Just need to vent...

[Ree]

...because if I respond on the Facebook page, it will just cause a shitstorm.

My daughter has a friend "Karen" who added me a while back.
Her aunt "Wanda" is actually a very good friend of mine, and she does know her niece is an absolute airhead, but still, sometimes it's a case of, "I can say bad things about my family, but don't you dare!"
So I will vent here, because I am so read to verbally bitch slap this chick that I have to let it out.

Wanda told me a while ago (maybe a year ago or more?) that Karen had been given a puppy from a mutual friend who had bred their dog.
She was ticked that Karen kept calling it a "mixed breed" because it was actually a pit bull, and in our area, that breed has been banned.
Wanda was worried about the dog around Karen's little girl.
Now, I know the name "pit bull" conjures up all kinds of horrible stereotypes, and not all of them are bad, but poor breeding over the years, and lack of proper training, has resulted in injuries to small children.

Karen really is a twat.
She will do things simply because she has been told not to, or if she thinks it's trendy. (Body piercings, tattoos, or whatever, for example. Didn't really want them, but did it because everybody else was, and then whined constantly about the pain or the healing process, and how much work it was to look after them.)

She wanted a "baaabyyyy" so badly that she deliberately got pregnant. Twice.
She claimed that the first one was an accident, but it ended in miscarriage, and shortly after, she got pregnant again. (As far as I'm concerned, once is an accident, but twice is on purpose.)

She doesn't work outside of the home.
She is a stay at home mom, and funded by the welfare system, living in subsidized housing.
She said she wanted to be there for her daughter, and refused to go to work until her little girl was in school.
She's in school now, and Karen still isn't working, nor is she looking.

She is always posting on Facebook asking for things for free, claiming a lack of money.
"Does anyone know where I can get (X item or service) for free? I really need it and can't afford to pay right now," or "Can anyone help me with (X service) because I just can't pay and I was going to try and do t myself."
Shameless internet begging to the highest degree, all done on her cell phone, paid for by me with my tax dollars.

About a year ago, she posted, "Hey guys, does anyone know anything about training dogs? I can't afford to pay a trainer, and I need help."

The actuality was that she was too damned lazy to attempt to train the dog.
She didn't want to put in the work of leash training and teaching the dog to behave properly.
What she was really asking was for someone else to do it for her.
She got the dog and had this wonderful scenario in her head, right out of a Disney movie, probably, where the dog would instantly recognize commands and fall into line. (And maybe on the side, go on to play on a championship sports team or rescue infants from burning buildings!)
She found out all too quickly that dogs are not as amazingly intelligent as in Disney movies, and real life is not Disney!

The mutual friend who had given her the dog in the first place had asked her repeatedly if she was sure she really wanted the dog. She asked her if she had the time for it, and if she could afford to feed it and care for it.
Of course, Karen, being the rebellious twat that she is, thought it would be so cool to have this "mixed breed dog" and insisted she was fine with it all.

From what Wanda told me, this dog was a menace. She said, when she went to her sister's house and her niece was there with the dog, it jumped up all over people and wouldn't respond to commands to get down.
She said it would jump up and grab stuff off the table and hang around, jumping on people while they were trying to eat.
She told me it was really quite obvious that Karen hadn't even put any effort into training the dog at all.

So, now, I go on Facebook to see a message asking if anyone can take the dog, or if they know of anyone who can, because the dog is too strong, and too strong-willed.
Then she went on to add, "She refuses to listen, i cant walk her, i cant afford her anymore and i dont have the money for a trainer, or the strength to 'handle' her at all...."
and, "She has jumped all over me, cutting up my legs and covering me in mud, too many times, I'm done....I can't handle when I call her to come in she runs all over the damn place and when I go to take her off the chain she "attacks" me..."
and finally, "Too big. Too strong. Not really a family dog at this time! (Needs a firm hand and lotsa training)"

I saw red immediately.

There is nothing that makes me angrier than someone who gets a dog because it's trendy, or because of some idealistic bullshit, and then, when the reality of the work involved sets in, they get rid of it.

The dog is too big and too strong?
She knew what breed she was getting, and how strong it would be when she got it.

GRRRRR.

There, now I feel better and I don't quite so much want to rip her a new one on Facebook and cause a whole mess of tension.

[HYHYBT]

Ugh. If you don't want to train a dog, get one that's been trained already... or get a cat.

The "mixed breed" thing is familiar. When I was little, my grandparents had a friendly dog who would never hurt anybody, not even obnoxious four-year-olds. Looking through photo albums now, if he wasn't a pit bull then he was something very similar... but Dad won't admit there's any resemblance at all.

Just one question, and hopefully this isn't prying too much: why are you (still) Facebook friends with this person?

[Ree]

Just one question, and hopefully this isn't prying too much: why are you (still) Facebook friends with this person?

Mostly because of the friends/family connection, really.

[wolfie]

Ever seen the Little Rascals/Our Gan shorts from the '30s? Petey (the dog) was a pit bull. For a long time, pit bulls were considered "nanny dogs" - good with children. Even though they were bred for fighting, they were aggressive toward other dogs, not people - one that showed ANY aggression toward the handlers, even when they were trying to keep the fight "in-bounds", wouldn't leave the ring alive.

It's "people problems" - cross-breeding with guard breeds (which were bred to be aggressive toward "non-pack" humans), poor training, and idiots who wanted a "tough dog" - that have given the breed a bad name.

[Ree]

Yes, I did know that wolfie.

Back a few years ago in the 80's, when Bud Light had their "Spuds MacKenzie" Bull Terrier mascot, it was confused in the media with an actual Pit Bull, and having a Pit Bull became trendy.

Puppy mills were churning them out and inbreeding to meet demand, and they were not taking care so they ended up with some very aggressive dogs, contrary to their actual gentle nature.

[Sleepwalker]

People like this are why pit bulls are dangerous.

[XCashier]

Ugh. If you don't want to train a dog, get one that's been trained already... or get a cat.

No, don't condemn some innocent cat to being owned by Karen. I wouldn't trust her to properly care for a pet rock.

I hope, at least, the little kid is cared for?

[wolfie]

Puppy mills were churning them out and inbreeding to meet demand, and they were not taking care so they ended up with some very aggressive dogs, contrary to their actual gentle nature.

Can be said about any breed that becomes popular. When That Damn Movie gets re-released, puppy mills that don't "weed out" carriers of congenital deafness churn out batches of dalmatians to meet the demand. Hint: a deaf dog is likely to snap at someone because it can't hear them approaching, so it's a surprise when they touch it.

Not to mention that Dalmatians DON'T make good pets for children. They're a VERY high-energy breed (bred to run alongside coaches to deter "local" dogs from snapping at the horses, since this bunch of horses was already "claimed"). That's how they got to be associated with firefighters - the first fire engines were horse-drawn, and had the same dog problems as coaches.

[Ree]

I hope, at least, the little kid is cared for?

Oh yes. The child is cared for. In fact, that is all she does.
She is freakin mother of the year where her daughter is concerned.

She lives for her child and nothing else.
Her child is the most intelligent and special child that ever lived. LOL

[MaggieTheCat]

This reminds me of a couple of friends of ours. Up until a couple of months ago, the husband was unemployed. One day last year, he was out walking their old dog that they've had for 8 years when a young stray dog came bounding up to them. The puppy (they later found out she was around 4-5 months old) followed him home and slept in their yard that night and they ended up deciding to keep her. Except as she got bigger and more energetic, they have now (some 9~ months later) decided to get rid of her, because the husband has gotten a job and neither of them have time to train her (yet when he was unemployed when they first took her in, he did not bother to train her either) and she has too much energy and destroys everything in their house. It makes me very sad that they took her in, only to turn around and get rid of her. And these are dog people, supposedly!

[anakhouri]

Pit bulls can be amazingly sweet and loving dogs, as long as they've been bred and raised properly. HOWEVER, you really have to crack down on disciplining them, as they are incredibly strong (every pit I have encountered is 60 or so pounds of pure muscle).

I can't stand people who get pets without doing their research on what will be needed to care for them. It's laziness of the highest degree. Of course, 'lazy' seems to describe this woman perfectly. I sure hope no one ever responds to her shameless begging online and forces her to do something for herself.

(what would happen if she tried to surrender it to a shelter in your area? Would be in legal trouble as it is a banned breed?)

[Andara Bledin]

Any dog will get out of control if you don't establish that you and not they are the leader of your pack.

My brother's dogs tend to be wild because he doesn't take the time to establish dominance properly. I get there, and they misbehave, and next thing they know, they're on their backs with me holding them there until they get the picture. They listen to me, they don't listen to him.

As for surrendering the dog, most shelters have an auto-kill policy on pit bulls which usually ends up including any of the dozen or so breeds that are similar.

[s_stabeler]

Any dog will get out of control if you don't establish that you and not they are the leader of your pack.

this can't be said enough. I've personally handled dogs that were perfectly capable of pulling me off my feet. ( not mine-it's complicated, and not particularly relevant) They rarely tried twice. (Usually a firm NO worked. Couple of times, deepening my voice as well. It doesn't take much. Just remember to reward them too.) the one dog I couldn't handle was a tiny dog (can't remember the breed) that absolutely refused to do anything I said.

[jedimaster91]

I can sympathize with someone who ends up with more dog than they can handle. I had one myself once and even despite working with a professional trainer, there was really nothing more we could do. Some dogs due to bad breeding, undersocializing, or other environmental factors are just not wired right.

That said, there is no excuse for not training a puppy. They are so easy to train because they don't know anything yet and all they do is follow you around the house. Especially if you get them ~8wks old. It's especially important to start training large breeds and working dogs as soon as you possibly can because they are not going to stay small and cute for very long. Sure, it's cute now when the 10lb puppy jumps on your leg, but it's not going to be cute when that dog is 80lbs and tall enough to have his nose (and teeth) in your face. Then you end up with a dog like Karen's who is rambunctious, difficult to control, and destructive because they weren't taught when they were small.

I do volunteer dog training with the local humane society. By and large, the pitties (and other so-called "bully breeds") have been absolute sweethearts. The trainers typically take great care to point out a well-behaved, well-socialized pit because the breed has such a bad rep. My own dogs are beagles, and outside of barking at the wind (because they're beagles), they are extremely well-behaved. One of them even gets to be a demo dog in the training classes. But then again, we worked really hard to train them to be that way.

[CriminalMindsRocks]

This very thing is exactly why I can't watch that show, I think Animal Planet or Discovery airs, about people who would buy exotic animals, like a chimp for example. The idiots would coo over their baby chimp, dress it in t-shirts & slap a diaper on it.

Then the inevitable would happen, the chimp would turn on them & injure it's owner so severely that the authorities would wind up having to shoot the poor thing simply because it acted like the wild animal it is, which is as God intended.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I would try to watch that show, I'd always wind up in tears by the end of the episode, b/c I can't STAND watching these animals be put to death for absolutely NO reason.

Hell ya know? we're having a bad time with mice in our house at the moment, I have gone out of my way to catch them alive however I can (I have grabbed several, mostly babies with my bare hands & walked them out to set them loose in the field behind our house) b/c I was raised with the belief that all life is sacred & yes that includes pests like mice ( cockroaches on the other hand can go die in a fire for all I care LOL)