Source: Page 43 of White Noise Keywords: "never," "mind," "chews," "believe"

From: happybooker1@yahoo.com (DC) Subject: How to Explain Responsible Pet Ownership to Son?? Date: 16 Oct 2003 Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs.breeds

A little background: my 6-YO son lives with his dad & I get visitation (not by choice). I have 8 cats, 2 rats, fish, & 3 dogs. I have had ferret & hamsters in the recent past also. My son has always been raised around MY animals, who are in/out of the house 24/7. Recently his dad/stepmother decided to get him a puppy. BAD IDEA, as they have NO clue how to raise a puppy. They've never had a dog before & have no other animals either. Dad doesn't even believe in animals inside the house (except stepmom's cockatiels). Of course my son was excited. First puppy adopted died less than a week after they got it. Now even I don't believe it picked up a disease 3 days after they brought it home & it incubated & killed the puppy (with vet care too) in 2 more days. At least they DID take it to the vet. But 'that was OK -- we'll just go get another one'. Second puppy -- male lab cross. Their idea of puppy raising: throw the puppy in the backyard & let it fend for itself. No leashed walks, no structured play (except what it gets from Bryce), no training. The majority of the day ROcky's left to his own devices and most of the night (unless someone has something to do in the backyard/garage). Now he's about 5 months old & getting bigger. He jumps on Bryce & nearly knocks him down. Bryce is not old enough/strong enough (he's small for 6) to train Rocky not to jump. Rocky chews/digs up plants & has now damaged the AC wires. Dad says they'll probably have to get rid of Rocky as he's 'bad'. Dad & I DO NOT TALK. So forget me even trying to give them advice -- never mind if it came from me, he'd ignore it anyway. My question: how do I explain to my son so he can understand that this is NOT responsible pet ownership? I mean, he has MY example but I'd like to really reinforce this so he doesn't grow up thinking pets are disposible. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

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