I'm fucked. My wife let our daugther get a fucking dog.

[HeiressofBickworth]

40. I feel your frustration

My daughter, her husband and my granddaughter live with me. We have three cats who are pretty indifferent to each other. About two years ago, granddaughter asked me what I thought of her getting a dog. She was 18 at the time. I told her that I thought it was a bad idea, that she would be moving out at some time and probably wouldn't be able to take the dog; that with both her parents working, that leaves me at home all day to take care of a dog and, frankly, I don't want to take care of a dog.

A week later she showed me the dog she bought. It is a chiweenie which means he is a barker. A year later, just as I predicted, she moved to an apartment with two friends and of course the dog is here. My son-in-law often works at home half-days and the dog stays around him when he is here, but the rest of the time, you guessed it -- I'm taking care of the dog. When he was a puppy, he needed to go outside every 2 hours. He is now up to 4 hours. He hates to be alone so when they all leave for work at o'dark thirty, he comes in and wakes me up so he has someone to be with; he brings a toy. When they go on vacation, I'm here with him ALL the time. He likes to get up about 4:00 to potty. He barks at everything that comes down the street -- cars, people, cats and whatever his imagination provides for him to bark at. I would put up drapes or blinds across the window, but he would probably have them shredded in no time.

On the plus side, he is affectionate and now that he's no longer a puppy, he never potties in the house. I don't hate him; I tolerate him. The cats ignore him. His preferred attachments are (in order) my son-in-law, my granddaughter, my daughter, and if there is absolutely no other human in the house, me. It seems to be working, but just between DU and me, I'd really rather not have a dog.