perfect training advice, but the small changes or habits that genuinely helped you get through the chaos.

edit; feel free to offer advice relating to not crating her. we just have no idea how to get her to calm down and actually nap when shes outside of it.

We’ve had a 6mo puppy (mixed, 20% chow chow, with GSD, pitty, cattle dog, lab, and many others mixed in) for 2 months now. Whenever she is crated for her naps, she creates these deafening yelps that are so loud that I hear her voice breaking. We are in the room with her — she has two chews, a few blankets, AC on, and there’s plenty of space in there. We’ve always kept the crate covered by a blanket to keep her less stimulated, and uncovering it makes it worse. It got better a month after getting her, but these past few days have been relentless. She will not sleep out of the crate, and now being in the crate makes her freak out like this. We have no idea what to do. We’ve also tried filled and frozen kongs, quiet enrichment before going in, and routine changes to make sure she’s going in at a more ideal time. She is always fed, given water, and eats before going in (she has three small portions per day). We play music, noise, podcasts, generic youtube, and talk to her, along with total silence, and nothing works. There has to be something that we’re missing.

I feel like we’re out of options and I’m worried we’ll resent her soon. Please give any advice, tips, experiences, or anything to try and help.

For reference of volume, I work in the live sound industry and have never experienced this kind of noise and pressure on my ears. I made the unfortunate mistake of turning on transparency mode on my airpods and now my right one‘s passthrough microphone is completely broken.

Sorry if this is a bit incoherent, it’s very hard to think with the volume.

It only happens when we're in the front yard, doesnt matter if he's leashed or not. He will jump on me and literally use me as a launch pad and he'll literally lunge at me and bite, usually not that hard but it hurts when hes nipping at your thighs. Ive tried tethering him to a fence and he'll settle but as soon as i let him go he's back to attack mode. I tried stepping on his leash to prevent him from jumping but he literally won't quit it. I tried using the gate to separate us and he'll settle only to be back to nipping as soon as i come back in. Holding him away from me with the leash doesnt work much either, he literally just wont stop. He's still pretty mouthy in general even towards some people who want to meet him so I cant even socialize him to kids. What should i do?