DH wants to get rid of our puppy!!

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Long story so please bear with me...

Puppy is actually one year old GSD, who is absolutely lovely. She has so many positives including being a genuine sweetheart and cuddling up to me when I'm feeling low, I love her, pretty much do everything including feeding, grooming etc. DH takes her on long walks which he seems to enjoy!

Problem being she has started to blow her coat and it is irritating DH no end, he's constantly moaning about all the hair even though I'm trying to brush her and keep the house clean. She is also at times quite naughty, nipping and chewing on all manner of items! She can jump the baby gates to stop her getting up the stairs and just generally trashes the place!

He's said a few times over the last week that we've made a mistake and wants to get rid of her!

Im also 8 weeks pregnant and he is using the new baby as an excuse that there will be hair everywhere when baby arrives. I hate people who get rid of dogs because their pregnant and would never be that person!

I think he's being very unreasonable to expect me to get rid of her and I won't even discuss it with him, I just tell him she is not going end of!! He tells me I'm BU! What does everyone think?

Yes we had professional trading from about 14 weeks, just seems that she's a bit more strong willed and still has the odd slip up! It's not her behavior that is irritating him it's the hair! Just to make it clear, he loves her and takes her on all of her walks so he isn't being nasty or abusing her or he would definitely be gone!! I always joke that DH and DD would go before GSD!!

And honestly, I couldn't trust a man like this...

What if the baby screams? What if the baby pukes on the couch? Trashes something?

I agree with YetAnotherSpartacus - if he can't cope with a dog how on earth will be cope with a baby? As hard work as dogs can be babies/children are much worse.

Another vote for a furminator brush. We use it on our
Dog and regularly get brought fur off to fill an Asda bag!

Will he also want to get rid of the baby when it can climb over the baby gate and trashes the place? My kids make more mess than my dog ever has 😀

1yo dogs are totally teenagers. Ours has just hit 18mths and the difference in her in the last 6 months is amazing. I'm expecting similar leaps in behaviour for another 6 months. Finally, her recall is about 80/20 instead of 30/70 (I could have sobbed at the idea of a long off lead walk with her) and is improving every day. She's less likely to chomp my fingers, she's jumping up less - all things we've worked on for months to no apparent avail until now.

Family consistency is key, and your DP needs to take his share of the responsibilities of raising a dog.

She'll be fine. Join "Dog Training Advice and Support" group on Facebook, it's really useful.

Opps, I didn't saw YetAnother's comment.
But seriously... Yes, he'll have to live with a certain amount of doghair.

But if he can't do that, can he live with a baby? Is this his first child or...?

I have a Saint Bernard and the amount of hair they shed is astonishing! I'm surprised sometimes that she isn't bald with the amount of hair that comes out. I also recommend the furminator brush and invest in a blaster, its like a really powerful hairdryer. I take mine outside and literally blow the loose hair out ( just check your neighbours don't have washing out 😬) I also have an attachment for my vacuum that I use to hoover her ! She absolutely loves it and pesters me when I get the vacuum out, even when I'm not grooming her !

She is still young but to be fair you mentioned her behaviour like jumping the stairgate, so personally I would get him to take her to a refresher course to reaffirm her place in the pack (i.e. bottom).

Here she is looking like butter wouldn't melt in her usual sleep position.

Yes the hair drives you insane - we had a Lab and my god, who knew they even had so much hair to shed.... but jeez, you can cope with it. That's what hoovers are for. The behaviour (chewing etc) will stop soon - as the dog gets older.

I would tell him to fuck off - you don't get rid of a dog like that. It's a full-on commitment.

Ok I'm a GSD person and can tell you 100% that they blow their coat constantly 365 days a year she is only just starting due to her age but this will be the new normal. No amount of oil in her diet will help with this it's just what happens with shepherds unfortunately so he just needs to get used to it! I will say though they are hard work and need a LOT of excercise every day even when you have a newborn.

You can buy special dog stair gates. We had one - it was really tall! We used it religiously for about two years. Then - I'm not quite sure what happened - but suddenly dog was upstairs sleeping by the bed... and now when dh leaves at 6am dog is in bed at 6.01...

But, seriously, the big gates are good if you have new baby and you want separation for a while.

My dad got a dog that my mum didnt want. He wouldnt look after it properly and in the end he came home one day and asked were the dog was and my mum had sold it!

He went mad!

Yours is a different story here as your doing all the work with the dog apart from the walks but it did remind me of that incident.

We always had a dog as a child and me and my sister hated the dog hair!! Even so called non shedding dogs do shed some fur. I hated having to lint roll all my clothing and we really resented having to live with a dog that we didnt want.

As adults neither of us will entertain any pets.

Sorry, your dh sounds like a jerk. Hope he doesn't abandon you and the kids when he gets fed up.

Depends what you mean when you say the hair is irritating him. If you mean annoying, you can furminate the dog. You'll have to sweep up every day. If you want the dog you'll have to do it (I speak as someone who wants our Lab, and looks after everything to do with her).

If you actually mean he has found he has an allergy to the dog then I'm afraid you'll have to find a new home for it.

If you have wood or laminate floors, I can recommend a rubber brush like the ones you see in hairdressers or barbers. They are about £5 in B&M at the moment, but we got ours online last year. Our pooch seems to be Husky cross, and the winter fur comes off in clumps. This brush has reduced hoovered to every other day instead of three times a day. Albeit I brush up twice a day!

I recommend a dog groomer and a miele hoover. Couldn't live without my hoover. My dog doesn't shed but my cats do. I find hair on the windows fgs. It's one big cleaning frenzy everyday. These are things your dh should have considered before getting a dog and I hope the cleaning isn't just left to you.

This is such a sad tale. She's a teenager. She'll grow out of it just in time for your baby to be born. I'd be very angry if my dh said this. Not that he would. My dd loved our old dog when she was little. He was a fab companion for her.

Has she been spayed?
If not, is she coming into season? A year is about right for the 1st or 2nd season for a big breed like a GSD, and it will make them go a bit silly

Second what others have said about getting her stripped at a groomer. It isn't cheap though...

Just hijacking the thread here - although it would probably be useful to OP! - can anyone recommend a vacuum cleaner?

As I have said, dog has seen off four, including Shark, Pet hair Hoover, Dyson (this in truth did not die, like the others, but doesn't pick up hair in the carpet very well). Is there anything out there that can deal with a golden retriever's hair?!

The hair???! I am baffled. Did he think that dogs don't shed hairs around the place? All dogs shed hair, even less shed-y breeds (I have a wire haired dog, not prone to shedding, but there is stil hair about the place). Surely that is just part of having a dog? Just like accepting a certain amount of mud and mayhem. It is like having a baby and expecting it to never drop a biscuit or leave toys around. If he is that obsessed with dog hair why on God's earth did he want a dog? You can't just get rid of an animal , it isn't a tv.

Btw OP, research shows that children brought up with a pet in the house are healthier and have better immune systems - so don't let him use the new baby as an excuse for getting rid.

Try a stairgate at he top of the stairs as well. We keep our dog downstairs, he could jump the bottom stairgate but not the top one, so the silly oaf would get trapped on the stairs until he learned not to do it

Every so often someone leaves the stairgates open, and he gets upstairs - he rampages round because he knows he's not allowed up there. He got into bed with me the last time this happened. Dog heaven not for me though

1. Get a Furminator (and teach your DH to use it!)
2. Do some more training (she's at THAT age where they forget anything they've learned and turn into stroppy teenagers). It will tire her mentally, do several short sessions a day.
3. Get proper dog gates which are taller than baby gates.

You say your husband takes her on long walks, but is it every day? If not, that is why she is being a bit naughty in the house - she's bored. Dogs need to be walked every single day without fail.