Pru, you nailed it. This guy is a control freak and the lady will get more real, long term affection from her pooch than from her guy. Probably cost her a lot less as well.

Mark

Hear! Hear! Pru!!. The guy is a total a$$. His behavior is abusive.. I would be very concered that he might re-direct his abusive tendencies to the humans in his life -

I'm not a huge dog lover, but I do have some pretty special kitties in my life.. If ANYONE, boyfriend or otherwise mistreated them, the guy would be OUT the door in a heartbeat.

Love me, love my dog. The dog was there first..

Yup! Couldn't agree more! I'm a dog lover and I would never put up with anyone even suggesting I should get rid of a pet, give up a hobby, blow off some friends.

As a person who is experienced in people who have been abused and abusive relationships here is a word to the wise:

If someone treats a dog, cat or other pet in this fashion; then the next step is just a small leap into an abusive relationship with people! Always steer clear of a person who treat animals in this fashion! He needs help... and honey you cannot and should not try.

i concede that he's unkind to animals, and that's often a precursor for being unkind to others.

but the writer gave us no evidence that he's been unkind to her.

however, she gave us plenty of evidence that she (the writer) is weak willed and wants to enlist prudie to make her boyfriend listen to her. i dont get the impression that the writer wants to risk whatever benefits she imagines she's getting from this relationship by making this an issue in her own right. she wants prudie to carry her water.

I am a true animal/dog lover and my pets are like my children. Nobody would ever be able to come into my life and treat my children or my dog as this man is treating her dog. He is disrespecting her, as well, by doing so. And she should not even be considering keeping her dog as long as she is willing to allow this poor animal to be terrorized and/or mistreated. Chihuahuas are a very sensitive breed (not that other breeds aren't) and it is not fair that this woman allows this man, who supposedly cares about her, to continue to abuse a creature that depends on her for love and protection. I say lose the loser and beg for your dog's forgivness.

His abuse of the dog is meanness to her. He knows how much she loves the dog and that his treatment of it hurts her and he doesn't care. What a guy! My concern is that one day he'll take care of that poor dog for good and then she won't have to choose between them.

You have to be kind to your human companions, too. If someone finds dog smell gross (and a lot of us do), then it's unkind to wipe nasty dog-smelling hands all over them. And you've all seen what dogs chew on. If your partner is not a dog lover, touching them after the dog slobbers all over your hands or kissing them after you've tongued lil' poochie is just not acceptable.

The guy definitely sounds like a creep, and she's very wrong to tolerate anyone abusing her pet. But beyond that, I think it is mainly a question of compatibility. There are dog-lovers/owners, cat/lovers/owners, those who very much dislike either or both, and everything in-between. It is NEVER going to work out between someone who is disgusted by dog-smell and someone who shares their bed with one, anymore than it would work out between someone with kids and someone who can't stand kids. It is no different from the conflicts that would arise between a homebody and party animal, or someone who is very thrifty and a lavish spender, except that vulnerable, living beings are involved, which makes it worse. She needs to dump this abusive jerk and find someone who can love, or at the VERY LEAST, tolerate her dog.