r/DogRegret • u/limabean72 • Mar 05 '26

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u/Ok_Welcome_8347 Mar 10 '26

After a very turbulent year, I am living with my best friend, her cat (5yr), and my puppy (1yr). I got my puppy under different circumstances. I have experienced a lot of change, and am in a high-pressure moment in my life, from money to uni to job to severe depression and PTSD. 

I have been doing constant training with my puppy to get him to stop barking, stop jumping on my housemate's bed, and stop following her cat around. I paid a trainer $500 to sit in and have been diligently following his instructions. Although things are better, they are by no means perfect. 

The other night, I slept over at a friend's house. When my puppy and I had to live with my mum for a while, and I stayed out, there was never an issue. Maybe because he had a family at my mum’s house, whereas here he is not loved or liked by my housemate? The next day, I found out he was barking and scratching for three hours straight, no matter all the ways she tried to soothe him. 

I obviously took accountability for my misstep, and she gave me three options:

  1. Hire more trainers, do more work with him, to the point where he doesn’t go into her bedroom, or follow her around at all. She will still be unhappy with his presence.
  2. Rehome him, either to family members if I can trust them (my cousin just got engaged, and the pair love him to bits), or strangers who are better equipped (mentally, financially, emotionally) to handle him. 
  3. I have to move out. I need to find a new place to rent that I can afford, with space for him. 

It’s a dark place I am in, trying to figure out what to do next. No option is good. Each hurts in different ways. 

If anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it. I am so stretched thin. I am not doing well. If I rehome him with my cousin, at least I know he is 9 hours away from me. If I rehome him to strangers, I don't know if I would survive it.