Welcome to the forum. Congrats on your new addition. Love to see pictures!! Things will get better, sounds like you are on the right track with classes, etc. My current dog Molly I got at 10 weeks after almost 40 years of not having a puppy, all my dogs had between older rescues over the years, and boy it was a change!!
Hello :)
Hello! I'm a new member here, and first-time dog owner (not counting dogs my family owned when I was a kid). My husband and I (along with our 2 teenage sons) just adopted a 10 month old German Shepherd mix from a local animal welfare society. Her name is Lucy and we do love her 
, but are experiencing some stress and anxiety as well. I actually found this forum after a bit of googling to see if others experienced the same feelings after adopting a dog. I'm so relieved to find that what we're feeling is very normal.
Adopting a dog was not a quick decision for us, so we were surprised to feel some regret and stress over it. We "knew what we were getting into", so to speak. What was a surprise to us was choosing a puppy. Knowing how much work and training they need, it was not something we initially wanted. However.....we found Lucy and she really did capture our hearts. We put a deposit down on her and went home to talk about it with our boys and think everything over (the shelter gave us 48 hrs to do so). We decided we would move forward and have now had her home for nearly 3 weeks. She's incredibly smart and very sweet and loving. We didn't have a lot of info on her as she is a rescue, but were lucky enough to have the contact info of the woman who fostered her before she went to the shelter. We found she had started crate training (which we are continuing) as well as house training (which she is doing GREAT on- only one pee accident after the first week). We also start obedience classes this coming week. Overall, we love having her, but both my husband and I have felt stress about the change in our lives and routine as well as feeling like we are trapped with no freedom (this coming from a couple in their early 40's who has just recently experienced the freedom of being able to leave their now-teenage kids alone for a few hours! ). However.....after spending about an hour this morning reading posts of those who have felt like this, and getting reassurance that it DOES get better, I'm feeling a LOT more encouraged.
Anyway- just wanted to say hello and thank you already for the encouraging information!
, but are experiencing some stress and anxiety as well. I actually found this forum after a bit of googling to see if others experienced the same feelings after adopting a dog. I'm so relieved to find that what we're feeling is very normal. Adopting a dog was not a quick decision for us, so we were surprised to feel some regret and stress over it. We "knew what we were getting into", so to speak. What was a surprise to us was choosing a puppy. Knowing how much work and training they need, it was not something we initially wanted. However.....we found Lucy and she really did capture our hearts. We put a deposit down on her and went home to talk about it with our boys and think everything over (the shelter gave us 48 hrs to do so). We decided we would move forward and have now had her home for nearly 3 weeks. She's incredibly smart and very sweet and loving. We didn't have a lot of info on her as she is a rescue, but were lucky enough to have the contact info of the woman who fostered her before she went to the shelter. We found she had started crate training (which we are continuing) as well as house training (which she is doing GREAT on- only one pee accident after the first week). We also start obedience classes this coming week. Overall, we love having her, but both my husband and I have felt stress about the change in our lives and routine as well as feeling like we are trapped with no freedom (this coming from a couple in their early 40's who has just recently experienced the freedom of being able to leave their now-teenage kids alone for a few hours!
). However.....after spending about an hour this morning reading posts of those who have felt like this, and getting reassurance that it DOES get better, I'm feeling a LOT more encouraged. Anyway- just wanted to say hello and thank you already for the encouraging information!
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
