You know yourself best.

Try to think through the reasons you got the puppy, what you have to offer the puppy, and what the puppy will offer you. If all of that is more negative than positive, there is nothing wrong with realizing you got in over your head and it’s not best for you at this point in your life.

Have you ever felt this type of anxiety/stress previously? How long did it last? If you can say it spiraled you out of control for so long it wasn’t worth it, then think through how this experience may impact you long term.

All that being said, I don’t think what you’re experiencing is completely out of the norm. You just brought a completely new being into your world who needs you all.the.time. It’s exhausting. In between the snuggle that seems so sweet and a bit comforting is the reality of potty training, chewing, jumping, no ability to communicate with you, and it’s own nervousness as it learns about it’s new world. Give yourself some grace.

If you’re anxious about dog training, it’s a good sign you’re aware of the responsibilities. There is so much out there telling you everything you should be doing right now to make this a well-trained dog. But, when you’re feeling overwhelmed it’s not a great time to be training your pup, they feel that.

I’m going to ramble a bit about my own experience, just because I can I guess. I’ve had dogs in my life for the last 15 years or so. Good dogs. Well-trained dogs, ones you could take anywhere. My stress in the dog-related world was really low. My idiot self decided to bring home a puppy about 5 months ago. I had high-hopes for this dog, and of course started training right away. I thought this thing was the smartest dog ever, she picked up on all the basics right away. And the best was her snuggle to the neck when she was exhausted. In those moments I was able to breathe and even grin a bit. But, those moments were covered in a harsh reality of stress to the max. Every time I turned around the thing had peed on the floor. I stood crying at 3A one night in freezing cold temperatures waiting for it to do it’s business. No sleeping through the night. Constantly pulling things out of its’ mouth it shouldn’t have. And the worst was it really didn’t want anything to do with me unless I had a treat in my hand or a squeaky toy it wanted to rip up. Every day I wondered if I should give it to someone else because I just couldn’t handle it. And total truth, 5 months in, I still have those thoughts.

Training is hard work. It takes routine, intention, etc. At one point I realized there was something missing from the training, for both the dog and I. We weren’t really bonding, we weren’t really having fun, and frankly it created tons of stress. She’d seem to totally understand something for days and then have a series of days she wouldn’t respond at all. My frustration was high. Some other things happened in my life outside of the dog that only added to the stress and I just had this moment where I came to terms with not being able to “train” right now. So for weeks all we did was have fun and work on bonding. I couldn’t take the emotions that came with her lack of success and it wasn’t fair to take my frustration out on her. So we just kicked-back for a few weeks. Played things like “chase the treat” and “touch my hand for a treat” and instead of focusing on walking the way I wanted her to we just did a lot of free run and chase. Just those 3ish things for a couple of weeks. And potty-training! Of course, there is training in all of that. Her learning I’m the most fun thing in the world and she wants to be near me. Bonding. Being able to grab her collar being a good thing, etc. Did she back-slide on the basics like “sit, down, etc”. Yep. And we’re working through it now. But we are both in a better place.

I guess I ramble all of that to suggest to give yourself some grace. That anxiety around training is pressure you’re putting on yourself. Of course everything you do now will impact things long-term, but there is still time to allow yourself some grace. It’s been 3 days. What are your expectations? For yourself? For your dog? It is a commitment, and if you have zero vision of yourself ever being less anxious/stressed about this, then do what is best for you and the dog. But, if this is temporary, if the benefits will soon outweigh the costs...maybe it’s worth working through.