When it comes to pets, most loving owners agree: Pets are family members, and are to be valued, respected, and cherished as such.
Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this compassionate sentiment. For some, dogs are mere playthings or collectibles, completely at the disposal of our whims — like the cruel owners who disfigured their sweet pit bull puppy.
Shona Sibary, in Devon, England, is one such pet owner. In an open letter to the Daily Mail, she explains her thoughts on having dogs as pets, and her shifting feelings toward them once they grow out of the "puppy phase."
To Shona, dogs are there "just to be puppies." Over the past four years, despite spending thousands on dog purchases, she has never kept a dog past puppyhood; once they're adults, she kicks them to the curb.
"I know people will be shocked by my lack of canine commitment," she wrote. "A dog is supposed to be for life, right? Not until it gets a bit annoying and starts shedding hair all over the sofa."
She has admitted that this is possibly a strange addiction of hers, but seems to be stuck in her ways…
Read on to find out what Shona has to say about her story, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Over the past four years, Shona, a mother of four, has fallen in love with four different puppies.
However, months after welcoming each of the pups into her home, she would do something unthinkable: “I have turned my back on them and given them away,” she admitted.
"The minute they become too much trouble — which they always do — I fall out of love and start advertising them in the classifieds section of our local newspaper,” she wrote.
Shona was never allowed to have a dog as a child — and suspects that this is what caused her to become a “serial dogamist” as an adult.
When the dogs are puppies, she falls head over heels in love with them. She attends dog training classes. She spends hefty amounts on medical care. But once a pup begins to pluck her nerves, Shona gives them the boot.
For instance, not long ago, there was a blue-eyed pup named Juno who was fond of digging in the garden. The puppy would often leave big “craters” that her kids would fall into — so he was promptly given away.
A few years later, she welcomed Pippa, a dachshund, into the home. According to Shona, the pup "terrorized" the neighbors' flocks on their farm — so, like Juno, Pippa was given away.
"The moment things get complicated and they develop a problem, I don’t covet a dog-free existence like any other sane person might. Instead, I start wondering if there is another, more suitable dog out there," Shona wrote.
But Shona isn't done yet. "You’d think after doing this four times in four years — and spending over £1,000 — I might have learned my lesson. But I’ve just gone and got another dog," she wrote. "This time she’s a seven-month-old whippet cross cocker spaniel whom [my daughter] has named Clover… And if she continues to leap onto the kitchen counters to steal food I’ll probably get rid of her, too.”
Many people have been both outraged and thoroughly confounded by Shona’s open letter. Some say that she's a terrible role model for her children, and that she should never be allowed to own dogs again.
What did you think of her treatment of animals? Let us know below!
Please SHARE if you believe that Shona needs to stop throwing away these precious dogs!
