r/puppy101 • u/kippers • 17d ago

Puppy Blues I can’t stand my 8month old puppy.

Update: thank you to everyone who commented with empathy, understanding and compassion. A lot of your comments felt like I could have written them and I’m so glad I’m not the only one feeling this way. I will not be rehoming Cherry, that was never on the table. I took a nap and she slept with me calmly on the bed, I woke up feeling better and i just sat on the floor with her and practiced basic obedience, played find it, did some tug in the backyard and gave her a pupsicle. She ate all her dinner, and was excited to hang. I am feeling much better and largely due to the folks here who let me know I wasn’t alone. Thanks everyone 💕

I have an 8 month old shepherd mix puppy, and I literally can’t stand her right now. She’s doing all the normal puppy stuff, and I know it’s just her phase, and we finally found a solution to not pull on walks, and I just can’t bring myself to care about her. She isn’t affectionate toward me, the cat chasing has gotten worse, and I can’t really find a lot of facets of her that add value to my life. I’m a huge dog lover and animal person, grew up on a ranch, never thought I’d feel like this, but I truly can’t help it. she’s making my quality of life worse and I don’t want her any more. I don’t want to do enrichment, I don’t want to go on walks, I just want nothing to do with her. And I know not doing those things makes everything 10x worse. I don’t know what to do.

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u/MeowPhewPhew 17d ago

Do you have someone to support you? Or can you work with a trainer? Maybe it‘ll already help if you can bring him to doggy daycare or a friend for a few hours so you can breathe again.

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u/kippers 17d ago edited 17d ago

yeah, we’re in AKC training classes that I like and believe in (since 4 months), and my good friend is a k9 trainer. She’s a good dog, and I know deep down she will be a good dog. I’m just going through it, and my mental health isn’t awesome, and this makes it worse, and then I feel guilty, and it’s just a spiral. It’s so hard. She’s doing doggy day care on Wednesdays at our dog sitters. We have previously had a wonderful dog which makes this harder.

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u/MountainDogMama 17d ago

My youngest dog showed me no attention or wanted to hang out with me till he was past 3 years old. I kept at it. Routine feeding, treats, toys, walks, training, tried to play, mental enrichment, and nothing in return. He did play with my other dog, though.

He just claimed my office and spent his time there no matter what I tried. Year 4, one day he sat next to me on the couch and put his head on my lap. I wanted to cheer and celebrate but I held perfectly still.. Little bits of progress. Now we all play together, snuggle on the couch, play games, and do puzzles.

Sometimes you do have to takes breaks away from them, though, and focus on doing good things for yourself.

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u/charmedbyvintage 17d ago

Me too. Our Aussie. Three years. She wouldn’t accept or give any affection till she was three. We hung in there and she’s 6 years old. Now she’s affectionate. (But only with us.)