Can anyone REALLY be this stupid??? (have to vent)

    • Gold Top Dog

    Can anyone REALLY be this stupid??? (have to vent)

    I stopped by the vet's office with a stool specimen on my pup and decided to wait in the waiting room for the results.  It was a busy afternoon with lots of dogs coming in and out.  This woman and her teenaged son came in with a little ShihTsu dog.  It was wrapped in a blanket and shaking like a leaf.  She sat next to me and obviously wanted to talk. She said that he was 11 years old and had been attacked by their other dog at home, a small 5 year old mixed breed female. This poor dog was just mangled.  He had areas where chunks of hair had been pulled out.  His one ear was just awful.  But not only that - this dog was so matted that I doubt he's been brushed in a year or more.  You could smell his ears and they were full of black gunk.  He had cataracts.  He looked up at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen.  I just wanted to cry. 

    The woman, who was quite chatty, told me that this poor dog was 'always getting attacked by the other dog when we aren't home'.  So of course, I suggested she keep them separated.  Oh no, can't do that.  They might get lonely and it would be mean, and she loved them too much to do that.  AGHHH!  So I offered her several options for separating them, but no, they just wouldn't work.  I then got a little forceful and told her that I was quite sure the little guy would rather be a little lonely than to be viciously attacked by a younger, stronger dog.  And of course, had to gently but forcefully stress that repeatedly subjecting your small dog to that kind of situation is not loving them, and is really a form of abuse/neglect. 

    Then we talked about the matting.  She was so concerned that any medication would not reach the skin because he was so hairy.  I suggested that the dog be shaved down by a groomer. But she 'likes his pretty hair'.  So we talked about the health risks posed by allowing a dog to get so matted. But you know, she is just so busy and the dog doesn't like it when she brushes him.  

    I just get so frustrated. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Indifferent

    • Gold Top Dog

    Oh my goodness...how awful.  That poor dog.  Yes, people can REALLY be that clueless.

    • Gold Top Dog

    OMG! I don't know that I could've been that polite. My stomach is in knots just reading this. I take my girls to the groomer every week! How much pain must an animal endure in a lifetime????????????? It's just so WRONG! Broken Heart

    • Gold Top Dog

         HOLY CRAP  Confused

    • Gold Top Dog
    This is why I don't 'talk dogs' with people, as a general rule. Ugh. Wonder how much a spay for her would cost...
    • Gold Top Dog

    Ugh, what a moron. That poor little old dog.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Unfortunately, to answer your original question, YES, they can *be* that stupid.

    Some people simply go thru life never ever re-evaluating a former decision and they just keep piling MORE bad decisions on top of them.

    It's so hard to know *where* to stop them.  But unfortunately I think I may have stopped her at 'Wait a second -- LOOK AT HIM.  He might not enjoy being crated BUT he won't have to visit the vet again and again being all TORN UP.  Look at him -- he is NOT happy here and now -- he ***HURTS***.  Truly you *must* prevent it in future!  Why not ask Dr. ___ what HE thinks -- if crating this dog wouldn't be preferably to it getting so badly mauled by another - I'm sure he will be quite afraid to be with this other dog *alone* now."

    Yeah, you risk the lady getting up and leaving -- and you also risk her not listening to a word you say.  In fact, people like that ARE as stupid as they are *because* they go thru life filtering out anything they don't *want* to hear. 

    And folks, once again we have a HUGE example of why vets truly have it difficult sometimes -- because even THEY can't get thru to these people - I'd bet that's not the first time the dog was brought to the vet having been torn up -- and probably the vet has encouraged crating, etc. 

     

    • Gold Top Dog

    see, peta should exist for situations like THIS... but lets not go there.......

    i see people like this all the time. heck i'm related to people like this!! my sisters - when they were younger- insisted on getting the same breed mentioned here because their uncle had one.... so their mom found a breeder -in Tennessee no less- bought a male and female puppy and had their cousins bring it to them in Florida.

    I'm not really a small/fluffy dog lover.. ok i love them but i dont really want to own them... but i contradict myself by saying that. the weekends i came to visit my dad and sisters were spent mostly pitying and tending to the poor matted stinky dogs.... my sisters lived with those two pups 24/7 but when they got older and their coats grew out they lost interest in them. in fact my younger sister got fed up with hers and gave it to our other sister to feed and watch over - they didnt walk them, just let them out to potty then right back inside they went ((and they had a fenced in backyard!!!!)) the only thing they did for either of these dogs was to get them spayed and neutered...... however shortly after that the female developed skin problems and eventually went blind from the medication.. and she STINKS to high heaven. the whole house, clean as it is, smells like this dog. and the male had to be put to sleep a couple years ago because he had a massive tumor. i found that tumor and pointed it out to them when he was a young adult. they ignored it, said it was probably just fat - because he was fat- when i found it it was no bigger than a peanut... when the vet found it (after the dog stopped eating) it was blocking off his internal organs and pushing against his stomach.... by then it was too late for him.

     

    soooooo...... yep.. i have no clue as to what you are talking about. people couldnt POSSIBLY be that dumb, could they? Hmm
     

    • Gold Top Dog

    A suggestion would be to call up the vet. Discribe the woman and explain what she was telling you. Tell them your concerns and you would feel better if they did a welfare check.

    Most likely they will find the dogs in improper care and will suggest she sign one or both over to a rescue. You will be saving the doggies alot of grief and I am sure they will love you for it. To answer your question. Yes. Unfortionatly people can be this stupid!

     Jessie

    • Gold Top Dog

    calliecritturs
    And folks, once again we have a HUGE example of why vets truly have it difficult sometimes -- because even THEY can't get thru to these people - I'd bet that's not the first time the dog was brought to the vet having been torn up -- and probably the vet has encouraged crating, etc. 

     

    That's what I was thinking too. It must be extremely frustrating to try to help people take better care of their dogs when they're so set in their ways, they won't listen. I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it.

    • Gold Top Dog

     Oh yes, the supply of people like her is endless!  Just imagine the poor vet who sees these people time after time after time...

    • Gold Top Dog

    cakana

    calliecritturs
    And folks, once again we have a HUGE example of why vets truly have it difficult sometimes -- because even THEY can't get thru to these people - I'd bet that's not the first time the dog was brought to the vet having been torn up -- and probably the vet has encouraged crating, etc. 

     

    That's what I was thinking too. It must be extremely frustrating to try to help people take better care of their dogs when they're so set in their ways, they won't listen. I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it.

    I'll admit to not knowing much about what vets can and can't do.  Can they not report someone like this?  It's obviously a case of gross neglect; she should get a visit from cruelty investigation.  Obviously she cares about the dog enough to bring it to the vet instead of trying to patch it up herself but she is horribly mis-informed on the proper BASIC care and treatment of her animals.

    OP, did it seem like this person wasn't all right in the head?

    • Gold Top Dog

    She's probably completely sane -- just completely mis-informed.  She's probably a 'cat person' at heart or something - and that's not to knock cat people.  But they try to apply all the same 'rules' from one species to another never thinking it might *not* work.

    I got so frustrated with a woman about a year ago -- one night David and I were out for dinner and found this sweet but TINY pom running in the middle of a humungously BUSY side road -- bumper to bumper traffic with this little bugger trying to run circles in the center of the road!!

    David got on his hands and knees in that traffic to get hold of her and she had a phone number *scratched* into a St. Christopher medal on her collar.

    Called them and they wanted ME to BRING the dog to them!  sheesh.  Actually it turned out to be to a neighbor's house.  But I wound up talking to the woman several times on the phone. 

    She had been 'given' this dog -- and thot she was cute.  But the woman was used to having outdoor cats -- and just didn't see WHY dogs were any different!!  A cat knows to come home, why not a dog??

    We're talking major large city here (Orlando, FL) with HUGE suburbia -- cars doing bumper to bumper traffic on 2 lane side roads abut 50 mph in the dark! 

    We worried over that little thing for weeks -- and she called me TWICE MORE because the dog "got out" (she knew the d#)(*)*(% door wouldn't shut and saw no problem with the dog getting OUT of it!!) and what could she do??

    I spelled c-r-a-t-e to her every way I could but ohhhhhh nooo it was MEAN.  Soooo scraping the dog up off the road isn't???

    The dog went AWOL one more time and never returned.  It coulda been 'got' by a gator.  David and I drove the streets for miles around looking for a grease spot.  I CRIED (this wasn't even my dog - it wasn't even a dog I knew WELL!!! *sigh*)

    I HOPE someone stole the dog.  Quite honestly -- I thot about it myself.  I'm sorry we ever called her that first evening. 

    Same type of woman -- absolutely 'nice' but would NOT listen to me for anything.  She even knew something was 'wrong' but couldn't listen to reality. 

    Sometimes I think if I hear "Well, we USED TO ...." or "Well, where *I* am from we never ...." one more time I'll slap someone.

    This is 2008 folks ... doesn't the rest of the world know it?? (nooooooooo  of course not!)