Puppy has been brought back for the second time.

[Greymalken]

We had a litter, we managed to get homes for all of them bar one that we decided to keep. One of the families brought their dog back to us to be brought on whilst their daughter went through her transfer test. We brought the pup on for about 3 to four weeks. They picked their pup up on Sunday. The pup is now back along with all the paperwork, toys, food and bowls. Less than a week the mother cites health issues for bringing the dog back, a dog which was meant to be her daughters pet. The daughter is distraught and in floods of tears and now we have the pup back again. He is a really good dog house broken, good on walks and very friendly he has no issues. I find myself annoyed by this turn of events. I'm very sorry of the daughter does anyone have any advice?

Rhinestone, we were invited to a christening. We were gone for three days. A close "friend" was being paid to housesit and care for our dogs, one of whom was in heat. This "friend" decided that it was:

a) Perfectly fine to have them all in one room together (despite the fact that we had told them under no circumstances to do so, as the male was too young to be neutered but old enough to do the deed, and one of the females was not yet spayed)
b) Only natural for them to mate
c) Not neccessary to inform us of this

So it is all too possible for this to happen. Given that we had managed for every previous season to keep her away from any male dog, including our own (large, fenced garden, dog run, dog gates and close supervision, etc), we thought that all would be well. The "friend" just felt that they would make lovely puppies apparently

Although they didn't want one, or to help with rearing them. Or to help with the vet bills - that was too much, I insisted they help pay for the emergency c-section and come and see the state our poor bitch was in because of their idiocy.

Anyhow, the vet is helping us to find him a new home, and we have had some interest from members of our extended family, so just have to get on with it now!

Ironically, Merry, we decided against using a kennels in case this happened!

Thanks fan and illage. I have my details on the microchips for all of them as the breeder, along with the owners details.

Why is no one telling me not to keep him?

'Given that we had managed for every previous season to keep her away from any male dog'

So she had been old enough to be spayed for quite some time then. And you didn't.

So your "friend" took it upon themselves to breed your dogs?? I am on your behalf! I would be furious if anyone ever did this to me. Hopefully it never should though as I plan on only getting rescue dogs.

Ullena I'm surprised your vet didn't point out to you that a bitch can be spayed whilst pregnant if you don't want the litter. Bit of a moot point now, mind you, but it could certainly have been done.

I do hope this "friend" is now an ex-friend. I'm just at their behaviour.

Anyway, I will tell you not to keep him if you like. Well, at least google littermate syndrome before you make any decision.

You left your bitch in heat with an entire male and feel comfortable to blame other people for their actions...............

Katherine our vet wasn't willing to neuter her for health reasons. Yes an exfriend thought it would be nice (they secretly wanted a puppy) the cost of our dogs vet bills has put them off and it looks like the wee pup will be a gun dog. I know a licensed hunter who is looking for a new gun dog.

oh dear what a problem for you, it can understand how upset you must feel about this and you have my sympathies. Hope you find a good home for him, I'd have him myself if i hadn't already got two black labs already.

I left my male collie in the house with free access to the front garden and walks daily. I left the eldest spayed female indoors with him, and the unspayed female in a completely closed over, roofed, 20' x 40' dog run. (She was to be given access to the rear garden twice daily with the older spayed female for company.)

Collie has since been neutered, female is being spayed on Friday. Finally, after years of struggling to get her weight down to a point where sedation isnt a serious health risk. She came to us as an extremely obese dog at six months old. Vet refused to spay her until she had had lost a good deal of weight. Which for a long time seemed to be an impossible task...

I wish the vet had mentioned the spay during pregnancy as an option. Yes, I do love the pups, but this is something we didnt want to do.

I'm just going to say thanks to everyone who isnt blaming us for this. Runty Pup will be neutered at six months, Returned Pup too if he is still here. I had left off neutering my collie until he was 18 months as I had been told that his growth plates needed time to close over. Consider me as kicking myself, blaming myself, and rest assured that I will never trouble any of the rescues with this.

There are some posters on here who clearly have never been let down by someone they trusted. Lucky them. No need to be so superior over it! Yes, we screwed up royally. And we were let down. We dealt with it.

The point of this thread wasnt a pity party for us, it was a question: why put a child through that? Why get your DC a pet, then take it back temporarily, bring it home again, and then take it back just as the DC starts bonding with it?

It seemed rather unfair to both the child and the puppy. That is all.

I don't think anyone is being superior just amazed that you have your judgey pants on when maybe your actions have caused the situation in the first place.

A child being slightly disappointed or a dog having to go through pregnancy are not really on the same level.

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a trusted friend, fully aware of the needs of the dogs, who has agreed to this task to keep to their side of the bargain. If OP had not told them of the needs and made suitable provisions then the situation would have been of their own making.

Also while fine to question why an of age bitch was not spayed - having had an answer that was clearly due to veterinary advice that should be enough. This bitch has not been with them since a pup and even a young dog can have serious morbidity or mortality or a whole host of complications due to surgery that is elective while being morbidly obese. There are still health benefits to be gained from spaying until a relatively mature age - it is not ureasonable to expect the clinical decision to be waiting until the bitch is in suitable health for surgery, with a weight loss plan, and spaying her before middle age rather than risk her life either peri or post op. But yes, a dead dog wouldn't have been able to have puppies, it's true. She needed a c-sec - I wouldn't be surprised if that was necessary to due being overweight too. And while it is possible to spay a bitch while pregnant, at any stage, due to maternal health and the need to euthanise the puppies in utero I know several vets that won't do this - it is their choice to refuse.

OP is making the best out of a bad situation. Responsibly caring for the puppies , has homed them well in every case but one and is trying again with this one (I probably would keep him, but I'm a soft sod!) - if more people acted with their pet's best interests at heart there wouldn't be the problems there are. It strikes me as a little unfair to be rude to an OP doing what more people should do - take responsibility.
Also, I'm sorry your friend turned out to be such a dipshit.

If being spayed was a health risk a pregnancy would have been an either bigger one.

She is making the best of the situation (which could have been totally avoided) but is judging others and getting the humph when she herself is judged

True Dogger - but you can only do something about it if you know. I imagine as the vet hadn't discussed spaying when they found out, it wasn't on offer. To late for Alizin, no advice about termination? OP going to squeeze them out?! Hopefully her weight had reduced sufficiently by then - as she's being spayed Friday I imagine she's not ideal but now much safer.

I would, and did and do judge people like the family that returned the puppy, it callous, shallow and thoughtless.
I would be angry and harshly judge the friend I thought I could trust to look after my dogs if they did something like this.
She made perfectly adequate provisions for the bitch to be well cared for without risk. She was going to a Christening - I would go if my bitch was in season and I had a separate living area for her. OP is not psychic, although I am amazed said friend had not given any indication of being such a ridiculous fool previously tbf.

How/why on earth was your dog 'bred' without your permission?

btw our vet spays pups as soon as she can get her mitts on them, so well before their first season.

Good grief - the OP did not purposely breed her dog - in fact she took very rigorous-sounding measures to ensure the in-heat bitch and entire dog didn't get together. It was the idiot friend who deliberately undermined this, going against ALL the OP's instructions! So maybe people could stop giving the OP a hard time.

OP - I understand why you are cross about this.

I think OP that you need to stop blaming others for your mistakes. When you breed a litter of puppies, whatever the reason, you need to ensure the right homes and realise that people lie. Of course, the people who took the puppy were very much in the wrong, but alarm bells would have rang for me when they wanted you to take the puppy back during the run up to their DDs exam. Be cross with yourself as much as them.

I also think you need to accept responsibility for your bitch becoming pregnant. She's your responsibility and if she was too overweight to be spayed (I'm failing to see how a bitch can remain so overweight for several seasons, so at least 12-24 months, tbh) then she is too overweight to safely have a litter. I own entire bitches and there is no way on this earth I would leave anyone else to be responsible for them while they are in season, no matter what. That is the responsibility that comes with owning entire bitches.

Abut old - the OP had to go away, and left a 'friend' looking after the dogs, with strict instructions about keeping the on heat bitch in her run, and not, under any circumstances, letting the entire dog anywhere near her. The 'friend' secretly wanted a puppy, thought they would make pretty puppies, so let the two dogs get together, and didn't even tell the OP that they had mated, so she could have done something about it in time.

Both dog and bitch were awaiting neutering/spaying, but hadn't yet been done for good reasons.

I think people are being harsh on the OP too. If it was a different situation - say the friend had let a dog off the lead after being instructed not to, and caused a fight, or had left a gate open and allowed a dog in the road to get hit by a car would it still be the OP's fault? She has by the sounds of it done what she could in the circumstances and whilst hindsight might be a wonderful thing I find it uncomfortable when people who are clearly trying to do the very best for their animals get jumped on for any perceived lapse in exemplary pet-keeping practice.

There are just too many excuses.
It does not take years to get weight off a dog.
She had an entire male and bitch and left them in the same premises. There are so many options to have prevented this, stay at home, have the dogs looked after separately, castrate male dog, christenings always give notice etc etc

She cocked up and is a backyard home breeder and has no idea about homing the puppies. She cares more about a child being disappointed but doesn't seem to give a dam for the welfare of the dogs.

She has to face up to her responsibilities - she is not even finding a new home herself but passing the buck onto the vet.

I have no time for people who do not accept their part in a situation but feel free to blame others.

Harsh maybe but so is the fact that 100's of thousands of dogs are put to sleep every year in this country alone but ha ho as long as the OP burys her head in the sand and does not accept responsibility for her actions that is fine.

She cares more about a child being disappointed but doesn't seem to give a dam for the welfare of the dogs.

I do not see this at all and I suggest you have issues that are clouding your reading of the OP and your responses.

Neither do I, Illage. I see a responsible dog owner, who did her best, but was sabotaged by her so-called friend.