Venting about irresponsible dog owners
We were soon joined by another co worker who mentioned she needed to find a home for her dogs because she now had two children and they were too much work. I understand that life is what happens when you have other plans BUT WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE DOG OWNERSHIP SO CASUALLY???????? It just makes me see red when I hear people talk about having to get rid of their dog because they no longer fit into their life style. I have always believed that when you added a dog to your family you are making a LIFE TIME committment. Many years ago, when Tasker was just months old, I suddenly found myself in the midst of a major life change. I had to find a place to live and ran into all kinds of obstacles because of Tasker. My parents owned a house in a nearby town that was empty, I could live there rent free, the caveot was that I could not bring Tasker. I said thanks but no thanks. Landlord after landlord refused to rent to me because I had a BIG dog. I ended up buying a mobiel home (a terrible investment) and as many have already heard spent years in a mobile home park before I could afford my own piece of land. But I did it because of my obligation to Tasker. I am sorry that this is so lengthy but I simply don't know how to respond to people who are looking to "get rid" of an animal. People get angry when breeders and rescue groups "screen" them and ask all sorts of personal questions. But those are the same people who, the moment the going gets tough, dump the dog at the nearest shelter. Life is not without situations where it really is necessary to re home an animal but the valid cases are few and far between. Why don't people give more thought to their decisions when it comes to adding a dog to their family or having a litter of puppies? The second person who mentioned that she needed to get rid of her dog this morning has bred that dog every year since I have been here. She is looking to dump a dog who produced litter after litter of puppies for her to sell. I am just so mad I'm seeing RED!! |
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I understand how you feel. Olive got out of the house the other day and ran directly into the street while a car was comming. My god i saw our live flash because i was running full speed towards her i was not even thinking. i really would have let the car hit me instead. no second thought no nothing i just reacted. thankfully the car screeched to a halt and olive got a stern no and was put on a leash quickly after. the moral of my tale...i think of her like my own blood, or my own child (don't have 2 leggeds yet) i would do anything to keep her safe, spend any amount of money. (IF) she had been hit and the doc said she would need surgury, i would pay it. I totally agree with you people sometimes suck. more importantly we as people domesticated dogs in the first place. We set it up for them to to depend on us. i don't see any other option other than for humans to continue to take care of them, but i for one will gladly do it, and with a smile on my face.  |
| @Tasker's Mom: Grrrrrrrrrrr ...and to think you had to smile during the whole of both conversations
@LAURENALICE: The moral might have been "I need to have a better containment system!" 
It happens to most of us, and it's scary. The worst has happened to a few of us, too.  |
Tasker's Mom wrote: It just makes me see red when I hear people talk about having to get rid of their dog because they no longer fit into their life style. I have always believed that when you added a dog to your family you are making a LIFE TIME committment.
I don't understand it either. I'll be honest - I never wanted a dog. My husband begged for one for 2 years. We dog-sat for his brother's older, smaller, laid back sheepdog for a month and I gave in (because Tim was going to do all the work LOL!). I was NOT prepared for the enormous bundle of energy that I wound up with. Bailey is too big, creates too much of a mess and is way too needy for me. I'm paying a fortune for dog sitters just to travel for work and have had to scale my personal travel way down. When I'm home I live in fear that he'll interrupt every conference call and demo. I've had to scale down my entertaining as well because I have friends who are either allergic or downright scared of big dogs. And despite all that, I've been in love with this dog ever since the car ride home from the breeder and there is no way I'd give him up. He will be with us until he dies. There will never be another one, mind you! But Bailey is family. |
Bailey's Mom wrote: He will be with us until he dies. There will never be another one, mind you! But Bailey is family.
Just wait! My dad says that after each of our dogs has passed on. And somehow, there's always been another!! |
Having a dog is just like having kids, you take the good with the bad and you don't bail on them when the going gets touch  |
| I do understand when people have to give up their dog when they don't have any other options. ...but my blood boils too when people are just okay with giving their dog away right away. Someone on another board is giving their great dane away, that they've trained to do so many things, because they're moving overseas. I don't understand. I don't even think Germany has a quarantine. If it does, it's not bad at all! |
| Ginny,
You are such a kind person for sitting there and listening. I would have given them quite the earfull! 
I moved 105 miles away from where I was living (with family very close by) and bought a house. Reason #1 Couldn't find a rental home that allowed dogs. Reason #2 Would never give up my dogs because I was moving, they are family. If the family moves that includes everyone!! Reason #3 Couldn't afford to buy where we had been renting. Reason #4 Had enough of landlords. Reason #5 Buying a home is a great investment. Our Rental agent that was helping up look for rentals before we gave up and bought this place suggested that we consider giving up the dogs. I told her that was not an option. (She was also a dog owner)  |
Tasker's Mom wrote: I ended up buying a mobiel home (a terrible investment) and as many have already heard spent years in a mobile home park before I could afford my own piece of land. But I did it because of my obligation to Tasker.
This topic hits very close to home for me, especially with Dudley's recent surgery... When I left my husband 4 years ago, like so many I couldn't find a place to rent becuase of my "giant dog".. and giving him up was not an option, living in my car was not an option.. so I did the only thing I could do....like Ginny, I bought a mini-home. It was the LAST thing I wanted to do.. ME living in a TRAILER....in a TRAILER PARK... snotty old me...What choice did I have.. live in apatment with no dog or swallow my pride.. so I back my bags and moved to Bev-er-ly.. Hills that is.. Trailer Park.. wading pools... no movie stars!!!! I live outside the city, on a acre lot, with a fenced yard.. lots of room for not one but two mutts to roam. I wouldn't change it for the world.. it has afforded me the ability to have a reliable vehicle, to be able to pay for vacations and unexpected emergencies.....it's might have wheels, but it's mine.. no one can tell me to move or that the dogs have to go. Several months ago the co-owner of the company I work for came to me and ask me if I knew anyone who wanted a 10 year old Dalmation.. it was his.. his reasoning was that it wasn't fitting in with his lifestyle anymore...my first reaction was to smash him in the head.. but I refrained... and steered him towards the Dalmation rescue. A few weeks later I asked him how he made out with the rescue.. his response to me was that he was going to put the healty dog down because the rescue lady made him feel guilty about giving up his 10 year old dog......again... wanted to smash him in the head, but refrained... so I offered to act as the go between for him and rescue lady, so God forbid he wouldn't have to look her in the eyes when giving up his dog...I contacted the lady, explained what I agreed to do and asked if she would help.. long story short, she found a wonderful home for him in a matter of days with a family that already had two Dalmations, who own a horse farm... Every time I look at him at work, I think to my self "you are a worthless piece of #@&*... I understand that there are situation where a dog has to be rehomed.... but to just discard a pet when there are so many other options ... well you just got to shake your head.. I have heard so many times.. it's just a dog....that is why I surround myself with friends who are as crazy as me when it comes to their pets... |
Dudster wrote: A few weeks later I asked him how he made out with the rescue.. his response to me was that he was going to put the healty dog down because the rescue lady made him feel guilty about giving up his 10 year old dog......again... wanted to smash him in the head, but refrained... so I offered to act as the go between for him and rescue lady, so God forbid he wouldn't have to look her in the eyes when giving up his dog...I contacted the lady, explained what I agreed to do and asked if she would help.. long story short, she found a wonderful home for him in a matter of days with a family that already had two Dalmations, who own a horse farm... Every time I look at him at work, I think to my self "you are a worthless piece of #@&*... I understand that there are situation where a dog has to be rehomed.... but to just discard a pet when there are so many other options ... well you just got to shake your head.. I have heard so many times.. it's just a dog....that is why I surround myself with friends who are as crazy as me when it comes to their pets... This morning the woman with the four dogs told me she is going to have the oldest put down, I WAS HORRIFIED. The dog is 12 years old and is startig to show signs of age but I simply cannot imagine anyone doing that before it NEEDS to be done. I know what you mean Brenda about the TRAILER PARK, I was never so glad in my life to get away from there. But now when I hear "Trailer Park" jokes on TV I just CRInge, there are lots of perfectly nice people living in trailer parks and I think it is terrible that thay are the butt of constant jokes. |
| When people make jokes about living in a mini-home.. I ask them.. is your mortage payment $202.00 per month???? That usually shuts them up!!! |
That's sad.  When we've used to live in apartments that didn't allow pets, we always worked out arrangements where we could have a kennel outside. Out of the three we had, no one had a problem with that and they didn't have to know that we kept the dogs inside all the time we were home. Not really ethical, but my pets didn't destroy houses either. The weird thing is they allowed cats and small dogs - they can be just as destructive as a larger dog. The worst damage I've ever seen a dog do was a beagle that had accidently gotten into my mom's car for a few hours when I was a little girl (they were cleaning it and had all the doors open & she snuck in there). We noticed she wasn't around later that night, and my dad went to search for her. He heard the dog barking in my mom's car, and he went out there. The dog had destroyed the ENTIRE backseat and the backs of the front seat in just the few hours in was in there. I don't think I've ever seen either of my parents so mad in my entire life, but...we kept the dog for years after that until she passed away.
Anyway, our apartments weren't in apartment complexes though so it was easier to with the owners. They were a little out of the way, just 4 townhouses in groups of two with all of them. They didn't have a pool or anything like that, but they were nice townhouses, but since they didn't have a pool, gym, etc.. people weren't exactly running to buy them (in college towns anyway). They were great for starting families who just wanted a nice, quiet place to live though. The only pet I've volunteerly gave away was our great dane. He wouldn't eat here, and he was getting deathly skinny. Vet visit after vet visit, they couldn't find anything wrong with him. We took him over to my parents while me & Jake was staying over there for a couple of months while Jason was away. He started gaining back weight and had more energy. We brought him back...he started losing weight again and his hair started coming out this time. It was the weirdest thing ever. We talked to my parents, and they kept him over there. We paid for the food & vet expenses, visit them quite a bit so we saw him often, and he did so much better over there. I'm still not sure what happened - we had just had Jakob a few months before, and Jake was VERY colicky and high needs as an infant (I'm talking 10-12 straight hour screamfests every single night/day). My only guess is Jake's screaming was bothering him or he felt ignored and depressed since so much of our attention was on Jakob. I didn't want to give him away, but we still paid for his food/vet bills, and he was a lot happier over there. We really did what was best for him then. We've never had another animal act that way before...and I hope we don't again. |
| I totally understand and it makes my blood boil - you wouldn't give your kid up so why a dog and why do some people think that it is ok ??? its NOT ok - they are lifelong commitments and where I go my dogs go, don't take dogs, well then I don't go |
| What I think really sucks is that there are so many nice and caring people out there that take their free time/money to create rescues/foster/no kill shelters to take in these poor dogs, and people totally take advantage of this so that they can drop their dogs off and not feel guilty. |
Lil Walty wrote: What I think really sucks is that there are so many nice and caring people out there that take their free time/money to create rescues/foster/no kill shelters to take in these poor dogs, and people totally take advantage of this so that they can drop their dogs off and not feel guilty.
BINGO....and then in 6 months they will be applying for all kinds of dogs on Petfinder and then complain because no rescue will adopt to them.
Yes, they can lie and not tell the new rescue about the dogs they had, but that is why a "vet reference" can and should be mandatory. |
Lil Walty wrote: What I think really sucks is that there are so many nice and caring people out there that take their free time/money to create rescues/foster/no kill shelters to take in these poor dogs, and people totally take advantage of this so that they can drop their dogs off and not feel guilty.
While I agree with this and the above statements, I think a lot of this behavior comes from ignorance and that they are purposefully taking advantage of it...just that they don't know any better. I know that before becoming a regular on this site I had no idea how bad the rescue situation is and, while I had heard of things being less than perfect, I wouldn't have known how hard it is to rehome a dog, or how often they end up euthanized. I'm not defending their decisions to get rid of their animals, I'm just saying that if they don't know the whole story, they don't know how bad what they've chosen to do is... |
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