I lost my 17yr old Service Dog (Chihuahua) today. I'm not looking for sympathy as that just kickstarts my grief all over. He had Congestive Heart Failure for the last year of his life and required a lot of care; it definitely wasn't sudden.
I am not replacing him or getting another dog but I live alone in an apartment with no family or close friends in the state. I didn't want to be in an empty house all weekend to wallow so I got a Weekend Foster.
They didn't have any little dogs like mine but said they had a 8month puppy Terrier mix that was just spayed and needed a calm quiet place to recuperate and it was their smallest dog.
I picked her up and the dog is huge. I've never even spent time with a dog this large. It's about 50lbs and has no interest in relaxing. I take her out every 2 hours but she pees in the house on the off hour (1,3 vs 2,4) not peeing outside at all. There is usually no warning or signs and she often goes close to her water dish which seems odd. I've only ever had male dogs who have clear signs and will pee even if they don't have to when they see something to mark. She will smell pee and poop but not pee herself.
She doesn't know any trigger words like "treat", "outside", or "potty". But she is very smart and picking up "outside" already.
She's trying to chew everything and while I tried to pick everything up she can always get higher than I expect. She is currently chewing my bed pillows. I don't know what to do with her, I never had this trouble with my Service Dog and I did all his training myself.
I don't know if it's the size, the breed, or if I am just so used to my Hospice dog but I'm beside myself.
I plan to take her to the dog park 2x Sat and Sun. Is there a good time for that to coordinate sleep? Same with meals? Should she be eating close to bed or at 5/6pm?
I have a decent sized apartment but her zoomies are damaging furniture. Every time she's asleep I'm terrified to move or she'll wake up and it'll start all over.
I've learned my lesson, 20lbs or less for me. I just need to get through the weekend.
Any advice or ideas?
submitted by /u/shnazyness
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