I'm seriously thinking about having someone move in to help with the bills.

Has anyone ever successfully integrated a housemate into a living situation with a dog? The reason I'm asking is because at one point my dad had a housemate that was almost completely intolerant of his dog. His dog at the time was a much easier dog than my current one.

My big fear is having someone move in and ruin her! Since she tends to be pushy I really need to find someone who will either do things my way or completely ignore her.

Is this even realistic?

I've never been much of a roommate kind of person. Too independent, like things my way, in my space, etc.

Eventually, I got a spousal unit. It's been difficult enough and has taken a lot of work to get him totally with the dog program (doing things the right...I mean, my way<g>. I shudder to think of having to do this with someone who is merely a roommate, unless you find someone who already understands and agrees with you 100% about how the dog is to be handled (left alone, etc).

good luck,
leih

Yeah. I'm pretty much like you. I have lived alone for 5 years now, and the idea of having someone move in is kind of horrifying to me. Add in one difficult adolescent dog and it just gets scarier.

But, I'm staring to see that no mater what I do I'll never be able to save the money I need to do the things I want in the future if I'm carrying everything by myself.

I wish I could find a husband!

Maybe I should get on e harmony or something.

The state troopers have been looking all HOT on road detail lately. And they love Tasha. Maybe I should try to hook me one of them!

"Maybe I should get on e harmony or something.

The state troopers have been looking all HOT on road detail lately. And they love Tasha. Maybe I should try to hook me one of them!"

Leerburg gone awry!

Hi Lori,

I had a friend move in when i bought my house to help pay for bills as well. My rotty is definitely not an issue with him they get along great. My dobe is pushy and finds confrontation very fun (a great protection trait i guess) and i needed to coach him to deal with his behaviors in a way that wouldn't give him any re-enforcement for those behavior, and i did some simple training with the e-collar to eliminate some of the stupid stuff like jumping on him and such.

He also barked a lot from his crate at him when he came home, and i needed to explain that yelling back at him him to be quiet is not going to do anything but cause him to bark more and more likely to bark again the next time. Completely ignoring him has worked well.

I think as long as you know the person and they will accept your direction when dealing with your dogs, i don't think it should be a problem and it can be handy to have somebody to check on them, feed them, or let them out in the yard to do their business if you need them too while your out.

Good luck, roommates can be tricky you'll end up either the best of friends or the worst of enemies it seems.

Rob

 Quote: meredith hamilton

"
The state troopers have been looking all HOT on road detail lately. And they love Tasha. Maybe I should try to hook me one of them!"

Leerburg gone awry!

Hey man! This is general non dog chat. Anything goes!



Nah. The cop thing is a joke between me and my BFF. The second day Tasha lived with me I had one of the K9 officers pull over to ask me about her while we were on a walk. My friend was like "Girl, you have to walk her by the station everyday!".

Ok. I'll stop being a dork now. Back on topic.

Eventually, I got a spousal unit. It's been difficult enough and has taken a lot of work to get him totally with the dog program (doing things the right...I mean, my way<g>.


I feel your pain!


Maybe I should get on e harmony or something.

The state troopers have been looking all HOT on road detail lately. And they love Tasha. Maybe I should try to hook me one of them!"

Leerburg gone awry!



My thoughts exactly!

Keep in mind that having a house mate means dealing with the house mate's friends as well. Even if you get the housemates on board with the "program" their friends may not care a lick what you say. I had house mates for a short time and more than one of their friends was a complete idiot.

Two incidents that stand out in my mind are the time somebody left my front door wide open "to get some air" and let four of my dogs out to roam the neighborhood "cause they wanted to be free, man". I got them all back without incident, but one of them was VERY dog aggressive and it could have been a HUGE problem.

Another time one of the more idiotic of the idiots provoked and harassed one of my dogs until he bit her.

I came in at the tail-end of both incidents and was LIVID. The dogs were supposed to be crated and entirely off-limits.

The more minor problems were dogs being fed junk food, dogs being taught to counter surf because of food always being left on the edge of counter and a general disregard for my "strict and unreasonable" rules around the "poor" dogs.

I'm not a tolerant person, and the housemate situation didn't last very long, but it was a real eye-opener. Unless you can find an exceptional person I would vote 'no'

As to the other theme of this thread: Cops love my dog. I love that they love my dog. It's all good

Rob,

I think I would probably run into some similar issues to what you are describing. Actually, some of the stuff you have mentioned about your dobe in other threads reminds me of her.

If I could find someone who would just leave her in the crate and ignore her at first it would probably be OK. Just knowing her I think it would also be better if I could find a guy to move in, too. She is quicker to respect men most of the time.

One of my girlfriends wanted to move in, and as much as I love her she is a little bit of a flake. I could just imagine getting the call at work that the dog is chasing her around the house!

Its true that finding the right room mate is tricky. The last one I had was such a huge disaster that I had vowed never to do it again. But if I ever want to do anything in life I gotta save some dough.

Would you have any way of finding fellow "dog people"? I ask because I managed to meet my current roommate through a dog club she started at our school. It's nice because she is dog savvy and also a fan of Leerburg. While we don't do everything completely the same, we are on the same page with regards to doing what the other asks of you so as to not ruin training. We are living successfully in a duplex with three working dogs: her two GSDs(SAR) and my Aussie(stockdog).