I adore my girl, she's 9 months, the most loving, sweet-natured pup… but I'm finding it hard. Maybe harder now than when we first got her?!
She's very reactive/barky, which started suddenly when she was about 5 months. After seeing a behaviourist, we've noticed improvements, but if you catch her on an 'off-day', like today, it's bad, and sometimes I just want the ground to swallow me up.
She has separation anxiety. Again – we're working on it. But it's a hard problem to overcome and takes a lot of time & patience. I must admit, it's torturous being trapped in your own home.
She's not a good sleeper. Recently she was waking up and barking 2-3x per night EVERY night for about 6 weeks. She's actually been sleeping through the night over the last week, but bedtime is still not great (we put her to bed at the same time every night, same routine etc.). Lots of barking before she settles herself.
What led me to writing this post was having just returned from seeing some friends, who also have dachshunds…
Two of my friends have dachshunds of a similar age to mine, so it's lovely having 3 pups that can play together. However – I feel there is an obvious difference in how theirs behave vs mine.
Their pups simply trot happily beside us with no issue, walk on a lead fine, settle in coffee shops easily etc.. Meanwhile, my dachshund barks at any dog we see, pulls constantly on the lead despite many hours of heel training, is really boisterous when playing with my friends' dogs & will not settle anywhere / stays on high alert.
I genuinely feel I haven't done anything differently to my friends in terms of training… if anything I've been more 'on it' because I've needed to be – I'm determined not to have a naughty / problem dog.
I know it's silly to compare, but it's hard not to notice how good my friends dogs are in public compared with my own. I get embarrassed her reactivity – I never feel like I properly concentrate on the conversation because I'm too busy keeping her under control, and came away today feeling frazzled & SO relieved to be going home. Put simply, it's just stressful.
I've spent so much time, effort & money training her – at home she is great (minus the separation anxiety & barking at bedtime). On walks with just me and/or my partner, she's usually not too barky now.
Genuine question: Am I just being a wimp, or is she a tricky dog?!
Will it get any easier!? Will I ever enjoy taking her out socially??
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