‘I loved him, but I didn’t like him’: How a canine loving couple navigated the first nightmarish months of doggo adoption to raise the pawfect pupper

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jul 2, 2026 12:15 PM EDT

No doggo adoption goes as easily or smoothly as the interested parties would like, but what are we to expect when we randomly plonk a foreign pupper into our homes. Thankfully the pawrents in this story of doggo adjustment had the patience and understanding to stick by their pup through thick and thin.

Reddit's r/dogs subreddit is sadly filled with far too many stories of families and couples adoption doggos from rescues and shelters who have had to return their dogs. Their pain is plain to see and in many cases understandable, for what is common amongst all of them is that they were undersold the severity of their new doggo's behavioural problems. So thinking they are going to receive a pawfect pupper these families walk into these pitfalls blindly and are obviously shocked and ill equipped to handle the harrowing events. Resulting in the pupper's return to the place it came from.

And while this story begins no differently than the rest, it does show what can be achieved with a whole lot of patience, practice and belief that the doggo you have brought home is 100% your responsibility. Sure, it would have been nice if the shelter was forthcoming, it would have been generous of the shelter to offer some free training classes to get them set up. But nonetheless this couple took the challenge upon themselves, determined to not only love their dog like their own child, but to also be able to enjoy his company. So we invite you to join us for this tale of pupper progress that goes to show that with a little love and a whole heap of help it is possible to help the anxious stray you adopted feel safe and at home with you and your family. 
 

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  • 01
    "Today, Kepler is an entirely different dog. He's sweet and cuddly and well behaved."
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    I'm so proud of my dog
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    Looking back, the shelter really should not have given him to us. He was 11 months old and surrendered because his old family "couldn't keep up
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    with his high energy." I am completely sure that is a way of sugar coating his behavioral issues. They said he was fine with cats
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    because he didn't react to them in the shelter, where he had been for only four days. He was listed as a husky mix. Later, a DNA test confirmed he is, in
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    Cheezburger Image 10642210048
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  • Ok, just a moment I need to say something here. This is one of the most infuriating and frustrating parts of dog adoption and it is always the shelters and rescues who do this. They will outright lie and diminish the problems that a doggo has, more so than a used car salesman. While, at the same time they will demand a million and one things from you to prove that you are worthy of the problematic pupper they are desperate to offload onto you. It is totally unfair to all involved, especially for the doggo who usually ends up being returned to the shelter. Thankfully these pawrents are not about to let a little ‘forgotten information’ stand in the way of them loving their new dog child, but it certainly makes it harder to do so. 
     

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    fact, half husky, a quarter Akita, and a quarter Shiba. The opposite of a beginner dog. Kepler is our first dog other than our childhood pets.
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    Things slowly started to get out of hand. He was crate trained, but not well--the crate was not a safe space. He started showing aggression
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    towards us. He didn't seem to know bite inhibition or redirection. My fiancee and I were covered in bruises and scrapes
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    from him jumping on us. We took turns sleeping on the couch because, at the time, we only had space for his crate in our room
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    and he would keep us awake. We had lots of 3 am arguments because we were just so d n tired. I loved him so much, but I didn't like him.
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    Our saving grace is that, by some miracle, he was incredible with other dogs. We could go to dog parks so he could run and play.
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  • What a harrowing adjustment period to go through. It sounds like one problem after another nad when it gets to the point that you are having to trade sleeping next to your loved one for actually getting some sleep, you know things are bad. But these pawrents know that all their pupper needs is the right help and their neverending faith that his behavior will get better. At least he gets on with other dogs, that is both incredibly surprising and incredibly lucky. To have to deal with an anxious dog like that 24/7 would be a trying task for even the most patient amongst us.  
     

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    We went through three trainers. The first wrestled him to the ground to assert dominance, so we withdrew him. The second used a prong
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    collar, so we never went back. The third saw potential in him, and trained him (and us) with patience and confidence and relationship building. She called him her favorite student.
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    Cheezburger Image 10642210560
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    Today, Kepler is an entirely different dog. He's sweet and cuddly and well behaved. He knows when to grab a toy to redirect. He loves
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    the cats and is gentle with them. We don't use his kennel at night and sometimes he chooses to sleep in our bed with us. He's gentle with our four
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    year old God daughter, and they're best friends. He's come so far. He's everything I wanted in a dog. I
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    am so incredibly proud of him, and all the work he put into learning everything he needed to learn. People tell us they're jealous of what a good dog he is. The
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    other day, my coworker jokingly asked if I wanted to trade dogs. I told her there was no way.
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    I love Kepler so much, and I'm so, so glad I get to have this guy around.
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