r/Puppyblues

Of course we listen and we don’t judge, having a puppy can be hard at the best of times. Puppies need 14-20 hours of sleep a day depending on their age. Crazy and hard to believe I know, but it’s true. I’d honestly say more than half of the “naughty, out of control” doesn’t listen to anything behaviour is tiredness/overstimulation. If you’ve never heard of them, read up enforced naps and about how puppies behave when they’re tired ie biting, behaving erratically. I’m by no means saying shove your puppy in a crate when it gets too much, I’m saying have a read about tiredness, crate training and enforced naps. It will solve a lot of problems for people thinking their puppy is simply evil haha 💕this worked for me with my mental 8 month old toy poodle, hope it works for you!

3 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I irresponsibly bought a Jack Russell puppy from the pet store. I am against buying from pet stores, but we visited one across the street from our house and met the cutest little JRT. He surely won us over. All it took was a big fat $4900 and a “no returns” contract to bring him home. The first few days I started to have anxiety here and there over worries that I am not equipped to care for a Jack Russell due to their high energy and strong prey drive but I brushed it off.

Fast forward to now, my boyfriend is back to work. He travels around the country for work and does 12 hours shifts 7 days a week. I am a full time student and usually tag along, staying in the hotel while he is working and I do my school work/walk around to explore the area we are in. We brought our puppy along and it is not going at all how I expected. Things were less hectic when my boyfriend was home helping me care for this little guy but now that the responsibility is solely on me to navigate school work and meet this puppy’s needs at the same time, I am experiencing debilitating anxiety and even suicidal ideation. I have no motivation to do anything whatsoever and am overwhelmed by enforcing crate naps, taking him out to potty after, playing with him while he’s up, and doing it all over again for the entire day. Every. Single. Day.

I have voiced how miserable I have become with my boyfriend and explained to him that I don’t think it’s right to keep this puppy when I am feeling this way and he is unable to step in since he is always working. My boyfriend absolutely adores the puppy and thinks that this is wrong and we should not rehome our puppy after making the final decision of getting him. I feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, like I am trapped and being forced to care for a puppy that is causing me to lose my mind.

Please no harsh criticism as I am fully aware that getting this puppy in the first place was a terrible decision. Just looking for any advice or thoughts on my situation.

We had a great day with our 4 month old puppy yesterday. Took her on a walk around the neighborhood, went to the park, did some training in the yard. She loved it and it was one of the best days we have had with her. She wasn’t trying to constantly bite me, took lots of naps, listened very well, was very sweet, giving kisses, snuggling with us, etc.

Today was nearly the complete opposite since she woke up and it’s been really overwhelming. She has been constantly biting me, stealing everything, lunging at me, barking at me, constant whining, zoomies, just relentless. She had the same exact walk as yesterday, same amount of training in the yard, we took her to a local pet store for some socialization, I’ve given her everything I can think of. Toys, treats, bully sticks, pupsicle, tug toys.

She had all the same food and a special dinner with bits of salmon! I keep trying to redirect her when she’s biting me and leaving the room but she just wouldn’t stop. Took her outside repeatedly to go potty to make sure that wasn’t an issue. She took two naps earlier but I just cannot get her to settle at all. I made her a lick mat that’s in the freezer now and may try the crate if I need to but she usually whines like crazy and won’t actually sleep in the crate.

As I type this she is now focusing on her bully stick so I hope she is finally done with the last 4 hours of being a manic evil possum. Puppyhood is a roller coaster and not for the weak. Especially when your pup is a mix of two high drive working breeds.

EDIT: She is FINALLY asleep for now. I’ve got the lick mat ready if she starts being crazy again. Phew!

I’ve had a few dogs, and I’d dare to say I’m experienced. Still, I experienced puppy blues with my latest one. I made two posts here, a few months apart, because I was struggling to bond with her. It was mostly about her personality and the fact that I just couldn’t seem to connect with her the way I had with my other dogs.

She’s smart, calm, and picks up tricks and commands within minutes. My main struggles were potty training and the fact that she seemed to love everyone but me, except for those moments when I first woke up or came home . 95% of the time she would pull away from affection and just look confused. She still hid behind me if scared and wanted to play.

Well, she just hit the seven-month mark, and it’s like something changed within days of my last post. Maybe it’s my mindset, maybe it’s her, or maybe it’s a little bit of both. She’s become affectionate, more aware of me, and responsive to everything. She’s also stopped eating and playing with her poop!
I’m genuinely happy I didn’t act on my feelings either of those times when I wasn’t in the best place mentally and considered rehoming her. Sometimes, you just need time, patience, and a little faith that things might get better. ❤️

My bar was high as my other dog is overly affectioned and bonded since the first hour I got her. Well my new girl needed time. She matures in her own pace and honestly it’s a great calm temperament even tough I had a few scares with her. I do see and focus now much more on her positives rather then comparing her. She is calm have never chewed anything but a toy. Has an almost perfect calm recall. Just a strange good little lady really. It gets better more time then not! Good luck to everyone!

Today I just feel so defeated. I went to a (small) birthday gathering with my puppy, already knowing it would be horrendous because she was already overtired before we even left but I guess I hoped she would calm down and sleep in a quiet corner…. I’m not mad at my dog at all, more mad at myself for going because I’m a people pleaser and afraid to say no, but I should have prevented her and myself from having a hard time. I just feel so isolated at the moment and I’m constantly scared of making a mistake. She absolutely hates resting, especially when I am out of sight. I keep reading posts about leaving their 12 week old puppies alone for hours and the highest we have progressed is that I can go to the toilet in peace, I don’t dare to leave her alone at all because as soon as she barks once I’m scared to trigger separation anxiety 🙈 the trainer I planned on having has injured herself won’t come for another two weeks. I would have never thought that it would be hard to get her to sleep - I anticipated destructive behavior, potty accidents or having to take her out to potty at night, but that’s all easy peasy. Every active skill she picks up on so fast, walking with her is relatively easy, but she can’t fucking relax anywhere but forced in her crate or weirdly enough, in the kitchen 😭😭😭

Edit: sorry for the missing words, I’m so tired today and I know resting and being alone are two different issues but they sort of tie together in our case 🙈

Pick one thing you've been holding yourself or your puppy to that just isn't realistic right now.

Maybe it's a daily hour-long walk. Maybe it's a spotless house. Maybe it's training every single day.

Let it go for one week. See what happens when there's a little more room to breathe.

Come back and tell us what you let go of. 💙