OP, you could totally spin this into a quality short story!

Anonymous wrote:Unless you are a public venue, Aunt's emotional support papers mean didly squat.

Unless the papers are from the ADA they mean squat! Those support animal certificates are not service animal certificates. Only service animals are legally protected. (FYI, per ADA guidelines, only dogs and mini horses can be service animals, so cats are not legally protected in a public space if a shop owner kicks them out.)

Can you at least invite allergic niece on your dog-free Thanksgiving?

Thanks for the update. I'm cheering for the hamster eating cat.

Go, OP. So happy and proud of you for standing firm with MIL and the wacko dog relatives, plus for having the backbone to stand up to the relative that actually showed up with a dog.

Anonymous wrote:This is hilarious. I can't get the image of a giant cat chasing a hamster dog around the house out of my head.

OP is awesome for standing up to crazy relatives.

seriously. I’m envisioning something like the dog chasing squirrel scene in national lampoons Christmas Vacation.

I think I would have had to call MIL out on the spot.

Enjoy your hopefully drama free Thanksgiving.

This is hilarious. I can't get the image of a giant cat chasing a hamster dog around the house out of my head.

OP is awesome for standing up to crazy relatives.

OP here. We got back from vacation late last night. I think we are officially done hosting anything for this side of the family. One and done. The event itself turned out fine and was relatively dog drama free but the days right before were ridiculous.

I don't always constantly check my personal email throughout the day. I started getting texts from SIL telling me to look at my email now. Hamster dog aunt sent an email to the entire group telling people to be hold on, she had spoken to Cindy (MIL) and she thinks everything is going to be OK now, dogs are welcomed! Aggressive cousin with dog that eats through her walls if left alone, quickly had responded "O thank god! Cindy you are the best! We all love you so much "' . Next dog expert dude chimes in "Well that makes sense.". I was livid. DH and I sent back a clarifying email that the event was not at Cindy's house, it was at our house and dogs were not allowed. Since X, Y and Z seem to be having such a hard time accepting this we think it is better for everyone if you do not attend." This was met with silence.

MIL who stayed with us last weekend was a royal PITA. She denied ever telling hamster aunt that we would allow dogs but did say she would talk to us. MIL loves to be fawned over. DH and I are 100% sure that she did give in to hamster aunt and now won't admit it. She ended up whining all weekend about how mortified she was that we disinvited the 3 obnoxious relatives. She argued with SIL all weekend over whether allergies were real until the event. She kept telling us that it was not too late to apologize, let the dogs come and just give the niece a few extra doses of allergy medicine. We almost kicked her out. The event was filled with relatives relieved not to be dealing with dogs and MIL just lapped up all the positive attention about not having the dogs. I overheard her to talking to one relative and telling them "Well yes it was difficult standing up to Larla but sometimes you just have to be strong for your family."For a brief second, I thought she was complimenting us. Her next sentence was about how SHE had to keep encouraging us to not to allow the dogs for the sake of the other family members. She just wished we would have been more tactful. I almost threw up on her.

A funny side story is that cat aunt (who hates hamster dog aunt) told hamster aunt that her cat was welcome. She warned hamster aunt that she was going to let her huge hamster dog eating cat roam free at our house and would not intervene this time if it attacked hamster dog. This explains why MIL was babbling on earlier in the weekend about how if you are OK having cats then dogs should be there too. It made no sense at the time but after cat aunt told us about her threat I'm guessing that hamster aunt also complained about this to MIL.

There was one relative who did show up with a dog. He was another one of these relatives with a really distant connection. He was included in the family events years ago and never got taken off their list. He randomly shows up at events. My cousins stopped him at the door. He genuinely seemed surprised that dogs were not allowed and was apologetic. He said that he never reads invitations very closely and just jotted down the address and time. He said he missed all the other emails. We went with the ignorance is no defense and told him he could yelp doggie daycare's in the area. He left which is 100% fine with me.

Aggressive cousin stayed home stewing with wall eating dog. No idea what dog expert dude did. (For clarity the PP was correct that I mistyped. He is not grandmother's cousin's wife husband. He is grandmother's cousin's daughter's husband.) I'm sure hamster dog aunt took her dog somewhere else inappropriate with her fake ESA I'll sue you if you deny my dog access papers.

At the end of the evening after most people had left, aggressive cousin sends out an email announcing that she is hosting Thanksgiving. She adds that this will be an inclusive event and all human and fur relatives are invited. She then added that if anyone is an animal hater then it may simply be best if they did not attend. This will create more email drama because two other relatives always fight about which one of them is going to host Thanksgiving. Cousin has never been in the hosting competition for major events. We are going on a short vacation and have no intention of attending an extended family Thanksgiving trip this year so they can all duke it out.

Man - i saw this up and thought the OP gave an update!

Come on - anxiously awaiting. This is like waiting for Bobcat girl updates!

Updates OP?

Our dogs are certainly part of our family. I openly call them kid #1 and #2. Our human kids are kids #3 and #4.

That said, we don't bring them everywhere with us. Just like the kids.

Anxiously awaiting OP's return. I hope I don't miss the follow up.

Anonymous wrote:1. I view my dogs as members of my family, so don't agree with that sentiment.
2. I don't take them where they are not wanted or invited, and never would take them to your place in these circumstances. Don't give in.

Ditto

Wow OP, your family is nuts. You are 100% right and a considerate person. Stick to your guns.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again.

On the outdoor rug. I like our home. I think its nice. I had no idea that our outdoor Target rug that we got on sale last season with our 5% off red card was an indicator that we had arrived. Now that I now its a status symbol I 100% do not want any dogs pooping on it.

For clarity, aggressive cousin with the nippy dog is the one whose dog will eat through her bathroom wall if its left alone. Entitled aunt has a small teacup breed that is slightly larger than a hamster. I'm pretty sure that this is who the cat aunt was referring to about bringing it anyway. Apparently she did this to the cat aunt at cat aunt's house once. The cat is supposedly very big and a hunter. It ended up chasing the dog under the furniture and trying to attack it. The small dog peed everywhere but dog aunt blamed the cat for scaring the dog. These aunts do not get along anymore. Dog expert dude is DH's grandmother's cousin's wife's husband. IMO, we are about as related and obligated to him as a random guy on the street.

There is no way that I am cancelling or giving in to MIL's flutters. I'm sure the dog people would love for the event to be moved so they win and everyone else loses. I'm not going to buy a post digger and sink concrete secured poles and chains in our yard for the dogs but thank you to the PP for the suggestion. DH's job is to answer the dog and send any dog violators home. He will have to check aunt's bags.

I don't mind boarding our dog. His doggie daycare/boarding place is better outfitted than our gym. He'll be fine. Its fun for the kids to have SIL/BIL and cousins stay with us. I also joke that it is the only reason our house gets really cleaned thoroughly so we're not put out accommodating niece's allergies. I suspect the major drama will be between MIL and SIL. MIL will be fretting the entire time about upsetting the obnoxious relatives. She'll start pushing SIL as to whether she is sure her daughter is allergic and allergies are so overblown these days. SIL will go ballistic.

On have I always known that they were crazy? Yes but I didn't realize how crazy some were until now. The more normal ones seem to let the crazies control everything.

SO close, OP - but you have outed yourself as a troll, with the bolded.

But nicely done anyway.

NP. No she didn't. My husband's family is massive and his grandmother's cousin's wife's husband was definitely at a recent funeral.