I need to rant about dog allergies and my jerk sister

[Genuine Article]

I need to rant about how much I want to punch my oldest sister in the face right now.

I'm staying at my parents' house for Christmas this year. My four Utah siblings drove up on Saturday and my oldest sister brought her dog. I am severely allergic to dogs, so I called her weeks ago to work something out, seeing as how we'd be staying in the same house. She promised she'd keep her dog in the basement or outside, or possibly she would stay at a friend's house nearby.

Except now that she's here she uses every time I leave the house as an excuse to bring him upstairs, where she lets him sit on the sofa in the family room. Letting a dog sit on a sofa that's used by someone with dog allergies is the equivalent of sharing a house with someone who has a peanut allergy and knowingly smearing invisible peanut butter on every surface they might come in contact with. The idea of dog dander getting on the furniture, essentially barring me from sitting on it, makes me want to scream. Instead I remind her that her dog's supposed to be in the basement. I leave, I come home, I catch her with the dog upstairs, I tell her to put the dog downstairs, and the cycle repeats. I spent all of today with a drippy nose, itchy eyes, and sneezing my brain out. She has essentially given me a cold for Christmas.I was supposed to go to a basketball game tonight with my in-laws but halfway there I felt so crummy I decided not to go, so I dropped off my husband and turned around and went home, where, shock of all shocks, the dog was upstairs again. My sister undoubtedly thought I'd be gone for hours so she'd settled in with the dog on the sofa.

So I had it out with her. I got angry and finally told her what I've been wanting to say all week, which is that it bothered me that she cared more about a dog than she did about my physical well-being. And she flat-out told me that she did. My own sister admitted that she cares more about a dog than she does about me. At that point I told her I was done talking to her and that I was going to bed. I wish I'd told her to go to Hell. I'm seriously considering never talking to her again.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Ouch! That's tough. Good luck surviving the rest of your vacation!

[UffishThought]

Ugh. That dog needs to go. Or she needs to learn some dog etiquette (well, some etiquette in general, but we're talking about the dog here). When she brings it over to my house (where I also have an allergic roommate), she lets it root around in the trash and then carry it around the house. "Don't worry, I'll clean it up!" And when it climbs up and poops on the couch she says "oh, don't worry about it." Uh, thanks.

And did I tell you about Thanksgiving? She put the dog outside while we were eating, because she knows it tries to jump up on laps and eat from other people's plates, but I didn't see her let it in again once everyone had finished. One of the other guests walked into the kitchen to find the dog on the counter, lapping the broth that had pooled around the turkey. And then your sis looked at me like I was crazy when I didn't want to take any leftovers home. "Their mouths are cleaner than ours are! You don't KNOW that he touched that part of the turkey!"

It's not that I don't like dogs (which is what she thinks), it's that I don't like owners who don't know what's appropriate and what's not.

[Zedability]

I'll come punch your sister for you. People like that drive me insane. Also, my sister might grow up to be one of those people.

[Portia]

As someone with severe animal allergies, preach it sister, preach.

My family love dogs. My grandma has had several golden retrievers; my mother rode horses. However, they always put my health first, and we never have had one in our immediate family, and my grandma was fastidious about not letting the dog touch any surface I might. Even my ex-boyfriend's parents made a decent effort to keep their cat out of my way. I also just plain am scared of animals, and it bothers me to no end when people are like "but he's just friendly!" So are three year olds and we don't generally let them go leap on strangers (or take a dump on their couches).

Have been having a severe allergic reaction, probably to perfume, the past couple weeks. Very red skin around my eyes, dry, puffy: super noticeable, took to wearing sunglasses. I just don't understand what people like your sister are thinking - would people just pretend to have a dangerously overactive immune system with unpleasant symptoms?

Her lack of maturity is something else. She needs to grow up. Maybe she never will.