This Poor Frickin Dog

[Deleted]

I don't remember how much I've gone into on here, but long story short, my stepdad moved from out place in Illinois to Ohio, my mom divorced him and left the country, and I moved to someplace else in Ohio. Mom's friend was supposed to look after their dog Liberty until Jake could take her back, but he texted me this morning and said that he needs to find somewhere to live.

In a matter of not even 4 months, the dog she had known her entire life died. Her dad moved out. The dog she had been living with for almost a year was moved to a new home. Her mom moved out and she moved in with new people that she'd only met a few times, in a new house which, if what I've been told is true, includes a baby, several other people, and at least one or two other animals in a trailer(unless they were able to move into our house that we were renting), and now she has to find ANOTHER new place with probably complete strangers this time.

I want to take her, but we're only allowed animals up to 12 lbs and she's a 50-something pound labrador.

Our property manager is pretty chill so I'm almost tempted to ask her if we can be an exception(someone else in our little wing of the apartment complex has a dog that is definitely over 12 lbs, but they may be an ESA) but that also throws a wrench into the whole 'ferret get' plans because Liberty eats a LOT and, while she seems to finally be past pottying in the house and destroying things, I think she ate the Energizer Bunny with how much energy she still has at 6.5 yrs old.

[abbeytheferret6]

a beautiful dog, maybe landlord will let you keep her---ferrets another day maybe?
or wait til stepdad finds a place----

[Deleted]

Maybe, but the thing is that I've been trying to get ferrets for eight years lol and Liberty drives me nuts, and she's definitely not the dog I'd have picked out in the first place. I'm autistic and I have an anxiety disorder and she sets them both off like no one's business, although that might be because mom and jake never exercised her... I'm not sure I have the mental strength to exercise her and train her though, although she is pretty good on a leash... She drives me nuts tho lmao

I'm also not sure I could afford to feed a 50+ lb dog, plus all our other dogs ended up dying of tumors and she's around that age where she could get one at any time and I really don't want to see her turn into a skeleton like Hemi and Goldie, and I'm not even sure the landlord would go for it.

[raebees]

Poor girl 😢 such a rough time for her. And you. Could you maybe keep her for a while until you can find her forever home? That's asking a lot of you but it sounds like you are the only one who cares about her. Maybe there are old dog rescues around? Some rescues become forever homes for these guys, but at least it would be stable. Wishing you luck! I'd probably try to keep her but I'm not fighting illnesses, either.

[Deleted]

The problem is that, like, mom LOVES her, but she's one of those 'love them to death' types who isn't super knowledgeable and doesn't give her the best care because of lack of knowledge/'but it makes [Liberty] happy', but she moved to Romania which is why Liberty's in this position to start with. Jake cares about her but lives with his brother who absolutely doesn't want another dog.

He told me "just as soon as we can find one", didn't get a hard deadline, so it sounds like she's okay where she is for now.

I want to take her, as I do really love her and she is a great dog aside from her faults, but she's like 5x heavier than the pet weight and I would have to get the property manager's agreement and she'd probably have to ask the landlord.

She's actually like, it's hard to think of her as old because she is BRIMMING with energy, although she is getting pretty gray, and her sister(tho a golden while liberty's a lab) made it to 16(barely; she should have been taken to the vet sooner, but Liberty easily could have another 6 years to live)

As far as I can tell, she's perfectly healthy, but I don't want to see any more dogs I care about get tumors- although she's the only one we've gotten that didn't like, come from a d*mn puppy mill so she has a bit stronger of a chance.

[LindaM]

Honestly, if I equate what I pay to feed my cat and 2 ferrets... their food costs way more than food for that dog would.

And you say that she's brimming with energy, well, your ferrets are likely going to brim with as much if not more. They might be small... but do not be fooled (I say this as I watch my ferrets sitting in my Christmas tree where they know they aren't supposed to be in). Your ferrets are also going to need exercise and training. There's likely to be some days where your ferrets will be driving you nuts too, much as they will be some of the most lovable babies you can have.

I think your biggest problem here, will be the landlord situation. And that it honestly does sound like you don't feel up to this, no matter how you feel about the dog. And you shouldn't end up doing something that compromises you and how you might view the dog later, it'll only end badly. So instead, how about trying to do something that could be the best for both of you? Perhaps you can post up some ads (KSL, Craigslist, I think Petfinder, maybe, and places like PetSmart and Petco do adoption days to help get animals adopted, you could talk to them too) to try and find a new home for the dog, a forever home. Meet with the people who are interested and try to gauge best as you can if it will be a loving home, else your conscience will bother you forever.

[Deleted]

The thing is that, I'm fully ready to deal with ferrets and their difficulties. They would also weigh about 500x less than her unless my math is wrong(could be) and I wouldn't have to buy $20+ of toys every month for them that Liberty will destroy within moments lol Although if I did keep her on kibble vs raw feeding ferrets and my cat, it would cost approx $80 to feed her for a month and a half but feeding Cleo costs about $63 for the same amount of time, and ferrets would be half her weight, so it would come to about the same amount, and Cleo and ferrets would be way cheaper if everyone was raw.

Cleo gives me troubles, my rats gave me troubles, but they don't stress me out. Liberty has so much energy that it feels like someone is crushing my chest and training her the way I want to will be a chore. Ferrets spazzing across the floor makes me squeal with delight. Liberty spazzing across the floor almost pushes me into an anxiety attack(and has on at least one occasion). Like a lot of autistics, I can't deal with large high energy creatures while little high energy creatures delight me.

Ferret antics(and my cat's), I can laugh at. Liberty antics, I cry at.

I want to take her, but I can't handle it- even though I would have my boyfriend and our roommate to rely on for help. I've also been working towards ferrets for too long to give that chance up for a critter that, while I love her, is a source of anxiety.

She currently lives in Illinois and I live in Ohio, but she has at least 4 ppl(her current home, my step dad, my mom, me) looking for homes for her- I know a couple of dogblrs in Illinois, one with a service dog and the other who competes in agility and has 4 dogs, and they're looking around for me. But it's gonna be up to her current home(who is a friend of my mom and step dad) to meet anyone that they find.

I'm just really upset at this whole situation, because a couple of months ago, the plan was that mom would be staying in El Paso and keeping Liberty, but now Liberty's life has been thrown completely upside down and her future is very uncertain.

(forgive me this is a little unfinished, had no warning but I gotta go)

[Deleted]

Poor girl.