OT- Anyone Have NO Dog/Pets?

[mamac]

Update: My husband and I have been crying and laboring over the decision... Today we gave up our dog. I feel so sad/guilty/failure, but I'm also going to be so relieved when the emotions subside in a few days....

Thanks to everyone here for your support.

:hug: Don't think of yourself as a failure. You definitely didn't rush to a decision and you did what you thought was best for your family.... and your dog. No one can fault you for that.

[MyAngels]

Update: My husband and I have been crying and laboring over the decision... Today we gave up our dog. I feel so sad/guilty/failure, but I'm also going to be so relieved when the emotions subside in a few days....

Thanks to everyone here for your support.

:hug::hug::hug:

A very tough decision, but it sounds like you made the right one for both your family and pup.

[originalkat]

Thanks for the responses so far. It really helps to know what 'the other side' looks like, as I grew up in a dog household and always thought I MUST have a dog.

But... things change...

I have a hound dog.

He rips up dirty diapers every chance he gets. Now he's started peeing next to them too. Yesterday I found 4 ripped up diapers, one in every room, and 9 places he'd sprayed urine around the house. It was nightmare, the worst thing I can imagine (well, not literally).

Tonight he did it again, one ripped up diaper and one p*ss puddle. (Yes, he's neutered). He's been ripping up diapers for a long time, but now it's escalated to the peeing too.

He is constantly in the trash, on the counters, stealing DS's food. He's EXCELLENT with kids, SUPER safe with DS, but doesn't really like DS and just tries to get away even though DS 18 months is the only one who really likes him anymore.

The dog humps my mom's dog CONSTANTLY if he's in the yard with her. It's DISGUSTING and OBSESSIVE. He escapes from the yard and I have to go find him AT LEAST once a month.

He chews up my wooden toys.

He scratches at the front door when he wants in and makes it look awful.

He's got OCD and has ripped through almost every piece of furniture we have.

He has digestive issues and vomits in the house FREQUENTLY.

My husband helps very very little with him, it's all on me.

I have lost 99% of all the affection and bond I used to have for him, back when the dog was my baby and I ADORED him for the first 3 years. But now I'm fed up and have been considering getting rid of him ever since DS was born. But now the behaviors keep escalating...

Because of his behavior and because of daycare he is crated the majority of the day, not the kind of dog owner I ever wanted to be.

He's 5 years old and we've had him since he was a puppy. He's an evil genius, extremely smart dog, worked with him alot before I had DS, excellent at dog parks, knows numerous interesting tricks.

But I don't take giving up a pet lightly...

Personally I only keep a dog if it serves our family well and adds to our quality of life. If this was my dog it would have been gone a LONG time ago.

[canadiancare]

I am a large breed dog lover but have no pets while doing daycare. I really intend/want one when I retire but as my husband points out how will we travel if we have a dog to worry about.

Big, fluffy wonderful dog. <3 I would in a heartbeat if I could

[CedarCreek]

I know how you feel. I love weenie dogs. I have 2. I used to have 3.

The third bit the fire out of my ds as I was lifting him out of bed one morning. It bled and left a horrible bruise. You could see every tooth. Dh made me give him away that day and I agreed with him. he had showed signs of aggression toward ds before that, we just thought he would get used to him. Wrong.

I felt a little guilty but ultimately,I love my ds more.

My others also give me a bit of trouble but they aren't aggressive. They too like to chew diapers. So diapers automatically go out to the very tall garage trash can. They also stay in the kitchen behind the metal baby gate and never come into contact with the dcks. They do try to put their hands through the gate to pet them but that is highly discouraged. We also have a cat, she comes and goes as she pleases. She likes attention from the dcks every once in a while and they looove to give it to her.

[Evansmom]

Dog lover and owner here, just wanted to chime in and support your decision. I can imagine how hard that it was to give him up but from what you wrote it sounded like your dog was stressed out in his environment and wasn't happy either. I think you ultimately put his needs before yours in giving him up and that's commendable. You have nothing to feel guilty about, finding him a new place is what was best for your family and your doggie. lovethis