Frustrating situationship with dog.
If I’m being honest I think the reason I’m posting this is because I’m having a lot of guilt and confusion and I’m looking for validation and/or perspective.
A couple years ago I saw a dog running around my neighborhood. She was an Australian cattle dog and she was chasing cars in a busy street (typical cattle dog behavior) she was a little aggressive, but I was able to put a collar on her, left a note on the house she was by and took her home to wait for the owners. She turned out to be very sweet, but highly anxious.
I posted up flyers, posted her to all of the “found dogs” pages, but didn’t hear anything back for almost two weeks when the owners of the house I left a note at said “that dog has been hanging outside our house for weeks, we just moved in we have no idea who’s dog that is”
So from then on, I decided that I would “at least foster her for a bit” and try to get her trained up. She was a force to be reckoned with. She destroyed furniture, was terrible on a leash, and could not be around other dogs.
Now (3 years later) she’s great at the dog park, doesn’t really tear stuff up anymore, and is generally an anxious but well-behaved dog. She still has a tendency to lunge at passers by, especially cyclists, and she goes mental when someone knocks on the door. 🫣
The problem is that she, aside from being anxiously attached to me, doesn’t seem very happy and I’ve noticed she brings me more stress than happiness. I exercise her as much as I can, but it never seems to be enough. I’ve also started traveling more for work and with her unpredictable behavior I have a hard time finding/asking people to watch her. I’m missing the freedom I had to just leave in my previously dog-free life.
I’m considering re-homing her for both of our sakes, but it feels like giving up on her despite believing she has potential to be a great dog.
Does anyone have advice or experience with this? I’d love some perspective from someone who knows better and possibly some resources.