Need to vent.
So we have 2 dogs and I’m actually pretty worried about how both will adjust to us bringing home a new baby. We have a 4 year old boxer who is easily 60+ lbs and a chihuahua who was a rescue. The boxer still acts like a puppy and is so hyper no matter how many walks she gets. Ever since I became pregnant she started to regress in her training and listening. We looked into training classes for her but unfortunately, can’t afford them. One trainer we talked to recommended an e collar to at least retrain her in the basics, such as not pulling on walks, not jumping up on people and just even listening to basic commands. I feel horrible using it but we’ve been at it for the last 2 months in hopes she’ll at least start listening to commands, such as sit, stay or on your bed which I think are so important for when baby comes. The jumping up is another big concern I have because we can’t have a 60+ lb dog jumping up on us while we’re holding the baby. The e collar seems to be working, it’s just been a very very slow process which is frustrating because everything we are training her to do is stuff she knew long before I got pregnant. It doesn’t help that she is 100% my husbands dog and doesn’t give 2 shits about me when he’s around so the vet thinks a lot of it is to do with jealousy..which is also concerning for when the baby comes. As for our rescue, he’s got severe ptsd from whatever his previous owners did to him. We don’t know the whole story but it’s very clear he was physically abused. We’ve had him for 2 years and he is still so anxious and timid and he has actually got worse as well ever since I became pregnant. He pees everywhere out of excitement and fear which our vet said is his way of submitting and there’s not much we can do about it. It doesn’t matter if your petting him, say his name or scold him for doing something, he pees EVERYWHERE. He also tries to bite you out of fear if you approach him the wrong way or pet him in an area he doesn’t want to be pet at that time. We have literally tried every anxiety med, CBD oil, giving him extra love...everything and unfortunately he’s just too damaged from his past that it hasn’t got any better. We are going to see how things go with the new baby and him but with the way things are with him, I don’t see what else we can do to ensure the safety of our baby (both from bites and him urinating everywhere.) I just don’t know what else we can do. It breaks my heart at the thought of potentially having to give him up but at the same time I need to make sure my baby will be safe. And it doesn’t help that I have people barking down my throat saying “the dogs were there first or you need to make sure there life doesn’t change just because you had a baby.”
Achieve your health goals from period to parenting.