[Help] Feeling a bit overwhelmed with a new rescue dogDog Talks

Hi everyone,

I just adopted my first-ever dog and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. Clover is a total sweetheart, very affectionate and without any major behavior issues that a little training can’t fix. At the shelter they told me she’s a 13-month-old golden retriever mix. She was totally emaciated when she first arrived at the shelter and she’s gained weight to be about 30 pounds, but she still looks pretty skinny to me. I’m a PhD student in the humanities and I’m home all day working on my dissertation, so I have plenty of time to interact with her. I enjoy hiking and running and I’d love for her to be a reliable companion on my outdoor adventures.

Problem 1: Peeing. It seems like she wants to go out to pee a LOT (like every 2 hours). She peed on my living room carpet a couple of times so I rolled it up and put it away. When we go for walks she can easily pee 3-4 times in 10 minutes. Does that sound like a medical problem? A behavior issue that I can deal with in training? Or just part of the transition from shelter to home? (FWIW, I also live on the 3rd floor of a building with no elevator, so that adds to the annoyance of such frequent pee breaks. If only there were a way she could use my balcony somehow!)

Problem 2: Food obsession. I’m feeding her the amount of food (Purina ProPlan on the shelter’s recommendation) the quantity it says on the package—about a cup in the morning and a cup at night. Should I be feeding her more since she has a history of starvation and could probably benefit from gaining a few pounds? When I try to train her, she gets so excited by treats that it’s hard to “lure” her into Sit or Down positions.

I love it when she plays with her Kong or a plushie toy or naps on the couch while I work. I also love taking her for walks and playing indoor fetch or tug of war from time to time. I’d love to get to the point where I take her for a longish walk or trip to the dog park in the morning and at lunchtime with a few other pee breaks over the course of the day. I get really stressed out feeling like I need to be constantly vigilant so she doesn’t pee on the floor or eat something bad for her. She’s basically ok in her crate but I don’t want to overuse the crate as a tool. I just feel like she needs a LOT of mental, emotional, and physical energy from me right now and it’s feeling really hard. What can I do to make things feel better or develop a reliable routine?

I also haven’t been sleeping well lately since I don’t do super well with changes to my own routine, so I’m sure things seem like a much bigger deal than they would if I were well rested.

Submitted November 12, 2020 at 03:30AM by caprette https://ift.tt/3kwKCZr