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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 16, 2010 22:10:42 GMT -5
Actually, I did cry a little. Our room mate has a dog. This dog was a gift from his ex-fiancée before they broke up. Bad idea? You betcha. When she still lived with us, she trained him, and she took care of him. Now, our roomie does. Well, he does the minimum for him to live, and kind of half asses everything else. Now, our *apartment* is not equipped to handle a dog of his stature. He's a six month old MASTIFF LAB. He is as big as a fully grown BOXER, and will get much, much larger. It does not help that our room mate does absolutely nothing to contain or control his behavior. He scarcely takes him out to use the bathroom-and I had to get a high end carpet cleaner because *I* got tired of scrubbing the floors after his daily multiple accidents. He is home all day, and I am not home all day during weekdays to help out, or I totally would, but he is home when I am not, so I have no idea about what to do. He takes him on a walk around the block everyday, but this dog needs mega exercise. He needs a yard, really-and a person who is as vigilant as caring for him as we are caring for the ferrets.
I clean the living room and I'm almost tired of doing it, because literally the next day, there is shredded trash everywhere, possessions destroyed. I'm at my wit's end. I would love to train this dog myself, but our room mate has a possessive, 'he's my dog' attitude and won't keep up with it even if he would let me.
I hate coming home, I hate leaving because of all the hassle it is getting mobbed. We cannot have anyone over because they get mobbed coming in. Our room mate will do absolutely nothing about his behavior except complain, and I have literally walked into the living room, with the dog at his feet, chewing up something he shouldn't have. I point it out to him, and he laughs. I do not think this is cute. I don't know what to do. I know that the landlord will ask him to get rid of this dog if he does too much damage, and the carpet is ruined in some places because the dog has not been trained that he shouldn't chew on the carpet. I feel like my house is dog hell. On top of that, he chides us for having the ferrets, who we had (except Hiro) before the dog came along and always says mean things about them, even though he has to deal with them 0% of the time. We can't even have them out on the floor anywhere except their playroom which is also our bedroom because of the dog. If they make a mess, we clean it. We watch them like a hawk, and the saddest thing is, they are trained better than the dog!
To the point: I am extra mad right now because he knocked the securely closed door of our dog-free zone bedroom, knocked down everything off of the shelf, and chewed up a bunch of their stuff. I am annoyed at the day to day care of the dog, but when it interferes with the ferrets, it makes me so angry, because that's THEIR stuff. Our room mate was here, and when I asked him to be on the lookout for some of the toys that were missing he told me he found some of them chewed up too badly to use. I was home for five hours before I saw they were gone-If the dog were mine, I would have been mortified that it had ruined my room mates things and would have said something immediately and apologized.
I'm sorry for the book, but I am soooo mad, and it seems like there is absolutely nothing I can do, I feel. I've expressed my disapproval of the whole situation, but our room mate says, "yeah, but he's mine, so whatever". WTF do you do??
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Post by Heather on Sept 16, 2010 22:18:39 GMT -5
Get rid of the roomate....no one is worth this amount of hassle and no friendship (if that is indeed what this is) is worth this. This is an abusive relationship (an abusive relationship doesn't have to be a spouse or BF). Find out your rights and evict the bum. Do you want to come home some day to find your little ones injured or worse. This person obviously doesn't care one way or another. ciao
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 16, 2010 22:27:26 GMT -5
Get rid of the roomate....no one is worth this amount of hassle and no friendship (if that is indeed what this is) is worth this. This is an abusive relationship (an abusive relationship doesn't have to be a spouse or BF). Find out your rights and evict the bum. Do you want to come home some day to find your little ones injured or worse. This person obviously doesn't care one way or another. ciao You're so right. I might call the landlady and talk to her, to find out her opinion. She was totally for us having the ferrets, and she knows about them and our setup, but I have a feeling that our room mate did not let her know the size of the dog because he puts the dog up when she comes round'. Actually we may move as soon as possible. I'm going to attempt to have one more conversation about this with him. If he blows us off, we may leave. However, I think calling the landlady about it would be our best bet.
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Post by Heather on Sept 16, 2010 22:33:47 GMT -5
I would in a flash. Good luck. Remember this is your house and space, he's living in your home. This isn't right. This situation isn't going to get any better and as cruel and heartless as this may sound (I love mastiffs and giant breed dogs) this poor dog is being abused by "not" being trained. He will ultimately hurt someone and be put down. It would be better if this fellow lost this dog to a shelter now before real damage can be done, when this poor pup actually hurts someone. ciao
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 16, 2010 22:43:49 GMT -5
I know! I love dogs, and I LOVE larger breeds and I also recognize that not being trained will be the worst thing that our room mate could do to him because it's negligence. Hubby and I got ferrets because we knew our apartment was simply not suitable for a dog (now we know that we are glad we have ferrets anyway, because they're really great pets for us). We also take the best care that we possibly can of them. Literally, if we had to, we would starve and sell everything we own to make sure they've got what they needed. I even told our ex room mate that she really shouldn't get the dog. I know that it isn't our fault that his ex was not intelligent enough to have the foresight not to get the dog in the first place, even after I expressed this concern (and conveniently doesn't have to deal with it now) but I wish that he would find a home for him (or at least allow us to find one for him), and there are probably many people in my town that would love a dog as beautiful as he is. He's gorgeous. He's just a puppy, and it isn't his fault. I hope this talk goes well, because it it doesn't, something drastic is going to have to change, and I know he won't like it.
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Post by sherrylynne on Sept 17, 2010 21:57:17 GMT -5
I'm with Heather- call the landlady today, not tomorrow. And tell him he has to leave. With the way the dog is behaving(not his fault, I know) you WILL come home one day to find it wasn't the toys the dog was chewing on, or stepped on. If this sounds cruel, I'm sorry, but it's true. A woman on another forum I'm on took in a foster dog. He was there for 3 days, seemed to get along well with not only her dog, but with her 6 ferrets. She stepped outside for a few minutes when the doorbell rang, came back in to find the foster had broken down the gate to the ferret room, and "played" with the 4 of them he could get to. One survived, but only after massive medical intervention.
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Post by rarnold18 on Sept 18, 2010 10:09:09 GMT -5
If this sounds cruel, I'm sorry, but it's true. A woman on another forum I'm on took in a foster dog. He was there for 3 days, seemed to get along well with not only her dog, but with her 6 ferrets. She stepped outside for a few minutes when the doorbell rang, came back in to find the foster had broken down the gate to the ferret room, and "played" with the 4 of them he could get to. One survived, but only after massive medical intervention. Oh my gosh! That is horrible!!! I don't know what I would do if one of my dogs did that let alone a dog that I wasn't responsible for. Definitely talk with your landlord, she probably has a rule about size and being that the pup is a mastiff mix (our Jezzebelle is pit mastiff) he will get quite large. The landlord will most likely write a notice of non-compliance with a time frame of anywhere between 3 days and 2 weeks (some will even give a month) to resolve the non-compliance (large dog) if it's not taken care of she may start eviction proceedings or may impose an additional pet deposit and pet rent by adding an addendum to the lease and having everyone on the lease sign it. Unfortunatly if everyone is on the lease, depending on how the realestate laws are in your area, everyone might be included in the eviction because everyone there is responsible for the care and upkeep of the property. I don't think that the laws allow for a landlord to single just one tenant out of a group. Even if you and the other roomates start eviction proceedings on your own it may take awhile, the court system is really backed up with evictions because of all of the foreclosures...right now for us it's taking anywhere between 6-9 months for evictions to go through.... For the safty of your ferrets you may want to consider adding a lock to your door so the pup can't get in again, even if it's something as simple as a couple hook and eye type lock or a latching type that you find in a hotel room one that you can lock when your not home from the outside and one that you can lock from the inside when you are home.... you may want to get some claming type of treats for the dog at your local pet store that way when you are home you can "dope" him up on treats... for the pottying inside...set a timer for 30 and reminde your roomate to take the dog outside to potty and tell him to praise it when it goes, when they come back in set the timer again...puppy's are like two year olds, they need things repeated over and over and over....and over again, and it sounds like your roomate does too! Good Luck!
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 19, 2010 9:30:48 GMT -5
Yes, in the last few days, I have talked to our room mate, and though some of the things he said made me angrier, he has been better about making time for him to use the bathroom. Also, the landlady does know about the dog, even that he will be quite large. Our room mate already paid a pet deposit for him-but I don't know that she understands the magnitude of how big the dog will actually be. I did tell our room mate that if he would allow my husband and I to help him be trained that we would love to help, and he said that he would think about it-but that's not a good enough answer for me, really. My husband and I are in the process of getting a latch on the door, in case the dog is here to stay. I also took he and all the ferrets to the vet for their shots, and and everything.
Another sidenote rant: The vet asked me to tell our room mate about feeding food that has more animal protein in it (I wish he'd just be fed raw, personally)----of course, he got a defensive about it, and said, "Well, he likes the food he's on now". But, the first ingredient is grain! ugh. Then he chastised me for spending so much of my money on my little guys, and getting them so many toys at the store yesterday, but I really wish he'd take a page out of my book. The landlady said that if our room mate needed help finding a home for him, she could help, but that she really didn't want to put the dog out forcibly. I guess this isn't the most high brow of places to live. :/ sigh.
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 19, 2010 23:39:32 GMT -5
Good news! We're looking at new places to live. To us, this seems like the best solution, as we will be looking for a place with a bigger overall place to let the ferrets play in, and a safer environment for them. Wish us luck!
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Post by katt on Sept 20, 2010 3:48:35 GMT -5
I've been reading but haven't posted yet. I know exactly what you mean. I have had multiple pet issues with my roommate, and constantly get frustrated at her seeming inability to help with certain cleaning tasks - like taking out the garbage. Otherwise she is a good roommate though. I'm sorry you have to deal with this it sucks! Keep us posted on the search. I have had an impossible time finding a place that allows ferrets - or reptiles, but esp ferrets - here. Most apartments are owned by a company that doesn't allow anything but dogs and cats, and most privately owned places are no-pets allowed. I hope your search goes better than mine! Good luck and keep us posted!
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 21, 2010 11:32:56 GMT -5
Thanks, Katt. Of course, here, a lot of places allow small animals. We are actually looking at a place that is perfect, except for the distance away from campus. I don't drive, and neither does my husband-but I'm willing to walk, so I don't mind it. More exercise. We are also going to have new room mates that have no pets themselves, and they love and are very familiar with the ferrets. We've lived together before, and it was awesome. The only reason we didn't continue living together after that was because one of those people was forced by the college to live on campus (I go to a private school that has it own ideas about how students will live, unless you're a non trad as I am). In any case, I am really excited.
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Post by katt on Sept 23, 2010 2:05:24 GMT -5
Oh yay! I am glad that things are working out! Keep us posted!
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Post by sherrylynne on Sept 23, 2010 19:07:49 GMT -5
That sounds like a much better situation! You'll be rid of him, ferrets will be MUCH safer- and everybody will have far less frustration all the way round I do feel sorry for his dog, but like I've been told before- you can't save them all.
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Post by rarnold18 on Sept 24, 2010 5:21:08 GMT -5
wonderful! I'm glad to hear that things are working out for you and your Fuzz!
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Post by shilohismygirl on Sept 24, 2010 21:41:23 GMT -5
Thanks, guys! We're still in the process of securing a place, and I know we're close, as we've talked to a few landlords...sowe're close to picking up and getting out of this hellhole. If we're here another month, it'll be too long. You guys have really given us the push we needed to get our butts into gear and get the babies out. I mean, really, the dog situation has gotten worse, if that's even possible. This morning, my husband walked by my room mate's room to find that the pup was chewing on his wallet right beside our awake room mates bed. His bank card was completely torn to bits, and so were his student ids and state id. Our room mate laughed about it-and no, he never even said sorry. What a douche.
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