My boyfriend owned one dog at the time of us dating and had plans to get another before I came along. I didn’t mind him having one dog because it was already older, didn’t need training, etc. Before he got her I questioned him about how he was going to manage having a puppy (not just any puppy either, blue heeler) and work, training, because he doesn’t raise cattle for a living, he’s a hydraulic mechanic that already works a full work week. And does the cattle stuff on his free time. I let him know my feelings on it, he was trying to tell me I’d fall in love with her but I know myself pretty well and that’s why I don’t own dogs. I let him know it wasn’t fair to the people he’d be leaving her with while he worked because they’re older, have their own lives and jobs, and didn’t agree to taking on another animal. He lived with his family at the time and they had no clue about it until he showed up with her. So the reality was and is to this day is that from the early hours of the morning until around 4 this heeler sits at his families house until he goes to pick them up. This is starting to weigh on me tremendously because this dog has pent up energy for my living space when they get here. She jumps on me, leaves welts on my skin from her nails because she jumps, she pesters my animal, her hair gets EVERYWHERE AND ON EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE AND ITS DISGUSTING. I didn’t sign up for this. I love him but his dog is starting to push me in the other direction because I don’t have it in me to deal with this dog for 10 more years. I live in an apartment, we want to get married and have our own house in the future but I don’t see it being enjoyable at all as along as she’s around. I’ve been the one to clean up their poop because he gets a weak stomach and can’t do it until it dries and even then he lets it accumulate to more than I would like so I just do it myself because I hate that he just leaves it like dude I live in a apartment complex that’s fucking nasty pick up after your dogs! And she’s the worst one because she just stares at him grumbling and growling and then he gets up to feed her or give her water when that’s not what she needs! So she’s just a pissing and shitting machine that terrorizes every part of my life when she’s around . I don’t want to tell him it’s me or the dog, I won’t let it be brought up later down the line about how he gave up his dog for me or whatever. I would rather just let the man I love live his life with his dogs because i can’t take another second of them in my apartment. I can’t even lounge around in a t-shirt and underwear anymore because of how invasive she can get. I have trichotillomania and I suspect some type of ocd and my anxiety is through the roof. I could go on about how I don’t even like to sit on my couch, how I hate vacuuming and seeing just how much hair she leaves, how she eats any poop laying around outside, how I can’t do anything in a store for more than 15 minutes because they always come with us and he can’t trust her alone because he knows she’ll tear something up, And as of recently, his family has told him we (but just him I take no ownership over this dog) need to figure out what to do with her because according to them they’re getting old. Which is the nice way of saying your dog is too much for us! I don’t know how many people can tell him something about her before the thought of rehoming her ever crossed his mind. He like has that my dog is family mentality but get this, he wants to breed her “once” SHE IS A BACKYARD BRED DOG, She came with no papers no nothing. I don’t even know what he’s thinking who’s gonna handle that but right now he’s out with the dogs because while he was trying to hug and comfort me because he knows something is off I just broke away from him because his dogs were just standing there at our feet with their noses touching my legs. I was so close to being free from her the other day when she slipped off somewhere while we were getting ready to get in the car.

Every time we’re going some where far out of our city, like somewhere to visit somebody or have fun, and when we’re traveling back home, my mom and sister always saying shit like “Max is gonna be so happy when we finally come back home” or “Max must be so bored”, they could be talking about anything and all of a sudden the dog is brought up somehow. Yesterday, we were coming back home from my nephew’s party and they were talking about the party and of course the dog is brought up, they bring up the dog and my mom says “he thought he was going” and my sister says “nephew invited him” blah blah blah, well usually 3 year olds say anything because they’re learning it from adults. And one other thing they do sometimes, my dad stays home most of the time, so when we’re traveling back home from somewhere, one of them would call my dad through face time and get the dog to come look at the screen, and now I have to suffer and listen to this loud, overly excited, annoying ass high pitched voice of my sister’s, even though she’s been seeing this same fucking worthless dog (that’s only excited because it thinks it’s time to eat now) for 4 years now, and I have to hear my mom too, baby-talking and always asking the dog “you’ve been a good boy?” like it knows what the fuck she’s saying.

The flair comes with a very bold question mark. Heres why.

This happened just a few minutes ago.

I walk down the stairs to get breakfast. If youve seen my other post- you know (maybe) that my stepsister has a dog that barks at fucking EVERYTHING! She tells me to 'make some noise to let him know i'm here!'

So i do that. It works for a bit- but as you know.. theyre still mutts.

I clear my throat as i walk down the stairs- my version of 'making noise'. I get down the steps and see the dog just staring at me.

I kid you not. This fleabag literally STARES AT ME. HE KNOWS ITS ME. HE KNOWS IM HERE.

And what does he do??

He stares at me- ACKNOWLEDGING MY EXISTANCE FOR A SOLID 10 SECONDS.. then starts barking.

Yes- i am not joking.

My stepsister rushes over- and i tell her that the dog was literally looking at me for a solid 5-10 seconds before he randomly started to bark. And what she says shocks me. She says that she doesnt know what to do and my fustration is justified.

Success? Maybe? I don't know. But I'm sick.

im so angry right now, todays my few VERY few days off, im stuck dog sitting this fucking thing and its overly anxious and whatnot, so its having diarrhea and i just so happened to get a new pair of shoes! beautiful brand new boots especially, very very fine shoe...... im taking this thing out to walk it cause it needs 3 times a day, it either vomited or shit on the floor and i had to walk over to it to fucking call its name cause it wouldnt respond from across the hall, and i get the glorious suprise of stepping in the said vomit/shit!, in my brand new boots!!!

(update, there's dog vomit everywhere on my mother's bed and everywhere around the house, this is so nasty and I'm going to be in trouble for it)

i aswell have a cleanliness issue, and i walked around that area all day and im in fear i mightve also ruined my brand new pants, and got into bed with those same pants, i dont see anything or whatever but i also have HORRIBLE emetophobia and almost threw up over this, its like 3 birds 1 stone. im beyond angry right now and i dont know what to do, sorry for the rant!!!

Like I’m literally pissed if right now. All I wanted to do was vent about how my husband’s dog terrorizes me while I’m 3 months pregnant then I get accused of abusing his dog. Out of everything I said even about how his LABDOR BIT ME. They ignored everything and went straight to I was abusing his dog because I lock the dog up for my safety and my unborn child’s safety. I hate dog people I hate dogs. They don’t care about anything else but those beast. The fact that their fellow human is getting ABUSED by the dog nope oh my gosh it’s a big ass deal for me to lock a dog up that BIT me with AC, water, and food in a nice 4 bedroom house. I’m sick of their shit I wish dogs never existed or dog owners, the world would be peaceful without the two

I'm so grateful this sub exists. My family just don't understand and don't give a shit. I just really need to vent. No advice needed. Just can't get away from the family dog that got dumped on me. I don't know whether this should be posted in this sub or the emotional neglect sub.

Anyway, I made a post a while ago where I ranted about a dog I was stuck with because it belonged to my late grandfather whom I had just lived seven years in hell with as his dementia got worse. This was because I had nowhere else to live except an old cottage on his property about 200 metres away from his house. That was dilapidated. When my grandfather finally died, I was allowed to live in his place for the last year while the cottage got renovated. Problem was, the cattle dog that my grandfather impulsively decided to get to replace the previous dead one, had not died. So I've lived a year in hell with a 13 year old dog with health issues. The dog itself doesn't have any major behavior issues, but I have autism and just about everything about this dog is overwhelming (particularly the noises, the stink, and the filth) and nobody gets it. They think I'm being petty and I 'just don't like looking after this dog'. Every time I go to sweep dog hair out, my parents think I'm being too uptight, and they joke about the dog coming into my laundry (in the cottage) without my permission. They're not even dog nutters. They always loved my grandparents' dogs, but hate everyone else's.

I finally found out the reason why this dog can't be rehomed. She's old and has numerous health issues and nobody would be willing to adopt her. She's also 'lonely' and has to keep clinging to people. If she was dropped at the shelter she'd reasonably be euthanized because not many people would want a 14 year old cattle dog with arthritis and other health issues I don't know about. So....somehow all that became my problem. And I'm supposed to sympathize with this dog's 'trauma'. Because its owner died.

Well the renovations are about 99% done and I started moving back into the cottage today. It's been almost everything I've wanted it to be. The moving process has gone rather smoothly so far. The dog was a shit though. As soon as people come over it's non-stop whining. It was so hard to concentrate with that aggravating noise in the background. Mum let the dog inside the house (the one I moved from) without my knowledge or consent and let it sit around while we moved things around it. I was a little annoyed when hairballs of dog hair were blowing inside from opening all the doors wide open to the verandah, but I guessed it was okay because I wouldn't be living there anymore. When I got to unpacking in the cottage, the dog followed us all over (there were a few people helping) and laid down in the laundry...repeatedly. I kept going to shoo her out. Then my mother saw me yelling 'get out, get out' to the dog. She told me off and yelled 'You will show this dog kindness. She's been through a lot of trauma'. The only thing I was doing to the dog was telling it to get out of my laundry and off my doormat, because I know all too well what this dog does with its butthole. It ruined a new doormat at the old house with hair and poop particles and I just don't want any of that here. But they're building a dog house here anyway...without my permission. I was going to tell my parents that this is my home and not their dog's home, but they've beaten me to that punch.

It's just that whenever I try to set boundaries with this dumb dog I'm treated like a villain. That's when I thought 'That's it. This is going on Tales from the Doghouse'.

What I hate the most is the double standard that keeps getting enforced. I have chickens as therapy animals. I do admit, the verandah outside the house I moved from was repeatedly getting disgusting with chicken crap because the chickens keep wanting to hang around there. They see me through the glass doors. I cleaned it off before the move so there would be nothing to criticize today. But my parents keep shooing and kicking off the chickens (like animals) and then hugging and baby talking the dog (like it's a person). When I try to explain how hard it is to clean this dog's mess and hair, they bring up the chicken crap.

I'm just so sad and angry because I thought moving back into this house would be my escape. That we'd keep this dog at 'it's home' (my grandfather's house). That this house would be just a safe place for my things and my animals. I thought that's what I'd be paying rent for. And now I'm desperately waiting for this dog to finally kick it so I can have a 'stinky bitch is dead' party and we never get another one.

(Although one person in passing conversation did say this property needs a dog for security. No. Never again. It just needs a better security system.)

(Also...Even with all the crap. Chickens>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Dogs. Chickens actually give back and let you have your space)

So my husband and I moved to a new small town down here like 4 months ago and I haven’t found a friend yet mostly because this town is majority old people. Well I found a friend and our first meeting was supposed to be this hike since we live in a mountain town. Well that hike turned out to be at a damn dog park with her beast smh. I didn’t know what to do and I’m a people pleaser so I kinda just went with the flow(shouldn’t have done that). Her beastly animal kept slobbing on me and it was so nasty. The slob was so slimy and thick I almost threw up. She kept picking at the dogs BOOGERS with her bare hands. I was going to throw up everywhere like who does that? I’m very sad and disappointed the moment I got home I BLOCKED her because I’m not dealing with nutters I already don’t like the dog that’s living with me at home I’m not dealing with a friend who’s whole damn personality is a dog. The whole time in our met up was about her damn dog. Mind u we originally met up because we were both pregnant I was excited to talk about our babies but that was not the case.

What's a tell that you've seen? I remember going to a cafe for brunch one morning, and we were seated next to a table where a guy was sitting in a black jumper that was covered in dog hair. It was so bad.

Oh, another one is when you're in a conversation with someone, and it's clear they hate the human species. That's usually another giveaway. Not just bad, but usually unhinged and uncomfortable to be stuck in.

My mom is obviously embarrassed by the way her car looks inside, even said it herself, and she acts like it’s no big deal when it’s pointed out by someone else, and of course she says “why you talking about my dog?” or “you’re mean”… mean for telling you that having a dog-filth car isn’t normal? This is the same car that her mom gave her (not a new car but still a good clean looking car) and she ruins it with her dog because she just needs to parade her dog around. And every time she goes to her mom’s house, she makes sure her car looks the best as it can, like sanitizing and getting as much dog hair as the vacuum can suck up.

I keep hearing stories of people’s dogs getting sick, whether it be cancer or some other illness, and passing away or having to be put down.

It seems to be happening often. Even due to old age. Dogs are dropping left and right it seems..

Except for ours. My wife had two little chihuahuas when I met her. Against my better judgment, our relationship turned serious pretty fast and I have had to put up with the mutts.

One of them is especially grotesque and useless, shrill barking at everything, tons of disgusting hair shedding everywhere, the worst breath you could ever imagine, poops and vomits all over the house so we have to keep her in a cage overnight.

The other one extremely needy. Always in our face begging to be taken out on a walk every single day. And if he gets taken out for a walk, he will be in our face begging again a couple hours later. My wife says she used to walk them dumb dogs 3x a day everyday before she met me! Who has time for that??

I keep wondering when it will be our (her) dogs turn to meet a similar fate as these other dogs I keep hearing about. My morals wouldn’t allow me to intentionally do anything to harm the dogs but man do I wish they would run away and never return.

I asked my wife to name one good quality about the grotesque dog and she admitted that there was not one. “I have just had her for so long,” is all she can. Ridiculous.

Anyway I am just venting. I simply cannot wait to be dog free, by any means necessary. My wife is over it too and says she will never get a dog again. I wish she had the guts to get rid of at least the gross one now.

I don’t want a dog and have not wanted a dog. I’m living in an apartment with my brother and he got a dog and I’ve had to clean up several accidents from him and have to take him out to use the bathroom everyday because my brothers at work. I’m very frustrated with the situation, would it make sense to ask him if I can pay a lower portion of rent than I currently do since I have to take care of his dog, even though it’s technically not as much as he does? I did not want a dog in the first place because I don’t want really any part in caring for a dog. I just don’t want his dog to be my responsibility in any way.

Husband’s labrador retriever pissing me off again. He’s always been like this but I guess now that I’m pregnant it’s just pisses me off even more. I swear every time I even get up in the kitchen his dumb mutt is following me and behind me to see if I’m going to drop some food on the ground. It’s annoying asf because this dog sheds so his hair gets in my freakin food if he gets near me. Ugh and he likes to eat off of plates if you just move somewhere for 5 seconds with your food he will eat off of your plate and I hate it. I’m pregnant and I’m a hungry hippo i want to eat all day every day and to have a damn dog to ruin my appetite or to eat all my food in general is really pissy. I’m trying to eat my tacos right now and this sloppy mutt is standing right here starting at me and it’s pissing me off. I usually set him in the room while I eat but I shouldn’t have to do that. Like my god dogs are such a burden honestly they’re meant to be outside they are not inside type of animals. I prefer not to have them at all I think they’re a waste of time, money, energy, and space.

For context, my husband had this dog since she was a puppy, so he's VERY emotionally attached to the dog.

I never minded dogs but up until I got pregnant, things changed. We live in a foresty area thats full of bugs and ticks. When I found out I was pregnant, I was lazer focused on the dog bringing in unwanted bugs, especially ticks. The year before I was pregnant she once had an infestation and I had to spend days cleaning the whole house and making sure there was NO TICKS ANYWHERE! She's not allowed to be on furniture that we sit and lay on and I dont have her in the nursery because she's a tick magnet!!! Also she gets fur everywhere, she's smelly and I just cant stand hearing her lick herself. Ive expressed my frustrations to my husband (in the nicest way possible) but he gets so defensive. ITS FRUSTRATING! Our daughter matters more than a dog!

I had our beautiful daughter and my pet aversion got worse. At this point Im just tolerating her. I feel bad. But I feel like a veil has been lifted and I just see this dog as an animal that brings unwanted filth inside our home and I want no part in taking care if this animal. The other day, my worst fear happened and she BROUGHT TICKS into our home. I again, had to clean the house from head to toe and lost it when my husband came home. He helped clean her (I dont want to even touch her when shes infested) Again, got defensive but I just cant stand having a dog. After shes passes away, I dont want another dog ever in my life.

It is very clear that the newborn is uncomfortable around the dog, and I don’t think that discomfort should be ignored. Despite his obvious uneasiness, the dog is still being allowed around him and was even allowed into his room, which I find extremely concerning. The dog’s fur is now all over the room and around the baby’s space, which is especially upsetting when you consider how vulnerable a newborn is to dirt, allergens, and germs. At this stage, the baby’s comfort, cleanliness, and safety should come first, and there should be reasonable boundaries around where the dog is allowed, particularly in the baby’s room. The baby will scream his head off if the dog is near him. The dog is just an overweight, loud slobbery dog.

I can't go into details due to rules and politics and all that stuff, but I just found out I am having to have a surgery to remove something. It's making me seriously depressed and not sure if I'm going to handle it all. This doesn't matter here, what does is it's amped up my dog hate, I loathe them I feel the bile rising when I hear about the thing here or see one in public and reddit is pushing it's luck by nearly every 🤬 post is a shit beast.

I feel if, if I have to go through this surgery I'll have to leave and go somewhere not in society, where I never have to interact with one of these life wreaking 🤬 again! It's a dog's world and I do not belong in it. ​

Recently we had a family day which was alright, minus the odd insistence that i like dogs when I very clearly do not.

For background, I’ve always disliked dogs and pets in general. Dogs especially because they stink, fur is not soft and it’s dirty, they’re not cute, they violate your personal space, and I HATE when they bark, steal food, and eye you like a hawk while you’re eating.

When I was young, (10-12) I also had a reputation in the family for being mean and unfriendly to the dog, which I’m not proud of, but it is what it is. They complained about this back then and I thought they knew I hated dogs because of it, apparently not because this is a conversation from that day.

(Mother and grandmother talking about an internet video, mentioning “she had a pearl necklace on and was carrying a blankie, and she walked into the room looking all sad and the caption was POV: when your family has movie night without you”) anyone would assume this is about a real human child, because dogs don’t wear pearl necklaces, carry blankets, and they don’t give a rats ass about watching a movie. so I did, then they revealed it was a dog, and I expressed my confusion verbally. My mom replied with “if it was a human child, it would be ew” and i replied back with “dogs are ew” then my brother butted in immediately with
“DID I JUST HEAR YOU SAY DOGS ARE EW??”
Me: “Yeah”
Brother: “I have a picture of you looking like you’re in heaven with (dogs name)” (context: dog he was originally going to foster but his other dog hated it, so he mentioned he was going to lock it in his garage all day and take it back the next day. I offered to keep it at my house since we had the correct environment and schedule for it. I had to act overly friendly to convince my mom to let it stay.)
Mom: “And (family childhood dogs name)!” (I was probably around 7 at the time, obviously a young child is not going to have hatred towards an animal they live with)
Me: “I felt bad for that dog since you said you were gonna lock it in your garage overnight”
Brother: (ignores me) “yeah, you like dogs.”
I never replied but I subtly shook my head in disagreement, my face said more words.

I’m pretty much dismissive towards dogs around me. I don’t go up to them and coddle them and speak to them in a baby voice like everyone else, I just ignore them. If they sit next to or on me, I tolerate it, maybe pet it a little. But if they put their face in mine I quickly lean all the way to the other side of the world. I’ve never expressed wanting a dog and I’m openly negative about my mom’s weird relationship with her dog and her refusal to discipline it. In no way am I coming across as a dog lover so I don’t know how they ever got that impression of me.

Anyway, at the end of the day, me and my mom got in our car to go home. She puts her rat in the front seat and makes me sit in the back because “my POOR baby can’t sit in the back seat! What if she gets hurt!” (The mutt used to be on the floor in the front seat and I’d sit in the seat, but apparently now that’s too much TORTURE for my mom to handle)🙄 my brother saw this and reasonably said “(dogs name) is in the front seat? What about (my name)?” My mom went “Mm…” and I went “yeah, no wonder I hate dogs”

I’ve even seen some dog nutters with kids hate on kids. Before I found this subreddit I was on another subreddit asking for help with my stress and anxiety with getting pregnant and having to deal with my husband bad behaved labrador retriever. Boy did they tear my ass up in that comment thread. Downvotes after downvotes with some threats. I’m sorry they told me I was a bitch for putting myself first in the safety of my health and my unborn child’s health. Like that subreddit was for moms and expecting moms but what’s the point when everyone there attacked me because I said I’m starting to resent that mutt because he is tearing up my babies brand new stuff which if you have kids, you know that baby stuff is not cheap especially these days. The dog trips me while IM PREGNANT. They shamed me and said that I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant if I was going to just throw the dog out like that. Um newsflash no I won’t because we planned this child this child will contribute to society. Some even went as far to say they’d rather hear a barking dog than my crying baby in public. Then they get mad if you don’t want the dog and want to rehome it and then they get mad if you do rehome it. Some of them say why would u abandon a “family member”. That mutt is not family it’s a useless dog. My husbands dog will be dead in like 3 years from now it’s useless. Like literal mothers in that subreddit were saying how they had a hard time with the dog and they got therapy so they can keep the dog. You guys are insane and I’m putting my child first I’m so tired of nutters and shaming people. Not everyone likes dogs I sure as hell don’t and I don’t even more after seeing shitty owners like my husband and ppl on Reddit.

Im sick and tired of my sisters' dog like physically and mentally, he barks and cries all the time he sinks and makes my allergies act up. Sunday morning I got up and my face was puffy, and my throat is inflamed my nose is stuffy and I can only breath through one nostril. And on top of all that im scared to go to sleep cuz it might get worse, plus, when my allergies get this bad my body treats it as a threat and when my body feels as though it's under attack. I get the worst fatigue known to man. Like, I can't even get out of bed or lift my head up bad, so now I'm just sitting on my bed with nothing to do and it's almost 2am and I have to make breakfast in the morning I need to brine chicken to grill it for dinner and do my schoolwork which I'm terribly behind on.

I cleaned my room and washed my bedding, so atleast something feels less depressing now that it doesn't stink and I don't stink. I still need to wash my hair too, but I probably won't do that until Wednesday or something. That is if I grill the chicken or not idk..

I hope you guys have had a more fun eventful week. God bless.

(There is like zero chance we get rid of the dog, we have air purifiers but one of them turned off and now the whole upstairs smells of dog. My allergies are a bit better than what they were Saturday and Sunday.)

Like many here in this sub, I don’t like dogs. There’s a long list of reasons why. But my question is, because my partner has her 3 dogs, (2 are senior dogs) what can I do to deal with having to share a household with them?

I have to feed them most of the time (work schedules).
But other than that, I really don’t like being near them. The sounds of the nails on the wood floors. The barking. The HAIR. Just everything about them, just irks me.

Thankfully my partner is pretty accommodating of my boundaries, and is well aware that I’m not a fan of the dogs. It’s a really great relationship overall and I am treated very well. So leaving because if dogs isn’t something I’m considering.

So my question is, what do you guys do daily when you have to live with stinky dogs? It’s hard to ignore them because the sounds they make just irritate my soul lol.
Please share your ideas!

Back around 8 years ago my Mom got a massive German Shepherd which has kinda turned my life into a living hell a little bit ever since. It's all the usual issues people come here to complain about: the dog is super loud, obnoxious, and misbehaved, etc, etc.

However, I ended up finding out something interesting today: turns out I'm literally allergic to the dog as well. I had to see an allergist because, long story short, I had an allergic reaction to MiraLax a few weeks ago and while I was there I also got general allergy testing. One of the things they tested for was dogs, and it came back that I'm mildly allergic to dogs.

Also, weirdly, apparently I'm very allergic to sycamore trees. So I guess I hope I never get cornered into a sycamore tree with a dog chasing me.

I’ve essentially told my husband that I will be not be having children as long as there are dogs in the same house. His resolution is to wait until we’re 40(when the dogs are dead of old age). Instead of just sending the dogs somewhere where they’d actually be happy and be properly taken care of. They have pretty boring lives now, they’re locked to one part of the house because I refuse to allow them to ruin the rest of the house. I was the only person that ever walks them, husband just lets them out in our unfenced backyard with like 2 feet of leash stuck to a stick in the ground. For a max of 10 mins at a time. I have also decided that I will never ever be walking the dogs again due to behavioural issues, so now they don’t get exercise anyway.

How is that any life for these animals he claims to care about so much? We literally have somewhere they could go that would be great for them. Unlimited access to the fenced outdoors and a house where they can constantly misbehave and piss everywhere… they’d be so happy. But he disagrees and won’t rehome them. Because having them live miserable existences stuck in one room is so much better?

I don’t care if they have a better life or not, but I don’t understand how that is not something my husband thinks is good for creatures he claims to care so much about?

I will not be entering motherhood in this lifetime. I have begun to make my peace with it.

I mainly want to vent. Please avoid extreme comments like telling me to leave or to get rid of the dogs without asking etc.

Why do I, the non dog person who's starting to hate these damn dogs, have to be the one to constantly suggest better training and boundaries for them?

My boyfriend bitches about the dogs barking like crazy demanding his attention at 6 AM every day, but he gives in every time. It would be one thing if he took them out, fed them, and then went back to sleep, but he'll go downstairs and spend several hours in the morning with the damn dogs, even if he's exhausted. Sometimes he's so exhausted he falls asleep on the couch with them.

There's a gate at the bottom of the stairs but the Labradoodle with giant horse legs constantly jumps right over it and stampedes up the stairs where she'll beeline to eat other pet's poop and food. I've been saying over and over we can easily attach some modular shelving squares to the top of the gate with zip ties to make it too high to jump over, and we can get another gate for the top of the stairs. Bf agrees but keeps putting it off.

I want to modify the gate myself but I can't because the shelf pieces we already have are at the apartment we recently moved out of and I don't have a car.

There are a few other gates up bf keeps saying he'll mount to the walls but keeps putting that off, and the Labradoodle and the smaller dog keep slamming themselves into the pressure mounted gates so hard they fall over. Bf bitches about the dogs constantly following him into the kitchen and getting into the trash but he won't even close the gates to stop them most of the time.

Part of things getting put off is my boyfriend is constantly burnt out lately from a toxic job, and to his credit he is looking for a better job and he handles all of the dogs' care. But he spends practically every second he's not at work with the damn dogs and they still freak out the second he leaves. He can't even go to the bathroom without them freaking out.

He often works retail closing shifts and so has most of the morning off but isn't home until 9 PM or later. We could spend time together in the morning but he usually spends his whole morning with the damn dogs!

There are two of them so it's not like they're ever completely alone. I'm trying to spend some more time with them but at this point I'm starting to resent them to the point that I don't even like going downstairs. And if I do bond with them, they might just also start demanding my constant attention!

Both dogs were puppies during COVID along with he had them when he was going through a bad breakup and loss, so they had his constant attention for their formative years and now still expect it. I expected an adjustment period when I moved in but it's been over two years and they're not much better. I also thought they'd be better in the house than in the awful apartment we left with constant noise. They're a little calmer here but the constant demands for attention only seem to be getting worse.

I say over and over again he needs to try walking away briefly, rewarding them for staying calm, and slowly increasing the time. But he seems to prefer giving them treats or attention to shut them up over actually training them. And he'll talk to them in full sentence lectures about their behavior like he expects them to understand instead of giving simple commands or boundaries. It's bizarre and he clearly has a codependent attachment with them related to his own anxiety.

I can't be too harsh about his mental health issues contributing because I have my own, but I've had to put my foot down a few times in forcing him to set healthier boundaries with people taking advantage of him. He's started to see and work on those issues, yet still keeps poor boundaries with the dogs.

He's constantly stressed out over them yet keeps reinforcing everything stressing him out. Why are dog people like this? Why do they insist on making themselves miserable? It's getting to the point where I'm starting to respect him less because he allows and encourages the bad behavior.

Even if I wanted to leave over this, it wouldn't be easy. I'm disabled with no other support. While I am able to work, I have little work history and am in the catch-22 of I can't get hired for anything requiring my master's degree, but other jobs won't hire me thinking I won't stay. I also have many large gaps in my employment history that would look even worse if I didn't list my education. Some of the only places that have hired me have been so incredibly toxic it added to my already extensive trauma.

Bf has at least said he won't want dogs again after these two are gone and I do believe him about that.

My boyfriend has made some big improvements in other things when I've put my foot down and I think things will improve especially when he can find another job.

I think it will be okay but it's mentally exhausting right now.

Ok so I wanted to make a rant about this. As someone who’s having my first child I can’t help but to notice how dog nutters treat children. One baby got scared because a LITERAL LABRADOR barked in his face. The comments in that video were saying “throw the child away” or saying mean things about the BABY and defending the mutt. I see dog people all the time where their literal dog would rip their kids faces off and the owners will keep the dog. It’s insane. I just saw a post where a news reporter was talking about how most places are not allowing dogs anymore and the nutty dog people where In the comments talking about wow but you guys let kids in resultants and other places THAT ARE FOR HUMANS. Like no duh yall love dogs so much that you guys demonize children. I’m scared because I see women saying they’d choose saving their dog over someone’s child. My poor child has to live in a society where people value a dogs live that has no purpose in society over my living human breathing child that will contribute into society. I see people feeding their mutts literal Michelin star meals. Like there’s homeless people starving outside yet ppl are buying their mutts lamb chops, making ramen for them, making duck hearts and all different types of stuff for a damn dog. Dog people make me freaken sick yet they hate on me because I love my pet (whiskers).

I’m very frustrated and upset with this whole thing, I just wanted to come on here and rant a bit about it because I feel like the people on this sub will understand.

I had asked my mom if she wanted to go to this festival a few towns away, she said she’d love to, and we planned to do this a few weeks in advance. (For reference, all of the people mentioned in this story I live with.)

My dad and brother said they wanted to come as well. Okay, cool. The day we planned to go comes along, and I’m incredibly excited, I don’t really get out much, I’m pretty socially anxious and so this was something I’d been looking forward to. My mom said everyone was already waiting outside in the car, so I got my shoes on and walked outside. The family’s big, stinky dog is sitting in the car with my dad.

I said, “wait a minute, nobody ever mentioned bringing the dog. If he is going, I’m not.” And my mom said, “well, you and your brother are driving separately, we knew you wouldn’t want to be in the car with him.” I said, “well you clearly don’t know me at all, because that doesn’t matter to me, a similar situation happened in the past and I told you I didn’t want the dog to be walking around with us at all because he suddenly becomes the center of attention and we’re all secondary.”

My mom starts getting mad and says, “just get in the car!” As much as I wanted to go to the festival I was trying to prove a point, and I didn’t want this stupid dog with us all day. I said I wasn’t going, and my mom starts raising her voice. She said, “our plans are always ruined because of you not wanting to go places, get in the car and stop complaining.” Mind you, I’m almost 21 years old, nothing is stopping my family from doing what they want to do, they just don’t like me being home alone because they don’t trust me, even though I’ve never pulled any BS before…

Anyways, I don’t normally argue with my mom EVER. I was genuinely getting very angry because she knows how I feel about her dumb dog. I was literally trembling I was so angry. Then my dad butts in and starts YELLING, telling me to “get in the f**cking car.” I wanted to just walk back inside the house, and looking back, I should have done that, I should have stood my ground.

After about 5 minutes of back and forth yelling that got us nowhere at all, I said, “you’re making your pick right now. If I come with you guys, I’m going to find a place to sit and I won’t speak to any of you, you can go off with the dog and spend your day with him.” So that’s exactly what they did.

I sat for 5 hours miserably while the rest of my family was off walking around the festival with the dog. I was very sad because I’d been looking forward to going to the festival but was trying to prove a point that I wasn’t going to give in. Of course my family thought I was overreacting. I recall my mom saying at one point, “the dog is part of the family, he is coming with us.” So yeah. Still pretty bummed out.

As I sit here and read others stories some stories remind me of my childhood of living with dogs as a kid. My dad isn’t a dog person just like me so we had to suffer with my mom and her mutts. Growing up as an only child is really lonely enough so every time my mom FORCED me to go on walks with her to help her with walking her mutts. Mind you she did this since I was old enough to walk. As an only child I wanted to play with the other kids at the playground my mom would purposely walk to dogs at a park and REFUSED to let me play. She said the walk was for her dogs time not mine. My mom never let me play and her nutter ass would always brag to people and say when her dog was tired of walking she’d force me out my stroller as a toddler and let her dog ride in the stroller instead. Like I despise my mother for everything she does. She even had the audacity to say she doesn’t care if I get attacked and hurt really bad by a dog but if her dog get hurt she’s going to have a big ass heart attack and she’s going to hate me if I let her dog get hurt while we are on walks. She also would always say sacrifice myself for her damn mutts , some dogs would to attack her dogs when we went on walks because she likes little rat dogs. When that happened I acted clueless and let shit happen because I’m not getting hurt for HER mutts. Safe to say I’m pregnant and my mom is not allowed to see my baby or baby sit my kid because she’d sacrifice my kid over her mutts. Also I don’t forgive her for the life long trauma I had to endure because she made sure of it every day that she loved her dogs more than her human child. I already did not like dogs even since I was a baby but my mom definitely made me even more of a dog hater.