[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by bhanish

Thanks, everyone. I'm still at a loss. If I was going to rehome Whimsy, I would ultimately find a family or owner myself. I would never give him to the pound or anything. The whole point is to avoid Whimsy being euthanized.

I should note that Whimsy is ONLY bad when I'm around. For example, when I'm not home, he is excited to see the daycare driver and doesn't bark. When I was home, he barked, jumped at the daycare driver, bit my foot, and cried when he was taken away.

His daycare also says he's really great at school. And sometimes I get help from a dogwalker when the daycare is closed, and she says he's super wonderful on walks.
Meanwhile, I JUST took Whimsy out to the park and had another incident (someone said to avoid people and dogs but it's hard in a major city). Whimsy's tail was wagging and he sniffed the dogs and then tried to bite one of the dog's behinds!

I don't think Whimsy is one of those dogs who are just wired differently. I agree he was always super anxious, even when I got him as a puppy. And you can never find a photo of him where he's relaxed, but I think much of his behavior is experience based.

And I'm not sure it's relevant, but Whimsy had INSANE separation anxiety for his first year or so. He'd literally cry for hours when I left him. Now he has less separation anxiety but he's way more aggressive.

Someone mentioned just accepting Whimsy as he is and stop with the trainers. But, honestly, if I had kids, I'd probably reach out to specialists too. And there's a bit more urgency with getting him help because his behavior has escalated the last two months. I literally tell delivery people to leave items at the door and not to knock or ring the doorbell. I need to hire a walker more than usual because Whimsy is so aggressive when I take him to the park. And I just think he's a ticking time bomb.

The options I was entertaining: (1) maybe Whimsy needs another dog in the house. That way he's not alone (which he hates, even if it's only for a couple of hrs a day). But then that's just a huge gamble. What if they don't get along? What if Whimsy makes the dog aggressive as well? (2) find another trainer; apparently there's a "great one" but the trainer literally charged $150 an hour!! or (3) rehome him to a family who loves dogs and familiar with troubled dogs and yorkies. The fact is, Whimsy is super cute and insanely smart. If he's really OK with others, he might be a perfect pet. Maybe he and I just have a bad history and he doesn't trust me.

Thoughts?

I absolutely would not bring another dog into the house with him having aggression issues. It could be dangerous to the new dog. Back of the training for now. You need to bond more with him. Do simply training at home like sit, down and so on a few times a day for 10 minutes. If you rehome him you need to do it through a yorkie rescue that knows what qualifications a person should have. If you are tense and freaking out inside he can feel that and that might be what is stressing him out.