Dog Lover Husband and Me?

Posted April 29th, 2010 by admin




I love animals and I have respect for them. But, I’m not much of a pet owner. It’s just not my thing. However, my fiance loves animals and has two cats and a Pitbull. I’ve actually come to like the cats and we’re taking one with us to our new home. The other cat is staying with his current roommate, because he’s grown very attached to him.

I love his dog, but he’s huge and sheds everywhere. I have mild allergies to pet dander and I’m very worried about the hair everywhere. I work full-time and I’m also a grad student and I attend class 3 nights a week. So, I’m not home very often to clean and with his dog, you need to vacuum at least twice a day.

Our new home has a very large, unfinished and heated basement. Is it too much to ask for the dog to stay in the basement when we’re not home during the day? It will cut down drastically on the dog hair. In addition, his dog has been known to knock over the garbage can and make a huge mess. One time, at my fiance’s apartment, he wanted something on the kitchen table and pulled the whole tablecloth off to get it. My fiance came home from work to find a huge mess!

I would allow the dog to be upstairs when we’re home, but when we go out, I’d like to put downstairs. There is tons of room and we could get him lots of chew toys and a dog bed. We could put his food bowl and water dish down there.

Like I said, I’m not a pet person and I know people are very protective of their animals and how they’re cared for. Does this sound unreasonable to any pet lovers? I don’t want to come across as a cold-hearted witch.
The dog is about 90 pounds. He’s too large to crate for a long period of time.




8 Responses to “Dog Lover Husband and Me?”

  1. philospher77

    I see that you call him your "fiance". Personally, I think you two need to sit down and have a long, serious talk about pets. Right now you are talking about putting his dog in the basement when you aren’t home. How are you going to feel about having the dog around when you have a baby, or toddlers running around? What are you going to do when he wants to bring home another pet? How are you going to feel when you have been planning a family holiday for the last several months, and he wants to spend that money on emergency medical care for the dog?

    Seriously, to me people’s opinions about pets need to coincide as much as their opinions on kids, religion, and whether women should be stay-at-home moms or not. Otherwise you are going to be several years in the marriage and suddenly have huge sources of friction, which could result in tearing you two apart, and would be unfair to any kids you two had. You may need to seriously think about whether this is the right person for you, or if you are the right person for him.

  2. Christ is the reason for X-Mas

    If you have a suitable basement I see no reason why your dog can not stay down there while you are away from the home. Make sure he has a bed, toys and some water. You also want to make sure there is nothing he can get into down there.

  3. Mary

    I would say, get him a crate for when no body is home and then let him out when you are.

  4. Mel

    You’re very sensitive and kind to address the problem with your spouse in mind. Why don’t you talk to him? Tell him about your allergies, and that if you two were to plan it out, you would prefer that the dog stays in a prepared area of the basement, or other solutions to his shedding.

  5. Fluent in French

    Don’t recommend the basement–could be damp and cold–but why not a dog crate? I do this all the time and just love it.

  6. marci knows best

    A heated unfinished basement sounds like the perfect place to keep the dog during the day. Much more humane than sticking the poor dog in a crate, and since he clearly has no house manners, the basement sounds perfect.

    Plus pitbulls have a high prey drive, so it is much safer for the cat

  7. christie_and_a_little_pibble

    I think it’s perfectly fine to limit the dog to one area when you are gone. It’s safer for your dog and your kitchen can! ;) A dog in a new place can be scary for him, and he might be nervous and have accidents or chew something that could hurt him. AS long as you put toys, chews, and a pillow down there for him i’m sure he’ll like it.

  8. New Yorker

    I don’t see anything wrong with that, It’s better than the crate thing, hate that. Some of these people should be crated. Anyways, just so long as the dog is getting allot of walks, exercise and attention, I think it sounds good.

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