My dog is driving me crazy!

R

red_mct

Cathlete
My pug is just adorable, but he is worse than a kid sometimes.

I work from home several days a week. I have had to put a desk in my kitchen so that he will stop climbing over the gate and knocking the cats down in his rush to get to my office. (I swear he is really a monkey; he climbs over the gate by sticking his little paws into the gate rungs. If that doesn't work, he jumps up to the table and then sails over the gate like he is spring-loaded... he is only 22 pounds!) So now I work in the kitchen, but that isn't quite good enough for him. I have to also pull an extra chair over to the desk so that he can sit next to me for the entire day, which is really cute except that he is a heavy breather and I conduct a lot of conference calls. I can only imagine what the other participants are thinking is happening on my end. :)

Now he has taken to tossing his ball, stuffed animals, and bones on top of my papers as I'm trying to work. He hates my laptop and tries to chew it because it consumes too my of my attention, I guess.

Cute, but driving me crazy!! ;-)
Marie
 
Marie--LOL!! I had longhaired dachshunds, God rest their dear, little souls, and they were NOT to be ignored. Can't live with 'em--can't live without 'em.

Michele:)
 
My rat terrier is the same way. She'd get under my skin if she could so she would never have to be separated from me. But...you're spoiling that dog and you know it. You are the alpha so make him behave. My RT has a bed under my computer desk and that is where she stays when I'm working (also from home). If she tries to jump up on me she gets a swift and stern 'NO' and she lays down.

Discipline is love. There is a time for work and a time for the dog. He needs to learn that. :)
 
Marie,

Ah, that is sweet, but I know what you mean. I got music on all thru the day when I am at home and sometimes the dogs think they hear a "doorbell" or something like that because the music I got cranked up loud and there are different background noises. Anyhow, they will just bark, bark and bark! It is annoying. Like the Madonna song I have..."hung up" where a phone goes off...well, so do the dogs! LOL! They follow me wherever I go so I find myself tripping on them mostly all day. I trip over them to get the phone, etc. Stinky has stopped chewing up things around the house so no complaints there. At night, both dogs and cat are on top of me when I am on the couch so I feel like I can't move sometimes. LOL! They are my babies, but geez, they can get in our space alot, huh? LOL!

Charlotte~~
 
apparently, 40something has not experienced the stubborn nature of the pug. I too have a pug, and i can sympathize with you. my pug, gomez, is now 13 so he has calmed down a bit, but i have laughed until i cried at him throughout his life. the problem with the pugs are that they are so cute you can't get mad at them for more than a couple of seconds. i actually had to take mine to obedience class to get him under control when trying to housebreak him as a puppy. it is hard to let them know whose boss, because, in all likelihood, your pug already knows, but just ignores that information. they know they can get away with it. i am so sad knowing that mine is getting close to the end of his life. his back legs are starting to go now, but he still has that pug spirit and stubborness. enjoy all the time you get to spend with him. they are just the best....
 
Marie, my pug is the same way. He's so high maintenance! He has to be touching me in some way constantly--whether it's sitting on my lap, curled up next to me, whatever--he's very needy LOL. My other dog (chow/lab mix) is the opposite. She just wants to know I'm in the same room with her & she's fine.

I can't have guests over without him bouncing off them, the walls, the furniture--he's all over the place. If I could bottle that energy I'd make a fortune.

The pug is about 5 now & shows no signs of calming down. He's a perennial puppy. It is adorable, but sometimes it's a nuisance.....
 
I'll tell a story about my previous RT. She is deceased now, bless her.

That dog was such a momma's baby that everytime I stood up, whether from a chair, the sofa, the floor...that dog jumped into my arms and HAD to be held like a cradled baby. If I ignored her like when someone was at the door, she would continue to jump straight up and down and would nip at my arms until I finally held her. My husband was even jealous of that dog if you can believe that, because she HAD to be in my arms at all times. She was like an appendage. :D

We also have a mini schnauzer, a lakeland terrier and a huge unruly golden retriever. All came from rescue situation's as I work for a couple of organization's.
 
My two sweet, crazy cats are the same way! I have a home office, so they have really gotten used to having me here all the time! They get really indignant if I go out for a while! But there's nothing better than having a cat curled up in your lap when you're working on the computer!
 
Wow...so many pug owners. I have a one year old solid black one. Sparkles is just as needy as you all seem to have. She follows me around everywhere I go. I tutor kids in math sometimes from home and she has to sit on my lap the whole time. But my husband gets it worse. She jumps up on the bed and becomes a licking machine when she hears him wake up. I won't let her lick me but he has always allowed it so she takes full advantage of it. And she manages to always get him right inside his nose and his ears.

But you all are right...that face and perpetual frown makes them so cute!
 
Well that's just the secret, Smarty Jones...obedience training classes if you can't train your dog on your own. But really, every pet owner should take their new puppy to obedience classes but sadly, that isn't the rule.

I have had to deal with all sorts of behavior problems with rescued dogs. Any dog can be trained/retrained (not including vicious dogs here). The key is understanding that dogs are pack animals and they need to see their owners as the leader. You don't want to discipline a dog out of anger, no more than you would discipline your kids out of anger. Discipline means learning the rules. What is accepted behavior and what is not and that is accomplished through constant reinforcement. Dogs want to please their owners and when they do what you are asking then they get their reward...a rub on the belly, a food treat perhaps.

Just as with kids...if you spoil your dog and never set boundaries, he will never learn there are boundaries. As for your own dog that won't behave when people come over, when he starts that behavior you need to tell him 'NO' and make him sit. If he won't stop then you need to tell him to go to his kennel and put him in it. If you did that everytime he started the bad behavior he would figure it out and eventually would be a pleasant dog to nicely greet visitor's. And if you think I'm nuts...our golden is proof. Imagine having a 100 pound dog bound on top of you when you walk in the door. My own kids suffered many an attack by that beast before she finally made the connection that jumping on people was not socially acceptable behavior. When she was told to go to her kennel she was given a treat for obeying. You don't want the dog to associate the kennel as a 'punishment' room. It is their den, their safe haven. When your dog willingly goes in the kennel you need to reward that good behavior.

Dogs can be trained without force. It just takes time, patience and love.
 
Oh yeah!! My little dachsies are gone so the cat rules the roost now. He will not allow you to ignore him--LOL! He insists on curling up in my lap. Sometimes I just can't use the computer because the pull-out shelf with my keyboard is too low and there isn't room to pull that out while the cat is on my lap. But--I'd rather have the kitty than the computer.

Michele:)
 
i agree, 40something, about the training. it is very important for dogs to have boundaries. it definitely takes a little more patience with pugs, but he responded well to obedience class. the trainer told me he had an attitude problem that needed to be corrected. once we finished the class, he at least knew what he was supposed to do. now, that doesn't mean he always did was he was supposed to do, but you could persuade him eventually. now, in his old age, he has become a stubborn little old man. at least now, if he does something bad, he goes under the coffee table as he knows what he did will get him in trouble. i have also caught him hiding under the bed for bigger offenses. i laugh, but now he is also deaf so he can't hear me laughing at his naughty acts. i just love these dogs and the silly things they do. you are absolutely right, they are just like kids in the way they do things to get our attention. i wish i could home and give him a big hug right now...
 
I know what you mean. Our schnauzer is only 7 years old but she isn't the picture of perfect health and we don't expect her to live to a normal schnauzer age but anyway...she is becoming more and more incontinent at night to the point that she has to sleep in her kennel because she has accidents almost every night if we leave her out. But the mornings I would find the puddles and turds and she would stand there and put her head down and keep looking at me out of the corner of her eyes as if she was saying, "Yes, I did that but I couldn't help it". She is a precious, sweet tempered dog. I never placed her with new owners because we knew she was going to have health issues and could end up being dumped by someone who didn't want to pay the vet costs, plus she was about half the size of her siblings so she had the runt thing going on too. She has had problems with bladder stones so it was a good decision that we kept her but I don't think she'll live to be a very old dog.
 
it is so hard to watch them get old. your schnauzer is so lucky to have found you to give her the best life possible. my pug poops in his sleep and when i wake him up in the mornings, he doesn't even know the pile is under his tail. it is hard to see that happening to him because he just can't help it. he is still so cute. we just have to know that we loved them and gave them a great life....i can't even imagine what life is going to be like without gomez...i can't remember life before him....
 
Oh no! Your dog and mine should meet. Our schnauzer has ALWAYS dropped little 'nuggets'. She can just be walking through the room and a little round poop turd will just pop out. Where ever she sleeps at night, same thing. When she gets up there will be one or two little nuggets there. We like to call them presents. :p

Our vet has been totally baffled as to why she does that. He has examined her since she was a puppy, and he says she has good muscle tone around her anus and her rectum seems to be normal so there isn't a physical reason why this happens. Needless to say, we are used to it but it can be kind of a shock for visitor's when she comes trotting by and leaves a little 'present' for them on the floor.

Oh and when I vaccuum the furniture, when I pull the cushion's off the sofa's and chairs I can usually count on finding one or two presents that have rolled under the cushion's.

Yeah, you REALLY gotta love these dogs, don't you?!!:7
 
gomez will actually have an entire pile under his tail sometimes. he has those "squeakers" as i like to call them sometimes when he is napping. and, he can just be walking through a room, and the urge hits him, and he just starts going. he continues to walk while it is happening so i have a trail to where he ends up. yes, you do have to love them....i guess this thread has sort of turned from red mct's dog behavior problem to our dogs inability to control their bodily functions. i just know that one day i am going to miss opening up the door and see gomez and his present for me in the mornings....
 
"Squeakers"! LOL That's a good one!

Everyone in my family (mother, brother, sister's) all love our schnauzer and someone is always asking me if they can take her home. She is just such a sweetheart, that indeed, it will be very hard when that last day comes. I just lost my old RT two years ago and she was that one in a million dog that you always hope to find but never do. Her and I were truly soul mates, like I said my DH was even a little jealous of the time I spent with that dog attached to my side. And of course she slept with us, under the blankets like most RT's like to do but Sugar would always position herself between H and I and if H made a move towards me she growled at him to back off! The two of them were never friends. ;)

I still miss her. Dogs are indeed man's best friend.:)
 
that is funny that she would growl at your husband in the bed...my old boy can be grouchy sometimes that is just because he is old, i think...my boyfriend gripes about him pooping in the house. but, i look over and he has him on his chest rubbing his ears. gomez loves that and will go and stand in front of my boyfriend and stare at him until he rubs his ears...gomez and myself have been through so much together...from living single, to marriage, to california (we actually did a drive from california to georgia together), back to georgia, to a divorce, and now to a wonderful home with a wonderful man who rubs his ears...gomez has lived in so many different places with me i sometimes feel bad that he has been uprooted so many times. but he is in the perfect plact to finish his life out, and he is so happy there....oh, i am going to have to go get a tissue if i keep on...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top