Gone to the dogs?

Dear Dr. Sadie,

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I met a wonderful man, "Carl." He's everything I could have hoped for - kind, caring, handsome, a good listener - the whole nine yards. We've been dating for a year, and we're talking about moving in together. There's only one problem: Sheila.

Sheila's not a wife or ex-girlfriend or anything like that. She's his dog. He's hopelessly devoted to her, but I do not like dogs. Even though I don't like them, I try to get along with Sheila, but she doesn't make it easy. She jumps on me and pushes me out of the bed at night. She barks whenever I come over. On top of it all, I'm allergic to her.

I don't feel right making it a "she goes or I go" situation, and I think Carl and I really have a future together. What should I do?

- Cinderella DeVille

You should give the dog to someone else. Maybe you could give it to my friend, Stella, who lives across the street. She has a dog already, and she likes dogs. I'm going to go to her house today with Mama.

You should get a kitty cat. You could have a kitty instead. You could call the kitty Tooey. Our kitty is named Tooey. You can have a kitty like ours.

You could get a goldfish. You could get a lot of goldfish and have a goldfish party.