My puppy is 5.5 months old. For context I live alone and I have little to no support.
I got him at 8 weeks old and fully intended to train him to be independent, but two things happened:
- He started having cluster seizures not long after he came home. I lost count of the number of times I had to rush him to the emergency vet. Because of this, for about a month or two I was too scared to leave him alone
- A neighbour filed a noise complaint and my landlady got on my case
I hired a force free trainer and her recommendation was to go very slow and build up to longer and longer increments of alone time. The thing is I feel like a prisoner in my own home and based on her instructions I'd be lucky if I get an hour in 8 weeks time.
I cannot stress enough how much this has affected my mental health. I was prepared for the fact that I couldn't leave a puppy alone for long, but because of my trainers protocol I now I feel like I can barely leave my home at all because doing so allows him to "rehearse the feeling of panic".
I lean on sitters and daycare but this isn't a long term solution and my wallet is already drained from the emergency vet bills.
Advice please.
submitted by /u/ihateminteverything
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