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› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Might be getting a house and 7 dogs
My mom called me today and told me that her dad said that he is going to leave his house to her when he dies. Since my mom already has six dogs that she has a hard time taking care of I told her that I would keep his dogs after he dies if I have a house by then so she said that she would give me his house. I have been wanting to move to the high desert for a while now so his house would fit into my plans perfect. I am trying to plan this out now because her dad is very sick and could die soon and I wanted to to see if other people think that this could work out.
My grandpa has two Chihuahuas, two Jack Russell/Chihuahua/Dachshund mixes, a Miniature Schnauzer/Poodle mix, a Chinese Shar-Pei/American Pit Bull Terrier mix and a German Shepherd/Akita mix. They are all great with people but they will kill small rabbits and rodents and the German Shepherd/Akita mix is aggressive to other dogs so my Grandpa has him chained in the yard . The Chihuahuas were rescued from the byb who lives next to me. The Jack Russell/Chihuahua/Dachshund mixes came from a family who was moving and gave me a mama dog and three babies so I kept the mama dog and re-homed the rest. The Miniature Schnauzer/Poodle mix & German Shepherd/Akita mix were left at his house when his last live in care taker left and the Chinese Shar-Pei/American Pit Bull Terrier mix just showed up at his house one day and never left.
I am thinking that I could put up a wall and door in the hallway so that my cats & rabbits could have the run of the two back bedrooms, the bathroom and the hallway. I would also build a outdoor run attached to one of the back rooms to give the cats more space. Since the dogs have lived with birds before I could keep my Cockatiels in the living room but let them out of their cage in the bathroom that is connected to the front bedroom. My rodents, reptiles & inverts could go in the front bedroom and my fish could go in the dining room. I would sleep on the couch in the living room or would share a room with the cats & rabbits. When I get the money I would build a large heated & air-conditioned shed in the back yard for the rodents, reptiles, inverts & fish. Then I would put up a aviary for the birds to go out in during the day when the weather is good. I would also build a large pen for the outside dog and make him a heated doghouse.
Does this plan sound like it could work? Does anyone have ideas that could make things easier/better?
Hi Bones, It sounds good until you get to the part about you sleeping on the couch. I know where you are coming from but realistically who is going to care for the animals and you if you end up sick or incapacitated because your back has gone out from sleeping on the couch. How about starting with a big enclosed patio or deck for the buns etc and you keep the bedroom. That way you also have the area available if any of the small ones are sick and need to be separated. Or maybe a kennel and run area for the dogs to begin with. Also check to see if your grandfather is likely to leave behind any bills or loans so you don’t suddenly find yourself having to sell the house to cover his debts after the fact. If you draw up a house and land plan (stick style) on paint to show the layout people might brainstorm some other ideas.
Thanks, I did not know that you could mess up your back by not sleeping in a bed. I have been sleeping in a chair for about 4 months but I guess I will start sleeping in my bed again. I can put a bed in one of the back rooms with my cats/rabbits. My mom talked to her dad about bills and he only has a few small bills and the property tax which is $1200 a year. I will also draw up the layout of the house and yard.
Check the local tax laws too. Some states still have an inheritance tax that you have to pay based on the value of the property.
I think things could work the way you described just as long as you can keep everyone separate. I agree that sleeping on the couch probably isn’t the best option though. It would be silly too considering that you will have a house.
H Bones, If you have been having lower back and neck pain recently that would be from the chair… Definitely need to get back into a bed to let your body rest properly. Depending on what resources you have I found this wonderful site in the US they do flat pack prefab barnes and all sorts of sheds and add ons and I found them quite reasonable. I’ll see if I can find the link.
Good Grief…Since the last time I looked the number of companies selling these packs has increased 100 fold. That’s got to be good for getting a competitive price. Just put the following in google search: vinyl, gazebo, barn, cabin, extension.
Seriously the prices at the other place was so good I was going to order it fro the US and have it shipped to Australia as it worked out considerably cheaper.
Honestly, that sounds like a heck of a lot of animals for one person.
Personally, I would rehome the German Shepard Akita mix, it’s not a good life living outside and there could be a good single dog home waiting for him. Is it an entirely new location, are you going to have to find a new job? Feeding 6 dogs is going to be expensive, let alone any vet bills. It sounds like a 3 bed 2 bath house?
I have been having some back and neck pain but thought that was from cleaning my aquariums. I don’t like that the one dog will have to be outside but my mom promised her dad that she would not get rid of any of them so if I don’t keep him my mom would keep him and he would still be outside also my mom can help with the feeding costs of the dogs if it gets to be to much. I do petsitting right now so I will need to get a new job if I move up there because it is 2 hours from where I live now. I will look up sheds online. I tried to upload the pic on here, photobucket and flicker but they all say that they can’t upload that type of picture. I tried saving it as jpeg, gif, tiff and bitmap but none worked.
I don’t think the pic uplas works, try tinypic.com and then copy the HTML code
I just tried tinypic.com and it would not upload on there.
That’s odd, I use that all the time.
I’m sorry, but I can’t help but giggle at the “dog”. LOL
So you’re talking about the bedrooms on the right?
I think what I would do, assuming I had no allergies at all, would be to claim half the house for me, basically the left half, the bedroom, kitchen, small living room, laundry and bath. I would be ok sharing the bedroom with the bunnies. I’d fence off the 2 sections and have that living room dining area for the dogs, and if possible do a doggie door so they can go to the fenced back yard. Then I would dedicate 1 bedroom to the rodents etc, and the other to the birds. Maybe get a couple of those magnetic screen doors they sell at Walmart for 15 bucks for the bird and rodent doors for airflow and so they can still see you and stuff, but gate off that part so the dogs can’t get in.
There’s a lot that comes with owning a home that pet sitting isn’t going to cover, property taxes, insurance, not to mention anything that breaks.
I think what I would do, assuming I had no allergies at all, would be to claim half the house for me, basically the left half, the bedroom, kitchen, small living room, laundry and bath. I would be ok sharing the bedroom with the bunnies. I’d fence off the 2 sections and have that living room dining area for the dogs, and if possible do a doggie door so they can go to the fenced back yard. Then I would dedicate 1 bedroom to the rodents etc, and the other to the birds. Maybe get a couple of those magnetic screen doors they sell at Walmart for 15 bucks for the bird and rodent doors for airflow and so they can still see you and stuff, but gate off that part so the dogs can’t get in.
There’s a lot that comes with owning a home that pet sitting isn’t going to cover, property taxes, insurance, not to mention anything that breaks.
Are all the dogs spayed and neutered? If not, that could be one reason for the aggression.
Thanks, That sounds much simpler then what I was thinking . I will be getting a normal job if I move up there. Only one of the dogs is neutered right now but he made appointments to have 3 of them fixed then he is going to get the other 3 fixed after in hopes of getting rid of some of the aggression. He did not get them fixed before because they all got along until the unfixed female Schnauzer/Poodle was added.
Is there anyway that you split the dogs with your mom? Can your mom take three and you take three? I know owning a dog can be very time consuming and having them on top of a bun while working will most likely be insane.
My mom would be willing to take them but she already has 6 dogs that have to be separated into three groups based on who gets along so she would have to keep these dogs outside and I don’t think that would be good for them since all but two of them are small and all but one have been inside dogs since he got them. I have been taking care of my mom’s dogs for four months so if I did do this it would only be one more dog then I am taking care of now.
7 dogs is a huge amount of work, add bunnies and birds and reptiles to it… scary thought Especially if they all need vet treatment!
Since I am already taking care of my mom’s 6 dogs it should actually be easier to take care of my grandpa’s 7 dogs because only one has to be kept separate when the dogs I am taking care of now are in 3 groups. If the vet bills got to be to much I could put them on credit. I would also be getting pet insurance on the ones who would be most likely to get sick and on the rabbits and birds.
Wow! That is a lot. Do you know where all of these dogs are in their lifetimes? Are they all old, young, or a mixture of ages?
My mom took Pocur, Tocur and Poco to the vets to get neutered today. My guess on their ages are
George (Shar-Pei/APBT) – 9+ years
Isaiah (GSD/Akita) – 1-2 years
Pocur? (Chi) – 5-6 years
Tocur? (Chi) – 5-8 years
Poco (JRT mix) – 4 years
Tex (JRT mix) – 4 years
Forgot the name (Schnauzer/Poodle) – She is so fat that I can’t tell how old she is except for that she is not young but also not old.
Well at least they aren’t super young. The problem with all this is that yes it would be only one more dog but if you get a normal job that pays enough to afford a house and that amount of pets you are gonna be working all the time. I know the bunnies alone I have are soo much money and my moms one cat and one dog are outrageously expensive. That takes so much money. Plus utilities. Oy va. I just can’t figure it in my head. If you work enough to be able to afford them all then you wont have the time to care for them but if you have the time, well then you wont have the money. Just please think this through.
I have figured out what I am spending and broke it down into monthly costs. My mom is paying for my cat’s food because only 1 of the cats was my fault but I am switching them over to a whole pray diet so it will not cost very much to feed them. The rodent & bird feed/bedding costs will be raising since I am switching my cats to the new diet. I will also
Rabbits – $46
Rodents – $20
Fish – $9
Birds – $5
Reptiles – $0.50
Spiders – $0
Insects – $7
Toads – $0.25
It all comes out to $87.75
This is what I have planed out for time
Work – 8-10 hours
driving to and from work – 1 hour
Sleep – 6 hours
Feeding animals -1.5 hours
Feeding me – 1.5 hours
Walking dogs – 1.5 hours
Cleaning up after animals – 30 minutes
Me time – 2-4 hours
According to a website I was looking at if I worked 8 hour days at minimum wage I would make $1280 a month.
You may want to check with the town you would be moving to if you can even have that many pets legally… 7 dogs, 10 cats, however many birds, rodents, etc… it’s a lot of animals, and many cities and towns have limits.
I am pretty sure that they have the same limits that the county I am living in now has. The limits are 4 dogs, 9 cats, the amount of farm animals depends on the property size and no limit on birds, reptiles and rodents. I should have put that 4 of the cats are going into a rescue when they have space so I will be down to 6 cats by the time I would be going up there. That is to many dogs but there are a lot of people up there that are over the limit on dogs so I don’t think animal control really cares about it.
› Forum › THE LOUNGE › Might be getting a house and 7 dogs