Ok upon rereading I realize he father did put it there but I still think all of the comments about the father are harsh. I believe both parents are wrong. They should have come out and told the kid. He would have had to face the death of a pet eventually. The dad shouldn't have left the dog on the river bank either. I understand not wanting to pay 100 because that's a rip off but there are netted waysto dispose of it.

i'm with your husband. $100 to throw your dog in a furnace with 300 other dead things? no thanks. he's just giving the dog back to nature.

I'm a little confused about why the kid thinks the dog ran away. This sounds like the sort of bullshit parents feed their kids, like "Grandma moved to Florida" and "Fluffy went to go live on a farm where she could chase mice." Illegal or not, people bury their dead. It's what we do. To all the people saying the father disrespected the dog in death, paying the vet $100 to dispose of it isn't "respectful" either. It doesn't get a grave, nobody says "Sleep long and well, Fido" - they predominantly do one of three things: 1. toss it and all the other dead dogs into a furnace. 2. composting. Yep: they put them all into a big pile, water it, and let them rot. 3. discard them into a landfill. Sure enough: google "dead animal landfill" And that's fine: they're dead animals... but leaving it on a river bank or letting it be eating by crows is no less respectful than bulk animal disposal. I'd feel bad for the kid, here, except I actually believe this one was made up.

#109 - you need to re-read it once again. It's most definitely the husband's fault. The OP says she was taking her son out for a walk to tell him about the passing of their family dog. That means she wasn't planning on hiding it from her son. She was just probably taking him for a nice, comforting stroll to break the bad news to him. Also, I think anyone would think their pet ran away if the pet goes missing for even one hour, especially if the pet doesn't make it a habit to go missing every so often. (I think the last thing on a child's mind about their missing dog would be thinking of the worst outcome.) If anyone has had a dog or cat (or any responsive pet), you'll know they develop habits with their owners. So lets say, if the kid just came home from school and didn't see his dog waiting by the door like it usually does, he probably thought something happened, i.e running away.

Goddang, I'd kick my husband in the taint if he did that. And everyone who clicked YDI are douchebags.

you're wrong for telling him the dog ran away. a kid will keep searching for him, and needs to understand the concept of life and death. What do you tell when grandma dies?

This is horrible. What an asshole.

if i were you, i would get the dog and a sail boat, put the dog in the boat, dowse the boat in gas, lighter up, and go pagin style.

WOW. if you both loved that ******* dog, you wouldve buried him. YOU were at fault too. thats disgusting.

look, the husband took a calculated risk. i would at least bury the dog, but it's not like he intended the kid to see it. who knows what kind of financial situation he/they were in. a ton of people are living check to check, if they're lucky enough to even have a job. was this dog not in some kind of trash bag? why did this lady let the kid get close enough to a dead animal "by the river" to positively ID it. something just doesn't make sense with this one (oh, and **** all you people telling everyone who isn't getting all up in arms about the husband you hope their dead body is just laying by the river. a person is not a dog is not a person.)