Help me with this ridiculous marital issue (long)

I think you are both right.

It has happened 3 times already so your DH should know by now to put the glasses out of the dog's reach - he has himself to blame for letting it happen a 4th time.

However, it sounds like DH is right that your dog needs some training so it learns not do do this.

ETA: The culprit is adorable!

Sorry, but I am a middle of the line kind of gal, so I do see that there is some validity in further trying to find ways to get the dog to stop surfing the counters/tables for anything. But, I see that as an overall thing, not really so much as it pertains to this issue. And the reason for that is because I think it's utterly ridiculous to continue to leave something as important and possibly expensive as glasses where anything can happen to them.

I mean come, on, I tell this to my 13 year old punk kid ( ) but I wouldn't expect to have to keep telling it to an adult. Especially since he's the one who will have to keep paying to replace them.

My glasses? They're either on my face, or in a case in my room. And the punk kid? I actually tell him "On your face or in a case!".


The dog can probably, eventually be taught to stop the bad habit, but that takes time. Your DH is smart enough to take better care of his glasses starting right this second. And his failure to do so seems like biting off his nose to spite his face. It screams "I'm annoyed about the dog, so I'll keep creating situations in which I can bitch about it." to me and that's just not cool.

Do you give your dogs things to chew on? Some dogs are just chewers and need to be busy. I wonder if that might help.

Sounds like your dh also needs to train HIS dog better so he doesn't chew everything that he shouldn't. And if HIS dog chewed up his glasses, how does he know he also didn't get it down? Did your DH see your dog take the glasses down? Unless he has proof that sweet pooch took the glasses, he has no case!

BTW...we also need a mug shot of the other dog to make absolute sure one dog is more culpable than that other!

Come on, she looks innocent!

I think it's on your husband to put his glasses away - especially if this has happened before. We have cats - so I don't how easy it is to train a dog to not chew on glasses. If it's feasible to do the training, I would maybe work on it - but really in the meantime (and also the simplest solution for the time being) is for your DH to put his glasses away.

Everybody knows it's never the dog's fault! (Says the biggest dog loving person on the planet...) Tell your dh he's the one who needs better training, lol!

Oh most definitely....... we need a full on identity line up  

Your dog kindly was on the way to take your husbands glasses to him when he was ambushed by DHs dog who
stole the glasses and chewed them.
Therefore it is totally your husband and HIS dogs fault.
Lovely dogs by the way.

Been there, done that. Only it was DH's yellow lab that was the counter surfer, and he was BIG so it was a lot harder to put things out of reach. In our house, there have been many, many tears shed over the past several years due to DH's dog snagging special things DD was saving (and that were up on the counter) that he should have left alone. All we could do was teach our DD that if she really wanted to keep something safe, it needed to go inside a cabinet.

The way I see it is while you're both technically right (your dog probably could be trained a little better, but so could your husband, LOL), it wasn't YOUR dog that chewed them up. Which means that HIS dog ALSO could stand additional training, no? So when you stack up all the factors in this particular incident, the blame would land more on the side of your DH than on you, IMO.

You:
Dog needs to be trained better to leave things alone.

Him:
Dog needs to be trained to leave things alone AND
DH needs to be trained to take better care of his things so bad stuff doesn't happen to them.

Now having said all that, I'm guessing that both of the dogs are adult dogs, which means it would be harder to train them to do something other than what they have been conditioned to do up until now. If they get some kind of reward or pleasure from doing the unwanted thing, it will be harder to break them of those habits. The real question is, will it be harder to train the grown MAN a new trick, or a grown dog? 

It is clearly this dog's fault. That cute smile shows no remorse!!!!

Your DH needs to put things away, period. We had a deaf Dalmatian who could get anything off the counters. She did it up to the end of her life. We had to learn not to leave anything down that we didn't want chewed. If it has happened multiple times before then it seems he is being passive aggressive about it.

Dogs may be smart but it can be hard to break them of a "treat" if they don't usually get to have them. Humans have the brain power to figure out how to prevent the kind of situations. Your dh knows better and he knows it. He already has a general dislike for "your" dog so it's easier for him to blame the dog than to accept responsibility.

Our dog loves ear plugs. She will snatch them up if dh leaves them on his night stand and we let her in our room (usually only on laundry day for the bedding). We found out she can open the drawer of he doesn't close it all the way just to get those ear plugs so we take the steps to put them away and close the drawer all the way. If she can be in our room while I shower, I put my hearing aid on the dresser where she can't get it because she once chewed the insert off. Thankfully not the actual aid!