I have a boston terrier that is almost 6 years old. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old and we all love him very much. He's a really sweet boy.
The problem is that since we've had kids, our dog seems to be getting more and more depressed and neurotic. I fully admit that his quality of life has gone downhill since we've had kids. He doesn't get nearly as many walks as he used to, etc. He was my first baby in a lot of ways...I even made sweaters for him to wear in the winter!
Now there are often days when I forget if I've even fed him :(. Our life is totally different than when we first got him. Our life is crazy busy now.
It's been really hard on our dog and he doesn't seem to be dealing well. He will often times spend the whole day sleeping in the basement. Whenever a kid cries or screams, he cowers downstairs to his bed and won't come up for the rest of the day.
He has started to have really bad nervous and/or excited peeing. We can't even pet him without him peeing. I've taken him to several local vets and he has been tested for any sort of physical ailment that could be causing this. They all say it is a mental/emotional problem, not physical.
We recently went out of town for vacation and left our dog with a friend. He absolutely loved it there! She totally loved him too and cried when it was time for us to leave. When I came to pick him up I had never seen him so happy (at least not in a very long time). She has a jack russel and they got along beautifully. When I took our dog home he was seriously depressed. He refused to eat for three days and stayed in his bed the better part of a week. He really did not seem to want to be home :(
So, there are a ton of other depressed and neurotic type behaviors that have manifested in our dog since our children have been born, but I think this gives an overall idea of what's going on.
I'm seriously considering asking my friend if she would like to have our dog. I love him dearly and just want him to be happy.
wwyd?
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