I'm really embarrassed and guilty to be posting this kind of thing, but I am majorly down right now. Majorly. I got this 7.5 week old GSD puppy a week ago (which makes her 8.5 weeks old now) and I am so stressed out by her, I have lost 5 pounds and have had my very first anxiety attacks of my life (pretty sure that's what they are; tightness in chest, having to make myself breathe...).
I'm on the verge of giving her up. It's not necessarily that she's bad or has behavioral problems, I just think I underestimated the time and energy it was going to take to raise a puppy by myself. My job is kind of chaotic (and it's 40 hours a week!) so it's hard for me to get a routine down, and while she sleeps in her crate and is a relatively good sleeper, she won't voluntarily go in it any other time and I have to lure her in with food every time I want her to go in it (which is maybe 4-5 times per day, for ~1-1.5 hours each time). She is doing fairly well with housebreaking but had a poop/pee accident last night, probably because I don't know her schedule well enough yet. And she is BITEY. She doesn't cuddle with me anymore unless she's scared; now whenever I try to cuddle her all she wants to do is bite my fingers off, and if I set her down she immediately goes after my feet/shoes/socks/pantlegs and refuses to play with all the other 10 toys I've given her.
I don't think it helps that I've read about a million things on the internet trying to figure out what's "right" only to run into contradictions everywhere I look. "Don't hold her mouth shut when she bites." "Yes, hold her mouth shut when she bites." "Don't put the crate in your bedroom at night." "Yes, let her sleep in your bedroom at night." "Don't force the puppy into the crate or she'll hate it." "But be sure to crate your puppy to speed up housebreaking." wtf.
I'm just at my wit's end. How do you make the decision between sticking it out (but losing more weight and having more panic attacks in the meantime) or giving her up to someone who can handle her? Do I throw in the towel? Is it a fool's errand for me to keep this up? Should some people in some situations just not try to raise puppies, especially high-maintenance puppies like GSDs? If I give her up, does that make me a bad person?
I'm on the verge of giving her up. It's not necessarily that she's bad or has behavioral problems, I just think I underestimated the time and energy it was going to take to raise a puppy by myself. My job is kind of chaotic (and it's 40 hours a week!) so it's hard for me to get a routine down, and while she sleeps in her crate and is a relatively good sleeper, she won't voluntarily go in it any other time and I have to lure her in with food every time I want her to go in it (which is maybe 4-5 times per day, for ~1-1.5 hours each time). She is doing fairly well with housebreaking but had a poop/pee accident last night, probably because I don't know her schedule well enough yet. And she is BITEY. She doesn't cuddle with me anymore unless she's scared; now whenever I try to cuddle her all she wants to do is bite my fingers off, and if I set her down she immediately goes after my feet/shoes/socks/pantlegs and refuses to play with all the other 10 toys I've given her.
I don't think it helps that I've read about a million things on the internet trying to figure out what's "right" only to run into contradictions everywhere I look. "Don't hold her mouth shut when she bites." "Yes, hold her mouth shut when she bites." "Don't put the crate in your bedroom at night." "Yes, let her sleep in your bedroom at night." "Don't force the puppy into the crate or she'll hate it." "But be sure to crate your puppy to speed up housebreaking." wtf.
I'm just at my wit's end. How do you make the decision between sticking it out (but losing more weight and having more panic attacks in the meantime) or giving her up to someone who can handle her? Do I throw in the towel? Is it a fool's errand for me to keep this up? Should some people in some situations just not try to raise puppies, especially high-maintenance puppies like GSDs? If I give her up, does that make me a bad person?