Is the dog invited?

[DoggyAuntie]

My husband's brother and his wife are coming to stay with us this weekend, on their way back home from their holiday further north. All good. They live in a big house with a garden whereas we live in a smaller house with a back yard but we can cope for a couple of days.

This afternoon, I looked at my sister-in-law's Instagram. She has posted photos of herself and her husband on holiday - with her dog!

I have not invited the dog. The dog had not been mentioned. I do not want the dog in my house.

My husband has said it's just one of those things. I feel they are being insufferably rude to expect me to welcome the dog into my home without even asking.

Am I being unreasonable?

I remember going to a friend's house, and her little boy would come running in for a cuddle with her. She would sniff his fingers and announce they smelled like poo.
Kids are gross too.

Yes.

chucking the dog in the car to go on holiday isn't fur baby staus..... 🙄

feeding dog from bone china plates, buying M&S steak, dressing dog up in tutus and hair bows, giving dog a place at the actual human dinner table and giving only Evian for drinking water is fur baby status.....

And many pet owners consider their pets as such.
Tell me.. how does it actually affect you?

I LOVE my dog, possibly more than my husband, but I would never assume an invite to stay at someone else’s house included him (dog, not husband).

OP some of your replies have had me laughing out loud, you’re very quick witted.

I like other people’s dogs but wouldn’t want one in my home and wouldn’t think to bring it up - I’d assume they would ask if they wanted to bring their dog.

Have you or your husband messaged yet? I would do something like “hey, just noticed dog is on holiday with you and wanted to double check plans for when you come and stay afterwards? So sorry if there’s been a mix up but we didn’t realise you’d be wanting to bring dog here too and we prefer no pets inside. Shall we do lunch instead and can leave the overnightstay for another time? XYZ pub is dog friendly so we could go there? Let us know what you think

Pet owners consider animals are people or believe their animals are related to them or believe they are married to their animals, it's unclear?

Really? You equated pets with houseplants and plush toys earlier.
Make your mind up.

How many people do you know with pets think they are married to them?

Bloody love this thread! Pl update when the yappy- not happy- dog arrives and you are seething silently.

Well at this point you have two options to choose from:

1. Accept the dog on this occasion;
2. Miss out on their visit and arrange another date.

My sister knows I don’t like her dog coming to our house as she gives it free rein of chairs and beds at her house and the dog can’t understand not to do it everywhere it goes. She also uses a family owned holiday cottage and gives her dog free rein even though the rest of us don’t like it. She sees her dog as her priority and explains it will only sleep with her and not in a dog bed. It’s a big dog. It’s difficult.

It doesn’t affect me at all other than I think these people should understand what family means. Someone has already shared the dictionary definition which I didn’t see before I posted.

Not sure where you got your definition from but Google gave me this:

family is a group of people connected by blood, legal ties, marriage, or adoption. It also includes people who share a deep emotional bond, care for each other, and offer mutual support.

If your issue is with the word "people" then you should know there's a whole branch of philosophy devoted to the definition of personhood. You may consider "person" an "Human" to be synonymous but in that case the term person is effectively redundant.... So if you accept that "person" does not in fact mean "human", and can acknowledge that many people believe animals have personhood (and there's no objective fact either way), then surely you can recognise that dogs are family in some cases?

Yes, really.

I listed three categories of things which do not fall under the definition of the word "family". I have supplied the definition which begins with the words "people" and "related".

You have now asked whether I would tell the owner of recently dead dog that it was "just a dog."

These are two very different things.

Dogs aren't people, I know that. (They have too many legs.)

Thank-you for your attention to this matter.

My sister is happily married with two kids. She had her dog before her kids, and her dog was absolutley family. When her dog died, all of them were distraught.

Who the fuck are you to say otherwise? You do not get to say if a dog is or is not family unless you are part of that unit.

Put a jacket on it, and hey presto—it’s a human.

None before tonight.

I can remember when I was 18 (in the 80’s) taking my Lab x to the pub in my town off lead can you believe it. As a family we tried to go out without her after a mile she was behind us chasing after the car we had to take her with us. Our animals went to kennels the once came back in such a state. My parents have never put any of their pets in kennels since.
we didn’t expect people to accommodate even my sister won’t put up with my moms 2 cavaliers even though she has 2 dogs herself, saying that she hasn’t helped my 82yr old mom pack up her house she is leaving after 40yrs. Not caring about her mom never mind her dogs who she keeps caged.

I follow a rescue wheer they have taken on a greyhound with 2 legs... so.....

A little happy one?
I wonder how long it will stay this way at yours? I give it 10 minutes 🤣

I think you are taking out all your annoyance on here as I don’t for a moment think anyone could be so rude/ cold and all the other words used to describe how you come across.

I am sure you will have a lovely time hosting the dog and its human parents! Remember to get some dog poo gloves for when you are cleaning up its poo 😊

It's one of these things that seem so obvious, people can't be blamed for forgetting to check.

You know your siblings (or sibling-in-laws) have dogs, you know they are on holiday with dog, yes it's kind of implied they are coming with the dog. Where else is the dog supposed to go?

In a hotel for the night?

You know your family, you know they holiday with their pet, it can't be such a revelation.