How to convince my inlaws that we're just having a run of bad luck with pets?

[favian]

My mother in law is a bit of a harpy. We've recently started exploring the pets world for my 2 year old and my 5 year old. We adopted a kitten from the shelter. Within a week, he developed a sore eye, and a few weeks after that, his hips started giving out, as well as his bladder control. He couldn't walk, couldn't make it to the litterbox and we had to have him put down because the 800 dollars in vet visits resulted in "Well, it must be a genetic problem, I wish there was more we could do for him"
So we moved on to a puggle. He's a year and a half old, and was rescued from his first home about 4 months ago by a woman who had no intention of keeping him, just wanted him out of the situation he was in. So he went to a relative of hers and was there for a week, but ended up bullying her four other dogs and in general being miserable because her first dogs didn't like him. Enter us- a family of 4, but my husbands on the road a lot. She told me he was a little bit hyper, social and crate trained. We've had him for about 2 weeks now, and it's been a nightmare- he's nipped at my 2 year old son. Jumps up on both the kids. Knows how to sit, but that's it. Pulls on the leash. We left him alone, in the laundry room today for an hour while we took my husband to the yard to go OTR for the next week and a half, and he's howled/whined/pissed off the neighbors the whole time we were gone. In the last 24 hours alone, he's 1. Slept on his bed, stood up and pissed on it, ruining it, without asking to go outside, only 45 minutes after his last trip out. 2. Gone out on the deck and pissed next to the door, instead of down to the grass where he normally goes 3. Dashed out the door and sent us on a 3 hour chase around the neighborhood. 4. Taken food out of my sons hand- my son was sitting at the table, eating his dinner, and the dog went up on his hind legs, then took the food that was almost in his mouth right out of his hand and 5. knocked me on my *** as I was getting out of the car because he managed to undo the seatbelt and get his safety harness loose. I've been working my *** off to train this dog to get along with our family, but everytime he starts to learn something, four other behaviors go flying out the window and it's becoming impossible to keep up. Plus the slavish devotion- this dog is 6 inches behind my feet at all times. He sticks his head into the shower curtain to watch me shower, lays next to me when I'm in the kitchen and trips me while I'm trying to clean. Sent him with the kids to be babysat while I had dental surgery last week, and he whined at the door the whole time I was gone, then jumped on my head and scratched my cheek where I have four oral stitches and worked 3 of them loose as soon as we got home. If I get up to walk from one end of my living room to the other- i.e to turn off a wall lamp, no where near the door, he gets up and follows me. I admit, I am a cat person and don't really care for the constant attention, but I'm also working very hard to not let it color my judgement of him. He's turning into a holy terror and no matter how hard I work to stop his bad behavior, it's adding up to be more than I can conceivably deal with.
Now, I don't want to teach my kids that pets are disposable, they're really really not. But we're just having a bad time with this dog, and if he bites or steals food from one of my kids again, he's got to go. I can't even put him in the laundry room because he howls and whines and doesn't learn anything, and I don't want to beat him, that's not how they learn. I'm a bit over my head with this high energy idiot but am trying very hard to make it work. But my MIL keeps bitching at me everytime I make a remark like "I'm so frustrated!" or "The idiot dog chewed up my sports team blanket 2 hours after we had a particularly intense romp designed to wear him out AND when he was given a brand new chew toy earlier that day" I hear "It's like having another kid!" or my personal favorite "You can't take care of two human kids in a good manner, what made you think you could handle a dog? We told you not to have a second baby, let alone get a pet!" Or something like that. It's very tiring. And I'm convinced this animal isn't a dog but half demon- I've been around dogs my entire life and know bad behavior when I see it.

[torran]

Here's your problem. You got a dog that has more then half beagle!
And as house pets beagles suck! They are the worse pets of all time and belong in pack in the english country side chasing rabbits and not in the home.
They steal, howl, bark, beg, fuss, are messy, smelly, hyper, stupid and annoying.
Having been in the vet and grooming industry of nearly twenty years i have never met a beagle i liked. Every damn one is a night mare.
They all end up fat because they will steal anything, they seem to be determined of get themselves killed doing stupid stuff. They can NEVER be trusted off leash. Are little more then walking stomachs.
Crossing them with the pug seems to have little affect and is no real improvement. You'd of been better off with a pure pug. Honestly there is a really nice dog somewhere at the pound that would love to be your new best friend. Get rid of the dog terrorist.
As for stealing from children, that my dear is going to be a fact of life until your kids are a lot older and can hold their own against the dog. Even labs will steal given a chance. Food is food to dogs but biting is not to be tolerated.
Someone is going to think me mean spirtited or just rotten but i stick to my guns. Beagles suck.

[torin7]

Honestly, you probably won't be able to convince your MIL of anything she doesn't want to hear. So just leave her out of the equation for the moment.

Small children do not really *need" a pet. Toddlers and small kids must be supervised constantly around pets, for the protection of both the child and the pet. A "Puggle" is not an ideal pet for a little kid. They are small and thus easily hurt. They are often yappy, snappy, and both breeds are known to be rather hard to housebreak. Sounds like you have a full plate already. It wouldn't be a character failure to admit the dog is beyond your scope to help at the moment, and turn it back over to the rescue.

Now, that said, perhaps that dog is simply the wrong dog for your household. If you are dead set on getting a pet, perhaps an older more adjusted dog might be more suitable. There are plenty of pound dogs who need a good and loving home. If you'd liek a purebred, I am thinking of a Golden Retriever in particular. They are generally easy going, usually like children, and are pretty smart and easily trained. They are much bigger than a puggle, of course, so you'd need more room and grooming time and vittles.

Good luck with both your pets and your in-laws.

[muireach]

Tell her that she either has to agree with you or she must read your long, run together post.

[blaeey]

Last thing you need is another pet, for lots of reasons I won't even list -- but above all, your child is far too young to interact with a dog and you have absolutely NO clue as to what's required either.

Stick to a goldfish.