Help with naughty dogs!

[Ribbon14]

Hi all,

I have 2 male pugs, one has just turned one and the other is nearly 4 months. We also have 3 cats (yes we are mad!).
I do love the dogs but they are driving me mental at the moment. I work from home so am here with them all day while my husband is at work. Basically they are both completely obsessed with food (especially the older one) and will stop at nothing to get it. They also eat everything on the floor... All sorts of random crap they shouldn't have and then I get the blame. The older one barks like a lunatic any time anyone knocks the door, they bite the skirting boards and doors, bark and chase the cats, eat the cats' food despite the fact its in a separate room with a cat flap (older one can headbutt door open!)

I've tried my best to train them but it just isn't working and my husband is in denial saying they behave for him so putting the blame on me. My whole day revolves around managing them. Has anyone got any suggestions?

Well tell him tough shit he needs to pay for the work he isn't prepared to do himself.

Seriously he has got himself a cushy number financially and domestically...

Why get dogs if he didn't want to spend money? Has he had dogs before? Sending hugs your way, he needs to pull his weight. Walk the dogs he wanted, pay for dog walkers, go to training classes.

@Stellaris22 no he's never had dogs nor any pets and neither did his parents. I've had cats all my life but not dogs. I knew it would be hard work and was prepared to put the work/money in but he doesn't seem to want to. It's like he just can't be bothered

Dogs are WAY more work than cats. I feel for you, I really do.

Opposite with myself and DH, I wanted dogs, he didn't, so I do most of the work.

Is he accepting of the idea of dog walkers or day care? It would be really beneficial.

Can you get rid of the husband and keep the dogs?!

Do pugs cost a lot to buy? I can sort of see people not looking after dogs they get for free - ddog must have been a gorgeous puppy who wasn't cared for, and was hard work when we got him. He is of extremely mixed parentage as opposed to pedigree.

Yes they were hugely expensive - over £2k for both of them.
@adaline believe me I've considered it

Ribbon consider it harder, your H has spent £4K on puppies that he said he wanted and want do f*ck all to raise them.

I'm confused. He spent £4K but didn't think about costs after that? He's a fool.

When Bastarddog is being a little sod, I find a very quick walk round the block - 10 mins max - helps to settle him. On my non-working day, he gets 30 minutes am, 30 minutes pm as a minimum and sometimes more, but I honestly think the change of scene helps if he is bored.

Sorry to clarify it was £2k in total for both not that it makes much difference

Hope they’re well insured. They’re a popular breed with puppy farmers and no decent breeder would sell him a pup if he wasn’t looking after the first properly. Lots of health problems in the breed too.

Despite what people say, pugs are very clever little dogs and very easily trained. However they are very stubborn. Whilst your DH is being an arse regarding walking/training the dogs, they are in your house so needs a hands on approach from everyone . I adopted a pug x at 9 months old ( my first one), and he needed a loving but firm hand. It's not just physical exercise they need, but mental stimulation too. If you can, get a dog Walker and also it appears that your dogs are not listening to you. Treats/toy rewards are great for pugs.
Do some basic training such as "watch me", "sit", "down", " stay", "come". Train each dog individually ( you can do it in evenings/weekends), and no more than 10 minutes at a time.
Loads of good videos on YouTube such as Kikopup, Zak George, and even Victoria Stillwell ( generally not a fan), but they all use positive reinforcement training.
Puppy pen and use a Kong like someone's suggested. I fed mine in the puppy pen so it was a positive place for him to go, and he got special treats eg bone etc ONLY in there. If you have two dogs, you might need 2 pens though as each dog should be treated as an individual.

If the puppy course is too much get a 1-1 trainer/behaviourist in for a few sessions to help guide you.

Yes to Kongs.

Yes to more mental stimulation.

Yes to walks.

Much love to you. Puppies are hard work.

OP, swap the cages for a pen instead. One of my dogs used to hate the cage but loves her pen and gets in on her own willingly. They'll have more room, then if your first client is due at 1pm, put them in at quarter to.

Change their food to a good quality wet food.

Agree with everyone saying about kongs, or other treat dispensing food toys. This will give them something to do when you are with your clients.

Walk them more often. If your older one doesn't like being walked for a long time, do it little and often.

Do your own research as well, look on google or YouTube for advice, you won't be the first person to experience these kinds of problems with pugs or other breeds.

I agree with others saying they do sound bored and unhappy though, I know that can be hard to hear and I know you're trying your best, but you need to do what's right for them. I'm sorry you have a chronic illness but it's not really an excuse for not looking after your pets properly. Get DH to pull his weight too.

Thanks everyone for your amazing advice! I'm on my own for the weekend with just the older one so have walked him for 25 mins then played football with him on a field at back of our house but this still doesn't seem to have tired him...
He keeps asking to go in garden but only because he wants to dig up and eat my bulbs! I'm going to look at training him a bit today on my own and thanks for the advice about pens. Only trouble is we don't have much space. Does anyone know if pets at home sell kongs or something similar? Might take a trip out there

Also can anyone recommend a good wet food?

Lily's Kitchen is excellent though it can be a bit pricy - what kind of budget do you have?

@adaline thanks umm... Doesn't really matter tbh - how much is it roughly?

Millies wolfheart has many different flavours of wet food.

I pay £25 for 12 cans, which lasts 24 days - so roughly £1 a day. Then on top of that he has biscuits as well.

He's 17.kg and gets half a can per day with biscuits mixed in. We only feed once a day though.

OK thanks that's not too bad. And he's 12kg so probably would need less. I'll take a look when I go to pets later. Is it good to mix the wet and dry food together?

We always have done and we've had no problems - we normally feed Harringtons Grain Free biscuits as Lily's biscuits are expensive and not available in our local supermarket.

So a couple of handfuls of biscuits, plus half a tin of wet food per day. The multipacks contain four flavours so he gets a mixture and every time we buy new biscuits we get a different flavour so he doesn't get bored!

Thanks :)
He's been out for over an hour of walk and playtime outside but still seems restless and bored. I'm not sure what else to do :(

Could you do a little training session with him? Or stuff a kong with some peanut butter or cream cheese to give him something to do?