Warning! Complaining Below

I know I complain a lot. I'd say sorry, but I'm not really. I am going to complain again, though, so if you're tired of it, go ahead and skip the rest of this post. I promise to try to be more upbeat tomorrow.

I am really tired of Husbandguy's attitude about my dog. He calls him "stupid" and "an idiot" and threatens to "beat the snot out of the dumb dog" (a phrase which Lulu has echoed). He hasn't actually done that, but he stomps around and glares at me and the dog and yells and is generally unpleasant about Howie. It is very stressful for me. And the dog. And the girls, I bet. And I'm tired of reminding him that the dog doesn't listen to him because he's a dog and HG hasn't taught him to listen. You can't just explain to a dog that it shouldn't steal your slippers and run away. Shouting at it and pushing it away doesn't teach it not to jump on you - it teaches it that you're going to talk to it and put your hands on it if it does so why wouldn't it? I've told him that he has to teach Howie to be the dog he wants him to be. He needs to work directly with the dog on "drop it" when the dog's not already in trouble; we both need to work with him on "leave it"; and when Howie jumps up, he shouldn't react beyond just turning his back to the dog. He needs to spend time training him in general, but I'm tired of telling him that. Howie knows he has to listen to me because I work with him, but no one (meaning HG) ever told him he has to listen to HG too; so why would he?

He's not a super well-trained dog. He's better than he used to be, but we still need a lot of work. WE still have a lot of work to do. Or HG needs to stand up for himself if he hates the dog that much and send Howie back to his foster mom. I'm not going to do it, but if he decides that's what's best, I won't stop him. I also won't be happy. And he'll have to tell the girls.