Christmas.. You suck

>Precisely why I said the animal should not be the gift,
>perhaps a trip to a clinic or pound would be the gift if the
>person had prior wanted to get the pet and someone else
>wanted to pay for the animal's shots or spay/neutar.. than
>THAT would be an appropriate gift.. not SUPRISE I got you a
>puppy that you didn't really want that could possibly live
>for 20 years!

*nodnodnod*

And to further the point...the concept of adopting an animal is that you're responsible for it for its life, not until you get tired of being responsible for it.

My mother used to date a guy who lived out in the boonies of north carolina, and an awful lot of dog owners seemed to think it was ok to abandon their unwanted dogs out there by just pulling off the collar and driving away. A few had clearly been beaten, judging my their demeanor, but most were sweet, healthy animals whose owners had just decided to move to a new home and not bother bringing their dogs along. And my mother's last cat adoption was a litter-trained kitten she found sleeping in an abandoned church. If you're going to give up an animal, the least you can do is take it to a pound or advertise for a new owner, instead of dumping it in the woods.