I'm DONE!

BEVOLASVEGAS

Could youn loan him to me so that he can be a role model for my two???

You mean to tell me that that pic you posted of those two angelic boys is not an accurate picture of their waking selves? LOL

Kale does sound like a great kid.  I know where Cita's coming from because my parents divorced when I was 8 and I took over many mommy roles but I don't think it did me any lasting harm, other than make me bossy. lol  I do remember feeling helpless that my mom was so overwhelmed with life but she had psychological problems.  Even as a child I realized that I was better equipped to deal with a lot of things than she was.  Candace, you are a much stronger, balanced type of woman and you will find the right level of responsibility for Kale to handle.

 You'll make it. You're strong and you've got a great kid to help out.

There is child services here (in Canada) that can help you get on your feet. I think you got a certain amount for each kid until they turn 18.

If you need anything (ei: dog food/supplies, a shoulder to vent on), just PM me and I'll see what I can do. I've always got spare bags of dog food around. Ebay is a good place to make some spare money as well. You'd be surprised the amount of money people spend on junk. Lol

Good luck!

 Ebay is an interesting idea.  I'll have to start with the crap around here....there's soooo much stuff.  I'll have to start researching.  I've never sold anything on Ebay, though I have a friend that does.

I suppose my dogs may have to scale back on their quality of food for a bit too.  They eat raw 100% of the time right now, but I suppose it won't kill them to switch back to kibble for a while, at least for part of the time.  Thanks Kitty for that reminder.   The $250 food bill per month for the dogs is a little extreme I guess...

huskymom

 Ebay is an interesting idea.  I'll have to start with the crap around here....there's soooo much stuff.  I'll have to start researching.  I've never sold anything on Ebay, though I have a friend that does.

I suppose my dogs may have to scale back on their quality of food for a bit too.  They eat raw 100% of the time right now, but I suppose it won't kill them to switch back to kibble for a while, at least for part of the time.  Thanks Kitty for that reminder.   The $250 food bill per month for the dogs is a little extreme I guess...

It is not extreme if you can afford it, but, just to make you feel better, back in the day - before anyone knew much about canine nutrition, my Dachshund ate Ken-L-Ration for years.  My mom couldn't afford premium food for him, even if there had been any then. He was a healthy dog who lived to be nearly 16.  So, do what you've gotta do - better days are coming.  Don't forget, you can sell stuff on craigslist, too;-)

 Honestly Anne, my dogs go through a bag of Acana in a month.  So that's $65 a month rather than the $250 give or take I spend on raw.  I think that thing is that its rare to get a good price buying raw when you feed it all the time.  Especially since I don't even have a butcher here.  If I fed kibble more often, then I could wait till the sales on certain meat items went on, rather than having to pay full price just cause I had no other choice.  And Acana is not a bad food.  I'm pretty limited on what I can get here though. Acana is not one of the choices I have locally, so I'll have to go see what is available.  I know I can get Before Grain, but its a Merrick product so I haven't.  Still, I'm sure its better than anything I can get in Walmart.  And even if it costs me $80 for a big bag, its still cheaper than Raw.

 How about Eagle Pack Power? YOu should be able to get it pretty easily up that way (it's a popular musher's product), and K9 Cuisine has it for only $55 US for 40 lbs. They don't ship to Canada but that gives you an idea of the price. I've been extremely happy with it for my two LGDs.

It's saved me a lot because it's such a dense food - my 150 lb highly active male eats only three cups a day and actually tends a bit to the porky side. It's the first food (including a custom home prepared diet) that has put any weight on miss skinny Minnie.

And it's practically made for Huskies

Look at all the stuff that you have to have and find cheaper ways to make those happen. The internet is a great way to find free stuff and good coupons. Heck, walmart.com offers free trial products of things like toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, razors, etc. I get in on that whenever I can so I never have to buy travel supplies.

There's forums dedicated to free this and free that. I can't even tell you how many full size body lotions or body bath stuff I have received.

For extra cash, there is a woman that is well known around here that makes homemade dog cakes for special occasions. She makes treats too and sells them online or by word of mouth. Her stuff is great and I have bought from her. She is a hair stylist as her main job. She will make special order doggy or cat baskets for gifts and such. Maybe look into doing something like that.

Since you own huskies, you know a thing or 2 about grooming. Maybe offer on the side grooming in your home. Nothing special, wash, dry, brush out nail trim ear cleaning.

Just some ideas. You can make this work. Stick to your guns. It took a friend of mine 3 years to finally call it quits after she said "I'm done" because it really is so hard. All of the emotional stuff is hard to let go of. But keep reminding yourself what brought you to make this post in the first place. Good luck

 OH! Another site I found is save.ca They are based out of Ontario and you can choose coupons for your province and they mail them to you!  I just got three coupons for cat food

No relationship advice. As for exercising for kids and dogs, I had a mental image of a tetherball in the back yard. The kids and dogs can chase around the pole until they all fall down and pass out.

 Anyway, you will manage. And it will be okay. My mother did most of our raising and I haven't been arrested or convicted of anything, yet.

Good luck and good times ahead for you. Removing stress sometimes makes other things better.

huskymom

I suppose my dogs may have to scale back on their quality of food for a bit too.  They eat raw 100% of the time right now, but I suppose it won't kill them to switch back to kibble for a while, at least for part of the time.  Thanks Kitty for that reminder.   The $250 food bill per month for the dogs is a little extreme I guess...

Wow, that IS a lot! My dogs eat holistic food, but there's no way I could afford $250 a month!