How spacehey changed my life FOREVER with my dog

Hey friends! I wanted to share with you all about how the community here at spacehey changed my life forever for the better.

About two years ago I signed up to create a profile. While this was happening, my husband and I were in the middle of potentially adopting a new dog. Her name is Rain and she is a Black Mouth Cur. At the time she was only about 1.5 years old but had bounced from home to home most of her life. Six homes to be exact. We also suspect she was abused as a puppy. All of this of course created a lot of trust and anxiety issues for Rain.

To give context, we do have another dog named Appa, and yes, he is a Great Pyrenees. We have had him since he was a newborn. At the time of this story, he was about 8 years old. He is extremely independent and VERY well behaved. We are not new to owning dogs. 

However, Rain was a different story. We were given two weeks to house her and decide if we wanted to keep her or not. It was during this time that it became clear why she was bounced so much. Those two weeks were some of the hardest I have had to deal with. I cleaned more pee and poop in those two weeks than in Appa's whole life. I would constantly be woken up by her to go to the bathroom every two hours every night. She had destroyed doors, multiple dog beds, blinds, carpet and a few more things. The two weeks were almost up. I had to make a decision the next day. 

To distract myself for a bit, I logged into spacehey on my computer. I started friending people and a few of them even messaged me. They were all kind and asking how my weekend was and if I was getting excited for Halloween. Typically, I am not one to share my current struggles. I will share what I have been through in the past, but I don't like leaning on people (don't worry, I am working on this). But today was different. spacehey is different. These people didn't know me like my co-workers or friends, so having a little bit of ambiguity was nice. So, I decided to tell strangers on the internet what I was going through.

Each and every person showed me such kindness and grace. They helped me to feel validated in my frustration and guilt. They allowed me the space to not feel trapped or if I was going to be a bad person if I couldn't take Rain in. They gave tips and suggestions for help with the submissive peeing and all-night bathroom breaks. 

After speaking with these people, I knew what my decision was. I was going to keep Rain and help her just like my new friends helped me. I knew it was going to be a much longer journey than just a few kind messages to help her, but I was given new hope. A breath of life into the situation. It has been two years. Rain is a completely different dog. Her anxiety and submissive peeing have disappeared. Rarely, from time to time, (like 4th of July fireworks or a very loud new person enters the home) her old behaviors come out, but it is no longer the default mode. She is allowed to be a puppy and is loving her new 'job' of pets, running, playing ball and letting us know if someone is driving down the driveway. 

I think of this story and the kindness shown to me often. However, I wanted to write it down and share just how much this community means to me and how much it has changed my life. Thank you.