remote is locked up

Oof. That must be a big dog.

I'd call in for a new one. Don't mention the dog, but if you say the right things, they should send you a new one for free. Tell them the volume (or whatever buttons) aren't working. Let them know you tried resetting it and you're positive it's not the batteries.

7 bucks at Amazon. Walmart. Target. 

7 bucks at Amazon. Walmart. Target.

At onetime, 3rd party (generic) remotes wouldn’t work with Uverse boxes.  Has that changed?

I had a universal rca remote that worked everything when I had uverse. I’ve since switched to directv. 

Directv rep was actually very helpful. Everything was going along great until I needed the Sony remote for the tv. Found it but had no batteries.  Contacted Sony customer service and they were able to help complete the fix.  Yeah. Next time we need a smaller dog. 

We can't move the thread over, but this is a note for future reference that all questions and comments about DirecTV should be at http://forums.directv.com

What red button? Are you sure you mean U-Verse?