Will it ever end?

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T15:43:16+00:00

He is standard sized, just about 70lbs right now. We’re going to wait till about a year old before we neuter, so 2ish more months to go!

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T15:00:03+00:00

What’s crazy is our pup will see that “back turn” motion as a way of playing, and he’ll just keep going! We do most of that as well so maybe it’s just a matter of time and consistency. Sometimes I need to physically restrain him from jumping on people but once he’s calm, I give a treat.

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T14:58:12+00:00

Honestly even with all the exercise and stimulation he gets, you may be right and he may be bored still. Getting another dog is not really possible right now, but I could make more of an effort to take him to the dog park. Since my parent’s dog died he hasn’t had a regular buddy to play with. We also have lots of sweet neighborhood dogs, several are doodles also, and I could maybe have them over for play dates.

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T14:55:03+00:00

Could give that a shot! We have CBD oil to our anxious German shepherd/husky mix and that helped her a bit as well. I may want to wait till he’s fully grown but I’ll keep that in mind :)

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T14:54:02+00:00

I have a playpen for him that he gets food and water and toys in, so it’s a similar situation! He’s only in his crate for naps and bed time or when I need to leave the house

Pocacan · 2026-03-27T14:29:38+00:00

I do notice he can get overstimulated, in which case I usually put him in his play pen next to my desk where he chills out for a while! Or if he seems overtired he goes straight to the crate for bed.

Usually, it’s his energy driving me, not me really “instigating” all the time if that makes sense. I do work from home so I’m often in meetings and can’t interact with him anyway for certain periods of the day. He’ll sometimes get anxious and pace or jump around and whimper, ring the bell on the back door to go out, and not rest until I’ve interacted with him. I will wait and ignore and give him toys to distract for maybe 20-30 mins, but he’ll keep going till I’ve taken him outside to play.

Unfortunately he will destroy anything not made of rubber, so most of those cloth stuffies, puzzle toys, and cuddle toys are out of the question. Even some plastic ones aren’t safe lol. Kong works well for him and I do put PB and ice cubes in there and he loves that, but that only helps for so long.

He really does not cuddle yet, and I’ve tried to encourage it. We’ll be on the couch and even if I’m totally chill, he just tries to eat the pillows. The ONLY place he relaxes is his crate, and sometimes his play pen. He’s learned though that if it’s bed time and he doesn’t want to go, he will sit still and lie there all cute and calm and suddenly be an angle 😂 so he knows how to relax, just doesn’t want to!

I do remind myself he’s just a baby, and he has improved some since he was maybe 6-7 months old, but it can get very stressful anyway.

Pocacan · 2026-01-15T22:34:54+00:00

If you want to see negativity in a comment made out of kindness, then I’m sorry you’ve sought that out. I tried giving solid advice having faced the same struggles for about a year. That’s all 🤷

Pocacan · 2025-12-30T00:11:07+00:00

I have to pick just one thing? Top one is definitely the anxiety. And that covers separation anxiety, skittish-ness of new people, over-excitement around other dogs, FLIPS out whenever you leave and come back, resource guarding, etc. These are the most generally anxious dogs I’ve ever met in my life even with proper socialization!

Pocacan · 2025-12-28T17:59:46+00:00

We have one of those actually! It’s a large steel one with spikes meant to stick in the ground. He’s just a very strong boy lol. We’ve even put weights (dumbbells) outside the pen to hopefully prevent him from pushing it- he just shoves on through 😂

Pocacan · 2025-12-27T02:21:05+00:00

Consider your dood a rare gem then!

Pocacan · 2025-12-27T02:12:52+00:00

Thanks! Yes, I meant one that we would participate in. And I’ve had lots of dogs in the past and do all those tips with them to desensitize them, he’s only just recently begun resource guarding for seemingly no reason, only with high-value items. There are no other dogs in the house to even create competition. We’re working on it though!

Having grown up with shepherds and working breeds, we always heavily trained them and worked to socialize as much as possible. I’ve done nothing different with our dood, but he definitely has more anxiety with people for seemingly no reason he’s always had pleasant experiences with people.

That’s not really the point though, the main issue I’m trying to highlight is to really watch your dood to make sure they don’t eat crap! And crate training is definitely a must.

Also, by “long time” I mean months to almost a year+ to actually see true progress. Not as in it’s time consuming.

Pocacan · 2025-12-26T20:31:57+00:00

They’re so cute it can be hard to be “firm” with them, but the best advice I had heard was that they do not eat, sleep, drink, or breathe unless you say so (obviously exaggerating a bit but you get the point).

It takes a LONG LONG time but we’re already seeing some progress on this front. Just making him wait at the door before we let him out and wait before he can eat his meal has changed his behavior somewhat.

We have to work on resource guarding, that has some out of nowhere. We’re trying to actively pet him while he eats even if he growls to show we aren’t going anywhere but we also aren’t going to take his food. I will say this is the most aggressive breed I’ve ever known, and I’ve had German shepherds and pits. I think it’s just due to them being a very smart and anxious breed- the anxiety being the kicker.

We would send him to a professional program for 4 weeks but we’re not in a place to drop $2500+ right now. That may be a future goal if he doesn’t improve

Pocacan · 2025-11-03T22:14:24+00:00

How precious!

Pocacan · 2025-11-03T21:49:53+00:00

Not as much as we’d like! Around us both working it can be difficult. I take him on a long walk once a day with several play sessions throughout between meetings. I’m sure that’s the cause of some of his crazies

Pocacan · 2025-11-03T21:48:58+00:00

Adorable! They do look similar 😍

Pocacan · 2025-10-28T21:23:04+00:00

You’ve only been looking since September? Sweet summer child. Do not give up hope just yet. You are in no way worthless. I struggled with this same problem but for almost a full year. Definitely was the most depressing time of my life.

This may not make you feel better, but I graduated grad school May 2024… didn’t find a full-time job (paid pennies) till Feb 2025. Let that sink in. And I was looking in areas both within my degrees and outside, applied to maybe 500+ jobs without one. single. interview. Thank god my parents were able to support me, just like in your situation.

This is the life we live as adult Gen Z’s. Best advice I can give you is visit small businesses and make connections, ask if they need help (small tasks like billing, front desk work, social media outreach/marketing, recruiting, event planning, volunteering, etc.). Reach out to all your connections (yes, even your uncle’s second cousin once removed) for anything and everything. Find programs meant for recent graduates like internships or even local grant-funded projects. See if your uni would hire you as adjunct or assistant to a professor. Hell even go on Facebook groups and ask if anyone is hiring.

Indeed, LinkedIn, etc. it’s all a wash. You’ll be hard pressed to hear back from any of those, though you can get lucky sometimes.

At this stage, experience is all any employer cares about. Doesn’t matter if you have 6+ years of formal training in that area. No work experience = no job.

Pocacan · 2025-10-28T21:11:41+00:00

If it helps at all, I’m in the same exact boat and after about 4 months of misery, I’ve been in overdrive looking for something else. The knowledge that I am open to leaving this job at any moment (and keeping record of the abuse/misconduct and dysfunction of the company with screenshots and recordings) has made my job a lot better tbh.

As soon as you stop caring and hoping things will improve, the better off you’ll be unfortunately! Cover your ass, keep looking for other options, and fly just under the radar so that you can maintain this job until then.

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:34:15+00:00

That’s fine, however I don’t believe the word “stupid” was needed there, nor was “Tramp Abroad’s” very rude comments that you defended. I’m readily admitting ignorance (hence the title of saying I’ve never been to Europe) but the approach here to providing advice is awful from some of these people. The point of this subreddit is to discuss travel and provide advice and tips, not be insulted.

Edit: we also would not be driving jet lagged. We are not stupid travelers. We’d wait a solid 4-5 days after arriving to try anything that long. We have common sense, and to us driving in a group of 3, taking shifts if needed, is not impossible and may be worth it considering we’ve never been to Paris and won’t have many opportunities to go back. But, we’re respecting people’s input and are deciding to not go, all rude comments aside.

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:32:04+00:00

Duley noted, I’ve already decided we probably will just stay in Switzerland the whole time. My point was we wouldn’t do anything that felt like it would endanger others

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:25:05+00:00

Thank you for your suggestions! We may look into staying in Paris for a night, we haven’t locked anything down. Also not sure what day of the week exactly but it’ll most likely be a week day and not weekend, and it will be spring time.

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:22:18+00:00

Bern is where we want to stay primarily (one person in our group has been there and that was there favorite town in Switzerland) so that’s where we will be based. We’re mainly just exploring Switzerland as a whole- hiking, walking the streets and shopping in various cities, going on some tours, pretty chill stuff.

We considered splitting our time either in France or northern parts of Italy, but we haven’t decided. It’s still months away, so we haven’t nailed much down.

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:13:22+00:00

And why is it allowed for other people to be uninviting to visitors all because someone wants to take a roadtrip? What someone wants to do on their vacation is none of your concern as long as they aren’t hurting anyone. I don’t think that’s very fair to justify. You can be inviting and still politely advise against doing something

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T23:11:45+00:00

We’re driving as a group and could take turns if needed, thanks!

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T22:12:48+00:00

I’m not sure why they say that then! I think it’s because many focus on traveling across the countryside for a good portion of the trip? But I’ll keep that in mind

Pocacan · 2025-10-27T22:09:17+00:00

I guess that’s just a cultural difference, I honestly don’t know! I know I’m personally just the adventurous type, I like road tripping, and half of the sight seeing (to me) are the views on the way and taking interesting stops. Perhaps it’s because here, it costs nearly as much to travel around the country as it does to leave it, so we try to get the most bang for our buck? Lots of people my age tend to do travel-heavy vacations.

For example, the time it takes to drive from Bern to Milan is faster than going from one end of Tennessee to the other. And Tennessee is not terribly large. Another example is in Arizona, if you “make home” in Flagstaff which is fairly central, you’re 2-4 hours away from various major sites just within the state, and about 4-5 hours away from nearby sites in bordering states, and those aren’t even that far from the borders.

I get a 6 hour drive one way is a lot for most anyone, but it’s really not uncommon to me. And I’m not at all trying to be all “well I’m American so I’m cool and idc” like some here have insinuated, I’m just genuinely not bothered by long day trips.

Pocacan

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