My mother did something that I don't think she should have done. . . . .

Started by Aragem, July 11, 2009, 01:33:08 AM

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Aragem

Last week, my mom found a starving, lost Boston Terrier female that was in heat.  She made me go out and get doggie diapers for her.  The little dog is older than our family Boston Terrier, Prissy.  She's very sweet, likes to lay beside Mom and is good about going into her crate to sleep.  She isn't house train though, but Mom is working on it.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Mom did everything to locate the owners.  She contacted the local vets and pounds, put an ad on the news paper, contacted the radio station, and even went to a local website and posted about finding the dog.  So far, no one has come forward. 

My mom has already fallen in love with the dog.  She now even named her Tootie *for the way she farted when she first arrived, ugh* 

Well, today my mom told me something.

"Guess what we did today?"  She had this mischevious tone in her voice.

"Whatcha do, Mom?"  I asked quite curious as I tore into a bag of gaming dice that I ordered from Amazon.com. 

"We went and got Tootie breeded."  She smiled patting a very satisfied looking dog.

Before I could respond, I tore open the i pound bag of dice and D&D dice spilled onto the floor.  I spent the next five minutes collecting them, smacking Prissy and Diamond *my white kitty cat* away from them.  Which was dangerous because Prissy tended to snap when she was kept from something she wanted and Diamond has the tendacy to grab and bite.

When I managed to collect all the dice, I asked my mother, "Why!?"

"To get Boston Terrier puppies."  My mother looked at me as if I should remember the where babies come from talk.

"But what happens when the owners come and claim the dog?"

"Then they'll give me a puppy for the reward."  Mom said, satisfied she had it all planned out.  "If they didn't want her to breed then they should have had her fixed."

"We're keeping on of the puppies?"  I asked, a bit bewildered.

"Of course!  But their daddy's owner get first pick."  She pats the subdued Tootie on the head.  "Then we'll have three Boston Terriers!"

My dad, who was sitting silently with his laptop open snorts something I care not to type in this thread.

What do you guys think?  Was my Mom in the right or wrong?  Be respectful, this is my mother we're talking about.

Elohim

Well,  how long exactly has the dog been in the house?  If its been more then a few weeks I could understand keeping her.  So I'm fine with that idea,  but breeding the dog right off the bat...  I have to say is a pretty bad idea.  The idea of three dogs in a house doesn't sound good to me either,  then again...  I'm not sure I could take one dog in a house...

Aragem


Tachi

No offense, but it seems rather idiotic to me. There's way too many dogs out there already and if her previous owners didn't spay her, and your mom plans on keeping her if the owners don't show up, then it's her responsibility to get her fixed. Just thinking about all the irresponsibility of dog owners whose don't bother getting their pets fixed, who then get rid of the puppies or adults eventually, angers me. They'll just end up in the pound and killed because everyone wants a puppy, not a full grown dog.

I don't even want to get started on puppy mills...

Aragem

Boston Terrier puppies sell for over 200 bucks a pup.  So trust me when I say that that around here, if someone pays 200 dollars for a puppy, that puppy becomes the baby of the family.

Tachi

Not necessarily. A lot of pet shop puppies (puppy mill puppies) have issues and are send to the pound. Sometimes it's not worth it to keep the dog, even after spending hundreds, if the dog has serious issues. That happens even with just backyard breeders, which is what your mom is doing.

Mnemaxa

If your mother has bred an animal with documentation without the owner's consent, then she's liable for massive litigation.  If that breed is common in the area, that only makes her situation worse not better, because she can be expected to know better than to breed a dog that is not hers.

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Aragem

Crap.  I wish she would have at least talked to me before she did it.  Or at the very least wait a month before breeding.  We haven't heard anything from anyone claiming the dog, but still. . . .

Phoenix

Well, she's not going to get $200 bucks for the puppies, because she can't verify them. She picked up a stray, frankly, so the best she can claim is that she THINKS they are Boston Terriers.

Boston Terriers, however, are extremely spastic. There's no way on Earth I'd have 3 in the same house. But then again, maybe she can take their spastic behavior.

I know you said to be gentle, but if she hasn't cured one dog of nipping/biting at people, she'll not be curing three of them of it... and having biting dogs around means that there's a good chance she could have them all taken and put down. If they bite a visitor, in the majority of states, that's a putting-down-able offense.

What happens if she can't get rid of the puppies, since they are spastic dogs and she can't prove their papers? I wonder if she considered that. It rather sounds like she didn't.

My opinion over-all is that your mother has behaved unwisely. On the other hand, it IS a bit better that she got her breeded after only a whopping 9 days, than getting her fixed. If the owner steps forward and has papers, and your mother had gotten her fixed... well... that would have been a lawsuit and thousands of dollars as she was forced to compensate for all the lost puppies.

If she wants to keep the dog, her best idea would have been to go through the pound or a rescue. This way, when she got the legalized right to keep the dog, the previous owners legal rights would have been terminated in a way that isn't lawsuitable (no, that's not a word, I know).

Aragem

Just to be clear, my mom is NOT a bad person.  And she woul NEVER do anything to deliberately hurt any animal.  She has cared for the lost dog as if she was part of the family.

The lost dog is a Boston Terrier.  We don't have paperwork claiming she is, and most likely she may not get 200 bucks a pup, but my Mom is NOT going to let the puppies go off with anyone she wasn't sure would not give it a good home.  She would know because she is a highschool counselor and i popular at her chuch and in a small town like the one we live at, it means she knows everyone or knows someone that knows someone else, etc.

In truth, I do believe that she DID act hastily.  I would have preferred that she waited two or three months and if we hear nothing, then claim the dog and then breed her. 

But truthfully, the dog was running around in heat followed by two enarmored german shepards.  We may not be getting Boston Terrier puppies.

Phoenix

None of what I said says she's a bad person. In fact, if anything, I suspect she's altogether TOO nice. Too nice to be as firm with the dogs about their biting as she needs to b e for their health and safety, and everyone else's. Being too nice doesn't make you a bad person (god forbid!), but it can give rise to certain difficulties in some areas.

I do think the points needed to be raised. What if she can't find homes for them? Have you asked if she considered this?

And the fact that they'll nip if you take something they want means that she's taking a risk if a visitor gets bitten.

I bring this up because someone I know just had to put down the family dog, who has NEVER bitten anyone EVER before, because she turned on a visiting 3 year old niece and ripped her face badly enough she needed stitches.

It's serious business. Dogs MUST be taught NOT to nip or bite humans EVER. If she's got one/two dogs that she allows this with, then she needs some help learning how to train them before she takes on even more.

She definitely acted in haste, and I suspect it may have more to do with her wanting puppies than much of anything else.

Loving puppies also does not make you a bad person.  ;)

Oniya

Quote from: Aragem on July 11, 2009, 08:51:33 AM
But truthfully, the dog was running around in heat followed by two enarmored german shepards.  We may not be getting Boston Terrier puppies.

I don't know much about dog breeding, but if those German Shepherds had gotten hold of Tootie, wouldn't she have been not-in-heat anymore? 

The responsible thing to do would have been to simply keep Tootie isolated from male dogs through the heat because she's counting on the dog's owner either not showing up (or not existing) or showing up and being grateful enough for the fact that she had Tootie bred - without consulting the owner - to give away one puppy to the stud and one puppy to your mother.

Still, what's done is done, and I hope that everything turns out as well as possible (although a course in puppy training might be recommended.)
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Serephino

She definitely should've thought things through before she acted.  If someone did that with one of our dogs, god forbid they ever got loose, I'd be seriously pissed.  Granted our dogs are a rare breed.... 

http://www.karelianbeardog.us/kbd_about.html

However, they're easily confused with Laikas (sp?) or someone could think they were a small dark Husky or something if they didn't know better.  So if someone thought to breed them, not only would they have worthless mutts, but Kita is older and has really bad arthritis in her hips, and they are both epileptic.  Kita rarely has seizures, and Gabby has them sporadically, so one wouldn't know anything about that after only having them 9 days.  But it would be irresponsible to breed potentially epilieptic puppies. 

You don't really know anything about this dog.  She might not even be a pure bred Terrier.  I don't know much about Boston Terriers and potential health problems, but a responsible breeder knows the history of the dog they are breeding.  Puppies from puppy mills aren't healthy because all the breeder cares about is getting as many puppies as they can as fast as possible.

And yes, if the Shephards got a hold of her she'd still be in heat.  Dogs stay in heat a certain number of days no matter what.  I don't think any owner would be grateful that their dog was bred without their permission. 

Oniya

Consulting the 'Almighty Google' (a bit better than my Magic 8-ball)...

http://www.bostonterrierhub.com/boston_terrier_health_problems.html

Doesn't look like the breed has a tendency for seizure disorders, although there are certain skeletal traits to watch out for (knees and spine), and a possibility of deafness.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

tissuesan

I personally don't think your mom should have done that. I mean it only being with you guys for nine days. I'm sure the owners wont be very happy if the owners do show up and take the dog back. I would say she should have at least waited a full month before deciding on doing something so drastic.

If the owners do come back to take the dog back is your mom going to end up paying the vet bills? Don't most people bring dogs into the vet to have their puppies. At least I have been dogs brought into our vet to have their puppies delivered. It is a pretty big bill, I believe $800 to $900. The owners probably wont be to happy if they have to pay such a bill.

Aragem

Update!


So far, no one has come forward to claim the dog, and she has given birth to five healthy puppies five days ago.

Oniya

Do they look like the stud, or like the Shepherds?  (Glad to hear that mother and puppies are doing well.)
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
Robin Williams-Dead Poets Society ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think your world's gonna fall apart
I do have a cause, though.  It's obscenity.  I'm for it.  - Tom Lehrer~*~All you need is your beautiful heart
O/O's Updated 5/11/21 - A/A's - Current Status! - Writing a novel - all draws for Fool of Fire up!
Requests updated March 17

Aragem

Another update!


We have given all but 1 of the puppies away.  Her name is Lilly Mae and we love her very much.