So mad with my niece.

Alfasudcrazy

She (my teenage niece) was always asking her mother for a 'large dog' so eventually she relented and bought her a beautiful German Shepard pup. The condition was that she would look after it properly and understand the demands she would have when she got it. Sure Mom no problem she says.

No sooner than a week after getting it she wants to be off with her friends all the time and camping etc and the poor dog gets left alone and unfed. Her mother returned her to the breeder today.

It just makes me so mad. Her mother told me she knew this would happen but had to let her learn the hard way. No thoughts about how the poor dog felt etc.

Her 'animal lover' credentials are now seriously dented with me and I must think up a nice sarcastic Christmas gift for her.:mad:

Nasty_Girl

That's terrible. How nasty of her to just bugger off and leave the puppy unfed.

peasant

Her mother told me she knew this would happen but had to let her learn the hard way. No thoughts about how the poor dog felt etc

I had a not so nice comment here ...but on second thought I'd rather not get a forum ban

Alfasudcrazy

My sister is quite unlike me with animals - I am often appalled by how cold and indifferent she can be towards them so I suppose its best that the dog was returned.

I must say I had my reservations about this new 'arrangement' but was looking forward to seeing the dog grow up and be part of the family - I suppose I kinda miss her too.

Ti

Alfasudcrazy wrote:

the poor dog gets left alone and unfed.


Her mother told me she knew this would happen but had to let her learn the hard way. No thoughts about how the poor dog felt etc.

QUOTE]


There's more than one person to blame here. Starve the dog to teach someone a lesson? Did anyone explain this to the dog while he was hungry and neglected? The psychological as well as the physiological damage this can do is immense. There is NO valid reason to inflict torture on an innocent animal to teach a human a lesson!

Alfasudcrazy

I agree - I will have 'words' with my niece the next time I meet her - that's if I ever do such is her hectic social life. :rolleyes:

arybvtcw0eolkf

I dunno, I think the mother must share a large portion of the blaim on this one.

Not only in allowing the poor dog to starve, but in not asserting her authority over her daughter and insisting on not allowing the dog be homed there.

In fact, thinking about it further. I think the mother has a greater share of the blaim here.

Thankfully the dog was sent back to the breeder, hopefully without too much damage.

Poor ol' thing.

spurious

Parents are there to stop children making silly decisions like this. There should have been no giving in to her at all.

Teenage years are full of nonsense and bad choices like this. Your parents are there to protect you from yourself.

At least it wasn't a child she chose to test out her 'caring' feelings on - many do.

The teen's mother is worse for allowing her to do this, knowing what the outcome would be. The poor old dog is better off without either of them.

cowzerp

i blame the mum who made the decision to get the dog and then watched as the dog went hungry-sounds like a real caring person, glad the dog is not left with them, and the kid is not much better either-dont encourage her with pets in future as she has not got the heart for them.

Wagon

She's a teenager. We were all idiots once that's why the parents were there to stop us putting it into practice. D'mother shouldn't have got the dog in the first place, espicially a puppy. Hope he's happier where he is now.

Dudess

Oh please. The "she's a teenager" excuse might be appropriate if she got violently sick from knocking back a load of cans of cider, or got reprimanded at school for smoking, or had a dirty great big hickey on her neck, or insisted on going to the youth club disco wearing knee-high boots, a boob tube and a two-inch skirt.
However, teenage is old enough to know that a dog must not be neglected. A f*cking nine-year-old is old enough to know that. And as for being FED??!! So, imagine a more extreme case: an animal has been discovered starving to death but its owner is a teenager so fair enough this time - we were all teenagers once. Can you not see the silliness of your argument?
Duh... we get hungry, we need food. Pretty elementary really.
Poor little puppy. I'm quite upset after reading that. Hope to Christ it wasn't affected too severely.

OP, did you give your sister a good talking-to? If one of my siblings did that I'd probably have to be isolated from them. And as for your niece - well, she certainly seems to embody the extreme selfishness often associated with teenagers, so maybe there's merit in some of what Wagon has said.

comongethappy

I have to agree with everyone else here - no excuses, for mom or teenager. I hate when people think of animals as disposible creatures that they can get rid of if it doesn't suit. I don't think the teenager learnt a lesson at all! But hopefully the poor dog will find a better home now.

thecivvie

Thankfully by the sounds of it, the dog had a lucky escape

Sigma Force

That's a very sad situation and all too common as well. Although at least the breeder did take the dog back, not all will. The parent has to share the majority of the blame but teenagers are well able to look after pets if they really want to. Obviously the mother knew this would happen in the first place she was lucky she didn't keep the dog for longer so that someone could of reported her for animal neglect, silly woman.

Must be very frustrating for you I would imagine from the sounds of it trying to talk sense to these people about the situation may be a loosing battle in the long run. But do give it a go and hope to god the mother doesn't give in and get her some other pet next time.

houndsoflove

The wheel always turns. There will come a time in that 'teenagers' life when she will meet a guy say at a night club, who will be all about her one night, and the next time she meets him he won't want to know her, then she will know what "i don't want you anymore" feels like. Then Alfasudcrazy you can say to her "do you remember that time you wanted a puppy and the next day you didn't?"

Nala

Well if the stupid wagon is too irresponsible for a puppy she probably won't fare much better with contraception and will probably end up with a baby that she won't be able to return so easily!!!

doctor evil

Did she ask the mother to look after it or just took off assuming the mother would do so?.

alexdenby6

yeah im 16 and llok after my gsd with love and affection, there are 4 besotted people to look after her but we all do our bit for our mags.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t234/alexdenby6/mags%20and%20others/IMG_0749.jpg

darkestlord

I got a dog about 2 years ago from ash they have a dog pound in rathdangan, co wicklow. He was given to them because he got too big for the family who owned them and because he had no training he kept knocking the kids down.
In 1 year i trained him and his great with my 2 year old.
The dog pound was one of the most pittiful sights ive ever seen , there must be abot 50 dogs/pups all been dumped there .
Ash gets little money from government , i say anyone who wants a dog go there or anywhere simular and see what happens to the dog when you cant cope.
Ash do a great job but they only can do so much.

SuzyS1972

Nala wrote:

Well if the stupid wagon is too irresponsible for a puppy she probably won't fare much better with contraception and will probably end up with a baby that she won't be able to return so easily!!!

Whats that to do with anything - I think thats off the mark to be honest.

Teenagers are like that sometimes - it's crap but at least her mother had the decency to take the dog back and not keep it for the sake of it.

I do homechecks for rescue and come across a lot of families where they say the teenager of the house will be the one responsible for the dog and I am always dubious and point out that come summer or new love interest then the dog is always the last thing on the kids mind - I'm honest with people about it.
It makes a few change their minds - better that than the parents feed the dog and give it minimum care and attention coz they HAVE to .

Sometimes it comes down to the kid knowing that they'll get away with not walking or feeding the dog coz the parents will.
Doesn't make them evil imo. Stupid and uncaring yes .

moneyblues

taking on a pet on the whim of a child is often a bad idea. Its essential the parent wants the animal too. I've never seen it work out where the parent has given into pestering power but doesn't much like animals themself. It's very hard too get a child to always be responsible. That ultimately has to be the parents job. My advice would always be don't get a pet for a child unless you love animals also. That might be tough on the kid but its a hell of a lot tougher on the animal that ends up neglected or needing rehoming.

Alfasudcrazy

doctor evil wrote:

Did she ask the mother to look after it or just took off assuming the mother would do so?.

That's the really sad thing - she did and her mother refused. I told her it was unreasonable to expect her daughter to mind the dog 24/7 all the time but she told me in her busy schedule she does not have time for minding dogs.

Just as well I found out how uncaring she is as I had intended to let her keep an eye on mine when on holidays etc.