I love my dog, but I don't LIKE her

[Radosti]

We have 3 dogs and 3 cats. We ran a dog rescue prior to having kids. Over the years, we had housebroken over 60-70 dogs/puppies from all walks of life. I have never been able to housebreak Misty. She is now 11 years old. She is the sweetest dog ever. A complete lovebug. She would be a cherished member of the family if she ever got it through her head that housebreaking is an important part of living in a hygienic environment.

I have never had a dog live past 12 years old. I bet Misty will be 20 before she goes. She's had 6 episodes of highly aggressive cancer, and we get the tumors removed. Each time the tumor is fully excised and she is fine. Not that I would ever let her suffer... but she will be the one to live forever.

My house was built with hardwood floors with her in mind. Still, my parents INSISTED on gifting us a really nice and expensive persian rug. That rug is beyond destroyed, like I told them it would be. My steam cleaner is used much more than a house with hardwood would warrant.

She loves kids, I used to joke that she was always dissapointed in us that we did not have kids soon enough for her liking. She is so good with them. Why oh why can't she be housebroken??? Silly stubborn Italian Greyhound.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I feel the same way about my 11yo cat at the moment, though it has gotten better in the past few days. For about a week she was not using her litter boxes at all. She has been pooping around the house off and on since winter but she added peeing last week. Totally not cool. I don't know why she did it but I am glad she has taken a few days from it (though, maybe she just found some sneaky new place to do it that I just haven't discovered yet, like the poop under the tiny space under the basement stairs. blech).

I am sorry you're havomg a tough time with your four legged family member.

Beth

[hellokitty]

I feel the same way about our min pin. She is a sweetheart, ok with kids (not great, but she tolerates them), considering that she was already an old dog when we had kids. She can be so frustrating to deal with at times and I think part of it is anxiety (always been a very quirky, high strung dog... but then most min pins are like that). She's 15 yrs old and still going strong. I know she won't have much time left, and after she passes, we probably won't be getting another dog again, b/c I feel bad when we have to travel and she gets boarded at the vet's.

[maylips]

Another sympathizer with you. Our English Springer Spaniel (a rescue) drives me crazy with her neurosis....she can't stand to be more than 1 foot away from you and the erosion of personal space is stifling. Still, she lets DD pull, tug, squeeze and do all kinds of mean things to her while just staring at me lovingly. I just have to get past the other issues and be glad she has a sweet heart.

Of course, our basset hound died of cancer at 4 years and we had a Great Dane for 7 years before she got cancer and they were both wonderful dogs. However, I'm sure this one will outlive them by a good 6-7 years because she does drive me nuts.

[specialp]

Don't feel bad. It's hard to like them when your cleaning up after them all the time.

My 17 year old cat . . . it's his time and we've got to take him to the vet this week or next to be put down. The bad part is that I've cleaned up after him so much that I'm not as sad as I think I should be. Now that we have a date in mind when DH & I can both go, I am getting sad, but I was feeling so guilty for my feelings of relief that it was going to be over soon.

My mother was never a fan of us having pets, though we always did. I understand her so much better now. Moms, afterall, end up doing the bulk of the clean up. After this, I've told DH it'll be a couple of decades before I can handle another one. And I am not kidding.

[Momof3Labs]

I had a cat who puked at least daily who was like that. He had such a wonderful personality (including with the kids) that spared him, but we also bought a house with all hardwoods (and put down no rugs) just because of him. He's gone now and I miss him - but I don't miss the clean up.

Your girl is lucky to have you! Not many people would put up with that!

[sarahsthreads]

I am *so* there with you. My 9 year old golden is housetrained, but so anxiety ridden that she makes messes in the house on a regular basis. (She's on meds for this, and it's better now - at most there's only one mess a day.) Plus she seems to be becoming incontinent while she sleeps. Our family room carpet and sofa are so incredibly smelly and are beyond cleaning help at this point. In fact, when she passes and we rip out the carpet we're most likely going to need to replace the sub-flooring as well.

I love her, and I'm going to be very sad when she's gone, but I will not miss the messes. And I don't like her very much when I find new messes. :( Our steam cleaner gets quite the workout too.

The hardest part is that DH has allergies, so when Molly goes, and then Murphy (our lab-mix-mutt who's 7), that's probably going to be it for us for dogs. So I'm trying hard to enjoy the furry family, even with the frustration of near daily messes...

Sarah

[twowhat?]

That's wonderful that you were involved in rescue. That's something I would love to do if I didn't have kids:) Our 2 dogs are both from rescues. One wasn't adopted for more than 2 years and is the best dog ever. The other was adopted and returned and she is the best dog ever too.

Maybe your iggy was confined to a crate in his early years and had to poop/pee where he slept. So sad! Anyway...what about doggie diapers? :) I bet you could even find a SAHM cloth diaper maker to custom make a few for you.

[elektra]

I hear ya! I was just away on vacation for two weeks and one of the most relaxing parts of the vaca was that there were no dogs to deal with!

[Ceepa]

:grouphug:

For all of us who make animals a part of our families through thick and thin. Last night I was awakened three times by animal politics. And just now I cleaned up a big hairball. The SpotBot gets a workout.

[sarahsthreads]

OK, I couldn't help but think of this thread while I cleaned up three piles of dog puke this morning. Molly's apparently got an upset tummy - at least she went for the hard flooring for two out of the three spots. Oh, and she's only still alive because she missed my Ju Ju Be by *inches*!

Dogs. It's a darn good thing they're cute sometimes...

Sarah :)