Quote:
Originally Posted by Lathum
So a somewhat bittersweet post in this thread. Please no mention on Facebook as we aren’t wanting to make a spectacle of this. We have decided after much deliberation to send our 2 year old dog Buster to live on a farm. He is a 115 lb Great Pyrenees and has just gotten to be too much to handle. He is great with the kids and very gentle and loving. That being said he is destroying our house and yard. He has chewed up carpets and even wall moldings. He takes food from our kids and chews their toys. We have to keep him in his crate when we are at work and at night when we sleep. We tried letting him sleep in our room but he was way too rambunctious. We tried putting him in the finished basement instead of his crate, where there is a couch, etc…and he kept going to the bathroom down there. When we put him out back he barks non stop, so long stretches outside are not an option, as I will not be that neighbor. So the end result is the dog spends 18-20 hours a day in his crate, that’s no way to live. The final straw is I have two kids, 4 and almost 2. The younger one is learning the stairs. The dog is very large and not great on the stairs and we are worried the dog may barrel down the stairs and hurt or kill one of my kids. We have tried training and other methods.
The breeder we got him from has in her contract that she will take the dog back. She runs a farm with several animals. Goats, cows, sheep, other dogs, etc…I think the dog will be much happier there. My wife agrees with the choice, but was a bit upset when she learned he would be living in the barn. I am fine with this, as he is a herding dog and bred to be outside with other animals. He is always scratching at our back door wanting to go outside. I know she will take good care of him and fid a fitting home for him.
We told our 4 year old the other night. That was the hardest, he was pretty upset but got over it when we gave him a new video game, that was by design. Part of me feels like a terrible person, but we have had him 1.5 years and its been nothing but one inconvenience after the other. We get no joy from the dog. In the end I know it is the right thing to do, I just feel pretty bad about it. I bring him back tonight.
Just want to get that all off my chest.
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On a whim I checked the breeders website this AM and he is still listed on there. She has a picture of him and he looks very happy, which I am sure he is.
I had this huge wave of guilt wash over me, I still feel pretty bad about the whole thing and miss him sometimes. The worst is when a picture of him pops up somewhere. My 4 year old still asks about him which also sucks.
I still think we did the right thing, but it sucks.