Rule #1: Dogs are never permitted in the house. The dog stays outside in a specially built wooden compartment named, for very good reason, the dog house.
Rule #2: Okay, the dog can enter the house but only for short visits or if his own house is under renovation.
Rule #3: Okay, the dog can stay in the house on a permanent basis provided his dog house can be sold in a garage sale to a rookie dog owner.
Rule #4: Inside the house, the dog is not allowed to run free and is confined to a comfortable but secure metal crate.
Rule #5: Okay, the crate becomes part of a two-for-one deal in the garage sale, and the dog can go wherever the heck he pleases.
Rule #6: The dog is never allowed on the furniture.
Rule #7: Okay, the dog can get up on the old furniture but not the new furniture.
Rule #8: Okay, the dog can get up on the new furniture until it looks like the old furniture and then we’ll sell the whole works and buy new furniture on which the dog will most definitely not be allowed.
Rule #9: The dog never sleeps on the bed. Period.
Rule #10: Okay, the dog can sleep at the foot of the bed only.
Rule #11: Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you, but he’s not allowed under the covers.
Rule #12: Okay, the dog can sleep under the covers but not with his head on the pillow.
Rule #13: Okay, the dog can sleep alongside you, under the covers with his head on the pillow, but if he snores, he’s got to leave the room.
Rule #14: Okay, the dog can sleep and snore and have nightmares in your bed, but he’s not to come in and sleep on the couch in the TV room, where you’re not sleeping. That’s just not fair.
Rule #15: The dog never gets listed on the census questionnaire as “primary resident,” even if it's true.