I love dogs. If you know me at all, you know that. I love all animals really, but since I cannot have a lion or a tiger or a liger or an elephant or a zebra as a pet, big dogs are my go to for love and support. I have two of my own personal dogs, Athena, a beautiful German Shepherd and, Zeus, a gorgeous German Rottweiler. I have had Athena since she was 5 weeks old. Yes, she was too young to get but the “breeder” was an asshole and an idiot and even though I registered her with her AKC papers, I had her fixed because I don’t want puppies any more than I want babies. Athena will be 7 in August. Zeus came to me by accident. My friend told me he was getting a rotti pup from a lady at work who couldn’t keep him because she had a grandbaby and the dog grew too quick and was too rough around the baby. Weird, who knew a Rottweiler would get so big? Oh, yea, most people who get a Rottweiler. So my friend brought him home, well, to where he was staying, which was with his niece and her family. For almost a week, I walked by and saw this beautiful baby chained up outside laying on a hard concrete drive. So I told my friend that I would take Zeus, whose name was Blue at the time. So I took him home with me and he was immediately in love with me. He followed me everywhere. Stood next to me when I stopped. I couldn’t even leave the bathroom door open or he would jump in the shower with me and sit at the back of the tub looking at me with his big brown eyes. I was supposed to give him back eventually, but you can’t tear love apart, so after paying all the vet bills and getting him fixed, my friend told me that I could keep him. They told me he was about 9 months old at the time. That was almost 5 years ago. So he’s around 6 years old. If my calculations are correct, he just turned 6 in January. These dogs are my buds. They pretty much run my house. They have a dog door to go in and out of. Until I got my new couch, they could lounge on the furniture. They each get a bite or two of my eggs every morning. I love them. When I first got Athena. I planned the whole thing around Mel growing up and moving out. I figured that big dogs only live ten years or so. Mel was 8. By the time he grew up and moved out, Athena would be dying and I would be child free, dog free, and free to roam about the world. Kind of demented, I know. I’m not proud of it, but this is real life, people. So those are my personal dogs. As it turns out, my sister is also dog people. She used to work with a local Pitbull rescue. And when in need, she would call me to foster. I’ve fostered numerous Pitties. I rescued a momma and 9 babies. Well, rescued the babies. I fostered the mom and had her fixed and then gave her back to her owners after they found a place to live that was more pitbull friendly. I’ve had tons of dogs in and out of my house. Key word, “OUT.” They always leave. I never intend on ever keeping the dogs. I feed them and love them until someone comes along who wants a dog and then I kiss them, give them a little pat on the head and send them off to their new life. And that’s always the plan. No foster failures here!
My most recent “foster” has been here for over six months now. Originally, I was just keeping her until her human, my oldest son’s father, got out of jail. His girlfriend couldn’t keep the dog where she was staying so she was having one of her sister’s friends watch the dog. The person apparently starved her and then when she was aggressive because she was hungry, he felt the need to stab her in the head. Or at least that’s the story I got. By the time she got to me she was skinny,, but there was no proof of a head wound. Anyway, she’s an old boxer/pitt mix. She’s 11 years old. And she really just lays around and doesn’t do much, but here is my dilemma, or my “dog”lemma. She’s not my dog. Her human got out of jail almost 2 months ago and still hasn’t come to get her. He’s hardly come to see her. He hasn’t bought the first nugget of dog food, which is fine and also not surprising as it was basically the same with our kid, but now I have this dog, who, I kind of love, but who is not my dog. I have a tiny house. Two big dogs are enough. When I have an extra, I can get by for a while because I know its temporary. I’m not equipped to handle 3 big dogs in my 700 sf house. So I did what any sane, logical thinking person would do when I couldn’t get in touch with her human. I messaged her human’s girlfriend, because in actuality, it’s her dog too. They’ve been together 18 years. The dog is 11 years old. I’m no mathematician, but….. Anyway, so I told her I was going to put the dog to sleep if she didn’t come get her because I didn’t sign on to keep her, I was just helping them out. And she gave me a million excuses, which mean nothing to me. I’m not super sympathetic to adults who are almost 40 and have no damn responsibilities, no kids, no bills, and can’t manage to get jobs and work that shit out. So we argued via text for a few minutes. I lost my cool and told her that her dog rights were terminated and Asia was now my dog and they could both go (expletive) themselves. I thought they would come a knockin’ on my door to get their dog, but guess what? Surprise! Joke’s on me. Nobody came. So now I have this spare dog here, who I love, but I can’t keep so, again, the dilemma. I’ve debated on actually putting her to sleep because she is 11 and she seems depressed without her people, but when I think about that, I feel bad, because she’s in good health as far as I can see. She limps sometimes but that’s probably from wrestling with my dogs. I thought about taking her to the pound and hoping they see how sweet she is and don’t put her to sleep, but I just can’t take a dog to the pound in good conscience. So that leaves me with trying to find a home for her, but there’s not very many people who would be interested in a senior dog. People want puppies (which honestly I have no idea why). And the worst part is, that these two fuckers knew that I would take care of her and wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, not even to get back at them. So now I have an extra dog and extra stress and I don’t know what the right thing to do is, because I just don’t want a third dog….. sigh.
RouletteWeekend 