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I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m thinking about giving away my dog. This may not be traditional FDS material, but I need advice and I sure AF am not going to Reddit.
I “rescued” two American Eskimos from a shelter 2 years ago. They were found together, but because they were a “county placement”, the shelter wasn’t able to give me any more info than that. They are beautiful, sweet dogs. The problem is that while one of them is an absolute dream, the other is, for lack of a better word… a scrote.
Queens, I’m in my forties. I’ve owned and trained many dogs during my lifetime- most of them rescues. But this one just seems untrainable. While he’s very loving toward me and my two children, he is horrible with other people and dogs. He barks at everyone he doesn’t know. When I have company over, it takes him a solid 10 minutes to calm down and stop barking at them, and even then if they make any sudden movements he goes crazy. I’ve actually been told “your dog’s an a$$hole” while out on walks, so I started taking him super early before the sun comes up so I don’t have to be embarrassed at how he reacts toward strangers.
He has MAJOR dominance issues. He’s constantly mounting the other rescue. Also, I can no longer be in any room with the door closed. Whether he’s inside or outside the room he will bark at the door because he always wants to be with me, but also always wants to know he has a way out. He is constantly getting into trash cans. When I’m on my period I have to put my waste basket on top of the toilet, otherwise, he’ll get into it and eat my tampons. I tried putting babyproof latches on the cabinet where we store our kitchen trashcan, but he was able to figure out how they work. So now our kitchen trash can is on top of the dryer so he won’t get into it.
And the worst part… I just cannot cope with this… he won’t stop marking! He’s got this thing for the left side of our sofa and one specific table leg. Sometimes he’ll go a day or two without peeing them and I’ll have such high hopes that he’s over it, only to find he does it again. I clean thoroughly with an enzymatic cleaner, which is supposed to smell bad to them and make them not want to pee there again, but it doesn’t work. I’ve read I should buy baby gates and place them around these sites. That is expensive, but I’m considering it. I’ve also tried making him an outdoor dog, but he just barked for hours on end and it upset the neighbors.
I hired a trainer for a little while, but no progress was made. He said that, basically, he has “alpha dog syndrome”. He thinks he’s in charge of this home, this family, and his brother. When I got him from the shelter, I told him this would be his forever home. But a part of me feels like I need to prioritize my peace of mind. I realize he’s been traumatized, and I would never want him to end up in the shelter again. I’m considering seeing if any of my friends or family would be interested in adopting him. Maybe he would do better in a house where there isn’t another male dog.
What do you Queens think? Do you have any advice for a scrotey dog?
Uhhhh sounds like you need to crate train him. Like from when you got him it sounds like he never graduated from his crate to the house. And SNIP HIM marking/humping is a habit he has now, snip him to make him less obsessive over the habit and add 'off' and 'go to your crate's as the first commands you teach him to break this habit.
Dominance issues are really just the insecurities of an unconfident dog. (Some dogs are just mean tho). Insecure dogs, like people, will try to control their environment to feel secure- it's got fuck all to do with dominance and everything to do with feeling unsafe.
I'd focus on applying structure to the dog -via crate training. Keep his crate an interactive place with special chews he only gets when he beds down in there, and it will still keep him from feeling isolated from the others the way he would if he were in a different room. He may howl like crazy at first. But feed him his meals in there, make it a good experience- and send him to his bedroom.
Focus on general training with him before you expect him to respond to you on walks. It builds up a positive relationship with you, and he'll want to listen to you because he's in the practice of listening to you.
Also, walk him by himself- you've gotta go back to square one with leash training for this. I'd use a combo of positive reinforcement and shock collars here (but only shock if he is pulling/compromising your control over him). Lots of times dogs are reactive because they've had bad experiences with others, so you don't want to jump to shocking him bc that will just prove his fear and make the problem worse. Always assume he will react and use treats to get him to focus on you as you walk wide from another dog. You've got to give him something to do to keep his attention off the other dogs, and over time he'll learn to ignore them
Side note I HATE that you called the dog a scrote. Animals cannot think far enough ahead to be malicious or selfish- it is cruel to humanize a dog in that way. You can have a bad dog, a badly behaved dog, a mean dog, etc all you want- but a dog is never gonna pull scrote shit on you because that's not how animals are.
i am super impressed with the FDS membership’s dog expertise.
Being in a shelter is not inherently traumatic. Many shelters have a foster system where dogs stay with volunteer families while waiting for their forever home. Also, you have to put yourself first. A shelter will make sure your dog gets neutered. (Which you obviously did not do.) And your dog will go to someone who knows how to train and care for him.
I just want you to know I totally understand- I fostered a total pickme who was training to be a service dog. She pulled down my sweatpants in front of a group of men working in another condo. She loved my male neighbor and was good for him but wouldn’t listen to me.
"I rescued two American Eskimos" 🤡 I stopped right there.
That's your issue, and one of the main issues I have with many other dog owners as a whole. You buy dogs that you have no business having, that you don't have the time, money, or energy to put into raising it correctly, then whine that your 100ibs dog is chewing up your 500sq apartment. Are you in the Alaskan tundra with a fear that your snowmobile's gas tank will freeze so you bought sled dogs as a back up? No. Then why did you get such as dog?
The whole scrote thing in the title literally makes 0 sense. How tf is a term meant to shame the sex class that has brought centuries-long political, sexual, emotional, spiritual, financial violence upon us apply to a literal animal that was poorly domesticated by the victims of the aforementioned system of violence? Make it make sense. 🤡
I know we're not allowed to use reddit but I have and overwhelming urge to visit r/dogfree because of you.
I would talk to the shelter. Our local one keeps most pets at foster families. They would send prescreened future adoptive parents to see the pet at foster home. That way you would be able to judge if they would get along and the dog won't have to stay in the shelter.
It's clear what you want to do. Get rid of the dog.
Pet owners frame themselves as "rescuing" and doing all they can for their pets, but ultimately, the pet is just a possession that you can throw away when it's convenient for you.