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Hey, your kids weren't well mannered and housebroken when they were little, were they? Why would you expect a pet to be?
If you take an animal in, be prepared to make accommodations for it and its quirks. It may take a little time and effort but you'll eventually get used to each other - just look at me and that asshole dog Jack. It took some time, but he eventually got me trained to where he wanted me.
Face it Wirecutter, you love that asshole dog Jack!
ReplyDeleteSure, uh-huh, you bet.
DeleteI'll admit, he is settling down. It only took him 3 years.
Sure glad my wife didn't give up on me. I am sure there were times she wanted to take me to the pound.
ReplyDeleteMine gave up on me. Tried to get to the pound but she wouldn't let me go.
DeleteYeah, you trained. Good story.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's failsafe housebreaking: rub the puppy's nose in it and throw it out the back door. Worked for my son.
ReplyDeleteWe got our "Lucy" -- named mostly after Lucy Pevensie from the the Narnia books (no relation to Miss Lisa's Legal Lucy) late last summer. I've never really been a pet person, but she had kind of grown on me. She still has puppy moments where she want to bite everyone and everything in the house, but as that abates, my appreciation of her company increases. I've been told I spoil her worse than anyone else in the house, but it's just a few peanuts, the very occasional bit of lunch meat. And I tuck her in at night... but it gets pretty cold on the floor near the back door where her bed is. Whatever.
ReplyDelete-Just A Chemist
I spoil the hell out of our Lucy. She sleeps either on her pad or on the bed, whichever she prefers that night, and I wake her up with belly rubs every morning.
DeleteI never was all that close to her until 2 years ago when I was told she would only live for maybe 2 more months (!) and I figured I'd make her last days as nice as I could.
When I lived in Plano, I went to the shelter to adopt cats. I wasn't ready for a dog yet. But there were fantastic dogs that the well-to-do threw away. They record on the info sheet on each cage how they wound up there. I watched a woman walk out of there with a pure chocolate lab for $80. It was a six month old puppy, maybe 35lbs. The orginal owner didn't think it would get that big.
ReplyDeleteI've seen gorgeous Shepherds - the reason? We don't have time for him any more. Once, when we were looking for a dog, there was a stunning black/silver shepherd. He wasn't barking or acting out. He simply sat on his cot, studying me. It was a moment. But because a GSD bit her brother a hundred years ago, she wouldn't have him.
We have three now. I was chatting with one of my doctors about the new puppie we got, which took maybe a month to house and crate train. Her's still isn't. Turns out they keep him in the garage all day. I told her, no shit it's going in the house. You've trained him to shit on floors instead of a yard.
They are like kids in that they need consistency, repetition, and patience.
That asshole dog Jack has shit in the house exactly one time and that was in the middle of the night right after he first started coming in the house. I got onto his ass and let him know I wasn't happy.
DeleteNow, on the rare occasion he has to go out in the middle of the night, he wakes me up and lets me know.
We're on our fourth, fifth, and sixth Cairn terriers. One male, two females. The girls are very good about going out to take care of business. A dog door into the garage and a second into the back yard. The male sometimes can't be bothered. He'll head down to a room he doesn't frequent because it's easier. My wife tells me this breed can be like that. That was not part of the pitch when she sold me on the breed 30+ years ago.
ReplyDeleteOf course he's in a crate over night as is a puppy. His sister sleeps where she wants to.
We have a Scotty dog. She has decided she's an outdoor dog, and let me know by coming into the room wherever I was, waiting silently until I looked up at her, then squatting to shit on the floor. Deliberately. So yeah, she lives in a crate, and comes in at night to sleep in her crate. Sometimes (rarely, but more common as she gets older), she'll ask to come in when it's really cold, really windy, or storming. But otherwise, she wants to be out in the fenced in yard, with her 14'x17' roofed over patio with the ceiling fans.
ReplyDeleteMy Fila, as God is my witness, was housebroken 3 days after I got her, at 12 weeks, and after she lost her baby teeth, never chewed anything she wasn't supposed to, and she's now 9 years old. And I never had to rub her nose in it, either, and I've never hit her either.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not getting the dog with the intent of them becoming a true family member, don't get the dog.
ReplyDeleteSame corollary for children, too.
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A man does a disservice to his pets if he does take steps to train it. Be a friend to your dog, but you are the master.
ReplyDeleteThe only comment I wanna make on this article is this. After 30 years in practice, while working closely with MANY rescues in my area, you really shouldn't "Trust" the stories about where this pets came from or what their circumstances were. What do I mean? Well I know for a fact some rescues will concoct a story to pull at your heartstrings. I also know for a fact of a dog that was turned in (by a client of mine no less) because the dog was just not right in the head. Would have moments of utter destruction, then if you tried to stop it, it would outright attack you, then hide under a bed for two days. This dog, if it were a person, would be classified as some type of mental retardation. The owners, great people, couldn't live like that anymore and I couldn't blame them. Two years of nothing but unpredictable pyschotic behavior. They told the rescue the problems and told them likely unadoptable but if she had to be put down, he'd rather they do it cause he couldn't. Dog was adopted. To another client of mine. Soon as the dog walked in the door, I recognized it. New owner said the shelter told them the dog was abused and mistreated to which I quickly responded absolutely not as I knew the previous owner well and they had done everything within their power to correct the problems. I called out the rescue and told them I wouldn't refer to them anymore if they were going to continue making up stories to try to help the adoption process. Are there asshole pet owners out there that shouldn't have dogs/cats/etc. You bet. Are there problematic dogs out there that are "truly" unadoptable. You bet.
ReplyDeletePets don't become house-trained (and if someone already stated this, then I agree with you) but they can /be/ house-trained. It just takes more than a rolled-up newpaper and 30 seconds a day.
ReplyDeleteI've never had any problem house breaking any dog no matter what the age. Dogs are fairly clean animals, I don't think they like shitting in the house any more than I do.
DeleteCharlieGodammit was the only one that ever barked when he wanted out, but all the others would get my attention before running to the door.
My wife and I have a beautiful male German Shepherd that fell out of the sky into our laps when he was a little over a year old. My sister's next door neighbor had him from a puppy, but like all puppies, he chewed on stuff. (We're pretty sure that when he ate their leather couch, the lady of the house said "Him or me!") We have a full acre of fenced in yard so that's how he came to us. Free!**
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, he's a big galute and the sweetest dog we've ever known. He's 120 pounds of unconditional doggie love and he has never - not once - messed in the house. (...and that's a good thing because he can sure make some prodigious piles in the back yard!) And he's never been destructive. The only thing he's ever chewed up at our house was an old blanket that we had in his kennel when we first got him. We kenneled him at night for the first week because we weren't sure about giving him the run of the house, but since then he can go anywhere he wants. We've had him for five years now and he is definitely a loved member of our pack.
We had a Siberian Husky for 13 years. (I cried like a baby the day we had to put her down.) And I didn't think any dog could shed fur as bad as a Siberian. I was wrong, Wrong, WRONG! I'm convinced that our GSD is a machine that converts dog food into poop and fuzz. If you can't live with fuzz all over your house, don't even think about a Shepherd, But Shepherds attach themselves to you and worm their way into your heart. To us, the fuzz is worth it. (...and woe be to anyone who tries to break into this house.)
** There really is no such thing as a free dog. Even a stray or rescue, once they're yours - or you are theirs, I should say - they can be as expensive as a kid sometimes.
Yep to all of the above.
ReplyDeleteDogs Are Family!
As for Roy's Comment, Have you ever seen a pile that a Cocker Spaniel will leave? You'll swear that you have a 200 pound Wolf!!!
my aunt got a cute puppy for
ReplyDeletechristmas 3 years ago , Yoda is half Husky and half GSD he is all white and weighs about 150 lbs he was a total terror when she gave up on him ! I got him and he tore up a LOT of stuff before he setteled down (the thing that pissed me off the most was him eating some of my books) but after he got over the spastic puppy time , he is an awsome dog. he plays with my chow chow sam ,yes my leather couch is torn up , and i've got dog hair everywhere but the darn things are a part of the family, and a house feels so empty without the fuzzballs around
I had a dog that was a vindictive shitter That dog shit in my car, on the bed in the spare room, in the bathtub. I couldn't walk out of the house long enough to get the mail without that dog conjuring up a turd somewhere in the house. One day this guy comes along and says "that sure is a beautiful dog." I said "you want it?" In his back seat the dog jumps and away it went. Good riddance. Worst dog I ever had.
ReplyDeleteMine is fine, as long as she's allowed to be an outside dog. But hers...she comes to FIND me to SHIT ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF ME. Because she wants to be an outside dog.
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