New adolescent puppies...grrr.

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allie

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I kind of just need to get this off my chest, this post is less about advice and more of just trying to let it go. Sorry that it's gonna be pretty long.

A month ago my boyfriend and I adopted two Australian cattle dog adolescent puppies from our local animal shelter, about 7 months old. They had been bought at a pet store (so dumb that pet stores even still sell puppies!) and then the original owners realized they were too much to handle so they got brought to the shelter. I found out about them through Facebook, and we have had rescued cattle dogs before so we decided to adopt them, because last year we tragically lost two of our dogs within two months of each other, and so we had the room for more.

I have an 11 year old dog whom I adopted when she was just a baby, so we brought her to the shelter to meet the puppies and it all went great, so we adopted them. We've had them for a month now, and man are they annoying. They are driving me and my older dog nuts, and honestly I sort of regret getting them.

Today, there was a bone on the floor and my boyfriend had let my dog Gypsy over onto the puppy side of the house, (we keep them in one half of the house with a baby gate so my older dog can have her own space), without picking the bone up first, and one of the puppies snapped at Gypsy when she went near the bone, so she growled and barked and chased him. It wasn't a full on fight, but it was definitely frustrating because we try to make all their interactions positive because we want the puppies to learn good social skills.

Later on tonight we took them for a walk and the other puppy jumped on Gypsy's back trying to play, but she has a sore shoulder (that she's in physical therapy for) so she snapped and chased him away too. It's a bit uncharacteristic of her to be so touchy, so now I'm scared that she's in pain or sick, so I'm going to make a vet appointment tomorrow even though she was just given a clean bill of health last month.

Having two 8 month old working breed dogs in the house is a big challenge, and honestly downright annoying most of the time. We are doing lots of training and they are going to be learning to play in dog sports soon to give them a fun thing to work at, and they have really come a long way since we got them, but they still have a long way to go towards being polite and respectful. I know it takes time and consistency but right now I'm above my stress threshold and I think Gypsy is too.

I am so scared that we've basically ruined the rest of her life by getting these puppies. She used to have the whole house to herself and now her and I can't even play with one of her favorite toys without the puppies barking and freaking out trying to get over the gate because they see her playing. They shove her out of the way when we take walks and she is sniffing something, they crowd her and try to take treats from her mouth when they get their after walk cookies, and sometimes they step right on her if she is laying down on the floor when they aren't separated from her.

Rationally I know it isn't they're fault that they are basically little jerks, and that it is up to us to teach them and we did sign on for this when we adopted them, but mentally I am just anxious and sad and feeling like I can't handle it right now, and all I want is for my old girl Gypsy to feel happy and safe and comfortable for as long as possible and the puppies are making that pretty dang hard right now.

Sigh, sorry to rant this all on you guys. I hope I don't sound like a terrible person. I get really bad anxiety that goes along with my ptsd and I have to struggle really hard not to completely melt down during stressful times. This post is me trying to let it go while holding myself together!
 
Hope that getting it off your chest was helpful! I was a little confused at first since I originally thought your post was about rat pups not canine puppies >_<
 
It sounds very frustrating and time consuming ……. hope you can find the time to give Gypsy walks by herself, and that she can spend less time with the puppies until they are a bit older.
I hope that they will soon be doing enjoyable, challenging activities that will help them learn and wear off some of their energy. I can only imagine how exhausting and time consuming it must be for you

I hope that Gypsy is soon feeling better and that she has a lot good years left with you

{{hugs}}
 
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Thank you Kaat, it does feel a bit of a relief to not have it all rattling around in my head any longer!
 
Thank you SQ that means a lot to me. It will get easier with time I'm sure, and I am doubling down on spending more alone time with just me and Gypsy so we can both decompress a bit.

I always tell her she better live forever, because I would be lost without her.
 
I have a Gypsy too! She's an australian shepherd mix with border collie so I feel your pain with your EXTREMELY intelligent dogs. But! For your Gypsy, it sounds like she's teaching them. She's being a good adult dog to the annoying kids. I wouldn't think that her life is ruined with them around. Maybe she's got something to look forward too. My sister had an older dog when I got my very active baby Gypsy and it gave Roxie a new lease on life. A month is not long enough really for the dogs to settle down and learn their place. It's excellent that you will be training your dogs. Not only sports like agility but mind games too. Games like hiding toys, play hide and seek, trick training using positive reinforcement and luring. You've got some great companions for the future. I wouldn't trade my Gypsy for the world or any amount of money. You'll see, in the long run with good happy fun training, they will be your best friends.
 
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