Feel terrible about returning dog to shelter

Vent

Hi all. I already feel so incredibly terrible and have been in tears for hours over this. I just adopted a 1 year old cane corso mastiff from a shelter. He was an owner surrender. He is very sweet but he has so many behaviors. The townhome I live in with my husband is a decent size but he has so much more energy than we anticipated. We tried putting him in a crate but he whines so incredibly loud for long periods of time. The walls are connected to my neighbors and we can hear him clearly from outside. We both work and have to crate him when we leave and when we sleep because he destroys everything. He jumps on people and counters. I can’t take him on a leash to potty myself because he is 100 pounds pulls constantly and reacts to people and other dogs. He jumped on me and I actually fell on my knee on tile which scared me. We bought him so many toys, treats and bones to try to enrich him. We got an expensive heavy duty leash for him too. He is already super attached to my husband but it’s unhealthy because he will wait at the door or whine when he leaves. I feel terrible because he was calm and sweet when we met him at the shelter and I know we should give him more time to adjust but they are strict on noise complaints where I live. He is capable of lying down and being calm but only when it’s close to bed time and then once we crate him it’s back to whining. We have had him for 2 days and are thinking about returning him at his neuter appointment tomorrow. We both feel so terrible but I just don’t think he will be happy with what we can provide him. Just wanted some input because we both feel like terrible people right now.

Posted Dec 29, 2025, 3:16 AM UTC

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