Reply to Life situation has changed/giving up dog for adoption

Forum Index » Pets

Reply to "Life situation has changed/giving up dog for adoption"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The title is not the whole story. We got this rescue hound as a puppy during COVID and we hoped she could be a dog we could run with in the woods, travel with, go camping with, and generally give her a good outdoor life. Well, it turns out she actually requires way more energy expenditure than we can manage (the shelter indicated they thought she would be a smaller breed, but turns out she's 65 lbs+). She also has anxiety that she takes medication for and allergies (also managed with medication). She is crate trained which has saved our sanity because she doesn't mind being in there for naps and nighttime, but we still live with baby gates all over our house because she we can't trust her not to get into everything when we aren't watching her. It's gotten to the point where we feel like we've done our best, but our family situation has changed and we really don't have the energy to help her live her best life. It's causing tremendous stress in our marriage and it really needs to change. Has anyone every been in this situation and found an adopter for their dog who needs lots of activity, and without resorting to giving it back to the shelter? We feel absolutely horrible about the whole thing but giving her back to them seems like it will make things worse for her.[/quote]

OP, there are many great suggestions and lots of encouragement in this thread!  Young working-breed dogs are very time-intensive to care for and nuture.

Young dogs, especially hounds (!) need more time to mature, up to five years, and they need a lot of exercise and social time with other dogs.  Have you visited dog parks?  The people and dogs who go are very sympathetic, empathetic and welcoming.

Are you familiar with Paradise for Pets?  They offer excellent day care and boarding for dogs of all ages, and our dogs LOVE to go.

https://paradise4pets.com/

Many people find themselves in the same situation you are describing.  More exercise and creating opportunities for you and your dog to have an emotional outlet help immensely.  There are many ways to build a workable routine for you and your dog, such as:- enlisting outside help (professional mid-day dog walker?), day boarding for 1 - 5 days a week, daily routine trip to the dog park so the puppy can run and socialize off leash for an hour + and you can socialize, read, or run and play with your dog too; lower expectations with the timeline as to when your dog will 'be calm' and is 'no longer a puppy'; plus, taking your dog with you in the car for car trips for a change of scene when you pick up your partner or do a quick errand (while keeping a close watch on the temps in the car), etc.

Have you considered adopting an older dog that will have the emotional and physical maturity to love you and be a companion with you in the manner that you are describing?  Puppies are lovely and loving, but working dogs like hounds need a tremendous amount of exercise and nutrition to grow up healthy.  All the exercise also requires a lot of food to build and maintain their rapidly developing bodies and brains.

Older dogs may not seem like a good fit--they tend to present as more 'low energy' in a shelter setting (who wouldn't though, if they understand why they are there?)--but you might be very surprised by how intelligent and accepting they can be, especially once they know you and also know that you will reliably care about, and for them too.

Good luck! [/quote]

Thank you for all your great ideas. I wish a dog park would help, but we have tried dozens and they almost always involve dog fights or dogs licking her ears, which result in some nasty infections. Going in the car also involves vomiting - every single time, even with medicine from the vet. And yes, in hindsight we absolutely would not have gotten a hound. But in terms of what to look for next time? Rest assured that will not be happening again. As I said, our life situation has changed and we can no longer care for an animal. We have no intention on getting another pet, dog or anything else for that matter. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics