dumb things dog owners do

[stacwase]

I went to Arkansas to visit my family last week. My mom got this tiny little "teacup chihuahua" (yes - I know that's not a true breed).

First of all - my mother should never be allowed to own a dog. She has bought numerous dogs over the years (by the way she has nothing against pet stores) and then decided they "needed a better home".

But anyway - this little chihuahua (Chloe) is about 6 months old or so and only weighs 2.2 lbs. She can easily sit in my outstretched hand. Mom has had her for a whole month already and apparently she intends to keep her.

The reason the breeder sold her was because the vet said she's too tiny to have puppies. She'd have to have a C-section. So - I was questioning my mom about when she intends to have her spayed. Mom says she thinks she should be allowed to have a littler of puppies first. Does that make any sense whatsoever to any of you???? By the way, my mother could never afford to have her dog have a C-section.

My mom feeds this dog table food non-stop. Chloe sits on her lap and eats with her, and every couple of hours Mom will say "time for Chloe to eat" and give her a muffin or something. The dog weighs 2 lbs and ate a whole muffin!

My sister lives next door to a veterinarian. We were looking at Chloe and she's most definitely got a bigger belly than she had before, so my sister brought her over to the vet to see if maybe she was pregnant. The vet said no (thank God) but she was getting too fat. She asked "Are you feeding her table food? Because if you want her to be around for much longer to hug and cuddle, you'd better stop".

We relayed the vet's message to Mom. It only served to remind her that it was "time for Chloe to eat again", and she gave her some baked beans.

I told Mom that if she got sick of Chloe I'd drive all the way down there to pick her up. (from the Upper Penninsula of Michigan to Arkansas!) Of course then I'd have to find her a suitable home. Maybe if she decides to give her away I can find somebody on Pet Talk who is from her area.

Do you know anybody who is that stupid about dogs?

[krashomatic]

i know what you mean, i have a neighbor with an old mixed breed dog that is about 30 lbs. over weight form the constant table food and snacks it gets. It's so fat it can hardly walk, much less run to burn some weight off. The neighbor is an old man and just thinks it's funny that he has such a fat dog...go figure

[stacwase]

People always say stuff like "she won't eat her dog food". I say "If she's hungry enough, she will". If you don't give the dog people food, then it has no choice but to eat the dog food.

Gee - I wish somebody would take away everything I wasn't supposed to eat and force me to slim down!

[My Peanuts]

My neighbors are worse. They got this cute little mix breed lab in late fall. The poor puppy lived outside, and we live in Chicago. Chicago is known for its extremes in temperature, really cold or really hot. These idiots actually thought that this was suitable for a puppy. After my dad called a couple of times to tell them "oops you left your dog out" even though we knew she lived there. Thank goodness they brought her in after our numerous complaints. After that we thought they were going to treat her right, until summer came. The poor thing was outside tied up in 90 plus degrees. To top it all off she was chained right next to my pool. Who wants to look at a poor dog literally dying of heat and go in a pool. I used to hose her off and give her ice because she was frequently without water. Oh, not to mention that we made several calls to the village to save her, but they were no help. Thinking back I should have called a shelter to get her, but sometime all the legal stuff gets in the way. One hot night the little angel "disappeared" my neighbor told me she was "stolen" Between me and all of you, she is fine and now in a good home after she was taken to a no kill shelter. And I don't feel guilty about it either. I feel good now when it hails, thunderstorms, and gets really hot and I know she is being taken care of right!

[krashomatic]

i try to avoid giving my great dane too many snacks,...my girlfriend however loves to feed him anything he'll eat. i tell her he's on a strict diet because he's a growing boy but it goes right in one ear and out the other, luckily she only visits on weekends so he's not getting too much junk food. his favorite is a slice of american cheese...he'd walk through fire for a slice.

[stacwase]

Peanuts, what you did was wonderful. Just think of all the days of misery that you saved that dog.

Some people truly, honestly feel that, since dogs are animals and animals live outside, dogs don't suffer by being left out in those conditions. What they don't realize is that animals in the wild are able to find shelter of their own. If that dog been in the wild, he certainly would have found some nice shade and something to drink.

A lot of people also really believe that animals don't have feelings. Once I was talking to my dad and I said "You know, Dad, I think animals have feelings." He looked at me peculiarly and said "Really? You do? Why?" He thought that was as crazy as thinking there's life on Mars.

[Sevens]

Actually, one of the dumbest things I heard since I have lived in Richmond was my ex co-worker. She has a poodle.

Her and her boyfriend would go out for dinner every single night. We used to joke with her and say her pots and pans and dishes were just for show.

Anyway, she ALWAYS gave her poodle the leftovers when she came home from eating out. She never really gave him dog food. He never had a weight problem. One day, she came in and said her poodle had pancreatitis and might not live through the night. It took 5 days and $2000 to pull him through it, which of course her rich parents stepped right in and paid. She said "Oh my god, I'll actually have to cook now, because the vet says the dog has to have rice."

Moron.....I may give my pups a little tidbit now and then, but I would never feed them all the time greasy restaurant food.

[Tonya]

My mom is! Growing up, we had one dog Christy that stayed. Christy was perfect and my mom loved her. But I cannot even begin to tell you how many dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, hamsters, birds, etc... "went to the happy farm." All the time, we'd come home from school and our beloved pet would be gone. My mom would give this BS story about how it's living at a happy farm for dogs, cats, rabbits, etc... Years later, she laughed and told me about how she'd drop them off at the shelter at wee hours in the morning. And, now...she has three dogs that she loves and will keep forever. The fleas bug her, so she has frontline on the dogs, plus like 3 flea collars per dog. We cannot get it through her thick head that dogs actually die from flea medicine overdose.

[K9karen]

I admit that I gave Cody some tablefood, a tidbit here and there etc. He lost 30 pounds after ACL surgery, as the surgeon read me the riot act. Being part Lab, he was food orientated, but he had hip dyspasia. He weighed 90 when he passed, but that was a steady weight for over 3 years. With Klo, I learned my lesson, as GSDs are prone to hip problems too. She has never ever gotten any table food, except for some pieces of apple or peach and carrot. I don't think I could live through watching another dog suffer with hip problems, not helped by my stupidity. Baked Beans? Yikes!!! Plus, too much protein isn't good either. Poor Chloe could use more hugs and kisses instead of a muffin. I'm sorry your mom doesn't want to take your advise

[zookeeperinaltha]

I know of far to manny people that let there dogs run lose, no food and no water. I am in Florida and it gets really hot here. I live right off a highway and am always seeing dogs or cats that have been hit by a car or semi. My husband has offered to help build a good size pen to keep my neighbors dog off the highway as well as out of my yard. (the dog is mean!) If this dog was penned I would make sure it has food and water but being a mean dog I can't go near it let alone in my own yard. I am so scared it is going to hunt down one of my pets or my child. It is eating cats now. I have tried to report this but where we live the police (only have 2) have told me to shot the dog. It isn't the dogs fault it is just hungry and thirsty and I will not shoot it but is is getting hard to let my own dogs outside! This is like the 5th dog they have had in the past year......for some strange reason they keep getting hit on the road I don't know what to do about this anymore It's a bull mastif I am sure this dog would be nice if well taken care of and treated right! It is a very pretty dog!

[stacwase]

What do you think of people who say "I'll just let her have one litter before I get her spayed"? Don't they realize that we have a big enough pet population already?

I admit that I too have snuck the dogs a little treat now and then. When we go out to eat, we'll save a meatball or something for them. But that's different from feeding them entirely from table scraps.

We used to feed Jake our leftoverse, and he got a little overweight. We stopped, and he has lost the weight, and now we know we'll have him for a lot longer than we would have otherwise.

[pitc9]

My parents have a 9 year old GSD Mix (Toby), and is about 25 lbs over weight, and has had two surgeries on the same leg (once her leg was broken, the 2nd was a toren ACL) and they bring home a "Doggie Bag" for her when ever they go out. It drives ME NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I preach to them everyday.... but just like I was when I was young...... it goes in one ear and out the other!
(I guess It's pay back!!)
With my two GSD's, and worring about there hips, ours do not get table scraps. There fav treats are Ice Cubes!!! Both are still underweight. Sierra could gain 10 lbs and Buddy....well...were still fighting with worms... but once those are gone, he needs to gain 15 lbs.