aprilcait
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2006
- Messages
- 788
Let me preface my post by saying that I am a big time dog lover. I grew up with dogs and can''t wait to get one of my own. The floppier and dopier the dog, the better.
My problem: SIL has two big, poorly behaved dogs who are a PITA to walk. Not only do they have poor leash training and are picky #1 and #2''ers, but they snarl and bark at bikers, other dogs, joggers... basically any passersby. They''re not violent, but it''s embarrassing and frustrating to walk them considering their poor training. We’ve tried encouraging her to take them to dog training classes, as there are a number of places that offer them nearby, but SIL takes great offense to such suggestions. You see, SIL regards the pups as her children… even more so than before, now that she and her husband are splitting up. She gets them doggie facials, takes them to doggie spas, gourmet doggie treats, they have a vast doggie wardrobe, etc.
Whenever SIL goes away she assumes that hubby and I will take care of the dogs. Meaning, she asks us to dog-sit for her expecting us to say "yes". Before hubby and I had our own place, this was fine; we''d stay at SIL''s house while she was away so that we could house-sit and dog-sit for her. Now, though, hubby and I have our own place and a busy schedule. We''ve dog-sat for her a few times since we''ve had our own place but it was frustrating to have to drive over to her house (15 minutes from us) numerous times a day to walk the pups.
Anyway, SIL just emailed hubby and me asking us to dog-sit for her next weekend. The way she asks is "will you be in town next weekend?" What I want to say is: "Yes, we will be in town, but do we want to walk your snarling picky-pooper pups? Not so much." Yeah, I know I can''t and won''t say that. How do we turn her down nicely? Hubby wants to agree to dog-sit just to appease SIL. What do you think? Suggestions?