[Roferurse]

Where is the line between being a helpful fellow dog lover and being a know-it-all?

Because the dog my roommate just got about a month and a half ago is her first dog. Ever. Her family never had dogs and this is her first. She lived with Baloo, so she has a little experience.. But still not much. She's in vet-tech school right now, should get accepted to Vet School in the summer.

She feeds Science diet because it's free and it's a "great food"..

She doesn't much see a point to training such a little dog...

She doesn't take her out enough and Zo keeps peeing on my things...

Now, I KNOW what a pain in the butt Baloo was. But he knew better than to bother her for attention or playing because I wouldn't let him. She'd take him out to pee if I couldn't get back to the apartment, but I tried really hard to make sure he wasn't a hassle for her. He only ever had an accident once in the apartment and it was completely my fault and it was in my room anyways.

So, because I know Baloo wasn't the easiest dog to share an apartment with, I feel like I can't add any input on anything without sounding condescending. I've been training Zo in my spare time while the roommate is gone. She's getting better walking on the leash and can sit and stay now.

BUT she's peeing on my things. I've started closing all of my things up in my room and keeping the door shut. And subtly mentioning that maybe she should take her out more.. That maybe she was never properly house broken... But when roommate sees poop or pee, she'll go rub Zo's nose in it and say NONONO! It takes everything I have to hold my tongue. Lately I've just been trying to clean it up and then tell her so she can't do that.

And then there's the science diet.... Ugh. She's worked in a small town vet clinic for a long time so I guess she has just believed all the hype about it being a great food. Did you know, on dogfoodadvisor it is only a half star better than Ol' Roy? And yesterday me and her were having a conversation about Diamond Dog Food and how bad it is and I really wanted to tell her that Diamond is still an entire star better than Science Diet... So she generally knows what foods are bad...

Anyways, have any of you been in this situation? She a very good friend of mine, and I have a habit of sounding really condescending sometimes so I really don't want to step on toes, because after all, it's her dog. She can do what she wants.

Maybe I'll start buying Zo TOTW and putting it in Science Diet bags...

[Kghikeds]

You could print out the food rating.

[RjkVwPcV]

science diet yum

[slarceSelia]

diamond is bad?

[Arbinknit]

I cant say I would pass up free food unless it was ol roy or some shit.
The other stuff just sit and talk to her about it say there's a few things bothering you and you think you can offer advise. The key to having any good relationship is communication, if you just hold it in it's going to do no good.

[OnerePeepsy]

I agree that you should sit down and talk to her. She may welcome advice from you because you have more experience. Also if she's a really good friend of yours then she would know that you aren't intentionally being condescending.

[adactthrd]

Roommates and dogs (and then APARTMENTS!) seem to be a bad combination and, for future reference, should be avoided! IMO.

If neither (or no one) HAS a dog, make some kind of agreement to NOT get dogs; and then avoid the situation in the FIRST place if you DO have dogs!

Carla

[Tinasblue]

I don't think a roommate and dogs are necessarily a bad combination, but it often is! For example, if I needed a roommate and someone with common dog sense like OMGRobyn was my roommate I wouldn't be worried. But there is a long list of people I would never live with because having them in a shared home with dogs would be just bad.

In this situation I think I would MYOB about the food, but I would make an issue of the pee. I think it very, very, rude ( not to mention gross) to let a dog pee on someone else's stuff or in any shared space, which is pretty much a whole apartment as scent travels from room to room.

If the dog cannot be left roaming the apartment because she will pee on something then she should be crated when no one is watching or leashed to her owner until she is fully trained so she doesn't have the opportunity to pee on anything. I would insist on potty training and containment for sanitary reasons. Other than that I would not get too involved with someone else's dog or how they take care of it. People are so sensitive about how they raise their pets. It's very similar to how sensitive they are about how they are raising their kids. Most people seem to not want to take any advice or constructive criticism.

[mr.calisto]

I don't think a roommate and dogs are necessarily a bad combination, but it often is! For example, if I needed a roommate and someone with common dog sense like OMGRobyn was my roommate I wouldn't be worried. But there is a long list of people I would never live with because having them in a shared home with dogs would be just bad.

In this situation I think I would MYOB about the food, but I would make an issue of the pee. I think it very, very, rude ( not to mention gross) to let a dog pee on someone else's stuff or in any shared space, which is pretty much a whole apartment as scent travels from room to room.

If the dog cannot be left roaming the apartment because she will pee on something then she should be crated when no one is watching or leashed to her owner until she is fully trained so she doesn't have the opportunity to pee on anything. I would insist on potty training and containment for sanitary reasons. Other than that I would not get too involved with someone else's dog or how they take care of it. People are so sensitive about how they raise their pets. It's very similar to how sensitive they are about how they are raising their kids. Most people seem to not want to take any advice or constructive criticism.

i second this i don't think you would be able to change her mind about food if you tried, you could perhaps show her some useful websites as far as how to potty train, and perhaps you could try to find one that mentions how rubbing the dogs nose in it doesn't work,i'm surprised a vet tech would think that, i know a lot of them lack good information, but the ones i've met/worked with all knew that

[whimpykid]

Thanks guys. I agree that most people are very sensitive with criticism about training dogs. I think that this being her first dog, she might just think people still do that.

[HottBrorb]

Thanks guys. I agree that most people are very sensitive with criticism about training dogs. I think that this being her first dog, she might just think people still do that.

Yeah but i'm sure people go into the vets office she works at and say they do that, i guess either the vets don't say anything about it or just don't know,So i guess she never learned.Where i work, if anyone mentions doing that with their pup/dog they are sure to be corrected and told the proper way to potty train a puppy/dog

[thargeagsaf]

I would not live with another dog owning roommate by choice. Ever.

Honestly, you can't make someone be a responsible pet owner and frankly I've found that unless you can step away and not worry over whether they are feeding good enough food or whatever all you are going to do is drive yourself batshit crazy.

My current roommates have two cats. They know my dogs are severely allergic to their grain inclusive cat food and that Lily is a shameless food whore. They keep the cat food picked up and a close eye on Lily. They don't feed them any goodies aside from scraps of meat and I'm very happy they respect that my dogs have very sensitive stomachs with regard to grains of all sorts. Now do I approve of how grossly obese their cats are? Hell no, I find it horrifying to compare them to Missy's svelte 7lb frame, but they aren't my cats and its not my problem. So long as my dog doesn't get sick on the crap food it ain't my business.

That said, your roommate needs to potty train her damn dog properly or find it a home who will. Ugh, I'd be sooooo pissed about that.

[Unakjyfk]

Also, my last roommate really loved the little stray I took in to foster and was interested in possibly adopting him. I considered it seriously and I let her help with care including him staying with her while I went to my parent's on the weekend... until one weekend I came back and he was frantic because she hadn't fed him for two days. Needless to say she was not allowed any of those priveleges with him ever again. Ever.

She hates me because of it, but I really don't care. You don't "forget" to feed a fucking animal. Especially not when his portions are all neatly lined up for you in the fridge right next to the cheese you constantly eat.

[Anykeylo]

In this situation I think I would MYOB about the food, but I would make an issue of the pee. I think it very, very, rude ( not to mention gross) to let a dog pee on someone else's stuff or in any shared space, which is pretty much a whole apartment as scent travels from room to room.

If the dog cannot be left roaming the apartment because she will pee on something then she should be crated when no one is watching or leashed to her owner until she is fully trained so she doesn't have the opportunity to pee on anything. I would insist on potty training and containment for sanitary reasons. Other than that I would not get too involved with someone else's dog or how they take care of it. People are so sensitive about how they raise their pets. It's very similar to how sensitive they are about how they are raising their kids. Most people seem to not want to take any advice or constructive criticism.

This.

As far as the food goes, I'll be honest in this economy if I was getting the food for free, I'd probably use it. But I would definitely make a big deal about the pottying in the house. Mainly because its just so unsanitary. Obviously something has to be done about that. And I agree crating when she is not able to watch the dog, letting the dog out more frequently, and leashing the dog to herself so she can't run off and pee. Other than that I would not get too overly involved unless the dog became a total nuisance because after all you do have to live with the owner