Echo

Verbatim notes from return : "The last 24 hours have been hard in ways we couldn't anticipate since Echo was so docile and sweet at the shelter.

And he is a really big hearted wonderful boy.

But...

His energy level has continue to rise and rise and rise.

He tears through the house and never stops moving.

He's Peed in the house four times and pooped in the house once even though I've spent all day and night with doors open and taking him outside, sitting with him for hours.

I slept three hours last night, because he would never ever ever settle.

He jumped on the bed.

He turned and turned.

He whimpered, kept digging and biting at the covers.

When we tried to sequester him in a quiet room to settle down he threw himself at the door over and over and over again.

He got into a barking fit with our little dog that escalated enough that we felt like we had to put her away.

He jumped on my son and knocked him down.

And the newest and most concerning thing is he started to use my arm as a stick, putting his teeth around it.

Not mean and it's not hard enough to be painful, but I can definitely feel his teeth gripping through my sweatshirt.

And now I'm imagining if that happened to my little son.

He even did it to my nanny this morning when she went to stop him from fallowing me inside.

She has spent her whole life around dogs and she said, "that wasn't mean, but it also wasn't playing.

That felt like a warning bite.

He's been to the groomer for a bath and de- matting.

He's gone on three very long walks.

He's had two big healthy meals, including getting his meds this morning.

He's had pets and been told he's such a good good boy.

But with the addition of this biting happening during the night and this morning, I think the journey to turning him into the dog that he has the potential to be feels way too hard.

I think I underestimated what it would be like to add such a big guy to the household not knowing anything about his behavior or training.

We're throwing in the towel before he gets even more attached.

We're going to bring him back today at 11.

I'm so sorry.

I feel ashamed.

But there's no question in my mind that this is unsustainable.