Randy, what would it cost me to get you to come down to my next family gathering and "retrain" my mother-in-law? She is the gal you mentioned but an over the top, OVER THE TOP evangelical Christian. (And I am a person of faith so NO offense meant here folks). She talks NON STOP about how you are going to hell if you don't click your heels the right way.

How much????? My husband will gladly pitch in.

I kinda abberviated the story, it was two or three years ago. It did go on though for much of the afternoon.
And it did take one short reinforcement episode.

On the up side, she still doesn't talk much when they come over!

Randy, I so need to borrow you for retraining my mother as well!
Great story. *giggle*

 Quote: barbara schuler

Randy, what would it cost me to get you to come down to my next family gathering and "retrain" my mother-in-law? She is the gal you mentioned but an over the top, OVER THE TOP evangelical Christian. (And I am a person of faith so NO offense meant here folks). She talks NON STOP about how you are going to hell if you don't click your heels the right way.

How much????? My husband will gladly pitch in.

I usually just tell them to shut the heck up or I'll get a hold of my buddies and start the "Inquisitions" all over again, we haven't had a good ol' auto de fé in a long time.

it could be worse...
my hubby would ALWAYS say "down" when our dog jumped on him (instead of "off") would also say "down" for him to sit
I cought him rubbing our dogs nose in pee on the carpet
grabbed him by the ear once when our dog wasn't being watched and got his shoes...(he told me about it later because I was at work)
I had to train my hubby for 2 years before I could get my own pup for personal use (schutzhund).
I have had MAny BIG fights with my hubby over training dogs and how he raised his last dog was the wrong way. Once he gave into his pride of "knowing more than me" he realized when we worked together more was accomplished FASTer. amazing how that happens I don't know who had it worse..my st. bernard or my husband.
Maybe have a sit down with the in-laws..show them a video of a competion off of youtube..and explain to them how much it means to you. And have your wife tell them how they belittled your authority and disrespected you in your own home! and that is JUST NOT exceptable in ANY way shape or form. If they still don't get it tell them to not come over. You have the right to protect your property..dog included. you also have the right to be treated with respect in your own home.

 Quote: jeremy moore

I think I found my conflict issues after witnessing this last night. My in laws came over. He gets her crazy excited then he was telling her to down( wanting her to sit) and then he kept saying hold(for the stay) I use none of these commands finally I said something which didnt go over well. As in they dont care. I cant wait for the crates to get here. I will crate them apon arrival on anyone.
The question I had was. When my new dog gets here, and I crate him everytime someone comes over, this will not cause conflict towards socializing or anything will it. I will be taking him to many different places and expeienceing many different things. I wasnt for sure if this practise would cause any problems in the log run.

Jeremy,

I had the same problem when I had my first dog only it wasn't in laws, it was my sister and her husband. I left Gus with them for a weekend only to find when I picked him up that my infuriating brother-in-law had decided these things would be fun to do:

1) Teach him that my sister would henceforth be known as "Mom" (which is what I've always taught my dogs to associate with me) and he would be "Dad"

2) That it was perfectly ok to jump on people and in fact encouraged it.

I don't know what other things they did because I was so furious that I stopped listening at that point.

After I got home I called my sister and told her how irate I was with them espeially to treat me with such disrespect. I, in no uncertain terms, told her that my dog would never stay with them again and what gall they had teaching my dog these things against my wishes. I knew that they wanted me to give Gus to them for their daughters but I made it very clear that would NEVER happen short of my untimely death.

I told her it was no different than them letting my nieces stay with me for a weekend and me completely ignoring any of their rules. Don't know if she got the point or not, but it didn't matter. I never let Gus stay with her again after that.

You have to make a stand and not back down where your dogs are concerned. I know it's not an easy thing to do, especially with in-laws and being a newlywed (you said not quite 2 years, right?) I agree that if they don't respect your wishes just with your dogs when you do have children....well, I think we can all see the handwriting on the wall. JMO

Guys, just wanted to point out that this post was from Aug. of last year. I haven't seen Jeremy on in a while, but he might still be checking in. Didn't want you to think you were being ignored.

 Quote: Barbara Schuler

Guys, just wanted to point out that this post was from Aug. of last year. I haven't seen Jeremy on in a while, but he might still be checking in. Didn't want you to think you were being ignored.

Sheesh! I was so caught up in remembering how mad I was at my sister I didn't even look to see when the original post was!

Great to read Randy's story though!!