More exercise, seems to go a really long way to correcting most dog behaviour, in my experience.
What kind of dog is it? How much exercise is the dog currently getting? Maybe try doubling it and see, after a week, if there is a difference! That would be the very first thing I would try, were I you.
What does the vet say?
No psychic abilities needed, ten minutes perusing the other thread has supplied me these pearls of wisdom:
Grinding away killing the same enemy time and again for online fake gold is fresh and exciting but interacting with a living, breathing companion is boring. Different strokes, I suppose.
You seem awfully proud of this fact. Do you revel in your own ineptitude?
Far be it from you to step away after six consecutive hours of gaming to feed or walk the family pet. It’s much more important to spend 1/3 of your waking hours accruing meaningless online tokens.
Moving out and living in the real world is just a hollywood fantasy! Amazing attitude.
Is this only after you have put in 8 hours in a row, then?
But being an asshole is what I’m best at! 
Fine, use your parents and your cultural customs as a crutch and continue to honor the time-old Chinese tradition of gold-farming in online games. Confucius had a line about WoW, if only I could remember it…
Can’t you at least let the dog inside with you while you play your video games? Jesus. Mine at least sleeps on the sofa.
She’s a Westie. She gets a lot more exercise in warm weather, when my dad takes her up to the park, for walks, but it’s been too cold lately to take her out – she’s got arthritis. I do notice the difference when she goes for a walk, she’s not as, I don’t know, “aggressive”? The problem is, she doesn’t like to play with toys, because she eats them practically.
It also doesn’t help that one of the cats, Annie, loves to tease the hell out of her. Yes, we stop it. I think that’s when she started becoming more snappy, when we got her.
Hire yourself an after school teenager to walk the dog for 1 hour every day, 5 days a week. Teenagers like part time jobs that don’t require humiliation, it shouldn’t be that hard. And it’s definitely cheaper than training, meds or paying off, for a dog bite.
Take your dog out for two hours of exercise first, and you’ll have no problem getting him groomed very likely!
(And she’s not being ‘aggressive’ she’s expressing her dissatisfaction with not enough exercise/stimulation. She’s trying to tell you that if you don’t make some change, she’ll become hopelessly neurotic. Don’t let it happen, exercise is an easy and inexpensive fix!)
I figure as much. Too bad Annie won’t stop picking on her. Her favorite activity involves waiting until Lexie’s asleep on the sofa, then going behind said sofa, and then scratching at the back of it. Naturally Lexie freaks, and starts clawing at the back of it, and Annie saunters out, looking satisfied. Yes, I stop her from going back there when I see her. Damned cat.
jsgoddess, she’s about due for a visit.
What the fuck? Seriously, what the fuck?
That would be the trolling part.
Oooh, I didn’t know it was a Westie, Guin. Which I was going to talk about, because my (now deceased) Westie… went mad. No, really. He was a great, if overly fiesty, dog until after I moved away to college and my parents started splitting time between their old house and one in Florida. The dog had some sort of crisis in territory or something - he was always well trained until then, my parents kept up the training we had always done, but every so often he would inexplicably snap. The vet looked at him, the fancy dog opthamologist, all that - nobody could explain it, after a certain point (age 12 or so) he was just unreliable around strangers.
So we kept him away from strangers, religiously. Which was a huge big deal when my ex moved in, of course. We had this weird Venn diagram - me, the dog, him, and eventually the cat we got. I had in home sessions with a pro dog trainer who was amazing and we did see some improvement, not much, but my ex never trusted him enough with it to be in the same room (which I understand - dog was scary when he got into one of his moods) until the few days we had with him before we had to put him down, when he was too sick to be afraid of.
Anyway, sorry for that, what I was saying was, I also had a Westie who got very grumpy with age. He died at 16 and was as well cared for as we could do for him.
ETA - I should have said, when I said he “went mad”, that was ten years before he died.
Don’t forget this beauty!
Exceedingly immature, (even for a 36 yr old, Mama’s basement dwelling), troll!
Actually, this part looks like trolling to me:
No, you must have poked her in the eye repeatedly. Your constant denials are just compounding your abusiveness. You’re like a husband who keeps saying you love the wife while beating her. I think someone like you needs to have their dog taken away because you must have done something to her to make her hate you, and then to keep denying it just shows how inhuman you are.
Because that’s exactly what I said right? I blew directly in her ears, not just blew or talked or made funny noises. Do you have some kind of manual for this crap or does it all come from your head?
Hey excuse me? Hello? Remember me, the guy getting pitted? No getting advice in my topic ok? If you want to get advice, wait until you’re pitted for dog abuse. That’s just rude!
There is such thing has half trolling. Some of the answers were serious responses to serious questions. Some others were exaggerated half-truths designed to make me look even worse and taunt the Pet Brigade. And there are some that’s outright lies. Come for the truths, stay for the lies!
You seem like you’re not full of hatred for me, maybe just pity and annoyance, so I’ll give you a serious answer. I wouldn’t consider blocking her pet desires to be taking any kind of bullet. This isn’t a situation where I can stand in front of her and take the brunt of the criticism (except here on this board I guess). Again, to recap, my parents, while they are not actively wanting a dog, they are allowing her to get one, so they are ok with it. There is a middle-ground between not wanting something and wanting something, which is where they are at. They are neutral on it whereas in past years, they were against it.
I have already stopped her for years. She pushed back her desire from when she graduated high school, to getting into a nursing program, to graduating, to now when she finally got a nursing job. For years, I’ve raised the same issues as before, such as if she was ready, if she could afford it, etc. To be honest, the biggest thing in her way was me, because I told her I wouldn’t help her with it and that she’d have to take the responsibility on her own. However at this point, I have reason to believe she isn’t going to let that stop her anymore, thus the dilemma I’m in. I don’t want a dog, but I knew this may happen for years. I don’t actively hate dogs, I’m fine with having one if all I have to do it feed it treats and pet it. That’s all I’m willing to do, and I told her this, yet she still wants a dog
So when I made that topic, I asked for ideas, genuine, honestly-held ideas on things I can bring up to dissuade her. But I want real things, not made up things like its abusive if I leave the dog outside, or I only play with it an hour a day and leave the rest to my sister. And no, going behind her back, begging the parents to forbid her from having the dog is not an option. She is old enough and we’re not one of those families where the parents run the house like a dictatorship. She wants one, and the parents aren’t opposing it, and I’m the brother so I have a say but I am not going to be the single obstacle in preventing it from happening. I only want to change her mind, but if its not changed, oh well, the dog and I will just have to deal with it. And its not cruel nor abusive in our situation. We have a house with a yard, and we can afford more than just kibble, and there are things I can do to help a bit. But I’m not going to turn my life upside down to help the dog when I didn’t want one in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, I owe it enough that it doesn’t die or suffer (by my estimation) but no more. And that’s why these Pet Brigade people are so pissed. They can’t fathom why anyone would not give 100% of themselves to a pet. Well, some of us don’t like them as much, and some of us don’t have the time. I will give enough % effort to make sure its not in pain, but that’s it. The dog will just have to deal with 80%, or 70% happiness
The behavior was of a person who didn’t want a dog who had to deal with a dog. Consequently, I’m not going to get all giggly and excited about the prospect. I approach it from a direction of anxiety and nervousness. But what you call stoking the flames, if I think about what I think you’re referring to, is simply my anxiety and blunt honesty showing through in my posts. I don’t want this dog, I don’t ever want another dog, but I have to have one forced on me, so I’m only going to do the minimal necessary to take care of it. It is her dog, not mine, and I’m only going to be in it for the belly scratches and pettings, but no more
I think this is where I can’t see your point of view. You don’t have to deal with a dog. You have choices.
I expected you to answer the question posed. Which kind of dog is that, by the way?
Its fun for me. I don’t make fun of your stamp collecting or amateur porn making
That’s only if one was dumb enough to think its inept for someone to not move out. Its a weird American cultural thing to kick out one’s own children at the first crack of adulthood
You must have no hobbies. That’s sad.
It is if you think its the solution to this dog problem. The dog just have to accept being in a family like ours. Its not so bad
Depends on my mood honestly. And if the dog can wait cause certain things are timed, so you have to be there at a certain time
Its fun if you try it. Why don’t you get one of those free WOW 30 day subscriptions? 11 million gamers and going strong!
Its not really up to me. Dad is allergic, remember? But I’ll take your suggestion into consideration
YogSothoth, a word?
Hiya. I’m andros.
Now, I haven’t been posting to any degree in, frankly, years. (I’m back for a bit because I want a way to avoid my schoolwork, but that’s neither here nor there.) About twelve and a half years ago my first post here was, well, here. In the Pit.
Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of flaming, here and at other boards. A lot of trolling. A lot of macho posturing and a lot of mean girl hair pulling. And a lot of flameouts. Oh my, yes, a lot of flameouts.
Many of those came from long-time posters who reacted poorly to stupid and malicious abuse. Yes, yes, the BBQ Pit is all about stupid and malicious abuse. But time and time again, here and everywhere, otherwise reasonable (or at least reasonably harmless) posters say something inflammatory, get their shit jumped, respond in kind, and escalate. They feel they have reason to go apeshit, and sometimes they do. But they take it too far, respond too heatedly, and end up saying way too much angry shit. They cross the line from response to baiting, and from baiting to trolling, and that’s a good way to meet the business end of the ban stick.
I don’t know you from Adam. But I would suggest you might consider dialing it back a bit.
ETA: Looks like you might have reached that conclusion on your own, so feel free to disregard.
Then don’t get a fucking dog. It shouldn’t be that hard for you to figure out. Or maybe it is, and that is the problem.
Erm, he’s not. His sister is. Maybe.
I’ve responded to the choices but I can rehash them again:
Trying to. Wanted to bring up a lot of issues she’ll have to deal with as a first-time primary dog caretaker. That is until people started giving me shit, now I just don’t feel like it
Its unfair to her. I have more loyalty to her than a dog
Ignoring the premise doesn’t help
I’m not the one who wants the dog. I will change, but only a little. Its not fair to me either, this situation. So why should I have to spend hours with an animal I don’t want? Its her pet, let her deal with it. I will prevent the pet from suffering, but I’m not going overboard. I will do the minimum necessary to ensure the pet is ok, but that’s it
At this point it is him, or as you said, just trolling.
Probably a good idea. I actually thought about half apologizing to an annoying body part, but she was still being a bitch