My husband and I have 2 young children, a 10 year old pit/mastiff mix and a 2 year old cat. We bought a house last year and for these last few months we’ve been discussing adding a new puppy to the mix.
My 10 year old dog isn’t nearly as playful as she used to be and we both wanted those experiences for our children. I had lots of dogs and cats as a kid, and I have very fond memories of them. I felt like my kids were missing out.
So last Thursday we decided to bite the bullet we went to a local no kill shelter. We talked to them for a while and they agreed we’d probably be better off with a puppy because of the small children, other dog, and cat. So we adopted a 10 week old German Shepard mix.
Now growing up in the country, I’ve had plenty of experiences with puppies, but I’ve never quite met one like him. I was well prepared for chewing, potty training, and those sharp puppy teeth. Except this dog brings it to a whole different level. He’s chewed up my carpet, my door trim, he was chewing on my brick fireplace earlier. I know a bored puppy is a destructive puppy. He goes on 2 half hour long walks a day, he has nearly an hour worth of training everyday. The sessions are split into 10 min bursts so he doesn’t get bored. I play with him for hours. The second someone stops playing with him he’s chewing on something he shouldn’t be. Despite positive reinforcement and occasional time-outs in his crate he’s not getting any better.
Training is great he learns quickly as long as we’re in a separate room with no distractions. He can already sit, drop it, leave it, heel, and come. Except he forgets about all of this in the real world. If I tell him drop it when he has one of my kids toys he doesn’t drop it and patiently wait for a treat like he does in the room. Instead he takes off and I’m forced to chase him around the house like a madwoman. He doesn’t care about the treats, or love, or his toys. He wants that Barbie.
Originally he was meant to bring my kids joy instead they’re terrified of him. If they so much as walk briskly he chases them and bites their clothes, usually making contact with their skin. He left a 6” scratch on my youngest’s leg. He prefers chewing hands to chewing on toys. I’ve tried crying and yelping, this does nothing.
My older dog tolerates him, she growls but never bites. My cat hates him and he’s becoming aggressive with her. She’s confined herself in my room the last few days. Today shes decided to brave the living room but he will bark and growl and she’ll hiss back. I’ve been trying to settle him down and it will work as long as he’s getting a constant supply of treats. However I’ve gone through a bag of 500 training treats since Thursday. This is split between the 2 dogs though.
I’m honestly starting to believe this was a huge mistake. I always swore I would never return a dog but I’m starting to wonder if that’s the best decision. He won’t be fully vaccinated for parvo for another 2 weeks but we are planning on professional training classes. I’m not sure if I can stand it that much longer. I worried for my cat and I’m worried my children will have a life long fear of dogs. I feel so guilty about the cat she’s clearly miserable. We have 30 days to bring him back to the no kill shelter if that’s what we want but I’d feel guilty about that too.
Does anyone have experience with this? Would it be better to bring him back to the shelter before he gets more attached? Do you think we can work through this?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/apnb99/puppy_regret/
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