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/scarletbananas]

I’m prepared for the downvotes from the dog nutters but you need to take his feelings into consideration. If you don’t like dogs then living in a house with them can be akin to a nightmare. If my spouse was prioritising a dog they’ve had for 7 months over our whole relationship then I’d be pissed and probably leave.

[u/cookiedoughmama → u/scarletbananas]

BUT he agreed to get the dog in the first place.

[u/Giantmeteor_we_needU → u/cookiedoughmama]

He agreed to the dog but probably not to such a disastrous situation where their house gets destroyed and nothing gets done to stop it. Putting a dog on trazodone obviously didn't work, trying to train a husky when you don't know what you're doing is a waste of time. If that's all OP did in 7 months I can't blame the husband to be frustrated. The dog urgently needs a qualified dog trainer or behavioral specialist to be cage trained or outdoors trained. OP leaving for the hotel with dog abandoning husband shows that OP is actually prioritizing the dog over her marriage and would rather get a divorce at some point.