I'm hurt, but I don't understand why this bothers me so. My SO and I have had our dog for about a year now. She's a lab mix, approx 2 years old.

1. I wanted to find something to do with my SO that consists of something other than vegging out in front of the TV. So I said, let's take the dog for a walk. I told him several times, the purpose of the walk was so we could spend time together. It went in one ear and out the other. The entire time he's walking super fast, talking about Yeah, let's get some exercise! Every time he said something about the walk being exercise, I told him that was NOT the purpose of the walk, the point was for us to spend time together.

I tried telling him about something that happened at work that day. He's busy looking over at some kid in the yard. I get mad because he's not paying attention to me and he says, Sorry I was just trying to make sure Pepper didn't attack the kid.

Frustrated I said, First of all, Pepper is NOT going to attack the kid. I've had her around teeny, tiny kids and she was FINE. Plus, You can't walk and chew gum at the same time?

I've told him before about him walking too fast. His leisurely stroll is me running to keep up with him. If you're twenty feet ahead of someone, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out you're walking too fast for them.

When we got home I told him how upset I was that he was more intent on "exercising" than spending time bonding with me. He apologized said he wouldn't do it again.

Last night he asked me if I wanted to take the dog to the beach. I said sure. So it happened again! He didn't even bother to walk with me.

I was so upset. He was twenty, forty feet ahead of me the entire time. I had on jeans and didn't want to get them wet so I stayed away from the waves. He takes the dog down into the waves. I walk down towards the waves, he takes the dog in another direction.

I felt like I was by myself. I don't understand the point of us going together if the entire time we're going to be walking apart. Why didn't I say anything? Well, I didn't want to start an argument. Plus, I felt like I would be wasting my breath because we've already had this discussion before.

The dog was pulling on the leash, so he keeps jerking on the leash, telling her to stop. I tell him if he's going to tell her to stop, he needs to say Stop, then actually make her stand still for a good minute. That is what I do. He says, I'm out here to have fun, I don't want to do a training session right now. I said, EVERYTIME you take the dog somewhere it has to be a training session. But he's not listening to me.

2. People coming to the house -

Whenever someone comes to the door, Pepper barks like crazy, like she's going to rip this person to shreds. The first time she did this I was terrified she was going to hurt someone, but as soon as I opened the door, she stopped, sniffed the person like crazy and was fine.

Every time someone comes over, my SO gets annoyed because he thinks he has to hold Pepper back, or he yells at me to hold her back. I told him I'm not to wrestle with a 50 pound dog, and there is no need to hold her back. I told him all she does is sniff the person and then she's fine.

He doesn't listen to me. I said, how do you expect her to learn how to behave when someone comes over if you're always holding her back? That just makes her want to go even more.

3. Our neighbors across the street have two toddlers. SO was freaking out because he didn't want Pepper to get out. I said again, Pepper is not going to ATTACK the kids. She is good around little kids. Worst thing that will happen is she sniffs them to death.

I actually tried disengaging when it came to the dog, but that didn't work because if SO f*cks up the dog's training, it affects all of us. We ALL have to treat the dog the same way for her to learn how to behave.

I know the problem isn't the dog, the problem is SO. I feel like some of the SMs on here that complain about their SK when the actual problem is their DH.

I'm thinking we need training, but I'm worried SO won't listen to the dog trainer either. I've already had one 'Come to Jesus' talk with him about the dog about six months ago and things got a little better, but this morning my D16 asked me if I had a good time at the beach last night and I started ranting.

I said, No, I didn't have a good time. SO let Pepper get in the water so now she's all smelly and we have company coming over this Friday. When I said something about it he said he would give the dog a bath but now he's complaining because he has to cook dinner tonight *and* give the dog a bath. And the entire time he didn't even walk with me because he was walking too fast. I could have stayed home and he could have taken the dog by himself.

I feel like the only disagreements we have are over the dog and I'm getting tired of having the same arguments over and over again.