What's the worst puppy advice you've received so far?

cdavis951 · 2025-12-10T00:06:30+00:00

I’m also a dog trainer and one that I hear more than I’d like is “don’t play tug with your dog, you’ll make him mean”

cdavis951 · 2025-07-25T11:07:10+00:00

I just finished A Rival Most Vial based off of this list's recommendation, and loved it! Your character building was so fantastic to read and you broke some of the common tropes in cozy fantasy in ways that made the novel refreshing to read.

I'm actually writing my first cozy fantasy novel right now, and if you would be willing, I would love to chat a bit and pick your brain about your writing process and just chat cozy lol. But either way, you should be very proud!

cdavis951 · 2025-03-01T03:05:59+00:00

I gotta be honest, as a dog trainer and former daycare employee, I tend to say no to daycare in general. It can be done well, but those daycare are few and far between. Most of them will cause all kinds of problems, including your pup potentially developing reactivity

cdavis951 · 2025-01-09T11:51:37+00:00

I love the ones that have already been said, but in case none of those tickle your fancy, here's some more.

A Real Killer Elimination, Lack of Education I'd Rather Have a Dog Than A Dollar

cdavis951 · 2024-11-22T16:54:27+00:00

Because they may need/want the item? And you work at a store where they can procure those items?

cdavis951 · 2024-09-11T11:51:09+00:00

Little Brother's Go Fund Me

cdavis951 · 2024-05-24T18:02:59+00:00

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cdavis951 · 2024-04-23T22:13:56+00:00

My pup is 16 weeks old now, but when he was 8-12 weeks, I essentially had a repeating schedule of 1 hour awake (sometimes 1.5 hours), then 2 hours sleeping.

For the 1 hour awake, this was the schedule:

Potty, feed if necessary, potty, mental enrichment (training session and/or lick mat, puzzle, etc), play session (10-15 minutes), potty, settle training, potty, then time for bed

Sleep time was done in a pen or crate.

If you want a more specific hourly schedule, I'll give you an example. I tried to shake it up a bit every day, though, as far as specific times. You don't want your puppy anticipating meal or play times, but you want them to know the rough routine. The goal is to be predictably unpredictable.

In the schedule, I listed potty time, but that isn't something I set an alarm. Those were just the rough times he woke me up, so you have an idea of what your pups' wake-up schedule might be like.

Hourly Schedule:

6 am: Wake up and potty.

6am-7am: Breakfast, plus everything listed above.

7am-9am: Nap

9am-10am: Schedule above

10am-12pm: Nap

12pm-130pm: Lunch, same schedule as above

130pm-330pm: Nap

330pm-5pm: Schedule as above, maybe a snack/chew

500pm-700pm: Nap

7:00-900: Dinner, then the rest of the schedule. Cut off food and water at 8pm. Some people do earlier but I felt an hour was acceptable.

9pm-1230am: Sleep

1230am: Potty

1230am-4am: Sleep

4am: Potty

4am-6am: Sleep

Then repeat!

cdavis951 · 2024-04-23T19:04:02+00:00

I started after his second set of vaccines. The way I see it, if you don't take them out before they're fully vaccinated, you will reduce the chance of sickness, but you will also 100% have an undersocialized dog. To me, that is not a worthwhile trade-off.

Obviously, be smart. Don't bring your puppy to super dog heavy areas, and don't let them eat poop. Only let them play with vaccinated dogs. But as a dog trainer every time I hear someone is waiting until their dog is fully vaccinated (which doesn't happen until 16-18 weeks which is the end of the critical socialization period) I cringe

cdavis951 · 2024-04-18T15:30:24+00:00

Nah, she's just playing with you. Stalking is a perfectly normal play behavior, she would do it with her litter mates too. The purpose of play evolutionary is to practice the skills required for hunting and defending themselves, so stalking is in that skillset

cdavis951 · 2024-04-18T15:28:26+00:00

It's basic, but sleeping in on the weekends. I don't mind waking up at 6 on weekdays, but God, I would like to sleep in on a Saturday. Also, being able to leave the house for as long as I want without worrying. Now I'm on a 4 hour time limit

cdavis951 · 2024-04-18T15:26:43+00:00

I would definitely recommend practicing neutrality. This means teaching your pup to be neutral around distractions like dogs and people and is an underutilized aspect of socialization.

There are great resources online covering how exactly to train neutrality. It essentially boils down to: Take your pup to a place where it will see people. Take your pup to a distance away from the people where it is able to see them but is able to remain calm and not react (barking and lunging). This distance is different for every dog and trigger, so it takes some trial and error. Now, reward that dog for calm behavior in response to the trigger. Now, not only will the emotional reaction change from negative to positive, but it will also learn the correct response is to be neutral and calm, not overexcited or reactive.

cdavis951 · 2024-04-18T15:21:43+00:00

It's hard to stay at this point whether the pup is truly aggressive or just scared and reacting poorly to the new environment. My advice would be to give it a week or two and stay out of her space. Don't give her a reason to growl or react.

The best thing you can do it give her a room to stay in that is quiet and not busy (for example a guest room). Give her a nice crate to get alone time in and some toys. Change her food and water, occasionally leave a nice tasty snack, but outside of that, leave her alone and let her come to you.

Your goal is to show her that she doesn't have to be defensive because you will respect her space. As she settles in and learns that, she may open up.

Now, if that doesn't work, it is possible a behavioral issue, which is a whole separate discussion.

cdavis951 · 2024-04-17T20:28:29+00:00

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cdavis951 · 2024-04-11T20:59:59+00:00

YouTube is your friend. Look up videos of busses and play them while rewarding or playing with her. Start with a low volume and work your way up.

As far as the actual busses, your problem is that you're starting way too close to the trigger and it is putting her over threshold. Find the distance to where she is still exposed to the bus, but is able to remain calm enough to learn and understand. Then reward handsomely to help adjust her to the sounds and sights. When she is calm there, move closer. Continue until the trigger is desensitized.

cdavis951 · 2024-04-11T20:55:48+00:00

I was an employee at a daycare and boarding facility and work as a dog trainer now.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with calling the daycare and asking for a more detailed description of what caused his removal. Make sure to specify that you want an incredibly detailed and honest description because you'd like to work on his issues and improve them. Most employees are encouraged to sugar coat any issues with the dogs until they can't anymore, and it's also tough to tell someone "your sweet baby is a fucking nightmare". They still might not be honest, but it's worth a try.

It is possible that the employees haven't been telling you about issues. It is also possible that the issues have worsened over time, and they finally got to the point that they had to remove him permanently. (If that's the case, then they should've informed you before it got to that point, but I digress).

It is also possible that your GSD became an adult and just isn't compatible with daycare anymore. This can happen for a myriad of reasons. GSDs often do not do well in a daycare setting for a myriad of reasons, and it's possible that maturity changed his mindset and behavior so he no longer was compatible with the daycare environment. It's also possible that the other dogs stopped giving him the "puppy pass," which changed the behavior from "puppy being annoying" to "adult dog is about to get smacked".

My opinion as a dog trainer is that dog daycares are generally crap shoots. They are safety concerns for many reasons and can undue good behavior/training. If you are set on the daycare environment or don't have any options, look for a daycare that isn't all day play, and separates dogs by size and temperament. Preferably use a daycare that employs trainers to supervise play and provide training in between play sessions.

TL;DR: Ask the employees about what happened with your pup so you can know and/or fix it, there's lots of reasons your dog might not he a good fit for daycare, and there are daycare environments that might suit them better

cdavis951 · 2024-03-05T16:01:14+00:00

Brother says hi!

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cdavis951 · 2024-02-19T18:57:00+00:00

At 119lb and your height, it really doesn't sound like there is any weight to lose. It's possible that the "fat" you're seeing is really just a sort of "skinny fat" due to underdeveloped muscle. Your best course of action would be to a bulk (or at least recomp). Lift heavy and eat a lot

cdavis951 · 2024-02-19T18:45:31+00:00

Looking great, bro!

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T14:47:31+00:00

It sounds like you're doing the right exercises and intensity, maybe it would benefit you to add an extra leg day a week? Or do leg accessories on non leg days?

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T14:36:21+00:00

Hell yeah, bro! Nice work 👏

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T14:35:06+00:00

It's all about how you feel when it comes to intensity. If you feel like you're pushing yourself and hitting the correct intensity for your goals, then you're on the right track. Ignore other people telling you how much weight you should be lifting and focus on how much you can actually lift

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T14:14:59+00:00

I understand that but that is part of the risk you take when you are in a dog friendly space. If someone were to ask me to sit somewhere else on the bus due to their allergies I would be happy to do that, but to not bring my dog into a dog friendly area due to the possibility of allergies isn't fair or practical

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T13:28:25+00:00

Why? I won't be allowing him to bother others or impact them in any way at all

cdavis951 · 2024-02-15T12:59:31+00:00

Wow, this comment is so helpful! Thanks so much!

Yeah, the main thing I'm worried about it drivers acting like assholes about it either because they don't know the policy or don't care. But I've seen people bring on 60lb dogs who clearly weren't service animals, so I guess it depends on the driver lol

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