Why do Relatives Assume

[grandmoon]

that old people need a dog.

At 86 years of age a friend decided that not to replace her dog after him died.  She had had him for 16 years and now she feels that she doesn't have the energy to look after a young dog.

Her grandchild turned up at the weekend with a 6 month old Bull terrier cross. 

The friend lives in a retirement unit with a very small yard.  The family can't understand why she doesn't want the dog.

[clair.de.lune]

No mine's 14 and I'm not having another one!

[youcandoityoucandoityoucandoit]

geez this grinds my gears!!

If they are that concerned that she might be lonely- hey heres an idea : spend some time with her! Dont presume to give her a pet that could be too much for her to take care of, it might even be too expensive for her. ..

she might even feel bad that she now has to get pet rescue to take it .

grrr people like that are SO ignorant

[*crikey*mate*]

My grandma had a canary until they put her in the old folks home. She derived a lot of pleasure from him. As soon as she got out of bed each morning she would head straight to his cage to say good morning and give him his breakfast, then after her own breakfast, she would clean out his cage etc and move him into the main part of the house (he slept in the laundry) for the day.

Grandma's day revolved around that little thing, she would never go anywhere until her morning ritual with him was complete, and wo and behold if we took her out for the day and we didn't get her home by 6:30 at night for her to go through his night time ritual of getting him ready for bed and his cage covered etc for the night!

She really enjoyed him and would natter to him throughout the day and he'd whistle along with her as she did her chores and stuff.

and my mother's aunt has this tiny poodle thing, apparently she's the same with him. and Aunt must be really old cos my nan passed 20 years ago, and she was old then.

[bright.ton42]

So stupid to give 1) a puppy    2)  a bully puppy    to an old person.  Any puppy would be hardwork.  If

she wanted another dog and it seems she doesn't which is fair enough give her an older dog, though 

they still mean work.  

a bird can be lovely company .

I agree with the poster who said let them visit her more and give her more company.  

[cherry*135]

I don't think it is acceptable for any person to give a gift of a pet (dog or cat) to anyone. They should ask first, and it the person says No, I don't want a pet, then accept they should accept that.

The person who is gifted the pet, may not be able to or want to spend money on pet food, vets visits etc, or proved adequate exercise for a dog.

[grandmoon]

The Lady from the doggie rescue has just left with the dog.  She spent time talking to the friend making sure that she happy handing the dog over to them.

[latina4621]

it is good that she has done that

it may teach her family not to do it. in future.

[cat_mioux]

Relief!

[lynnie3024]

Thank goodness your friend had sense enough to know she couldn't manage a strong dog like that.

My 82 year old father, against  all advice, insisted on taking in a very large StaffyX entire male dog that was being given away because it kept chasing cats.

Mum and Dad have a very small yard and a very low fence. The poor dog was kept on a chain except when Dad took it for walks, which were really Dad being pulled along the footpath by the dog.

The inevitable happened the day it saw a cat in a front yard, it flew across the road, pulling Dad off his feet and flat on his face in the gutter. Fortunately the dog pulled the lead out of Dad's hand, unfortunately it ran straight under a 4WD that was unable to stop in time.

Dad ended up in hospital with stitches in his head and a huge Vet bill for disposal of the dog.

They now have an indoor cat whiich is only 6 months old so goodness knows what will happen to it when they pass on.

[azureline**]

Silly family!

My FIL is 85, last year his daughter took him to the pound to get a new dog, he chose a greyhound.........

needless to say, he had it a few days and couldn't let it off the lead. It was returned. Stupid daughter and stupid pound people, they replaced it with a crossbred staffy/great dane.

Stupid daughter has it now 🙂