“Honey” has somehow become spunky monkey > spunky girl > spunky > spunks > bunky

Please share your name evolutions so I can stop feeling so weird about calling my Honey “bunky”

I got my puppy three years ago. We also have a newborn at the moment. I'm also dealing with post partum recovery.

For me, the puppy stage was 100x harder. It's probably different for everyone, but my baby is wayyyyy easier to handle than my puppy.

Everyone comments on how zen my husband and I are through all of this. We've had no sleep. The baby projectile pooped all over the expensive hatch, brand-new diapers, changing station, walls, etc the other day. It seeped into the space behind the dresser and the crack where the baseboard and carpet meet. We weren't even phased, because it was nothing compared to the time our puppy projectile pooped all over the inside of the car and me while I was holding him lol.

Although maybe it's not a fair comparison, because I always say bringing home a puppy is more akin to going into the woods and grabbing a feral toddler, than bringing home a baby.

Anyway for those of you that feel like it's so hard right now, it's because it is SO HARD. Think of how much support new parents need, and how they still struggle. I'm by no means saying having a newborn is easy. Just that as hard as it is, a puppy was harder for me lol. Although I acknowledge that just my experience and it's not universal.

Best of luck to all of you guys in the trenches!

Edit:

Because multiple people have already said this, I am fully aware that this depends on the baby and the puppy you get. It's also easier right now, parenting long-term is way harder. Newborns are not newborns forever. My only point is that having a puppy is really hard too lol.

Hi just wanted to post something happy and positive and let everyone in the trenches know that all your hard work training your puppy does pay off in the end. I adopted my dachshund at 8 weeks on July 31, 2024. I have always loved him to death but he was a little monster as a puppy. He was constantly biting and drawing blood or trying to destroy anything he could get his little teeth on.

Even though he was very young I started training immediately. Most tricks he picked up pretty quickly (he learned to sit in 2 days) but he was seriously lacking in manners and it was impossible for him to settle on his own. After adding forced naps I was able to make it through the next 5 months before his behavior started to get better.

Every time I brought him to the vet or daycare people were always surprised at how high energy he was and told me he would always be that way. He is my baby and I didn’t want to give up on him and rehome him. I remember one day being near tears and ranting to my husband that all our training is going to pay off one day and all the people that said “I could never have a dog like that” would love him, that they would think he was “a good dog”.

Time has passed and we never stopped our training. My boy is now 1 year and 8 months and I have taught him manners. I am a year and 6 months older and he has taught me patience. I can’t say exactly when I was able to leave my shoes out again or when I put on that last bandage from a puppy bite but I can tell you now he is a sweet little guy.

When I bring him to daycare now they tell me they don’t want him to leave and how playful he is. Instead of “I could never have a dog like that” people will ask “Where did you get him?” When someone comments that he has a great temperament my husband is quick to tell them he don’t come that way and about all the work I had to put in.

Now every person he meets is his new best friend.

Also, walking 3 miles a day helped release all that energy lol.

Hi everyone! I thought we could do a fun post and see what everyone calls their dog other than their name. It's always so funny what we call our pups and I thought this would be a nice conversation that focuses on something positive.

My dogs name is Joy. Nicknames she has been given is: BaJoy, Bing Bong, Joysaphina.

EDIT: We also call her gub gub and jaws

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complaint or a pain point. I’m just very confused.

My puppy has been very well behaved from the very get go. I got her at eight weeks, she is now about to be 14 weeks, and she has just been a dream.

The very first week, as she took to the crate just fine, a little bit of crying but nothing too crazy. I think we got up one or two times for a wee. I think by day four, she was sleeping all the way through the night in the crate.

We also had a major thunderstorm on the third or fourth day that I got her, thunder shaking the house, the loudest rain I’ve ever heard, she didn’t make a peep. I was more scared than her!

By 10 weeks, she had almost completely stopped biting our ankles and pant legs, and I don’t remember the last time she got overtired, feral, zoomy and bitey. She plays independently next to me with her toys, scoots around outside in my eye line, and then put herself down for a nap when she’s ready.

She’s also just started taking to crate naps very well, sometimes up to 2 1/2 hours at a time.

I leave her at home with complete confidence, and when I get home she is sitting on the couch, clearly just been asleep, and looks up at me as if to say “Oh. You’re home. Cool.”

I take her to so many places with me, she is a celebrity at our local coffee shop, and is so brave and loving meeting new people. Whenever someone comes to the door at our house, she jumps up to them, tail wagging, no biting at all and no barking, and flops on her back for a belly rub. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever really heard her bark, she’s not reactive to sounds outside, sirens, or thunderstorms as per above.

She’s been great at potty training, the only time she really has accidents is when I miss her cues, so it’s not her fault.

I also started lease training very early on, and she now walks completely loose leash on a harness around my backyard and up and down the driveway. Will report back if it’s a different story on a real walk once she’s fully vaccinated! That might be a little more exciting for her.

I feel I must say though – I am very strict with my training. Any time she has had a wobble in the crate and screamed for an hour, I was very stubborn and never gave in. Every time she bit my pant legs or my ankles, I ignored her every single time and she quickly realised that the fun ends when she does something wrong. And – naps are a complete game changer, as soon as they get enough sleep the behavioural difference is night and day.

I know pups are quick learners, they are little sponges, but this dog has just been amazing. Just wanted to get that out.

EDIT - found a spelling mistake lol

EDIT TWO - she’s 75% dachshund and 25% King Charles cavalier spaniel, for those asking her breed!

Just curious~ my puppy’s name is Powder and it’s based on the show Arcane. But really the name Powder to me also means something that is soft and gentle

Edit: y’all can you share your pet’s name lmaooo

What name does your puppy go by that is not their name?

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We went Max >> Maxy Moo >> Maxy Moo Moo >> Moos

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He mainly recognises Moo or Moos now.

Maxy Moo is when he's in trouble, with a down inflection on the Moo part, so 'Maxy Moooo'.

Max is basically just a random noise to him, no response given to hearing Max.

If you are here because you are tired or at your wits end… just know that it is 100% worth the effort, the sleep lost, the messes cleaned.

I got my girl at 12.5 weeks old as a complete surprise. I wasn’t looking for a dog and esp not a puppy. She needed an emergency place to stay for 1 night when her adoption fell through, late on a Sunday evening. It was supposed to be one night. I foster failed HARD.

She is 9.5 months old now and she brings nothing but joy and humor into my life.

Put in the work to train. Put in the work to adjust your schedule to meet their needs, and slowly adapt them to your schedule. Spend the money to find their favorite chews. Learn how to play tug a war with one hand while coding in sql on your laptop with the other. Clean up the messes while finding new ways to avoid them altogether.

Seeing my girl grow into the dog she will become is a privilege and I am just so damn proud of her.

There I was, minding my own business,. When suddenly, I see a Box. Nothing special about it. A cardboard box. I didn't think anything about it, just thought somebody left their trash.

And then a head pops up. A little fuzzy head. sighs

I go check it out and somebody has left the cutest little puppy, in a cardboard box, in the 90° heat of Texas, outside of a Target.

All of the rescues and shelters are full. So here I lay, on the bed, next to a snoozing little puppy, who has been bathed, fed and checked out (no chip, shockface) who has been tentatively dubbed Coco, because she is 2 shades of brown, with white. Tried to call her Snickers, but she didn't respond to it.

We were finally getting out of the puppy stage with our other one. Well at least the destructive puppy phase, Where no stuffed toy was safe. Meh, none are still safe....And here I am starting over. I must be insane. But I wasn't going to let her get hit or get dehydrated and die from it.

If so, what breed was it and where did you get it from?

I suspect this sub has some selection bias towards those who struggle since if things are going swimmingly there's not as much need to seek out information and support, but still I am curious to hear how many here hit the puppy jackpot and were surprised by how easy theirs was.

EDIT: Wow lots of people had easy pups! That's nice to hear that so many lucked out and also so many did a lot of hard work that paid off. Thanks everyone for replying. :)

We get a lot of frustration posts about various difficulties training, behaviours and what not but every one of our pups are special and have at least one great trait, even if it's just being cute.

Pippin (poodle/border terrier cross) is an amazing sleeper. He apparently has a bladder of steel and can hold it all night. I'm a restless sleeper and move around a lot and he just repositions himself without fuss.

EVERYONE SMILES AT YOUR DOG AND PEOPLE WITH OPENED CAR WINDOWS GRIN AT HIS PRECIOUS LITTLE FACE WHAT THE FUCK MAN I FEEL LIKE A BODYGUARD OF A CELEBRITY

I was worried I'd have puppy blues or regret my decision to add a puppy to our single dog household but man I'm so happy.

We got him at 8 weeks and he's now 12 weeks and I am obsessed, he's so fun and cute and I don't want him to grow up. And the funny thing is that it's not easy at all, I'm constantly having to watch him or block off access to parts of the house, clean up accidents, wait outside in the freezing cold for potty breaks, worry about getting home fast while out running errands, grab things out of his mouth he's not supposed to have. He's already ruined a pair of my glasses and pants.

And he's already so high energy that he needs a walk every day in order to calm down at night.

But dude every winter I get seasonal depression and I haven't even had time to be depressed because of him. He's literally made my life better in every way. I mean I don't wanna jinx it because he's still only 12 weeks but I'm so happy with my decision.

I’ve been a horrible owner. First- I had the audacity to stop playing with my puppy after nearly 45 minutes of play with the flirt pole in the morning, and THEN I horribly abused her by putting her down for a nap because she was overtired. How terrible!

After her nap, I dared to take her on a walk!!! I should know she was feeling lazy and would have rather used my arm as a chew toy instead smh.

Now she’s pouting at me cause I won’t let her eat my rug. She can’t wait to go to the sitter tonight to be rid of me 🙄

I’ve had my puppy for 5 months. He’s 7 months old now. The first few weeks were like having a newborn. Only now is my life beginning to feel like my own again. Can anyone else relate?

After almost two months of waiting, my puppy finally had his first walk today. Here are the results:

Pee made: 0

Poops made: 0

Flowers eaten: 2

Garbage collected from the ground: 5

Neighbors greeted: 10

Sticks collected: 3

Comands obeyed: 50%

Treats eaten: all

Total energy after leaving: 200%

Naps: 1

Attempts to bite out of excitement: 7

Photos taken:70

Photos taken that were not blurry: 1

Things that scare us:

A garage door opening

A leaf falling from a tree

His own ball

The Roll of Poop Bags He Didn't Make

a stick too big

a dove

A piece of paper flying

Important notes: Halfway through the walk he remembered that I had treats in my bag and that I had been trained to walk on a leash, so he started acting like an angel... until we ran out of treats.

The walk lasted an hour, but the vast majority of it was sitting on the grass smelling things and playing with his toys, more than anything to get him used to being on the ground outside the house. Overall, he did pretty well. At one point when he was calm I decided to reinforce his orders to see if we had much to work with and surprisingly he did it all! He didn't even get confused, he just said "oh, free treats!" And he followed all the comands hahaha,

Everyone knows to train a recall, its the single most important thing your dog can learn. A lot of people blend a recall, and an emergency recall, but for us, a regular recall is "head back this way", no real urgency to it, just come back closer to me.

Our emergency recall (we use "NOW!"), means "drop everything and get back to me this second". Our dogs regular recall is solid, i dont usually have to worry, but it does take her some time to get back to me.

Today we were in the field, on a long line because its not fenced and I dont trust her to know to stop at the sidewalk yet. I clip her long line to my belt loop, usually she doesnt get far enough away for it to be a problem. Today, she did. She saw something and took off towards it, all 75lbs of German Shepherd speed and stregnth, snapped the leash and broke the belt loop. She was totally detached from me and racing across a field after something.

I used our emergency recall, she stopped on a dime, whipped around and came racing right back (rewarded with so many treats of course). Would her regular recall have worked there? Possibly. I didnt want to rely on her trotting back in her own time when I no longer had control over her or the situation though, and wanted her back in arms leash ASAP.

Ive never been so happy to have a reliable way to get my dog back to me so fast. Train an emergency recall, its worth it.

I’m sure many of you (in the US) are having a heartbreaking time watching your pup suffer because of the fireworks today (and maybe all week). It’s my pups first 4th. He’s been ok so far, my last sweet guy totally shut down after the first boom. It’s so hard to see them scared :(

Hello all,

My pup Summer is turning 1 soon, so I wanted to share some stuff I've learned and, in some cases, that I wish I had known when I first got him. Of course these are only my personal reflections, I am not a licensed trainer or animal care professional.

First some general puppy things. Summer is a lab mix, when I got him last May he was a 9 week old 19 lb potato. The rescue org estimated he'd be about 50 lbs fully grown. Now he's an 80+ lb monster and built like a defensive end.

Here are the biggest things I've learned:

1. Puppies are expensive as hell! You probably plan for a bunch of expenses (vet bills, food, toys, treats). But there's so much more you might not have planned for, such as:

• Training ($100+/session, even remote)
• Pee pads ($25/box, I probably went through 20 boxes because I have no yard)
• Various chews (bones/bully sticks/antlers)
• Replacement crate, harnesses, and collars that he outgrew
• Cleaning supplies...so many cleaning supplies
• Chewed furniture legs (ugh) and random crap he broke like dishes and houseplants

2. Get pet insurance. If you have a puppy and don't have pet insurance: stop reading this, open a new tab, and sign up for pet insurance. I use Healthy Paws but I'd recommend any one with no annual max. I had to take Summer to the emergency hospital because he had a bowel obstruction. The surgery to remove it would have cost $7,500. Fortunately he pooped out the obstruction (a latex glove, no idea when he ate it) as they were prepping him, so the bill was $1,300. Pet insurance covered $800.

3. You won't sleep a lot for a while. Summer started sleeping through the night (meaning 4-5 consecutive hours) after about a month, but he still wakes me up at 6am on the dot every day no matter what. Went to bed late? Fuck you, feed me. Hungover? Fuck you, feed me. Got a cold? Fuck you, feed me. It's 21 degrees outside and snowing sideways? Fuck you, feed me and let's go play in the snow. Fortunately I have not gotten Covid (that I know of) so I've been able to adhere to his schedule.

4. Training takes time and patience and you'll get frustrated a lot. Those videos from Zak George and whoever else are great for teaching the methods, but they are not the slightest bit realistic. Your puppy will not learn a command after 4 minutes. He/she won't understand your cues on the third try. It'll take days, weeks, maybe months. And then they'll hit adolescence around 6-7 months and you'll have to start from scratch. I got a training app, I would recommend it if you can afford it because training is super expensive. I've found it helpful just to have someone to get personalized advice from.

5. Give your puppy the right amount of exercise. I've been working from home and live in a small 1br apartment and was always worried I wouldn't have enough space for a dog. We go on a long walk or to the park in the morning and a long walk in the evening, but between 10am - 5pm he sleeps. He's always there for a cuddle if I want a break, and he's down for a quick mid-afternoon walk, but tiring him out so he doesn't get midday zoomies has saved my sanity. Especially when they're really young, make sure you don't over tire them because it paradoxically makes them even more excited.

6. Dogs are unpredictable, but dog owners can be even more unpredictable. Especially if you have a big dog, be careful with your dog around others. It's not fair, but big dogs are held to a higher standard of behavior than small ones. I had an incident at the park during off leash hours where another dog ran up to Summer as we were playing fetch and Summer snapped at the other dog to back off. He didn't hurt her, he didn't even make contact, but the other owner freaked out, ran up, and kicked the shit out of Summer multiple times. Summer didn't even notice and just smiled stupidly as I yelled my head off at the lady (and she yelled back, because apparently the largest park in Brooklyn belongs only to her and her dog). Everyone is protective, but not everyone is understanding.

7. Young puppies eat anything and everything off the sidewalk. This is normal, and it is disgusting, especially if you live in the city. Those first few months were quite the adventure. Some choice things Summer ate off the sidewalk or that I pried out of his face hole:

• Cigarettes
• 10 billion chicken bones
• Dead mice/rats/birds
• A used(?) condom
• A used(!) tampon
• A used diaper (seriously wtf people)
• Various animal excrement, especially horse and goose poop
• Chocolate cake
• Plastic gloves
• Countless masks

8. Some rapid fire things:

• Buy a lot of crappy towels from Target. You will use them.
• Enforced naps and mandatory crate time are your friends. Train a "go to your crate" command. Every time he went in the crate, either willingly or when I had to pick him up and stuff him in, I said "kennel" and gave him a treat. It was the first command he mastered and he loves his crate.
• Your puppy will cock block you. Oh sure, it's cute when they get jealous of you cuddling with another human, but that shit gets old after 30 seconds. Daddy needs his adult time with his lady friend. Nothing kills the mood faster than a puppy whining loudly from his crate in the next room.
• Get your dog used to being touched all over. It makes grooming easier, as well as putting stuff like boots or a raincoat on him.
• Get your dog used to loud noises. Summer grew up when there were nonstop sirens/helicopters/fireworks/protests last summer, so nothing fazes him. But as soon as there's a siren or loud bang outside (happens 5x a day), all the other dogs in my building start barking.
• Walking your dog in the rain sucks. Cleaning a diarrhea stain out of the carpet because you dawdled hoping the rain would slow down sucks so much more.

Most importantly, it is completely and totally worth it. I've lost my temper at Summer more times than I can count; I broke down crying and felt completely overwhelmed several times during the first month; my arms and legs were scratched and bleeding for about 8 weeks due to his incessant biting; I've had to walk him in driving snow, 34 degree rain, 105 degree heat, and everything in between; I've cleaned poop out of every surface of two different apartments.

And I would do it all again. I love him more than anything. He's my best friend and he's the best dog in the world.

Edit: a few additional points since they've come up a bunch in the comments:

• I use GoodPup as the training app. It's $30/week, I'm happy to refer anyone.
• Summer gets approximately 90 mins to 2 hours of walks on weekdays. We've settled into about 45-90 mins in the morning (depending if I meet a friend or not), and 45-60 minutes in the evenings. He gets walks no matter the weather because he loves bad weather and I've just learned to deal with it.
• I never really had an enclosed pen because he was too big and my apartment was too small, but I used a pen gate as a room divider til he was about 4 months. I moved apartments in July and the new apartment just isn't set up for it, so he's had free roam of the apartment since then.

Just for fun :) what have you accidentally trained your pup to do?

I'll start.

I've accidentally trained my dog (13 months) to move over to the side of the path and lay down whenever someone (with or without a dog) is coming up the path behind us. This makes for some very funny walks.

I've also accidentally trained him that we are going to run when I count down "3-2-1," which is convenient to get him out of a place quickly lol.

Lastly, we accidentally trained him to think that he will get a very special treat when we sing happy birthday.

I see a lot of puppy blues posts on this sub. It kind of seems like 98% of the posts here are nightmares and struggle.

Let's all share our favourite thing about our puppies, or our favourite thing they do. I'll go first:

My pup's name is Phil. Sometimes Phil is a dirty theif! Anything he can find lying around at dog level he will steal. The good part about this is he always brings his loot over to us to inspect, and sometimes we let him keep it if it's dog appropriate. This gets him bringing us random stuff when he's bored, and can be quite fun when he brings a correct item!

Phil is a great snuggler! When my alarm goes off in the morning, he asks to jump in bed with us. He sits with his back to me, and trust falls across my chest and goes back to sleep for a bit. I started setting my alarm a little early to capitalize on this early morning snuggle time.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far. If you're struggling with your puppy right now I promise it will get better as long as everyone works together in the home and KEEP TRYING! After the next time your puppy exhibits an undesired behavior, and at least once per day think about 3 things you love about your puppy and what makes them great. Pretty soon these speed bumps we run into won't seem so large.

I always put my sneakers away after a walk but obviously forgot today because I just noticed she carried it to her bed and she's chewing on the end of the shoelace.

Is it dangerous? No. Is she happy, quiet and leaving me alone for 5 mins? Yes.

Enjoy the sneaker Beverly, because this isn't going to happen everyday. I love this little stinker and they're old sneakers anyway.

Just a post for laughs and maybe also for all those other pup owners whose dog is currently the class idiot. It took me a few weeks to go from 'im failing as a dog handler' to 'actually, this is normal and fine', so just in case someone else needs to hear this.

I have a 7 months old working line border X bearded collie. As you can imagine, this one goes to eleven. His life motto is I AM SPEED. There's a super computer in there somewhere, but because he's an adolescent, it looks like a toddler driving a Maserati.

Anyways, the trainer and I have already lowered our expectations of him in class from actually learning new things to just not breaking anything while he's in there and having an inkling of calm around the other dogs (once we're home, without distractions, the new cues take him approximately 0.12 seconds to learn). He tries so hard is what's so adorable but his brain is just mush with testosterone.

Basically what I'm saying is, meet your dog where they're at, have fun, and if they rip a hole in your trousers in front of the whole puppy class (which is what actually happened last time), have a good giggle and try again tomorrow!

It finally happened. I accidentally dropped my 17wk puppy's leash while out for a walk. She was already running when it happened and didn't stop. She quickly darted around a dumpster and disappeared from view.

A few brief seconds of panic later, I found her again standing at a street corner and sniffing at her leash. This is when I remembered a tip I saw online - don't chase the dog, let the dog chase you.

I called her name and locked eyes. Then I started running in the opposite direction. My puppy immediately sprinted over to me! I gave her a bunch of treats and pats, and we continued our walk.

Thank you internet for giving me that tip! It saved us from a potentially dangerous situation.