Source: Reddit
I know this sounds insane but it’s been causing me grief for weeks.
I moved back home a few years ago to take over my parents’ hobby farm. My parents asked me to continue to keep sheep and goat herds. Predator animals are common so we’ve always had livestock guard dogs there. I have 2, they are very well trained and socialized, but I don’t allow dogs I don’t know on the farm unless I’m there the entire time.
The set up is like an ‘H’ – One side is the sheep pastures/barn, the other side is goats. In the middle is a gigantic fenced area for the dogs where their toys, feeders, water troughs, wading pools and dog sheds are. They can go from one pasture to the other. The gate to the dog area faces the back of the house. It was a regular garden gate but I fixed it so predators couldn’t climb over the top of it. The only space is about an 8inch gap between the top of the gate and the gate post to move the latch easily. Too small for my dogs to squeeze through and nothing has gone through there before.
One of my dogs is a male and not neutered for reasons relating to the community and us all knowing where our helpers come from and are going to since these doggos perform a specific function in a farming community. Other dog is an older female and spayed.
My job requires me to travel once in a while. I had a week trip about 4 months ago. My gf invited her friend Taylor to come stay with her while I was gone. Before Taylor arrived she asked us if there was a room she could put her dog’s crate in. I told her not to bring her dog since I’d be gone. When she arrives, she has her dog. In heat. My gf told her she could bring her. I offered to pay for her dog to go to the local kennel since I’d be gone, my gf and Taylor said I was controlling. I told them I just didn’t want to leave room for issues. Day before I had to leave, Taylor let her dog out unsupervised and I caught her dog trying to squeeze through the gap of the gate. Got her dog, brought it back in, told her she either keeps her dog on a leash and supervised at all times when outside, or she goes home now. My gf and I fought about it again, and I had to leave for my work trip before it was resolved.
I asked my cousin while I was gone, he said he and his wife saw the dog on the leash. Taylor left the day I got home. Weeks later her dog had puppies. Gf admitted they only put Taylor’s dog on the leash when my cousin was over, and let her run the rest of the time. Her dog kept getting into the dog yard with my boy and they stopped her if they saw her. Taylor wants me to pay half of the vet bills and puppy expenses until they’re homed. She’s railing about me to my gf about not having my dog neutered. I refuse to pay. My dogs are contained and they stayed where they are supposed to be, and I told Taylor to not bring her dog to begin with. She and my gf can cover the expenses since they went behind my back. Am I in the wrong here?
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