What to do with a dog....

DemonStacey

Without bogging you guys down with too much details, my gf needs to move in with my family and I for a bit. She has an old 11 year old shih tzu. My step-mom doesn't want another dog running around our house. The dog has NEVER been in a crate in it's life and gets freaked out when it's confined.

What can I do with this dog? I'm at a complete loss. I can't really suggest her getting rid of it. She's had it since she was a kid and it's one thing that helps keep her grounded.

ANY ideas? Today is the day she needs to get it from it's current home before something bad happens.

Cincitucky

Is there a room in the house that the dog could stay in unsupervised where nothing of concern could get damaged? The washer/drier room, basement, guest room?

DemonStacey

Maybe... It would need to be a non-carpeted room which would leave the laundry room. But people are constantly in and out of the laundry room (my gf would be the 9th person living in the house...) and they might not be too happy if they're dodging dog pee (it would be a smallish area and the dog is old so it would probably pee)

Dhalphir

Any possibility of the stepmother caving in? Perhaps if your girlfriend provides her with some sort of undertaking to be wholly responsible for anything the dog does or needs?

DemonStacey

Dhalphir wrote:

Any possibility of the stepmother caving in? Perhaps if your girlfriend provides her with some sort of undertaking to be wholly responsible for anything the dog does or needs?

Well the step-mom caving is going to be necessary to get the dog in the house out at all. I'm trying to come up with a good plan to help get her to cave. Being wholly responsible is going to need to be a given as well. But that alone won't quite cut it as I don't know where to put the thing when she's at school or work. I can't just put it in my room because it's carpeted and my step-mom in no way is going to let the dog stay unsupervised in a carpeted room.

And it's small and all of our dogs are big. Well there's one small one but she's a bitch and starts fights with everyone and I don't one this little old dog getting eaten by my dogs. So free roam could be sketchy... I don't know...

edit: Juast want to say that I appreciate everything you guys are giving me so far.

MushroomStick

Well, to give you a little more time to come up with a permanent solution, you could put the dog up in a kennel for a few days.

Officer 1BDI

When my sister brought her puppy to our mom's house, she used some old baby gates to isolate him to a couple of rooms in the house. Though that's only feasible if you have an un-carpeted room with an entryway that you can actually block off.

Alternately, if you have a backyard and the weather permits you could get a portable dog pen that you can keep the shih tzu in (at least while your girlfriend is gone). Then you wouldn't have to worry about it messing in the house and could still keep it separated from the other dogs.

DemonStacey

Yea I guess we could. She DOES work at an animal hospital after all.

That's why I'm coming to you guys. Simple things that I'm overlooking giving how quickly this all happened and needs to be figured out.

Still, more ideas on the more permanent solution would be appreciated. If it weren't winter I could just buy a dog house and make a little area outside for some time... but stupid winter...

edit: I totally wrote that before reading Officer's post. I wish weather would permit it right now but it is WAY too cold here. The problem is most of the house is carpet and my stepmom is a little wary about that situation as just recently she had to get an entire floor in the house re-done because of my sisters dogs ruining it. Like, they had to pull up the carpet AND the wood. Not exactly cheap.

admanb

At this point it sounds like you should be doing whatever possible to minimize potential conflict in your household. Things you have told us so far:

1. There are nine people and at least two dogs in your house.

2. Your step-mom doesn't want another dog.

3. Your gf needs the dog to stay grounded.

This sounds like the setup to a murder mystery.

DemonStacey

admanb wrote:

At this point it sounds like you should be doing whatever possible to minimize potential conflict in your household. Things you have told us so far:

1. There are nine people and at least two dogs in your house.

2. Your step-mom doesn't want another dog.

3. Your gf needs the dog to stay grounded.

This sounds like the setup to a murder mystery.

Haha. There are currently 6 dogs in the house... This would be the seventh... my step-mum said no more dogs 2 dogs >.>

But yes my goal here is to figure out the best method for minimizing conflict. My step-mom is a really great lady and I want to step on her toes as little as possible with this no more dogs thing. The fact that she is so accepting of taking in my gf is enough to show how awesome she's being about this whole situation.

admanb

I hope you realize this move-in should last as little time as possible. This whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen.

DemonStacey

admanb wrote:

I hope you realize this move-in should last as little time as possible. This whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen.

Yea, tell me about it. I'm doing it for her sake. I imagine it's not the best for the relationship but whatever happens in that regard isn't really my concern right now. If it ends up that it ruins the relationship but she had what she needed to get her shit back together and get back on her feet then I'll be happy knowing that I helped. It's better than the alternative of letting her sleep in her car.

But like I said, not my concern right now. Worried about the here and now.

Kistra

Is your girlfriend interested in crate training? Is there any chance you can start to train the dog to like the crate over the weekend? What do you and your gf do? Do you get christmas breaks? How soon do those breaks start? Can you make it so that it is only a week of laundry room time or whatever?

If the dog hasn't had traumatic experiences with the crate it shouldn't take too long to train it to like a crate.

I really like the following instructions. You can go through and just do the crate training and ignore everything else - crate training starts in level 2:

http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/

DemonStacey

Kistra wrote:

Is your girlfriend interested in crate training? Is there any chance you can start to train the dog to like the crate over the weekend? What do you and your gf do? Do you get christmas breaks? How soon do those breaks start? Can you make it so that it is only a week of laundry room time or whatever?

If the dog hasn't had traumatic experiences with the crate it shouldn't take too long to train it to like a crate.

I really like the following instructions. You can go through and just do the crate training and ignore everything else - crate training starts in level 2:

http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/

I work full time and only have a 3-day weekend for xmas so I don't have a lot of time. She works at an animal hospital and a small pet supply store. So she won't have a break per se, but she has more free time than me since she works wacky short hours. I'll certainly bring this up with her when I get home tonight. I imagine it will be harder to crate train at such an old age but it's better than nothing!

Thank you.

Javen

I'm a softie, so I think you should try warming the step-mom to the idea.

But, absolutely barring that, do you have any friends or family in the area that would be okay with housing a dog for a while?

Usagi

Could she possibly take the dog to work with her? Several vets and animal hospitals I've visited over the years have resident cats & dogs

DemonStacey

Usagi wrote:

Could she possibly take the dog to work with her? Several vets and animal hospitals I've visited over the years have resident cats & dogs

I know she can take it to the pet/grooming place. I'd still need to have a plan for the rest of the time it was in the house. Unless you are referring to a permanent residence at the animal hospital?

Usagi

DaemonSadi wrote:

Usagi wrote:

Could she possibly take the dog to work with her? Several vets and animal hospitals I've visited over the years have resident cats & dogs

I know she can take it to the pet/grooming place. I'd still need to have a plan for the rest of the time it was in the house. Unless you are referring to a permanent residence at the animal hospital?

I was, yeah

My last vet had an elderly dog that just lived there, was taken care of by staff and generally spoiled rotten with petting by all the vistors. Can't hurt to ask!

DemonStacey

Usagi wrote:

DaemonSadi wrote:

Usagi wrote:

Could she possibly take the dog to work with her? Several vets and animal hospitals I've visited over the years have resident cats & dogs

I know she can take it to the pet/grooming place. I'd still need to have a plan for the rest of the time it was in the house. Unless you are referring to a permanent residence at the animal hospital?

I was, yeah

My last vet had an elderly dog that just lived there, was taken care of by staff and generally spoiled rotten with petting by all the vistors. Can't hurt to ask!

That is another very interesting idea. I will suggest it tonight!

mts

some dogs just can't handle crates regardless of tramatic experiences. our dog with literally bang her paw against the door like a prisoner using his cup in prison movies not to mention, cry uncontrollably if put in a crate

DemonStacey

mts wrote:

some dogs just can't handle crates regardless of tramatic experiences. our dog with literally bang her paw against the door like a prisoner using his cup in prison movies not to mention, cry uncontrollably if put in a crate

This is what I was worried about. When I initially asked she was all "Molly does not do well in confined spaces. She freaks out if she's even closed in the kitchen."

ceres

Usagi wrote:

DaemonSadi wrote:

Usagi wrote:

Could she possibly take the dog to work with her? Several vets and animal hospitals I've visited over the years have resident cats & dogs

I know she can take it to the pet/grooming place. I'd still need to have a plan for the rest of the time it was in the house. Unless you are referring to a permanent residence at the animal hospital?

I was, yeah

My last vet had an elderly dog that just lived there, was taken care of by staff and generally spoiled rotten with petting by all the vistors. Can't hurt to ask!

I worked in a vet's office briefly, and there was an office cat named Bear. Bear was dropped off by her owner because she had some sort of horrible infection on one of her paws. It ate away most of the skin, leaving bone exposed. Nobody really knows how it started, but the vet fixed her up, and then the owner disappeared and never came back for her. That paw is still partly just exposed bone, but oh my goodness she is one of the sweetest cats I've ever known.

Anyway, I'm not suggesting abandonment, but if she works somewhere amenable to it they may be able to house the dog temporarily at least.