It's my fourteen-year-old brother.

Sometimes my brother can be nice and fun, don't get me wrong. He likes to pretend he's the Hulk from the 1970s show, or make fun of cheesy movies with me.
But he's got a big problem. He's obsessed with being cruel to animals.
He's done things like kill squirrels, yeah. Recently, though, he did something he's never done before. And the awful thing is, it didn't surprise me.

My aunt is living with us. She has a pit bull; really sweet dog, friendly, small. It's kind of hyper, and barks a lot, but other than that, she's a great dog. Unfortunately, my brother hates the barking.
Apparently, he started out squirting liquid soap into the dog's eyes to shut it up. I told him to stop that when I found out. He stopped that... but then he started squirting it in the eyes with alcohol. I had no idea until a few days ago.
My aunt said that her dog had something wrong with her eyes. So my mom went out to see, and she came back and said, "She must have gotten into something in the woods".
I reminded her about the liquid soap thing, and she confronted my brother about it. He told the truth; as it turns out, he had squirted alcohol in the dog's eyes four times in the last two days.
We took the dog to the vet, and we found out from him that she could have gone blind if we had come into the vet a day later. The dog's eyes looked terrible; all bright red and bloodshot, sunken-in, weeping this pale green, sticky liquid. The vet gave us antibiotics and painkillers, and the dog is looking a bit better now.

I want advice on what to do with my brother. He's just a terror most of the time. He didn't shed a single tear when our dog died (not that it was surprising; he was mean to her), or when our cat died. He doesn't show any sympathy to the ones of us who are grieving.

Any advice would be greatly welcomed, except to take him to a therapist or doctor of some sort. Been there, done that. Did no good.

Um... Pray? That's all I've got...

Hmm, yeah, I'll probably end up trying that, though I honestly don't think that'll do much good.

*ponders quietly*

That's tough, JJ. The best advice I can give you is to love him, and pray for him. Find verses that relate to kindness and gentleness and speak those in reference to him whenever you become discouraged. Ask God to instil a spirit of gentleness and kindness in your brother, and ask Him to show you ways that you can reach your brother in this area. I know that only God can bring change about in a person, so the best advice I can give you is to pray. I'll pray too.

Yes. All that up there. ^ I'll be praying, too.

Renna, I hate to sound all tough-love, but if God the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth cannot help, nothing can. It's not a matter of whether or not God can help him, it's a matter of believing with faith or asking God to give you the faith to believe that your brother can get better. It might not be an outright change, but God CAN change someone's heart.



:-)

I hope your aunt's dog gets better. *hugs*

Oh, I know, I understand that. I just mean that trying to make references to the Bible might not work. He's not very religious, even though me and my mom are.
I guess I should have worded that sentence differently.

Thanks, all. The advice really helps.

Oh, okay. *smacks head* Sorry for misunderstanding you.