Dog Owner Chat v2

[Bluebird22]

@Fuzzy: Unfortunately, kill shelters are a necessary evil. Without them the streets and shelters would be overrun with strays and neglected/abandoned animals of all species. You also have to remember that circumstances change and not every person can own a pet for life and sometimes giving up the animal to the shelter is the only option. I have seen people have to give up there pet(s) in less then a couple weeks which really isn't enough time to find a suitable new home. A family member dying, someone losing their job, server medical issues, etc. etc. are all things that could affect you keeping the pet, but you can not plan for when getting an animal.
Owners making the difficult decision to give their animal up for adoption are not the ones to blame here. What we need is proper education of animal care.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

@Fuzzy: Unfortunately, kill shelters are a necessary evil. Without them the streets and shelters would be overrun with strays and neglected/abandoned animals of all species. You also have to remember that circumstances change and not every person can own a pet for life and sometimes giving up the animal to the shelter is the only option. I have seen people have to give up there pet(s) in less then a couple weeks which really isn't enough time to find a suitable new home. A family member dying, someone losing their job, server medical issues, etc. etc. are all things that could affect you keeping the pet, but you can not plan for when getting an animal.
Owners making the difficult decision to give their animal up for adoption are not the ones to blame here. What we need is proper education of animal care.

I just think that nobody should gett an animal if they are not 100% sure they will be able to keep it for life. I can guarantee you 100% that no matter what, none of my animals will ever be dumped off in a shelter.

[Saracirce]

@Fuzzy: Unfortunately, kill shelters are a necessary evil. Without them the streets and shelters would be overrun with strays and neglected/abandoned animals of all species. You also have to remember that circumstances change and not every person can own a pet for life and sometimes giving up the animal to the shelter is the only option. I have seen people have to give up there pet(s) in less then a couple weeks which really isn't enough time to find a suitable new home. A family member dying, someone losing their job, server medical issues, etc. etc. are all things that could affect you keeping the pet, but you can not plan for when getting an animal.
Owners making the difficult decision to give their animal up for adoption are not the ones to blame here. What we need is proper education of animal care.

I just think that nobody should gett an animal if they are not 100% sure they will be able to keep it for life. I can guarantee you 100% that no matter what, none of my animals will ever be dumped off in a shelter.

8 years + is a long time to be sure of anything.

[MacGyver]

@Jazi, my father said he'd call the next time we see him loose again. Shouldn't be too long XP

@Fuzzy, unfortunately, I can't guarantee that for myself. I might die in a car accident tomorrow, my family and I could perish in house fire, I might have a bad accident and end up permanently crippled in some way mentally or physically and not able to care for and work with Dixie, and my family would be burdened with hospital bills, etc etc etc. The possibilities are endless. No one can guarantee what is going to happen in their life.
Missy, one of my cockatiels, was surrendered to the shelter due to health reasons of the previous owner. But it's obvious she was loved and well cared for.
Not everyone WANTS to surrender their pets and not everyone has a choice.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

@Fuzzy: Unfortunately, kill shelters are a necessary evil. Without them the streets and shelters would be overrun with strays and neglected/abandoned animals of all species. You also have to remember that circumstances change and not every person can own a pet for life and sometimes giving up the animal to the shelter is the only option. I have seen people have to give up there pet(s) in less then a couple weeks which really isn't enough time to find a suitable new home. A family member dying, someone losing their job, server medical issues, etc. etc. are all things that could affect you keeping the pet, but you can not plan for when getting an animal.
Owners making the difficult decision to give their animal up for adoption are not the ones to blame here. What we need is proper education of animal care.

I just think that nobody should gett an animal if they are not 100% sure they will be able to keep it for life. I can guarantee you 100% that no matter what, none of my animals will ever be dumped off in a shelter.

8 years + is a long time to be sure of anything.

Would you give your kid up after 8+ years? Then why your pet?
Come find me in about 14 years and see if I ever gave up my dogs. Also, it's not like nothing has happened throughout the ownership of my pets in my human life, it's not all perfect. But, I'd never be able to live with myself if I did that to my animals.
If something ever happened to me, I have family and friends who would take care of all of my animals.

[Saracirce]

I just think that nobody should gett an animal if they are not 100% sure they will be able to keep it for life. I can guarantee you 100% that no matter what, none of my animals will ever be dumped off in a shelter.

8 years + is a long time to be sure of anything.

Would you give your kid up after 8+ years? Then why your pet?
Come find me in about 14 years and see if I ever gave up my dogs. Also, it's not like nothing has happened throughout the ownership of my pets in my human life, it's not all perfect. But, I'd never be able to live with myself if I did that to my animals.

Kids =/= pets. If my kid ended up being allergic to my dog and all the allergy meds in the world didn't help, then yes, I would give up my dog. If my dog didn't like kids for whatever reason, then yeah, I would give up my dog. If my dog and my kid just weren't meshing, then yeah, I would give up my dog.

Not everyone has a decent support system.

Which, by the way, I have given up a pet before and to this day I do not regret it. It was the best thing for everyone involved, including that particular pet.

[~Serenade~]

Sometimes really bad things happen when you least expect them. If I was ever in a situation where Bella would be much happier/healthier with another owner of course I would give her up.

(BTW haven't well all had almost this exact conversation before?)

[MacGyver]

"Comfort Retrievers" just really get to me. >_> (Cocker (or poodle) x Golden Retriever) "Miniature" Retrievers. *headdesk*


Dixie is doing a lot better and has calmed down since the incident a couple days ago. I took Sara's and Link's advice and took her out back later to play -just me and her- and try to loosen up. I'm still irritated about that pit's owner though. The dog was loose again this morning and in our front yard. Luckily, our dogs were all inside.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your kind words and encouragement. I was really upset and just feeling angry and shaken. I was mostly afraid of what might have happened had I not been able to hold onto her, and that all our hard work might have just all gone down the drain.

I almost didn't recognize you Mac! :'D

Anyways, don't fret too much! Potentially, yes, you might have taken a slight step back, however you definitely haven't lost all the hard work you've done with her training. That is the problem with having a reactive dog is that they'll never be truly "fixed" (for lack of a better word) of their issues. But so long as you keep a positive attitude and don't let up with her training, she will continue to improve <3

Just let us with aggressive-reactive dogs know if you need any help x3

Okami pics to come soon...when I have more energy xD

FREE! :'3

Thanks, Link! I've gotten myself together a bit more now and, you're right. Just gotta stay positive and look at the present and future!

Thanks, and I will. X3

[Saracirce]

BTW haven't well all had almost this exact conversation before?)

yep. getting tiring, ain't it?

[Jazi]

Fuzzy, what if you died suddenly in a car accident? What if you suddenly came down with a terminal illness and could not leave the hospital? Are you 100% confident that none of your dogs would ever end up in rescue if that were to happen? I have seen both happen to very dedicated pet owners on my doberman forum, yes, both. One was a very reputable breeder who was killed in a house fire along with some of her dogs. Her son, who previously said he would take in her dogs if this happened, decided he didn't want the remainder so he drove them to a shelter and dumped them there. One was a very dedicated young person who discovered that she had a brain tumor which grew rapidly. Her cancer is now in remission (thank god!) but her caretakers decided they were "done" taking care of her dog and put her dog in rescue.

I have a heart problem, along with various other health problems. My dober will be, in part, a service dog. What happens if I die and the people around me don't realize I have a contract stating that my dog MUST be given back to my breeder and they just dump my dog in the shelter? What happens if I become hospitalized due to my poor health and there is no way that I can continue to care for an energetic young doberman, and the people caring for the dog don't honor my contract? These are all things that need to be considered.

They aren't dogs, but as a few members of this forum know, I recently had to rehome two of my snakes. Now, I didn't just plop them in a shelter, but I no longer own either of my hognoses. Where I'm moving does not allow them. I don't have the option to not move. My choices were to take my chances and hope that my now-illegal pets won't be seized and euthanized, or give them to someone who I can trust will keep them at a similar quality of care as myself. Not only that, but the particular house I'm moving into does not have cat-safe dogs, so I must also leave Saffron in the care of my parents until I have my own place. Do you think I should be euthanized since I have "given up" my animals?




You are very young. Sometimes the world is not so black and white as it is to you now.