i have a 5 month old dachshund puppy, who i’ve had for 3.5 months now. i am a single puppy parent who lives with a roommate. i wfh 5 days a week and i am the primary caretaker of my puppy with a bit of help here and there from my roommate. i also have parents that live within an hour who can help (to some extent) if i need to go into office or have something important.
i struggled with puppy blue terribly at first – i wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping (obviously with 8 week old puppy), and was unable to get any personal or job work done. i am a first time puppy owner and understood what the puppy blues were, but what i was feeling felt extreme. i felt i owed it to myself and puppy to push through and work on a schedule. it has taken quite a while for us to get on a good schedule. she is an overall good puppy with the usual biting, whining/barking, not yet great on leash. all things to be expected. she is very smart and has been taking to command training well, with the typical dachshund stubbornness.
the one and only issue we are having is that i cannot leave my apartment without her. she freaks and panics and can’t calm herself down. i have been trying separation anxiety training, give her high value treats when i leave, in safe closed off area not in crate (she doesn’t like), and nothing is working. i am feeling trapped and like i’ve lost control of my life. i don’t feel like i have the resources to fix this and i am still struggling with my own mental health issues that were brought on from the puppy blues. i am still feeling the puppy blues and now feeling trapped due to her separation anxiety and i don’t know if this is sustainable anymore. i have a lifelong history of mental health issues, but was in a really good place prior to getting my puppy. but it feels like having a puppy has exasperated them to the extreme. i feel out of control of my life and don’t know what to do at this point. i have contacted the breeder and she said she would take her back. but that is heartbreaking. but i don’t know that it is healthy or safe for me to feel like this for much longer.
i am looking for guidance and other people’s experience with puppy blues and separation anxiety. did the puppy blues go away eventually? has anyone found anything that worked for separation anxiety? has anyone had to rehome their pet due to their own mental health issues?
submitted by /u/oscar7880
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