Roommates dog is terrorizing mine

[Draco]

Hi guys, it's been awhile! I guess I want to reach out to fellow yorkie owners for any tips for the best way to approach this situation with my roommates dog. He's somewhere between 6-8months and I'm afraid of his bad behavior rubbing off on Draco or just becoming incredibly hard to break. It's getting harder to overlook the dogs behavior. Draco is about 7-8lbs and this dog is about 12-15 and about the size of miniature schnauzer.

The dog looks at Draco like he's a toy, stalking him then pouncing on him and goes straight for his neck or legs. Sometimes Draco engages in playtime but often the dog goes for him when he's just doing his own thing and walking around. Draco will yelp sometimes too. Though I'm good with dog behavior and the dog isn't exactly aggressive or trying to dominate Draco. And Draco doesn't fear him, snarl/growl at him or show any dislike towards the dog. He's a rescue and I wouldn't label the dog aggressive at all, he's actually pretty skittish.
While I don't expect dogs to understand sharing the dog hoards all the toys and goes and takes any toy from him and hides it. He also has destroyed many of Draco toys, and eaten my underwear! He also has nervous/excitement peeing which isn't his fault but adds to my frustration.

I'm just trying to figure out how to approach my roommate. I clearly like to spoil my dog and am obsessed with him and everything he does. I have to admit that there was a puppy charm that was willing to let him get away with a few things, but it's gone now and my roommate doesn't hold her dog on as high a pedestal nor corrects his behavior enough.

[buddybear]

Get a new roommate????? Or correct the roommates dog regardless of his/her presence.

[chattiesmom]

WOW! What a dilemma. I'm not sure how to handle this situation. Poor, poor precious little Draco, and poor poor you.

If you and Draco could simply find new living quarters, that would be fantastic, but sometimes life just isn't that simple.

Please keep us updated- maybe someone who has been there, done that can offer some meaningful advice.

[Draco]

Yeah, my roommate is cool and nice on her own. But laughs off the behavior of her dog. It's funny to see a tiny puppy play with the tail of a giant dog with a lot of patience. But at some point those behaviors have to be corrected. And training and correcting this dogs behavior seems like a big job, seeing how I didn't go through this with Draco. Her dog destroyed a toy I got for Draco in under 24hrs, while she offers to pay for it. He's also destroyed toys that Draco has had since he was 4-5months.

So far every solution I have just leaves me conflicted. If anyone know any books I could recommend or techniques I could offer to her to look up.

[matese]

It sounds to me as if she will not train this dog, so that may fall onto you. If training this dog was on her agenda she would be doing it. I would definitely start correcting her dog with or without her there, do not wait for this big puppy to develop bad habits that will be harder to correct as he gets older.

[chattiesmom]

Originally Posted by matese

It sounds to me as if she will not train this dog, so that may fall onto you. If training this dog was on her agenda she would be doing it. I would definitely start correcting her dog with or without her there, do not wait for this big puppy to develop bad habits that will be harder to correct as he gets older.

Joan, you are brilliant!

What if you encourage and suggest that you do some "fun" activities together. Just leave out the word training- many people are intimidated by "training" but love to have fun with their dogs. You can come up with some exercises that will help correct the behavior that is causing problems for you and Draco. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box when correcting problems.