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OT: Does this happen at your house?

big red22

big red22

Offensive Coordinator
Dec 15, 2003
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I want to apologize up front for how long this rant is!

I am posting this because I am trying to see if I am over-reacting and need to calm down.

First the back story

When I first met my wife before we got married she knew I loved dogs, and that I really loved Jack Russell Terriers. So our second Christmas together she bought me a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. I absolutely loved this dog, and then we had our son. Everything was fine for about a year and then our son started to walk. Keep in mind that we had our dog for about 8 years at this point.

So now my son would start to grab our dogs tail, and our dog would snap towards our son. She never bit him once, but basically was saying, "Leave me alone kid!!!" My wife demanded that we get rid of our dog for the safety of our child. So I did, I gave our dog to my sister who lives on the West Coast. It turned out okay, my sister love her, and she has had a good life. She is still alive and is now 16 years old.

This brings up the beginning of my frustration!

When our son was 4, my wife got the "I want a Dog" fever. I was like absolutely not! I had to get rid of the dog I absolutely loved, because of a extreme over-reaction to our dog snapping toward our son. After a month of showing me Dog photos I gave in, and we bought a dog from the humane society. It was a Yellow Lab that was 4 years old and just had babies.

It was a fine dog, and stay by our side. She played fetch, she snuggled up to you on the couch. She even knew a couple tricks. Of course I loved the dog, because I love dogs in general. This dog was great for the first 3 weeks we had her, and then something snapped inside of her when we brought her on a trip to visit my brother in Minnesota. She ate herself out of her crate that we brought with us, and pooped in my brothers house several times.

We chalked that up to being afraid of a new place. The problem is it never stopped, she got worse and worse. We would take her for a walk, and she would do her business. Then we would leave, and every time we came back she would have pee'd and pooped in the basement. We tested how bad it was by taking her for a walk, and then driving around the block to come back to more pee and poop in the basement. All of which I cleaned up! <- A key part of all this

So we then tried crating her, and she ate herself out of this big plastic covered crate, and the metal went through her bottom jaw. We took her to the vet to get the wound cleaned up and stitched. We then realize that we may not be able to have this dog with our life styles, because we both work, and something bad happened every time we leave.

Here are some examples

1. Ate and tore up 3 sets of Blinds
2. Shredded our Down Comforter
3. Tore up our back pillows on the couch
4. Busted a hole in a door
5. Tore up carpet is the hallway, our bedroom and our computer room
6. Knocked a painting off of the wall and ate most of it

We said... It time to find this dog a family that has someone home ALL THE TIME! Luckily we did, and once again gave our dog away.

My son is now 9 years old, and about a year ago we started fostering dogs because I love dogs and when you foster there is help if there isn't a right fit. Then after our 3rd foster dog, we found one that we just loved! This dog had been on the streets for almost a year, and was shut down. Something just clicked and we adopted him. So 3 months pass and we have had no problems with this dog other then the fact that my wife and my son NEVER pick up the poop in the back yard or either of his two accidents in the house.

I am a little frustrated by this, because although I love this dog. One of the stipulations was that that have to do their fair share of doggy dooties. They did for the first week, and then it was like pulling teeth to get them to do it.

Now comes the kicker

My son was persistent on begging my sister for her Chihuahua, and I thought no way does my sister ever say he can have this dog. She is the same sister that took my original Jack Russell. She was moving and her new home was not going to allow more than one dog, so she asked me over and over again if it was alright to give this dog to my son.

I said no at least 30 times, but it didn't seem to matter. I was worried about the dog that we have would become territorial with his back ground! Didn't matter, my sister thought I was a stubborn jerk... my wife wanted this dog too... and my son cried and said that I am the meanest dad in the world. I can either be enemy #1 to my wife, sister and son, or try and make this work.

I have one stipulation AGAIN you need to take over the doggie dooties, I am no longer doing them. They accepted that, and so my sister brought us this Chihuahua and it got along real well with our foster, I was absolutely shocked!

Guess what 6 months has passed, and guess who is doing all the doggy dooties again... That's right me! Obviously I am not going to give these dogs away, but I am beyond frustrated that my wife and son will not help with this part of dog ownership. I am pretty sure I am the biggest sucker I know of right now.

Now for the gross part, but I just wanted to see what would happen. Our chihuahua tinkled on the bathroom floor on Saturday, and I pointed it out that the dog did that. I woke up on Monday morning to get ready for work and sure enough that pee spot was still just resonating on the bathroom floor. So I am beyond pissed off, and I showed it in the morning. My wife asked me what was I was so "Grumpy" about, and I strait up told her, "The pee spot in the bathroom, that I have left alone purposely to see if it would get cleaned up". It is now Tuesday morning and it is still there, and I blew up again this morning and my wife calls me an angry person.

So 3 things

1. Am I over-reacting?
2. Should I clean up this pee that is bothering me so much, and just let the anger resonate more?
3. If you have any ideas or tips to help me out here to better this situation it would be greatly appreciated!

It would be great if some females would respond to this too
 
I had a similar experience...ONCE!

1. No...you are not over reacting
2. Yes, clean up the pee (unless you don't care if your house stinks), and
3. People (that includes family) are only going to do to you what you LET them do to you. You have given them plenty of opportunity to step up to what they agreed to do. Time for you to lay down the law.
 
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There are three types of people when it comes to having a dog as a pet:
1. Those who love them and are willing to exercise them, feed them, train them and pick up after them, etc.
2. Those who love them, but will only grudgingly help out with them, if that.
3. Those who just don't care for dogs.

You aren't going to change people from one category to another, and you now have a very good idea where your family members stand. Since you resent their failure to help out, you need to be firm about no more pets.
 
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big red22 said:
I want to apologize up front for how long this rant is!

I am posting this because I am trying to see if I am over-reacting and need to calm down.

First the back story

When I first met my wife before we got married she knew I loved dogs, and that I really loved Jack Russell Terriers. So our second Christmas together she bought me a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. I absolutely loved this dog, and then we had our son. Everything was fine for about a year and then our son started to walk. Keep in mind that we had our dog for about 8 years at this point.

So now my son would start to grab our dogs tail, and our dog would snap towards our son. She never bit him once, but basically was saying, "Leave me alone kid!!!" My wife demanded that we get rid of our dog for the safety of our child. So I did, I gave our dog to my sister who lives on the West Coast. It turned out okay, my sister love her, and she has had a good life. She is still alive and is now 16 years old.

This brings up the beginning of my frustration!

When our son was 4, my wife got the "I want a Dog" fever. I was like absolutely not! I had to get rid of the dog I absolutely loved, because of a extreme over-reaction to our dog snapping toward our son. After a month of showing me Dog photos I gave in, and we bought a dog from the humane society. It was a Yellow Lab that was 4 years old and just had babies.

It was a fine dog, and stay by our side. She played fetch, she snuggled up to you on the couch. She even knew a couple tricks. Of course I loved the dog, because I love dogs in general. This dog was great for the first 3 weeks we had her, and then something snapped inside of her when we brought her on a trip to visit my brother in Minnesota. She ate herself out of her crate that we brought with us, and pooped in my brothers house several times.

We chalked that up to being afraid of a new place. The problem is it never stopped, she got worse and worse. We would take her for a walk, and she would do her business. Then we would leave, and every time we came back she would have pee'd and pooped in the basement. We tested how bad it was by taking her for a walk, and then driving around the block to come back to more pee and poop in the basement. All of which I cleaned up! <- A key part of all this

So we then tried crating her, and she ate herself out of this big plastic covered crate, and the metal went through her bottom jaw. We took her to the vet to get the wound cleaned up and stitched. We then realize that we may not be able to have this dog with our life styles, because we both work, and something bad happened every time we leave.

Here are some examples

1. Ate and tore up 3 sets of Blinds
2. Shredded our Down Comforter
3. Tore up our back pillows on the couch
4. Busted a hole in a door
5. Tore up carpet is the hallway, our bedroom and our computer room
6. Knocked a painting off of the wall and ate most of it

We said... It time to find this dog a family that has someone home ALL THE TIME! Luckily we did, and once again gave our dog away.

My son is now 9 years old, and about a year ago we started fostering dogs because I love dogs and when you foster there is help if there isn't a right fit. Then after our 3rd foster dog, we found one that we just loved! This dog had been on the streets for almost a year, and was shut down. Something just clicked and we adopted him. So 3 months pass and we have had no problems with this dog other then the fact that my wife and my son NEVER pick up the poop in the back yard or either of his two accidents in the house.

I am a little frustrated by this, because although I love this dog. One of the stipulations was that that have to do their fair share of doggy dooties. They did for the first week, and then it was like pulling teeth to get them to do it.

Now comes the kicker

My son was persistent on begging my sister for her Chihuahua, and I thought no way does my sister ever say he can have this dog. She is the same sister that took my original Jack Russell. She was moving and her new home was not going to allow more than one dog, so she asked me over and over again if it was alright to give this dog to my son.

I said no at least 30 times, but it didn't seem to matter. I was worried about the dog that we have would become territorial with his back ground! Didn't matter, my sister thought I was a stubborn jerk... my wife wanted this dog too... and my son cried and said that I am the meanest dad in the world. I can either be enemy #1 to my wife, sister and son, or try and make this work.

I have one stipulation AGAIN you need to take over the doggie dooties, I am no longer doing them. They accepted that, and so my sister brought us this Chihuahua and it got along real well with our foster, I was absolutely shocked!

Guess what 6 months has passed, and guess who is doing all the doggy dooties again... That's right me! Obviously I am not going to give these dogs away, but I am beyond frustrated that my wife and son will not help with this part of dog ownership. I am pretty sure I am the biggest sucker I know of right now.

Now for the gross part, but I just wanted to see what would happen. Our chihuahua tinkled on the bathroom floor on Saturday, and I pointed it out that the dog did that. I woke up on Monday morning to get ready for work and sure enough that pee spot was still just resonating on the bathroom floor. So I am beyond pissed off, and I showed it in the morning. My wife asked me what was I was so "Grumpy" about, and I strait up told her, "The pee spot in the bathroom, that I have left alone purposely to see if it would get cleaned up". It is now Tuesday morning and it is still there, and I blew up again this morning and my wife calls me an angry person.

So 3 things

1. Am I over-reacting?
2. Should I clean up this pee that is bothering me so much, and just let the anger resonate more?
3. If you have any ideas or tips to help me out here to better this situation it would be greatly appreciated!

It would be great if some females would respond to this too
Click to expand...

Get rid oft he dog or the family, which one is up to you.

Seriously, you knew from the past that you were going to be the one doing all the clean-up, even if they said they would. You should have known so it's on you.
 
WHCSC said:
Get rid oft he dog or the family, which one is up to you.

Seriously, you knew from the past that you were going to be the one doing all the clean-up, even if they said they would. You should have known so it's on you.
Click to expand...
Hence why I said I feel like the biggest sucker!
WHCSC said:
Get rid oft he dog or the family, which one is up to you.

Seriously, you knew from the past that you were going to be the one doing all the clean-up, even if they said they would. You should have known so it's on you.
Click to expand...
I like the advice here. I agree it is on me for sure!

I used it as an ultimatum

I said to my wife that I am going to hold to my word. If you two can't hold up to your end of the deal the dogs are out. I love the dogs, but they are also a sign that I get walked all over!
 
If the dog can't retrieve my game I don't want it. In other words, it has to have utility. Sit, stay, come, heel and over and back...in other words it has to also mind! No use for just pets! But...I realize there is a seat for every butt! To each their own!
 
Don't get mad, just realize your mistake and move on. I'm not a dog person, but I know that no pet is worth breaking up a family or even straining a relationship.
 
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Sorry buddy. I go through a lot of the same things. I've just resigned to the fact that I am going to do everything dog related, and that is that. I love dogs too, and would love some sort of help, but it's all falling to me no matter what.
 
You ran your test, they failed. So now you just need to tell them to clean it up when it happens next. Next time there is an accident, ask you spouse/children to clean it up. It should be that simple. If they refuse, you mention that they said they were going to take care of it and if they can't then the dogs need to re-housed.
 
I'm just wondering why you're so grumpy and an angry person. Winking I'm just kidding. What you described has played out in my house as well.

Over reacting? No. But you've found out the extent of how the rest of your family really doesn't care about having pets. So now it's time to quit being mad. Decide if YOU will keep the pets and do the work and be okay with it. Decide if YOU will get rid of the pets and be okay with it. Or approach your kid and have an adult conversation about doing the work (which only applies if the kid wants to keep the pets).

If your wife is like mine, there's no getting her to help that doesn't land you in prison. You could force your kid to do all the work, but now you could have a kid that grows up hating you just to keep dogs around. That depends on how much "force" is required.

As for my particular situation, my kids were/are willing to do enough of the work to appease me. Young kids can surprise ya. Sit at the table. TV off, no tablets, no cell phones, talk to him like you would talk to an adult. Just be prepared, there may be zero interest.
 
Get rid of the dogs without telling them. Come home and act like you have no idea what happened and walk around looking for the dogs.

Ask them where the dogs are. Throw a fit when they don't know. Spend hours pretending to look for them.

Give up after a few days. No more dogs allowed. If you ever cave in, get rid of the new dog the following day with the same method.





:D
 
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And now the bad news....we have two Chihuahuas. They live forever! Seriously, they live for like twenty years. Ours are currently 15 and 13 years old. They don't get nicer with age either. So my advice to you is do something now because shite isn't going to get better.
 
Get a pet crate for each of the dogs. One of the wire ones large enough to move around in. But not to big. Leave them there when no one is in the house.

Sounds like the dog(s) are suffering from separation anxiety. Then take them and the family to a dog training school. I'd even leave the dogs in the crates except to take them out to go do their thing for a week or two. They'll figure out the correlation and stop peeing in the floor and chewing things up.

It will work out.
 
Leave the wife and take the dogs.
Seriously though.......time to sack up and take care of your animals. It's not their fault.
 
Last edited:
Talk to bith your son and wife and ask them bith if they want to keep the dog or dogs.
If they say yes, tell them to prove it by helping out with accidents or you will get rid of the dog.
If they do not prove it by helping, get rid of the dog or dogs without telling them. Do not give them another chance after you make yourself clear. No "remember what i said?" Crap. You just do it.
You also have to clean up when you are the first to notice the spill. The first to notice should do the cleaning.
Never be passive aggresive.
If you are not prepared to get rid of the dogs, this will continue as both your wife and your son have learned they can walk all over you and are behaving accordingly.
 
Sorry to hear your going through this man.. i too have dealt with this multiple times like you have said.. the part that makes me mad is that they make you feel like the bad guy cause you put your foot down.. again ive had the same thing happen to me in my house with my wife and kids.. they all want the idea of having a dog or puppy but dont want the responsibility.. if you can turn this into a teachable moment for your son..... thats what i would do is beg your wife to help you use this as a teachable moment for teaching your son how to be responsible and keeping your commitments. They will appreciate it later. I finally had to put my foot down with everyone in my house that we are not getting another pet.. this has happened to me 3 maybe 4 times.. when i add up how much money weve blown on this.. its over 5k..not kidding. i told them if i see another dog or pet in our house i will dispose of it myself immediately..sounds bad but what they are doing is worse.. thats how i feel and i hope it helps somewhat.
 
A couple things you could do.

1) rub both your sons and your wifes nose in the pee on the floor.
2) after you clean up the mess, put whatever you used to clean it up with in your wifes underwear drawer and your sons pillow.
3) you will miss them tremendously as you love them dearly, but get rid of the wife and kid. Like others have said, things aren't going to get better.
4) Just start going to the bar more often with friends. I have a different issue with my GF's son failing to do anything and he is disrespectful. So on my nights off I go to the bar and when she complains, I make sure to let her know that this is my stress relief from the issue she is failing to take care of.

Whichever you choose to do, please keep us updated on how this all works out for you.

Best of luck to you.
 
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Unfortunately, this reads more like the OP doesn't have the desired respect or status in the household. Always trying to be the nice guy, or being guilted into it, can actually backfire long term. It creeps up on you. It starts as a little thing here, or there, and before you know it, years later, you realize that it is you who has become the bitch and low person on the totem pole. Not trying to rattle anyone's cage here, just an honest reaction to the post.
 
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Big red 22,,
"Now for the gross part, but I just wanted to see what would happen. Our chihuahua tinkled on the bathroomfloor on Saturday, and I pointed it out that the dog did that. I woke up on Monday morning to get ready forwork and sure enough that pee spot was still just resonating on the bathroom floor. So I am beyond pissed."

No excuses for pure laziness on the kid & the wife. They had to know, or at a minimum avoid stepping in the urine. Lazy, knowing you'd take care of it. That's BS
 
donahues17 said:
A couple things you could do.

1) rub both your sons and your wifes nose in the pee on the floor.
2) after you clean up the mess, put whatever you used to clean it up with in your wifes underwear drawer and your sons pillow.
3) you will miss them tremendously as you love them dearly, but get rid of the wife and kid. Like others have said, things aren't going to get better.
4) Just start going to the bar more often with friends. I have a different issue with my GF's son failing to do anything and he is disrespectful. So on my nights off I go to the bar and when she complains, I make sure to let her know that this is my stress relief from the issue she is failing to take care of.

Whichever you choose to do, please keep us updated on how this all works out for you.

Best of luck to you.
Click to expand...

I was about to post #1!
 
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big red22 said:
I want to apologize up front for how long this rant is!

I am posting this because I am trying to see if I am over-reacting and need to calm down.

First the back story

When I first met my wife before we got married she knew I loved dogs, and that I really loved Jack Russell Terriers. So our second Christmas together she bought me a Jack Russell Terrier puppy. I absolutely loved this dog, and then we had our son. Everything was fine for about a year and then our son started to walk. Keep in mind that we had our dog for about 8 years at this point.

So now my son would start to grab our dogs tail, and our dog would snap towards our son. She never bit him once, but basically was saying, "Leave me alone kid!!!" My wife demanded that we get rid of our dog for the safety of our child. So I did, I gave our dog to my sister who lives on the West Coast. It turned out okay, my sister love her, and she has had a good life. She is still alive and is now 16 years old.

This brings up the beginning of my frustration!

When our son was 4, my wife got the "I want a Dog" fever. I was like absolutely not! I had to get rid of the dog I absolutely loved, because of a extreme over-reaction to our dog snapping toward our son. After a month of showing me Dog photos I gave in, and we bought a dog from the humane society. It was a Yellow Lab that was 4 years old and just had babies.

It was a fine dog, and stay by our side. She played fetch, she snuggled up to you on the couch. She even knew a couple tricks. Of course I loved the dog, because I love dogs in general. This dog was great for the first 3 weeks we had her, and then something snapped inside of her when we brought her on a trip to visit my brother in Minnesota. She ate herself out of her crate that we brought with us, and pooped in my brothers house several times.

We chalked that up to being afraid of a new place. The problem is it never stopped, she got worse and worse. We would take her for a walk, and she would do her business. Then we would leave, and every time we came back she would have pee'd and pooped in the basement. We tested how bad it was by taking her for a walk, and then driving around the block to come back to more pee and poop in the basement. All of which I cleaned up! <- A key part of all this

So we then tried crating her, and she ate herself out of this big plastic covered crate, and the metal went through her bottom jaw. We took her to the vet to get the wound cleaned up and stitched. We then realize that we may not be able to have this dog with our life styles, because we both work, and something bad happened every time we leave.

Here are some examples

1. Ate and tore up 3 sets of Blinds
2. Shredded our Down Comforter
3. Tore up our back pillows on the couch
4. Busted a hole in a door
5. Tore up carpet is the hallway, our bedroom and our computer room
6. Knocked a painting off of the wall and ate most of it

We said... It time to find this dog a family that has someone home ALL THE TIME! Luckily we did, and once again gave our dog away.

My son is now 9 years old, and about a year ago we started fostering dogs because I love dogs and when you foster there is help if there isn't a right fit. Then after our 3rd foster dog, we found one that we just loved! This dog had been on the streets for almost a year, and was shut down. Something just clicked and we adopted him. So 3 months pass and we have had no problems with this dog other then the fact that my wife and my son NEVER pick up the poop in the back yard or either of his two accidents in the house.

I am a little frustrated by this, because although I love this dog. One of the stipulations was that that have to do their fair share of doggy dooties. They did for the first week, and then it was like pulling teeth to get them to do it.

Now comes the kicker

My son was persistent on begging my sister for her Chihuahua, and I thought no way does my sister ever say he can have this dog. She is the same sister that took my original Jack Russell. She was moving and her new home was not going to allow more than one dog, so she asked me over and over again if it was alright to give this dog to my son.

I said no at least 30 times, but it didn't seem to matter. I was worried about the dog that we have would become territorial with his back ground! Didn't matter, my sister thought I was a stubborn jerk... my wife wanted this dog too... and my son cried and said that I am the meanest dad in the world. I can either be enemy #1 to my wife, sister and son, or try and make this work.

I have one stipulation AGAIN you need to take over the doggie dooties, I am no longer doing them. They accepted that, and so my sister brought us this Chihuahua and it got along real well with our foster, I was absolutely shocked!

Guess what 6 months has passed, and guess who is doing all the doggy dooties again... That's right me! Obviously I am not going to give these dogs away, but I am beyond frustrated that my wife and son will not help with this part of dog ownership. I am pretty sure I am the biggest sucker I know of right now.

Now for the gross part, but I just wanted to see what would happen. Our chihuahua tinkled on the bathroom floor on Saturday, and I pointed it out that the dog did that. I woke up on Monday morning to get ready for work and sure enough that pee spot was still just resonating on the bathroom floor. So I am beyond pissed off, and I showed it in the morning. My wife asked me what was I was so "Grumpy" about, and I strait up told her, "The pee spot in the bathroom, that I have left alone purposely to see if it would get cleaned up". It is now Tuesday morning and it is still there, and I blew up again this morning and my wife calls me an angry person.

So 3 things

1. Am I over-reacting?
2. Should I clean up this pee that is bothering me so much, and just let the anger resonate more?
3. If you have any ideas or tips to help me out here to better this situation it would be greatly appreciated!

It would be great if some females would respond to this too
Click to expand...
Is this some sort of twisted metaphor about Bo's custodianship of the NU football program...where you are the State of Nebraska...and your wife and kid are the coaching staff?
 
NikkiSixx said:
Unfortunately, this reads more like the OP doesn't have the desired respect or status in the household. Always trying to be the nice guy, or being guilted into it, can actually backfire long term. It creeps up on you. It starts as a little thing here, or there, and before you know it, years later, you realize that it is you who has become the bitch and low person on the totem pole. Not trying to rattle anyone's cage here, just an honest reaction to the post.
Click to expand...
This is exactly how I feel sometimes
 
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I train dogs and raise kids. You're not overreacting. You also don't have proper follow through on the dogs or the kids.

With everyone else not cleaning up after the dogs, their strategy is working great. They don't do it so you do. Where do I sign up? If they don't do it, you need to take things away until it gets done. TV, phone, whatever it is.

As far as the bad crate panic and separation anxiety, that's a whole long topic and it's difficult to fix.
 
TheBeav815 said:
I train dogs and raise kids. You're not overreacting. You also don't have proper follow through on the dogs or the kids.

With everyone else not cleaning up after the dogs, their strategy is working great. They don't do it so you do. Where do I sign up? If they don't do it, you need to take things away until it gets done. TV, phone, whatever it is.

As far as the bad crate panic and separation anxiety, that's a whole long topic and it's difficult to fix.
Click to expand...
I'm the other way. I raise dogs and train dogs.
 
stxhusker said:
I had a similar experience...ONCE!

1. No...you are not over reacting
2. Yes, clean up the pee (unless you don't care if your house stinks), and
3. People (that includes family) are only going to do to you what you LET them do to you. You have given them plenty of opportunity to step up to what they agreed to do. Time for you to lay down the law.
Click to expand...
Drill some holes in the bottom of a dog crate and alternate locking dog on wife's side of the bed, then son's bed. That oughta fix the problem.
 
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Step one to fixing separation anxiety and a dog that wrecks the house when you're gone is to leave a TIRED dog when you go. I'm not talking take a slow walk for a mile. I mean hard physical exercise. RUN the dog. I have a lab, he's 107 lbs. Exercising him means I throw a ball about 40-yards out in the water and he swims out there to get it and bring it back. For at least 30 minutes, maybe for an hour.

He doesn't stop because he's too tired. I stop him because he drinks pond water while he's swimming with the ball in his mouth and he'll get water toxicity and die if I let him go as long as he wants.

Most humans have no proper understanding of what it takes to make a big dog tired. So they take a dog with tons of pent-up energy and then leave in a big, excited rush, lock it in a house all day and wonder what's wrong with the dog when it goes nuts.
 
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huskernaut said:
These are the very reasons I will never own a dog.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I love dogs, but since we live in town we will never have a pet dog. If we ever move to an acreage, a dog won't be far behind but he'll be trained to poop off or at the edge of the property.
 
Dean Pope said:
Yeah, I love dogs, but since we live in town we will never have a pet dog. If we ever move to an acreage, a dog won't be far behind but he'll be trained to poop off or at the edge of the property.
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Wish everyone could live in the country and all dogs could run free.
 
Comes with its own set of problems such as fleas, ticks, burs, porcupines, snakes, etc. The size of the property isn't particularly relevant, it's how committed the owner is to giving the dog a proper life with exercise and purpose. Dogs are bred to work, they need structure and something to do. I've known people who live in an apartment and give their dog tons of exercise.

I lived in a 2 bedroom condo with my huge dog and I'd take him with me and skate along the lakefront. He'd run several miles like that and then I'd water retrieve with him in Lake Michigan a couple times a week as well.

I also know people with huge yards and dogs as fat as hell. It's not like they go run laps in the yard on their own. Most clients I work with, their problems with their dogs would go away in a week if they gave their dogs proper exercise and knew how to say no to the dog when they need to.
 
I love all the replies, we have 2 boxers and a lopsopsho , the two boxers poop all the time, I have a gag reflex and can't clean the poop up or if I try then we have puke to clean up as well, my wife does a great job in helping out in this situation. our dogs are our family and are treated like family.
 
TheBeav815 said:
Step one to fixing separation anxiety and a dog that wrecks the house when you're gone is to leave a TIRED dog when you go. I'm not talking take a slow walk for a mile. I mean hard physical exercise. RUN the dog. I have a lab, he's 107 lbs. Exercising him means I throw a ball about 40-yards out in the water and he swims out there to get it and bring it back. For at least 30 minutes, maybe for an hour.

He doesn't stop because he's too tired. I stop him because he drinks pond water while he's swimming with the ball in his mouth and he'll get water toxicity and die if I let him go as long as he wants.

Most humans have no proper understanding of what it takes to make a big dog tired. So they take a dog with tons of pent-up energy and then leave in a big, excited rush, lock it in a house all day and wonder what's wrong with the dog when it goes nuts.
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The general rule is...a tired dog is a happy dog.
 
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How old is the kid? Seriously, give him the chore of cleaning up after the dogs. Don't hint around. Be direct. Kid isn't going to clean it up unless you tell him to. Would you have done so as a child unless mom or dad said do it? Most would not. Give him an allowance for doing so - note, he is earning the allowance not just being given it. If he doesn't do it, no allowance. And be firm on requiring him to do the chore. So what if he gets mad. Your job is to prepare him for the realities of the real world, and having assigned chores/responsibilities commensurate with his age (and cleaning up after a dog is pretty much commensurate with the age of any child older than about 6, IMO) is one of the most effective and appropriate ways I can think of to help a child learn about responsibility and the value of working for to achieve what you want. Trust me. If you have a good relationship with the kid, requiring him to do a chore is not going to change that. In fact, you will earn his respect, even as he is crabbing. That respect will go a long ways when teenage years roll around and he enters the "your so stupid" phase they all go through. One of the best ideas I have seen is to provide a child the chance to earn enough allowance that he/she can each week put 1/3rd in a giving basket, 1/3rd in a savings basket (for college) and 1/3rd in a spending basket. Needs to be enough to be meaningful - which of course depends on age. Teach him/her to give, save and spend. Teach him/her the value of accumulating money in his/her spending basket until there is enough to buy something he/she wants. Heck, if he/she is doing a good job, working toward buying something, throw in the last 10 - 20% or so depending on what it is and surprise him/her with the chance to get it a little early. You will see excitement when you surprise him/her to make your day. When child is old enough to have his/her own job, stick with the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 as long as you can convince the kid to do so.

Anyway, just my suggestion from a guy that's just now on the back side of sending my last off to college.
 
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