DR. WALLACE: I've been living with my current roommate for almost a year now, and while I love living with her as we mostly get along just great, her dog is driving me crazy! My roomie has a toy poodle that constantly barks at all the noises she hears outside. Given that we live in an apartment in the downtown area of a big metro city, there are unfortunately a lot of noises to be heard outside, so my life feels like it has a soundtrack that comes from a dog kennel.

My roommate has been very attentive to the issue that her dog is causing, but it seems like nothing she does to try to stop her dog from barking all of the time works. For example, she's taken her dog to several different trainers, and none of them have been able to help train the dog to stop barking.

Things do get a little better at night when this little pup finally dozes off to sleep, but even then, it's not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night to the dog barking at something outside. Our lease is coming up at the end of next month, and I've been considering moving out for a long time now, but the problem is that I can't find affordable rent anywhere else in the area.

My roommate and I got really lucky finding a decent-sized apartment at a reasonable price in the city, and I don't really want to give that up. She actually was here first, and had a previous roommate who moved out, so I was the lucky one to step into this sweet financial deal. I'm beginning to wonder, however, if the cheap rent is worth my mental sanity. What do you think I should do in this situation? — Sleepless Nights and Agitated Days, via email

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS AND AGITATED DAYS: I feel you've answered your own question by signing off as, "sleepless nights and agitated days!" Put it this way, if the rent at this apartment was the normal going rate for your area, you'd have likely moved on long ago, right?

You do need to consider moving soon in my opinion. Your roommate was there first, and she is the one who entered into the master lease for this apartment. She will obviously be keeping her dog, and despite her efforts to get her dog training, the barking continues to persist both day and night.

Your challenge is therefore mainly a financial issue. You have two choices in that you can seek to remain in the downtown area but pay a higher rent or move to the outskirts of your city where the rents are lower. Think this over and make your decision in these terms. If you can earn a bit more money by working a few more hours each month, it'll be worth the trade-off to do that. If it's not, you'll need to live a little farther away from the city center.

Either way, you'll gain your sanity back in return and your quality of life will rise exponentially. You can remain friends with your soon-to-be former roommate, and you might even suggest to her that she seeks out another dog owner for her next new roommate following your departure. It might just be that with two dogs in the residence they can keep each other company and hopefully calmer so that there is less overall barking. And in any case, her new "roomie" will be used to regular dog noises!

HE ALWAYS EATS JUNK FOOD BUT IS STILL A GOOD ATHLETE

DR. WALLACE: My boyfriend always eats junk food and is not fat at all! We are both just finishing up our junior year of high school together. I'm a cheerleader and I take my diet and exercise programs very seriously.

He, on the other hand, does take his exercise programs for his sport very, very seriously, but he eats tons of junk food! What's strange is that he is perfectly physically fit and he's a darn good player too. He's quite athletic and he will likely be the top player or second-best football player at our school next year during his senior season. How can this be? I always thought that there was a big connection between a healthy diet and an individual's outstanding sports achievements. — His Cheerleader Girlfriend —via email

HIS CHEERLEADER GIRLFRIEND: You are correct in that there is often a correlation between healthy eating, training and a high level of sporting achievement. In fact, most professional athletes these days hire both nutritionists and personal trainers so that they can maximize their performance at their chosen sports.

Your boyfriend, at the age of perhaps 17 or 18 will be able to "get away" with this for a short period of time in his life, but if he wishes to compete in his sport in college or beyond, his poor dietary habits will likely not only catch up with him but will actually diminish his physical abilities over time.

If the two of you are planning a longer future together, then there is no better time than the present to see if you can get him to take his diet more seriously.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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