Should I give my dogs away?

P

Peter54

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This is not a joke - would like to hear thoughts on the following please:

I met with a banker the other day to discuss getting an extention on my MARP agreement. They were happy with my progrees and saw that I had made cuts to my expenditure. Food shopping down, use of electricity way down, TV sold - so the banker was happy (smug look on face) that my life was now non existent. As we were going through the form I was asked to account for a hundred euro that they could not account for. I truthfully told them that it was for the upkeep of my pets (five dogs - two Bernards and three mountain dogs) all of which are very large animals. I was asked could I not feed them less or use less expensive food:rolleyes: I explained that it was not wise to feed these dogs cheap food as when I did I ended up in receipt of a very expensive vet bill. The whole meeting turned to a conversation about animals and the outcome was that I should sell them or give them away as I could not afford them and they would note this on my file. These dogs are part of the family and are old as these breeds go. To part with them would be upsetting to say the least. I also know that banks don't do emotional stories.

What would you do?
 
Keep the dogs. As you say they are part of the family.Money is not the be all and end all. Some things easily trump it. Five dogs is a lot, but if it were me I couldn't part with my pets.
 
Purely from a financial viewpoint, 5 large dogs are an ongoing expense and if it were a hobby of some sort it would be considered a luxury that you need to reconsider.

Realistically speaking, you have a relationship with your pets, animals are like family members, and as an animal lover I think you should keep your pets.

Theres also a health aspect to owning dogs, they lower your stress levels, they ensure you are getting regular exercise because you have to walk them, they are good for your mental health because no matter how down you get your dog looks up to you and idolises you and they are also home and personal protection.

Id be keeping the dogs and telling the bank that they are saving you a gym membership and a home security system.
 
I would not get rid of them. I would not care what some bank worker thinks.
 
These dogs are part of the family and are old as these breeds go.
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I was going to ask if they had their papers,that way you could breed them and turn a buck towards their upkeep?
If they are quite old there is going to be a lot of vet bills in the near future...regardless though I would ignore that recommendation from the clerk in the bank (I refuse to call them bankers) I suppose he is just doing his job,its a pity they weren't half as diligent in the tiger years.
 
Agree. That was a rather cruel and heartless thing for them to say about pets that you already have. They are indeed a part of your family. Howev' if these dogs are getting on a bit, when they do pass on, I don't think it would be wildly unreasonable for them to request that you do not take on any more financial commitments (ie any more new dogs) that will be another drain on your already strapped resources.
 
Knuttell said:
I was going to ask if they had their papers,that way you could breed them and turn a buck towards their upkeep?
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Please don't do this, there are more than enough dogs in the world that need homes.

I wouldn't get rid of your pets for all the reasons stated above.
 
This is a purely non-emotional response to OP.

This is how lenders may look at your situation:-

You owe them money. You are spending their money on keeping and feeding five large dogs -plus any additional (eg vet) bills.

The lenders know that the courts will have a more human face than they, the lenders, have. So the lenders know they can't insist on you cutting out this expence altogether; no court will agree that it's reasonable to get rid of all your dogs at once.

But the lender has made a note of this expence and if ,God forbid, your financial situation gets worse the and you fall more behind with the lender -then the lender can point out to the court that you did not make any effort to reduce this expence.

So, it may behove you to start planning ways of reducing this rather large expence.
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On a more emotional level I would agree with previous posters and tell lender to bog off. But I'm unsure if an emotional response is what you needed.
 
If he were to get rid of the dogs the bank would find another fault. If he has children they may ask him to put them up for adoption. The list goes on.
 
Indeed, next they will want you to sell your wife into a life of slavery.
 
Is that 100 euro a week or a month?

If it's 5200 a year, that seems a lot - a smallish mortgage in itself. Or at least it seems a lot to be spending on dogs and then going to a bank asking for relief on a mortgage. Relief that is coming from other customers and taxpayers - not the bank.

Also if 5 large dogs isn't too much what is, 10, 20, 30 - is there any level that a dog lover would say "emmm, listen here Cesar Millan, part of the family or not - I think the bank manager has a point".

If it's 100 a month then I suppose it's not too bad.
 
OP gives no details of the loan amount, the arrears, payment agreement, whether other people living share the hosue (wife, kids?).

So one can only make a general comment....

But the fact is that contrary to previous comments - the bank CAN win.

It may take some time and the bank probably doesn't want another property on their hands, but if payment falls further and further behind because a borrower is really spending 5.200 euros a year on dog food then the bank may take action.
And the court may agree that this represents quite a large chunk of the loan repayment costs.

(Like a previous poster I assume this is a weekly expence. If monthly forget and excuse my comments)
 
100 a month would sound right.
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100 a month for 5 dogs would imply you can feed a large dog for 66c a day. Is that possible with something as huge as a St.Bernard?

The 100 a week works out as 2.85 per dog per day.
 
Have to admit, I assumed it was 100 a month. I have three dogs, (small, medium and large) and I feed them a good food for about €40 a month, supplemented by occassional leftovers, so I thought it was "do-able"

I'm a dog owner but I would seriously weigh up the cost of keeping them if it was costing over €5k a year, that's four months mortgage payments and almost as much as I spend feeding a family of four. From the banks point of view, they could be looking at over €400 a month going out to feed dogs, money that could be put to good mortgage use.

That said though...easy to say what you would do but not so easy when faced with the decision of giving up much loved pets.
 
Maybe Peter54 could enlighten us -is it over 5.000 euros a year on dogfood or about 1.200 euros ?
 
What next ... Grannies in the 'Buy and Sell'?

I would just lie about pets if they're going to be that heartless. As someone who has had the experience of giving away kittens, I would never give anyone an animal ever again (having seen what passes for the treatment of a 'pet' with some people ... and this was during the boom)

Dogs are priceless as a means of security, quite apart from the companionship. A lot of adult dogs don't take too well to that kind of separation either ... in fact some don't get over it at all.
 
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