It’s not clear what freelance journalist Shona Sibary hoped to achieve by making an online confession about her puppy-abandoning habits, but her article in the Daily Mail has sparked outrage among internet users who are condemning her for her actions.

In the article, Sibary admitted to having abandoned four dogs in the last four years, just because they weren’t cute puppies anymore. “Over the past four years, I have fallen in love with four puppies and, on each occasion, driven miles with hundreds of pounds of cash in my pocket to buy them,” she wrote. “Then, months later, I have turned my back on them and given them away.”

Sibary said she finds this habit “strange” because according to her, “no one is more welcoming and loving to a doe-eyed little puppy than me.” She claims that all four puppies had perfect lives – with comfy baskets, colorful collars, vaccinations, and microchipping. But in her own words, “the minute they become too much trouble – which they always do – I fall out of love and start advertising them in the classifieds section of our local newspaper.”

Photo: Shona Shibary/Facebook

Calling herself a “serial dogamist,” Sibary said she doesn’t know if her strange addiction is a result of being refused a dog as a child, or just her dislike of clearing up after them. “I admit there must be something mentally wrong with me,” she wrote. “Why else would I keep buying dogs only to wave goodbye to them a year or so later?”

It’s interesting to note that Sibary hasn’t given away every dog that she’s owned. The family’s first dog – a labrador named Oscar – was with them for 10 years before he died of a tumor. “He was an unproblematic dog,” she wrote, “as labradors tend to be.” But her second dog, a husky cross named Juno – wasn’t as lucky. Within a year Sibary grew tired of Juno’s digging and fence climbing habits.

“I discovered too late that this is quite common for huskies,” she wrote. “So our lovely Surrey back garden became a muddy mess of craters that the children kept falling into.” Eventually, she gave Juno away, followed by Albus, a pure Rhodesian ridgeback, who was too aggressive with other dogs. She later got herself two more pups – Pippa who tried to “kill everything that moved” and Cookie who was Pippa’s partner in crime. Needless to say, they had to go as well.

Photo: Shona Shibary/Facebook

Sibary’s unusual habits have had a negative effect on her family. Her daughter, Dolly, once asked her, “If I’m naughty, Mummy, will you re-home me too?” Fed up, her husband has threatened divorce if she so much as mentions the word ‘puppy’ again. But Sibary doesn’t intend on mending her ways. She simply replied: “Don’t be silly, darling. A dog is a man’s best friend. We can’t live without one.”

Her bizarre account of her puppy addiction has been met with disgust from readers. Dogs Today editor Beverley Cuddly said: “I’m speechless when I meet people like this. Dogs are family and you don’t give up on family. It sends shivers down my spine.”

“Sadly, for every dedicated, responsible dog owner there are too many people just like Shona Sibary who are happy to give up their dog when it loses the cute factor or when it becomes too much effort,” said Giles Webber, director of rehoming at the Dogs Trust.” She sent out a tweet inviting Sibary and her family to visit their rehoming centers and see “the impact of early abandonment on certain dogs.”

Photo: Shona Shibary/Facebook

Amidst all the criticism, Sibary tried to defend herself by tweeting: “I’m not leaving them at the side of the road, guys. They were all found loving homes!” But that didn’t earn her any brownie points.

According to Cuddly, puppies are easy to place in homes because they’re ready to learn. But this isn’t the case with dogs. “Even if you find a new home with other people, very often it will ricochet several more times around other owners and rescue centers unless it comes across a wonderful person willing to spend time to undo those mistakes,” she said. “It will be very hard to rehabilitate.”

Meanwhile, Sibary is busy showering affection on her seven-month-old whippet cross cocker, Clover. But there’s no saying how long it will last. “If she continues to leap onto the kitchen counters to steal food, I’ll probably get rid of her too,” she told the Daily Mail.