Big Girl Panties

You should let Dad talk to her because she doesn't listen to you. You show us more respect than she shows you. They all agreed.

That was the consensus of my children in reference to how my mother speaks to me and respects my wishes in regards to my children, my animals, my home. So I thought about this and decided that it wasn't cool. I'm an adult. She will have to start showing me respect or she won't be in my home. I don't have to explain anything. It's my house. And even in hers, she's not talking to me like that anymore.

So yes, I discussed my mother's dog with my mother. You see, we allowed my mother to bring her NON-HOUSEBROKEN dog to our house over Christmas with the following rules:

* No pee pads on the floor (she ALMOST always makes on the pad).
* No defecating on my floor (she just goes where she wants and my mother cleans it up).
* Playpen or crate when she is not being held or played with (to avoid the two previous problems).

My mother followed none well. Although I will say that she took her dog out more than she normally would have (fear she might run off or that my big dogs would frighten her ... no, she was not allowed to HIT MY DOGS WITH THE CANE SHE BROUGHT WITH HER ... you know, just in case they got too close and frightened her dog).

Soooooooooo ... her dog urinated in three spots in my daughter's room, one spot outside my daughter's room, and six spots in one of the boys' room. While I knew she had wet in two of the rooms, I was under the impression that it was one small spot in each. It wasn't until two days ago I knew the amount in my daughter's room and hallway and yesterday that I knew about my son's room (yeah, I've been a bit TIRED and all and just finally got up there to clean my carpets, if I had known...). As a result I spent FOUR HOURS scrubbing up the carpets.

Now SHE says it was MY dogs.

Okay, well, there were no spot in the carpet before she showed up. I know this because the carpets were cleaned before she came. There were no new spots after she left. And the spots would show up in the morning.

Somehow I doubt that my evil chiuaua and toy poodle, which sleep in my room at night, figured out how to open the bedroom door, ran up stairs, wizzed all over the carpets, ran back down stairs, and then shut the bedroom door ...

ALL FOR THE SAKE OF FRAMING HER DOG!

Although it is a funny thought.

So the rules now are:

* The dog does NOT sleep in bed with her. My daughter doesn't want the dog in her bed and it IS her bed. Plus she jumps down and pees everywhere.
* The dog's feet do NOT step foot on my carpet upstairs. At least I'm still ALLOWING her upstairs as my dogs are not. She will be carried up and put in the playpen, and then carried down.
* NO PEE PADS! The dog WILL be crated or in the playpen when she isn't being held or played with.

She said that she wished she had known this sooner because she would have mailed my children's their Easter things (my husband DID speak to her over a week ago about the no pee pad thing and the dog wizzing on the carpet). But yes, she would choose to not visit instead of following the rules for her dog.

And if she doesn't follow these rules, she will be told to leave. My husband doesn't even want the dog in his house at all. Neither do I, in all honesty. However, we are trying to work through this for her and are compromising. I would never even THINK about smoking in her home (I don't smoke anymore, but even if I did, I wouldn't do it). Yet she has no problem with her dog pottying in my home. Her home, her rules (how many times did I hear this one growing up).

Well guess what, this is OUR home ... OUR rules.

That includes her dog too.

Heaven help us,

~*~*~Krystal~*~*~