Should I keep the puppy?

[Twodogsandababy]

Need some advice on what to do here.
My Mum has a six month old puppy who she’s had from 12 weeks. She spoke to me a couple of weeks ago about how she can’t get her toilet trained and it’s driving her crazy. I’m at home on furlough at the moment and offered to have her for a week or so to take some stress off my mum and see if I could get her toilet trained. I’ve got a dog of my own who’s one and a half that I adore. She’s been with me nearly two weeks now. She’s had a couple of accidents but doing really well with toilet training outside. My dog absolutely adores her and has been so much happier since she’s been here - they play together all day and I think my dog feels maternal towards her. The puppy follows me around everywhere and is so sweet, I’ve really fallen in love with her. My mum rang a couple of days ago to say my dad thinks that I should keep the puppy because I’m better with her and have more time for her, and she’s much happier having my dog to play with. I said I couldn’t take her away from my mum who basically said she wasn’t really bothered. My mum is having a difficult time with her mental health at the moment and I worry that this would have a negative effect on her.

I spoke to my dad who said the puppy is on her own in a playpen for most of the day and my little sister (who’s still at home) looks after her most of the time rather than my mum. They want her to be able to have free range of the house but don’t let her at the moment because she’s not toilet trained. It’s breaking my heart to think about her on her own in a pen all day when she could be with me and my dog playing and interacting.

I’m really torn on what to do. There are a few reasons I think it’s probably not the best idea. I’m currently 7 months pregnant and will obviously have less time for the puppy once the baby comes - although I’ll be at home all day and it could be good for my dog to have a friend so she isn’t lonely when I’m busy with the baby. The puppy also barks at every little thing - she seems to have an issue with men and barks at my partner every time he comes home, although she will cuddle him and never tries to bite or anything. My dog doesn’t bark whatsoever. Her bark is really loud and I’m worried about her upsetting the neighbours and waking the baby. We have worked with a dog trainer with my dog so if I did keep her we could train her with him, but obviously there’s no guarantee that would solve the issue.

We planned on breeding our dog in a year or so and keeping a puppy for her as a friend. We wouldn’t do this if we kept the puppy. Am I crazy to be seriously considering keeping her? When I spoke to my mum we both suggested that the puppy could come over for “sleepovers” so the two dogs could play once a week or so. Should I just stick with that?

My mum has had two other puppies in the last five years or so and ended up rehoming them which I really disagree with. I’ve already said if she was ever planning on rehoming this one i would have her immediately. She bought this puppy to breed and said to me she would at least have a litter out of her to make the money she’d spent on her back which really broke my heart. On the other hand, I’m worried that my little sister (who’s 11) would really miss her and I don’t want to “steal” her puppy! So torn - what’s the best thing here?

YA both BVU to be getting puppies to breed from the family pet to make some quick money

I think it’s clear that the best thing for the puppy is for you to keep her. Your sister will likely be sad which is a shame, but hopefully you will be able to help her to understand why it’s important for a dog to have a good life.

However I do absolutely agree with op - don’t breed.

I don’t think the puppy should go back to your mum, it doesn’t sound like she even likes it, let alone love it.

You being 7 months pregnant could be an issue, as a new baby takes it out of you more than you can imagine, and an adolescent puppy could be a nightmare on top of that.

Keep the puppy, get both of them spayed.

How is your mum buying a dog to breed any different than you breeding your dog?

We planned on breeding our dog in a year or so

Whatever for???

Keep the puppy, spay them both, get the puppy trained. Tell your mother to never get a dog again and you should give some serious thought to why you would want to put your dog through breeding, if it is to recoup the cost of her then you are just as irresponsible as she is.

@youboughtmeawall for the ££££ of course! Why else?!

Your mum can't even housetrain one puppy and she wants a whole litter? Wow.
At seven months pregnant it's not a great time to take on another puppy but it sounds like she's got a pretty good routine with you and is generally better off.

[quote bendybeep]@youboughtmeawall for the ££££ of course! Why else?![/quote]
Of course! Silly me!

You should definitely keep her on welfare grounds alone. Locking a dog up for most of each day is utterly horrendous and so cruel. But wtf is all this talk of breeding? There are many, many dogs already desperately needing homes and breeding is never to be undertaken lightly. I'm genuinely horrified to read about how casually you were both planning to breed.

You should definitely take the puppy if you love her as much as you say. It would be a good outcome for the puppy and your own dog who enjoys her company. I wouldn't be a good idea to make your own dog have a litter so that you can keep a puppy as companion for her. You would then have the rest of the litter to find homes for. Imo you should keep the puppy then get both dogs spayed. There are. sadly, more than enough unwanted dogs looking to rehomed.

Don’t even know where to start with a lot of your post but what I will say is I had a newborn and 3 dogs 2 of which barked non stop newborn never flinched midwifes pointed out to me newborn would be used to it from being inside me which made sense so I wouldn’t worry about the barking at all

Your mother should not be allowed to have any dog. She's rehomed two and wants to use this one to make some cash...she doesn't have any love for the poor dog.
The puppy seems to like your house, so keep her. Get both dogs spayed as you'll already have a companion for your other one.

This is awful. Your mum wants to get a litter from the dog to make the money back? Disgusting

You both sound like you only have dogs to make money from their litters.

You sound marginally better than your Mum.
Keep the puppy, don’t breed from either of them.

Don’t let your Mum buy another puppy ffs

Backyard breeders?
Or registered?

Since the poor pup is going to be used for breeding either way maybe rehome to someone who cares enough to get her neutered.

If you wanted your dog to have another to play with (so much so that you were intending to breed from her) then I can’t see why you wouldn’t keep this puppy, honestly. You already told your mum you would. And it’s got no life with her. I’m sorry for the 11 year old but she’ll have to realise that their house is not right for a pet, and if all the others have been rehomed at least she could still visit this one if it lives with you.

Start consistently training to address the barking, but if that’s literally the only issue please keep the dog, make your mother SWEAR that she won’t ever get a dog again and get both spayed as soon as possible.

You have 2 months to establish boundaries and do the training you all need before the baby comes, so start as you mean to go on.

Firstly no one should be a dog to breed but that’s a whole other thread and I hope you take on board some of other comments aimed at this.

Please keep the puppy but get her spayed and don’t breed her! Neither of you sound like professional breeders and you’ve not mentioned what breed of dogs you have and why you’d want to breed them in the first place.

Just give them a long stable loving home, there’s far too many dogs left to die in shelters already, don’t add to that.

You have seen first hand how easy it is for people to get a puppy and then not be able to cope and you STILL want to breed from your dog?
Your puppy was lucky somebody was able to take it when it wasn’t being looked after where it was, not a pups are

My heart sinks.

Keep the puppy. That way she isn't handed off to someone else and, at least, goes to a home she knows. Plus you won't then have to breed from yours. You avoid the risk to your own dog of pregancy and birth, and keep a clean conscience that you have not added to all the current puppy problems.

Seems like a win, win.

@LochJessMonster

You both sound like you only have dogs to make money from their litters.

You sound marginally better than your Mum.
Keep the puppy, don’t breed from either of them.

Don’t let your Mum buy another puppy ffs

This sounds about right

Why the hell did your mother get a puppy after having the previous two rehomed? I’m sorry but that is just an awful thing to do.

Your mum sounds very much like my mum. I offer sympathies for this aspect. She bought a puppy then got rid of it after a few months. She then rescued a dog that was reactive. No idea how she managed to talk the rescue centre into bringing it home. The dog was sent back after a few weeks because it was growling at everyone. She also took it upon herself to rehome several small furries from family/friends. I ended up looking after all of them at the same age as your sister. Your sister may thank you for stepping in when she is older. I resented my mum for the constant cycle of pets being brought home then rehomed. It was relentless. Lots of pets were rehomed when I was a child. Please speak to your dad about this. Your mum needs to be prevented from buying anymore animals.

Your reason for breeding is a poor one. Please don’t do it.

I wouldn’t send the puppy back. Your mum has grown bored of it now it is starting to grow up. It’s going to be very tough when the baby arrives. How does your partner feel about it?

Thank you everyone for the advice. This has confirmed my gut feeling that I should keep her, I wasn’t sure if I was being selfish by keeping her because I love her. I feel really strongly that a dog is for life and I didn’t want to take it on lightly. I’ll speak to my parents tonight and see what they say - hopefully they won’t have changed their minds! Reassuring to here that people have had newborns and barking dogs - I’ve spoken to a couple of friends about it who seemed to think I was crazy for considering it!

With regards to the breeding, you are all right. I hadn’t given it too much thought, my logic was that I’d want her to have a companion and I presumed that she’d be more accepting of a puppy of her own than us bringing a new dog into the situation. She’s a very loved family pet and I didn’t get her with the intention of breeding her. I was only ever considering having one litter and then having her spayed. I wasn’t worried about the other puppies because her breed seems to be very in demand and puppies go quickly. Of course now that we’re taking on my mum’s puppy we won’t breed her, and I agree with all your points here, I hadn’t put much thought into it. Obviously we won’t breed my mum’s puppy either. It was honestly not something I was planning on doing for money, I adore my dog and thought it would be nice for her to have her own puppy as she loves other dogs and plays nicely with the puppies at her daycare. It would completely break my heart if she had puppies and they ended up unloved. I hadn’t considered it being traumatic for her and wouldn’t put her through that. I would never want to exploit her, and having read all these points it’s made me realise it would have been a horrible thing to do to the other puppies.

I’ve just spoken to my partner and he’s in agreement, although he thinks my mum does want the puppy back really! I’m going to speak to my parents this evening and see what they say. I’ve also rang the dog trainer to see what his thoughts are on the barking so hopefully will hear back from him soon.