Adjusting to a relationship with a nutter
Recently moved in with my partner of 2 years and I'm struggling to adjust to his dog
He has a yappie ass yorkie which has been the only animal that he's had through a difficult time period and a divorce. The dog is incredibly spoiled, he's allowed to sleep on the pillows and in the bed and my partner gets up with him every single time he whimpers which is literally once every 90 minutes to 2 hours. This dog is 9 years old. I told him this is worse than having a newborn child which parents trying to sleep through the night pretty quickly but he just laughs it off and thinks that that's what's adorable about dogs... The fact that they remain like newborns forever if you allow that.
At first I was very respectful of the relationship and I recognize the fact that I'm not a dog person... So maybe I just can't understand that love. But as this goes on I'm becoming less and less tolerant of it because I'm seeing that he is replacing human relationships with this silly dog.
Thanks to Reddit I have recently started putting my foot down and will literally just tell him "I'm not going to compete with the dog for your affection."
My partner has admittedly talked about the fact he's not very comfortable with emotions or showing affection based on his childhood and his divorce and I have been very understanding of that. But when he comes home from work he immediately cuddles and kisses the dog and tells the dog over and over how much he loves it and I feel like I am struggling to get that kind of attention out of him. I want to reiterate that I understand the dog is important to him and I do like the dog, but I feel like a second class citizen compared to this animal.
He seems really taken off guard by my concerns like when I mention I don't feel like we have a clean bed with a dirty dog inside of it or that I feel like he gives the dog more attention than me... he says we to need to discuss in therapy because "the dog is also part of the family".
No... It's not. It's a DOG. I appreciate the fact that he's willing to go to therapy for it but I don't feel like me and the dog should put on the same level and I still feel like this is a way of telling me that I'm the problem and we're going to go get me professional help to gaslight me into thinking that I'm not the problem.
Sorry just a little rant and thanks for listening. I've lost hope that there's anything I can really do about this except for the dog to die and he is 9 years old. I've already started laying the ground work and saying that I'm not willing to get another dog but I will do the best I can to care for this dog while it's still here. Just so wild to me that some people don't understand the boundaries and difference between a pet and a human.