Had my first session with a private trainer today to address my 15 week old puppy’s fear, anxiety, and reactivity to big city noises. She did great with the trainer, but seemed to regress with me when we tried the same thing.

I live in nyc, and I brought her home from a very rural part of the US (nothing but farmland) at 12 weeks old. She’s great at home, at the park, and with new people and dogs, but getting to the park is a chore. She’s so easily started at every typically nyc noise that she hears, and thats when we take the route that she’s familiar with.

When we take a different route she tenses up and quivers most of the way. If any of the nyc noises appear she’s freezes or runs off the way we came trying to get home. If there’s anything new in the area she’s often afraid of that too, and it yields the same result.

We can’t even walk around the block without me having to carry her 1/3 of the way, so I haven’t been able to do any city familiarization at all.

I’ve been thinking that maybe but city life just isn’t for her. I’ve resolved to give it an earnest effort and work with certified trainers to get her where she needs to be. But what if none of that works? At what point is keeping her here just selfish of me?

She walked around the block like w champ with me and the trainer. I mean she was still wary, but she walked the whole way herself and it was mostly fluid. But trying the same route 3 different times afterwards did not work. We didn’t even make it around the corner (and I live in a corner building) before she just shut down.

Now I have to wonder if this is further proof that I am just not equipped for this challenge…

I waited so long to get a dog too