My sister and dogs *rant*

[Love That Collie]

That's really sad about your sister getting all those dogs/puppies then selling or giving them away I bet it isn't good on the children either. Kids can get so attached, so quickly to animals. I know what it's like that your pet is given away. I wasn't allowed to have a dog until I was about 12 and I so loved dogs ever since I can remember.

Then I got my first dog, she slept with me, I trained her and she was very smart. I grew up, married and couldn't take her with me but my brother was still a young teenager at home and parents and I felt that she belonged to the whole family although my dad just put up with having a dog in the house. Well, my parents bought a new house after I'd married (I lived just a few miles from them) and my dad gave her away because, as he put it, he was tired of finding dog hairs in his underwear drawer. Sure she was a longhaired dog and shed some but he's a fanatic about somethings.....still is. Anyway, nobody even consulted me before they gave her away. So when I found out a couple a days later he'd given her away I went to find the family that they'd given her to and she'd been hit by a semi truck! Even though my parents told them not to walk her near a busy highway because she was afraid of traffic that's what they did and she bolted from them and ran in front of the semi!! I don't think I have totally forgiven him for doing this for the reason he gave to this day and it's been over 25 years ago!
Well, that's my rant!

[cyber-sibes]

Wow, this sure is a sad thread for us animal lovers
My brother had a beautiful Irish Setter years ago. He "trained" the dog, and he was healthy, but my brother used to yell at him & threaten him physically. The poor dog would cower in his presence. Once we were both at my Mom's, he actually KICKED his dog and started cursing at it - I blew my top and read him the riot act. By the end of it, he & I almost came to blows. My poor mother was so upset with the two of us, but I couldn't help it. NO ONE kicks a dog in front of me and gets away with it!
He gave the dog to my mom, who took exceptional care of him, and Red did get to live a long, & finally happy, life.

[Husky15]

That's just crazy. No offence but I don't think they should have a dog. They are making up stupid excuses. I am no stranger to dogs. Since I was born we've had four dogs before our forever dog Belle. But we had reasons to give them up. The first one, Buster, who I hardly remember but he looked like a Lab or Golden, bit me in the face one time, and this wasn't any playbite or a bite by mistake, he was aggressive, either that or couldn't handle kids. Our next dog, Pagen (Sheltie) was abused and my dad knew of this so he adopted her from the abusing parents. Well come to find out my sister has terrible, terrible allergies to her, so we have to give her up. And then comes Princess, the best dog, she was a Lab/Golden (my dad loves yellow Labs) nothing wrong with her except the fact that she chased cars. Well we didn't let that stop us from owning her. But before we moved my father went and checked out the place where we were moving to, and the owner of the place (the IDIOT) said to my dad that NO DOGS WERE ALLOWED and laid it out straight. So we gave Princess up to one of my mom's friends. Once we moved here, we saw dogs everywhere, which really ticked me off. Well a few years later we see cute Husky/Alaskan Malamute mixes at the petstore. Me and my sister both went wild. So one night dad came home with one. We had him for a few months and come to find out we got another aggressive dog. So we gave him up to a guy who raised Huskies and sleded them for a hobby. Well this dog (Max) would bite off other dog's ears and bite every family member there. So he definitely was aggressive. And now we have Belle. And we are never gonna give her up.

[sabies]

Oh gosh, all these terrible stories, Amy you are not alone!

I have a sister who is capable of giving up her dog (with an excuse of course) and then buy another. That's buy not rescue, and she doesn't even have money for that! I thought I was going to help her look at shelters, I sent her petfinder links, . . . next thing I know they have a dog.

As has been mentioned, there is nothing you can do more than state your mind (unless it's something illegal). It is frustrating but just be proud of yourself for not being that way and keep in mind that there are many people out there respectful of animals. I hope your example will help your nieces/nephews to not follow in their parents' footsteps.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

That just pissed me off to no end... I'm so sorry to hear this, Amy.

[sabies]

One thing I keep reading in these stories is that people are selling their dogs when they give them up!! It's not bad enough that they are giving up on what is their responsibility and what should be considered part of the family but they expect to get some money out of it?!

[RobiLee]

We've talked about this before so I know how much your sister upsets you. You know I have family like this too. My brother-in-law and his ex-wife use to drive me crazy! He is not much of a animal lover and she was always getting pets and never taking care of them and getting rid of them. I can't even tell you how many died. The one case that sticks out in my head was when they had two dogs that they kept chained waaaaaay out back in the corner. It was a hot day and we were outside playing ball with the kids and Brandon told me to look at thier food and water bowls. There was nothing in them. The bowls looked like they had just been laying there forever and were completely covered with dust. There couldn't have been any water in the water bowl for quite sometime. We made sure the dogs got some fresh water that day. Right after their divorce she got a mastiff and of course he was soon chained up outside and the last time I ran into her she told me they had just got a bassett hound. Who knows where those dogs are now.

My cousin use to have 5 chis and I just found out that she now has 4 large dogs. I asked my aunt what happened to the little ones and I got a "Oh, she got rid of them" reply. Uhhhh, WHY...was what came out of my mouth. It happened during a difficult time for her. Her husband had just died from a nasty and difficult battle with cancer and she went a bit crazy after that and did some strange things. I have to try and let that go because I know how hard it was for her. Its still kind of hard to understand though, but I won't judge her because I can't even imagine what she went through.

[sanford8916]

My mom is that way. I can't even count the number of animals that she has had since I have been married for 12 years, of course she doesn't have any of them, and most of them I am not sure what really happened to them. After she got the last puppy and kept it for a month or two, I decided the if she gets another animal, I will call animal control on her. We took one dog and one cat away from her but I can't keep taking in animals everytime she changes her mind. I do have to say, there are alot of people who don't think twice about getting rid of an animal when it gets to hard. I have to neighbors, one just got rid of her cat and another is looking for a new home for her dog, just becasue she doesn't want to pay $25 more a month for rent!

[sumbirdy]

My brother and sister-in-law had a chocolate lab puppy. They told me that they forgot to feed her often but "it was okay because when they did feed her they fed her a lot" I can't even imagine that. I have to feed my dogs everyday. Sometimes i have to go home early to feed them and i tell the people that i have to go because my dogs are expecting me, they're hungry. They also had a baby recently and told mom they didn't want the dog so she asked what they were going to do with her and they said they were just going to drop her off. Mom started crying and my brother said "oh mom, its just a dog" Luckily mom convinced them to give her to a friend. They live with us now and i recently caught my sister-in-law kicking my dog because he wouldn't get out of her way. Tiny's lazy and everyone's learned to step over him because he just lays there but that didn't give her any right to kick him! I was furious! She is no longer allowed to even touch any of my dogs and i'm still not speaking to her. (She kicked him pretty hard) Tiny has become very whiney since then. People like them should never be allowed to keep animals. I could go on and on about them but i'm running out of time.

[Zippy]

It is so sad so many of us have family members that are alike in there care or noncare of animals

[slleipnir]

My sister is the same way *Sigh* She got a GSD puppy a while ago...It had some health problem and got really sick so she gave it back to the humane society. Then she got a kitten. Whenever it was old enough and in heat, she gave it away. She said it pee'd everywhere. (it didn't, she just couldn't afford to get it fixed and didn't like hearing it be in heat) Then she got a JRT....it eventually got really aggressive and she had to give it away. It was put to sleep because it was just too aggressive. Probably because it wasn't walked enough for such a hyper dog. I TOLD her not to get that dog, but nooo. When I asked how he was doing she said "Oh, he's dead." like it was nothing.

Now she has a lab mix named Jade. She is probably a year or 2 now, and I'm suprised she kept her this long. I thought for sure she would be gone by now, especially since she's not a pup anymore. But she actually seems to love this dog and not want to give it up....She even takes it jogging with her (appearintly) I really think she thinks more of this dog than any others she's had.