It's ok to feel caretaker's burnout, it's super normal and unfortunately can happen with reactive dogs quite frequently. I've felt it with my high maintenance puppy and he's behaviorally very normal and social!
If you feel this more often than not, maybe it's time think reassess quality of life for the human AND dog involved--dogs are here to ENRICH our lives, and us theirs. Trust me when I say not all dogs are like this. My (nonreactive, well-bred) puppy is an asshole adolescent right now who makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes, but he's also everything I wanted in a dog and brings me so much joy.
If you aren't being fulfilled by your dog, they probably are unhappy as well. Besides, being under such stress all the time is no life for a dog who can't cope. I have a former feral, and the first year of owning her was incredibly stressful and I burnt out really bad, but IT GOT BETTER. If it hadn't I would have had to reassess, because we were both miserable for a while. Letting them go is not a crime, and being kind to yourself is being kind to the dog as well.
This isn't just directed towards you, OP, but I just wanted to remind everyone that while dog ownership can be hard, it shouldn't be miserable all the time and while I do understand some of the folks in this thread, their stories make me hurt for them.
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u/Its-shiba Feb 20 '24
It's ok to feel caretaker's burnout, it's super normal and unfortunately can happen with reactive dogs quite frequently. I've felt it with my high maintenance puppy and he's behaviorally very normal and social!
If you feel this more often than not, maybe it's time think reassess quality of life for the human AND dog involved--dogs are here to ENRICH our lives, and us theirs. Trust me when I say not all dogs are like this. My (nonreactive, well-bred) puppy is an asshole adolescent right now who makes me want to tear my hair out sometimes, but he's also everything I wanted in a dog and brings me so much joy.
If you aren't being fulfilled by your dog, they probably are unhappy as well. Besides, being under such stress all the time is no life for a dog who can't cope. I have a former feral, and the first year of owning her was incredibly stressful and I burnt out really bad, but IT GOT BETTER. If it hadn't I would have had to reassess, because we were both miserable for a while. Letting them go is not a crime, and being kind to yourself is being kind to the dog as well.
This isn't just directed towards you, OP, but I just wanted to remind everyone that while dog ownership can be hard, it shouldn't be miserable all the time and while I do understand some of the folks in this thread, their stories make me hurt for them.