Any ideas on how to convince my friend not to buy his 2 children a puppy for xmas would be greatly appreciated!!
My friends 2 children are both girls, one is 16 & other 11years old & have decided they want a puppy for xmas. It is such a bad idea! My friend is seperated from the kids mother & only sees them at wkends & school holidays so it would not be him looking after the dog.
Approx a year ago they had a lovely staffie, who i think was about 2yr old. He was a lovely dog, really good natured & fully housetrained. They got him from their auntie who had just started working at a different job working 12hr shifts & had split up with husband which meant the dog would be left at home for long periods of time on his own. After having the dog for a couple of months they apparently got sick of walking him and i think because the dog was getting bored he started chewing things in the house which he hadn't done previously. From what i gather as i don't live near by & don't know childrens mother i just know what my friend tells me & what the youngest girl has said when she has been at my house on weekend with dad, the girls mum made a rota for walking, feeding etc & said if they didn't stick to it they would have to find the dog a new home where he would be looked after properly.
After trying the rota it was decided that the dog had to go because the girls didn't want to be walking the dog before or after school as they would rather be doing things with their friends.
When the youngest girl was at my house over the weekend with her dad she started saying she wanted a puppy like my dogs. I have 14month Westie & 12wk Westie. I immediately reminded her of how i had been taking him in the yard every hour for the toilet and how she had screamed when she nearly stood in the pile of dog poo near the front door where he had had an accident earlier on despite the fact that he had been taken to the toilet regularly. I also reminded her of the time last year when my other Westie was a puppy & i had left her & her dad in my house looking after Maggie while i went & got groceries, when i got back they were both in the bedroom with the puppy & the door shut. When asked why this was i was told there was a pile of dog poo on the dining room floor so they had took the puppy upstairs & sat in the bedroom as none of them could manage to bring themselves to clean up the horrible smelly dog poo so had put tissues over the top of it & moved to the bedroom. I explained that she couldn't do this at her own house & her or her sister would have to clean it up. I told her it would take months before being fully housetrained and as her mum worked nights 3 times during the week it would be up to her or her sister to get up in the freezing cold in the middle of the night to take the pup to toilet when she had to be at school the next day. I also reminded her how the night before she would not come out of the house to walk Maggie as it was too cold.
When she had gone home i asked her dad if he was seriously considering getting a puppy. He said both girls had been going on about it when he took youngest home & he told them if they got a puppy thats all they could have as the kind they wanted cost alot of money. He said this seemed to change there mind as they wanted other things for xmas. I asked if the mother knew they had been asking for a puppy & he said he thought so & it was up to her to say they couldn't have one as it would be living in her house. I told him i thought it was cruel if he got one for them & it wasn't just up to the girls mother it was up to him not to buy a poor little pup for them. He does know its not at all a good idea & thinks because he has said if they get a puppy thats the only present they will be getting from him between them that it will soom put them off as they thought they came for free, but if they decide its what they want how can i stop him being so cruel & stupid??

Not a cat person myself so people on here might not agree but this sounds like a situation for a cat.  My friend split with her OH and he kept the cats and so when the children go to stay with him it is even more special because they have the cats. Once housetrained they are much more independent but just as cuddly when they are around.

>Not a cat person myself so people on here might not agree but this sounds like a situation for a cat.

Agree, but of course no reputable cat breeder will sell a kitten for Christmas!

This is an all too common thing at christmas.Cant you get them to sponsor a dog at a rescue center then they could go and see it and take it out for walks etc and make a fun day out of it.That way when they tire of it it doesnt have to be rehomed.After christams the rescue centers will be over flowing with the poor pups that were bought in haste.If they dont want to sponsor a dog then why not tempt them with sponsering a dolphin or even a tiger.Im sure that their school friends would be alot more envious when they tell them that they have a tiger that they are looking after.;)

How about a rabbit or guinea pig? Tell them if they look after it well enough, they can have a puppy next year. Or tell them THEY will have to pay for the food and grooming bills out of their pocket money as well as having nothing for their next birthday. Your friend needs to not get into a war of one upmanship or blame (it's your dad's fault you cn't have a puppy as he won't buy it for you) with his ex and they need to be consistent on this. If I was him I'd refuse to have anything to do with buying them a puppy if three of them including one adult and one almost adult couldn't be bothered to look after a dog in the past.

Tell the 17 year old to volunteer at the local dog shelter and see if she still wants a dog after shovelling sh*t and getting barked at for a few hours. I don't blame the 11 year old as she's not old enough to be responsible, but the other three

Anyone so ludicrously freaked out by dog poo should, with respect, get over it long before getting a dog!  You are doing a very responsible thing by trying to persuade them not to go ahead with this hare-brained plan, Joanne and I hope you succeed. Otherwise I can see yet another unwanted dog who was "too much trouble" and whose crime was nothing other than being a dog.

To be fair I freak out over other peoples dog poo (turns my stomach) yet I don't mind my own dogs poo!!! LOL

With respect a rabbit is not a good idea in this situation.
If they dont clean it out at least every other day the urine stinks of amonia. If they cant cope with dog pooh they wouldnt be able to cope with rabbit pooh and urine. I have a house rabbit that gets its litter tray emptied twice a day and when he was outside with his mate he was cleaned out at least twice a week. His mate died of fly strike even though i was the one supervising looking after him and he was brought inside and now lives in my living room in a dog crate with another floor.
the poor dog will be rehomed by the time it gets to 'teenage' stage if not before :(
Hopefully someone can advise on how to talk him out of it. Tell him to buy an interactive fluffy dog. I think Argos sell themfor about £50 which is alot cheaper then ALL well bred puppies!!
lea :)

Pet shops that I've been in won't sell any animals at Christmas time.

The 16 year old would be old enough to volunteer in a shelter - maybe she could do that for some time to give her a really good taster of what it is like to look after a dog (not exactly glamourous!!!)

Well I've got to confess that other dog's poo 'aint my favourite substance either! But you don't get the pup without the poo when it's your own and you just get on with it! :)

My boy is the product of a situation like this. The kids uncle's Chow had an accidental litter and the kids whined and begged and pleaded and made lots of promises about feeding/training/walking etc. Mum gave in and puppy was got. To cut a long story short, we took him in at 6 months of age;  untrained, unsocialised and having lived outside, ignored, for most of his short life because he did terrible things like wee on the carpet, jump on the furniture and bite hands :( My biggest regret is that we didn't make her hand him over to us sooner :(

The novelty wears off very quickly with kids and I think the experience of owning the staffy briefly is indicitive of what can be expected if these girls do get a pup for xmas. Another post-xmas statistic for the rescue shelters.

I dont like my own dogs poo really but its a nasty job that has to be done and theres no avoiding it.The bigger the dog gets the more poo you get,and you still have to pick up in the street or garden.Worse still if they get a tummy upset and its a puddle rather than a pile.ewwwwwwwwwww.Best method i found is two pieces of cardboard and scoop in a case like that.Its not nice at all.
If the dog is a hairy dog then you have the grooming and the bathing.If you have to bath it in the same bath you yourself use then theres hours of washing all the hairs off the walls,tiles,bath and floor.Some also forget the cost,pups can chew,so theres shoes,towels,socks,toys etc all to be replaced.Needless to say its always your best,new shoes that they chew.
Think long and hard for its a life times work and commitment and leads to a heartbreak in the end when the dog goes over to rainbow bridge.I always say to myself,could i cope with having another baby? If the answer is no,then no dog.I find that pups are so much like having a new baby.they need so much time,attention and love.

Tell him he MUST talk it over with his ex-wife before he does anything as it is obviously she who will have to look afer the pup!