After dogs - anyone ever said no more dogs and stuck to it with no regrets?

[ThatsABitExcessive]

I feel a bit guilty posting this but anyway - I really regret getting dogs. I have two - 9 and 6 years old. The eldest is lovely, he’s an absolute breeze and spend most of his time sleeping but he completely destroyed our house in his younger years - pissing and shitting everywhere until he was 6 years old. He would piss up furniture and has ruined a coffee table, a dining room table and a computer desk doing this as well as ruining multiple flooring beyond repair. On top of this he ruined two sofas, two doors and the stair banister. Nothing has been replaced or repaired as there is just no point whilst he’s still with us.

Our youngest barks constantly, I can’t have windows or doors open as she’ll bark at the slightest noise. We have lovely patio doors onto the garden but can never use them. She doesn’t destroy things though and is a clean dog apart from the constant shedding. Dog hair absolutely everywhere, even upstairs where she isn’t allowed.

im getting to the point where I daydream about being dog less - clean tidy house, no holes in the sofa, no smell, patio doors wide open - has anyone else been through this? I love them of course but I’ll never get another. Everyone says I will - but I don’t think I’ll go back on if this time.

Another bug bear - fancy a quick weekend away? Kennels “that will be £100 please” costs more to put the dogs in kennels than the bloody break costs 😂

When the last of our three dogs died I said no especially as the kids had grown up and moved away so we could do things spontaneously.
Then DSis bought a dog which I thought was stupid as she owned a flat in a luxury block with a no pets rule but she thought she could get round the committee .
Guess who ended up with it

As a follow up to my original reply… nope we didn’t stick to it 😂.

After our dog died five years ago, I said I wouldn't get another and have stuck to it. DH & I still miss him and rarely does a day go by without his name being mentioned, but another dog wouldn't be him.

By the time he died, circumstances around us had changed - our parents had gone from active and capable to severely declining. My FIL died during our dog's lifetime and in that sad situation, the dog was an additional thing to worry about and cope with (he stayed with my parents during the funeral in the end) - if we had got another dog there would have been more and more situations like that as we cope with the remaining three parents escalating health problems.

We chose instead to embrace being 'dog free' and have made the most of activities we wouldn't have been able to do while we had the dog. I am sometimes tempted to get another, but I let my head rule my heart because I know it wouldn't be the right decision now.