Re-homing rescue dog

[Anonymous]

Anonymous[b wrote:]For reasons I won’t go into here,[/b] we need to re-home our rescue dog. In our adoption agreement, it states that we must return our dog to the rescue where we got it, the trouble is, the rescue is not responding to our attempts at contacting them. What do you do in this situation? I don’t want to take the dog to a shelter, where it will likely get euthanized. But we can’t keep it. WWYD?

We can't tell you what we would do unless you give more information. How long have you had your dog? What age did you get them? And finally...Why do you think another family could change something you couldn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

Hi OP, would you mind explaining what you mean by the dog hasn't bitten anyone yet? Its so ominous - I really hope if you genuinely believe this dog to want to bite you consult a behaviorist before rehoming. It may be that this dog should not be rehomed.

As I understand it if you do rehome and know the dog to want to bite, the liability remains on you if it eventually does. With that in mind, I would urge you to please make sure to evaluate the dog objectively - if there is only a miniscule chance the dog will be able to live in society (if the owner is single, child-less, dog-less, and lives on several acres) please consider humane euthanasia.

Op here. The bolded would be the ideal situation. I really, really don’t want to euthanize (I feel nauseous just thinking about it). The dog is really very sweet to it’s family, but is a large power breed and reacts negatively to other dogs and people. It needs an experienced dog owner that does not interact with children on a regular basis. Has not bitten anyone yet, but based on what I’ve seen and experienced, has the potential to. I want to give the rescue a chance before taking drastic measures-and according to our adoption contract, they could take legal measures against us if we don’t return it to them.

Thank you for explaining, OP. I am so sorry you are in this situation. I truly fault rescues for pushing power breeds on inexperienced dog owners, and owners with young children or other small animals. It often becomes a situation where such dogs bounce around home to shelter, with some unfortunate incidents in between. Responsible owners who try to make it work no matter what end up with a dog that has to be crated for many hours, muzzled, walked on off hours etc. Sadly, there are more irresponsible owners than responsible ones and several of us in the community suffer when the tragic event happens (my own dog was attacked in UNW by a power breed that escaped its enclosure). I truly wish that the rescues would vet the person, their lifestyle and the community before sending a "lab mix" out of their doors to an unsuspecting owner. As said in another thread, a powerful aggressive dog going to an adult only home as the only dog doesn't mean that said person won't have a relative or friend with a child or small animal that lives next door or nearby that may walk by, come to the door, or otherwise be close to the ticking time bomb. With such animals an owner truly must be "on" all the time and travel or working a full day become nearly impossible if the dog must be attended to only by its person. It is a sad situation all around. I hope you find a solution that works for you and the community in which you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

Hi OP, would you mind explaining what you mean by the dog hasn't bitten anyone yet? Its so ominous - I really hope if you genuinely believe this dog to want to bite you consult a behaviorist before rehoming. It may be that this dog should not be rehomed.

As I understand it if you do rehome and know the dog to want to bite, the liability remains on you if it eventually does. With that in mind, I would urge you to please make sure to evaluate the dog objectively - if there is only a miniscule chance the dog will be able to live in society (if the owner is single, child-less, dog-less, and lives on several acres) please consider humane euthanasia.

Op here. The bolded would be the ideal situation. I really, really don’t want to euthanize (I feel nauseous just thinking about it). The dog is really very sweet to it’s family, but is a large power breed and reacts negatively to other dogs and people. It needs an experienced dog owner that does not interact with children on a regular basis. Has not bitten anyone yet, but based on what I’ve seen and experienced, has the potential to. I want to give the rescue a chance before taking drastic measures-and according to our adoption contract, they could take legal measures against us if we don’t return it to them.

Thank you for explaining, OP. I am so sorry you are in this situation. I truly fault rescues for pushing power breeds on inexperienced dog owners, and owners with young children or other small animals. It often becomes a situation where such dogs bounce around home to shelter, with some unfortunate incidents in between. Responsible owners who try to make it work no matter what end up with a dog that has to be crated for many hours, muzzled, walked on off hours etc. Sadly, there are more irresponsible owners than responsible ones and several of us in the community suffer when the tragic event happens (my own dog was attacked in UNW by a power breed that escaped its enclosure). I truly wish that the rescues would vet the person, their lifestyle and the community before sending a "lab mix" out of their doors to an unsuspecting owner. As said in another thread, a powerful aggressive dog going to an adult only home as the only dog doesn't mean that said person won't have a relative or friend with a child or small animal that lives next door or nearby that may walk by, come to the door, or otherwise be close to the ticking time bomb. With such animals an owner truly must be "on" all the time and travel or working a full day become nearly impossible if the dog must be attended to only by its person. It is a sad situation all around. I hope you find a solution that works for you and the community in which you live.

You feel nauseous because it's awful, but that's no reason to just pass the burden onto someone else. The fantasy owner who is single, never goes out, and wants to monitor an aggressive dog doesn't exist. You'll only be subjecting other people to danger and this dog to a worse fate. You took on this responsibility, and you need to see it through. That means euthanizing the dog. I am an animal lover, and I love my pets. If my horse broke a leg, I could pretend that someone out there had a perfect therapy pool and a stall with a sling and magic whispering abilities to keep the horse calm while she healed, and I could even find some "rescue" to take the horse probably. That doesn't mean the fantasy home exists and I would only be sentencing the horse to more suffering. The dog is the same thing. An aggressive pit mix is not going to find a happy home. It will probably bounce from shelter to home unhappily for a while before it bites someone and is put down anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

No, WHY is the only relevant part. If you were rehoming the dog because you got divorced and moved to an apartment that doesn't take them, or had a kid with an allergy, that would be a very different situation. What's happening to you is that the dog is aggressive and unsuitable to be a pet but you refuse to be responsible and you're going to pass the problem on to someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

No, WHY is the only relevant part. If you were rehoming the dog because you got divorced and moved to an apartment that doesn't take them, or had a kid with an allergy, that would be a very different situation. What's happening to you is that the dog is aggressive and unsuitable to be a pet but you refuse to be responsible and you're going to pass the problem on to someone else.

In our adoption agreement, it states that we must return our dog to the rescue where we got it, the trouble is, the rescue is not responding to our attempts at contacting them. What do you do in this situation?

This is the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

No, WHY is the only relevant part. If you were rehoming the dog because you got divorced and moved to an apartment that doesn't take them, or had a kid with an allergy, that would be a very different situation. What's happening to you is that the dog is aggressive and unsuitable to be a pet but you refuse to be responsible and you're going to pass the problem on to someone else.

In our adoption agreement, it states that we must return our dog to the rescue where we got it, the trouble is, the rescue is not responding to our attempts at contacting them. What do you do in this situation?

Are you really that dense? Why you want to rehome them would change the answer to that question. There isn't a blanket answer to a complicated situation.

This is the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

No, WHY is the only relevant part. If you were rehoming the dog because you got divorced and moved to an apartment that doesn't take them, or had a kid with an allergy, that would be a very different situation. What's happening to you is that the dog is aggressive and unsuitable to be a pet but you refuse to be responsible and you're going to pass the problem on to someone else.

In our adoption agreement, it states that we must return our dog to the rescue where we got it, the trouble is, the rescue is not responding to our attempts at contacting them. What do you do in this situation?

This is the question.

Are you really that dense? Why you want to rehome them would change the answer to that question. There isn't a blanket answer to a complicated situation.

[Anonymous]

Op here with an update: rescue has finally gotten back to us and have asked us to have the dog evaluated by a trainer/behaviorist that they work with to see if his behavior problems can be improved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here with an update: rescue has finally gotten back to us and have asked us to have the dog evaluated by a trainer/behaviorist that they work with to see if his behavior problems can be improved.

Thank you so much for the update OP. I was wondering how it turned out. I hope that the trainer can help.

[Anonymous]

OP, please try not to feel guilty.

We adopted a rescue dog that turned out to be crazy and erratic. We tried everything for two years but she became more and more aggressive and, toward the end, would snarl at us if we surprised her - the final straw was when she attacked me and bit my face, ripping an inch-long tear in my lip tissue and requiring a visit to the ER. Thank God she was a smaller dog and did not attack one of my kids. She was not safe to rehome and our vet decided to euthanize her after our dog tried to attack the vet tech during a physical exam. The vet was a devoted pittie owner and said that sometimes guilt prevents us from making the right decision.

It was heartbreaking, but sometimes euthanizing is the right decision.

I would contact a breed specific rescue for advice or call your vet.

[Anonymous]

^^ P.S. Our dog was NOT a pittie - she was a chihuahua mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call around to other rescues and explain the situation to see if you can get help.

Good idea, thanks!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, please try not to feel guilty.

We adopted a rescue dog that turned out to be crazy and erratic. We tried everything for two years but she became more and more aggressive and, toward the end, would snarl at us if we surprised her - the final straw was when she attacked me and bit my face, ripping an inch-long tear in my lip tissue and requiring a visit to the ER. Thank God she was a smaller dog and did not attack one of my kids. She was not safe to rehome and our vet decided to euthanize her after our dog tried to attack the vet tech during a physical exam. The vet was a devoted pittie owner and said that sometimes guilt prevents us from making the right decision.

It was heartbreaking, but sometimes euthanizing is the right decision.

I would contact a breed specific rescue for advice or call your vet.

Oh wow. That’s terrible and heartbreaking. Good thing your fog was small, I can’t imagine what kind of damage she would have done had she been much bigger!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

Hi OP, would you mind explaining what you mean by the dog hasn't bitten anyone yet? Its so ominous - I really hope if you genuinely believe this dog to want to bite you consult a behaviorist before rehoming. It may be that this dog should not be rehomed.

As I understand it if you do rehome and know the dog to want to bite, the liability remains on you if it eventually does. With that in mind, I would urge you to please make sure to evaluate the dog objectively - if there is only a miniscule chance the dog will be able to live in society (if the owner is single, child-less, dog-less, and lives on several acres) please consider humane euthanasia.

Op here. The bolded would be the ideal situation. I really, really don’t want to euthanize (I feel nauseous just thinking about it). The dog is really very sweet to it’s family, but is a large power breed and reacts negatively to other dogs and people. It needs an experienced dog owner that does not interact with children on a regular basis. Has not bitten anyone yet, but based on what I’ve seen and experienced, has the potential to. I want to give the rescue a chance before taking drastic measures-and according to our adoption contract, they could take legal measures against us if we don’t return it to them.

You need to euthanize this dog, anything else is simply outsourcing euthanasia to someone else. The only people that are capable of handling this dog are capable because they have dealt with this dangerous mess before, and likely do not want to again. That is why you ended up with the dog instead of a dog trainer, people who are experienced with dogs saw this disaster from a mile away and said "No thank you!". What single person lives on several acres, miles away from anyone else, doesn't have any other animals, doesn't want children, doesn't have friends, and isn't planning on getting married? People move to the country and buy several acres to buy animals and raise children, have little hobby farms and try to homestead. They do not move there to wait for a chance to adopt one broken, dangerous, antisocial animal. And even if they do not have children, what is to prevent something like this from happening again https://patch.com/new-jersey/woodbridge/mom-pit-bull-attack-fighting-life-boy-buried-thursday That kid was in his own yard, the dogs broke through the fence to kill him. So what if the new owner doesn't have dogs, how do you prevent this https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/dorchester-county-news/two-dogs-mauled-by-group-of-pit-bulls-in-summerville-neighborhood/ ? The two innocent dogs were on their own back porch, four pitbulls broke through to kill them. And this goes for any breed, any vicious, dangerous dog should be put down. I don't care what type of dog it is, you don't wait until your dangerous dog mauls or kills someone to make that decision. No sane person blames you for the way your dog is right now, you didn't create this. People will blame you though, if you decide to give a dangerous animal up rather than do the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, here. Thank you for all the responses, some have been quite helpful. I didn’t want to get into the reasons we need to re-home the dog because WHY is irrelevant to my question, and just invites nastiness. I love this dog, but we’re just not the right family for it. Ideally, I would help the rescue place it in a new home because I know all the dog’s issues and know what sort of environment would be best. I don’t want it to go to a shelter, I want it to go from my home to its new forever home. I’m going to try some other ways to contact our rescue (foster mom is a great idea!) but if that doesn’t go anywhere, I’ll try some other rescue groups. Thank you again!

I will say, the dog has not bitten anyone (yet) and I will absolutely be upfront with all the issues to hopefully ensure that it’s next home will be forever, with people who are equipped to handle all that comes with it.

Hi OP, would you mind explaining what you mean by the dog hasn't bitten anyone yet? Its so ominous - I really hope if you genuinely believe this dog to want to bite you consult a behaviorist before rehoming. It may be that this dog should not be rehomed.

As I understand it if you do rehome and know the dog to want to bite, the liability remains on you if it eventually does. With that in mind, I would urge you to please make sure to evaluate the dog objectively - if there is only a miniscule chance the dog will be able to live in society (if the owner is single, child-less, dog-less, and lives on several acres) please consider humane euthanasia.

Op here. The bolded would be the ideal situation. I really, really don’t want to euthanize (I feel nauseous just thinking about it). The dog is really very sweet to it’s family, but is a large power breed and reacts negatively to other dogs and people. It needs an experienced dog owner that does not interact with children on a regular basis. Has not bitten anyone yet, but based on what I’ve seen and experienced, has the potential to. I want to give the rescue a chance before taking drastic measures-and according to our adoption contract, they could take legal measures against us if we don’t return it to them.

You need to euthanize this dog, anything else is simply outsourcing euthanasia to someone else. The only people that are capable of handling this dog are capable because they have dealt with this dangerous mess before, and likely do not want to again. That is why you ended up with the dog instead of a dog trainer, people who are experienced with dogs saw this disaster from a mile away and said "No thank you!". What single person lives on several acres, miles away from anyone else, doesn't have any other animals, doesn't want children, doesn't have friends, and isn't planning on getting married? People move to the country and buy several acres to buy animals and raise children, have little hobby farms and try to homestead. They do not move there to wait for a chance to adopt one broken, dangerous, antisocial animal. And even if they do not have children, what is to prevent something like this from happening again https://patch.com/new-jersey/woodbridge/mom-pit-bull-attack-fighting-life-boy-buried-thursday That kid was in his own yard, the dogs broke through the fence to kill him. So what if the new owner doesn't have dogs, how do you prevent this https://www.counton2.com/news/local-news/dorchester-county-news/two-dogs-mauled-by-group-of-pit-bulls-in-summerville-neighborhood/ ? The two innocent dogs were on their own back porch, four pitbulls broke through to kill them. And this goes for any breed, any vicious, dangerous dog should be put down. I don't care what type of dog it is, you don't wait until your dangerous dog mauls or kills someone to make that decision. No sane person blames you for the way your dog is right now, you didn't create this. People will blame you though, if you decide to give a dangerous animal up rather than do the right thing.

Seriously, this is a unicorn. The single hermit who wants to commit their life to a dog that may maul them or others is a myth.