What Would You Do In This Roommate Situation?

[Kilmore]

I just have the feeling that if you stay with your roommate you will end up as plaintiff and defendant.

[sandra_nz]

What’s happening with getting the lease sorted? I’m a bit concerned that you’re suddenly going to be faced with a legal document that states ‘no pets’.

[TruCelt]

@Joey_P

Until she trains her or you move out I have a quick suggestion. You (secretly) pick up some liver treats (and keep them hidden from dog and roommate) and when no one is around over the next week or so you train the dog to respond to the word ‘treat’. It’s probably the easiest “trick” you can teach a dog. This way, if and when the dog does get out, yelling “treat” will have her running back to you. For any one of a number of reasons I wouldn’t let on that you taught her this trick or that you have the treats, but just get her responding to the word and once she does, maybe do it once or twice a week just to make sure she remembers it. It’ll probably come in handy someday when she slips past you and heads for an intersection.
Also, make sure you keep those treats somewhere that the dog can’t access them, like on the top shelf of a closet with a closed door.

Pure brilliance.

[Alice_The_Goon]

@sandra_nz

What’s happening with getting the lease sorted? I’m a bit concerned that you’re suddenly going to be faced with a legal document that states ‘no pets’.

I’ll be meeting with the landlord this weekend to get on the lease. She already had a dog and a cat when she moved in, so I’m guessing pets are okay. I’d really, to be honest, not even be on the lease, because I feel that gives me an out if things get bad, and in this city you can’t kick someone out without evicting them if they live somewhere, whether they are on the lease or not. But you guys and your lectures have persuaded me to go ahead and get on it!

[MysteryFellow63427]

@Alice_The_Goon

I absolutely agree with you that she has no business having a dog. This isn’t even her only dog- she also has a little asshole shih-tzu that growls all the time, even when you’re in the middle of petting him. She can’t housetrain the little fucker, of course, so the thing wears a diaper.:rolleyes:

However, the problem with taking the dog in the OP somewhere and telling her that it got out and is gone, is that since I don’t know the roomie that well yet, she is unpredictable to me. I don’t know what she would do if she viewed the dog being gone as my fault- freak out, kick us out, who knows? In my dealings with crazy or possibly crazy people, I tend to want to stay on their good side. I do have to sleep sometime.

I hope that nice house in the nice neighborhood is REALLY worth it to you. You couldn’t pay me to live with someone like this, and I hope when this person bites you in the behind (not if; there is never an “if” when dealing with someone like this), it doesn’t break the skin.

You sound committed but before you sign a lease I encourage some serious introspection. Also, I have no idea why you’d even want to be on the lease in this case–I see a major downside (locked into living with crazy person for fixed time period of considerable length) and little to no upside.

[Alice_The_Goon]

@neuroman

Also, I have no idea why you’d even want to be on the lease in this case–I see a major downside (locked into living with crazy person for fixed time period of considerable length) and little to no upside.

That’s what I thought, but then all these posters said OMGWTF you have to get on the lease!!1

I am pretty committed to living here. If it were just me, I’d be gone yesterday, but I can’t keep uprooting my son, not to mention my own pets, moving around and paying rents and deposits. I have to at least try my best to make this work.

[Wheelz]

@neuroman

You sound committed but before you sign a lease I encourage some serious introspection. Also, I have no idea why you’d even want to be on the lease in this case–I see a major downside (locked into living with crazy person for fixed time period of considerable length) and little to no upside.

I’d say the downside of the status quo is that crazy-roommate, who is on the lease, might at any random time say, “Since I’m the one who’s actually renting the house, the kitchen and backyard are mine; you can’t use them,” or “Times are tough – I’m doubling your rent,” or even “I’ve decided to let my unemployed drug-addicted cousin live here with me instead, so you have to be out by next Wednesday,” and Alice would have no legal recourse against her. Won’t happen? Probably not, but you never know. Best to be covered.

For what it’s worth, my choices for Alice’s best course of action:

1. Move out now.
2. Stay, but get on the lease.
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   .
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3. Stay without any written lease agreement.

[NinetyWt]

@Joey_P

or to shoot bees at her when she barks.

Or to steal the room mate’s ham.

[ShelliBean]

One thing to think about and maybe talk to your son occasionally: what do you plan on happening in the long run? I just picture a horrible scene one day when you move out and you have put all this energy and love into what is essentially your dog, and roomie says “tell doggie goodbye.” Not suggesting anything either way, just want you to be prepared and possibly discuss with roomie when you get to know her better.

Also, I had all these ideas about why this living arrangement was not good, etc… But then I remembered I would rather set my stuff on fire and walk away than move. So screw that.