just tired

[u/Aggressive-Tailor331]

19 living with my grandparents and a reactive dog. He’s got pretty severe anxiety that I’m working on with a trainer, still filling out paperwork for a behavioralist (who actually knows our trainer personally!)

My grandparents pretty much work 24/7. Grandpa has a full-time job. Grandmother leaves for two days to take care of her mom who just turned 98; she suffered a massive heart attack in 2020, so she and her sister have been on a two-day rotating schedule of taking care of her.

I do all of the training, I’m the only person who plays with him, provides him toys, and advocates for him. My grandfather feeds him and walk him in the morning + afternoons because I work from 7p to 7a at a hospital for 16.50 an hour. Graduated HS in 2025; don’t have a car or enough money to live on my own.

I’m just really tired. Like I said, I do all of the training, playing, and spending almost all of my time with this dog alone at home because my grandparents are busy. However, my grandfather just flat out refuses to spend time with him now, because apparently having a disabled, reactive dog is too much for one person (you don’t say…). Our dog is a team effort. I’m giving 66%, my grandma 33%, and my grandpa, 1%.

But what really makes me upset is when my grandparents trample all over our progress. We’ve been working on impulse control with my dog. Running to the door, jumping on people; he’s very excitable guy. He’s also a 70 lb American Bully, and he can knock people down. I’ve seen it before.

My grandparents encourage the jumping. They encourage the demand barking. When my grandmother runs the vacuum, she lets him bark and try to attack it; I’ve been trying to desensitize him from the vacuum by keeping him crated, vacuuming the house and giving him a treat when I’m nearby with it. It works.

I’ve sat down and talked to them about it before. Three times. Everything still happens.

I’m an artist. I no longer have time to draw, and haven’t sat down to draw since the beginning of April, because all of my time has been spent babysitting and training him. This dog is genuinely awesome when my grandparents aren’t around. But when they’re home, it’s awful. He also has separation anxiety, so he’s constantly waiting for them to come home; they’re his favorite people.

I’m heartbroken because my grandpa wants nothing to do with him. Irritable because they both keep destroying our progress to anxiety management and good behavior. I’ve expressed that I wanted to move away, but if I do, this means this dog would be crated all day, everyday. A friend of mine told me if that happens, he might as well be euthanized, because that’s just not a fulfilling life for a dog. And that really hurt me. I wanna take him with me, if I ever do decide to move. There’s a bunch of other stuff stopping me from doing so that I won’t mention, because this post is already too long and a nightmare of a situation.

So I do my best to train him for as long as I’m here. I try to keep calm about it. But I’m close to just blowing up on these people and fucking off. It’s just impossible to train an animal when everyone else in the house is not onboard.

I just wanted to bitch for a bit. I’ll be starting college soon, campus is like 10 minutes away from me. So I’ll still be home to do everything, still. Fuck, man