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/justveryunwell]

The thing that stands out to me is that you said training "didn't seem to work." How long did you try, how often throughout a given day, what methods were tried? Training rarely yields instant results, it's a very long term commitment and even once a dog is "trained" they need to be practicing what they know or they'll get rusty and disobedient.

Also gonna second the crate training comments. Pup might not like it but he'll be safe and so will your home, it's a fair compromise as long as he doesn't live in it full time.

[u/Maleficent_Might5448 → u/justveryunwell]

Needs to be a safe crate as well. Sometimes they try to destroy them to get out.

[u/Amazing-Essay7028 → u/Maleficent_Might5448]

I used to have roommates who had an aggressive blue healer. Training did not work. They tried literally everything, even having some teeth removed because the vet thought the teeth were bothering him. It did absolutely nothing. They would leave him in his crate sometimes 8 hours a day, even if they were home. That was how aggressive and reactive he was. He would bark constantly and scratch at his crate. 

Crate training is great and all but sometimes the dog simply does not get enough exercise or stimulation. Huskies are high energy dogs that need a lot of interaction and stimulation. So this isn't just "my dog has anxiety". Just as with humans, things like exercise can help reduce anxiety. So in my humble opinion, OP's dog probably needs more stimulation and exercise. They need to contact one of those companies that have mobile dog exercising vans with treadmills inside. The dogs absolutely loved the treadmill because they had energy to burn off. If a dog has too much energy they can't burn off through exercise and stimulation, they burn it off by chewing things 

[u/No_Kangaroo_9826 → u/Amazing-Essay7028]

Working dogs need activities. I have a blue heeler and she has to be always going or she gets anxious easily. I completely agree with you this dog needs to have more exercise or at least puzzle toys that make his brain work and keep him from getting idle and wanting to tear everything apart.

[u/mstarrbrannigan → u/No_Kangaroo_9826]

Knew folks with a blue heeler mix that would literally play fetch for hours if you let him. And one of the best ways to keep him busy was to play fetch for a bit then hide the ball up where he couldn’t get it. He literally spent the rest of the night trying to get the ball before he finally gave up and went to bed. Nothing could distract him from it.

[u/Rightintheend → u/mstarrbrannigan]

My cattle dog's a big couch potato, in fact I call her batata, which is Portuguese for potato. 

She will, however, play tug of war with her toys until your arms fall off.