A little background: my 6-YO son lives with his dad & I get visitation
(not by choice). I have 8 cats, 2 rats, fish, & 3 dogs. I have had
ferret & hamsters in the recent past also. My son has always been
raised around MY animals, who are in/out of the house 24/7.

Recently his dad/stepmother decided to get him a puppy. BAD IDEA, as
they have NO clue how to raise a puppy. They've never had a dog before
& have no other animals either. Dad doesn't even believe in animals
inside the house (except stepmom's cockatiels).

Of course my son was excited. First puppy adopted died less than a
week after they got it. Now even I don't believe it picked up a
disease 3 days after they brought it home & it incubated & killed the
puppy (with vet care too) in 2 more days. At least they DID take it to
the vet. But 'that was OK -- we'll just go get another one'.

Second puppy -- male lab cross. Their idea of puppy raising: throw the
puppy in the backyard & let it fend for itself. No leashed walks, no
structured play (except what it gets from Bryce), no training. The
majority of the day ROcky's left to his own devices and most of the
night (unless someone has something to do in the backyard/garage). Now
he's about 5 months old & getting bigger. He jumps on Bryce & nearly
knocks him down. Bryce is not old enough/strong enough (he's small for
6) to train Rocky not to jump. Rocky chews/digs up plants & has now
damaged the AC wires. Dad says they'll probably have to get rid of
Rocky as he's 'bad'.

Dad & I DO NOT TALK. So forget me even trying to give them advice --
never mind if it came from me, he'd ignore it anyway.

My question: how do I explain to my son so he can understand that this
is NOT responsible pet ownership? I mean, he has MY example but I'd
like to really reinforce this so he doesn't grow up thinking pets are
disposible.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

DC wrote:

My question: how do I explain to my son so he can understand that this
is NOT responsible pet ownership? I mean, he has MY example but I'd
like to really reinforce this so he doesn't grow up thinking pets are
disposible.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I know you have a menagerie--and forgive me if I take the wrong
approach to the family relationship, but--

How about offering to take the puppy off your ex's hands? It can
still be Bryce's puppy but live at your place. Then you can make
sure it learns manners, and introduce him to dog ownership in
managed stages.

My feeling is that a youngster can "have" a puppy without being
given full-time responsibility for its needs. In fact I think
that is giving a young child more of a load than is good for him.
But he can participate in activities that model responsible dog
ownership as well as learning how pleasant it is to interact with
a well-mannered dog. He can take the dog for walks (with you), feed it, get
it to do tricks you have taught. But I would keep it at the
level that maintains his motivation and never force it on him.

My guess is that the puppy must be considered to belong to your
son--or they might get him another one! If you make sure
his interactions with it are pleasant and successful, well, that'll
just make Mom that much more appealing.

Finally, if he's attached to it, you save him from the heartbreak
(as well as the example) of getting rid of it.

Amy Dahl