Help me put the in - laws off???

[littlemisslauren]

My OHs parents have decided they want a puppy
My OH and I are expecting a lovely little border terrier bitch in 3 weeks, OHs teenager brother has found out, has guilt tripped his mum and now they want a puppy too!

OHs mum called me at work today to see if there are pups left from the litter that our pup is from, I stalled majorly because the last thing these peole need is a puppy! And I know when it gets boring I will end up having their discarded pup... erghhhh.

Tonight OH and I went to see his parents to give them the 'its so expensive', 'they will wee everywhere', your furniture will get ruined' bla bla bla talk to put them off. I even told them to just get a cat instead

Nothing is putting these people off, teenage brother has decided he wants a BEAGLE I told them every horror story I know about the breed, but noooo he wants one so they will try to get one.

I am not being mean, my OHs family are lovely lovely people but simply are not going to cope with a puppy. The mum is a complete neat freak (I take my little border to their house on the way home from walks and she hoovers the second he is out of the door), the teenage brother is 15 (just got a girlfriend and goes into town straight from school to hang out with his mates and wont be back in untill 7 or 8) and the dad is a know it all HE was horrified when I told him that i took my border out for 2 hours a day.

They will NOT exercise the dog, will become incredably bored of it and lock it in a crate all day 8 - 7... untill I take it home with me!

Please someone think of something that will actually put them off?? I DO NOT want to end up with a beagle! Or see another little pup sent to a rescue

 

[mollichop]

Hmmm tricky. Have they owned dogs before or do they just get to see yours when he goes there after walks?
Lots of people like the idea of having a pup but the reality is huge.

Not really sure what to advise as sounds like they have made their minds up I guess just lots of moaning about the downsides i.e: moulting, food bills, time consuming and rolling in muck

Good luck!

 

[littlemisslauren]

OHs mum had a dog when she was young but that is it, and even that was more her parents dog than her own!
I know they love dogs so I try to take my little one down as much as possible, he loves people and fuss (and food!) and knows his manners so it works out as a little treat for him to be fussed over more than usual! But the kid who is desperate for a puppy barely even looks at him! Which makes me wonder if he loves dogs or he loves puppies...

I told them we would take the pup and the old boy over all the time and they can play with her etc but i dont think I will actually leave either of them in their care (I am a worrier and they already try to spoil my old boy rotten )

How bad will a beagle realistically be in a small terraced house with a medium sized garden and minimal daily exercise??

I feel bad for the mum, she clearly does adore dogs but OH has told me that they even rehomed a cat 5 years ago because it was too much hassle.

 

[CorvusCorax]

How bad will a beagle realistically be in a small terraced house with a medium sized garden and minimal daily exercise??

A fricking nightmare.

Simples. Go to the 'search' function at the top of the forum. Stick in 'Beagle'. Print out all the results. Hand it over.

Job done!!!

Tell them some toot about how expensive they are to feed, insure, vets bills etc, nothing scares people off than mentioning money.
Tell them it will wreck their house and their back yard and they chew like nothing normal. Plus (and this is true) they can be noisy feckers and someone will call the council on them and they will get fined.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Before Jonna had puppies I sat down and wrote up a list with possible to very likely costs involved in dog owning, to give to potential puppy owners, to help sort the wheat from the chaff, so to say.

Examples of things from my list (you have to find and add current Britsh prices, if you're interested) :

Anti tick treatment, Exspot --- , Frontline --- or Scalibor --- .

Basic fee for just taking your dog to a veterinarian clinic, --- .

Extra fee added to the bill, only to take your dog into the veterinarian clinic on a weekend, without them doing anything to your dog, --- .

Annual health check at the veterinarian clinic, in general between --- to --- , depending on if it is just getting a basic check up or if you want to include a basic blood test, checking liver and kidney functions etc. Can be worth doing, especially when the dog gets a little older.



Poop bags, in average dogs poops between 1 to 3 times a day, so possibly you might need 3 x 365 = 1095 poop bags per year, one package with 100 poop bags costs --- x 11 = --- in annual cost for only poop bags.

Some examples of what a bag of good dog food costs --- .

Gnaw bones are good for your dog, I buy gnaw bones for about the same amount of money, as I pay for their bags of dog food per year, about --- .



Puppy class at some local dog clubs cost between --- to --- .

Follow up classes, after the puppy class, at some local dog clubs costs between --- to --- .


Eventual dog daycare costs part-time --- per month, full-time costs --- per month.

Eventual dog kenneling cost --- for one week, --- for two weeks.


Insurance, life + veterinary care costs between --- to --- (for the insurances I think sounds good).

Normal vaccinations --- , if you want your dog vaccinated against kennel cough it is an annual cost.

Eventual Rabies vaccination for travelling abroad --- + --- for controlling that your dog have developed antibodies. Rabies vaccination must be made half a year to one year, before you intend to make the trip.



Example on what it can cost to buy basic puppy equipment, cheapest options --- , more expensive options --- . The prices are those that I've found on the internet and in a mailorder catalogue.

1 dog rug 75x60cm, --- . Possibly a dog bed 60x70cm, --- . 4 food and water bowls, plastic --- , stainless steel --- , ceramic --- . Puppy collar + leash in nylon --- , leather --- . Collar for adult dog, half-choke + leash in nylon --- , leather --- . And/or harness (without leash) in nylon --- , leather --- . Safety harness (if you do not want to have or already have a dogcage in your car) --- . Brush --- . Comb --- . Tartar removing thingy --- . Dog Toothbrush (Please do not use toothpaste for humans, it is too strong) --- . Toybone/cotton knot --- . Possibly a black Kong (the blacks are more durable than the red), medium size --- . 1 Bottle of ear cleaning --- . Stop bleeding powder (used only if the nail trimming goes wrong), I prefer the expensive Cardinal kwik-stop --- , cheapest --- . Nail trimmer for small breeds --- . Dog Shampoo --- . Possibly one of those non-slip in the bathtub rugs --- . Compost net for puppy pens --- (2 x --- = --- ) and/or a dog crate --- . 1 Bottle Piss Off --- .



Very basic first aid (prices from the pharmacy) costs --- : Antiseptic (woundcleaning stuff) --- . Gauze --- . Elastic support bandage --- . Adhesive tape --- . Cotton --- . Tweezers --- . Tick remover --- . Thermometer --- . White vaseline (used on the thermometer tip) --- . Scissor --- .



If everything else fails, try to make them buy a puppy of a breed that would suit you and your OH.

P.s. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or bad translations, I'm in a hurry.

 

[Galupy]

A fricking nightmare.

Simples. Go to the 'search' function at the top of the forum. Stick in 'Beagle'. Print out all the results. Hand it over.

Job done!!!

Tell them some toot about how expensive they are to feed, insure, vets bills etc, nothing scares people off than mentioning money.
Tell them it will wreck their house and their back yard and they chew like nothing normal. Plus (and this is true) they can be noisy feckers and someone will call the council on them and they will get fined.

One of our beagles (Dakota) likes to have a bark every now and then and he is quite loud when he does - beagles have a lovely rolleyes deep howling bark/bay. Luckily for our neighbours we live in a detached house and he is older and well exercised (2-3 hours a day) so he doesn't do it often or for long.

If they live in a terraced house, and don't walk or keep the dog entertained, they - or rather the beagle - are in trouble. Beagles are simply bred to be hunting dogs and when they aren't hunted or exercised appropriately or worked in a similar manner, they get bored. They need to google "beagle howl" and read what comes up. Also, have them read about how a lot of beagles cannot go off the lead (I have one that can and one that can't) because they get what I call "beagle ear" and don't pay attention to where they (or you) are because they are so busy on a scent and assume that you are going to follow them because that is their job. In Maine and other rural areas here, hunters will even have drop kennels outside their houses by their mail boxes so that when their beagles are found after they haven't followed them on a scent, the person returning them can just pop the dog in them and not have to wait until the owner is home to return them.

I love my beagles to bits, but the breed gets a bad reputation and dogs get surrendered all the time because people don't understand what they are bred to do and what they are getting into when they get one. It does the breed a huge disservice ... not to mention what it does to the individual dogs themselves of course.

 

[Cliqmo]

Ask them to look after your dog for a week or so. Genuinely. They will soon see how quickly the novelty of a cute animal wears off and you have a decade or so of responsibility ...if the Son can't look after your dog for a couple of weeks hopefully it will open their eyes to what he will be like with a pup

...incidentally I think people considering having their first baby should be made to babysit for nothing too

 

[Grey_Eventer]

Sorry to hijack your post but where did you look for borders?
we are currently looking, but it has to be a perfect looking one... and there don't seem to be many around we went to see some which looked like JRT!
We had a border pup. which was so pretty but she had to go back and has since died hence the need for something that is a proper looker!