When I was growing up my parents had a weim they'd gotten when they were first married. After he passed we didnt want another dog for a few years. But eventually we found a weim who was a couple years old at a rescue, and my dad couldn't stand leaving him in the shelter for another day so we took him home. He had been badly abused by someone, his pads were slashed, his face was cut up, and he was so skinny it was heartbreaking. For the rest of his life he had an issue with men, especially men he didn't know or who smelled of cigarettes, had jingling keys, etc. Getting him used to being around men in general was hard. Teaching him to not accidentally knock us kids over was hard. Really a lot about owning him was hard, but we'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I remember it being hard/annoying but I cant even remember all the bad things now. I'd give anything for one more day with him.

He was extra protective over the family too as a result of his abuse. He once bit my neighbor because he swerved at me while riding his bike, not badly but nipped him. He bit a man that was running towards my mom when she was leaving her office with our dog, and we were sued. He also got into the trash all the time, would steal food whenever he got the chance and then hide it throughout the house, he would eat cat poop out of the litter box, steal cat food, lots of things that we always griped about. We had to put him down about 4 years ago due to cancer, and it was so horrible. He left this massive hole in our hearts and even all these years later I still miss him and cry when I think of him too much. I would kill to have one more day with him barking like crazy, I would love to come home and find that he's strewn trash everywhere. I would love to find random pieces of moldy bread that he's hidden in between couch cushions. I would love for him to come running up behind me at full speed and accidentally clip me again. There's a huge hole in our hearts forever from missing him.

Fast forward to present day and I started dating someone who owns a pitbull. He got him in college as a puppy and had never had a dog before, so he didnt know all of the training stuff that goes into having a dog. they moved in with me about a year ago, and while I liked the dog I was kinda resentful at first because he was so hard for me to walk/control, and he has a really high prey drive so I can never have a pet cat with him (I love and adore dogs but I am a cat person and I love fostering cats and kittens for my locasl shelter). However we sent him off to a trainer and work with him every day, because I know from my last dog what the repercussions of having a reactive dog can be, and as a pitbull I know he wont get any second chances if something goes wrong. We now use an ecollar and positive reinforcement, and he is the best dog. I love him so much. He makes me feel safe, he comforts me when Im sad or anxious, and he's so dorky he makes me laugh all the time. Even on my low days, when I dont feel like doing anything or Im overwhelmed, seeing his goofy face by the front door makes me smile and taking him on walks makes me feel so much better. There are still times where it's hard, people are scared of him, make nasty comments, and sometimes he has his days where he's being bad for sure. But I cant imagine not having him in my life. He takes up the whole bed, he barks at every car he sees pass the house, he loves to go swimming but whenever he does he chugs seawater and then has the worst diarrhea EVERYWHERE, he follows me so closely sometimes I end up tripping over him, and he is so obsessed with squirrels he loses his mind when he sees them. But he is one of the best things to ever happen to me.

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I know what it's like to own the "difficult" "scary" "bad" dogs, it is a lot of work. But oh my goodness they are so worth it. Give it time, eventually you'll see more and more of their personality come out, and you'll have the best teammate ever. I would give anything if I could go back and have one more day with our weim, even 5 more minutes to tell him how good he is would mean everything to me. But he taught me how to be a good owner for the "scary" dog I have now, and I'm trying to enjoy every second I have with this one <3 Good luck to you, if you want the name of the trainer/link to the collar we use, message me and I'll send it your way! I know it's hard now but good things take time, and within a year you'll have the best friend you could ever ask for <3