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If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

The doghouse

The "JUST IGNORE THE JEFFING DOG" thread.

23 replies

feesh · 22/12/2011 05:47

Raaaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!

Has anyone else got relatives staying for Xmas and want to get this tattooed on their head?

I am sick to the back teeth of saying it! Stop winding the bloody dog up! When you come downstairs please ignore her. If she is whining in the kitchen, do NOT go and let her out and make a big fuss of her. If she's in her crate (trying to escape you all) please don't stick your head in there and coo all over her. And please don't feed her from the bloody table.

Etc.

Aaaaargh. It would all be going swimmingly if it wasn't for the dog being wound up by our 6 guests (yes we are mad). I need somewhere to vent.....

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Report

SilentBoob · 22/12/2011 06:40

We have a very excitable 11 month old puppy and before some recent guests came to stay I am embarrassed to say I emailed them to ask if they wouldn't mind sticking to the rules with the dog . I know. But I worded it very nicely (something like "we're working hard to teach her y X, Y Z and consistency from you guys would be really helpful for her...") and I also mentioned that I would put her away when they arrived so she didn't get overexcited - I find she is calmer when she is allowed to join in later than when she is the greeting committee. And it did help.

I feel your pain. Nothing more annoying than spending weeks and weeks teaching a dog not to jump up, only to have visitors make a huge fuss of her for jumping all over them as soon as they walk in the door.

I can get quite stern with people actually - I realise this makes me a curmudgeon, but it is in the dog's best interest to have nice manners and be the sort of dog people want to be around.

Jacksmania · 22/12/2011 07:01

Please, could I have the same tattooed on for my cat?
She is stupid and stubborn beyond belief - she does not want to be petted, cooed at, made much of, admired, freaked out over - but also Will Not leave her place on the damn couch. If you leave her alone, she'll come be sociable. If you pester her, she'll start to spit, snarl and claw, but nooooo, unlike every other normal cat in the universe, she won't hightail it off the couch to somewhere safe. She'll stay and yowl.
Please, just leave her be!!!
Grrrrrrr!!!

Jacksmania · 22/12/2011 07:02

(Apologies for crashing the dog thread. The title was just so apt.)

Inthepotty · 22/12/2011 07:07

Ahhhhhh see my Mil/raw meaty bone thread, I feel your pain!!!

feesh · 22/12/2011 07:32

SilentBoob - I considered the email as well, but hubby wouldn't let me! So instead I am spending the whole holiday literally SHOUTING at my Dad in particular (which ended in a full blown argument yesterday of him threatening to move into a hotel and me offering to pay for it).

I am being stern with everyone, it's not making for a good atmosphere!

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scrappydoodah · 22/12/2011 07:54

Been there too! My ILs love dogs, and had one of their own, but never taught it any manners. They wind mine up, despite being asked not too. After one particularly fraught visit I had a puppy with an upset tummy and vomiting after too much excitement. Grrrrr

shoutymcshoutsmum · 22/12/2011 09:24

We pick up our puppy tomorrow morning (and no, it is not a xmas present). My plan is to keep him in one room and allow a person or two in at a time. Otherwise my Mum and my sister will be cuddling him like a baby for the whole of the holidays.

Inthepotty · 22/12/2011 09:53

I'm planning on good walk and clicker session, then putting the crate up in my room and threatening removal of limbs if anyone goes bloody well near it!

MrsZoidberg · 22/12/2011 12:02

I too feel your pain.

Hide the chocolates, nuts etc or by the time they're filled with "Christmas Spirit" the rellies will be saying "oh the poor thing, just one chocolate/mince pie/ turkey leg won't hurt him". (I kid you not!)

I think you and pooch are going to need lots of long 1-on-1 walks over the next week.

coccyx · 22/12/2011 15:16

I feel a long walk coming on

feesh · 22/12/2011 15:24

Now we have my brother-in-law's girlfriend, newly arrived and winding the dog up a treat, and as I hardly know her and she is very new to the family I am really having to bite my tongue. Eg she came to the beach with us today and spent the WHOLE journey back tapping my dog on the nose (WTF?), sticking fingers in her mouth and generally badgering her in the back of the car. The dog was giving out screamingly obvious (to me) calming signals the whole time.

I have left the dog in the car as I can't face bringing her in and seeing her wound up like a coiled spring again.....

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feesh · 27/12/2011 14:57

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH

That is all.

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scrappydoodah · 27/12/2011 17:05

Don't tell me..... nightmare guests who just won't listen, or go home.
Been there. Chin up, xmas is but once a year

feesh · 27/12/2011 18:37

I have another week of this.......

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Inthepotty · 27/12/2011 21:18

Bloody bloody knobby knob heads! Driving me mad!! Back for a full whinge when I've got rid of my house guests from hell.

Aaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Twats.

shoutymcshoutsmum · 29/12/2011 11:00

We just left the house to go for a walk round the block to give Murphy some time on his own. We specifically said to our cleaner to leave him in the crate. We come back 45 minutes later to find the crate empty and Murphy with the cleaner in the cellar (a no zone area for puppy and for kids). She said he had been crying. No sh** sherlock. I explained again why we had not wanted him to be let out. She repeated, he was crying. Grrrr.

theothersparticus · 29/12/2011 11:28

Can I use this space to rant a little?

I've only had Bella a short while but a friend who loves dogs but can't have one of her own is getting a little obsessed with her "She's been a little gem for us hasn't she" she has already brought her sister around to show her our dog and won't stop giving out plainly obvious advice "You have to ignore her if she's jumping up" and then holding her in her arms to stop her coming across to me!

She already refers to our cats as "Her babies"

shoutymcshoutsmum · 29/12/2011 11:31

theothersparticus, I would talk to her and nip it in the bud. That kind of thing is just irritating. the only thing to bear in mind is do you need her to dog-sit for holidays? If so, it might be worth your while saying nothing

theothersparticus · 29/12/2011 14:04

she has already volunteered for dog sitting so I don't want to completely piss her off as she lives about 30 secs away, but I'll have to say something or I might never get my dog back if we left her

SilentBoob · 29/12/2011 17:59

But on the flip side, it is very sweet to see how HAPPY the dog is now everyone has gone.

She is upside down on the sofa airing her spotty belly, trying very hard to sleep with her head underneath the cushion dh is lying on. She is so delighted to have reclaimed her rightful place instead of being put to bed early so she doesn't frighten the baby / sit on the monopoly board / eat the Quality Street / chew the Wii batons.

feesh · 30/12/2011 04:58

Oh feel free to use this thread as a ranting board, that's what I intended when I started it. It makes me feel better to know other people are finding it just as hard! I need to rant SO badly this morning.

So my Dad's now been with us for 2 weeks - this is the longest period of time I have spent under the same roof as him since I was 18. I'd basically forgotten that he's got this temper which can suddenly flare up without warning.....

The dog, to be fair, has been an absolute angel and all the family had commented on it. And boy she's had to put up with some crap over Xmas (see my posts above!).

Anyway, yesterday she was a bit naughty - she nicked my Mum's hat while we were out and my Dad who thinks he knows a lot but actually knows NOTHING about dogs was apparently chasing her around the room trying to get it back (duh!), so he was feeling a bit exasperated with her already.

My Mum is staying, by prior arrangement, at a neighbour's house (because they are away for Xmas and our house is too full) and when she came over here last night, Dog immediately nicked her shoe :) and then in the commotion organised retrieval that followed, seemed to forget Mum had come round and Mum's presence suddenly startled her into barking at Mum (out of fear, hackles raised - possibly because Mum was wearing a coat and looked a bit different to normal). We kind of laughed it off as Dog is a bit daft/neurotic sometimes and this was one of a few funny incidents we have all witnessed over the past few days. Mum knew how to handle it by ignoring her and Dog soon calmed down once she realised it was Mum and not an intruder!

Dad, on the other hand, suddenly got really arsey and cursing the dog and then had a go at me because her bark was too loud. I answered back by saying that I had been repeating all week to ignore the bloody dog when you come in the house and that her barking at Mum/visitors in general was a direct result of people ignoring this. And what the hell was I supposed to do to make her bark more quietly anyway?!

20 minutes later and we're all sitting around waiting to go out for dinner. Dog jumps up onto the 'wrong' sofa (she has only recently been allowed on sofas and we are trying to restrict her to using just one). I half heartedly said 'Dog, get off' although I wasn't actually too bothered about it - if I was I would have got up and ordered her off.

Dad suddenly took it upon himself to act (I have no idea why), marched across to where Dog was and flicked her under the eye, saying 'Oi you, get off". I stood up and told him in a raised voice in a calm and adult way, NEVER to hit her in the face again. I was pretty shocked by him doing this.

He suddenly went into one of his childish strops/rages which I had totally forgotten about witnessing during my childhood. He yelled back at me, told me to SOD OFF and then sat down on the sofa in a huff. We all then went out to dinner without him.

I haven't spoken to him since, I am dreading him coming down for breakfast and quite frankly I wish he would piss off to a hotel.

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feesh · 30/12/2011 05:01

PS Mum and Dad are separated and have the unhealthiest pseudo-friendship I have ever known, in case anyone is wondering why they are staying in separate houses. I don't think my Dad understands why my Mum left him 17 years ago, and seeing his little outburst last night has just reminded me what she used to have to put up with.

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Inthepotty · 30/12/2011 20:19

Right so I had my ILS encouraging pup to jump all over them, sticking hands in his gob, winding him up to the point he was panting and had to be put out to lay down on the tiles to cool down. So Xmas day I walked and did training, popped his crate up to my room.. Cue lots of "oh that's so cruel to lock him away"!!!!!

Let him downstairs where they all wound him up again, SIL chasing him round the garden (WTAF??!!!) until he was actually hiding under the slide away from the loony.

I have a specific no dogs on sofa rule, as DS may have mild allergies (we don't know for sure) and the buggers were dragging him up there!

I'm off away next Christmas.

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