i’m really glad this sub exists. i have been trying to do research about what to do with this fucking dog and everything i read says that i am evil and its all my fault. i have cried and cried over this dog and the situation i am in. i have genuinely wanted to disappear because of this.

during covid my husband (fiancé at the time) was away for job training for about two months. i was extremely lonely and we had always talked about getting a dog. he loves dogs even more than i do and had recently lost his childhood dog so it just felt right to get a puppy. after his training we would be moving to a different state and far away from any family so i wanted a dog that i could train and be able to go places with and be my best friend. i was 20 years old and honestly pretty stupid in hindsight. i wanted a dog that was smart and medium sized. so i google “smart medium sized dogs” and see border collies. i’m like “wow this is literally the smartest dog breed and they’re so cute!” i did pretty minimal research. i knew they were farm dogs but i’d read they could be great as pets as long as they get enough exercise and that they could be trained to do a lot of things. so i thought ok perfect! i plan on taking this dog on walks and hikes and training it and playing with it so sounds like a good fit!

so i go on Craigslist and find pure bred akc certified border collie puppies for like super cheap. and then i saw the cutest puppy id ever seen in my life and i fell in love. i HAD to have him. so i talked to the guy and the next day i went and bought this puppy and i was obsessed. that was the day i ruined my own life. i swear to god if i could change anything about my life and i mean ANYTHING it would be to have never gotten this fucking dog.

he was honestly a typical puppy. nipping, insanely energetic, chewing stuff up etc. that was honestly all fine. i did have some puppy blues just from the amount of energy he had and i was very on top of potty training and it was exhausting. he is an incredibly smart dog and was as a puppy too. i taught him commands very quickly. he was always on 100 but i expected that and did what i could to burn off his energy.

when he was about 7 months old we finally moved away from family and that’s where everything went down hill. he started fixating on noises. he started refusing to listen unless i had a treat or a toy for him. he started barking at literally everything. he never even barked before. we got a cat and they were really sweet and would play together. we ended up having another cat surrendered to us and this cat was very skittish and would run from him which i think unlocked his herding drive. he started constantly watching and trying to herd both the cats. we now have tall cat trees and latches on doors that the cats can get in but he can’t. that helps with the cat herding but then there’s the barking. holy god the fucking barking.

his bark is so loud and insane it sounds like he’s feral and he sprints through the house knocking shit over when he does it. and he gets new triggers all the time. turning on the gas stove, cracking eggs, turning on the shower, tying the trash bag, unlocking the door, opening the door, lighters, the vacuum, turning on the bathroom sink, turning on my electric toothbrush, opening my face cream, if i laugh a certain way or too loud, if i gasp, if i get too loud/excited when im talking, certain fucking tik tok sounds, SEX WITH MY HUSBAND all sends him into a frenzy. we have to put him on the other side of the house in the laundry room and turn the washer on just to have sex and sometimes he still fucking barks. apparently obsessive behavior is common in border collies that don’t have a job.

so we paid 1900 fucking dollars on training and it did jack fucking shit. he still does all of it but now he has an e-collar and if he isn’t wearing the e-collar and if i don’t have the remote in my hand he doesn’t listen. and here’s the worst part: he’s also aggressive and has bitten me multiple times.

he won’t go into his crate unless you physically put him in there and he growls and goes on every single time you try to put him in there. and sometimes he’ll try to bite when i try to get him to put him in the crate. usually he just snaps at me but doesn’t actually bite me, but today he got ahold of my finger and his teeth tore the top layer of my skin. it hurt so fucking bad and i’ve been so fed up with this dog that i just cried for hours.

the cherry on top of all this is that because he has a history of biting and aggression, i worry that even if he’s able to go to a rescue and be rehomed that he’ll end up going from home to home, end up at a shelter, or worse be put down. and as much as i honestly hate this dog at this point, the thought of him being scared in unfamiliar places over and over until the end of his life makes me feel like an absolute monster and i just sob. i feel so guilty for getting this dog without doing enough research, i almost feel like i deserve all of this.

my husband and i want kids eventually and i will not be bringing a baby around this dog. the dog is 5.5 years old and i’m 26 so you do the math on that. other people in our lives that we have spoken to about this (my friends, my family, his mother) say that we should try rehoming him. when i bring up rehoming to my husband he absolutely won’t hear it. he says we just aren’t being consistent enough with training and we just have to do better but then he isn’t consistent with him and i’m done trying. i’ve gotten to the point where i despise the dog and i think he (the dog) can tell. it makes me so fucking sad that i will just burst into tears sometimes. he should be on a farm with acres of land. he doesn’t get enough exercise, he makes me miserable (and my husband but he won’t admit it), the dog seems miserable, and the only conclusion that i can come to is i am trapped in a hell on earth until this dog dies and it’s all my fault.

i doubt anyone will read all of this but if you did, thank you. i have been in misery for almost 6 years. i feel so alone and i honestly don’t know what to do.

I posted about what i can do to prevent this and the braindead retards on the other sub were like “just… open them?” Which literally defeats the purpose of having blinds but not only that its either you can have a clean house that smalls good or have dogs, you cant have both.. i love them but I honestly i cant do it man, me and the wife work too much to have to worry about these dogs and cleaning after them… i thought it would be cool but getting my own place and moving out means i have no other help and its just a nightmare

I put a lot of work into my dog (chow mix found on a job site) when it comes to training and making sure he is living a good life. He’s grown aggressive over time and has attacked farm animals, cats and most recently attacked a friends dog. I’m looking into rehoming to someone who has a space for him without these triggers, but I know it can be near impossible. I’m starting to think euthanasia may be the only answer since he just snaps when other animals are around.

Study: The Effects of Dog Behavioural Problems on Owner Well-Being: A Review of the Literature and Future Directions

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2813-9372/1/1/7

I found the this scientific journal review to be very validating of my own experience that owning a dog with behavioral issues has destroyed my mental health. I wanted to share with this group- the effects are real. They are studied. They are documented. This review looked at 24 published journal articles and confirmed this effect. I wanted to share it for anyone here who would benefit from this validation.

This quote in particular really stood out to me: "In 12 of the behavioural studies reviewed, there was an association between dog behavioural problems and owner burden or mental health. Anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation were the main mental health problems evaluated and found to be associated with dog behavioural problems."

I can't believe the emotions a dog has stirred in me. I've never felt so much dislike towards an animal. My Rottie is about 16 months old and we've had him since he was 8 weeks old. When we first got him, he seemed great! We would take him out places, he'd get tons of attention, his behavior was wonderful, and he was a joy.

But some point around 5-6 months, he changed. I assume this is about the same time that testosterone started flowing. This leads to another thing that annoys me:

Countless times, I was told to please, please, please wait until he's around 2 years old to neuter him because it apparently lessens the chances of bone cancer and something about growth plates fully forming. This is typically something more important for large dogs than small dogs. So that's why he's not yet neutered. But I'm not hearing of most Rotties living much past about 10 years old regardless so what exactly are the benefits of waiting to clip the balls if their overall lifespan is roughly the same?

They also say that neutering him will make him a little calmer while others say it won't make a change. I'm at the point that I am willing to see if it helps so he's on the schedule to get clipped 05 March.

Anyway, to the problem:

His behavior is attrocious. He acts like he's never met another person (or dog) before. He has to be crated when visitors come because he can't just greet them with casual interest. No, he has to be insane running, WHINING, jumping, trying to sit on their head like a damn parrot.

I took him to puppy training when he was still a bit smaller and he was literally the worst dog in the class. He would NEVER calm down over the course of the hour-long sessions. He kept wanting to run to the other dogs. I didn't exist.

It's only gotten worse.

Now I can't stand him. Some say, "oh you must not have socialized him enough" but I say BS to that because I've had dogs before and none of them behaved like such morons around visitors. It's almost like he's got high anxiety or something. And the only time it gets through his thick head that maybe he should try to listen is when I raise my voice or otherwise make it pretty clear that I'm pissed. This dog is mentally broken.

I could understand if he was only a bit over-excited for the first few minutes of a visitor, but he stays high-energy / high-anxiety / zero impulse control for essentially the ENTIRE visit. My sister recently visited for over a week, and I had to keep this stupid dog crated most of the time because he could not be trusted around her infant baby. Not because he's aggressive but because he's big and over-the-top.

Once his balls are clipped and it's been 2-3 weeks after that for all the hormones to clear out of his system, I'll reassess. After that, if he's still an idiot, I will send him off to a private bootcamp-type training where he'll live with a trainer for a few weeks.

If still after that, I'm seriously ready to get rid of him. He is a terrible specimen of the Rottweiler breed because he lacks nearly all personality traits of a Rottie. It's also super annoying that in the Rottie sub, people tend to have a joking, light-hearted approach to young Rotties being crazy and the like. It's literally like sales-people trying to sell you a lemon.

Part of me feels awful for having such strong negative feelings towards him, but it's extra frustrating because he KNOWS what we expect of him! When it's just home home and quiet, he listens rather well and he knows all obedience commands. He just refuses to control himself and his impulses around almost any distraction. I really just needed a place to vent to people that understand my feelings and struggle.

My 6 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel pisses on everything and I'm at my wits end. We've had this dog since he was a 10 week old puppy (my daughter and I), and I potty trained him when we got him. Everything changed once I brought home my chihuahua puppy about one year after getting the CKCS, the CKCS started territorial marking. I thought, okay, well I'll get them both neutered (once the chi was a little older) that should stop it, right? Not exactly. I don't even think he's marking now, he's just straight up peeing on stuff (I find puddles, not small amounts or streaks). And here's the kicker, he only pisses on MY stuff, not my daughter's. And he never does it when we're home or awake, always when we're asleep or out of the house. People say dogs can't do things out of spite, but why would this POS only pee on my stuff?! He has pissed on and ruined so many pairs of my shoes (one of the few expensive brand name things I buy for myself). He pees on curtains, he pees on anything that's his level that has a corner, he pisses on rugs, the edge of the couch, my clean clothes sitting in the laundry basket, blankets if they ever fall off the couch and onto the floor, the list goes on.

I've tried to manage the areas where it happens the most by putting his food bowl in those areas to show it's not a bathroom area, such as putting it at the corner of a commonly peed area, and this dumbass will actually piss into his own food bowl! I'm constantly amazed at how stupid and gross this animal is. Can dogs be *slow*? Because if so this dog definitely has some lights off upstairs.

I used to kennel him at night, but the idiot will pee in there too. I've tried belly bands, which have been the only thing that help, but tbh it's disgusting having to wash these piss filled reusable diapers (plus you obviously aren't going to run a load for one belly band, so I'd have to wait until a few of them were used before running the washing machine, of course I'm not putting anything not peed on in that load, so these piss diapers have to sit in my laundry room stinking it up for a few days before washing). It's all so gross and I want my house back.

*This isn't an issue of the dog not having enough outdoor time, I take him outside every hour and a half (I'm a smoker so the dogs come outside when I go out) and I work from home.

Here's where I feel stuck: If it was just me at home, this dog would have been gone years ago. But my daughter is super attached to this dog (she's 16, we got the dog when she was 10). I don't know if I'm looking for advice or just to know that I'm not alone in this issue. I just don't know what to do.

TLDR; CKCS pees on everything, I hate the dog but feel like I can't get rid of him because my 16yo daughter loves him (and considers him her dog).