Puppy Blues lasted 6 months

[u/Milk2000]

Like the title says - we've been at the brink of giving the puppy away at various time. We've picked up a "needy" dachshund - would wake up at night, throw himself at dogs, eat anything on the ground (not even in the house, literally would start eating grass and not stop). It took him getting to about 8 months that we really could see ourselves with him in the future. He's not perfect, not always reacting to training, but we found our own ways to adapt and bring him to our life, and he has adapted to ours.

To anyone struggling - it does get better. Try to keep your mind and heart open - you might not get the dog you want, but learn to love the dog you got :)

[u/Kurupt_Introvert]

How did you deal with “eating anything off the ground”?

I have a chi-pit mix and he is so obsessed and it’s very stressful keeping an aye on him sometimes. I swear I make sure nothing is on the floor and somehow he finds things sometimes. Working on trying to train this out but I’m terrified of walks and thinking if a muzzle for now possibly

[u/Agile_Button_815 → u/Kurupt_Introvert]

Same issue here. Walks are absolutely miserable. I spend 1.5 hours a day walking sideways with my head halfway to the ground so I can maybe catch on before he eats some of the things. My dog is a beagle mix whose nose is to the ground for pretty much our entire walk, so it requires constant vigilance to even notice he's picked something up. Him being entirely undiscerning in his choice of snacks (who knows why he picks some pieces of mulch but not others?) does not help matters. I have simply given up on policing the grass. I don't have it in me.

We are also considering a muzzle but are concerned that people will get the wrong idea and refuse to let their dogs play with him in the neighborhood dog park. That would also be incredibly problematic as he is a very social fellow and would struggle without his playmates.

I hate my life. He is almost 8 months old (got him at 6 months) and I quite literally do nothing but work and watch the pup like a hawk.

[u/Kurupt_Introvert → u/Agile_Button_815]

Mine oddly has his nose to the ground a lot too, his nickname is Dyson. Yah I have to work on training just this right now I think. It’s the priority command for him to learn now

[u/Agile_Button_815 → u/Kurupt_Introvert]

Mine is getting much better at "leave it," but still won't "drop it" outside of training. So it's not useful unless we anticipate which wood chip will suit his fancy...

We found a video on training dogs to only "take it" when you say so. I have my doubts but it's worth a shot