I have lived with my in-laws for over 3 years now. Since then I have had 2 children. I have a 3 year-old little girl [potty training] and a 15-month old boy [crawler]. My in-laws have a chihuahua. This chihuahua has caused me great stress since day 1 of living here. Beyond his loud and blood-curdling sounds nature, he has a problem with urinating in specific places in the house.
This dog used to be house-trained and would go outside to relieve himself. There used to be another dog here that would go with him. Then another dog moved in and was very territorial and started peeing on everything and that made our current territorial dog regress and start peeing everywhere. Now the other two dogs are gone and we are left with a chihuahua who still pees in the house. He only has three specific places he goes (sometimes more if it's raining): The pantry doorway, the powder room doorway, and the bottom of the refrigerator.
Now moving in with my in-laws I basically got a crash-course in the fact that some people run a home and just live differently. I have put aside a lot of my own ways of living just to adhere to how they live (i.e.; separating recycling, doing certain things around the kitchen that i find unnecessary but its how they like it.)
Now onto the real problem that keeps me awake at night sometimes: Since my daughter turned 2 and i had a newborn I have been more adamant and consistent in cleaning up those spots the dog likes to pee because A) My daughter is allowed to used the bathroom in her home and should not have to step over pee; B) My baby will be crawling and since this is his home too, we shouldn't have to circumvent urine in order for him to explore and play. Now I have voiced my reasoning as to why I find that it's necessary to clean the urine as soon as we see it and everyone has agreed. So I have a method of every morning I do a "pee sweep" and check the usual places and clean it up. Every time I clean up this pee, I can just feel my face get hot and I well up with frustration and anger and I'm pretty pissed off for a couple of minutes. I usually vent to my husband about it and he tells me he'll help. Everyone tells me they'll help, but yet I'm still seeing it every day and cleaning it every day.
Now I'm used to standing a distance from the pantry when I want to eat something just because I'm used to standing away because I want to avoid pee. I'm used to stepping over the doorway of the powder room because I don't want to step in pee. I'm an adult and I know to look out for these things. I've told my MiL before that Yeah, maybe if I lived here and didn't have kids that I might be able to ignore it sometimes because I know better to not step in it, but my kids don't. Again I was met with her agreeing with me.
It finally happened. My daughter said she had to go potty so I told her to go to the toilet and I'll meet her to wipe. As I turn the corner to the hallway wi th the bathroom, I see it. A yellow puddle perfectly shaped to my daughter's foot. Fortunately everyone was asleep except for my husband who I insisted he clean it up while I cleaned off her foot. That's all he did. He didn't check the pantry and low-and-behold when I go to get breakfast, there's a dried up puddle right there in the doorway of the pantry.
Sorry I'm starting to go on a tangent now. I've told my husband several times that I'm at my limit. I can't just keep putting it aside when it bothers me so much. My in-laws are nothing but giving and nice to me, and in turn I am always nice, clean up after myself as much as possible, I even clean up after them without complaint because I love them. But. this. dog!!
Anytime we have had any disagreements it's been about the dog! I can't even say that we've even had "disagreements" because everyone always agrees with me! Then why am I still the one cleaning it up for my kids?? My MiL tells me to TELL HER when I see the puddles. I've told her numerous times that it makes me uncomfortable to tell her so and that if I see it I'm just going to get it. I want her to see it before me. Like jesus, lady, the dog sleeps with you! Check the usual spots before you go to bed because that's when he does it!!
So now our house has mice and my FiL set up mouse-traps and caught 2 mice last night in the matter of a few hours. SO one mouse got away, but no scotch-free, he obviously caught a limb and now there's dried up blood on the floor downstairs that I get to go clean up ALONG with dried up dog pee on the floor. Do I seriously have to get on my hands and knees and beg for some help in cleaning up the dog pee? Should the responsibility of the dog pee be solely on my hands because it's only me who's bothered by it? Am I crazy and people just let their dogs pee everywhere?
Now I will say I live in a big house in a nice neighborhood. It's a 5 bed/3 bath house with a game room. We live in a heavily wooded area. Besides the bog pee my mother-in-law is kind of like a pack-rat/not exactly hoarder. I keep the house as clean as I can but I just can't with this dog anymore.
Would I be wrong to have an "It's me or the dog" discussion with my in-laws or is that not fair?
I am so heated right now I'm sorry if this is kind of rambling I tried to be precise and descriptive. I am seriously at the end of my rope and I'm really not trying to go crazy on my in-laws because I really do love them and want to keep peace!
tl;dr: Chihuahua pees around the house. Have tried to be understanding but I can't subject my kids to being around it anymore. Being nice isn't working. What can I do?
Submitted November 28, 2016 at 09:55PM by seb4790 http://ift.tt/2fEOB4J relationships
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