Shoot me now, please... long rambling vent

[LoMax]

This week my dad's twin sister came to visit him. I have sucessfully avoided seeing her for almost 20 years, and was almost at 21... then my dad asked me to drive him to a impromtu(sp) family reunion with other family members that I only see when someone dies. Anyway my dad's twin sister was awesome and not at all how I remember her. So that was all good. My cousin came over and she was great and is a dog lover. She started talking about her 2 poodles and her golden retriever... hmmm ... last funeral she had a rott, a basset hound and a pug. I think she saw my face, I don't hide disgust well, and she said that my aunt had hijacked her rott and pug cause she loved them so... Whew, I saw them and they were well loved. Then she starts talking about her 2 poodles that were from an ooops litter. I was interested. She went on to say that one of my other cousins had bred his male poodle and in payment they were given a puppy. This puppy had in turn had a oops litter with her daddy. That was such an amazing litter, that they just had their second oops litter, ooooo I am steaming at this point. So we went to a BBQ at the oops litter house, and I see the pups. Not exactly a good situation comments were all I could muster, since my dad was on a peace keeping mission with his other sister, not his twin. Thennnn the conversation started about my other cousin (I have millions) who I knew was a puppy miller, but had no idea the size of her operation. She has 65 dogs and breeds "high quality" poodles, yorkies, cockers, poms, chichi and all combination designer breeds. At this point I was so ill, I literally had to excuse myself and got physically ill in the bathroom. I have such a raging headache from pent up anger. I just ripped on my dad the whole 2 hour trip home, poor guy. He raised me to be who I am and we NEVER had an unaltered dog... I think I just might be sick again. Thanks for letting me vent and "getting it"...

[earlsmom]

Oh my..poor thing! 65 dogs..what kind of operation has she got going? Unbelievable!!

[Carl V]

Sheesh I'm getting angry just sitting here reading about this.. What I wish i could do to idiots ond thier mills and "designer" dogs

[Paradis]

I would have been physically ill as well. My grandparents showed shelties and had the occasional litter but never an oops or for that matter a repeat oops! I must say that I am proud of you for holding yourself in, you did much better than I could have done given the circumstances. is all you pretty much can do. Be happy for Desi and Murray that they are with you and well taken care of and forget about the rest.

[johnsondanes]

I TOTALLY feel your frustration. It's so hard to keep quiet when you are boiling mad inside!! When it's family, and you HAVE to try and keep the peace, it makes it that much more difficult. My sister, whom I love dearly, was border line puppy mill for years!! I don't even know how many dogs, different breeds, and litters that she has had over the years. It breaks my heart.

We had it out a long time ago and didn't speak for years! It broke my parents heart and mine. It was awful and threw a wedge into our family that still hasn't been totally repaired, but is getting better. My Dad, who is pretty sick at the moment, has brought us all back together. It has been tough, but we have all agreed to disagree and just move on. I have to say that I love having her back in my life. I didn't realize how much I missed her. She is out of the dog business, thank God, and only has just a few left. Her attitude towards dogs is still very hard for me. They are just dogs to her. She has no emotional attachment to them. They are just there.

The good thing that came out of it is, she is the reason I ended up with Danes to begin with. She hated the breed. They tore her kennels up and required too much attention! Imagine that?? Me and my hubby went and got all 3 of the ones that she had and another that her in-laws had that they couldn't handle and just left out in a Kennel in the backyard!

I am happy to say that the 2 girls went to friends of ours and spent their lives with families that love them dearly and still do! They are 9 years old and we get to see them all the time! The other two we kept and Shadow, will be 9 in November and has lived the life of luxury with us, and Kaiser (RIP) was the best dog that I have ever had and we, just this last April, lost him to liver cancer.

Sorry this got so long. I just wanted you to know that I completely understand how you feel and how hard it is to keep your mouth shut for the sake of family. She is my sister and I love her and we have learned that there are certain conversations we stay away from!!

[ouesi]

Gosh it is beyond tough when it is family!! I can completely understand how you feel. Over the years we have become the dumping ground for anyone in the family who doesn't want their dog anymore. In fact, we still have two "rescues" from them. Dogs are dogs, live outside, eat when I remember to fill the self feeder, and get the boot when they become too much trouble. We are the weirdos for investing so much time etc into our dogs. Ugh!

[johnsondanes]

Gosh it is beyond tough when it is family!! I can completely understand how you feel. Over the years we have become the dumping ground for anyone in the family who doesn't want their dog anymore. In fact, we still have two "rescues" from them. Dogs are dogs, live outside, eat when I remember to fill the self feeder, and get the boot when they become too much trouble. We are the weirdos for investing so much time etc into our dogs. Ugh!

Exactly! That IS my entire family and it frustrates me to no end. I am the strange one that devotes so much time, energy, and money into them. They just don't understand.

I was talking to my mom the other night on the phone and it had been an unusually bad day for Apollo! He was in a mood and being a brat. I was tired and frustrated and said something to the effect that he was driving me crazy. My mother so nonchalantly said, "you need to get rid of that dog, he is too much work and aggravation for you and he is just not worth it. I don't know why you put up with that and work so hard."

They don't have a clue!! I love my mother dearly and I felt awful because I snapped at her for what she said and she did apologize for it, but they are all just so quick to judge and disregard any of my feelings or love that I have for my boys. My sister once told me that I should see a shrink because no one should put that much into ANY dog! Grrrrrr....

[WeLoveOur7Dogs]

You guys are making me real thankful for my sister!

Isn't it funny how they say "you can't pick your family"??? Ya know what though? When you disown your "real" family (like I kinda have) you DO get to pick a new family. I have a "new" mom who I adopted for myself. She loves me and my dogs more than my biological mother EVER could.

Family rants? I have a real recent one. My biological mother rescued a dog that was destined to be put down because her owner had just commited suicide (right in front of the dogs, animal control had to come get the dogs out so the police could get to the body) animal control was a friend so they knew she was looking for a dog. Anyway, she had this dog for TEN YEARS. On June 4th this year my little sister had a baby. She lives four hours from here. My mom had decided that molly was "sick" (even though she had JUST been to the vet and had x-rays, blood work, etc... and was told she was FINE) and took her to the humane society in the middle of the night. She put her in the drop box. I am STILL SICK about the fact that poor Molly had NEVER spent a night outside in her entire life and now here she is almost blind and deaf and put in a tiny little cement box in the middle of the night.
My sister had called to tell me Mom called her and TOLD her that she did this. I went to Mom's house just to see if Molly was still there and of course she was gone. I said NOTHING. I still can't talk to her about it. We haven't had the "talk" because I KNOW it is gonna be bad so I am avoiding it all together. My Mom told my sister that I "didn't even notice that Molly was gone" What a joke.
I don't know how we are "cut from the same cloth" so to speak. She did something totally unforgivable (in my eyes) as I had OFFERED a few times to take molly out and put her down. Mom's comment to my sister was "the humane society will put her down for free" My own mother...

[Roosevelt & ME]

C'mon everyone. A DOL family member needs some lovin'!



There, all better!

[BicycleBabe]

.....

[ouesi]

Our old man Mel is blind, deaf, gimpy and incontinent, but still eating and drinking and more than happy to get pets and attention.
Mom came for her yearly visit in April, called me a few weeks later and said she had been thinking about it and thinks we should put Mel down. I bit my tongue, refrained from thanking her for her unsolicited advice based on her three day assessment of MY dog, and changed the subject. Later told hubby about it and he said "tell her I said we should put her down!" (He WAS joking, sort of )

[DaneFolly]

My family has a long history of love and respect for their dogs (as I've mentioned in another thread I come from a family of ranchers and good dogs were a necessary part of the business) but I have this one spoiled cousing who somehow seems to go through dogs like paper cups. Her mom and our grandmother have tried to compensate for her lack of father by giving her everything she wants. When we were ten we both got a dog from the same border/ausstralian shepard cross litter. I just put my Cocoa to sleep last August just before my 24th birthday. I grew up with her, took her to college with me and saying goodbye to her was the hardest thing I have ever done. She taught me what it means to be a friend. My cousin was done with HER pup in a year and it then became my aunt's dog. Then they gave her cocker spaniel who, one year later, went home with my mom. Then she got a sheltie who became my grandma's in less than two years. Then it was a rottweiler who had to be put to sleep because it was locked in a kennel all the time and aggressed on my 7-year-old adopted brothers. Then she went to college for two years and took a break. Then she came home and got a cattahoula (that was about two years ago) which lives in a kennel and is looking like it may go to my 20 year old brother. Then she got pregnant and married. Now she wants a dane. Fortunately I think she's too busy and too broke to go get one (they're not very common in rural western Colorado). It's something my family and I gruble about to ourselves, but what can we say? Fortunately every dog that passes through her has ended up in an extremely loving home dedicated to ensuring their wellbeing.

Guess you can't pick your relatives.

[WeLoveOur7Dogs]

Later told hubby about it and he said "tell her I said we should put her down!" (He WAS joking, sort of )

You tell your husband if he finds a doc who'll do it....
Just kidding. I know she is my mom, but the woman makes me crazy. I sitll have a hard time even looking at her after this. Molly was still eating and drinking on her own. No potty problems. Every now and then she would even want to go for a car ride or a short walk.

The worst part is she is telling people she took her to the vet and put her down. My sister and I have told the truth to people and Mom got mad. "Why would you tell people I did that?"
My answer (to my sister) is "Why WOULD she"???
Thanks again for listening to my vent too.

[LoMax]

I woke up to little Murray kisses this morning. I am still irritated. It makes me smile to think of my 85 year old aunt baby talking to her pug and rott that she spoiled so much they howled at the gate to move in with her, my cousin lives next door. LOL! If it had been an immediate relative, like a mom (my mom passionately loved animals) or a sister (a rescue founder and dog lover) I would have ripped them a new one. The puppy miller lives in California, I think I saw her 10-12 years ago ... she didn't show for her dad's funeral. At this point I doubt I will ever see her, but her operation makes me ill. My cousin with the oops litter was raised by my uncle that once had a dog that my dad went out and rescued cause he(the dog) seemed not himself. When my dad got there he just put him in his truck and drove off. I remember him standing in the driveway with this old dog (probably in his teens) that was covered with ticks and fleas, stumbling from lack of nutrition and white gums. My dad was flipping out and screaming at anything and everything. He calmed down and took him to the vet, he didn't come home with him (had him put down) cause he was suffering. He didn't turn his back on my uncle, they were best friends, but he took every chance he had to force his opinion down his throat. I remember a few times going ... Geesh Dad, take it easy. My dad would just laugh and go back in for more. If there hadn't been little kids there, I am sure he would have said a few things too.

[Mom2Dori]

Oh my oh my...it's everywhere. I'm sorry you had such an awful reunion!!!