My ex-husband and I got a dog when we were dating- she’ll be 14 next month. Our divorce was finalized 3 weeks ago today
We have two kids, ages 7 and 9.
Our dog is a 10 pound miniature dachshund. She is SO sweet. The kids absolutely adore her.
The divorce was contentious. My XH hates the dog (because…responsibility). The kids know he hates her. But he still tolerates her for the kids.
The dog is now I’d say, 70% incontinent, and doesn’t sleep well. So for example, yesterday, she woke me up at 5:30, I fed her, let her out for 15 minutes. Got the kids up at 6 to go to school. By the time I drove them to the bus stop at 6:30 she had peed in the house. They wanted her to come with us to the bus stop, so we brought her in the car. While waiting for the bus, she pooped in the car.
Today I’ve cleaned up two pees (no poop, but that’s unusual). I usually come home to a poop accident, but they’re small…ish.
The constant stress of the incontinence is really, really tough. But other than that, she’s super happy. She truly is the sweetest dog. She is also mostly deaf.
We share custody of her- she goes with the kids- but she is mostly crated at XH’s house.
She’s helped the kids so much through this divorce. And I absolutely love her, but it’s impossible to find a Dogsitter (understandably). It causes so much more stress between x and me.
At what point is it like- enough is enough? She also has spinal issues so will often fall into her poop after she poops in the house.
Gah, the parts of pet ownership they don’t warn you about. I don’t even know if I could go through with putting her down for my selfish reasons (sleep, less stress, running home constantly). The kids are so attached.
Advice? I can’t confine her to one room, she wants to be close to me always. Thankfully we have hardwoods, so it’s not a nasty mess, it’s just constant
The timing of this just SUCKS.