u/karine_brume

I adopted my dog in October when he was around 4 months old, and he’ll soon be a year old. His breed is unknown, but we think he’s a pitbull/husky mix. He was abandoned at the shelter after spending two months with his previous owner, where he spent most — if not all — of his time in a crate. At first, he was very afraid of the crate and had separation anxiety. Today, he can stay in the crate and usually cries for 1–2 minutes after we leave, then settles down.

With my partner, he’s an almost perfect dog: very calm, and he doesn’t follow him everywhere around the house. He’s very energetic, even reactive, but not aggressive toward other dogs, and that’s something we’re working on with a trainer. With me, it’s different: he follows me everywhere, gets overexcited, and shows undesirable behaviors. My partner works outside the home 4 days a week, so I’m alone with the dog most of the time.

The problem is that he does everything he can to get my attention and wakes me up in the morning by getting into trouble around the house. I work evenings, so I leave for work from 3:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. At night, I spend an hour playing with him, we go for a walk, and I feed him. I usually go to bed around 2:00 a.m., and he generally needs me to direct him to his mat at the foot of the bed so he can calm down and fall asleep.

In the morning, around 8:30 a.m., he wakes me up: he licks my face, paws at me, and often rings the bell to go outside. If I don’t get up, he starts chewing or eating various objects around the house (clothes, blankets, tissues, shoes, etc.), which he never does when supervised or when my partner is there. Recently, I started putting him in his crate after letting him outside (after he wakes me up). I then get back up around 10:30 a.m. When I wake up, whether he’s in the crate or not, he starts again: grabbing different objects or eating forbidden things, then often comes and sits directly in front of me. When I try to take the object away, it obviously becomes a game to him, and he runs around the house so I’ll chase him to get it back. For the past week, I’ve kept a leash on him in the house so I can catch and correct him. Before going to work, I spend at least an hour playing and walking with him, in addition to feeding him with interactive toys and giving him chew toys and bones freely available.

At other times, often during play or when I correct him, he tries to nip at my hands and sometimes jumps on me, which he never does with my partner.

I’m at the end of my rope: tired, exhausted, frustrated. My life revolves around this dog, and I feel like our relationship is suffering because of it. The most frustrating part is that he’s not like this at all with my partner: he doesn’t wake him up, stays calmly on his mat, and isn’t destructive.

I suspect he has dominant behavior. I’m not expecting a perfect dog, but I can’t take being woken up anymore or not being able to sit on the couch with him calmly relaxing in the house.

If you want more details about certain aspects, feel free to ask! Just to note, we see a dog trainer about once a month.

I adopted my dog in October when he was around 4 months old, and he’ll soon be a year old. His breed is unknown, but we think he’s a pitbull/husky mix. He was abandoned at the shelter after spending two months with his previous owner, where he spent most — if not all — of his time in a crate. At first, he was very afraid of the crate and had separation anxiety. Today, he can stay in the crate and usually cries for 1–2 minutes after we leave, then settles down.

With my partner, he’s an almost perfect dog: very calm, and he doesn’t follow him everywhere around the house. He’s very energetic, even reactive, but not aggressive toward other dogs, and that’s something we’re working on with a trainer. With me, it’s different: he follows me everywhere, gets overexcited, and shows undesirable behaviors. My partner works outside the home 4 days a week, so I’m alone with the dog most of the time.

The problem is that he does everything he can to get my attention and wakes me up in the morning by getting into trouble around the house. I work evenings, so I leave for work from 3:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. At night, I spend an hour playing with him, we go for a walk, and I feed him. I usually go to bed around 2:00 a.m., and he generally needs me to direct him to his mat at the foot of the bed so he can calm down and fall asleep.

In the morning, around 8:30 a.m., he wakes me up: he licks my face, paws at me, and often rings the bell to go outside. If I don’t get up, he starts chewing or eating various objects around the house (clothes, blankets, tissues, shoes, etc.), which he never does when supervised or when my partner is there. Recently, I started putting him in his crate after letting him outside (after he wakes me up). I then get back up around 10:30 a.m. When I wake up, whether he’s in the crate or not, he starts again: grabbing different objects or eating forbidden things, then often comes and sits directly in front of me. When I try to take the object away, it obviously becomes a game to him, and he runs around the house so I’ll chase him to get it back. For the past week, I’ve kept a leash on him in the house so I can catch and correct him. Before going to work, I spend at least an hour playing and walking with him, in addition to feeding him with interactive toys and giving him chew toys and bones freely available.

At other times, often during play or when I correct him, he tries to nip at my hands and sometimes jumps on me, which he never does with my partner.

I’m at the end of my rope: tired, exhausted, frustrated. My life revolves around this dog, and I feel like our relationship is suffering because of it. The most frustrating part is that he’s not like this at all with my partner: he doesn’t wake him up, stays calmly on his mat, and isn’t destructive.

I suspect he has dominant behavior. I’m not expecting a perfect dog, but I can’t take being woken up anymore or not being able to sit on the couch with him calmly relaxing in the house.

If you want more details about certain aspects, feel free to ask! Just to note, we see a dog trainer about once a month.