This is not going to end well.

[Amina516]

I walk into my mothers house on Sunday and lo and behold, what do I spy. A tiny, adorable puppy.

This wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, puppies are a thing of joy. However, my father has literally given AWAY the last 4 dogs at about a year old, that he had brought home b/c "they're too much work'.

My dad apparently came home Saturday with a dog without talking to my mother about it. My mother was actually upset. She says she doesn't want to deal with the heartbreak when this dog too, probably follows the others into the wild blue yonder once my dad gets tired of them.

My brother, who is the dogs "official owner" and responsible for cleaning up for the puppy got upset when I asked how long this one was going to last.

Im not happy about the situation. But the puppy is adorable.

[DeltaSierra]

That sucks. I can't offer much in the way of advice, except that hubbys ex-wife has been banned from adopting puppies by all the local pet stores and rescues for the same reason. We call it "puppy syndrome," they never last more than 2 years before she tires of them and wants a new puppy.

[Kanalah]

My mom has a friend like this. She owned a couple of cats and a dog 10 years ago. Then got divorced and decided to sell her house. Gave my mom a sob story about how her new apartment was no pets allowed. (very very rare in my area) So mom took on her pets. A month later she decides that she misses her dog and takes him back. (Which is the point where I think she's a big fat liar.) She swears that she will pay for all the cat's medical - but you can guess where this is going. Mom spent over $3,000 on grooming (long hair cats that needed it) special food and vet bills. The youngest cat, Sammy died 18 months ago. Still not a dime from friend.

6 months ago friend decides to buy a new puppy. 5 months ago friend tells mom that her apartment complex has changed their rules and now no pets are allowed. Mom buys the story and takes on the puppy. Mom does not understand why boyfriend and I are upset about this.

I told her she had "puppy syndrome" Where once she realized how much work a dog is, she dumps them on someone who will take care of them and train them for her and let her come over and play with "her" dog.

[Seshat]

I was going to post, but then I realised it'd just be a rant.

So I'll post to express sympathy, and agreement with the general 'argh' reaction. And leave it at that.

Le sigh.

[BlaqueKatt]

"puppy syndrome" is why my partner has agreed to ruin his credit leaving this house, the full story is on fratching. Needless to say the house smells like a kennel.

[wolfie]

"puppy syndrome" is why my partner has agreed to ruin his credit leaving this house, the full story is on fratching. Needless to say the house smells like a kennel.

Which thread is it? I did a 3-month search on "syndrome", but couldn't find it.

[BlaqueKatt]

Which thread is it? I did a 3-month search on "syndrome", but couldn't find it.

it's under things i hate, i think the title is "why have a pet when"

[wolfie]

it's under things i hate, i think the title is "why have a pet when"

Thanks - title is actually "why do you have a pet". Did a search with keywords "why have a pet", and it came back with no results, and told me that the following keywords were ignored because they were either too common or too short: why, have, a, pet

[Sapphire Silk]

I had two roommates like this, years ago.

I'll call them FR (female roomie) and MR (male roomie).

FR is the girlfriend of MR. I don't particularly like her much, she's shallow. MR got a job across the state line, a state job that required him to live in that state. So he moves out, and urges us to let FR take his room and his part of the rent. We hadn't had luck with a couple of previous roomies, and while FR wasn't my first choice, I knew I could live with her.

Not long after she moves in, she wants to adopt a cat. My cat had died fairly recently, so I was fine with a new pet. A lady with a local cat rescue gave FR an adorable little female kitten she named Sheba. However, the problems started fairly early; once Sheba got past kittenhood, FR ignored her. She never cleaned the litter box, and at times forgot to feed her (leaving the task to me). Sheba was an indoor outdoor cat, and she didn't like MR (who was over so often it was like he never left; another story).

One day Sheba disappears completely. It made me sad as she was a sweet cat. So now FR wants to get a bird. I made it clear to her that I don't like birds (as pets). (In case you're wondering why I get so much say as to the animals in our home, it's because the lease is in my name only). I don't have a problem with a bird as long as it does not poop in the house, and she will be the only one taking care of it because I know nothing about birds and don't want to.

So of course, the little beast is allowed to fly all over the place and pecks everything in sight. It ruined the remote to my TV. I hate the thing, but she did take care of it and it wasn't pooping on the floor or furniture so I tolerate it.

One day, FR goes out to get the mail with bird on her shoulder. She hadn't gotten its wings clipped. It flies away.

I felt bad only in that I don't think it survived very long before a cat got it. I was glad to see it go, quite frankly.

Next FR wants to get a puppy from the shelter. Now I'm more firm. I remind her she's had two pets she didn't take care of. I am not house training a dog, I say. I'm not feeding it, or walking it. It will be YOUR dog, I say. If you don't take care this animal, I will take it back to the shelter and surrender it (I didn't know I can't do that at the time, folks). She promises she'll take care of this animal.

She goes to the shelter and gets the cutest little mixed breed puppy. It looks like a shepherd/miniature pincher mix. She names it Brie (for the cheese).

So of course, there are papers around the house the puppy is constantly missing. She and MR make no effort to housetrain the dog. I begin to complain. MR blows me off. "Rub her nose in it and take her outside" I say. "No" he says. that's not how you housebreak a dog.

Bullshit say I. Fed, up, I start rubbing her nose in the messing (Firm no, not yelling) and take her outside. Brie was a smart dog; she caught on quick. I have her house trained within two weeks. She never messed in the house again. MR blows it off, saying I'm doing it all wrong.

Yeah, right. I'm doing it so wrong that she stays off the furniture, does all kinds of tricks, and even will wait TWENTY minutes after I've thrown a stick for permission before she fetches it. Yeah, buddy, I really do it wrong.

Fact is, within six months Brie was more my dog than theirs.

Then I spot Sheba. She is hanging around the house and looking a little thin and ragged. I coax her into the house and give her some tuna and affection, then take her to the vet. Other than needing her shots updated, she looks good. So I decide to keep her. Sheba immediately bonds to me; she really wanted a human companion. I feed her and keep a clean litter box for her (which she seldom uses, she prefers going outside). I kept her for 9 years after that.

When I finally moved out, I wanted to take Brie with me as well. FR insisted I take Sheba (as if I would have left her there, and I made that very clear) but she refused to let me have Brie.

About a year later, FR and MR get married. He's been living in the house "illegally" for several years by this point (still working across the state line for the state with a fake address with a buddy). They get a new dog, Bear. Bear's another mix breed, but big. Looks like some kind of boxer mix. Now don't get me wrong, Bear's a nice dog. But he's big compared to Brie. Brie is not happy; she's not getting any attention from the two. She was very happy to see me when I visited. FR still won't let me take her, even though it's clear she ignores the dog.

It was very sad. Brie was a great dog.

[wolfie]

One day, FR goes out to get the mail with bird on her shoulder. She hadn't gotten its wings clipped.

I hope FR and MR get another bird (parrot family or crow family) and walk around with it on their shoulder. There's a reason why, in addition to "parrot on the shoulder", another accessory is part of the pirate stereotype.

[JoitheArtist]

I had a roommate like that! She researched, and decided she wanted a Shiba Inu. Beautiful dog. However, she never took the time to train it; she worked nights, and came home claiming she was too tired. She claimed she was too tired even to *walk* the poor thing; she would just lay down newspapers in the kitchen. When she let the dog out of the crate that was FAR to small for the dog to be in all the time, it would run around the house like a demon, then pee on the papers. Which housemate would then not pick up for HOURS, til the whole apartment smelled like ammonia. The dog only got real exercise when housemate's boyfriend came over to walk it. She got irritated at the dog barking and whining from inside its crate all the time, and bought one of those training collars that sprays into the dog's face when it makes a noise. The poor thing was MISERABLE. She wouldn't listen to any of us about how to care for it, insisting she was too tired. If you're constantly too tired to walk your dog, do NOT get a dog!!

She ended up giving the dog away, and got a cat instead. Sigh.

[fireheart]

My now ex-friend seems to have a veritable zoo of animals. Does she provide companionship? Nope.

When she was my partners housemate, she brought in a cat. A moggie who we named gyoza, who she claimed was a "stray she had picked up from a couple of houses prior." (Strike 1)
She refused to get it desexed (in fact, apart from her male dog, NONE of her animals are desexed) at first, claiming that she wasn't going to chop his balls off. She then retracted that when she "found a friend who could do it for her" (despite the fact that I pointed out a group that could do male desexing cheaply-yes they're legit. Strike 2)
Did she spend any time bonding with it? Nope. The damn cat bonded with me more than it did her. To the point where she'd let it run around in the neighbourhood for weeks at a time and then it only came back around when I was there. The second I did, I'd let it in, feed it a can/pouch of wet food straightaway (god knows what he'd been eating whenever he was outside-he had a bell on his collar so I doubt birds were an option) and shut the cat flap. Her reaction? To thank me for bringing it in, pet him and then let him out again...(strike 3)

That wasn't the reason why I ended up breaking things off with her. I broke things off because she was a rude, controlling, hypocritical, scamming bitch.

To her credit, she did at least attempt to re home him when she moved out.

The rest of her zoo lives with an ex-boyfriend of hers. She has two dogs and another cat. The two dogs? Not very well housebroken beyond "sit" and "stay" (in other words, they have not been trained to NOT jump on people and one of them nearly bowled me over) while the cat is an outdoor one. In a farming neighbourhood.

[Sapphire Silk]

I had a roommate like that! She researched, and decided she wanted a Shiba Inu. Beautiful dog. However, she never took the time to train it; she worked nights, and came home claiming she was too tired. <snip>The poor thing was MISERABLE. She wouldn't listen to any of us about how to care for it, insisting she was too tired. If you're constantly too tired to walk your dog, do NOT get a dog!!

She ended up giving the dog away, and got a cat instead. Sigh.

This is precisely why I have a cat and not a dog. Dogs are a lot of work to train, exercise, and maintain. Cats are far easier. Clean the litter box, feed them, and play with them, which I can do sitting down watching TV.

Don't get me wrong; I really like dogs. But I know my limits, so I stick to cats as pets (and I really, really like cats).

[Seshat]

But I know my limits, so I stick to cats

This is the same reason I don't have children.

Need I add: I approve. Wholeheartedly. Get the pet that's right for both of you.

I really, really like how intelligent some of the parrots are. The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo is extremely intelligent, and I met one who would participate intelligently in conversations: he had phrases he would use that had actual meanings to himself and his humans, and he'd learned to mimic human laughter and knew what it was for.

I would LOVE to befriend one, for that reason. Watch his intellect develop, teach him words and phrases, give him toys to puzzle through.

Toth and Bast would love to have one of the intelligent octopus species, and give him mazes of plastic piping (hamster habitat style), and again, watch it learn and develop.


Both cockatoos and octopuses require upkeep and care we can't afford, and can't be certain to reliably provide.

[sms001]

My condolences, Amina, I know that's a tough situation.

While we're on the subject, and the thread seems to be nicely pro-animal fairness, don't forget to start keeping your ears open for chick and duck adopters. It's that time of year, and way too many well meaning people get those "Easter" pets w/o really realizing what a long term commitment they are. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some chickens and would love for more people to have them, but if we can pass along some knowledge and friendly advice to those around us that may not know how long they live, what it takes to care for them, etc. we'll probably make some animals and a lot of humans lives a little better.