u/winterismeowing

I’m on day 3 of solo parenting our 9wk old foster puppy (mixed breed Pyrenees or St. Bernard?) plus my 6 year old and after a hellish day/night 1, I’m proud to say that it’s okay now. The constant pee breaks are not as annoying as I expected (and it’s been pouring rain everyday) and he hasn’t had even one accident inside. His personality is sweet and funny and gets cuter by the day. Our cats already tolerate him which is saying a lot about how gentle he is. Nights he sleeps in a dog bed on the floor and is a good little sleeper for his age. But he has trauma about being confined and panics when crated or even shut alone in a room. Loose in the house he is fine ,even alone, but obviously we can’t leave him like that. Whoever has him as their family dog may need to work with a dog behaviourist to support with the separation anxiety. It’s gonna be surmountable but it will be a lot of work and money.

This background is to say thank goodness I fostered first. I love this puppy! I also realize we wanted the lifestyle and sweetness of having a dog, but do not have the capacity to do the huge amount of work that takes. Of course it’s possible, and much of that labour is even enjoyable! It’s not as bad as people say. The nightmare extremes are instagram, not reality — both the good and bad extremes. Fostering made me realize I am totally able to do and to enjoy this. But also that having a dog for its whole life means taking away a little attention each from my children, my job, my hobbies and my freedom. And the cost of the sweetness of a family dog is a measure of personal freedom.

My heart breaks a bit not keeping this puppy after he has gotten attached to us, but I know he will be okay and that we gave him a reprieve from a stressful situation. His forever family is gonna be so lucky. But his forever family is not us.

I just brought home our foster to adopt puppy two hours ago. He ate lunch, peed outside twice, played and explored his puppy room, and is now napping like a little angel. He was nonreactive when encountering our cats accidentally. Hasn’t barked super loud. But I’m so scared. I’m afraid to be with this creature who language I don’t understand. Every moment has been anxiety-ridden and I am filled with fear about what to do in the next hours and overnight. What do I do? 😭 I didn’t expect to feel like this. Please help.

Edit: he is 9 weeks old and is a mixed breed with definitely some Pyrenees. Update too is he settled in the room we have him in and took a nap/rested quietly for about an hour in there but but not in the crate. He had a full panic attack when I closed the crate door.