Does anyone have a "grand dog" that you take care of?

[AnitaF]

I was just curious if anyone on this forum has a "grand dog" - a dog that your child adopted or bought - and then you "got custody" of it.

I have a Jack Russell named Vito that my son bought. Our discussion before he bought the dog included, "I'll feed him, I'll buy his food, I'll take care of him, I'll train him to ride in a car and take him with me on rides," blah, blah, blah. Guess what? Vito's grandparents (my husband and I) feed him, we buy his food, we take care of him, we even got him neutered (we don't take him in the car, though).

I was just wondering how common this is.

 

[FluffyZooCrew]

I don't have granddogs, though I live with my parents. And right now, they are raising a grand-dog, my mother's sons 2lb chihuahua. It's been living here.... probably a year now. They moved out, and left the dog.

 

[PoodleMommy]

No kids here!

But... Armani has the greatest "grandparents"... they are the only people I really trust with him if he needs to be watched and they love him like one of their own.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Does your son live with you? If so...then yeah, I'd say that's pretty common. If your son is still a kid, you have to assume that you will be taking care of the dog.

If your son is a grown adult living away from home though? Different story. The only time my in-laws ever do anything for our dog is when we go on vacation. Even then, we provide the food and toys and medicine she will need. We live over an hour away from any family, so 99.9% of the time we do everything for her.

 

[bubbatd]

My three , Seger,Hunter and Maggie May come to Grammy's rather than boarding . Bring their own food , bedding etc and all love the car , Ollie and Grammy's twin bed !

 

[vanillasugar]

My grandparents took care of their "great-granddog" for me through most of my childhood. He was my dog, but when my dad re-married we couldn't take him to my step-mom's house, so my grandparents looked after him for me. When I moved out to on my own I tried to take him back but he was 14 years old by then and mostly blind and didn't adapt well to the big house with roommates so he lived out the rest of his days with my grandpa

 

[4dogs3cats]

My beagle Bailey had to live with gma and gpa for 3 months when I had to live in an apt that only allowed 2 dogs. She was the easiest to take care of, and I provided her food and toys and whatnot. Shes back with me, but sometimes she goes over there to play with their dog, Mocha, and have a sleepover! Shes sleeping over gma's tomorrow night bc I am bringing my friend out to the bar for her 21st and shes staying over with her 2 dogs, and 5 dogs is a lot to have at my house!

 

[BDorman]

My in-laws love taking care of Mabel. And the feeling is mutual. When Mabel comes back home she expects a treat for just about anything...followed by a walk in which she gets to determine where we go and what we do. They spoil her terribly and she loves it!

 

[k9krazee]

My dog (Jack) lives with my parent's for 9 months out of the year. I'm in school 2.5 hours away and there's no way I could have him here. So during the school year they have him (along with their 3 dogs) and during the summers he lives with me. I can't wait to be done with college so I can have my dog all the time. I pay for his vet bills and licenses, but that's about it right now.

 

[sprintime]

2 Grandogs that know our home as well as theirs. Been grandparents for 16 yrs now.

 

[Doberluv]

Yeah, Toker is my grand-dog-daughter. LOL. She lives with me. My son lives with me off and on now.

 

[Snip]

The in-laws have came out to our place and let out dogs when we were away for a long day and they needed potty break part way through....other than that, they go with us if we're away for a weekend or whatever. (Yep, all 6.)

 

[Tankstar]

No but I have a "SIL dog" I look after often. my boyfriends parents travel alot (espeacially in summer) so I babysit Jazz alot for them. As my boyfriend works afternoon shifts so no one is home with her during the day, So Blaze and I hang out with her, walk, go swimming ect.

 

[MayasMom]

My parents love their "granddogs", but now that we have Murphy, we can't take them to their house as much. They still have the dog I grew up with, and he has terrible arthritis and has broken both legs before (at different times) so he has a lot of trouble getting around. Maya is fine with him, and is really the only dog he is not scared of. Murphy is too hyper to be around him though, he could hurt him unintentionally. Not to mention, Zeus is terrified of him. They wouldn't mind watching our dogs while we were away or something if it weren't for Zeus.
My sister in law got this adorable puppy from the pound. Funny thing about adorable puppies, sometimes they grow up into 90lb. clumsy, goofy dogs that aren't as adorable. She still lives at home, but this was supposed to be "her" dog. He also has some health issues. He pretty much belongs to my mother in law now. My sister in law has made it perfectly clear she has no intention of taking him when she moves out, she doesn't want him. He's a sweet dog so I'm glad my mother in law decided to keep him.

 

[AnitaF]

I should have made myself more clear about my "grand dog" situation. My son still lives with us; he's 23 years old and wants to move out, but it's pretty clear that his dog (Vito) won't go with him. I don't think I could give Vito up now, although I was practically pushing my son out of the nest and telling him to take his dog (Jack Russell bad, bad puppy) with him about 2 years ago. Vito is a good grand dog now and I'm glad to have "custody" of him. He just wasn't my choice in the first place.

On the flip side, my mom used to "babysit" our mini schnauzer when we went on vacation and during the day when we were working. Peppi knew what we meant when we said, "Wanna go to Grandma's?" and would get excited. She loved it at Grandma's.

So now I'm the grandma and Vito is probably the only grandchild I'm going to get as I have only one son and he's pretty adamant right now about not ever getting married (he thinks females are too much work - had his heart broken twice so far).