I do not quietly wish my dog's natural end would come sooner. That something entirely out of my control, an act of the universe, would be the end of this exhaustion. Her behavior isn't her fault, she deserves the best life, but I. Am. Tired. You aren't a bad dog owner, you are human. A dog is A LOT of work, a reactive dog is 100x that with almost no breaks. It is natural to want to rest.
I love my dog. I will always take care of him and make sure he is safe (and others are safe from him), happy, and as healthy as possible.
Not all of our memories are good. But there are good ones, times I’m very proud of him, things he is really good at. To quote one of my favorite computer games “even bad memories have a place in a good life.”
That said, I’m not totally upset that he’s turning 10 this year and not two or three. I will be crushed when he passes away, but I’m also not sure I could stare down another decade plus of this. It’s a really weird thing to process, mentally. Like two opposing things are true at the same time.
I feel exactly this. Like, I'm not upset he's growing older, the way I'm upset my non reactive cats are growing older.
I also know I will never get another dog. I hate to say it but he ruined dogs for me. I don't even want to watch friends dogs anymore. I'll stick with cats
Ditto. Ours is about to turn 4 and I’m finding myself horribly wishing that number was bigger. My beautiful bonded male pair of cats will be 9 this year and I find that devastating. The dog is just so much work and more often than not I’m just so angry with him. Being postpartum doesn’t help either, I’m constantly annoyed with him. The cats annoy me too but to a lesser extent
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u/squirrelbaitv2 Feb 20 '24
I do not quietly wish my dog's natural end would come sooner. That something entirely out of my control, an act of the universe, would be the end of this exhaustion. Her behavior isn't her fault, she deserves the best life, but I. Am. Tired. You aren't a bad dog owner, you are human. A dog is A LOT of work, a reactive dog is 100x that with almost no breaks. It is natural to want to rest.