Would You 'Let' Your Spouse Get A Dog Breed You Didn't Like?

[Jax08]

DH can have any dog breed he wants as long as he starts to do something with them other than letting them hold down the recliner (that was an expensive dog bed!). Until he will do that, he can only have stuffed ones from ToysRUs.

[bocron]

Depends on the breed. I used to show rare breeds and became pretty familiar with quite a few breeds that I find interesting but would never have in my house. If he picked one of those there would be a problem I'm sure .
If it was a breed I don't particularly love for aesthetic reasons (like lots of grooming required or smushed faced) then I could get over my personal preference without an issue.
I bought my Lancashire Heeler and my DH wasn't overly enthused about having a little dog in the house. He now loves the little guy, carries him around and coddles him (when he doesn't think I'll notice) and actually let it slip the other day that if we find a female he wants her to be his dog . I would hope I could be as tolerant of his choice if he decided to venture away from GSDs.

[meldleistikow]

My husband is not allowed to pick dogs and he agrees with me on this. He picked two dogs with some serious behavior issues in a row. They were rescues. When I married him he had a lab with anxiety that had to be drugged before any car ride. That lab became my dog. I walked, trained, fed, and cleaned up after him. I have picked the last three and will pick the rest. My husband is fine having GSDs forever :-)

[huntergreen]

i always let my wife have the final say. went to look at airedales, she wasn't thrilled with the breed, she picked the puppy and it is her dog. she says she wants a picardi shepherd. as long as we have a gsd, which she will pick out, i am fine with what she gets.

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by stevenzachsmom

i could love any dog breed, so it wouldn't really matter what my husband chose.

this!!!

[Freestep]

No. I would not let my husband have a breed that I couldn't stand. And I WILL use the word "let", because I am the Dog Boss in the household and he knows it.

However, my husband has a thing for Basset Hounds. I told him that was a breed I never want in my house, and why (health problems, attitude problems, drool, etc). He still thought they were great. I said, that's because you've never lived with one. He didn't believe me.

So, just to prove a point, I said, "okay, just to show you what I'm talking about, let's foster a Basset Hound for a while and you'll see!"

So I contacted a rescue org and, sure enough, they had a Basset that needed fostering. This dog was owned by an elderly couple and he had been walking all over them and starting to act aggressive. When the dog was ON the dinner table on Thanksgiving day, and attempted to bite the owners' son when he tried to remove him, it was the last straw and the dog came into rescue.

This dog was about a year old, thankfully had been neutered, and was a drooling, snapping basket case when I received him. He did all the nasty Basset things; baying, resource guarding, biting, fighting like a marlin on a line when getting his nails done, the usual.

DH loved him.

We were able to get him socialized and trained to a certain degree, got him to accept his nails done, to stop resource guarding, and to stop biting every time he was in conflict. He did help herd my chickens, and was awfully cute when running at full speed in tall grass. I think we had him for three months or so, then he was successfully adopted out to a big guy who had always wanted a Basset, and didn't care about the history of biting. "Aw, he's a little nipper, eh? Heh heh heh!"

After it was all said and done, I said smugly "Now see how awful that was? THAT is why you don't want a Basset Hound!"

But my plan backfired.

DH loved the dang dog, and now he wants one more than ever.

However, he deigns to my leadership as Dog Boss. Since I am basically the one who does all the research, selection, care, feeding, exercising, training, etc. with the dogs, and all he does is cuddle up with them on the couch at the end of the day, he can pretty much take any dog I bring in.

This isn't an unequal relationship. He is the Car Boss, the Gardening Boss, the Beer Boss and the Boss of Heavy Lifting and Anything Mechanical. If I wanted, say, an old Fiat to drive around, he would veto that decision based on his knowledge and experience with cars, and the fact that he will be doing all the repairs and maintenace. I trust and respect that, and when we were looking for a new vehicle, I brought all the cars I liked to his attention and he made the final decision.

[Blanketback]

I'd 'let' (lol, that's funny) DH pick out his dog, because he deserves to get what he wants. Life's short, why not? He has an American Bulldog right now - which to me seems like everything a GSD *isn't* lmao.

[SewSleepy]

Considering I waited 7 years to get a GSD until my H was fully on board, he'd have to convince me why we should get said dog. That being said, it probably wouldn't take much to convince me.


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[Capone22]

I would reeeaaaallly be bummed if he wanted a dog with tiny disproportioned legs. lol I just am not a fan. luckily him and i are pretty much on the same page as to the type of dogs we like.

and the drool thing is funny. I just noticed two large drool marks at the top of my wall, near the ceiling in the living room from Capone. Is it weird I cant clean them off yet? He left us a gift hehe

[RocketDog]

I'm with Freestep. DH would never go get a dog on his own--I am All Things Dog in our house. I had a dog when we met, that he liked, and he's liked all of our dogs and pets, but frankly, if I died tomorrow, he would never replace any of the animals. He does pretend he is not very attached to Rocket, but he gets the same "crook" to his mouth when he pets them that he did when our kids were babies and he was holding them.