Eichhörnchen
08-26-21, 12:12 PM
In my wife's family the male members' views are often ignored when they conflict with those of the women. I'm pretty lucky really, in that the two of us see eye to eye on most things... although she'll occasionally gang up on me with her mother
Now I sit on a hard chair at the table when we go around to her mother's, while everyone else sits on comfy sofas, while her two yapping cockapoo dogs are allowed to climb all over them... especially their heads... mouthing, nibbling and thrusting tongues into their mouths. During this time I continue to sit morose across the room, my suggestions for how they might be trained ignored, making myself more and more unpopular: "Oh he does that to me... he just wants his chest rubbed" she says
"Yes and he gets his chest rubbed by asserting himself over you", I say
She tells them to get down and sometimes they do... then they'll straightaway resume climbing all over the victim. Finally, all attempts to order them down are abandoned. But the family all seem to love this... they're all "doggy" people. But they would all still admit that Moira's father (God rest him) would not have tolerated it himself and would have put his foot right down. I can't... it's not my house and they're not my dogs
The loudest of the two yappers will lay on her belly if her ball rolls under a chair or table and emit an ear-splitting row until the person nearest retrieves it and rewards her by throwing it again... after which it rolls under another chair and the whole thing is repeated. Sometimes no-one fetches the ball and the dog is allowed to just yap and yap and yap, drowning out all conversation. Someone might then call her by name in a pleading voice, as though they really do believe that animals can take hints.
Of course, I never touch the ball. Me? I would simply take the bloody ball and put it in the bloody bin... job done... no more yapping. And if there was any more then the dog would be bundled outside. This would happen every time one of them climbed onto or snogged a guest, or made a row, until they learned not to. Why's it all seem so simple to me and yet they just allow it to happen? I only go around there for short stays now, preferring to drop Moira off and come back later
Yesterday I stood in the kitchen trying to talk to my mother in law and all the while this bloody poodle thing was hopping up & down all around me, pawing and scratching. "Get down... he doesn't want it!" She said, but it continued on and on until I finally had to leave the room. Why wasn't the bloody thing carted out and the door shut so I could talk? I really feel that it's disrespectful: if I had dogs then they'd be put somewhere else while "non dog-loving" friends or relatives visited. I don't dislike dogs, by the way, and am only too happy when Moira's friend's dog Bob stays with us now and again for a few days when they go away. Bob is a joy... a sweet, docile and quiet animal
This morning Moira got a call from her mother and her face dropped. "Whaaat?!" She said "Oh no, you're kidding!" I couldn't hear what had been said... maybe someone had died? The signal fell out for a while so I asked what awful thing had happened. "Mum's had a formal complaint about the dogs barking". My reaction? Well I laughed my bloody socks off and of course hopped up and down around the room
Now I sit on a hard chair at the table when we go around to her mother's, while everyone else sits on comfy sofas, while her two yapping cockapoo dogs are allowed to climb all over them... especially their heads... mouthing, nibbling and thrusting tongues into their mouths. During this time I continue to sit morose across the room, my suggestions for how they might be trained ignored, making myself more and more unpopular: "Oh he does that to me... he just wants his chest rubbed" she says
"Yes and he gets his chest rubbed by asserting himself over you", I say
She tells them to get down and sometimes they do... then they'll straightaway resume climbing all over the victim. Finally, all attempts to order them down are abandoned. But the family all seem to love this... they're all "doggy" people. But they would all still admit that Moira's father (God rest him) would not have tolerated it himself and would have put his foot right down. I can't... it's not my house and they're not my dogs
The loudest of the two yappers will lay on her belly if her ball rolls under a chair or table and emit an ear-splitting row until the person nearest retrieves it and rewards her by throwing it again... after which it rolls under another chair and the whole thing is repeated. Sometimes no-one fetches the ball and the dog is allowed to just yap and yap and yap, drowning out all conversation. Someone might then call her by name in a pleading voice, as though they really do believe that animals can take hints.
Of course, I never touch the ball. Me? I would simply take the bloody ball and put it in the bloody bin... job done... no more yapping. And if there was any more then the dog would be bundled outside. This would happen every time one of them climbed onto or snogged a guest, or made a row, until they learned not to. Why's it all seem so simple to me and yet they just allow it to happen? I only go around there for short stays now, preferring to drop Moira off and come back later
Yesterday I stood in the kitchen trying to talk to my mother in law and all the while this bloody poodle thing was hopping up & down all around me, pawing and scratching. "Get down... he doesn't want it!" She said, but it continued on and on until I finally had to leave the room. Why wasn't the bloody thing carted out and the door shut so I could talk? I really feel that it's disrespectful: if I had dogs then they'd be put somewhere else while "non dog-loving" friends or relatives visited. I don't dislike dogs, by the way, and am only too happy when Moira's friend's dog Bob stays with us now and again for a few days when they go away. Bob is a joy... a sweet, docile and quiet animal
This morning Moira got a call from her mother and her face dropped. "Whaaat?!" She said "Oh no, you're kidding!" I couldn't hear what had been said... maybe someone had died? The signal fell out for a while so I asked what awful thing had happened. "Mum's had a formal complaint about the dogs barking". My reaction? Well I laughed my bloody socks off and of course hopped up and down around the room