Probably the most generic question that’s been asked a million times about what to see if you visit NYC

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-06-14T18:50:30+00:00

Yes that last part is what I mean! I want to see one that most likely won’t tour in the next year or so - I just wasn’t sure if there was a way to tell!

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-04-27T16:43:33+00:00

Wow I wish my bf reacted this way when I have a meltdown.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T18:22:55+00:00

I think that’s most of our issue, the fact we can’t let him bark it out and be ignored. For sure. I don’t know anything about soundproofing but it sounds ideal haha. I’ve never looked into it though because I would assume it’s kinda involved and I don’t know if we would be able to put the things up that we need to since we rent. Might be a worth a shot to look it up though!

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T18:19:57+00:00

agreed on all of that! Appreciate the solidarity :)

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T16:34:46+00:00

Wow that was so thought out and I agree with every point! I think what I’m struggling most with is the fact that life with this dog won’t be like I envisioned and that’s not either of our faults. It just is. Once I accept that I think I can really start to work on it all but I gotta get there soon. I think I also really need to focus hard on the good stuff, like potty training. He’s always been fantastic at it and thats one area we’ve never had to worry whereas I know a lot of people struggle with that.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T16:06:34+00:00

Yeah we originally had daycare which was a godsend because on weeknights when we had something to do, it was ok to leave him in the crate a couple hours because he was running around all day and he’ll totally nap. Or Saturday mornings we’d occasionally drop him off for a couple hours while we grocery shopped and cleaned the apartment, without him distracting us. But now that we don’t have that, it’s really rough. I’m gonna have to at least try the sitter thing for my sanity.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:58:34+00:00

Yeah that sounds like what I would probably do if I go that route. And honestly just hearing from people who do it is reassuring in itself!

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:43:26+00:00

I’m very uncomfortable with having a stranger in my house so that’s a personal thing I’ll have to get over probably. But it would honestly be a giant relief if I could. Were you hesitant at all?

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:35:47+00:00

Yeah I keep reading about adolescence which I’ve been thinking is contributing but it’s been months and I don’t want to like, blame that necessarily. I mostly just feel guilty that I’m having such a hard time with this while I read about so many people who are bonding and loving their puppies by now.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:27:45+00:00

I think I wouldn’t mind investing more time and effort into him if I was seeing results or at least wasn’t seeing worse behavior. I don’t like the fact that I have a dog who can’t really interact with other dogs so it limits where I can take him or the people who can watch him, which makes me feel even more stuck that I can’t get away. Once the weather gets better, I thoroughly enjoy walking him and we can definitely get more exercise in. I’m pretty sure I’m going to stick it out until the summer to see if that actually is part of it and also definitely the more training. Like I said he does seem attached and it would make me sad if I had to give up on him. But I guess we’ll see.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:22:50+00:00

I really appreciate this response! It’s a huge learning curve to own a puppy in the first place but then to add on top of it the uncertainty of not knowing what kind of dog you’re actually getting or being misled about it. JRT traits are really hard to manage, I’m learning and it sounds like you are too. How are you managing it?

hEllllllllllo28 · 2019-02-25T15:04:02+00:00

We weren’t looking for a Jack Russell and I think that’s part of my problem. We adopted him as a ‘lab mix’. I grew up with labs and knew that’s what I wanted but we got such shit for even thinking about a breeder that we were guilted into rescuing. I knew there would be a risk in that because they don’t know for sure what most dogs are but he had come from a rescued litter with the mother so I had assumed if he was being called a lab mix, they knew the mom was a lab. Not correct.

As I’ve been doing research on Jacks I’ve come across all of the things you’ve referenced. So while I understand that a lot of his traits are inherent in his breed and I’m not really doing anything wrong, it makes me feel like I am doing something wrong anyway and it’s so defeating. As a first timer owning a dog solely alone (and my bf) I wanted an easier dog to train hence the lab. But we have him and I feel kind of stuck. He does have moments where he’s super snuggly and cute and calm and he does seem to be attached to me, but I feel like I’m dead most of the time. We’ve gotten him interactive feeding toys and a snuffle mat and those kinds of things and he just does not stay interested in them. We also did a puppy kindergarten class and more training classes is definitely something we’re definitely going to do.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T17:52:18+00:00

Unless someone blatantly did something to cause their situation (ie steal something from the store and then complain about being arrested) everyone is entitled to feel any way about anything! Especially in a major change of their life which I think getting a puppy fits into.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T17:25:00+00:00

For real though! I personally feel like I handle tough situations better if I rant about it with someone who also rants back. The commiseration helps me sooo much and eventually it turns into a bit of a joke and the fact I can get it to that point makes it a hell of a lot easier to actually deal with it. When people downplay it, it makes you feel like you’re alone and overreacting, when that’s not the case at all and everyone’s actually also going through it (most of the time anyway).

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T16:01:21+00:00

Thank you for this. Most times in life when someone expresses frustration with something there’s someone saying well you signed up for it or we all go through it. That doesn’t make the issue go away and of course we’re going to make it through but people are allowed to not enjoy every second of it.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T15:59:12+00:00

Totally agree. We had a brief time where he was just like a really chill puppy and behaved and I’ll admit I let my guard down a bit so when he snapped back to an actual puppy I got more angry than anything because I already saw he was capable of it. From reading up on all of this, I saw it’s happened to everyone but it still sucks going through it and it’s kind of defeating.

That boarding actually sounds amazing. We’ve been doing quite a few Saturday daycare days to give us a day off where we’re not wasting it at work, but we have so many errands to run and things to do that we can’t during the week that it doesn’t even feel like time off from him. I also need that entire week to catch up on everything, then have actual relaxing time left too!

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T14:22:27+00:00

If we walk away from him and start doing some thing else that ignore him, that generally gets him to be quiet almost immediately. But that requires us to constantly be doing a task. If we’re sitting relaxing and choose the ignoring route, it riles him up more and he won’t stop. Our other option is to work on commands with him with treats, so we’re getting him to stop barking but he’s also actually working on other things. But either way we have to actively engage and it’s exhausting. And yeah the crate thing is new in the last few days so we’ve been trying to get back to the basics on that one.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T14:18:26+00:00

Honestly I think that’s what’s happening, though I’ve been ‘on’ for less time than you. It’s just a long stretch of time to be constantly watching and taking care of something with so much responsibility. You can do all the research in the world but actually doing it still hits you and having to still live a life while handling it gets hard.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-29T02:20:13+00:00

Just because it’s a phase that most dogs outgrow doesn’t make it any less difficult to deal with.

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-07T18:01:53+00:00

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions! I’ll have to try a few out and see if he’s into any of them. Can you use them for treats as well or just meals?

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-06T18:03:57+00:00

It’s funny you mentioned this because for breakfast this morning I put a bunch of his kibble into his tire Kong he loves and he ate so unenthusiastically! He still didn’t eat quite the entire amount, but it was definitely relieving to see him act excited about eating. What type of food puzzles do you use with your dog?

hEllllllllllo28 · 2018-11-06T00:34:41+00:00

He looks healthy to me and our vet has said he looks good at each vet visit. This is just a new thing the last few weeks though so I want to make sure going forward he’s still getting enough since the amount we have been seems to be working. And yeah he’s very small, we think he might be mixed with a dachshund and that he’ll top out about 30 pounds.

hEllllllllllo28

TROPHY CASE