We have two dogs, both come from the pre-M&H periods in our life and we came into the relationship adapting the best that we could. M's dog was much older, a little more aggressive and not as sociable as my dog but we made it work the best we could. My dog was a copy-cat/follower and M's dog ruled the house.
When we moved two years ago this June, we debated what we would do and if moving the two of them was the best. We offered M's family the opportunity to take his dog but they all refused. No one wanted her and even had the audacity to say they would take MY dog over his. We flat out refused. So we paid the vet costs, paid the flight tickets, bought everything the dogs needed and shipped them out.
Almost immediately after we moved we began having a hard time. M's dog wouldn't listen, would just lazily get up and pee on our carpets and was beginning to show a little bit of aggression. The biggest tall tale sign was when she growled at some kids in our apartment complex. I almost fainted. Here I was 6 months pregnant and she was growling at kids?! This didn't look like a good sign.
Then we had Little Miss B and the problems only got worse. She tried to jump on the baby, roll on the baby, was getting into everything she wasn't supposed to be and was becoming more and more aggressive. And one night she bit M. Her tried and true owner.
And as time has gone on, she bit him again. And again. And again. And again. Now for a total of 4 or 5 times. One time even breaking skin. Luckily for us, she's outside as we've tried to decide what to do with her. Some people suggest that with her aggression maybe it might be best to euthanize her. Some people have suggested that maybe a shelter would be best but unfortunately no shelter will take her because she's old and aggressive. Some people have suggested we rehome her and it seemed like a great idea, until we were told that if she bit anyone else we would be held liable and could be sued for everything we owned. It seemed like a no-win situation. So we asked my MIL if we could ship her back to her.
You'd think things would have been fine and dandy but of course they're not. It's all drama and without airing it all out, I'll leave it at the fact that basically she thinks the dog's wellbeing is more important that the fact that the dog has bitten M 5 times and could possibly bite myself or our precious 16 month old. So here we've been...stuck. We can't fully move into our new place without figuring out what to do with this dog. We are having a hard time getting on board with the $1500 cost to ship the dog back to MIL and ultimately don't think that euthanizing is really fair. I just keep asking myself, how many times do we give this dog a chance before she seriously hurts someone? And what if it's our daughter? I'd never be able to forgive myself.
Basically it all boiled down the point of, Did we think the dog was worth $1500 to ship back to my MIL or should we put her in a shelter or euthanize her?
I'll share our decision tomorrow...
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