A little background first... My husband has always been a dog guy. Before we married, I dated him in high school and he did everything with his dogs. He loved on them, played with them, drove around with them in his truck, took them swimming in the summers and even hunted with them - always male labs.
Fast forward 20 years, we now have a family of our own and we welcomed our first dog to the family almost 2 years ago, a female lab. We honestly were not really planning on getting a dog, but to make a long story short, we wanted a girl dog to fill the void of having all boys for children, and, we wanted our kids to grow up with a dog, so here we are!
Anyway, nothing seemed terribly out of ordinary with her as a puppy. However, as she grew older we noticed her tendency to be more clingy. It really isn't much of a problem, but we've noticed that she really doesn't like being outside alone by herself at all, which is super surprising because she loves playing in our big yard when there are people with her. The trouble is when we let her outside (primarily to go potty), she will immediately turn around and face the door like a statue, and she still does it to this day. I have no problem walking outside with her to watch her go potty, but this is where I noticed things started to turn with my husband...
My husband has got really frustrated with this. He tells me that he should be able to open the door and the dog should go out and take care of business like a "normal" dog, on her own. When she sits at the door, he will open the door and yell at her, shooing her away from the door to go potty. I think what pushes him over is when she is given the chance to go potty but she doesn't go, and ends up having an accident in the house. She doesn't have accidents often anymore, but he really gets angry when it happens.
Like I said, she is also a very clingy dog. She literally has to be in the same room with someone at all times. Unfortunately, she has gotten underfoot with me and the baby a few times, and I've tripped, so my husband gets mad at the dog. But the clinginess really bothers him. He will tell her to go lay down and stay, but she doesn't always listen. What really bothers me now is that my husband has become super annoyed with her clinginess, and now he will simply gate her off, leave her downstairs, or force her outside just to be away from him.
Overall, I'm just really concerned that my husband is more than just annoyed with our dog. It's to the point where her presence around him easily irritates him. In fact, he's recently said to me that he only tolerates the dog for the kids' sake anymore, and that comment really kind of hurt.
Yes, I know I need to have a serious conversation with him about this to let my concerns be known. I was more interested in if anyone else has been through this or had advice.
Fast forward 20 years, we now have a family of our own and we welcomed our first dog to the family almost 2 years ago, a female lab. We honestly were not really planning on getting a dog, but to make a long story short, we wanted a girl dog to fill the void of having all boys for children, and, we wanted our kids to grow up with a dog, so here we are!
Anyway, nothing seemed terribly out of ordinary with her as a puppy. However, as she grew older we noticed her tendency to be more clingy. It really isn't much of a problem, but we've noticed that she really doesn't like being outside alone by herself at all, which is super surprising because she loves playing in our big yard when there are people with her. The trouble is when we let her outside (primarily to go potty), she will immediately turn around and face the door like a statue, and she still does it to this day. I have no problem walking outside with her to watch her go potty, but this is where I noticed things started to turn with my husband...
My husband has got really frustrated with this. He tells me that he should be able to open the door and the dog should go out and take care of business like a "normal" dog, on her own. When she sits at the door, he will open the door and yell at her, shooing her away from the door to go potty. I think what pushes him over is when she is given the chance to go potty but she doesn't go, and ends up having an accident in the house. She doesn't have accidents often anymore, but he really gets angry when it happens.
Like I said, she is also a very clingy dog. She literally has to be in the same room with someone at all times. Unfortunately, she has gotten underfoot with me and the baby a few times, and I've tripped, so my husband gets mad at the dog. But the clinginess really bothers him. He will tell her to go lay down and stay, but she doesn't always listen. What really bothers me now is that my husband has become super annoyed with her clinginess, and now he will simply gate her off, leave her downstairs, or force her outside just to be away from him.
Overall, I'm just really concerned that my husband is more than just annoyed with our dog. It's to the point where her presence around him easily irritates him. In fact, he's recently said to me that he only tolerates the dog for the kids' sake anymore, and that comment really kind of hurt.
Yes, I know I need to have a serious conversation with him about this to let my concerns be known. I was more interested in if anyone else has been through this or had advice.
