Trying to keep it short-ish..

I own a 2 yr old Aussie/husky mix (female, spayed). I adopted her 1.5 years ago. She lived with me in the same apartment (KY) up until March 06, where we moved to an apartment in NC. Throughout the time I've had her, I have been the only stable person in her life. The longest anyone (a roommate) has stayed in our apartment was a year, but there have been at least 10-20 people who stayed over 4-6 months in our life who have come and go. Because of this, training has been difficult. It's consistency, I have trouble being consistent with her - I have set commands and signals for them, but the people living with me/coming in and out are who I am having problems with.

She's learned she can ignore all rules when I'm not home. When I'm IN the apartment, she listens to everyone and myself. Through my roommates confronting me, I found out that when I'm not home (regardless if they are or not), she gets into trash cans, rips up garbage, goes into rooms she's not allowed, and begs/steals food from the counter or people's laps.

I have a strict rule about not feeding the dog from hand unless it's a dog treat with a command. Unfortunately, not everyone has listened to this and I know guests (be they uninformed or just don't listen to me) have fed her from hand and fed her scraps. I'm working on training my roommates to not feed her and showing them what commands she knows/how to train her, but what do I do in the meantime?

I'm not there to catch her get into the trash, and when people AREN'T home she is crated. When my roommates are home though, even in the other room, they don't always catch her in the act. We cannot fence off every section of our apartment (we don't have enough trash can covers, shelves, tables, etc) and they want to know what can be done to keep her from "sneaking around" and destroying their things when I'm gone. We have as a last resort a "shake can" (pop can with pennies, she's terrified of it, very negative stimulus) that we can shake at her IF we can catch her off-guard and use it to associate the action she's doing with a negative sound, and it has improved, but like I said, they often don't have the can with them or do not even see or hear her until it's too late. This only happens when I'm not around, I suppose she learned she can get away with it if I'm not there to catch her.

I told them to crate her or keep her within eyeshot of them when they are home since she's crated when everyone is gone, but it isn't always an option. I've put trash cans on the couch (she isn't allowed on furniture), tables, and kept all unoccupied rooms' doors closed, and my only solution so far is just keeping an eye, but is there anything I can teach my friends to do so they can train my dog to listen to them as well? Or is there a better suggestion? It's not possible for me to catch her if she doesn't do it when I'm home.

I hope to discipline myself a bit more so I'm more consistent with training (right now with a job and 2 roommates after having just moved we're a bit chaotic) and would like advice. If I didn't make anything clear let me know, I'm using a work computer to type this and my shift is done. :3

Thanks for the help,

Its sounds like you have no choice but to kennel her,when your not there, or change the roommates, have to chose which is less painful.She is running you and your house. Good luck to all
Dee

People are funny that way. You can ask them NOT to do something with the dog and they may comply while you are there, but like with your dog not listening, those rules go out the window when owner is gone with people as well.

If I were you, I would keep her crated while you are gone, or take her with you if you can.

Set rules and be firm about it. Don't let anyone tell her what to do and most of all, do not let them break the rules.

It is difficult at first. I know, I had to do it with my Dad. He now is not allowed to be around my dogs alone, even when they are kenneled.
He was famous for saying things like, "Oh, one little bite won't hurt." OR "Teasing him with a loud thing he doesn't like isn't going to make him bite me."
Well, fine then Dad, do it with your pet but stay away from mine. It was tough but I had to do in the BEST interest of my dog.

Other than that, I do not really know what to say. I am harsh with people who break my rules but they get over it, and if they don't it is not my problem.

I completely agree with previous posters and just wish to add that unless you only have roommates who really understand dogs and believe strongly in ground rules, you're far, far better off taking the option to ignore you right out of their hands.

The word of the day for a lot of why people are so hard to teach is: reactance. Here's a short article explaining it:

"The teenage girl who wins the boy by playing hard to get. The parents whose disapproval of their daughter's boyfriend only drives her into his arms. The child who will wear anything except what her mother suggests. These are all examples of reactance: the inclination to do precisely the opposite of what someone wants you to do.

You might think this is just contrariness by another name, but reactance is actually a recognised psychological state, first described in 1966 by Jack Brehm, now professor emeritus of social psychology at the University of Kansas. The theory is that when someone preceives a threat to their freedom of action, they become motivated to re-establish that freedom.

Where does this drive stem from? some believe reactance is an evolved response, since maintaining the freedom to make your own decisions would be a useful survival tool. This idea is reinforced by the finding that reactance can happen unconsciously. When Tany a Chartrand, an associate professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, felt that her husband had developed an annoying tendency to do the opposite of what she wanted, they decided to pair up to investigate (he's in the same department). They asked volunteers to write down the name of someone in their lives whom they thought was controlling and wanted them to work hard. The husband-and-wife team found that even a subliminal flash of the offending person's name made their volunteers score worse on a word task -- in other words, it caused them to react against what they thought that person would want them to do (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, in press, DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2006.08.003).

Is everyone susceptible? Yes, but to different degrees. Men appear to be more prone than women, and young people more so than old. What's clear is that the reactance drive can be so strong it can damage a person's relationships, even their health. For example, adverts with strong anti-alcohol messages can prompt students do drink even more beer. Anti-smoking adverts sponsored by tobacco companies also seem to have the opposite effect on teenagers, leading some critics to suspect the companies of cynically exploiting young people's propensity to reactance.

If reactance is so pervasive, who can you combat it in others, or even in yourself? One point to remember, say psychologists, is that people are most likely to rebel against rules they see as unfair. As for Chartrand and her husband, she thinks he should now be better equipped to deal with his reactance. He thinks he can't possibly be expected to contrl it if he doesn't know it's happening. But does he really think that, or is he just reacting to his wife's conclusion?"

From: NewScientist, 12 May 2007, p. 56


What's fairest for your dog, yourself and your roommates is to make it really simple for them: leave the dog alone.
Leaving the dog alone requires only that they go about their own business and is a single instruction to follow. No ifs, no ands, no buts. It'd be better to hire a dog walker to come in the middle of the day to let your dog out to stretch its legs and eliminate than to entrust it to a room mate so that leaving the dog alone can really be absolute.

Interacting with the dog properly requires the respect of an entire philosophy of yours -- which is a lot more difficult to do. Unless you get someone who is a) very much on your same wavelength and b) staying long-term, it will fail.

I have a similar problem. My dog listens to everyone while I'm present, but while I'm gone, he pretty much gives everyone in the household the "finger". My family doesn't really follow the rules I've set, and it can be difficult.

What I do is keep the dog in the crate, and only ask family members to take the dog out to relieve himself, period. No petting, walking or playing, because none of them can effectively control the dog. Usually, all they'll do is give him table scraps, and way too much affection.

Leaving the dog in the crate while gone for hours has worked out nicely, for both my family and I. They don't have to deal with him constantly throughout the day, and he won't pick up bad habits (feeding scraps, etc.) because no one can bug him in his crate. I'm not foolish enough to believe that they don't pet the dog while I'm gone, but they do leave the dog in the crate. This is because they get tired of having to keep an eye on the dog all the time (he's a real troublemaker and a knucklehead, recovers fast from strong corrections). When I'm not there, I've been told that he'll began to pick up TV remotes, objects, gets in the trash, sniff along kitchen table, chew furniture, etc.

Your roommates might just do the same. They'll get tired of having to look after the dog all the time, and will leave the dog in the crate. It won't take them long to realize that this will make life a little easier for them.

Some in here have already said to crate him. Sounds like a crate may work for your situation.

I feel badly for your dog. Having 10-20 different people come and go in a period of 1 1/2 years is unsettling, to say the least. None of these people have been part of her pack. Why should she listen to them? It's not fair to her to expect that, especially everytime a new person comes in. Dogs are smart and she knows they're not part of her pack.

Explain that to people.

Crate her when you're not home.

I appreciate the article that was posted on reactance, I've always wanted to put a name to that type of behavior!

I confronted my roommates over the weekend and we came to an agreement regarding care of the dog. Since I'm her sole "leader" and owner I'm the one doing all feeding and walks (which I do anyway), unless one of my two roommates is home while I'm at work and they can let her out only to go potty or if she's going to be supervised, not riled up, and given a kong or other time-occupying toy. As soon as a guest comes in or they are leaving, back in the crate she goes. Nobody BUT myself or my roommates can walk her, period. When guests come over, she's crated unless things are quiet, and if someone is eating something (dinner or a snack), she's immediately crated untill the food is away to prevent begging. Guests have already been told upon arrival that they need to ignore the dog and not feed her scraps, even if it means making up an allergy, since some people can be so stubborn about "but its ONE BITE its nummy it won't hurt!!" (man, do I hate that. HATE. no respect.)

The only problem I've had so far is someone tried to throw a chip on the floor and I scared both them and the dog by using that shake-can to deter the dog from rushing at it and eating it before we threw it away... that guest apologized and never gave her food again, fortunately, and I just hope the rest of our guests are so willing to comply.

Thanks for the responses and advice, I'll work on my household and my own rules! Apologies for such a late response, I was unable to access the forum on my home computer and once again had to do this from work.