This is part of my series on How To Be A Good Person.

A reader asked,

How do I convince my wife to get a dog? I really want one, and I just don’t see what the problem is.

Well, gentle reader, I have some bad news: you don’t convince her. Your wife doesn’t want a fluffy ball of joy. You need to accept this and move on.

Now, I imagine there are pets that you absolutely don’t want. (For me, that includes king cobras and tarantulas.) And generally speaking, you have a long list of things you don’t want to be brought into your home, e.g., machine guns, illegal drugs, or foul-smelling food. You want people to respect your wishes; therefore, you should acknowledge and respect your wife’s preferences.

Furthermore, you don’t want people to endlessly badger you about changing your mind. So treat your love with the same respect and stop trying to persuade her.

Find a way to be OK with not getting a dog.

Read: The Veto Strategy—How My Wife And I Make Decisions