Quote: Even now, I don’t know what consequences I would be willing to enforce. I can draw the line in the sand about taking in any more animals, but when she crosses it, I can’t throw the animal out into the cold.
It seems to me that the underlying issue isn't the number of animals... it's the fact that whether there are two dogs or two hundred dogs, she always places you at the end of the list. If you had animals running all over the house, but the bedroom was off limits to them and that bedroom was a sanctuary of love and intimacy where you two retreated at the end of every day to reconnect emotionally and physically, the animals would NOT be a problem. You would see her as a very loving and compassionate person whose love overflowed to all nature. But what you have is someone who is stingy with EC to you and lavishes all her love on animals INSTEAD of you. THAT hurts.
It also seems to me that drawing a line in the sand about the animals is not the way to go. The line in the sand should be drawn regarding the way she relates to you. If she's like my friend, delivering any ultimatum about the animals will cause her to choose them over any human being. You might have more success in addressing only your R with each other and leaving the animals out of it.
