Roommate's dog bit my cat + other behavior problems?
Last month my cat and I moved in with a new roommate who, once we moved in, got a new puppy. As a german shepherd-husky mix, she's a pretty big dog. She's pretty well behaved while my roommate is home but she has lots of behavior problems when it's just me and the dog. She has accidents in the house when not being watched closely and has ripped up several of my shoes and papers. Most concerning, we've been telling the puppy for weeks not to bother my cat (who mostly stays in my bedroom and keeps to herself), but whenever my roommate isn't home, she runs to my bedroom, finds my cat, and gets in her face. Today, she cornered my cat (who was scared and growling) and when I went to pick up my cat and remove her from the situation, the dog jumped up at me continuously, biting my cat (and my hand) 3 times. I'm not sure if it was playful or not considering she didn't draw blood, but she would have continued had i not quickly tossed my cat into the bathroom and shut the door. I then put the dog in her kennel. I texted my roommate and told her what happened and received a long defensive response. She doesn't seem to believe me because the puppy doesn't misbehave as much when she's around so she's never seen it. She accused me of being cruel to the dog by keeping her in her kennel all the time when she's not home. I cant leave her unsupervised and I don't want to trap my cats in my bedroom whenever the dog is out. What do I do???
Do you think it is wrong to discriminate when it comes to dogs, or is it acceptable to prefer some breeds over others (see comments for elaboration)?
I love dogs - but I don’t like every dog that I meet, and there are lots of things (including not only breed but behavior, owner’s behavior, etc) that make me judge a dog/owner.Discrimination as a word has been hijacked to mean “bad, racist, sexist” but it really just means telling things apart and being able to classify them. I can discriminate between two shades of green paint, for example. Preferring one over the other doesn’t make me a bad person.Same goes for dog breeds. There are breeds I adore, and breeds that I’m like “meh” and that’s fine. I don’t do anything harmful or different because of breed in most cases (I sure as heck do based on behavior), and if I do it is because I want to gush over meeting a rare breed or because I know that my little 40 lbs guy adores playing with Great Danes (seriously, they are his favorite).A dog is a dog - but breed certainly does matter. That shouldn’t mean you clutch your pearls when you see a Doberman but it does mean that you should look up the difference between a Border Collie, Border Terrier, and Bloodhound when deciding which dog might fit your needs as a pet or working animal!
Dogs (pets): Can a dog stay home alone for 12 hours?
Realistically, 6 hours and more is not reasonable for a young dog.I personally do not feel that an adult dog should be alone or even alone with another dog more than an 8 hour work day. Dogs are pack animals and definitely need interaction. I would say 8 hours is pushing it. Remember that you sleep for a further 8 hours, making it more than 65% of the time that your dog is alone.Then you start to include date nights, going out with your friends, shopping late after work, overtime... you start to see that your dog spends like 80%+ of its time completely alone or with another dog and not able to go out and do anything. The yard or house is interesting to a dog for about 2 minutes, then its not new. This is really miserable for the poor guys.My personal opinion is that unless you have multiple people in the house on different shifts/always home or work part time, unfortunately a dog is just not for you.Other animals do much better with solitude. Cats, obviously. I know some people have pre-conceived notions of cats but they can be great companion animals.
Who was a major totalitarianist in history?
Adolf Hitler: Nazi Germany Joseph Stalin: Soviet Russia Mao Zedong: Communist China Benito Mussolini: Fascist Italy Fransisco Franco: Fascist Spain Kim Jong Il: Communist North Korea Fidel Castro: Communist Cuba Ayatollah Khomeini: Islamic Iran Saddam Hussein: Fascist Iraq