Just venting mainly, as I have been reading the posts here for the last week or so to keep me sane.
My wife has been wanting a dog for a long time, a bit over a year. and this January she stumbled upon an adoption event in a pet store near our house. Called me and the kids to come and we did. She fell in love with a 6 months old choc lab. The kids loved her too. While still researching about dogs, I told her she can apply while I am doing more research and see from there. 2 weeks later she was told she didnt get the dog because there were too many applications before ours. She was sad for weeks and I decided to look around for another rescue, but most of them have a note clearly saying they arent good with young children (ours are 3 and 5). So i looked for a lab breeder nearby and the waitlists are long, some are 2 years long.
Finally I found one 7.5 drive away and picked our 8 weeks old silver pup 2.5 weeks ago. First of all I was naive, I thought after raising 2 human babies, we can raise a puppy easily. And I thought my wife was gonna take care of her more. we both work from home. but my wife doesnt train her much, doesnt wanna do midnight potty breaks, doesnt wanna take her out so often for potty. she doesnt even want to read up or watch on puppy trainings, and when i try to teach her, she doesnt like me lecturing her.
So i have been doing the bulk of the training, and all the potty breaks. re-installed baby gates to restrict the pup in the living room. installed a camera by the crate. etc. last week she had a 5 days long conference, and i was so stressed out watching over her by myself when she is awake to make sure i see any sign of potty and take her out right away. i was so burnt out but it was 5 days of accident free.
so a few days ago i told her she needed to step it up and do more, she agreed but told me to stop micro-managing the dog. now 3 days in a row she has been having accidents again. 1-2 per day. i feel like it's not gonna get better anytime soon unless i take over, but i have a job to do as well and i didnt sign up to be the primary care taker.
on top of that the biting has been pretty bad too, im especially worried that my 3yo daughter is gonna get bitten, many close calls. but every time the puppy is aggressive, my wife just hugs the puppy and gives it kisses while telling her not to bite. told her thats like rewarding the puppy for biting.
i know its gonna get better. but i havent been happy with my decision for the past week, hopefully that comes sooner than later
submitted by /u/_dennykhoe
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