so i posted on the puppy101 sub a couple days ago about having thoughts of rehoming my 11 week old ACD puppy (i said 10 weeks in the post, he actually just turned 11 weeks and i was just incredibly exhausted).

after a few days of practicing patience, trying to fix my sleep schedule, and actually getting out of the apartment *without* banjo, i can confidently say i was just experiencing some severe puppy blues at the time (as well as womanly hormones lol).

listen, i love my dog. i was feeling a lot of intense emotions at the time due to sleep deprivation and the lack of being out in the actual world lol. i was also feeling really butt hurt at the time because it felt like even though im with banjo 75% of the time, he seemed to like my boyfriend more. 

i was definitely wrong. please correct me if needed, but banjo just seems to have different relationships with us. 

dad is more lenient, exciting to play with, *and* plays rough! mom doesn’t like it when banjo plays rough and puts him behind the baby gate if he bites, but mom helps him settle, trains him, cleans him, does most potty breaks and feeds him. (plus lots of treats!)

you may be thinking “well duh”. okay well, try telling that to someone who is extremely sleep deprived and hasn’t gotten out in awhile! im sure my intense emotions will return at some point, but i’ve just had to remind myself “there are good days and bad days”, “there *will* be points of regression”, “he is only this little *once.*” it’s really been helping, and so has getting out and being active, alone. 

tonight was definitely an eye opener though. im definitely much more in tune with banjos wants and needs, and i only say that because he seems to settle a lot easier with me. not because he “loves me more”, but because he knows that i will figure out what is bothering him, or if he’s just being a turd.

the last few nights, he seems to be having a hard time getting comfortable. i am assuming it’s because he is teething (his poops are normal, he eats and drinks water normally, plays normally including the excessive biting, he does still nap but takes longer to settle, etc). i will have to check and see if his gums look irritated tomorrow to confirm, but i have deduced that he *must* be entering the teething phase. unfortunately i can’t really take the pain away, all i can do is give him a chilled chew toy and sit next to him while he’s in his kennel and provide reassurance that he’s okay. works *every* time. my boyfriend hasn’t seemed to figure this out (not his fault, i’ve left by myself literally 2 times in the last 3 weeks so how would we know) but i will definitely let him know tomorrow how to handle his discomfort when im not there. im assuming that’s why he didn’t sleep the whole time i was gone today lol. 

my point being, just because someone is having a hard time getting adjusted to puppy life, doesn’t mean they are an unfit puppy parent. im very determined to give this dog the best life possible and i feel like so far im doing a great job, even if we have bad days or redditors recommend i get rid of him because i “bit off more than i can chew” or because he’s a “working” breed.

also, the shelter told us he is an ACD/shepherd mix. i do see a lot of ACD in him but i definitely want to get him tested in the future because he looks a lot leaner than the typical ACD puppy. if anyone has any advice for getting his biting under control while teething please let me know! he has drawn blood on us multiple times, and none of normal tips seem to help all that much (he gets excited when we yelp and almost immediately returns to biting after timeout or reverse timeouts, for example). 

finally getting the hang of things?