Crazy title I know. So the story is this: i have a 3 year old mastiff/lab mix named Bella. I LLOVE this dog. I got her from an animal rescue when she was 7 weeks old. My partner and I adopted her, and planned to raise her together. I probably wouldn’t have gotten such a large dog if I’d planned on raising her alone. When she was 6 months old we Travelled across country from south Carolina to Arizona. The day after we arrived in Arizona I was incarcerated and spent the next five months in jail. Long story.
When Bella was almost a year and a half old we returned to south carolina. 3 months later i was extradited back to Arizona. This time i was gone for a year and while i was gone my partner, who had my dog, passed away. She went to the pound when he died and it took me 3 months to get back to her and get her back.
She now has the worst case of separation anxiety I have ever seen in a dog. She has no socialization skills and becomes overstimulated anytime she sees someone that she knows.
She won’t let me hug people or basically have any kind of physical contact in front of her. She begs for food and will sit there and growl at you until you give her some. She is not food aggressive but she is reactive to other dogs that attempt to eat around her and so I make sure i never feed her around dogs. She’s huge.
I want to find someone to train her…I’d like very much to board her with a trainer but when I looked into it the prices were waaaayy out of my ability to afford.
This dog is the only thing I have in my life that I love. My partner refused to train her or to sorry the things I tried to do with her when she was a puppy to avoid this problem now. I have been dragged on my face, ran down, manhandled by my dog. She’s only playing but she weighs as much as I do and I can’t control her. If I can’t get her under control I’m going to have to rehome her and that would be a tragedy. For both of us. She’s a huge dog over 100 lbs that will never be adopted out to a home that could deal with her and she’s the love of my life… she’s like my kid. If I lost her I’d lose the only thing I have to live for. If anyone has any advice please give it. Im lost
My Dog is Making Me Homeless
r/Advice
Comments
It can take a dog time to heal and recover from separation anxiety just as a human does. THIS WILL GET WORSE IF YOU RE-HOME HER and it’s likely she will wind up back in the pound because her new owners will be unable to deal with her.
She needs time to feel safe, realize you will not disappear and you might ask your vet for some calming meds.
Might be wortwhile looking into some professional help here, I dont necesairily think you did anything wrong here you tried your best but you might have stimulated some behaviour you dont want in your dog. Dogs are very hierarchical beings and sense the power dynamic in your household which she is clearly taking charge of right now.
A good thing to slowly implement is regularity, so feed you dog at the exact same time every day. Take walks every day at the same time. Punish your dog for bad behaviour and set the power dynamic to work in your favour. Leave her alone for some time, but do it with increments, dont leave your dog for hours at a time but try and leave them alone for even 15 minutes to start with, but go in and do your thing, do not directly go to the dog.
A dog is a pet, and you have it for your enjoyment, not the other way around.
Wow, Bella sounds like a lovable handful! It’s like she’s got her own reality show going on—‘Keeping Up with the Canine Chaos!’ Hang in there; you two are a team, and I’m sure you’ll figure this out together. Maybe she just needs some doggy therapy sessions to work through her ‘abandonment issues!’