Today's post is more of a rant and a cry for help than anything else. So bear with me, and if you're still here at the end, some words of advice, maybe?
2 years ago Lonn and I adopted a dog, his name is Happy, that's the name he came with, and we couldn't think of anything that suited him better. Well... until now. Henceforth his name shall be called shitface. You wanna hear the story why? SURE YOU DO!!!!
So anyways, I don't know what happened to this poor dog before we got him, but he was just a mess. He's a Keeshond, and if you follow the link, you'll see pictures (cuz I don't have a good one of him, right now) of what Keeshonds are supposed to look like. See all that nice long silky looking fur? Well, when we got him, he was so matted up it looked like someone had coated him in oil and left him to roll around in the mud. He was wearing a collar that was so tightly matted into the fur around his neck that we weren't sure the groomer was going to be able to get it out without sedating him. So, we got him all cleaned up at the groomer, and he was left looking seriously hilarious (I'll see if I can find a picture and scan it in later) with a big fluffy head, and a big fluffy body, and a shaved to the skin neck.
But, all that is beside the point. Happy is... well, he's a difficult dog. He loves to be cuddled, he'll climb right up into your lap and flop over so that you have to rub his belly (cuz it's just too darn cute to do otherwise), he knows EXACTLY when supper time is, and he'll sit by his bowl and whine till you come feed him... but there's one thing about him that everyone must know: if you're not paying attention to him at all times, well, lets just say he gets into trouble. We've tried ABSOLUTELY everything to break him of his habit of getting into the cupboard to eat the garbage, including child locks (he'll eat thru the plastic ones and knows how to work hook/eye metal ones.) If we ONCE forget to close the bathroom door, he'll be in the hamper in a second flat, we have to lock him in his kennel when we leave the house, because otherwise he'll dig in the furniture.. you know, just crazy difficult dog. All of these things are easily dealt with, tho, just close the bathroom door, put baby gates around the kitchen, yada. But the one thing I can't break him of just started recently...
We have a baby gate on our bedroom door so that we can still get some airflow through the house when the furnace/air conditioner is on. This never used to bother happy, but recently, due to my not having a job, I've been sleeping in a little later than Lonn, so he'll get up, let the dog out, bring him back to the bedroom, leave the bedroom, close the baby gate, go get ready for work, etc etc, and when he comes back upstairs to leave the house; Happy will sit at the baby gate and GROWL at him, like he's some sort of intruder. This, of course, wakes me up, because most days he takes a flying leap off of my chest to get to the door to growl at Lonn. We've tried closing the bedroom door, to muffle Lonns footsteps, we've tried leaving a light on in the hallway when Lonn wakes up so that Happy knows it's him, we've tried (and I cried and cried and cried when we did this) putting a bark/growl collar on him at night, I've tried spanking him and yelling NO! at him, I've tried holding him down in my arms when he starts to growl and cupping his jaw so that he can't bark... I've tried EVERYTHING, and he still does it, morning after morning, for the last month or so. I just don't know what to do anymore :( (and I can't keep losing an hour of sleep every day, either). We can't just let him out in the morning because with Lonn in the bathroom, or wherever the hell he goes in the morning, we can't risk letting Happy roam the house. We've tried this in the past. Trust me.
So, I just don't know what to do, and I'm out of ideas. I've asked family and friends, I've asked experts, I just... don't... know.
Oh, I should also mention that Happy's vet seems to think he's about 4 to 4.5 years old, but we can't get a proper number since we adopted him and they didn't know when he was born.
help
1 comment:
I don' think you'd wanna hear what an orc would do with shitface the dog. 'Cause I know you humans can gets all sentimental and whatnot, so I'll exercise discretion (which be hard, lemme tell ya!)
Okay. You gots a dog what probably learned in his formative years that if he didn't eat absolutely anything and everything the instant he could, someone else would and he'd starve. So even though ya got plenty of food for him now, he still thinks that way and he's a-going for the garbage. Maybe a few more years'll ease him out that, maybe not.
Now I just read that article on yer breed, and I saw "very alert" and "watchdog". Oh, bugger. He thinks he's doing his job and no amount of yelling or restraining or beating is gonna is gonna convince him otherwise. Yer fighting his instincts, and all you can do is make him confused and miserable, but he's still gonna growl when he thinks there's an intruder. 'Cause that's his fubbernuggin job.
If ya ain't tried this yet I'd suggest ya gives it a whirl. Have Lonn be noisy in the morning. Talk, sing, say "Lalalalalala", whatever, so the pooch knows it be him and not some no-good fuhgger. Maybe it helps.
Lucks to ya.
--Rat
Great googly moogly, is this just Day 2? I's already tired of writing.
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