Dog hair in food

[Hooverthestairs]

My SIL is lovely. We used to have family dinners with her a lot at her house. It's been less frequent due to schedules but recently they have started back up again.

SIL has an old dog. He is very sweet. I've always slightly resented the fact that he has never been groomed in his life, because whenever I have gone there, I get completely covered in dog hair (I know dogs still shed if groomed but it would help with the dead hair build up), substantially worse than if I am around or in the homes of dogs who are groomed. I've always had to select between wearing crap clothes that I don't mind getting covered, which I then tidy up when I'm home, or looking more presentable.

Recently this has got worse and now if he so much as brushed against you for a second, you also get covered in dander (white dusty stuff) this does not come off with a lint roller and only in the washing machine.

For the last 2 dinners there, I've had to pull dog hair out of my food.

I don't have an issue with dogs, I have one myself. I don't mind a little bit of dog hair on me. But it's got a bit much (literally hand fulls on you if he brushes against you, nevermind if you sit on the sofa) and now with the food.

DH isn't bothered.

What would you do?

Also SIL will not do things like put him in a different room when cooking as she thinks it's unfair (I've asked for a different reason recently and was told no)

That sounds disgusting!

Dog lover here and former owner of a v hairy shedding dog. It really annoys me when people don't groom their hairy dogs, as it makes the dog feel so much more comfortable not to be carrying all that dead hair.

Your question is what would we do. I would honestly refuse to go there, and tell my husband that he sorts it out with his sister. All he has to do is say Sis, we'd love to come for dinner but the dog situation is ridiculous. You need to groom the poor dog and keep him out the kitchen while you're cooking.

I mean, surely she's aware of the mess the dog makes of her guests? Does she really think that's okay?

As I say, I love my dogs but with dog ownership comes responsibility.

I agree, she moans about his increased itching, I have said to her it might be because of the dead hair etc but she takes no notice.

DH has spoken to her about grooming him before as he said we were going to clear out some of our dog things, would she like a brush and then they spoke about it. She said he hasn't been groomed before and I don't need to start doing it now. I think this was when he was about 8/9? He's now 14.

She is absolutely against shutting him out of the kitchen at any point and says it's cruel. He doesn't have separation issues.

The ironic thing is is that our dog is very licky and she doesn't like that, so we don't let him do that to her when she is at our house by redirecting him away so we are able to respect her wishes with our dog.

I think I'm the only member of our rather large family that doesn't like the hair in the food.

Oh god that’s just disgusting 2 labs here & I am paranoid about it, very careful to ensure that it doesn’t happen. I have been served soup garnished with dog hair in the past and 🤢
To be honest I would be making a show of removing any hairs I found and pushing the food away, maybe not the first time, but at this point …

Poor dog.

Stop going there! If you have a dog you need to keep him/her clean, brushed etc. I have a large, hairy dog who has the run of downstairs but he’s groomed. We don’t get hair in our food. Yuck.

I think l will have to have another chat with DH about it. Unfortunately this could potentially cause drama with the wider family. I'm just fed up of coming home totally gross. And I won't wash those clothes with any of our other things or it goes across all of our washing.
I have found dog hair dissolver that you can put in the washing machine which is good.

I agree and feel really sorry for the dog. They are the sort of folks that think loving a dog is enough to make it ok when you don't meet all of its other welfare needs. So basic husbandry like grooming and dental care don't happen (he doesn't have many teeth left), vets appointments are emergency only, and so on.

I mean, the dog needs brushing, it’s just basic dog care.

But, IME dogs don’t need to be in the kitchen to get hair in food, I’ve found my dog’s fur on a plate in a restaurant, it’d clearly been on me somewhere.