[summit]

I am at my breaking point, and I don't know what to do.

I wake up this morning to hear my puppy yelping and my roommates complaining on how awful a dog I have.

He is almost 5 months old and like any puppy, is chewing on things.

Since I've had him (3 months now) 3 of my roommates things have been chewed up. 2 chargers and now a DVD. All have been left on the floor. All have been warned about it.

I just need to know what to say to them. I keep hearing, "Train your dog!". Well I heard that a lot with potty training and now he rarely, if it all has accidents. When he needs to go he waits by the stairs and whines.

Also none of my roommates have raised a puppy. I have read about everything you can, and even taken him to 7 weeks of puppy school. If he chews on something, I replace it with a toy. They just yell at him, without positive reinforcement.

I have also tried explaining to them, you can't discipline unless you catch him in the act. This morning for instance my roommate finds his DVD chewed on, not my dog chewing on it. Then he reacts...confusing my dog which apparently made him show his teeth. My roommate says bite, but I highly doubt it since I've never seen him bite ever.

As soon as I try to explain to them how to handle my dog, I get attacked. They act as though he Isn't being trained since they don't see me sitting there with whistles explaining to him what not to do. Training a dog is about consistency all day.

Another issue I've had is the comments about me locking him in our hot tub room as though its animal abuse. I have to do this more often than I'd like since I can't trust my roommates. My female roommate, was better until just yesterday she says "I let him out and he ran straight towards the road...I just won't let him out anymore". This behavior I haven't personally witnessed but she says it's happened twice. Maybe he is looking for us. Either way, we have leashes. And again, the assumption I'm not training my dogcomes up. This attitude would probably be different if they understood the basset breed.

Back to the hot tub room. He has never been left for more than 4 hours. And its a great place to leave him. Plenty of room and nothing he can get into. Again, they are gone most of the day, and don''t know whats going on. This morning I was sick and my girlfriend put him in there so i could sleep in. Of course they will leave while he is in there, get home later this after noon and think he was locked up all day. Again, not the case whatsoever. He goes with me everywhere I can take him.

Raising a puppy is aggravating enough, and then to hear some condescending remark from someone who just doesn't know what they're talking about doesn't help at all.

They also aren't familiar with the basset breed, which makes his sometimes stubborn attitude look worst than it really is.

What do I do? This situation is making my house a very unpleasant place to live. I may even foward some of your responses to there email.

Thanks

 

[LY909]

I am very sorry to hear about the situation with your puppy and your roommates. Maybe it is time to get a new place without roommates? Some people are just not into dogs and they are not as understanding as a dog lover about puppy training.

 

[sadeyes2]

I'm sorry about your situation. I hope you told the roommate in no uncertain terms never to let the dog out again. This would be my first concern. Do you have a crate for the pup? This would keep him out of harms way and stop him destroying people's possessions when not being supervised. I know you have a tub room when no one is home, but he could be in the crate at times when you are out but the others are at home and he could still feel like part of the family, if the crate was in a central area.

I presume that you discussed with your mates before getting a pup and they were agreeable and were aware of the pitfalls?

Perhaps now that some posessions have been destroyed your mates may consider actually putting things out of the pup's reach.

If you and the pup are unhappy, then Lyn09 may have the only solution. Move house.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[bubbad]

It becomes very difficult when others are not doing things they way you are and it does confuse the puppy.Ask them to get on their hands and knees and crawl around the house ,tell them anything they see the puppy sees and although is being trained(it is a process) the pup does not understand yet that it can't have eveything. Even electric cords need to be up where the pup can't get them. He has a little more brain power than a toddler at this point and they are not helping you by not understanding this. I hope the hot tub is not lined on the outside with wood cause mine is /or was,I use a wire exercise pen around mine to keep the dogs away from it.

 

[bklantz]

Sounds frustrating! I had a similar situation but not quite as bad. When we got Ella we lived with my boyfriends brother and he would complain if she had accidents, chewed, or whined. And when we weren't home he wouldn't do the things we did with her, he would let her out and not reinforce her when she went potty and then get mad if she went in house...well he wasn't watching her so he didn't see her go to the door first. She never had accidents and didn't really chew anything when me or my boyfriend was home because we watched her properly

What I would suggest and what I wish I would have done is tell your roommates to not let your dog out, not play with her, not watch her AT ALL unless you are home. I think the best remedy is to literally have you be the only caretaker. I would get a crate and keep your pup in the crate when you aren't home or if you aren't fully able to watch your pup. This way you have full control over what your pup learns and does.

I personally never trusted my boyfriends brother with our pup and would repeatedly tell him not to let her out of her crate while we weren't home, but he would hear her whine and not want to listen to it so he would let her out and then not watch her.

Do you have a yard at all? Instead of taking your pup out on a leash you could get a tie out, that is what we use for our dogs since we don't have a fenced in yard. That you can hook em up right when they step outside and they can still walk around and play and whatnot.

Having a pup in the house is difficult especially when there isn't consistency, if everyone can't be consistent then I think you need to step up and be the only caretaker and don't let your roommates confuse your pup with mixed signals.

Good Luck!!!

 

[vb3]

Good dogs are easier to find than good roommates. I'd get rid of them before the dog.

 

[shallhb]

I'd find new roomates, myself...

 

[gsally]

Trade the roommates in for a couple of long eared, short legged, nose sniffin' tail wagging friends!

 

[WatsonBoy]

Finding new roommates is easier said than done, I know. Especially if you're tied into a lease, etc. I don't expect that to be an option. Instead, I highly, highly recommend crate training the little guy. A former roommate of mine (Mary) had a puppy that she crate trained. If Mary wasn't home (even if the rest of us were), the puppy was not allowed out of the crate. Period. I loved her dog and it was very well-behaved, but she didn't want the puppy out of the crate if she wasn't there. Mary didn't want her training with the puppy undermined, and she didn't want to be held responsible for anything the puppy might do when not under her supervision. It really was the best solution possible. There wasn't an opportunity for the puppy to chew anything or have accidents or get in trouble, and Mary was able to continue training the puppy as she pleased. No one could get upset with anyone else for accidents, because if the puppy was out of it's crate, Mary was there to supervise and act on any accidents immediately.

For the first few weeks, the puppy would whine if one of us came home and didn't let her out... but after a while that stopped, as she became more comfortable in the crate. I'm a big fan of crate training! Good luck and I hope it all works out

 

[Soundtrack]

If you can trust your roommates to leave your dog alone in a crate, I highly recommend crating when he can't be supervised. Otherwise you can't let the dog remain in a situation where people are hurting him and putting him at risk. Either you need to move (or get rid of the roommates), or find the pup a safer place to live.

This is why we always say that EVERYONE in the household needs to be on board with getting a dog/puppy - otherwise you end up with situations like this and the dog is the one that suffers.

 

[summit]

I am definitely going to consider the crate method...i just hate him not having room to play when he is home alone. I may be flying with him this spring, so that will be another benefit of the crate training.

My girlfriend talked with my female roommate and she feels no one had properly discussed our training routine. I thought i had gone over everything but i guess not. She said "i hope its not too late"...again i think its his old face that makes him look older than he really is. Like one of you just mentioned "he has the brain power of a toddler" and should be treated accordingly.

Heres how I'm training

Potty training - Catch him in the act...stern NO, and immediately outside. If we find an accident, theres nothing to do. This though hasn't been much of a problem. He goes to the steps, or door and whines when he needs to go now.

Chewing - If we catch him in the act...stern NO, and replace it with a toy. We then praise him when he accepts the toy to let him know its a good thing.

Sitting on roommates couch or getting onto table - If we catch him in the act...stern OFF, and when gets down we praise him.

General bad behavior - Stern NO, followed by praise for appropriate behavior.

All of this he is catching on too and i fully believe he'll be a great dog. It just takes time, and i know this. I've raised everything from dogs, to horses, to llamas, to an indoor pot bellied pig. I have plenty of experience with animals.

My approach my seam lax but i do know what i'm doing, Ive had many many animals and know it takes time. This isn't going to be a trials dog, just another member of the family. And come on, he's a basset.

Finding new roommates or moving really isn't an option and I really do think they like the little guy..for the most part. I just hope they'll realize that raising a puppy is a process and he is still only a baby.

Lastly, I've had this conversation with two friends. One raised a pitbull, and the other, an american bulldog. Both are great dogs now and both were much worst.



thanks

 

[bubbad]

You are doing just fine.The puppy is catching on just the people aren't.Repeat with them as many times as you need to repeat with the puppy. Try to make them see things the way the puppy would.A boy puppy stays a little boy for a long time in his head this does not mean he is stupid he just doesn't mentally mature as fast as a girl can. You are doing fine,really.

 

[summit]

I think were going to have a sit down and go over everything. That should help.

 

[Kirska]

I think you should apply your dog training techniques to your roommates.

 

[Boomer's Mom]

I think you should apply your dog training techniques to your roommates.

Terrific idea!