OP, has the dog bitten anyone, or threatened to bite anyone? Short of that, you don't have to worry about area shelters (like the Fairfax County Shelter) putting the dog down. As a previous poster suggested, send them a certified letter, and turn the dog in to a shelter if they don't respond.

Anonymous wrote:Take the dog to the vet and have it euthanized. You signed up to be this dog’s guardian. Whatever is causing you to think of returning it (wtf) almost certainly precludes it from finding a good home. Do the right thing by the dog and your responsibility and have it put down.

WTF????? Put an innocent dog down because the OP can't continue THEIR commitment???? What's wrong with you?

uh huh.

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/pets-adopted-pandemic-returned-record-numbers-report

I recently went through a very similar situation (dog was not a good fit for our family - small kids and city living made the dog VERY anxious) and did initially have trouble getting the rescue to respond, but with a few follow ups they did get back to us and have been very helpful ever since. However, if you still can't get a hold of them, you could consider posting the dog on Adopt-A-Pet. They have a (new?) option for owners to post dogs for adoption; this would allow you to screen applicants yourself and find a home that fits what you believe the dog needs/have honest conversations with potential owners.

Just because the dog isn't right for *your situation* doesn't mean it's hopeless or needs to be euthanized (I will truly never understand the people on this board who just immediately jump to suggesting anyone kill an animal). Our sweet dog is now doing great in a home with more space and other dog friends but if we'd listened to some of the clowns on these message boards he'd be dead. You know best what your dog needs, and I wish you luck -- it's a tough decision but it sounds like you are doing what is best for your pet.

Your vet or any trainers you have worked with may have suggestions (but they may also guilt-trip or shame you).

Agree with others, if you can find another rescue, that would be ideal. Or a no-kill shelter, depending on your level of urgency.

We had to re-home our rescue pup this year. We had not met him before adopting, and it was clear right away he was not a good fit for our family but we tried to make it work for way too long. Our rescue was semi-responsive, but put the full burden of finding a home and interviewing candidates on us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
People should stop expecting impossible things from rescue and shelter animals. Most of them missed the critical socialization period when they were very little. If you get a wonderful pet from a rescue, you are incredibly lucky and it might not happen again...

Exactly this. We did, and we know how incredibly lucky we are.

We were lucky also, but we have also put in some work, our kids are young teens so we also had to train them how to be respectful and how to read and take the dogs cues.
I have met lots of lucky people with their rescue dogs.

OP, if this is due to a dog bite the rescue’s liability insurance might preclude them from taking it back. If this is the reason then the kindest thing you could do would be to put the dog down yourself.
Without knowing the actual reason it’s not easy to advise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reasons I won’t go into here, 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?

Why do you think it will likely be euthanized? Shelters aren't euthanizing willy nilly, if they think it should be put down, it should probably be put down. Probably for the same reasons you don't want it in your home, it wouldn't be a good fit for other families.

Owner surrenders are the first ones to be put down if the shelter needs space. They have to keep the strays for longer in case someone shows up.

Honestly I think it is immoral to re-home some of these dogs. They cannot be safe and it is dangerous.

Anonymous wrote:
People should stop expecting impossible things from rescue and shelter animals. Most of them missed the critical socialization period when they were very little. If you get a wonderful pet from a rescue, you are incredibly lucky and it might not happen again...

Exactly this. We did, and we know how incredibly lucky we are.

People should stop expecting impossible things from rescue and shelter animals. Most of them missed the critical socialization period when they were very little. If you get a wonderful pet from a rescue, you are incredibly lucky and it might not happen again...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many, many rescue dogs are not well-suited to the average family’s home life, especially if the family has young kids. Most rescues know this and screen thoroughly to find a good fit for each dog. That said, life happens. Sometimes a dog that a rescue thinks will do well in a specific home doesn’t. Sometimes a family’s dynamic changes in a way that doesn’t work well with a specific dog.

I don’t judge you, OP. I know you’re in a terrible situation, but re-homing a dog that doesn’t work well in your home is the kindest option for the dog. If the rescue you worked with is not communicating, contact another. You will find someone to help you.

OP here. I want to thank you for this post. Re-homing this dog has been one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever made. I don’t want to go into detail because it will inevitably become nasty (as evident by the first response to my post), and I’m already feeling terrible as it is. You are correct that the dog is not good for a family with young children. It would be great for a single person, or couple with no kids, but because of the breed mix and temperament, a shelter will likely just euthanize.

We did this and it was heartbreaking but the right move. We worked for well over a year with behaviorists and trainers and medications and in the end the dog still was a threat to our family's safety and we were worried it was only a matter of time until it got off of a leash and did real harm. Our rescue did work with us though and dog eventually got adopted but it took well over a year to find the right family. Ours wasn't a good family dog and probably wasn't a good pet at all but they found someone who was willing to make it work (single person, lived in remote suburb, never had people over, was older and wasn't going to have kids). However, what we learned was that its not at all uncommon to have to to surrender a rescue and behavioral euthanasia isn't uncommon either. Truly consider how you would feel if this dog wasn't managed properly and caused real harm. And hugs to you. I know its so hard.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For reasons I won’t go into here, 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?

It really is difficult to offer suggestions without knowing why you need to get rid of the dog. Is it a 6lb Pomeranian mix that is not housebroken? It would be easy to find a home for that dog. Is it a 70lb "lab mix" that destroyed the baseboards in the house, ate your couch, and jumped through a window to attack a dog walking by? Euthanasia is probably the best option. Something in between? A life situation (divorce, death in family, job loss), and the dog itself is actually amazing? No one can answer your question, unless they know what is going on. If you don't explain the situation, you won't get helpful answers.

Exactly this. Knowing more of the situation will help with tailored suggestions. It is true this is a discussion board so you will get a variety of responses - some may be rude, but you can ignore.
Perhaps you can offer some color using the following terms - not house broke, resource guarding, child aggressive, dog aggressive, human aggressive, bite history, large power breed, etc.
Is it an emergency situation? The dog must leave the house today/tonight because of a bite, or is it a less intense situation etc.

Many rescues are swamped dealing with so many trying to regime their pandemic puppies. That may be why they aren’t quick to respond to your calls.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dog-shelters-struggle-returns-pandemic-103255299.html

Send a certified letter to the rescue informing them of the problem, your attempts to contact them, and the shelter to which you will be surrendering the dog on X date if they do not contact you by then to arrange where you can drop the dog off.

That way if they do want the dog back they can make it work and you have a record that you tried to uphold your end of the agreement.