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Loops
Oct 20, 2011

So my parents are extremely weird about dogs, which I guess is the reason why they currently have a really huge dog (central asian shepherd) while living in a 3-bedroom flat on the 20th floor. They've kept numerous large dogs (while living in the same flat, but probably being younger and having more energy to take care of it) and never had problems like this, so they basically think they're experts.

Ivan is 4-5ish years old, he's a good boy really but he has severe behavioural problems, maybe from a chronic lack of exercise? He gets walked 3 times per day but he spends most of his time in the flat. My parents have an excuse for everything, for example they're not walking him for 4 hours a day because they have work, and they're busy, they have health problems, and also it's fine really (meanwhile the dog is biting his own paws out of boredom, sometimes doesn't stop barking for entire days etc). His health is also a never ending parade of misery, allergies, skin problems, joint problems, heart issues, ear infections, breathing problems, he's at the vet at least once every 2 weeks with some problem or other. My parents love him and don't hesistate to pour huge amounts of money into his care.

The biggest issue though is that he's extremely aggressive towards strangers, my parents had to stop having anyone over EVER because the dog won't leave them alone, when they need a plumber or something they have to lock Ivan in one of the bedrooms. The only people other than my parents that aren't on his kill on sight list are me and my partner, we're the only people who can still go into their flat. It's become a huge problem to take him on walks, because he lunges at people and my parents are barely able to keep him at bay. There's been some EXTREMELY close misses, one in particular today where the dog wasn't wearing his muzzle and jumped at a jogger who shielded himself with a water bottle, which got bit clean in two apparently. Parents smoothed it over somehow, though who's to say the jogger won't report it anyway, I have no idea. They used to go to training with him when he was a puppy, to my knowledge they didn't neglect it but when he was maybe 2 years old they stopped because "he's an adult dog now so he can't learn anything anymore". :crossarms:

The muzzle thing is also its own thing, because he's a huge goddamn dog according to my parents it's impossible to buy a muzzle that actually fits (he has this enormous neck ruffle thing going, so the straps aren't long enough, the "cage" itself doesn't fit over his face etc). They found a person who makes custom muzzles through a local breeder, but the ones she makes are just leather straps that are more for show and don't do poo poo to prevent him from being able to bite, plus he's figured out how to slip them off, and gradually he chews through the straps so one of those custom made muzzles lasts a month or two at best. This is all what my parents say, like I said they have an excuse for anything.

Also as an aside they live on the 20th floor, sometimes the elevators are out of order, Ivan is pathologically afraid of stairs. There's nothing about this dog that isn't a straight up greek tragedy

I'm very sorry this is so long and rambling, as I said my parents clearly love this dog and aren't willing to listen in the slightest if I suggest maaaaybe they aren't managing so well and shouldn't have him. But it seems clear to me this is headed towards him seriously hurting someone and ending up having to be put down even before the heart problems get him.

What on earth can I tell my parents to get them to do something about this? Is there anything that would help Ivan short of I dunno moving him to a farm where he can herd sheep or something, because seriously they are not letting him go. I might as well suggest they give away their firstborn child. (Which is actually much more likely, I have a moderate-to-severe dog allergy and they've always had a dog in the house with zero fucks given about my rapidly progressing asthma. :v:)

Loops fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Jun 10, 2019

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Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation
Honestly no, like there's fuckall you can do to make a CAS an apartment dog that doesn't want to murder people. Honestly at 5 he'd probably be worthless as an LGD too so I doubt there'd even be a farm that would want him.

I feel for you, lots of us have parents that do the dumbest poo poo imaginable with pets. If you can't talk them into giving him to someone who can at least handle his strength and keep him from being the liability that he is or to have him put down (which sucks, it's not his fault someone decided to get a massive, intense working dog and put it in an apartment, but,,) there really isn't anything else to suggest. CAS and other LGDs are bred to work and think independently of humans and no amount of obedience training is gonna undo that.

Honestly I'm impressed that they've had him in that situation for that long without an incident and that they manage day to die life with him. I'm sure it's more luck than anything but lmao drat.

Instant Jellyfish
Jul 3, 2007

Actually not a fish.



This whole thing is terrifying and will end up on the news and I'm not sure how to help you.

Maybe at least you can point them towards a muzzle that might actually work? If they're already paying for a new muzzle every month they could shell out for a more serious custom muzzle. Bumas are spendy but are supposed to be good and ship worldwide. This place does custom ones with metal bars that might be more safe for your favorite Cujo.

Good luck!

Ema Nymton
Apr 26, 2008

the place where I come from
is a small town
Buglord

quote:

There's been some EXTREMELY close misses, one in particular today where the dog wasn't wearing his muzzle and jumped at a jogger who shielded himself with a water bottle, which got bit clean in two apparently.

:eek:

I guess all you have to do it wait for it to kill someone, and then the problem will be solved.

Loops
Oct 20, 2011

Just got off the phone with my mom, she's unsurprisingly completely dismissive of my concerns. They did like the muzzle options and are getting a hopefully good metal + rubber one from here.


The bumas are indeed cool but too pricey, hopefully this'll work. Thank you for the suggestion!

I'm honestly stunned at how in denial mom is in light of the incident yesterday. Like, the smallest suggestion that Ivan would in fact hurt a fly is ludicrous. So business as usual. She even quipped when I was helping her place the order for the muzzle that oh, do they also need a figure of how many people he's mauled so far, ha ha ha ha :geno:. Surely those internet people don't know anything because they don't own a central asian shepherd themselves and if they do, they haven't met Ivan and seen what a sweet innocent angel he is

Here's a fun fact, my parents actually have done some research online about this breed before even buying Ivan. They don't speak english, they did their searching in polish, so there's a lot less info out there. No one's ever written in polish about keeping a CAS in a flat (I guess no one was insane enough to do it in the entire poland up until now). There were stories from people keeping one in their yard while living in a detached house, which apparently was even worse because the dog wanted to kill everyone with no exceptions, including its owner. So parents' reasoning was: CAS bad in a yard, because they grow wild and stop tolerating humans -> CAS great in a flat, because it'll be very close to humans at all times :gonk:
When I tell them english language results are full of "STOP THIS IS A BAD IDEA" they don't believe me or dismiss it as scaremongering and discrimination against large dog breeds.

Loops fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jun 10, 2019

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

I don't have an issue with having a big aggressive dog in a flat. Personally I think you're overreacting a little bit OP. It'll be alright, especially if they utilize a muzzle this time around.

Kitchner
Nov 9, 2012

IT CAN'T BE BARGAINED WITH.
IT CAN'T BE REASONED WITH.
IT DOESN'T FEEL PITY, OR REMORSE, OR FEAR.
AND IT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT STOP, EVER, UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT WARHAMMER
Clapping Larry

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

I don't have an issue with having a big aggressive dog in a flat. Personally I think you're overreacting a little bit OP. It'll be alright, especially if they utilize a muzzle this time around.

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

value-brand cereal
May 2, 2008

How do the neighbors feel about a large aggressive dog? Perhaps talk to them, see if it can be escalated to management on getting the dog removed from the premises to 'a nice farm upstate'.

Supercondescending
Jul 4, 2007

ok frankies now lets get in formation

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

I don't have an issue with having a big aggressive dog in a flat. Personally I think you're overreacting a little bit OP. It'll be alright, especially if they utilize a muzzle this time around.

you almost got me fluffy bunnies. gb2GBS

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

value-brand cereal posted:

How do the neighbors feel about a large aggressive dog? Perhaps talk to them, see if it can be escalated to management on getting the dog removed from the premises to 'a nice farm upstate'.

I'm glad you want to kill the dog for being a dog


Kitchner posted:

Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?

maybe a scratch. just a flesh wound.

Supercondescending posted:

you almost got me fluffy bunnies. gb2GBS

excuse me I'm being perfectly serious.

value-brand cereal
May 2, 2008

OP I'm genuinely serious in my suggestion. The attacking a jogger is the one incident you have been told of, afaik, and your neighbors have the right to be safe in their own homes. Otherwise, you are American? Call the cops on your parents dog, but when they are out of the apartment that will take care of yhe dog. But I should mention cops may remove payment from your parents apartment so do clear out any valuables beforehand. Zod speed.

Loops
Oct 20, 2011

value-brand cereal posted:

How do the neighbors feel about a large aggressive dog? Perhaps talk to them, see if it can be escalated to management on getting the dog removed from the premises to 'a nice farm upstate'.

Of course the neighbours hate him, he barks and snaps at them in the elevator, but I don't really want to go behind my parents' back and pull a top ten anime betrayal on them? They're my parents, killing their dog behind their back seems like a great way to make sure they never speak to me again. It's a bit of a moot point because I don't think the people who clean the building have any say over what people do in the flats they own, unless it's a disturbance where the cops can be called (like barking at night, which probably wouldn't warrant the dog being taken away).

value-brand cereal posted:

OP I'm genuinely serious in my suggestion. The attacking a jogger is the one incident you have been told of, afaik, and your neighbors have the right to be safe in their own homes. Otherwise, you are American? Call the cops on your parents dog, but when they are out of the apartment that will take care of yhe dog. But I should mention cops may remove payment from your parents apartment so do clear out any valuables beforehand. Zod speed.
(I have been told of other incidents and witnessed some myself, the jogger wasn't at all the one close call. It's more like one close call every 2-3 weeks or so.)

Not american. Cops giving a singular gently caress about any of this is not even remotely a possibility unless actively bleeding wounds are involved. I have a friend who once spent half the night locked in a trashcan enclosure thing outside of her building because there was an aggressive feral dog outside that wouldn't leave, and the cops basically gave her the runaround to call a dog shelter, call some city office or other, call some animal rights organisations, none of which was available or cared in the slightest. She spent something like 3 hours just calling different places who would tell her to call elsewhere, in the end someone else from her building taking out their garbage managed to scare the dog off. Afaik Poland doesn't have a government agency that concerns itself with hauling off people's unwanted dogs, and if there was would I really be able to give them a dog that literally belongs to someone else :confused:
Like, how does this work over there? You don't like someone's dog, so you just point it out to the cops and say nothing's happened so far but you're sure it's definitely going to bite someone real soon, and it gets taken just like that? :(

Anyway, the gist of it seems to be that they're getting a better muzzle and supposedly making sure he always has it on when outside. He probably doesn't have much time left with the heart problems (he was supposed to have a year left about 2 years ago actually, but then unexpectedly improved), so maybe it'll be fine

nankeen
Mar 20, 2019

by Cyrano4747
... :gonk:

nankeen
Mar 20, 2019

by Cyrano4747
oh poland you wasteland of crazy angels

nankeen
Mar 20, 2019

by Cyrano4747
fwiw ivan the terrible is also a crazy angel, not even the craziest (that's op's parents)

Chaosfeather
Nov 4, 2008

Honestly I'm shocked the neighbors haven't tried to poison the dog with antifreeze or something that smells delicious to the dog. I've seen people poison their neighbor's dog for much, much less.

OP I'm sorry to say there's nothing you can do to convince your parents, so stop trying. Helping them manage the situation is not helping the dog - the dog is clearly unhappy, unhealthy and uncomfortable. If the police won't do anything about it and your parents refuse to recognize that something is wrong, I think the only thing you could do is to stop visiting them in the apartment.

If they choose the dog over you, they were kinda lovely parents anyway, IMO. They are clearly lovely dog owners.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Chaosfeather posted:

Honestly I'm shocked the neighbors haven't tried to poison the dog with antifreeze or something that smells delicious to the dog. I've seen people poison their neighbor's dog for much, much less.

OP I'm sorry to say there's nothing you can do to convince your parents, so stop trying. Helping them manage the situation is not helping the dog - the dog is clearly unhappy, unhealthy and uncomfortable. If the police won't do anything about it and your parents refuse to recognize that something is wrong, I think the only thing you could do is to stop visiting them in the apartment.

If they choose the dog over you, they were kinda lovely parents anyway, IMO. They are clearly lovely dog owners.

so like did you just not stop them and let them poison the dog or did you mean that you've heard about it after the fact because :aaa:

Chaosfeather
Nov 4, 2008

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

so like did you just not stop them and let them poison the dog or did you mean that you've heard about it after the fact because :aaa:

I used to work at a veterinary clinic. We would treat for poison cases, and sometimes were called to ID what killed someone's animal. If it was a poison like Rat or antifreeze, we would ask them if the owners knew anyone who may have poisoned their animal. It was sad to see that it was more common than coyote related killings in some seasons. I recall one was because the woman broke up with a man, so he decided to poison her puppy.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Chaosfeather posted:

I used to work at a veterinary clinic. We would treat for poison cases, and sometimes were called to ID what killed someone's animal. If it was a poison like Rat or antifreeze, we would ask them if the owners knew anyone who may have poisoned their animal. It was sad to see that it was more common than coyote related killings in some seasons. I recall one was because the woman broke up with a man, so he decided to poison her puppy.

John Wick is the hero we deserve.

Tasty_Crayon
Jul 29, 2006
Same story, different version.

Have you tried giving it a tree to guard?

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Tamarillo
Aug 6, 2009

Tasty_Crayon posted:

Have you tried giving it a tree to guard?

And/or a small child

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