For the Sake of Clarity

I didn't think much of it at the time, but back when we were moving in here we discussed the dog with the landlord. The dog belonged to his daughter who is around fifteen years old.
Because they couldn't/wouldn't take the dog to their new home, the landlord offered ownership of her to us - the understanding being that she would stay in the pen anyway.

We were grateful to be moving in (finally) & eager to keep relations as friendly as possible, so we said with a fair display of reluctance and hesitation that we would consider taking her. That she was a pit bull was a large concern we explained, but if she proved gentle and easy to get along with, we might be willing to assume ownership...
The landlord understood. To make his understanding perfectly clear he suggested we should feel free to call the pound if we decided against keeping her.

Like I said, I didn't think much of it at the time...

As the months lapsed and the dog continued to languish in the pen, it became more and more apparent that the landlord considered the matter settled.
His father took on the chores of feeding and watering the damned dog & we were stuck with it barking at us and snarling at the cats (two cats were also abandoned in the landlord's move).
To further exacerbate this was the landlord's decision to raise our rent because of our own cats that we failed to properly leave behind when we left our old apartment.

I tried through friends to get Gypsy a home. After one of them assured me that taking the dog to the pound would only result in the animal euthanized, I realized exactly what the landlord had suggested. As I came to fully see the favor I would be doing him by having his daughter's dog exterminated I finally knew what a cowardly & disgusting prick I had as a landlord.

Just as his father would bring Gypsy food and water, sometimes his kids would ride ATVs down the road to check on her too.
They are nice kids. I like the old man too.
I refuse to be the bad guy when it comes to killing their dog.

Gypsy will be left behind. Abandoned by us too.
We will take the two cats though.