Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Pup

If you keep up with my blog you will remember that Toby and I are somewhat open to adding another SMALL dog to our family.

A month or so ago a skinny, hungry stray pup had wandered into the neighbors yard. Of course, kids love pups so the neighbor kids began to play with it...my daughter included.

I could tell by the paws on this pup that she would grow up to be no small dog. As cute and sweet as she is I know in my heart that I do not want the responsibility of a larger dog. Some people prefer a larger dog..I am not one of them.

Before I move on with my story I will give you a little backround on my neighbors. Their household consist of 3 adult females, and 3 kids. The husband to the female head of the house is in California working for a couple of years. He comes home every 6 months or so to cut the 10ft tall grass and clean up the trash in the yard that their kids leave laying around and make any repairs to the inside...e.g. holes in the walls, broken door knobs, broken banisters, etc. made by their unattended kids while the adult females in the house sleep or lock themselves in their rooms doing God only knows what.

So anyway, the neighbor kids had made claim to this pup. Fine with me if they are taking care of it. When the kids first told me about their mom allowing them to keep it I was a little skeptical. This woman can't even keep up with her yard or her kids, much less be able to guide them to be responsible for a pet.

Over the weeks just as I suspected would happen is happening. The pup is not being cared for. The kids have now bored of the pup and the pup is only attended to or played with on whims. It is left to roam around freely.

Absolutely no one is taking care of the pup but me....even though the kids are assuring me they are taking care of it....yeah right! I feel sorry for the pup and have bathed it a couple of times and feed and water it when she looks hungry or thirsty. I even bought her a couple of bones to chew on so as to keep her from bringing the dirty diapers that she find laying around from next door over to my yard to gnaw up.

Matter of fact, since I am the one that has been taking responsibility for her, she has been hanging out in my yard digging up my flower beds, pooping in my yard, sleeping on my front porch, dragging everything she gnaws up onto my front porch, and making the nuisance of herself that pups do.

I am fed up with my neighbors. Every time I go over there to discuss the pup with the adult she is either not there or she is asleep. It really pisses me off that these people are not taking responsibility for the dog like they claimed they would do.

I also know they are the type people that will never take her and have her spade. A dog that is allowed to run around freely will surely end up getting pregnant thus adding to our already sadly over-populated pet population.

I really don't know what to do. I don't want the pup, but I don't want to see her uncared for and breeding unnecessarily. I'm not sure if I would get into any legal trouble if I just found the dog a home out from underneath them....

Even if I did speak to the adult female of the house, I know her well enough that I know I would get nowhere. She would just tell me that they were caring for her...by their standards of "caring for" that is.

This issue is really bugging me...............

2 comments:

  1. wow Laura. . .tough spot. . .as an animal lover, I thank you for taking care of this poor puppy. perhaps you should find it a good home, & just make it disappear when they don't know. . .I'm not usually one for being deceitful, but I don't know what to tell you. . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are in a tough spot. Since they seem to be oblivious to what is going on anyway, why not find a no-kill shelter and simply take the dog there? Do you know if the dog has even been vaccinated? The children have become bored with her and will probably assume that she wandered off. It is a heath and safety issue for you and your family when you think about it. The dog would receive the necessary shots and no doubt be spayed at the shelter, as well as being properly fed (no dirty diapers). Just saying, that's what I would do. Then if your neighbor comes to question you.... be napping.

    ReplyDelete