Dog advice

[ALawPoker]

This is Jaeger:






He's a 1.5 year old Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix. My house mate and I adopted him last year, with the intention that he was my house mate's dog (meaning, he would keep him when we parted ways). But, long story short, my house mate is an idiot. He never took great care of the dog and I picked up the slack, so naturally the dog thought of me as his owner. Now my house mate is moving to Germany, and he can't take him (again, he's an idiot), so I am keeping the dog.

I'm not at a point in my life where I feel having a dog is a great idea. But Jaeger is pretty attached to me, so I'm pretty sure agreeing to keep him was definitely the right thing to do.

But anyways, I really like my dog. I want him to be as happy and healthy as possible. But I worry that my lifestyle (playing poker for a living) is a burden in some ways.

First issue: My hours are strange and erratic. Generally I sleep something like 4 a.m. to noon. This isn't ideal for the dog in the first place, but the bigger problem is that it's inconsistent. Sometimes my hours will sort of rotate. How bad is this for a dog's mentality?

Second issue: When I'm playing, I'm basically in my bed room with the door closed. He is a very dependent dog, so he needs to be in there with me. I of course take enough time out of my day to get him his exercise and play and all that; that isn't the issue. But I just feel like sitting in a closed room for 8+ hours a day isn't great for him. I really need the door closed though, because I live with other people, and my personality is such that I don't like distraction when I'm trying to focus.

And then the third one: This occurs the least often, but it's the one I'm most sure is a problem when it does occur, and the issue I'm most hoping for feedback on. When I'm having a rough session and am noticeably distressed, or outright angry, it really bothers him. He'll move to the other end of the room and sit and sort of stare at me intently. Sometimes he'll even shake a little.

I'm not talking about full fledged wall pounding temper tantrums. Just common "aw [censored] c'mon" reactions in a days work.

What's interesting is, he (like probably any dog) will often automatically assume the sit position when he sees you with some sort of treat that he wants. Like I said, we adopted him from the pound. He's very friendly towards even strangers, so he isn't afraid of people. But this sequence of events (seeing me get annoyed and then deciding that he should move away from me and sit) leads me to wonder if his original owner would sometimes get angry and abuse him.

(Person getting angry. [censored]. Let me give person what person wants. Sit.)

So I dunno. Even if my abuse theory is wrong, I feel like him seeing me angry or stressed is not good for him. He needs to see me as a strong leader; not unstable. To him, I am annoyed for no rational reason.

Any advice as to how to react here? I don't want to be too comforting, because I don't want to reward the reaction. But at the same time, I feel guilty just ignoring him. I usually look at him and say something like "it's ok" in a soft voice, and tell him to come and then pet him.


I dunno. I'm sure this reads like a ramble. I'm probably over thinking a lot of things. But I just feel like my lifestyle is so quirky that there's a really good chance it is bad for dogs. Of course, the plus side is that my schedule is flexible. So I can take a lot of time to play with him at the park whenever the weather is nice, and stuff like that. But I really want to be as good of an owner as I can be, so I guess I'm looking for any and all advice that you guys might have. I'm also down for just talking about dogs in general, if that's the direction the thread heads in.

[Taso]

2nd one : do you have a yard?

The third one, most important to you, really revolves around you. Maybe this will be a good way for you to get your emotions in check and be able to keep cool when insane crap happens at the poker table. Use the dog as a sort of inspiration, you gotta do it for the dog!

beautiful dog by the way [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ALawPoker]

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2nd one : do you have a yard?

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Ya. I live in a relatively urban area but I do have a small back yard. The problem is, he hates being alone. Do you think leaving him out there (and forcing him to get used to it) might be for his best long-term interest?

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Maybe this will be a good way for you to get your emotions in check and be able to keep cool when insane crap happens at the poker table. Use the dog as a sort of inspiration, you gotta do it for the dog!

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Ya, I agree. And it does. He's sort of a nice calming mechanism too. Sometimes he will even come over to me and put his paw on my lap when he sees I'm upset, and it's pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

I do use him as a motivation to keep my cool as best I can. But I still feel like some emotional venting is healthy, or if nothing else, inevitable.

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beautiful dog by the way [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Thanks [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[superadvisor]

Dude you must be really high cause any normal person wouldn't give half a crap about everything you just said.

Only half joking there. I've owned dogs and regardless of all that if you're a strong leader the dog respects you then there is nothing else really to worry about as long as it's fed and has a place to go to the bathroom. They aren't super fragile and can deal with a little inconsistency in their life.

[frostbrn]

OP, some advice from my fiancee who works for a veterinary clinic and was formerly an animal control officer:

1. Dogs are very adaptable. Consider that most dog owners work 9 to 5 jobs and leave the dog home for most of the day. The fact that you are able to be hoome all day with the dog is a HUGE luxury for him. Don't beat yourself up, you are giving this dog a much more privileged life than most other dogs in his situation.

2. She says that Rottweilers are more "emotional" than other breeds. She thinks that this may be a part of why he seems to be more emotional when you experience swings in emotion yourself. She says just because a dog was in a pound/shelter does not necessarily make them more likely to have been abused. She says the shaking is a natural thing especially for dogs with Rott in them. On a side note, she says that if he ever gets Kennel Cough, or some related type of issue when in a Kennel, to pull him out right away as Rottweilers are more suspect to serious and/or life threatening illnesses due to the emotional aspect of them when they acquire any type of problems.

Hope this helps, feel free to PM with more questions, and I'll ask her.

[meep_42]

How could you even think of giving up a dog?
Also, it seems like he'd help you emotional game.

-d

[Howard Beale]

You need to get him one of THESE. End of problem:

[ALawPoker]

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How could you even think of giving up a dog?

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Well it wasn't much of a decision. I never would have sent him to the pound. The only other option would have been making my former house mate keep him. But he is an idiot (and the worst kind of idiot -- one who thinks he isn't one), so I'm pretty sure the dog would have had a bad life with him. So it was basically an easy decision to keep him.

[ALawPoker]

Thanks for the reply, frost. Sent you a PM.

[Victor]

lol at this post. pro online poker players is great for the dog. you can take him out whenever he needs and he gets a ton of campany and attention.

realize how much better this dog has it than a dog whose owner works a 9-5 and is alone all day.