1. Maribeth bought a purebred dog for $200. Now, juxtapose that event with the fact that we live in a two-bedroom condo. When you live in a condo, your front and back yard is not just yours but also all of your neighbors, and we are in a condo complex with 27 other condo buildings and house around 300 people. Looking back at it, I wonder if I could have prevented it. I doubt it. I knew a week ahead of time that we were going to get a dog. If I had gotten really really upset and let Maribeth know it was completely unacceptable to get a dog, what would have happened? Could I have prevented it?
There was one other problem. Our condo complex has by laws that says “NO PETS”. Getting a goldfish or even a bird is no big deal b/c it doesn’t effect your neighbors. After all, how dirty and how loud can a goldfish get? So when it comes to pets that are in a small place inside a condo, there’s no big deal and is somewhat common. THAT DOESN’T APPLY TO DOGS. Dogs bark. Dogs shit and piss, and when they do, you really really want them to do it outside. But outside is not just your property but your neighbors property too. You think they like having dogshit in their yard??
But according to Maribeth, that was also no problem. The condo was soon passing a by law allowing pets. It would happen as soon as the next meeting. “How can that be?” I wondered. You have to change by laws by all owners voting, not in a single meeting. But then our office manager and chairperson of the condo board likes to pass things quickly so maybe Maribeth was right.
She made it sound easy. The dog was already house trained. It was a puppy, and a puppy will have accidents, but that would be the exception to the rule. She would have her own area where she would eat and sleep. Having this dog as a pet was going to be this smart, thought-out plan.
The puppy, it was already named Mini, made a good 1st impression. It has very short hair so there’s no concerns whatsoever about shedding. It was smart, good looking dog. Yet, I was disabused of the idea of this being a well-managed affair about 2 days later. The kids came home and were responsible insofar as they had taken it out 2 or 3 times in the space of 6 hours. The dog still managed to shit in our condo twice and pee several times too. Mini followed a pattern where when Maribeth was at work things were worse than when Maribeth was at home with the dog. The difference wasn’t that Maribeth takes the dog outside, and the kids don’t. The kids have been pretty responsible about this, and they really want to make this work. The difference is that Maribeth will mop up the floor, dispose of wetted papers quicker than they do. The difference is the house smells worse when I come home from work and Maribeth is still working. I’m trying to make this work, too! Maribeth was surprised that I would take the dog out to “go to the bathroom”. Really?? You think I want the dog to shit and piss in our condo? You think I want our condo to smell like a urinal? Yes, I take the dog out on a daily basis. I get upset with the dog, but you can hardly blame the dog. Mini is just being an animal.
Meanwhile, we soon found out that Maribeth was absolutely wrong on the whole condo situation. The by laws are not going to be changed to allow pets for at least a few months. And the by laws would only be changed through a concerted effort were well over 60% of the owners approved of dogs. Not all of them do. We were reported by 4 different neighbors to my friend who is a chairperson on the board. She emailed me with a note saying, “please tell me you don’t have a dog.” I adopted the excuse that Maribeth came up with which is the following: the dog isn’t really ours, it’s Maribeth’s dad’s dog. Unfortunately, her dad, being 82 yrs. old, has gotten very sick and can’t take care of the dog. The excuse worked and has been working for about a month. I still feel really embarassed when I take the dog out. We are so blatantly violating the by laws! Everytime the dog barks and can be heard, everytime she prances around the condo complex, I just want to crawl away someplace and not be seen by anyone. It’s an embarassment.
We started out with the dog sleeping in the space that we reserved it. Is she sleeping there anymore? FUCK NO! Now, I've been forced to compromising and allowing the dog to sleep on the living room couch. But the dog's goal is to sleep in a bed, and the dog sometimes succeeds! It so pisses me off. I am not used to living, breathing, eating and sleeping 24 hours under the same roof as a dog. Never had to put up with this in the 46 yrs. I been on Planet Earth. The point is that Maribeth loves her dog and loves sleeping with it. This only happens once a week or so, but it’s bad enough.
This brings me back to the very first sentence of this blog. This morning was one of those unfortunate times when Maribeth, dog & I were in the same bed. I had watched TV late and didn’t get into bed until early morning, and for some reason, it didn’t feel quite right to kick the dog out of bed when she had been there most of the night. So, I got into bed. From left to right it was me, Maribeth and dog. I had a decent amount of room, struggled to find enough pillows and tried to sleep. Pretty soon, Maribeth was crowding me and pushing me to the very margin of the bed. I pushed a little, but it left me fantasizing. If had a thumtack where she was pushing maybe she wouldn’t push so hard. But then she was pushing all across my body and realized I would need a lot of thumb tacks. At that point, I fantasized about being a porcupine. Then I got out of bed and realized that Maribeth was giving the dog more room than she was giving me.
BUT WAIT A MINUTE! IT JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE! This morning, she was happy that the dog peed on our 3rd floor balcony. I told her that was absolutely unacceptable, we have a neighbor on the 2nd floor, and we are not going to have dog pee dripping onto her balcony. A co-worker is in the middle of an apartment fight over that very same issue!! We spent years cultivating what is a very good relationship with our neighbor. Her son and our son are best friends. We are going to piss all that away on our stupid dog?? She told me she was tired of mopping the floor on a daily basis because of the dog.
No kidding? If she had a backyard, we wouldn’t have this damn problem. Her dad’s actual dog has a backyard. Instead of peeing where she is and stinking up the whole house, she pees outside and makes the lawn greener with the nitrogen in her pee.
Maribeth doesn’t consider that. Our daughter, Brianna asked for a dog. She also asked for a cat. Now, sitting here kicking myself and wishing we had gotten a cat. If we did, there would have been no way we would have gotten a dog. So, Brianna really wanted a dog. She was supposed to act like an adult, a parent. She was supposed to say "no" if our kids, specifically, Brianna, made an unreasonable request. She was supposed to be a responsible parent. & she caved in and let her have this dog. But really, Maribeth wanted the dog too. Because she was friends with the person she bought the dog from. (Sal, Baby SAL!!!!!!!!!!)
What reasonable adult gets a dog and that dog has no backyard no place to run around outside. We aren't talking about a little Pomeranian or some dog under 5 pounds. We are talking about a puppy that is well over 20 pounds full of energy. & it is cooped up in a condo. WHAT THE HELL???!!!!!
Partners who make stupid decisions......I guess I should consider myself lucky that Maribeth isn’t one of those types who runs off with a 20something hairdresser. & I think I finally convinced her this morning not to let the dog pee on the balcony.
You know, it’s sad. Because Maribeth and I work together much better than the way we used to. We have moments where we embarrass ourselves by getting so angry at each other. At that point, the kids are more sensible than we are and let us know how stupid we are acting. But the bottom line is we are more financially stable, our kids are happier with 2 parents under the same roof (as opposed to when we were separated), the bills are paid and we function better. Why did she have to make things worse with this damn dog?
