When we adopted Brutus, like most animals, we had a ‘meet and greet’ for about an hour to see if there was any aggression and at that time, there was none. We were so excited! Gavin loved him instantly, we thought he would make a great addition to the family..and he was, for about four days.

We couldn’t get the dog to pee or poop outside. Not a big deal, I have a steam cleaner I actually love using, and a steam mop, plus plenty of time to take him outside. We figured that within a few days he would get the hang of it….haha. hahahahahahaaaaaa. After the third day of him being outside for over an hour, with doing nothing but sniffing, he would come inside and as soon as our backs were turned, he would unleash the foulness. And you could 100% tell he would holding all that crap in because the pee puddles were huge and the poop was never ending rope of disgusting.

After the first accident in the house, he had to sleep in the kitchen. He had a nice big fuzzy blanket to sleep on, and we would take his food/water up at bedtime to hopefully stop accidents. It didnt work. Nothing did. A few days after, say day 3, he started chewing up the couch. We need new furniture as the movers broke ours and we have yet to claim it, but still…come on dog, you have 10 million bones to chew on, plus socks/plushie toys, a kong…yourself…leave my couch alone! On day 5…day 5 was the deciding day.

It started like all the other days, until he starting nipping when you would play with him. I dont even mean rough play, I mean petting him on his head or his neck or belly or back…he would nip. If you would play tug of war with him with his rope, he would nip…eventually, on day 6…the nips became bites. Folks…this dog who we had grown to love and were willing to work on in whatever way made it so we could keep him bit my 2 year old. It wasnt aggressive, but it was hard enough to leave bruises…no skin broken thankfully. He had to go. The very next day, exactly 7 days after initially adopting him we were at the SPCA before they even allowed people in, and when they saw us let us in immediately and couldn’t believe the behavior we were describing.

In tears I had to fill out all of his paperwork and begged to know if he would be put to sleep because thats not what I wanted…they assured me that no, he would just be placed in a home with no small children which I think is exactly what he needed. I know my son is no saint, he isnt perfect and for fucks sake, hes 2…of course he was rough with the dog, but we would always, as soon as we caught it, correct his actions and make him say sorry and then he would get a time out. Being in our house stressed the poor dog out, he ended up losing weight which he really couldn’t afford because he was already underweight.

They credited us the 150 we spent and said we could use it for another dog when our family was ready, which im not going to lie, feels all kinds of wrong. I am not one for wanting to take an animal back to a shelter but I also can’t risk my sons safety…which brings me to the most frustrating part.

Why on earth do people value the animal of a dog over the safety of my child, and also, when mentioning getting a puppy, who the hell are you to tell me I shouldn’t? I will be the very first person to say I am not an animal lover…I dont hate dogs or cats or any other furry friend you have, but I am not a huge lover of them either. I do however have tons of fond memories of playing with all of our dogs and cats growing up and I’d like for my son to have the same options and memories I did. It truly upsets me to be called a bad person for protecting my son. Is it fair Brutus had to go back to the SPCA? Not really, but on the same page here…would it have been fair or right or even ok to leave a dog in the house that could potentially bite my child causing permanent disfigurement or even worse, death? Gavins life with always be more important than anyone or anything, even myself.

Its ok to be passionate about animals (but if you dont even take care of the ones you own, who the hell do you think you are telling me im wrong for giving the dog a better chance at a happy, healthy stress free life by not living in a home with small children?) , your rescues, your volunteer time with many organizations who do amazing things…whats not ok is that my own family members have the nerve to tell me its ‘not fair’ to Brutus to be taken back after he has bite not once, not twice, but three times. He got My husband 2 times and my son once. I am not ashamed to say if that dog would have broken skin or hurt my son in any way shape or form….i’d be writing a very different blog.

I told my husband we could try again after Christmas. I do want a puppy, one that we can train from the get go, and one that will be use to children already. Also, those that are thinking of adopting from a shelter or rescue, dont do it just because its Christmas. Kids can be jerks rather you want to admit it or not, so do your research first because your little furry baby is going to grow up to be a full grown dog.