I agree with everything that everyone is saying here. First of all, I thought MariaM was only about thirteen. As that may not be a child, I still don't think it's necessarily the age where she's going to be able to make that kind of decision basically on her own with no support from her family. I don't know that I could have made the decision at 13. I do think that a lot of what's being said is "giving her crap", and, I'm not even saying that it's a bad thing. Just wish we could get ahold of her parents. I still believe that they're the ones who should be receiving most of this. I just think it could be presented to her in a kinder, less confrontational way. As she is showing in her responses, all it's doing is making her more defensive and probably less likely to listen to anyone's advice. I feel bad for the puppy, and, if I was the neighbor, I'd have maybe already called the shelter. But, I'm sorry, I also feel badly for MariaM. Yeah, Maria, the smart, humane thing to do is to take the puppy to a no kill shelter. YOu know that, though. Can I ask you if you've voiced any of the opinions of the posters in here to your mother?