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Health Dangers of Very Non-housebroken Dogs
Altimus Obvious
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Obvious alt is obvious.
Someone I'm close to has small dogs. They are not housebroken, and consequently they are always dealing with urine and occasionally feces around the house. At times, this person gets discouraged at the constant cleaning and just goes "screw it" and doesn't clean up the mess for a while. Days sometimes. Also, the animals have ruined the carpets in his house beyond the point of being cleaned, and the pads under the carpet are certainly not cleaned of all the urine. He cannot set any object down in his house (trash can, vacuum cleaner, re-positioned furniture, bag of groceries) for very long before one of the dogs will sneak over and pee on it. He knows this is a problem, but won't get rid of the dogs, and can't seem to train them successfully. They know it's wrong and always sneak away to make these messes.
This is not a thread about how to train the dogs effectively.
I have been searching the internets for some way to demonstrate to him that he needs, he very seriously needs to get somebody to break these animals or get rid of them. What I am looking for and have failed to find are explanations of the health dangers of living in a house where there is frequently animal excrement and urine just sitting there on the floor. The thing is, I don't actually even know if it's true that there are health dangers. It sure seems like there would be, but I can't find anything medical.
I hope that if I can, it'll finally motivate him to take care of the problem one way or another. Can any of you speak on the health dangers of living in a house where dogs have befouled much of it, and continue to do so on a daily basis?
Someone I'm close to has small dogs. They are not housebroken, and consequently they are always dealing with urine and occasionally feces around the house. At times, this person gets discouraged at the constant cleaning and just goes "screw it" and doesn't clean up the mess for a while. Days sometimes. Also, the animals have ruined the carpets in his house beyond the point of being cleaned, and the pads under the carpet are certainly not cleaned of all the urine. He cannot set any object down in his house (trash can, vacuum cleaner, re-positioned furniture, bag of groceries) for very long before one of the dogs will sneak over and pee on it. He knows this is a problem, but won't get rid of the dogs, and can't seem to train them successfully. They know it's wrong and always sneak away to make these messes.
This is not a thread about how to train the dogs effectively.
I have been searching the internets for some way to demonstrate to him that he needs, he very seriously needs to get somebody to break these animals or get rid of them. What I am looking for and have failed to find are explanations of the health dangers of living in a house where there is frequently animal excrement and urine just sitting there on the floor. The thing is, I don't actually even know if it's true that there are health dangers. It sure seems like there would be, but I can't find anything medical.
I hope that if I can, it'll finally motivate him to take care of the problem one way or another. Can any of you speak on the health dangers of living in a house where dogs have befouled much of it, and continue to do so on a daily basis?
Altimus Obvious on
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Long term exposure to the ammonia in urine of any animal can cause cancer (possibly) and breathing issues in general, as well as nausea, vomiting, and dizziness.
You're probably looking for the health risks that are associated with animal hoarders, which is some seriously loony shit if you google that, fyi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_hoarding#Health_effects_on_humans
http://www.doodycalls.com/resources_toxic_dog_waste.asp
Dog shit is apparently pretty foul stuff and we're talking parasite transfer, and toxic levels of ammonia.
Steam
Only the strong can help the weak.
I don't want to call animal control if it's not dangerous, and I thought I'd try once more to convince them they need to make a change before I get them fined and / or cause them to lose their pets.
It's not, like covering the floor as I read in that link for hoarders. Thanks by the way. Mostly it's like, I'm over playing games and I walk into the kitchen to grab a beer and there's pee on the kitchen floor that wasn't there when I came in. Or like, there's a mess in the corner that's clearly been there for a couple days. The place isn't covered in excrement, but it's present in one spot or another around the house, pretty much all the time.
Or maybe there's some form of mental illness involved, whether it's depression (you mention feeling overwhelmed multiple times, OP) or whatever. Regardless, your friends are not taking care of their animals, and it's highly unlikely that without some form of consequence they will change their ways.
Get the dogs somewhere where they can be cared for properly, if nothing else.
Simply put, they are depressed or otherwise incapable of looking after what can be very demanding animals. It isn't their fault per se.
Put another way (pay attention esh); I'd bet real money that they aren't stupid. They're fucking ashamed and embarrased and maybe even loathe themselves, which adds to whatever mental illness they might have and so they still can't overcome their depression to think of a clear way of dealing with this problem. So they bury their head in the sand until the mess becomes too much to ignore, but eventually the sense of powerlessness comes back and the cycle repeats.
It could very well get worse without help.
The last thing they need is strangers coming into their house out of the blue making them feel worse.
But yes, the situation HAS TO CHANGE. Start with a talk, help them realise that the dogs really need to go, as it's the easiest solution that they could accomplish.
Edit: hell, warning them that they could get into serious, life-altering legal trouble if they WERE reported by anyone (a cable guy, a mailman, a neighbor) might motivate them. It sounds like a really tragic situation.
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Yes, exactly like I said. "...or checked out".
I'm not from around here btw
My apologies.
Unless they are immuno-compromised I don't think you'll be able to make a compelling case that their dogs' waste is a threat to them. Not like it would matter anyway, they are attached enough to the animals to tolerate living in their filth.
They are very likely not going to change. Do not call the authorities on them unless you want to make their lives more difficult. If you want to make a gesture buy a couple of small crates for them and maybe an instructional book/video (as this will by far be the easiest or least demanding way for them to housebreak their pets), but don't expect them to use them unless they decide for themselves that this is the best path for them. I tried this, but she was incapable of being an assertive owner and so she couldn't make it work. It was a shame too; the dog was sweet and smart and took very well to training when I tried, but she intervened and said I was being "mean".
i don't know how people live like that.
It was probably a cat too DrF... cat piss is something out of nightmares once it hits the carpet. You literally cannot get the smell out without replacing it.