‘It’s me or the dog’ – this woman is at loggerheads with her husband over their dog

What would you do in this situation?

One woman has taken to Netmums to ask for advice on a problem that has arisen in her relationship. The mum says that she is fed up with her ill-behaved dog, but that while she wants to be rid of the pet her husband does not. The decision has caused friction in the marriage and the unhappy pooch owner doesn't know what to do next. The distressed wife posted on popular parenting forum Netmums ;

"Please can someone help - we adopted a husky about 2 years ago and she has always been a handful, but now it’s getting ridiculous. She’s causes havoc in the house when we are not there, ripping bins, sofas, even made a hole in our garage door when we aren’t there. The hair that also comes off her is everywhere. We have to keep the back door open throughout the night, otherwise she poos and wees all around the house and with two young children it’s not on, but for safety reasons we need to lock the back door. Most recently, she killed a friends guinea pig, not viciously, she was just licking but the poor thing had a heart attack. It’s constantly one thing after another, I feel awful saying that I think it’s best to find her another home, my partner is adamant she’s staying, my son would be devastated. I don’t know what else to do!"

Some felt that the problem wasn't the dog itself but the lack of training given to the dog;

"Have you taken the dog to training? A dog behaviour specialists? Training dogs requires alot of dedication, time and patience. Some dogs are naturally very well behaved and very easy to train as its in their nature to be that way, but other breeds require alot more help to become a good obedient pet."

This was my first thought when I read the post. I've seen a lot of people adopt dogs without realising the work that they need to put into training and walking them. Dogs are far from low maintenance and if you're planning to take one on full time you and your family need to make sure you have the time to give them the proper attention that they need. I love dogs but don't see myself getting one for the foreseeable future as neither myself nor my husband would have enough time to look after them. Some posters were particularly blunt and horrified at the fact that the dog was allowed near the small guinea pig;

"This is going to sound harsh, but needs to be said. You didn't do enough research, otherwise you would know about the hair and it therefore would not be an issue. Daily grooming for Huskies when moulting, sometimes twice a day! As for letting the dog lick a friends guinea pig!!! I have no words, yes, dogs and small furries can live together happily but there needs to be a SLOW introduction process even if you know the dog is ok. And yes, it is someone's fault - it is the fault of whoever was supposed to be supervising the dog and whoever was supposed to be caring for the guinea pig. If you knew they had a guinea pig, the dog should never have been left outside unsupervised and the guinea pig owner should never have allowed you to do this either."

While the mum in question was quick to admit that she felt it could probably be down to a lack of exercise the question still remains as to why you would take on such a big responsibility without doing your homework in advance? Even though the dog does sound difficult to live with, herself and her husband chose the dog not the other way around. Their dog already seems to suffer from separation anxiety and I think giving the dog away would seriously impact the husky's mental health. It also seems that her child is attached to the dog and sending the pet away could cause a lot of upset. What do you think? Has she put up with enough from this problematic pooch or should she put on her big girl pants and deal with the responsibility that she chose to take on?