my friend is asking for trouble, but he doesn't know it!

[Rock'n Robin]

My good friend from HS came by today to borrow my dog crate (my dog is 3 1/2 and doesn't use it). He just got married two months ago for the first time . He is almost 40 and I think she is a little younger--I don't know, I was not invited to the wedding (another story and no, I didn't ask him why) and she didn't come with him today).
For Christmas he told her she could get a dog when they got back from their honeymoon. He has NEVER had a dog. So today they are picking up a yellow lab puppy. She has had dogs but never a puppy. So they think they know how to train one but are generally clueless. He told me he was cutting back some rose bushes so the dog would have a "poop area". I told him the whole yard would be the poop area, and he said "no, we are going to train him to just go in the one area." I just said "OK!" You can't tell people who have never had a dog what they are in for.
Plus, the wife is pregnant. She is due March 9--they didn't waste time since they are older.
So this poor guy is getting his first wife, dog, and child in the space of one year!
Maybe he needs pixie dust.
Robin M.

 

[Kermit]

Oh my! They're in for a big surprise. I hope they're the type of people that will adjust and not decide to get rid of the dog. Training a puppy is a ton of work, but it's so rewarding.

 

[disfanatiks]

 

[BWVDenise]

Yeah, we thought the same thing when we got our dog. One spot, my foot!!

 

[Serena]

I've read those books that tell you that you can train your dog to do it's business in a certain area. Well, my dog trained me to think the whole back yard is about the right size area. lol

Wow, was he lonely or what? A bride, dog and baby within a year! His life is going to be very interesting from now on.

 

[doxdogy]

Seeing where you live, I assume that you have snow. The dog may even refuse to go out in the snow. My brother's dog did. He would sometimes put a towel on the grass and if there wasn't a lot of snow, let the dog go on that spot after he removed the towel. He has a couple of years of chewing, chewing and more chewing. When my Simon was a pup destroyed two pairs of shoes in one week, Scooter destroyed the remote to the VCR and TV in one week. I could go on and on with more chewing puppy stories.

 

[DocRafiki]

It sounds like they're not taking this commitment very seriously. Please stress to them what type of commitment they're making. I hope this pup doesn't end up at the pound by the time it's 6 months. If they knew now that they couldn't handle it, it is still young enough to find an excellent home (maybe even return it to the breeder so one of the "breeder-only" buyers could take it... leaving more adoptive homes open for the mutts).

I'm not saying they can't handle it, but it doesn't sound like you have much hope for them. This is just too common and makes me so sad.... no, mad.

 

[disykat]

We faithfully took our dog potty in the same spot every time while training her and.. you guessed it... as soon as she got the run of the yard she went anywhere it happened to occur to her. At least she doesn't go inside so we're happy to scoop!

 

[nativetxn]

That's a lot of changes in one year Hope everything works out the way he hopes.