Not a dog person, but I had to post here

[RedHedd]

An acquaintance on another not pet-related forum posted about how she gave her dog to her inlaws "temporarily" until she could bring the dog into a pet-friendly home. It is now two and a half years later and they are finally in a pet-friendly home and she wants her dog back. I feel so bad for the dog! 2.5 years is forever in dog years! She now has "her" dog back, but really, after 2.5 years IMHO that dog is no longer hers. 2.5 years is NOT temporary. Of course I can't post my opinion on that other board at the risk of being flamed off. I'm doing all I can to not say anything. I just hope that dog does not misbehave on her and her family. Of course then we'll be hearing that it's all her MIL's fault.

Let's pray that the dog adjusts.

[Karen]

Some dogs will adjust no problem, with others it may take a while. But think of dogs who get bounced from home to home - many still end up perfectly good dogs once they get to their "forever" home and settle in!

[Freedom]

Well, 2.5 years is not "temporary" in my book either. On the other hand, the dog remained safe, in a good home (supposedly) and I'd guess she and her family saw the dog periodically. Not the best situation, but certainly not bad.

[DriftyAlison0]

If the current owners want to fight this, then they can and will win unless it was in the agreement which it sounds like its not. 2.5 years is not temp. in my books. Why now after all this time?

[Taz_Zoee]

My dog Zoee is temporarily staying with my mom while her knee heals. We all know that could take up to a whole year. Just the other day we were discussing this and my mom said (jokingly...I hope) "after a year, she's my dog". And I had just been thinking about it that day before. (She's not going to want to give her back.)
I do visit her as often as I can. They live over an hour away from me, so it's not too often. I pay for everything......food, grooming, vet costs. But hopefully it will be less than a year. 2.5 years is a LONG time. I couldn't handle not having her with me that long. The past 7 weeks have been hard enough.

My questions for the person you are posting about is.......who paid for the care of the dog for 2.5 years? Did the "owners" come visit? I honestly can't give an opinion since every situation is different. AND the fact that I am sort of in a similar situation.

[wolf_Q]

I think it would depend on how the person who had the dog for 2.5 years feels and what kind of personality the dog has. If the people were planning on giving the dog back the entire time and are okay with it (and the dog does okay) then it's fine....if they weren't planning on giving the dog back after more than a few months its different. Also some dogs would adjust to this just fine, some would not. We had a similar situation, my sister told my mom to take Sydney (schnauzer) until she had her twins because she was having a difficult pregnancy. So my mom took her with the intent to give her back after the babies were born, well they were born and my sister said she didn't want her back and told my mom to sell her (which of course she didn't). Then a year or so down the road wanted Sydney back and my parents wouldn't give her back and I don't blame them. Nebo loves me but also loves my parents I think he'd happily go live with them for a while then come back and happily live with me again. Whenever they dog-sit he's perfectly content being there. The girls love them too but they are happier with me I don't think they'd handle that very well; there's no way Skya would be able to live with anyone else but me. You can tell Killer is attached to us but he's such a happy "just give me attention" dog that I think he would adjust anywhere with some time. However I wouldn't dog-sit somebody's dog for more than a few months and be able to just give the dog back....I'd definitely be too attached.