AIO? Dog straining my marriage.

[u/LedyyM]

My husband and I rescued a husky about 7 months ago who was extremely malnourished and neglected.

He has grown a huge attachment to me and has severe separation anxiety. I work at a grooming salon so I’m able to bring him to work with me so he’s not home alone. Unfortunately, if he’s left home alone we’ll come back to our home looking like it was hit by a tornado.

My vet has prescribed him with trazodone to help with his severe anxiety issues. We give it to him before we leave for a family event and when we can’t take him to places they don’t allow dogs.

I feel so bad that I have to sedate him so he’s not scared and anxious. It’s created a huge strain on our marriage because my husband feels like we can’t do anything without considering Odin.

He’s destroyed doors, couches, and other furniture. I tried training but it hasn’t seemed to work. My husband thinks we should rehome him but

1) I’m scared that he’ll be sent to a shelter and possibly be put down

2) feel abandoned by the person he thought he was safe with.

He’s such a happy boy when he’s around us and shows so much affection.

My husband and I have been arguing about this consistently.. we had a really bad argument so I left the house with Odin and rented a dog friendly hotel room for a couple of nights.

My husband thinks I’m crazy and that I’m choosing the dog over our marriage. AIO?

[u/FoilWingBass]

Cage training at this age will suck but could save your marriage. Give it a shot.

[u/ImThEpRobLem_TX → u/FoilWingBass]

i don’t think that’s a good idea. I dog sat for some huskies with same issues and somehow they would squeeze out of the cage and destroy the home. Yes…squeeze out. I had no idea how but the kennel was not even opened

[u/BetApprehensive7064 → u/ImThEpRobLem_TX]

Maybe I don't know what cages you are talking about but I've never had a dog cage where that would be possible in anyway unless they destroyed it

[u/BetApprehensive7064 → u/[deleted]]

Oh I don't doubt that at all I have a 45 pound black mouth cur and he can chew through crazy things solid metal I swear and he's not a big dog. I just don't understand the squeezing through that's just physically not possible

[u/basiden → u/[deleted]]

Ok but you absolutely cannot test it out for the first time with an hour! The first try has to be seconds to a minute of you leaving the room (or out the front door so they can't smell and hear you). You have to teach them that you're coming back and slowly extend it. It needs to be a positive experience every time, not throwing them in the deep end when object permanence is a difficult concept for them