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The doghouse

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HATE my dog

88 replies

sashNmax · 01/02/2015 23:55

Sorry just need to vent. I have a 5 month old male beagle x and I seriously can't cope anymore. I wanted a dog for ages. Eventually my partner agreed (with the terms that he liked the breed) so we agreed on a beagle. We looked into it a lot and finally bought our puppy. We have quite an active lifestyle and I am usually a calm person so I thought we'd walk it. Couldn't be more wrong. he pees and poos everywhere. He appears to be house trained and then I'll let him out and bring him in then he'll go all over the floor. I'll be calm and it won't work. I'll show it him and he doesn't care. I catch him in the act and take him outside and he still goes inside! Barks and cries when he's alone. He jumps all over my 1 year old. Chases my cat bites all the time. I've always had dogs and read behavioural books but I'm losing my mind. The only thing I could give him credit for was coming to call off a lead. But today he's run out of our garden whilst I was watching. I've called him and he's not come back. I've run over walls and fences and he was under a bush eating something gross. He's now come home and sicked black stinky stuff all over my carpet. Took him out again and bent down to put him on the lead and he ran off and did it all again. Including throwing everything back up all over my carpet. I've been in tears for the past 2 hours. I don't know what to do. I love him when he's good but HATE him when he's bad. I feel for my little boy because I'm always telling the dog off for jumping on him so I can't spend the time I need with him. I grew up with dogs and I wanted my son to be able to have the same. But it's driving me insane. Everyone is telling me to get rid of him but i'd feel like i had let him down. I need some advice. PLEASE HELP.

OP posts:
BrendaBlackhead · 03/02/2015 08:17

The doggy day care is a good idea. I know someone with a terrible dalmation. A complete hooligan and a large one to boot. One day a week he goes to a sitter and he has a very good time there plus gets some training. It has restored her sanity! After all, who doesn't appreciate a child-free few hours once in a while?!

OP, don't take any notice of "doggy" posters. I got so upset when I posted about my dog when I was at my wit's end and got abuse. Unfortunately it's the horrible posts that stand out when everyone else is trying to offer support and help. The nuttiest post I saw was when someone posted that their dog had bitten their toddler and someone said the dog was there first... The implication was that the toddler should go on Gumtree!!!

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 10:57

Thanks everyone for all your kind messages. As much as he is a pain in the arse he's still my pain in the arse and I love him really. Will take all your advice on board. And I can't believe someone said they should put their baby on Gumtree! As much as I love my animals. Your children should always come first. Some people are ridiculous.

OP posts:
MuddhaOfSuburbia · 03/02/2015 11:55

sash I have nothing useful to say

but don't be hard on yourself. Tinies and puppies is HARD. I had little twins and a pup at the same time. Have blacked out forgotten about most of it but my abiding memory is of sitting half way up the stairs crying while DD stood at the top weeing herself and the pup sat at the bottom weeing in the hall

Grin

It gets better, I swear

Nearasdammit · 03/02/2015 12:04

How much brainwork does he get?
You say he's been to classes but how much training do you do at home?
Brainwork/training knackers them more than physical exercise.

Is he fed in a bowl? Chuck it out. Use his food as reward for training sessions - if he's on kibble, rather than just giving him a bowlful "for free" you could have used it for, what, a couple of hundred repetitions of behaviours you ask for?! And all in the time it takes to boil the kettle :)

Or feed him via an interactive dog toy. Or chuck it in the garden so he has to use that ever-active nose (and brain) to hunt for it.

Teach him to retrieve and to use his nose to find things.

Get that brain too busy to think about the things you don't want him to do :)

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 12:31

Nearas hiya! Currently giving him milk cartons with biscuits in and keeps him occupied for a while. He loves when we run out of milk. Also spend an hour a day basic training I.e- lie down. Go to bed. Sit. Paw. Very astounded he's learned how to roll over!

OP posts:
sashNmax · 03/02/2015 12:37

Also for all those who stuck up for me thank you. It's really nice to feel like you have someone on your side when you're having difficulties. She did say I was wrong to hate my dog which is true. I shouldn't have said that. And I accept responsibility for it. But don't feel sorry for me. I think people who go on forums just to put people down are the ones to pity. Obviously have nothing better to do. ??

OP posts:
MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 03/02/2015 13:27

This will (hopefully) be me in a few months when we have our new dog. And it will come especially hard as our old dog knew everything and was fantastic. I think I'm in for a rude awakening with a puppy. It's been eleven years since we had a puppy and he was a breeze.

So when I come on here begging for help and advice I expect you sash to tell me it gets better and how lovely your dog is now!

And all those evangelical dog owners, please show some compassion. There was a time when even you didn't know it all.

Endler32 · 03/02/2015 13:37

I have posted many threads about my b&stard dog, I know how frustrating it can be, even more so when you have successfully trained other dogs. Mine is a nightmare, apart from the toilet training which he mastered quite quickly, we used a crate when he was a pup, kept him in it most of the day and took him outside every half an hour ( it only took 3 days ), my dog jumps up, he barks at everything, he pulls like a train when on the lead but is great off lead until he see's another dog, he whines a lot, he eats poop and likes a lot of attention. I walked him this morning for over an hour and he was still full of it.

I have had some great advice on here, I now have a great head collar which means I can now walk him along the road without him pulling me over, he is slightly calmer in the house but the big problem at the moment is the barking, my daughter is scared of bringing her friends home because the dog barks at them and jumps up, I do wish I could find a way, at the moment I am tempted to try 'correction spray'.

5 months is still very young, with dogs like ours the first couple of years are when they are going to be their most bouncy and energetic. I think you need to focus on one thing at a time as you won't solve all the problems at once ( which we have found out ).

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 13:40

I will definitely! Msadorabelle I will say from the start don't let him on the sofa when he's cute and cuddly! Even for a day! BIGGEST mistake. He now thinks he's entitled to the best seat in the house!

OP posts:
EasyToEatTiger · 03/02/2015 13:57

I love sharing the sofa with the dogs!!! The general 'rule' in the house is that if a dog is sitting on the furniture, sit on the floor. Grin

MuddhaOfSuburbia · 03/02/2015 14:07

most people here have probably hated their dogs at one time or another, if only briefly

my Special Dog Hating Time is on those mornings- thankfully few- when I come down to find a poo that has been pooed, eaten and then thrown up on the carpet. Sometimes in a few different places

BLEEEEEEEEEEEEE

however it's usually forgotten about later on, when they do something really, really loveable same as DCs

Wink
MuddhaOfSuburbia · 03/02/2015 14:08

our dogs aren't allowed on the sofas, because hedog as a littlun used to take grave exception to being chucked off at bedtime

dogs and kids both think this is really unfair

EasyToEatTiger · 03/02/2015 14:16

We were advised by our trainer many moons ago that the dogs could go wherever we let them, as long as they didn't make a fuss if we moved them. They are all quite happy to share the sofa/ shove up/ get off if we want to sit down. They have more comfy places on the floor than you can shake a stick at. They are not deprivedGrin

insanityscratching · 03/02/2015 14:29

sash at five months Eric was such a pain at times I felt like screaming and never thought it would get better. He's thirteen months old now and adorable. His new trick today was to bring me my slippers and take my shoes back to the mat Grin when I came back from the school run. I would never have thought the loopy pup who was forever nipping and trying to shred my clothes would have mastered that in a month of Sundays tbh.

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 16:00

Our current location. Friend has taken baby to shops so we're burning the energy off!

HATE my dog
OP posts:
ItsAllKickingOffPru · 03/02/2015 16:48

I clicked on the photo to enlarge it. Relieved to see he is heading back to you rather than disappearing off into the distance Grin

Our dog was an arse at 5 months. She still has her moments of Arseness, but they do get fewer and further between.
If I'd been on MN when she was a puppy I may well have posted much the same as you, OP.

tabulahrasa · 03/02/2015 16:58

I say all sorts of horrible things to my dog when he's being a git...he doesn't care, he doesn't speak English, as long as I talk to him in a pleasant tone of voice he's quite happy, lol.

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 17:29

Insanityscratching you need to tell me how to train him to do that!!

OP posts:
insanityscratching · 03/02/2015 18:23

sash he knows "bring it" and so long as I teach him the word he will fetch what I ask. So to teach him slippers we played with the ball, fox toy and slippers because he knows ball and fox. I'd throw the ball and the fox repeatedly saying "bring it ball" or "bring it fox" then I'd throw a slipper, he knows what the game is now and so "bring it slipper" is done automatically. We practised with the slipper in the room for a while and then moved to him getting them from the door He knows where my slippers live so it's easy to get him to fetch them by saying "bring it slipper" then.
To get him to put my shoes back I taught him to sit on the mat first, then to take his ball to the mat and now so long as I give him something and say "on the mat" he'll take them for me.
He loves a fuss so he'll do most tricks for a fuss or the occasional piece of ham.He's clever and so he picks things up in no time and him learning new tricks stops him getting bored because if he's bored he's up to mischief.

insanityscratching · 03/02/2015 18:27

*clever

Hillingdon · 03/02/2015 18:33

Sorry, but I get really annoyed at people who claim they have looked into the breed. No, you haven't. Beagles are not easy dogs, they tend to be very naughty and with a small child what were you thinking...

When will people look into owing a dog properly. PLEASE!!!

SunshineAndShadows · 03/02/2015 18:55

I think the OP got a hard time because she claimed to have researched her breed etc then posted that she hated her dog for doing normal 5 month old beagle things.

OP if you've researched the breed, none of these things should come as a surprise - beagles are hard work and puppies and adolescent dogs are very hard work so an young beagle will be a nightmare.

Having said that it is of course still tough on you and it will continue to be so. I'd suggest the area you need to work on the most is the separation training - this should help to make him feel better rather than constantly anxious and fearful of you leaving, and should also impact on the toilet training
The APBC are a great resource and you can find useful advice based on the latest dog behavioural science in the links below

www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/private/advice_sheet_6_home_alone.pdf

www.merialvetsite.com/sites/barnfieldvets/105guidetobehaviour.pdf

sashNmax · 03/02/2015 22:54

Read up. I spoke to breeders, vets, Internet research. Even the guy around here who keeps beagles for the hunt (spending a day a week with them for a while). Its actually really annoyed me what you have said, funnily enough. 'Beagle with a small baby what were you thinking'. What were YOU thinking? AGAIN read up. My baby and my dog get on like a house on fire. For gods sake they won't be separated. I had a moment of weakness. My boy loves my dog and vice versa. The only thing he's done is knock him down. Which actually he hasn't done today as we've tried a new training technique.
when will people look into owning a dog properly

Sorry but shut up. He's let out every 20 mins. Walked every day for at least 40 mins. Hours training everyday (aside from dog training classes every weds and fri). He's never been smacked or really shouted at. Always rewarded when he has done well. Put in another room when he's been naughty to calm down for 30 seconds. Please don't try make out I know nothing when you don't have a clue. I had a moment weakness, which if you read the thread I have addressed several times. And as I said before. I have looked into the breed for months and months before. We are an active house and didn't want a lazy dog. Or a big one. So we thought about a beagle then put a lot of research in. Hes also crossed with a show spaniel. Which are a little calmer. Also, i'm always at home. It's just when I put my baby down when separation anxiety comes in. Please don't assume you know that i haven't really done my research when all you know about me or my dog is a post I put when I was angry.

Thank you for the links.

OP posts:
sashNmax · 03/02/2015 23:11

Also to those following- only one accident in the house today which was a number 2. Which he is not to blame for as it was just when he woke up and the baby had taken his nappy off so I was a little sidetracked. Very happy!

OP posts:
KiwiJude · 04/02/2015 04:08

Good to hear sashNmax :)