Me (24F) and my boyfriend (28M) rescued a lab/hound mix two months ago. We researched and read and did what we could to adopt a dog and be prepared for it, and did not take this choice lightly. He’s now almost 8 months. He has a super sweet and mellow disposition, is great with people and kids and after some initial reactivity, is now really good with other dogs. He has a little bit of training under him (sit, down, stay), and we’re working on leash pulling, but otherwise is a model pup, is 99% house trained. My bf and I are both first time dog owners and are now attached to him, and he’s finally come out of his shyness and is getting excited and happy around us. We can leave him alone for around 4-5 hours at a time.
So what’s the problem? Mainly, he keeps getting sick. He came home from the shelter with kennel cough, two weeks later got giardia, and now has BOTH kennel cough and giardia. We’ve had him for a little more than 8 weeks and it feels like for 6 of those weeks he’s been in quarantine, which means support systems (training classes, daycare, etc.) are off the table. This also has translated to $400-$600 vet bills every 3 weeks, even though we have pet insurance. The vets say that there’s just a ton of sickness in our area because we live in an urban, dog-dense area. Obviously I can’t fault the dog for getting sick, it’s just a layer of added stress to an already big life change of bringing a new family member home.
Secondly, my bf works full time in the office and I’m hybrid, so I’m home everyday with the pup. My office is starting to pressure me to start coming back in certain days of the week, so I am trying to figure out what to do now that daycare is off the table. My bf’s job has no options to work remotely, and he has been going in-person since April 2020; if he wanted to stay home to help, he would have to use PTO days. I’ve been trying to do mornings in the office, but with a long commute it makes me feel very scattered and overwhelmed running back and forth to do my job and come home to pup. I spend all day with him, deal with his puppy energy, take him on walks, give him all his meals, and a lot of the time feel like I’m doing it all by myself even though my bf helps when he gets home and handles the evening walks. Especially with not having external support systems with pup being sick, I feel like I’m on my own a lot of the time. I feel like I’m walking, feeding, cleaning, playing, training, vet appointments, AND trying to do my job on top of all of it. He also just won't stop barking and whining when I'm with him at home and trying to work-- no amount of interactive toys (that he destroys in 2 days) or snuffle mats or long walks will stop him from the barking.
I just feel so overwhelmed by all of it. I don’t think I’ve gone more than 2 days without crying in the past 8 weeks, I’ve started to go back to therapy in large part because of pup (and work stress, but that’s for another SOS post), and I genuinely worry about the strain that it’s putting on my relationship and on my job. We anticipated that getting a dog would be hard, but the continued sickness just continues to throw us for a loop. I just feel so hopeless that it’ll ever get better.
He’s such a sweet pup and the idea of rehoming him is the absolute last option, but I just don’t know how much more my mental health can take. Does it ever get easier? Something has to give, right?
So what’s the problem? Mainly, he keeps getting sick. He came home from the shelter with kennel cough, two weeks later got giardia, and now has BOTH kennel cough and giardia. We’ve had him for a little more than 8 weeks and it feels like for 6 of those weeks he’s been in quarantine, which means support systems (training classes, daycare, etc.) are off the table. This also has translated to $400-$600 vet bills every 3 weeks, even though we have pet insurance. The vets say that there’s just a ton of sickness in our area because we live in an urban, dog-dense area. Obviously I can’t fault the dog for getting sick, it’s just a layer of added stress to an already big life change of bringing a new family member home.
Secondly, my bf works full time in the office and I’m hybrid, so I’m home everyday with the pup. My office is starting to pressure me to start coming back in certain days of the week, so I am trying to figure out what to do now that daycare is off the table. My bf’s job has no options to work remotely, and he has been going in-person since April 2020; if he wanted to stay home to help, he would have to use PTO days. I’ve been trying to do mornings in the office, but with a long commute it makes me feel very scattered and overwhelmed running back and forth to do my job and come home to pup. I spend all day with him, deal with his puppy energy, take him on walks, give him all his meals, and a lot of the time feel like I’m doing it all by myself even though my bf helps when he gets home and handles the evening walks. Especially with not having external support systems with pup being sick, I feel like I’m on my own a lot of the time. I feel like I’m walking, feeding, cleaning, playing, training, vet appointments, AND trying to do my job on top of all of it. He also just won't stop barking and whining when I'm with him at home and trying to work-- no amount of interactive toys (that he destroys in 2 days) or snuffle mats or long walks will stop him from the barking.
I just feel so overwhelmed by all of it. I don’t think I’ve gone more than 2 days without crying in the past 8 weeks, I’ve started to go back to therapy in large part because of pup (and work stress, but that’s for another SOS post), and I genuinely worry about the strain that it’s putting on my relationship and on my job. We anticipated that getting a dog would be hard, but the continued sickness just continues to throw us for a loop. I just feel so hopeless that it’ll ever get better.
He’s such a sweet pup and the idea of rehoming him is the absolute last option, but I just don’t know how much more my mental health can take. Does it ever get easier? Something has to give, right?
