# I've had it with my roommate's dog.



## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

Hughbert is an eleven month old puggle. I moved in when he was almost seven months old. At the time his 'sit' command was poor at best and he peed and pooped in the house frequently. To be fair, his owners rarely ever took him out so we(hugh and myself) went back to basics. He NEVER has an accident with me.
He has learned:
sit
down
stay
roll over
shut the door
heel
'are you confused'=cock head to the side

The problem:
He cannot be left home alone. He will bark and cry for hours on end. Who gets stuck with him? ME. I've been doing crate games. But he knows how to manipulate my roommates. They give in when he barks. He doesn't know how to be alone. Around here, it's customary to tie a dog outside the coffeeshop while you go in and get coffee. I can't even do that when I'm stuck with him! He howls and cries while everybody in the seating area gets annoyed. If I go out and about, I'll get a call from the landlord about his barking because the aforementioned roommate just let him have free roam of the apt.
I don't know what else to do. We can't make any progress because the roommates work against me.

P.s.- A man once punched hugh for barking outside the store. I was angry with the man, of course, but all I could think was,"Saw that coming".


----------



## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I wish I had a nickel for every time I've said this, but ...

You don't have a dog problem. You have a human problem - in this case, roommates.

You fix the things you can fix and ignore this rest.


----------



## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

RonE said:


> I wish I had a nickel for every time I've said this, but ...
> 
> You don't have a dog problem. You have a human problem - in this case, roommates.
> 
> You fix the things you can fix and ignore this rest.


I'm aware of that.
I think I'll hire a private trainer for hughbert's birthday. If my roommate won't listen to me, maybe she'll listen to a "professional".


----------



## Teachadog (Jul 9, 2009)

Kindred spirit here

I'm moving out partly because of my roommates, their dog and their children. My roommates dog is about a year old, not housebroken, doesn't know her name, doesn't know any commands, never gets walked, is crated almost 24/7 (unless its going to the bathroom in the house, fighting with my dog or knocking her 4 kids over) I will spend an afternoon teaching their dog to properly walk on a leash, and they will spend the next week letting their 4 year old drag the dog around the yard/tying the dog out. Its useless to try and fix some people, I've brought in two private trainers, its useless if they don't care. You can't always make people care. I've contacted the dog's breeder and there may be legal action since the dog is not properly being cared for. My roommate just had twins, and has two other children under 5. Her dog is food aggressive so must be fed in her crate, dog aggressive when she wants to be (more doesn't know how to handle herself because she is so excited), a counter surfer, need I go on? Its become really clear to me that my dogs safety and my own safety and sanity is at risk. It sounds really awful but you can't do anything if people don't want to, you can spend money on a trainer which might work for a month but probably not much longer... I wish you the best of luck, sometimes the best thing to do is give them an ultimatium, lets fix the dog or I'm giving you 30 days notice.


----------



## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

Tofu_pup said:


> I'm aware of that.
> I think I'll hire a private trainer for hughbert's birthday. If my roommate won't listen to me, maybe she'll listen to a "professional".


If you can afford this, maybe you would be better served spending the money to move out on your own? 



Teachadog said:


> Kindred spirit here
> 
> I'm moving out partly because of my roommates, their dog and their children. My roommates dog is about a year old, not housebroken, doesn't know her name, doesn't know any commands, never gets walked, is crated almost 24/7 (unless its going to the bathroom in the house, fighting with my dog or knocking her 4 kids over) I will spend an afternoon teaching their dog to properly walk on a leash, and they will spend the next week letting their 4 year old drag the dog around the yard/tying the dog out. Its useless to try and fix some people, I've brought in two private trainers, its useless if they don't care. You can't always make people care. I've contacted the dog's breeder and there may be legal action since the dog is not properly being cared for. My roommate just had twins, and has two other children under 5. Her dog is food aggressive so must be fed in her crate, dog aggressive when she wants to be (more doesn't know how to handle herself because she is so excited), a counter surfer, need I go on? Its become really clear to me that my dogs safety and my own safety and sanity is at risk. It sounds really awful but you can't do anything if people don't want to, you can spend money on a trainer which might work for a month but probably not much longer... I wish you the best of luck, sometimes the best thing to do is give them an ultimatium, lets fix the dog or I'm giving you 30 days notice.


This is just nuts. I cannot imagine living with 2 kids under 5 and twins if they were my OWN!  Living with someone else's would take me over the edge. Oh yes.. I would become homicidal... LOL

I live alone with 5 cats and a dog. Sometimes I think about advertising a room for rent but I read something like this and I know I never will. Thank goodness for sole ownership, even tho it can leave me strapped at times!


----------



## Tofu_pup (Dec 8, 2008)

Eh. He can be a good dog.
He walks great on a leash for me. His recall is coming along. I can finally have a cigarette on the porch without him crying.
My responsible roommate said,"Well, she really does love him and I think she needs him". But a dog can't just be emotional support. Not to mention, the irresponsible roommate is always out clubbing and such so she has a funny way of showing it.

Here's a first:
Hugh broke skin for the first time yesterday. Both roommates keep playing with him even though he's nipping rather than following my advice and halting immediately. Guess what? He doesn't bite me!
Yet again, I saw that coming.


----------



## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

Elana55 said:


> I live alone with 5 cats and a dog. Sometimes I think about advertising a room for rent but I read something like this and I know I never will. Thank goodness for sole ownership, even tho it can leave me strapped at times!


I was thinking the same thing since I own my house, but to have my 3 dogs get untrained while I'm not home, it's not worth the hassle, lol.


----------



## mountain (Jan 3, 2010)

I have similar issues to a couple of the posters in this thread.

I moved into my mother's boyfriend's house a few months ago, and will be moving out as soon as I save up some dough. In the meen time I'm sharing a room with a vishla, Cosmo.

why this ass thought he'd buy a dog (never mind a vishla) that he never intended to walk, is subject of much confusion/frustration/resentment


Cosmo is 2.5 years old, still has his balls, I've been living with him for 3 months, they have been living with him since he was a pup(I don't know if they got him prematurely or what)

Before I came along he was kept in his cage for very long periods of time even though people were home. His behavior was a problem, so they would just lock him up and let him bark himself to sleep, rather than teach him.

He's very smart though, and has been learning very fast, with daily attention, and a taste of stability that comes with responsibility.

The dughters are evil and feed him chocolate for fun. I got in a fight with one of them I cought doing it she said "A little bit isn't bad for them" so I asked her "How much is?" and she said "I think it's the size of a hershey bar"

...to say the least, I've made a lot of progress with him, the family tells me that he's been a lot better since I've been here, and I have to bite my lip and say "it's nothing" when I want to say "it's amazing how just a little love is needed to make significant changes in behavior caused by abuse and neglect, imagine if he had that little bit of love since day one"

the dad says "i just want him to grow up"

and I want to say "well, he's not going to without you showing him which way up is"


...when I leave, I'm taking him with me


----------



## katrise (Jan 12, 2010)

My old roommate had 3 dogs that lived in their Kennels. I use to rush home from work to let them out because I felt bad for them. She would leave them kenneled all day and then go out with friends every night, sometimes not coming home til after 9pm, so that the dogs were only out if I let them out. Their room smelled like pee because some night she wouldn't come home and the dogs would have been kenneled all night. 

They were good dogs while she was gone, but when she got home they were horrible. They would steal food from her hands they barked so much when outside the neighbors complained. When I left I wondered if they realized their primary care taker was leaving. Don't get me wrong, she loves them, she just isn't responsible enough to have one dog let alone three. 

I felt so relaxed when I left. My little 13 week old puppy causes me much less stress and she is a handful. I wouldn't even get a dog until I left because I didn't want her in that situation. I still feel bad for those dogs.


----------

