Future dog fight

[KurtNYC]

My spouse and I took my new puppies over to his best friend's house last night for a visit. While there his friend's roommate took it upon himself to physical punish my puppies. When one was sniffing at items which were eye level on a table, he grabbed it by the lips and pulled it away from the table. Then when the other started to chew something he pulled it backward across the smooth floor by the tail.

I was livid. I try to keep my anger in check since in my younger days I had a tendency to react very poorly to obnoxious people. My first thought was to haul his 6'4" ass down to the floor by HIS lips and kick him as hard as I could in the tailbone. But... We simply picked up the pups and said we had to leave. I am going to see this guy socially in the future bc he is the roommate of my spouse's best friend. And he may be in the presence of my dogs again soon. I plan to have a talk with him to let him know what I am and am not okay with. Many, perhaps most people who have had dogs believe strongly that they (and they alone sometimes) know what is best for dogs. ALL DOGS; their dog and YOUR dog. Fine. But this is my dog and I believe that there is no place for physical punishment of a dog bc 1) it does no good since they aren't being taught anything helpful and 2) may injure the dog permanently (tail pulling/lifting).

Correction is different. It is the responsibility of the human to try their best to make the dog understand what they are not permitted to do and what they are. Simply conveying to the dog that you are angry and will hurt them does nothing but make them neurotic and scared. Chewing something? get between the dog and the item being chewed, physically stop them from chewing, hold their muzzle closed, say "No" in a low and distinct voice. Then release the muzzle. If they go for the wrong chewing item again, repeat the process. Offer an alternative item to chew which IS acceptable. But don't put your MF'ing hands on my puppies in a way that I would never assume was okay or appropriate for me to do to your dog!

[hedgehog]

1. All he had to do as ask YOU to remove the puppies from where he

didn't want them. Different people have different housekeeping standards - some people insist that all shoes be left at the door, others use the coffee table for a foot rest. (the first time we visited our daughter's in-laws-to-be, I made a last minute save before my husband automatically propped his work boots on their table!)You're right about the roomomate treating the pups that way - that's just plain mean. Can you imagine treating a human baby that way?

[joeybee12]

2. I would haev said something, something like, let me know when the

puppies are out of line and I WILL handle it.

[KurtNYC]

4. and that would work with most people but there are people

who will:

- feed your dog whatever, whenever, even though you tell them not to (usually while saying "it's okay, it's just a little, he loves it" etc)
- just generally not respect the boundaries you ask for, and
- then tell you YOU are wrong for demanding those boundaries

and he is one of them. He has had dogs for decades and he picks them up by the lips to his chest where he then talks to them about what they did wrong and pinches their tail nub until they yelp "to train them." ?!

[joeybee12]

6. He sounds like a....

D**K!

Lots of people with animals are like that...I deal a lot with feral colonies and rescues, and seems like EVERYONE in these groups knows the absolute best way to do things, and no one else does. It'll make you crazy.

[KurtNYC]

8. the ones who dish out abuse and claim it "is the only way to make

them understand" really get under my skin.

I shudder to think how many dogs are beaten by people who errantly assume that their dog understands their words and threats and "is just being willful."

[joeybee12]

10. Me too...fortunately the cat people who know everything

don't abuse, just can be stupid about things.

[lukasahero]

9. I would never allow that person near my dog again

Seriously - if what you're saying here about his "training" methods, then you will not win with him and your primary responsibility is to protect your pups.

If you have to get together with him because his roommate is friend's with your wife, leave the dogs home.

[hamsterjill]

3. You were right to say you had to leave and

You will be right to have a talk with this person before you return. I think you handled it well by leaving this time so as to give yourself time to figure out how to diplomatically approach this issue in the future.

Sounds like your puppies have a good parent!

[KurtNYC]

7. thank you. I learned from Bonnie Bergin, who's work I have enormous

respect for, and my mother who managed to housebreak about 8 dogs over her lifetime without any harsh methods.

I met the pups' mother before meeting the pups. Thought we wanted just one, the female, but the male just charmed us so we got 2 littermates. The mother dog walked with us to the car and I couldn't help but look into her eyes. I promised her (and myself) that I would be the best parent I could for these 2. We are going back for a first visit with mom this weekend!

[The Midway Rebel]

5. Thanks for fighting the good fight!

So many ignorant people and so little time.

[guitar man]

11. This guy is a dipshit

YOU are those pups pack leader and it is up to you alone to train them.If he didn't like what the pups were doing he should have asked you to take care of it. You're a lot cooler customer than I am, I would have probably knocked his ass out. :grr:

But then again, if it was my new pup Olive, I probably wouldn't have had to, she probably would have eaten his ass up! :evilgrin:

[KurtNYC]

12. she's beautiful

Btw, we used to bring our dogs out to the hill (before we moved to Hudson). They really liked the vibe (although they did develop a fear of Tom Cruise and Wolf Blitzer).

[guitar man]

13. lol

that's my sig pic in memorial to Birdie the dog I lost recently. This one is Olive, she's just 14 months old so she's still a pup....it can be hard to tell the two apart though :D

If you want I'll bring her up and we can see if that asshole wants to pull her around by the lips or tail :evilgrin: