Posted on 12/16/2022 12:08:40 PM PST by nickcarraway
DEAR ABBY: My sister doesn’t want children. I fully support her decision, and I’m happy she knows herself well enough to make it. She does, however, have what she refers to as her “fur babies.” She has a wonderful, generous heart and is very charitable. My children have been blessed by their aunt’s generosity.
SEE ALSO Couple holding two parts of broken heart. Dear Abby: My wife left me for my best man My issue is: Lately, she has made a few comments about how I don’t bring holiday gifts for her dogs. It’s remarks like, “Well, my fur babies don’t get gifts from their aunt.” Am I missing something here? Should I feel guilty for not adding her pets to my gift list because she considers them equal in value to human children? I can’t think of her dogs like I do my nieces and nephews. Am I wrong? — AUNT OF FUR BABIES?
DEAR AUNT: You may not consider your sister’s dogs as equal to human children, but she does. Gift-giving is supposed to be reciprocal. Your sister has been generous with your children, and you now know it bothers her that her “fur babies” have been overlooked. When the next gift-giving cycle rolls around (I hear there are great sales going on now) drop by a pet store. It is the kind thing to do, and it shouldn’t break the bank.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
If you want to maintain a relationship buy them a box of milk bones or equivalent.
If you don't tell her that you are not buying a gift for a brainless bundle of fur.
Your choice as to what you want from the relationship.
It’s all funs and games until they have a litter of saplings.
Or puts them in a crate
Trivia: Dear Abby is an American advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name “Abigail Van Buren” and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.
I would have thought the original would be over 100 by now.
104
Believe it or not, we have some friends who actually get dog sitters when they go out for more than 2 hours. They must pay very well because the sitter they used most often has to hire a babysitter for her nephews when she dog sits.
They and them
I think that’s probably bad for the dog.
Maybe it tears up the house when they leave? If so, that’s bad training, too.
Are they here legally?
Presumably as baldies.
Makes me want to cough up a hairball too.
But I have a sister who uses it — and, yes, I want to be kind.
What if my sister thinks her petunia plant is a person and expects me to give it a Christmas present? Recognizing someone's feelings is one thing. But if you take action based on someone's delusional feelings you are denying reality and enabling their delusion. That is not kindness either to yourself or to the other person.
😂😅😛🤣🤣🤣
Get them chicken bones.
We have a nephew whose dog is his baby. It is not well trained. Does not do well with small children, cats or most other dogs. We insist he crate it and he sees that as equivalent to prison (oh well). I’m not putting grandchildren or my other pets at risk because of his very large, ill-mannered ‘baby’
That’s a rather extreme and illogical example. (What would you give a petunia anyway?)
I doubt very much that a petunia holds the importance to anyone that a dog or cat often does to people. A lot of people find deep companionship with animals; they hold great meaning for them, and there’s nothing at all wrong with that.
The sister may have other issues affecting this attitude; I don’t see any harm in doing something almost effortless to please her. (Your failure to give a little gift to the dog, if that’s what is meaningful to her, isn’t going to change her attitude at all. But it appears that it does hurt her feelings. Do you think that’s a solution to her ‘delusion’?)
I actually like my cat and dogs more than most folks I encounter. They are not people, sometimes they are better.
“get dog sitters when they go out for more than 2 hours”
That’s pretty extreme. We have a regular house/pet sitter when we vacation, but two hours is a little much.
We have no kids, have cats, but would think it odd if family members bought Christmas gifts for them. We don’t even do that. I am, however, thinking about making little stocking ornaments with their names on each one.
A poorly trained pet is really an abused one. It’s being set up for all kinds of problems.
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