Need advice - roommate's dog stinks - selling my house

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ll try to get to the point as soon as I can. I’m leaving town and my house is in escrow. I’m using some of the proceeds of the sale to pay off the rest of my law school loans, which will allow me to take some life-changing steps that I’ve been working toward for the last five years. My roommate will move one month after escrow closes – she will be renting from the new owner for one month, then moving. When she moved in, she knew I was putting the house on the market on X date. The above is relevant in that the house sale is the last piece in this very important five-year jigsaw puzzle for me. I need to keep it in the same good condition it was when I got the purchase offer.

A few months ago, roommate begged me to let her get a dog. She was talking about wanting a very small, very cute-type dog (not too smelly, I would think). I actually love dogs, but I said no because I didn’t want a dog to ruin/cause odors in the house just when I’d be putting it on the market. She has a small child, which was her other reason for wanting a dog – for him. Anyway, then her co-worker was selling German Shepherd puppies and offered to give her one. She sort of sprung it on me and it was “such a good deal” and “purebred” and “[her child] would really would love a dog and I want to do this for him” and blah blah blah and I caved. :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:

But I did say that the dog had to be an outside dog. Well, because the back yard is not finished and it was cold (not really cold, just CA cold), she said he’d have to be in the garage. OK. Well apparently she could never afford a kennel in order to kennel train him ($70 for a good one), so she never trained him. He poops and pees all over the garage, all day. I took some of my stuff in from the garage-- the other stuff is stacked against a wall and I hope he doesn’t get to it. It stinks to high heaven in there. I can’t use my garage at all – I can’t go in there, the smell is too bad. I can’t sort through my stuff — if the smell weren’t bad enough, there is feces all over the ground, which the dog steps in and then jumps on you. (I never did park in there - don’t need to.)

When it gets bad you can smell it in the house. When I showed the house, we took the dog to a friend’s house for the day, and cleaned out the garage, but the garage still smelled. Thankfully, the people made an offer anyway. (They will be renting it out…maybe that’s why). I’m leaving in about two weeks. She’ll be renting from me for 3 more months, then from the new owner for one month.

My complaints: #1) I can’t stand the dirty dog/feces/urine/bleach from when she cleans smell anymore. (But it is only 2 weeks more.) #2 During the next two weeks, I need to be able to get in the garage to sort my stuff. #3 I want to be able to go in there if I want to – it’s my garage.

Part I need advice about, if you are still reading: Should I tell her she has to get rid of the dog? (Worried about the house when I’m gone…I don’t think she’d keep him inside, but not sure.) What if the smell from the garage gets in the house and stays there? Is that likely? As for now, should I tell her the dog has to be outside? 10 day forecast shows lows in the high 40’s and highs in the 60’s. The backyard is all mud, but there is a patio. (I’m having a backyard put in, but I’m seeding, and it’s been raining, so the yard won’t be done until I’m gone).

I’m not looking for unrealistic advice like “Kick her out” - I can’t/won’t do that. The situation is made more complex in that we are friends and I don’t want to lose her as a friend - or have her perceive that I don’t care about our friendship. Ugh. I’m also venting, thanks. She is sensitive and it’s actually hard to talk to her about any house issues without her getting offended – this makes it harder. However, I don’t wish to ditch her as a friend for life just because she was a sub-optimal roommate.

2

New and Improved OP, much shorter, hoping for replies:

I own a home. My roommate has a stinky dog in the garage, untrained, it poops and pees in there all day, she cleans it out once every 5 days or so (not nearly often enough). #1) I can’t stand the dog smell anymore, but I’m moving in two weeks. #2 During the next two weeks, I need to be able to get in the garage to sort my stuff. #3 I want to be able to go in there if I want to – it’s my garage.

Should I tell her she has to get rid of the dog? (Worried about the house when I’m gone…I don’t think she’d keep him inside, but not sure.) What if the smell from the garage gets in the house and stays there? Is that likely? As for now, should I tell her the dog has to be outside? 10 day forecast shows lows in the high 40’s and highs in the 60’s. The backyard is all mud, but there is a patio. (I’m having a backyard put in, but I’m seeding, and it’s been raining, so the yard won’t be done until I’m gone). I’m not looking for unrealistic advice like “Kick her out” - I can’t/won’t do that. Ugh. I’m also venting, thanks.

3

Inform her that the dog either needs to be trained to not crap all over the floor, or needs to live outside. She can get it a dog house that will insulate it from the cold enough that it will be fine outside. Really, she’s not taking care of the dog if she lets it live in it’s own waste any way. It’s an ultimatum, but not an unreasonable one.

4

You have every right to be mad at your roommate and not want dog waste all over your garage. She should have housetrained the dog if she wanted it to live in the garage. However, I think it would be wrong to ask her to get rid of it, since you gave permission for her to get it. That’s not to say you can’t ask that she fulfill the conditions you placed when she got the dog, i.e. have it live outside for the last months she’s there.

Now, note that you won’t be able to grow a new lawn if the dog is running around in the yard, and the dog will likely be unhappy out there, since dogs are pack animals and he will see this as being kicked out of his pack’s den. That may manifest itself in digging, barking, escaping, etc. So it’s also not an ideal situation, but at least your garage won’t smell like shit.

Is there any chance your roommate could walk the dog twice a day so it could at least do most of its shitting outside? Our dog is housetrained and we have a yard, but he always waits for his walks to poop – it must be more fun to leave your poop in strange places (even though we ruin it by picking it up right after).

5

I’m thinking someone who 1. won’t clean up often enough and forces her poor puppy to live in its own excrement and 2. hasn’t house (or garage-trained) the puppy and 3. doesn’t spend enough time with the poor creature to allow it to do its business outside, is an irresponsible dog owner and an inconsiderate housemate.

I’d encourage her to find the poor dog a better home where it is trained and gets attention. A fully grown, untrained dog, especially a big and smart one like a Shepherd is going to be a misery and potential liability to everyone, including the unfortunate dog.

If responsibly rehoming the dog isn’t an option, and this person is a friend, perhaps you could ask her to make a special effort to clean up after the dog every time it urinates/shits. This would not only be considerate on her part, it would be a kindness to the dog.

If she won’t agree to that perhaps you might have to spring for a dog walker/sitter to take the dog out at regular intervals, or possibly kennel it for the time before she leaves.

There simply aren’t enough roll-eyes in the world for people who take on animals and won’t fulfill their committment to care for them properly.

6

As the homeowner, I think you have every right to inform her that the dog isn’t working out, and that it has to go. Something like, “Roommate, I know you were really excited about getting a puppy, and I said it was okay. But keeping it in the garage isn’t working out. There’s poop everywhere. I know you’ve been trying to clean up after it, but the whole house is starting to smell, and I can’t have that. You need to find another home for the dog.” Repeat as needed. Be firm.

Then you have to make a plan as to what you’ll do in two weeks when the dog is still there, because she sounds like the type that’ll have a billion excuses. Perhaps her co-worker will take it back; a concientious breeder will do that. If it really is “purebred”, then a breed rescue organization might take it. Or maybe she has family or a friend that will take the dog until she can care for it properly. It’s really not a good situation for a dog, shut up in a garage all the time with little human contact and kept in filthy circumstances, poor thing.

7

Yeah this woman pisses me off, she shouldn’t own that dog. German Shepherds are great dogs and because of their good reputation lots of stupid people buy them because of how good they are with a family then do not take care of them or don’t realize that just because a dog lives with a family well doesn’t mean it doesn’t have lots of maintenance requirements like any other dog.

Firstly most dogs should live in the house. And dogs shouldn’t stink up the house. It’s never too late to house train a dog, that’s easy to do. Dogs should be groomed and bathed regularly. They also need to go for a walk. Both to exercise and because it’s probably the best way to let them use the bathroom.

8

Yup, the dog’s gotta go. Your roommate has proven that she won’t look after the pooch properly. Like others have said, a dog needs to be part of the house, and needs to be well-cared for. Dogs are not supposed to live in garages.

9

Absolutely.

Oh yes. This is so true.
Even having dog shit on the premises hasn’t made your roommate do anything sensible.

Excellent advice.

Also:

I live in a town in the middle of the English countryside. My house is valued at £150,000 - £160,000. ($284,000 - $303,000)
The next door neighbours recently sold their house (identical design to mine). They had a huge pile of rubbish in the garden and clearly hadn’t done any maintainence (peeling paint etc).
They got £108,000 ($204,000) for the house.
Of course dog shit would have made the problem far worse.

10

Thanks so much for all the advice. I like the tack of pointing out how sad this is for the dog (who’s obviously suffering worse than I am). I know dogs, especially German Shepherds, are happier as house dogs. That wasn’t practical (at all) right now – they shed a lot, etc, etc. and the last thing I needed right when I was about to sell the house was an indoor puppy. I am vacillating between telling her that she needs to get a kennel to kennel train him or else he has to go, or telling her that the dog has to go, period. Augh…

11

If all else fails, since you’re so concerned about not ruining your friendship, consider just paying for the kennel training if your friend can’t do it. I assume that the biggest risk for you right now (besides offending your friend) is to lose the sale of the house before escrow closes which would impact your important 5-year plan.

12

No matter what you ultimately decide, mandatory daily cleaning of the garage is a must. There is no excuse for allowing the waste to build up.

13

Well, you’re selling the house, so I wouldn’t worry about the smell. A good airing out of the garage and a bleach scrub should take care of that. And your roomie needs to be doing that NOW.

But the poor dog should not be kept in the garage. If she cannot keep it tied up in the backyard (with plenty of water, natch) then it needs to go. Ask her if she would like to spend all her time in the garage with only the floor as a toilet.

14

Thought I’d give you all an update on the dog thing. On Saturday my roommate was out the whole day and I had family visiting. I couldn’t stand the smell anymore and they couldn’t believe I was putting up with it. My brother and I put on hazmat suits (OK, just old clothes) and cleaned the garage. Only a few days’ worth this time. We tied rags over our faces to mask the smell. I went to the store and bought an insulated doghouse and put him outside with it, and put his doggy smell sleeping bag that he likes in there.

When roommate came home, I had a speech all prepared about how the dog had to go. However, I wimped out and just told her how I couldn’t stand the smell and that I had bought a doghouse, put him outside, and cleaned the garage. She was grateful, not irritated. (I wasn’t sure how she’d react…) But she knew he had to go. Then, yesterday, the amazing happened: she asked the guy doing our backyard if he wanted her and he said yes!! Apparently he’s been wanting a German Shepherd puppy and he had a GS before. The dog left with him last night and seemed fine. Gardener guy will be able to spend more time with him and has a lot more room and can care for him. Friendship intact (she’s actually a good friend, just a crappy roommate in some ways), dog happy, my house/garage not smelling so bad, and getting better. Yay.

15

I’m glad to hear that the dog is going to a different place. How can someone think that a dog will be great to have (for a kid or anyone else), if they don’t train the dog and make bearable to be around?

As for the smell on the garage floor, one thing you might try is a product called Odo-ban. It’s a strong disinfectant and deodorant and dries with a eucalyptus scent. Smells overwhelming when wet but dry is pleasant.

it’s not always easy to find, I don’t know if anyone besides Sam’s Club carries it.

16

I have to admit something tesseract, when I read the OP I wasn’t thinking “that poor homeowner” I was thinking “that poor doggy”. I was cringing while reading your update, expecting bad news. What a great outcome for everyone involved!

You sound like a wonderful, understanding friend. Good luck to you in the new chapter of your life. :slight_smile:

17

Thanks for the tip, Cranky. And thanks for info/input from all others who replied. I’ll look for Odo-ban – I’m all for ANY overwhelming smell that’s not eau de dog feces et urine.