This comes from a true animal lover who as I type have 2 rescues laying at my feet. Lola has to go. To a home that is suitable for her in every way. Your roommates are being selfish and putting their desires above what is best for Lola. That is not love for an animal, that is pure human selfishness. But what's worse, this is a nightmare waiting to happen. And the collective lot of you will be on the hook when it does.

I generally have a no pets policy, not the pets fault. Anyway, I relented & broke that policy about 5 years ago for a shepherd mix, sweet & docile as they come, on the condition my tenant secure renters insurance with high liability limits and provide proof of vaccinations. The real problems would have started with my own insurance company had that dog shown any aggression or caused harm to anyone, particularly on the property. I learned through my agent later that many insurance companies (including the one that insures our rental property) maintain a list of 'high risk' dog breeds. (Google and you'll see.) Lola is a combination of two breeds that consistently show up on these lists. This is one reason why more and more landlords are refusing pets. I've since gone back to my no pets policy and there won't be any more exceptions.

Lola has already gone after multiple dogs, and dear lord, a child. I know a child who from the age of 3 has gone through multiple re-constructive surgeries to her face after the family pet with no prior aggressive tendencies bit her. Get Lola out of there. You are all sitting on a ticking bomb. One that has repercussions that go far beyond those from breaking a lease or getting booted out or something similar. Lola hurts someone and there is a lawsuit you, every last roommate, and probably your (unenlightened?) landlord as well will be named in it. One that could financially wipe every last one of you out before you even get started in life. And Lola will pay the highest price: losing her life.

And if you show your roommates this, and they snicker & don't take it seriously, I'd encourage you to do some googling and research on lawsuits from dog bites as well. You are all probably too young to remember the Diane Whipple case in San Francisco. It gained national attention & has continued to stir heated debates ever since. She was attacked in the hallway of her apartment building by her neighbor's dogs. Ms. Whipple lost her life, as did the dogs, and the owners were charged with murder.

On August 23, 2010, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled 3-0 that Marjorie Knoller acted with a conscious disregard for human life when her Presa Canario escaped and killed Diane Whipple in 2001. Knoller is serving a sentence of 15 years to life.... In addition to the criminal charges, Sharon Smith also succeeded in suing Knoller and Noel for $1,500,000 in civil damages.

Take this seriously. Act now. For everyone's benefit, especially for Lola. It's not worth it. It's just not.

Moonshadow wrote everything I was about to say. Please read that response carefully and then read it again. Then act on it.

I love animals. I love dogs. But Lola is not a dog suited to the situation in which she is living. She's threatened a child--that alone sends shivers down my spine.

I entirely agree that Lola deserves an entirely different environment, but given how little luck I'm having trying to get Marcy time in the main part of the house I'm not exactly confident going in to suggest Lola be re-homed. I feel that my opinions receive zero respect and am not at all sure how to approach this.

Our land lord is actually quite fond of Lola. She tends to go rushing and barking at people coming onto our property but stops if they don't back down. This is common since a lot of university students cut through our yard to get to the apartments behind ours. She is guarding her territory and, while it hasn't escalated to outright attacks, it makes me nervous. There is a group of ten year old's who live in some of those apartments and play in our yard too.

Our land lord likes the added security that comes with a dog that makes her presence on the property known. There have been a number of robberies in our neighborhood (the dogs have barked and scared off a few suspicious looking men more than once (the difference is Marcy barks and stays put... Lola barks and rushes)) and he is always happy to hear her bark through the window. I'm not sure if he knows about her attacks.

How would you suggest I present this case? I would hate to lose my pet privileges when I've always been so conscious of Marcy's behavior and when fostering has been so wonderfully therapeutic for me.

First, google "dog bite law [your state]" to find out who is liable in the case of Lola attacking someone. In my state, the dog doesn't have to bite a person--if the dog scares a person enough so that they are frightened and fall while trying to get away from the dog, the owner is liable for any injuries associated from that fall. If Lola attacked Marcy in my state, I could easily press charges against Lola's owner, who at the very least would have to pay all the vet bills. Print it out and give it to Ailis or email it to her.

Second, while Lola is the focus of your post, the real, underlying problem here is that you don't get along with your roommates and they don't get along with you. The best thing for you is to get out of there.

It sounds like your landlord owns a fair number of apartments. Talk with him *now* about moving to a different, smaller apartment when your lease is up, or even before then if that is possible. Don't dither around waiting for three other women to make up their minds if they are staying or not--given their behavior so far, do you really think that Ailis and Cristyn are going to tell you the truth? They could very easily play games with you, changing their minds dozens of times before making a real decision--leaving you with very little time to find a place to live.

You have three months. That's more than enough time to find a place to live, even with pets. If your landlord has multiple apartments, surely you can make arrangements to move to a different one when it becomes vacant. Then you can keep your pets and foster a dog and choose your own roommates.

You need to take control of this situation. Find a new place to live. Make it clear to everyone you know that you are not responsible for Lola--they may have to testify on your behalf if Lola attacks someone.

Do not rely on Ailis to leave the apartment or to follow through on anything she says she will do. Make your own plans and find a safe place to live.

Is this really that complicated to figure out? Lola is obviously a dangerous animal and should be put down before something really bad happens. Instead we have a bunch of silly, overindulged children with sufficient free time to launch Facebook campaigns to "rescue" animals with a demonstrated propensity for attacking other animals and people.

If you need some "mission" in your life to make it worthwhile to roll out of bed each morning, why not find a truly worthwhile cause. I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't have to look too hard, nor walk too far to find a child who didn't have dinner last night.

Mike,
If you had read my message thoroughly you would see that I'm not defending Lola in any way. She is not my responsibility. If she had been my responsibility she would have gone back to she the shelter after attacking that puppy for another behavior evaluation and most likely euthanized. If I could not predict or trust Marcy's behavior she would not have stayed for as long as she did. I make it a point to only work with highly adoptable dogs from a particularly high kill shelter who are, for whatever reason, being looked over. The campaign was launched as a favor to my 'friend' when she, the LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE PARTY, was UNWILLING to bring Lola back to the shelter and was in order to find a SUITABLE home with EXPERIENCED, CHILDLESS owners who might be able to manage her behavior. I was not aware that my efforts would be ignored and had no control over the fact my roommate chose to adopt her or that the shelter didn't do their research into her as an owner.

I believe that Lola is is dangerous and am very uncomfortable with her presence and want her gone, whether that means she is adopted elsewhere or euthanized. My problem is in finding a way of removing her when she is not my dog or my responsibility. I don't know how to approach this subject with my roommates when they so blatantly disregard any of my suggestions regarding Lola. At the same time I would like to minimize the rift caused by starting anything here.

I am extremely concerned that Lola will attack someone but have read that if she were to the liability would only fall on the owner, not the landlord or any other residents. This means I don't have much of a case to bring my land lord. If I'm overlooking something please let me know.

Lola has since displayed aggressive behavior towards my brother and father and I feel like my family and I have a right to feel safe in my apartment. At the same time, I have pets and don't want to lose that priviledge. I'm looking to make a case to have a specific, dangerous animal removed without encouraging my LL to instate a breed/size specific regulation on pets. Animal control?

"I'm looking to make a case to have a specific, dangerous animal removed without encouraging my LL to instate a breed/size specific regulation on pets. "

Okay, so this is the real question you need answered. It might be a good idea to post this on the Pets forum, where there are more people who know about these things.

But first, a question for you. Has Lola bitten any person or dog? Or is it still at the snapping/barking/growling stage?

Check your local laws about dogs. They vary greatly. In some places, any dog that has bitten a person must be surrendered for evaluation. If Lola has bitten a person or another dog, just go ahead and report her. Find out what the laws are and what you need as evidence.

You need to face the fact that your relationship with the roommates is already in a bad state. I would not even bother trying to mend it at this time. Just keep safe and wait things out until the end of the lease. And start looking for a new place now. These other women are not your friends. They actively did the opposite of what you asked them to do in order to keep both Marcy and Lola safe.

Thank you Camlan.
Lola attacked a yorkie puppy in mid-december causing quite a bit of damage. The dog required extensive stitching and stapling and was in the ICU for three days.

Lola has also bitten/attacked Marcy multiple times. All of these were resource guarding instances where Lola was guarding something completely inappropriate, eg. the hallway. I would always ask the other people in the room which dog lunged because I didn't want to have a bias and Lola was always the instigator. It became difficult to even come inside from a walk because Lola would guard the door war and start snapping as soon as we crossed the threshold. She has drawn blood and left Marcy with some nasty punctures. After the worst of these incidents I started keeping Marcy as far away from her as possible and things really became tense in the house.

As far as people, Lola is only growling/snapping/lunging at this stage. She is very unpredictable and while her resource guarding was almost entirely directed against Madge, she has started guarding the house and yard from anyone who passes through. She will tense, growl, start barking, and then charge. She has so far been caught/yelled at before making contact with anybody, but I can't help but worry about this situation. My boyfriend, brother, and father cannot enter the house without her coming dashing to the door growling.

It's a binary solution - you leave or Lola leaves. Decide what you want to do and act on it, although given what you've said about your roommate's behavior it will probably be best if you just moved on.

Talk to your landlord about breaking your lease. Does he have another unit you could move into?