I don’t know if anyone will read this but…
I’ve always wanted a dog, like always. I’ve had ideas about my life with a new dog, studied, prepared and was genuinely excited.
All I had is my four year old cat, until today. Today we adopted a new dog and I was excited. I was excited during the process, excited in the car ride home and excited up until we came home. Then excitement turned to anxiety and I’ve been stomach sick sense. It’s like I’m waint for something bad to happen.
The dog is a sweet pea, he doesn’t bark, he doesn’t lunge at my cat and he prefers to just lay around being petted by my mother.
But for some reason in the space of a few hours, my stomach is in knots and I’m spending more time convincing myself I can do it than not. I am freaking out. Like I’m trying to keep up a brave countenance but I’m so anxious I feel like crying.
He’s afraid of outside and it’s hard to get him to leave the apartment. When we are outside, he tugs the leash so hard and pulls me along that I’m afraid of the leash snapping. I managed to get him to go the bathroom but then he wouldn’t urinate. We went upstairs and a dog barked in another apartment and he peed right in the hallway in what I think was fear.My entire confidence level has dropped to zero and it’s only day one.
I feel sick because I think I may have made a huge mistake. Like all I can think about is whether I can do this or should I take him back and I’m feeling like such a colossal failure. I feel even worse because my mother who was reluctant to ever get a dog, has fallen for him big time. He’s practically glued to her side.
At the moment we’ve decided to keep him for a week and see how things go. But I’m still freaking out. I’ve only ever had cats and I thought I could handle this but I’m really not so sure anymore.
The worst of it is I have no way of anticipating his behavior when my mother is at work. For the moment, he seems entirely dependent on her.
I need some guidance from dog owners, to help to raise his confidence and my own because I’m on the edge and it’s literally day one. I also can’t help but think, this isn’t normal, that there is seriously something wrong with me.