My 21 yo son recently moved back home. He has a dog named Dixie( 2 years old) He got a new job and is working long hours. The dog has become my responsibility. He crates her when he is not home. I feel it is cruel to leave her in there for long stretches of time. We have a fenced in back yard so I will let her out, feed her and play with her. She is wild. He will often go to his girlfriends house after work and not return home until 10pm. He leaves around 6am.
My manual for him is that he needs to spend more time with the dog or give her to someone that has time for her. She is not my dog and in order for me to continue to provide care then he needs to spend more time with her. My husband is very vocal about getting rid of the dog and my 12 yo begrudgingly lets Dixie out when I am not home. We have a 12 yo dog and Dixie and her have not been in the house together yet. We have introduced them and they get testy and nip at one another. Dixie and my son live in the basement .
Ideally, I would like to socialize Dixie and move her upstairs with us. She is very reactive and jumps all over the place and is super hyper. She is a big dog- a German Shepherd . I have started training her to walk on the leash . She is super smart.
I have so many mixed emotions.
My question is do I keep providing care for her and like why I do it or do I tell my son that he needs to spend more time with her or find her a new home. Not providing care to her is of course not an option since that would be so cruel.
I would appreciate any insight you have.