It shouldn’t be a problem to invite family to your vacation house.

However, if they’ve been staying there like it’s their own house for months, you gotta do something, right?

In this story, the uncle and grandfather devised a genius plan to shoo away the aunt and her naughty little children in their vacation house.

Read the full story below to find out how they managed to do it without a big confrontation.

You can’t kick out family, but…

This is a story from my grandfather, set in 1948-50 timeframe.

Uncle Joe bought some land with a cabin on a lake in Ontario, back in the 1920’s or 30’s.

Over the years, he kept adding to it—another cabin, a bunkhouse that slept about 12, a boathouse, a shaded outdoor dining area under some trees, etc.

The family loves going up and spending time at “the camp.”

Each summer, Uncle Joe would invite various parts of the large family up there, and it would be a grand time.

It was just called “the camp,” and was well loved by the family.

The only full-time resident of the camp was an older man who bred hunting dogs.

This was the perfect area for that sort of thing.

Meet Aunt Mabel…

There were about 10 well-behaved adult dogs around most of the time.

And the kids loved that each year, there were puppies around, too.

But one year, Aunt Mabel and her passel of squalling, ill-behaved children came to the camp.

No problem. They were family, and welcome!

Except they stayed most of the summer.

Uncle Joe was fed up, but couldn’t kick them out.

When my grandfather got there in July to stay two weeks (as he had always done), Mabel and crew had been there for a while already.

And Uncle Joe later said they didn’t leave until September.

He was too polite to kick them out, but he was fed up, especially when they made noises about coming back the next year.

So, they devised a plan.

The next year, Uncle Joe asked my grandfather to go with him several weeks early, to set up the camp.

They talked to the dog breeder, and hatched a plan.

When Aunt Mabel and brood arrived, everyone sat down to dinner at the outdoor dining area.

They noticed something strange about the dinnerware.

The only change from last year was that there were metal plates nailed to the tables now.

This caused a couple of raised eyebrows, especially when the explanation was that “it was easier to clean this way.”

But everyone ate happily.

Grandfather called the pack of hungry dogs!

Then, when everyone was done eating, my grandfather’s time to shine came.

He gave a loud whistle and yelled, “Dinnertime!”

A pack of hounds came from the other end of the camp at a run, and jumped up on the tables.

They started eating the leftovers, then licking all the plates clean.

This took less than a minute.

The dogs wiped the plates clean.

Uncle Joe and my grandfather stood nearby, nodding approvingly, and patting the dogs.

Uncle Joe said, “See? Easier to clean this way. Want to go fishing now?”

My grandfather reported it was the first time he had literally seen someone’s jaw drop open, and start gaping open and closed like a fish.

And Mabel and her children never returned.

Mabel and brood somehow decided to leave the next morning before breakfast.

It had taken two weeks to train the dogs.

Uncle Joe and my grandfather had to spend the rest of the summer breaking them of the habit of jumping on the dining tables.

Everyone agreed it was worth it.

Mabel and brood never returned to the camp.

That was funny.

Let’s check out what others have to say about this.

This user calls it a cute story.

Haha! Indeed.

I sure hope so.

The dogs were definitely satisfied.

Finally, this one says it’s innovative!

Simple, clever, and perfectly executed!

The dogs probably had a good time, too.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.