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I own a house and have a friend living with me right now (he pays rent). Awhile back, he decided he wanted a dog and asked me if I was OK with it. I said I was fine with it, so he did some "research" and filled out some applications to adopt a dog.
Well, it turns out he wants a bully breed. He likes the way they look. The house isn't very large and we have no fence. He plans on taking the dog for walks to let it go to the bathroom and plans on installing a dog run (which I said was OK). My roommate is overweight and spends all of his time playing video games.
We went and visited an amstaff, which really didn't like either of us. But my roommate decided he loved that dog. I managed to talk him out of the amstaff... but now he's set up an appointment to see an American Bulldog.
My roommate is dismissing every argument I make. He thinks he's going to walk the dog (even though it's currently -3 degrees right now). He thinks the dog will adapt to HIS personality. He hasn't figured in the budget of the dog at all. (I can't imagine it's cheap to feed a Bulldog). He claims that Bulldogs are lazier than Amstaffs. If he spent 5 minutes researching these dogs on Google, which is all it took me, he'd realize these dogs are a terrible choice for him.
I've always had dogs my whole life or lived with someone who had one. I currently don't have any and would like a dog in the house, which is why I agreed to let him get one.
I'm not sure how to handle this situation, what do I do?
can you do something along the lines of "my house, my rules" and tell him NO bullie breeds...... you can say something about how your homeowner's insurance will not cover you if one of these dogs is a resident......
i can see disaster all over the situation of a couch potato human adopting a high energy dog that needs a lot of exercise..... had a similar situation myself and wound up with a 98 lb COMPLETELY untrained and undisciplined lab on my hands....... the dog's exercise and care fell completely to me.......
I agree with latetothe party; it's your house and you should have a say in what dog lives there. Unfortunately, it IS true that your homeowner's insurance will specifically exclude certain breeds of dog and you would not be covered should that dog destroy someone's else's property or bite someone.
Help him choose a more laid back dog - more suited to his personality and the living conditions.
He will end up resenting a dog that has a much higher energy level than he does because it will be too much work for him.
Your house, your rules. Better to deal with it at this point than have a messed up house, unhappy dog, and fractured friendship to deal with.
But you still want a dog in the house and your roomie wants a "bulldog". This is where you get creative . You might say, "Have you thought about getting a Miniature Mastiff?" Or, "A Chinese ThunderBull can be quite the handfull but they do like to observe video games". You get the idea....tell him later it's a pug.
Seriously though, back to the breed research for your roomie. And mortgage payer trumps renter every time.
Depending upon the rules of adoption from where he is getting it, the organization may call you to clear it with you first and you can decline then and let them handle it. The organization I foster for does require permission from the landlord in the form of a clause in the lease or verbal and does a home visit before the dog is allowed to be adopted. Also, all family members in the house have to be on board to adopt the dog and in the event one person is not present during the adoption process, we actually call the other party right then and there - roommates, husbands, wives, etc. So, hopefully, they have rules in place to assist you in denying this application.
I work with rescue and we always ask to see the lease, where it specifically states that dogs are permitted. Is there a lease that he has? You might want to go down that avenue.
Look at it this way: if he got a dog and due to boredom and insufficient exercise the dog becomes destructive to property, could your room-mate afford to pay for repairs? You need to be a little pig-headed about this and realise that you also need to protect your investment. No one else is going to do that for you.
Does roommate realize this is a many years' commitment to a living being, regardless of type or breed? I doubt the OP would feel OK watching the animal be ill-treated or neglected. I'd have a talk with roommate and talk some sense into not taking an animal at this time.
You also need to discuss with him a 'pet deposit' and also consider your insurance in case the dog bites someone. If it bites the mailman it's a federal offense and people have served time in jail for it.
Another issue is that many landlords will not rent to owners of large dogs. From your post, it sounds like the living situation is somewhat temporary. When your roommate moves out, his housing options will be severely limited with a large dog.
It sounds like he has no idea how much work it takes to be a dog owner. We have a 1 year old English bulldog. EB's are reputed to be a lazy breed and about half the time, that is true. But the rest of the time, Louie is quite active (he's loving the snow right now). Our situation is easier than your roommate's would be because we have two fenced-in yards (back and front) so we can let him out to play and do his business when we don't feel like walking him. But we still walk him 2x a day and he needs those walks. Is your roommate prepared to wake up early in the a.m. in crappy weather to walk the dog? Bully breeds are very headstrong and difficult to train and require a strong owner. Even English bulldogs, which are I think probably the mellowest of large bully breeds, can be a handful. No doubt American bulldogs are much more active.
And yeah, it takes a lot of money to feed a large dog, not to mention the vet bills which in my experience are much higher for a dog than for cats. Once you get cats spayed or neutered and give them their shots, you don't really have to bother with the vet unless issues arise, assuming they're indoor cats. My 4 year old male cat hasn't been to the vet in 3 years. With dogs, you have to keep up those shots.
It sounds like your roommate hasn't thought this through and is being totally unrealistic about the day-to-day responsibilities of owning a dog. Perhaps you could encourage him to foster a dog for awhile to get an idea of the day-to-day reality of being a dog owner?
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. You might say, "Have you thought about getting a Miniature Mastiff?" Or, "A Chinese ThunderBull can be quite the handfull but they do like to observe video games". You get the idea....tell him later it's a pug. 
