A friend has been ill. She is now recovering. Her son will not give her dog back. Says he needs $300.00

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MDE333 Asked October 2019

A friend has been ill. She is now recovering. Her son will not give her dog back. Says he needs $300.00

This son has been a Heroin Addict, and is purportedly on Methadone recovery treatment. His mother had colitis and had trouble walking her dog. she has now recovered, and wants her dog back. Her son says she is not yet capable of looking after the dog, but she insists that she now can...it is her dog. Then he says she needs to pay him $300.00 for "boarding her dog" for perhaps 4 weeks. Originally he said $700.00 to return the dog. Sounds like extortion. The son has also run up charges on his mother's credit card which he borrowed to pay a minor bill and continued to use, as well as begged her to pay a traffic ticket he had incurred of $200.00, which she did. What are my friend's options?

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score 1 · Answer 1

Actually she had given him money for as well as food for the dog. Today she ended up paying for the dog...she now has $10.00 left to last her for two weeks. This has been ongoing abuse by her son where he has "borrowed money" or used her credit card beyond her limits to pay....she is at fault knowing he is an addict, and enabling him. I just have trouble supporting that kind of abuse even when you know there is some fault on both sides. I spoke to the son myself but was unable to shame him into helping his own mother.

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People do need to learn to stand up for themselves. It is unfortunate that your friend has allowed her son to use her financially

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score 1 · Answer 2

Heres the thing. Addict aside, he did his mother a favor and took in her dog. To an extent, it sounds like extortion because he first wanted $700 and now $300. However, it’s not unreasonable to expect to be compensated for caring for the dog. Especially if he had any out of pocket expenses. But if those expenses exceed the amount of the ticket and the charges he made to her card, then he should simply give her the dog back. Getting him to agree to that is another story.

If they can’t come to an agreement, she’s going to have to take him to small claims/civil court & sue him for the return of the dog and repayment of the credit card charges. The police won’t get involved in the dog situation, it is a civil matter.

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score 3 · Answer 3

First, why on earth would anyone give an addict their credit card or their cc number? Heck, my adult kids are not allowed to know my cc number, even the most responsible one of them.

In this situation, she is between a rock and a hard place. I suggest she cancel the credit card, pay the extortion and stop supporting her son financially.

As she has a chronic medical condition, which will flare up again, she needs to find another option for pet care when she needs it. Whether it is a boarding kennel, private home, neighbours etc.

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score 0 · Answer 4

The son has technically "stolen" the dog though.

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score 1 · Answer 5

I foresee a lot of hassle and expense for your friend just to get her dog back, unfortunately, otherwise I agree with you it sounds like extortion. Did the son put out any money to feed the dog? She may well take the path of least resistance, pay the money to get her dog back safely, if for no other reason than the son did take care of her dog.

Then your friend needs to stop enabling her son with his bills and his self-imposed costs from traffic tickets. As far as the credit card goes, your friend should immediately cancel the credit card and get a new one, one that her son cannot get a hold of.

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