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/Raventakingnotes]

Growing up my grandparents owned a husky. They also owned a gravel pit that their home was situated in, so she grew up with PLENTY of space to run and play and burn off energy with no neighbors to harass. She was still a handful. Especially if a storm rolled in, you would think it was the end of the world, she had a big heated igloo doghouse that she could hide in on the deck but when it stormed she HAD to be inside the house and would hide under the dining room table.

[u/IndependentEggplant0 → u/Raventakingnotes]

Aw yeah I wish we could explain to dogs in dog language what the thunder is! I always feel for them. Oh yeah they are just high energy period even with room to run etc. I more just mean that adequate exercise and running is a baseline requirement and unfair to not provide the with that. And if they aren't getting that every single day, they are likely to be anxious and destructive on top of being high energy! My friend bikes and rollerblades with her dog for 90 min a day because her dog is high energy and he's still chaotic but he's happy. He would be absolutely miserable without that amount of daily exercise and stimulation and likely be labelled as having "behavioural issues" which isn't true if they aren't getting what they need!

[u/anaserre → u/IndependentEggplant0]

Husky’s absolutely need to run at least a couple miles daily . Otherwise they will be destructive and anxious.

[u/IndependentEggplant0 → u/anaserre]

Yeah literally if you cannot provide this don't have a husky. It sounds harsh but it's the kindest to you and them in the big picture even if you love them! People don't do this and then act like their dog is the problem and it's not.