puppy blues
i’m coming on here to ask for help and asking for no judgment please. my dachshund is 4 months old and i’ve had her for about 7 weeks now. i went thru the puppy blues when i first got her and in the past few weeks we have established routine and i can tell she’s definitely starting to feel at home. my whole reasoning for wanting a puppy was i wanted to experience it, i wanted my dog to be my bestfriend, and ive always loved animals. my childhood dog also passed away recently and it was extremely hard. she was genuinely the most loving dog ever she was an amazing girl. we have our other dog who i would consider my literal soulmate and she had always been with our other dog and i thought it would be a good idea for her to have another dog and even tho shes 10 years old she still has crazy energy and loves to run around. and for a little more establishment those are my parents dogs who ofc always came and cuddle with me and my puppy is mine and my boyfriends but everything is mainly on me. my boyfriend doesn’t live with me but is here on weekends and often spends the night a few times a week. for as long as i could remember my dream dog has been a dachshund and do not get me wrong she’s my world but i will never get a puppy so young again. my puppy blues started to go away and were bad in the first 3 weeks and i was having break downs and was just genuinely exhausted. in the past 2 weeks it honestly feels like im at the start of just getting her again. she’s started to bite like crazy again, hates her crate again, screams when im not right next to her, is starting to rip up her pee pads, and has basically forgot all of her training. for the past week it’s been a lot of sleepless nights because she’s crying constantly in her crate and even when shes not in her crate and she’s getting into something. i feel exhausted again i feel the regret of getting a puppy again and i often feel like i want nothing to do with her. with doing crazy amounts of research to be prepared nothing could genuinely prepare for actually getting a puppy. i’m always doing my best to be patient and understanding she’s a puppy she’s going to mess up, have accidents, be crazy, cry etc but the last 4 days have been especially hard and i had a breakdown for the first time in weeks. with my boyfriend not living with me everything is on me and he can sleep thru anything when i can’t i’m up when she cries i’m the one who wakes up so she can go potty im the one not sleeping because she’s crying i spend the time playing with her i take her outside to run around i deal with 80% of the messes im feeding her giving her baths doing most of it. at the end of everyday he gets to go home and be in a quiet room and i’m stuck awake until all hours of the night because i can’t get stuff done when she’s awake. i tried to shower today and she was screaming bloody murder at 2am when i have family sleeping who didn’t sign up for a puppy so i also have to be mindful of that. i tried to put her in her crate with a bone. i put a blanket over her crate like i used to put on background noise and turned the lights off and just waited and it was screaming constantly. i gave up and took her into the bathroom with me so i could shower and the whole time it was crying. she completely tore up her bed the other day is starting to get into my trashcan and my room is puppy proofed as it can be and she still finds something to get into. i take her out in the morning and in the evening for around 40-60 minutes to run around because it’s too hot during the day for her to run around for long period of time so i only give her 10-15 minutes because we are trying to teach her to potty outside. i try and play with her inside and throw a ball or play tug of war give her a bully stick etc for entertainment during the day. i know she’s a puppy and hates being alone but i can’t trust her to be out of her crate anymore unsupervised and screams the whole time i leave the room even for 2 minutes. im going to be extra strict on training and rewarding her when she’s quiet. throwing treats in her crate, don’t open the crate when she’s crying, leave the room for short periods and enter when she’s quiet and all of the basic stuff but more constantly and in hopes that will help. i just feel stuck again honestly i got thru this once i can again but it’s so exhausting and she’s so unpredictable. if anyone has had this happen has any good tips, websites, videos on training please lmk. if i’m doing things wrong if you have questions or anything i will do the best to answer for some guidance. also any good enrichment and mentally stimulating toys that’s your dachshund loves for when you’re busy please lmk. i’m obviously missing so many details about my puppy and our routine but i just need some tips.
edit: thank you for the people who took the time to read and comment help and kind words. it honestly helped knowing i’m not alone in this and i tell myself this is a phase and it will get better people saying it helped. goodluck with everyone in the puppy blues stage as well and know you’re not the only person going through it. and your frustration and feelings are valid owning a puppy is hard.