A little while back we had a little stray dog show up at out house. We tried all we could to find the owner. We called animal control, the local shelters, took her to a vet to see if she had a chip, posted in online communities, and went door to door. Surprisingly we couldn't find an owner.
We decided to keep her. She is a small breed mix. At first it seemed like she was fitting in just fine. Then we found out she came to us pregnant. A couple of months later she had two puppies. I did not want to keep them, but my wife wouldn't even have a discussion about giving them a new home. We never sat down and discussed the ramifications of keeping 3 dogs. As per usual, I just caved.
That was 3 years ago.
Since then, they have not been to the vet regularly, they are not registered in our city because that exceded the allowable number of dogs for our area. She only bathes them when my complaints of smell gets annoying to her.Their nails onlyu get clipped when I can do them and after the "clicking" of long nails fill the house with hardwood ear-killers. They are NOT trained. She only walks them after I bring it up and usually only for a day or two. She has only recently started training one of them. He is doing well, but 3 years of being "wild" is hard to break. The mom is a good fit, and I really like the other 2, but the entire situation is now beyond an issue now.
She does not clean their poop out of the yard on any regular basis. (It's too cold, it's going to snow, it's too wet outside, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll pay the kids to do it.) We have totally lost our newly fenced in backyard to garbage, feces, and barking maniacs whenever anything gets within 20 yards of our fence. (we live in a planned community.) The dogs, and rodents, all have their own room in the house. Her office houses them and all the smells that go along with an unkempt animal room. It is DISGUSTING. I am in the middle of replacing all the floors in the house, mostly due to all the carpet being ruined by mud and urine. Their muddy prints all over the new house only get cleaned when I am so far beyond frustrated and blow up in a fit of "new rules and consequences." I never follow up with the consequences because I am a pushover. The total number of animals in our home are 3 dogs, 2 Guinea pigs, 1 bird, and 2 cats. I take care of the bird and cats.
She leaves for work trips a few times a year. I do get money for "watching" them while she's gone, but I'm tired of taking on the responsibility while she's home, and it magnifies the frustrations when she leaves town. I have reached the point that I am a stone wall when she asks for me to watch them and make her upset when I say she needs to figure it out on her own. She says she'll just cancel her work trip if I can't do it for her.
I know I am being manipulated and I can't help it. I'm worried about the long-term welfare of these animals and that's why I step in. It is always an argument between us, but these animals don't deserve it.
I love my wife very much, but this is literally pushing our marriage down a path of destruction and has for the last 3 years. I have asked to go to counseling but she doesn't want to go. I'd turn the animals in, but that would cause a huge professional problem for her. I would take care of them, but they are far more of a burden than I ever want/wanted to take on and I was very open to that fact.
I do love the animals, but do not like the lack of care these animals, in my opinion, are receiving and I'm not willing to take over.
Please help.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/aus1ig/discussion_dogs_owner_ruining_my_life/
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