How can I tell my Husband that I hate the dog?

hethmar

I really hope things work out too, but I do get the feeling its not just Chester you cant bond with, you just arent a dog person - and I really dont mean that in a critical way but it may really be best for you and the dog to find someone else able to train him and give him the attention and love he deserves. Perhaps in some years time you and your circumstances will change and then you could take on another pooch. Good luck whatever you decide.

jessicamb

Puppies are nuts and if you like dogs its not so bad, eventually they get past the 'crazy kitten' stage though hopefully with most of your skirting boards still intact. Most working dogs love and need to train though and get bored easier than lap dogs. If you can get past this initial puppy madness and get into some training then you will hopefully have a lovely dog that will be your future childrens best friend.

If it helps a trick I used on our puppies in the past (and cats) is if they start sticking teeth or claws into you yelp ow and pull your hand or whatever away.

I know the baby gates and things can be annoying but once you have a baby they will be back (as will cat hiding once the baby learns its fun to chase the cat around!) - please dont give up too soon. You obviously care enough about Chester to post and even if you dont have a natural inclination towards dogs I think with enough effort you could learn to love him (and to appreciate the dippy dog love they give back)

skipsmum

I think you are doing much better than you think! Youve researched food, take him out, begun training and clearly want whats best for him. Puppies are really hard work, especially working breeds, but it does get easier (well a bit anyway).

undaunted

I think it's great that you've agreed to give the poor dog a chance to settle & some proper training. Imagine how you would have felt if hubby had turned up & said I hate cats, we should just get rid so I suspect you wouldn't really want to do that to him & Chester, just to see things improve behaviour wise?

I hope he does well in training & it all soon works out well for all of you.

1_step_closer

colwyn wrote: »

Try being philosophical. After all, it could be worse. You could be in the situation where you are sat down telling your dog how much you hate your husband.

I had to laugh at that one! and sometimes its true................shhhhhhhhh :rotfl:

Best of luck Icey I am sure you will be fine. Keep talking to hubby and above all - be consistent with your commands! My 2 drove me loopy when they were pups (they are labs) but they are so rewarding and loving and snuggly and happy that I could never get rid!

1 step closer

sarah*a

moomin5 wrote: »

Getting up at 5 could be related to sunrise, if he's not busting for loo, try to keep the room he's in dark & see if that helps any.

Loads of great advice I can't add to but just wanted to say that this worked for us. We have blackout blinds in the areas where the sunlight comes in first and our two no longer wake us up with the first bird tweet anymore

david39

My son has one , he is now a year old comes to work ( family business ) and he only drives up the wall every few days !! He has been castrated and seems to be calming down ,

OMG - and have you had any luck with the dog as well?

ailuro2

I think you're being more than fair to the dog, but I suggest you set a date for progress to happen on the "you being happy with the dog" front and if it's not happening then DH has to agree the dogs goes.

I'd postpone ttc while you're not in a happy place with the dog.

Your DH needs to be working a lot harder on getting the dog trained too - if he's a shift worker he will have time while you're out to get to work without distractions.;)

nfp20

actually don't let oh do the training... it will confuse the dog if your the main care giver and weakest link then you need to do the training and oh needs to follow through with consistant behaviour otherwise dog will just walk all over you.

As he's a GSP then do yourself a favour go on GSP's breed club website and look into the most local training class that they provide (the GSPs do have excellent coverage for gundog classes and it will help with your cat issues) don't make the mistake of thinking this means you have to go shooting you don't far from it what it does do is give you control when the dog is outside and ways of dealing with his hunting instinct. Classes can be combined with a local obedience class something like the KCs good citizen Scheme is good. If there isn't a local class look at any of the HPR breeds for gundog classes as he can go along to any of them. Don't pay a fortune!!! Hes too young for agility yet and there are usually long waiting lists.

Re the cat did you do a proper introduction with the cat and dog?? Is your cat a runner or will he stand up for himself? Sad fact is that you will need to teach your dog not to chase and 'leave'. In my house the cat always rules without exception none of the dogs are allowed to chase him. You can get help to sort that problem out. I will say though although mine are great with my cat... anyone elses unless introduced is fair game. You need to get to grips with it quickly though before he gets too old. I usually feed my cats on top of my dog crates that way they have to get used to each other, the cat always has a safe exit and I never leave them unsupervised. If the dog chases you can use a soft muzzle so he can't do any harm and a house line you can stand on if he runs for it. We usually make the dog sit have plenty of treats run the cat past reprimand for chasing praise treat for ignoring...

Icey77

An update for you all.

After a lot of soul searching we decided that we were not providing the best environment for Chester so we called the breeder and took him back last week.

OH found it quite hard but kept telling me I was his primary concern. He was also saying he was having trouble with his shift patterns and Chester waking him/keeping him awake.

We took him back and the breeder has promised us that he will be found better home that the one we could give him.

In the meantime, peace has returned to our house and it's like it was before Chester came to live with us. We're seeing much more of the cat too, we think he really wasn't impressed with Chester's arrival.

Thankyou everyone for your comments and suggestions, we did try but when it comes down to it we weren't a good enough home for Chester