NWR-- new dog, old owner vent

BrandNewJ · March 2015

We just got a 5.5 year old pit bull. He goes to daycare with Brando and his parents had to give him away because their new baby is allergic. He was living in a garage and barley ever got out. We wanted to give him a better life than a garage. He's been with us for a few days. He's the sweetest, most loving dog ever. We were planning on waiting on for a second dog until we got a house, but will be looking in a few months, so we figured while it's inconvenient it's still a good choice. He attached to us so quickly. The dogs get along great and we're happy to have him.

We've been trying not to judge how someone could give up their dog of a number of years or lock him in a garage, but I'm officially done not judging.

I took him to our vet yesterday to get a check up. Had his medical records from previous vets transferred over. He has a serious heart murmur. He's getting an echocardiogram now. I'm trying to focus all my energy in it coming out well, but the vet said it sounded fairly bad. He has a wart on his eyelid that is black and can be cancerous. His teeth are almost falling out. His old owners were told ALL of this in December... The same time they started looking to re home him. I'm starting doubt the truth of the baby being allergic. They didn't tell us any of this, not that it would have stopped us from taking him, but not even a warning? So this week we've got 2 procedures for him and 3k towards the vet to begin fixing him.

He's our dog now. We've decided we aren't telling the old owners anything, if they ever even ask. We already love him and care about him. It's just so upsetting to see how many people out there treat animals so poorly. They can't care or stand up for themselves. They need help. I'm glad he found us, at least he'll be healthy now.

Thanks for the vent, I really needed it. Found out about all of this last night/20 minutes ago. Also sorry for the post and run. Haven't slept since we got him since he's not used to our house and barking and running around all night, we've been trying to stay with him. I'm going to take a nap.

julieanne912 · March 2015

Man that really stinks. I wonder if the reason they gave him up was because they knew about all those problems, but couldn't afford to fix them? A lot of people are pretty embarrassed when they don't have the money for something like that, so maybe they just used the baby thing as an excuse. They should have at least warned you though.

Really sad though, and I'm glad he found a family who is willing to take care of him properly

southernbelle0915 · March 2015

Aw, I'm so sorry to hear that and what a total bummer about the cost. The good thing is that he's with you now and you're willing to take care of him.

It really breaks my heart how some people treat animals. Puppies and kittens are adorable, but you (general you) are not signing up for just an adorable puppy or kitten - you're signing up to take care of an adult dog or cat for the entirety of its lifespan. They depend on you.

novella1186 · March 2015

Ugh I can't stand when people don't take care of their dogs. It takes effort to go out and obtain a dog. If you can't care for it/aren't willing to care for it, whatever, then don't go through the effort. It's not about having a cute puppy for a while. It's about having a dog for it's ENTIRE LIFETIME and everything that entails, which includes vet care, which can get really expensive when health problems arise. You don't like it, then don't own a fucking dog. It's that simple.

Rant over.

Anyway, I'm so glad you guys adopted him. He deserves a good home, and it's awesome that he's getting all the care he needs. Best of luck to you! I hope everything turns out ok with his health. Hugs to him!

ShesSoCold · March 2015

Ugh, OP, I hear ya. Our dog had knee problems that may have been an issue before we got her (from a family who treated her like a goldfish). Makes me wonder too.

But he's lucky to have been rehomed with people who love him and will take care of him. Good luck.

climbingsingle · March 2015

That's heartbreaking. I don't understand how people can neglect animals like that.

Couggal12 · March 2015

Wow, that is so incredibly sad that someone could neglect their animal like that. I just don't get it. I'm glad you have given him a good home.

allispain · March 2015

Poor thing! How wonderful that he now has such a loving home and family - no wonder he attached to you all so quickly. I bet he was starved for that kind of love/attention.

huskypuppy14 · March 2015

Poor baby! I'm so glad you guys are taking care of him. We treat our dog like a child. I couldn't imagine just letting those injuries fester. I'm such a worry wart puppy mom.

levioosa · March 2015

I'm so sorry. I'm glad he has you now.

BrandNewJ · March 2015

Thanks ladies. I think he's happy here, although he did just spend the morning at the vet! But he has been going to the park every day. He hasn't really ever socialized, so he's getting used to it. He wants to play, but he doesn't know how yet, it's cute. He'll get there.

I also don't get how people don't understand that pets are for their entire lifetime. All they want to do it love you (general), the least you (general) can do is take care of them.

badbnagdway · March 2015

It kind of amazes me how many people get pets and then just give them up for very little reason. I agree with others, smells like the old owners learned about all the issues and ran. Good thoughts for your new pup. I saw this the other week, a fake ad on craigslist from a woman who moved and DIDN'T get rid of her pets:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/23/this-woman-posted-her-pets-on-craigslist-for-the-best-possible-reason/

My cat and I have lived in five different states together. She has stinky poop and is frequently anti-social. I can't imagine giving her up.

bethsmiles · March 2015

Aw, poor buddy. It just breaks my heart that his owners saw him as so disposable! Clearly, he wasn't getting enough love from them and I'm right with you on questioning if the baby really has an allergy! It's great that he has found such a fantastic home with you

BrandNewJ · March 2015

badbnagdway said:
It kind of amazes me how many people get pets and then just give them up for very little reason. I agree with others, smells like the old owners learned about all the issues and ran. Good thoughts for your new pup. I saw this the other week, a fake ad on craigslist from a woman who moved and DIDN'T get rid of her pets:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/23/this-woman-posted-her-pets-on-craigslist-for-the-best-possible-reason/

My cat and I have lived in five different states together. She has stinky poop and is frequently anti-social. I can't imagine giving her up.

I love that. After a dog park friend found out about this yesterday she sent me a funny article about a person posting for their children to be taken because they were finally getting a new puppy.

I can't imagine ever giving up my now 2 dogs. My babies! Brando is a farting, burping, poopy monster. (The first one. I still don't know Red too well.) I could never ever give him up.

ashley8918 · March 2015

I would 1000% give up my dogs if my child had an allergy that couldn't be controlled (or for a few other, in my opinion, valid reasons), no question. I guess that makes me a bad person?

I would be skeptical about the allergy business based on this dog's heath issues too, though.

novella1186 · March 2015

I was just looking on craigslist for dogs that need re-homing because my parents are thinking of getting a dog. Some of the ads made me so ragey. One of them was "Need to re-home my dog cuz my work schedule changed so I'm not home enough." Um... what? Did you not think through this possibility when you GOT the dog?

When I got my 2nd dog (already had my beagle) he was a rescue puppy in really bad shape and needed to not be alone much. I had to work crazy hours and work a lot of over-time. Was my first reaction to ditch my dogs? Nope. I hired a "nanny" for them. If there was a doggie daycare around, I would have checked it out, but there wasn't. So I hired a friend of mine to come over around the middle of my shift to hang out and play with the dogs and take them outside. She LOVED getting to play with the puppy. It was kind of a huge benefit for everyone. And I ate ramen or went to a bar that had free hotdogs and ordered a cup of free water to drink with my free hotdog in order to be able to afford their "nanny."

If you're not willing to make shit work, and your first reaction to anything is "whelp this is slightly inconvenient now so I better get rid of the dog" then you shouldn't have gotten the dog to begin with. I know I said something similar in an earlier post, but I hate it. I dealt with this type of bullshit all the time when I worked at the Humane Society. Sometimes I just wanted to punch people right in the face.

There's too many asshats like that, and not enough kind, caring people like you, OP. And I think rescue dogs make the best dogs, because it's like they know what you've done, and they appreciate it. I've never met a rescue that wasn't incredibly loving and sweet.

allispain · March 2015

badbnagdway said:
It kind of amazes me how many people get pets and then just give them up for very little reason. I agree with others, smells like the old owners learned about all the issues and ran. Good thoughts for your new pup. I saw this the other week, a fake ad on craigslist from a woman who moved and DIDN'T get rid of her pets:

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/23/this-woman-posted-her-pets-on-craigslist-for-the-best-possible-reason/

My cat and I have lived in five different states together. She has stinky poop and is frequently anti-social. I can't imagine giving her up.

I don't get it either. We currently have two cats - when the oldest was only about 4 years old, he got really sick. We couldn't figure it out and had to have a lot of (expensive) tests run - turns out his kidneys don't function well, they were struggling to process his food, and were covered with scar tissue. So I did my research, spoke to multiple vets, and started making him food at home. He eats two well-balanced meals a day and hasn't been sick since (it's been a little over 3 years). Every two weeks, I grumble about having to make a batch of cat food, but every two weeks I do it. He's my kid and I can't imagine not making sure he gets what he needs to stay healthy. Never once did the thought enter my head that I could just foist him off on someone else so that I didn't have to deal with his medical issues. Hell, I fully plan to be making batches of cat food every two weeks for another 10 or so years (fingers crossed). I freely admit that I will grumble every time though (the smell of boiling chicken liver = ick).

Edit - typo

BrandNewJ · March 2015

ashley8918 said:
I would 1000% give up my dogs if my child had an allergy that couldn't be controlled (or for a few other, in my opinion, valid reasons), no question. I guess that makes me a bad person?

I would be skeptical about the allergy business based on this dog's heath issues too, though.

I don't think it does, that's why I tried to hold off judging. But after the healthy problems, the super fast good-bye, garage living and how quickly he attached, I don't know how much I believe it anymore.

BrandNewJ · March 2015

@novella1186 yup! Animals are an inconvenience. They're also a source of comfort. Pros and cons need to be weighed. When Brando started chewing holes in our wall we didn't give him up. We took him to daycare to be watched. Wonderfully enough where we met Red. I know this group is preaching to the choir and that makes me so happy to know people out there do care.

[Deleted User] · March 2015

AGH stuff like this makes me so mad (not the kid/allergy stuff, but the "don't want the responsibility" stuff). Something similar is happening with FI's boss right now--he is the one being a douche. He begged and pleaded with this adoption center to let him adopt two cats and he has had them for about a month and doesn't want them anymore.

He keeps saying it's his allergies, but he WANTED them in the first place. He and FI complained about how hard the adoption place made to get them, and the whole time I told them it was to avoid bad placement, which just upset the animal in the end. AND NOW LOOK, he is exactly the person they were hoping to avoid.

If I didn't have a teeny, tiny city apartment (and a bird), I would snatch those babies in a heartbeat.

Humans infuriate me to no end.

sophhabobopha · March 2015

Glad you took him in.

I judge rehomers, I can't help it.

wandajune6 · March 2015

People who mistreat animals are scum.

We have a pitbull that we rescued last year. Maury was 12-18 months old and skinny to the point of seeing ribs. His tail was so badly damaged that the shelter had to cut it off. When we got him, everything he saw was either a new chew toy or terrifying. His fear of sticks was so bad that when BIL came by using a cane, my monkey butt started barking and shaking so badly that I had to hug him hard for almost 10 minutes to calm him down.

A year later, we've fixed all of his health issues except for his random waves of dandruff- and the vet tells us that we may never be able to cure it completely. His dandruff is torture for my allergies but he still gets lots of love because he deserves it.

We worry about what happens when we can't afford his medical bills. When deciding if we should get a dog, we researched low cost vet options. It was a commitment. That said, if we have a kid and the kid's allergic, we'll find someone that we trust to adopt him.

I will make a suggestion on the sleeping issue- get him a crate. We didn't get him one at first and he had lots of problems at night- barking, accidents, chewing everything, etc. The crate was amazing. We keep him crated at night and when we're out because he still likes to get into trouble (he loves to chew things that he shouldn't and scared the shit out of us chewing a lamp cord) but he chooses to be in it when we're at home as well. He chews through beds quickly so he's got a collection of fleece blankets that he sleeps with (and carries around) that make it his getaway. He'd sleep in our bedroom with us if my allergies could handle it and he didn't snore so loudly!

teddygirl9 · March 2015

I almost never believe what I read when people are adopting out animals on kijiji. Your pup is so good to have you now, I hope he's okay.

redoryx · March 2015

When I was adopting my first cat, there was a woman trying to return a dog after less than a day because it wasn't getting along with her other dog. Like they are just supposed to magically be best friends within 24 hours or some stupid shit.

I also have a friend who works for our local shelter and man oh man the stories she tells can make you rage against how stupid humans can be.

BrandNewJ · March 2015

abcdevonn said:
AGH stuff like this makes me so mad (not the kid/allergy stuff, but the "don't want the responsibility" stuff). Something similar is happening with FI's boss right now--he is the one being a douche. He begged and pleaded with this adoption center to let him adopt two cats and he has had them for about a month and doesn't want them anymore.

He keeps saying it's his allergies, but he WANTED them in the first place. He and FI complained about how hard the adoption place made to get them, and the whole time I told them it was to avoid bad placement, which just upset the animal in the end. AND NOW LOOK, he is exactly the person they were hoping to avoid.

If I didn't have a teeny, tiny city apartment (and a bird), I would snatch those babies in a heartbeat.

Humans infuriate me to no end.

Your fi's boss is being a butt. 2 cats?! 1 wasn't good enough to start with if he wasn't sure if he was allergic? Geez.

BrandNewJ · March 2015

wandajune6 said:
People who mistreat animals are scum.

We have a pitbull that we rescued last year. Maury was 12-18 months old and skinny to the point of seeing ribs. His tail was so badly damaged that the shelter had to cut it off. When we got him, everything he saw was either a new chew toy or terrifying. His fear of sticks was so bad that when BIL came by using a cane, my monkey butt started barking and shaking so badly that I had to hug him hard for almost 10 minutes to calm him down.

A year later, we've fixed all of his health issues except for his random waves of dandruff- and the vet tells us that we may never be able to cure it completely. His dandruff is torture for my allergies but he still gets lots of love because he deserves it.

We worry about what happens when we can't afford his medical bills. When deciding if we should get a dog, we researched low cost vet options. It was a commitment. That said, if we have a kid and the kid's allergic, we'll find someone that we trust to adopt him.

I will make a suggestion on the sleeping issue- get him a crate. We didn't get him one at first and he had lots of problems at night- barking, accidents, chewing everything, etc. The crate was amazing. We keep him crated at night and when we're out because he still likes to get into trouble (he loves to chew things that he shouldn't and scared the shit out of us chewing a lamp cord) but he chooses to be in it when we're at home as well. He chews through beds quickly so he's got a collection of fleece blankets that he sleeps with (and carries around) that make it his getaway. He'd sleep in our bedroom with us if my allergies could handle it and he didn't snore so loudly!

He is crate trained, but we wanted him to feel safe everywhere. Wishful thinking for the beginning though. He is way more damaged than we initially thought. It might be a good idea to get Brando's old crate out. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Deleted User] · March 2015

BrandNewJ said:

show previous quotes
abcdevonn said:
AGH stuff like this makes me so mad (not the kid/allergy stuff, but the "don't want the responsibility" stuff). Something similar is happening with FI's boss right now--he is the one being a douche. He begged and pleaded with this adoption center to let him adopt two cats and he has had them for about a month and doesn't want them anymore.

He keeps saying it's his allergies, but he WANTED them in the first place. He and FI complained about how hard the adoption place made to get them, and the whole time I told them it was to avoid bad placement, which just upset the animal in the end. AND NOW LOOK, he is exactly the person they were hoping to avoid.

If I didn't have a teeny, tiny city apartment (and a bird), I would snatch those babies in a heartbeat.

Humans infuriate me to no end.
Your fi's boss is being a butt. 2 cats?! 1 wasn't good enough to start with if he wasn't sure if he was allergic? Geez.

He knew he was allergic before he even got them. That's what makes me so so mad.

But, I am so happy people like you exist and take animals in. We got our bird from someone rehoming on Craigslist. I check there all the time because people on there are so stupid and give pets away to god knows who.

Liatris2010 · March 2015

Tha craigslist ad warms my heart. In the last 7 years, we've moved 5 times. All of our dogs moved with us. It really isn't that hard.

charcoalandblush · March 2015

I get so ragey about 95% of people who give their pets up to the shelter. Our shelter's website lists the reason for surrender, and most of them are bullshit excuses like "not enough time" or "got too big" or "moved." Well no fucking shit the dog got big, what did you expect when you got a lab/husky/pit bull puppy? Also, I would never EVER move somewhere that wouldn't let me bring my pets with me.

When I adopted my cats, I was committing to 18+ years of taking care of them, no matter what they need. The only situations I could EVER see myself giving them up in would be if I had a child with an extremely severe allergy (we're talking quality-of-life altering, not just the sniffles), or if I'm in a position where I am literally not able to afford to feed/clothe/shelter myself, let alone the pets. And even in the latter scenario, I would do my best to find a friend or family member who could help care for them until I got back on my feet and could take them back.

@BrandNewJ THANK YOU for taking in your amazing new pup! People like you make me so happy. I have a big soft spot for pit bulls in particular. And I bet he is thrilled to have a loving new family. Keep us posted on how he's doing!

LakeR2014 · March 2015

Along the lines of this thread I had to add this recent gem that popped up on my Facebook feed:

'There's one thing that bothers me so much and I just don't understand. When you decided to get a dog, you decided that for the next 8-12 years or more that you will care for it. THINK! If your life situation may change you need to think about how a pet will fit into that equation. They are not 'disposable....' etc, etc.

Although I completely agree with her...I've known her all of 5 years and in that time frame I'm seen her get and return at least two cats 'because it just wasn't working out.' So apparently cats are disposable but dogs aren't? The hypocrisy in her statement just makes me angry.

redwoodoriginal · March 2015

LakeR2014 said:
Along the lines of this thread I had to add this recent gem that popped up on my Facebook feed:

'There's one thing that bothers me so much and I just don't understand. When you decided to get a dog, you decided that for the next 8-12 years or more that you will care for it. THINK! If your life situation may change you need to think about how a pet will fit into that equation. They are not 'disposable....' etc, etc.

Although I completely agree with her...I've known her all of 5 years and in that time frame I'm seen her get and return at least two cats 'because it just wasn't working out.' So apparently cats are disposable but dogs aren't? The hypocrisy in her statement just makes me angry.

I would totally call her out on that haha // probably not really

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