Mother's Day Gift Question
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| Tue, 05-16-2006 - 12:25am |
My DS-17, who lives out on his own (kinda proud, kinda sad), got me my first Mother's Day gift he's ever gone out and gotten practically on his own.... my happiness was overwhelming. And he was so pleased with himself, just literally "beaming" when he gave it to me!!
What was it, you may be asking by now? A female Great Pyrenees puppy. We have a male already. I'd been saying for a couple of years that I'd like to get another. DS told me that he knew, at this time (with 7 dogs already), that the timing wasn't right, cause I'd said that I wanted to wait until my male dies before I'd be ready to take on another one, and that it would eat alot of food, etc... but that it was the "opportunity of a lifetime."
And sorta it would.... the cheapest I found on the net were $550, and I could never pay that much for a dog, not with the problem of strays so prevalent (and my taking in what I can)..... but here's where it gets tricky....
When I was told there was a card for the dog, with some info on it, I asked if it had anything about shots or worming, and was told by the woman who had helped him get it "we don't know, we never read it." I opened it and read it silently and just stuffed it into my pocket.
The card said the dog was 1/2 pyrenees and 1/2 yellow lab. And I'm totally happy with that, thrilled actually ... but DS believes it's full blood, and I didn't even ask what he paid for it. I believe very little, as she was gotten as a favor or something. I'm still confused on it all.
But the point is, DS believes it's full blood and that if I wanted, I could breed the 2. I don't want to disappoint him. He was so so so happy and proud to give me this dog.
I don't want to tell DS what I found out. Just curious on others' opinions.
zz

I think I would thank him profusly, then show him the card and explain that you can't really breed them to get full blooded dogs out of the deal, but that she is beautiful just the same and maybe you will and maybe you won't. You'll have to sort of wait and see.
I would just be honest with him, show him the card to read, after telling him how totally thrilled you are about her being half. Great Pyrenees are huge... as if I have to tell you. Maybe the lab in her will temper that size, but then you have to deal with the lab puppy thing for 3 years (that's how long a lab is a puppy....) I bet she's beautiful, you should post pix!
Thanks Momtb4,
What you say makes alot of sense. I think breeding might not even come into play here cause Bear is really old, has no teeth, has been shot once for walking into someone else's pasture (before I got him). I'm not sure he could breed by the time my new dog, Sara, would be ready. Someone told me today that I definitely shouldn't breed a purebred female pyrenees until she's 2.
I just really don't want to bust my boy's bubble. He's so proud of himself. And I'm totally in love with Sara already....
I'm just wondering if he'll be able to tell that she's not full bred when she gets older. I've never been one to advocate not telling the truth to kids.... but I'm a full-fledge member of the Troubled Teens board. Would it be so wrong to just him believe what he believes?
Just wondering...
zz
How sweet of him to get you the dog!
If it were me, I wouldn't even bother telling him. You shouldn't even breed her until she's at least 2 years old, if you were going to. And yYou said yourself that Bear will likely pass away soon as he's really old and his health is failing. It's very likely that they would never have the opportunity to breed anyway, right? And after Bear is gone, etc., you can simply say that you've decided not to breed the female and if he notices along the way that she has Lab traits, you could feign ignorance and let him find out on his own by leaving that card around.
I'm not really one to have secrets or be less than truthful with my kids either, but I don't really think this is that big a deal in the big picture. However, to bring it up now, while he's still beaming with pride, IMO, would really be a downer for him. Let him ride the wave for a while perhaps before letting the truth out. Just my thoughts.
Thanks Pam and Hearts. I'm going to take your advice.
Pam, remember when I wrote that long post about my son being kicked off the school bus for 6 weeks, and then deleted it? (You e-mailed me to let me know you cared.. thanks. I deleted it cause when I post when crying, it usually comes out such a jumbled mess.)
I let him move to town cause I just couldn't take him back and forth to school. Once there, he didn't want to move back out here to "no man's land", as he calls it.
Legally, at 17 there's nothing I can do to make him move back home. But I have to admit, he's much happier living in an area he can walk to his friends' homes. He's working and going to school.
Thanks again to both of you. It helped settle my nerves over keeping this secret. (he and I used to share everything, or at least I did!)
zz