Verified answer

I know you love your dog, but if you have been to couples counseling and your counselor even suggested to rehome the dog, then the only loving thing to do is rehome Diego to a loving home with children so he can be happy too. He sounds unhappy there and your husband sounds like he is part of the problem. I know you love Diego, but sometimes love isn't enough and I have found good homes for pets that I loved when I had to. Do what needs to be done and that is also showing love to your dog. I'm sorry.

if you can afford couples counseling you can afford dog training and it would be a better investment. For the counselor to tell you to rehome the dog is just awful. If it were me, would rehome the husband.

Check with local humane societies, just taking one or two classes could really make a difference- they teach YOU to train your dog, suggest ways to handle issues, reward, etc, after all this dog and YOU have been through, give it a shot.

I agree with your husband that training is likely not going to do much good -- it seems that Diego needs a lot more space than you can provide him, and/or he is an "outdoors" dog and is way too pent up in your house/apartment/whatever (you would need to provide him MUCH more access to the outside than than with just walks). If you truly love this dog, you would find him the right type of environment (i.e., re-home him).

There is a world of training information online. Information about dogs with anxiety and what you can do, and more.

All dogs are trainable.

It takes a lot of work and dedication.

One thing my neighbor does when her dog gets overly excited is to put him into his crate until he calms down. There is also info online about crate training. It's not cruel to put them into a crate for a half hour or so. Dogs are naturally creatures who like to have a "den". So he'd get used to that.

And all dogs have to be taken out to exercise every day. Some breeds need to run for a bit. If your dog gets along with other dogs, take him to a dog park to get some of that energy out every day.

If your dog is good with recall, then take him to a hiking trail or large field to run and play. If he likes fetching, that would work out too

...just some suggestions

Try this natural product you can purchase on-line or perhaps in your local health food store:

RESCUE REMEDY

It is effective on animals as well as humans.

Your dog has anxiety? Really?

Your dog does not have anxiety, Your dog learned this behavior from you.

If you think your dog has anxiety, you should not have one.

You have tried couple counseling, why would you not try dog training?

Yes, it's going to cost you money. But it also going to cause you a scar on your heart knowing that you did not exhaust all of the options you could! 

And that scar might even cause you to feel resentment and anger towards your husband for life. Deep wounds are very hard to forgive. Over time they often manifest physically in the body causing illnesses and tumors. 

I've never had a dog. One of our cats had serious behavioral issues and ended up on a street because his previous owner couldn't deal with it. Then we adopted him and worked on the neccesary changes, so  I know that proper training pays off!

Your therapist gave you good advice. Your marriage should not be sacrificed for love of a dog, although dogs and other pets are actually like non-human children. As much as it hurts, time will heal the wound from losing Diego, but you should also give up any thought of having another pet based on this experience.

instead of couples counseling how about taking the poor thing to the vet in case medical problems are causing his issues is he neutered?

was your husband not aware that all dogs pant?