Rehoming a dog - seemingly impossible

Rehoming a dog - seemingly impossible

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Gareth1974

Original Poster:

3,434 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Had no idea how overwhelmed dog shelters were.

My girlfriend has no option but to try to rehome ‘her’ dog, Teddy. It actually is really her ex husband’s dog, they got divorced 18 months ago, and he always said he’d have the dog back when he sorted himself out a place to live, but he’s now got a flat which is unsuitable and has refused to have it.

She needs to be dog free by the end of the month, and said I’d help try to find a new home for Teddy But after contacting around 40 places, from well known organisations such the Dog’s Trust and Birmingham Dog’s Home, to smaller places, I can’t even manage to get him on a waiting list.

Is this a regional problem? (In the Midlands) or is it the same across the country?

He’s provisionally booked into be euthanised at the end of the month, which is so sad for a healthy dog.

vaud

52,359 posts

162 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Post pandemic issue. Lots of people got dogs. Now people forced back to the office / didn't realise dogs grew up, needed walking etc

Try local town/village facebook groups?

Fastchas

2,697 posts

128 months

Wednesday 10th April
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I think a lot of, especially 'Midlands' homes, have too many XL Bullies on their books. Certainly, if you visit midlands homes, a lot have staffy-type-cross dogs that look unmoveable. The places are full up.

Shrugging for victory

557 posts

77 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Jesus wept that's bad, the poor dog, it's done nothing wrong. The cretins who got lock down pets and the designer land shark brigade haven't helped the situation. On the flip side, trying to get a rescue dog is painful too. We tried to rehome prior to getting our pooch, and it felt like they didn't want to give anyone a dog (I understand that they need checks and balances).
What's the breed? Are there any national rescue groups for it (check Facebook)

Wills2

24,375 posts

182 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Too many people saw a dog as a life style accessory egged on by social media and this is the fall out, just another symptom of societies general decline.

Poor dog.




Gareth1974

Original Poster:

3,434 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th April
quotequote all
Shrugging for victory said:
What's the breed? Are there any national rescue groups for it (check Facebook)
He’s a mix. Alsatian, Akita and possibly a bit of Great Dane,

He’s big, and 8 years old. He’s going to be hard to find a home for.

Jag_NE

3,099 posts

107 months

Wednesday 10th April
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What a handsome beast. Not ideal but a dog as imposing as he is could find work as a guard dog.

Gareth1974

Original Poster:

3,434 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th April
quotequote all
Jag_NE said:
What a handsome beast. Not ideal but a dog as imposing as he is could find work as a guard dog.


He’s way too soft to be a guard dog, he’s a proper gentle giant. He sleeps through anything!

dhutch

15,267 posts

204 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Facebook groups, forums, that sort of thing?

Zetec-S

6,260 posts

100 months

Wednesday 10th April
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dhutch said:
Facebook groups, forums, that sort of thing?
That would be my suggestion, just be prepared to deal with plenty of timewasters and weirdos.

C5_Steve

4,826 posts

110 months

Wednesday 10th April
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I'm so sorry to hear this, he's a stunning dog. We had a Rottweiler/Akita mix and he was the best dog. It really is a national problem with both dogs and cats at the moment, plus with older dogs a lot of places know they'll be harder to rehome due to medical expenses etc that will come with them so won't touch them as they know they'll end up stuck with them.

My Mum recently went through the process of adopting a cat, or tried to at least but the big charities were so difficult and demanding to deal with she found it impossible. In the end, she was approached by a friend who had a friend who's elderly mother wanted rid of her cat. So I'd echo the comments about trying locally but it'll be a bit more of a pain I guess, we've all seen the FB weirdos when it comes to car sales let alone a dog!

What I would say is your dog should hopefully only attract serious interest as he's a big dog but old so he just needs a home for a few more years to see out his later life.

Wish you all the best with the search.

ukwill

9,231 posts

214 months

Wednesday 10th April
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There is absolutely no way I would put a healthy pet down. Absolutely no way.

pidsy

8,198 posts

164 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Give Arundawn rescue a call. They’re based in Surrey but have huge reach.

Absolutely does not deserve being PTS cos no one wants him.

Simpo Two

87,059 posts

272 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Stopping imports of dogs from overseas might help a bit.

Defcon5

6,303 posts

198 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Simpo Two said:
Stopping imports of dogs from overseas might help a bit.
I do agree, however i feel the hoops one must jump through to rehome a dog from a UK place are strangely high.

A colleague tried for a year to rehome one. Didn’t get anywhere, despite already having a dog. Seemingly if you have a job and thus aren’t at home 24/7, the dog is better off in the rehoming centre.


Gareth1974

Original Poster:

3,434 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th April
quotequote all
pidsy said:
Give Arundawn rescue a call. They’re based in Surrey but have huge reach.

Absolutely does not deserve being PTS cos no one wants him.
Just had a look. No good, but thanks for the suggestion

Rebew

188 posts

99 months

Wednesday 10th April
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One of the problems is that rescue centres seem so unwilling to rehome dogs once they have taken them in.

We have an 8 year old Beagle and would love to take in a rescue Beagle because we could give another dog a great home however we also have two boys (6 and 4) and it seems that rescue centres are unwilling to rehome a dog to a family with younger children, even though our boys have grown up around dogs.

Our situation is bad enough but I was speaking to a family friend yesterday who has owned German Shepherds for 20 years. They are wealthy and have no children or other dogs at the moment but all of the rescues that they contacted were unwilling to rehome with them for the pettiest of reasons.

It seems that once a dog has gone into a rescue centre it is very hard for them to find their way out again.

Gareth1974

Original Poster:

3,434 posts

146 months

Wednesday 10th April
quotequote all
Rebew said:
One of the problems is that rescue centres seem so unwilling to rehome dogs once they have taken them in.

It seems that once a dog has gone into a rescue centre it is very hard for them to find their way out again.
This is a concern, in the unlikely event I can find a rescue centre to take him, he’ll probably just languish in there for a few months, in a stressful and alien environment, and would then be PTS anyway.

Petrus1983

9,825 posts

169 months

Wednesday 10th April
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Rebew said:
One of the problems is that rescue centres seem so unwilling to rehome dogs once they have taken them in.

We have an 8 year old Beagle and would love to take in a rescue Beagle because we could give another dog a great home however we also have two boys (6 and 4) and it seems that rescue centres are unwilling to rehome a dog to a family with younger children, even though our boys have grown up around dogs.

Our situation is bad enough but I was speaking to a family friend yesterday who has owned German Shepherds for 20 years. They are wealthy and have no children or other dogs at the moment but all of the rescues that they contacted were unwilling to rehome with them for the pettiest of reasons.

It seems that once a dog has gone into a rescue centre it is very hard for them to find their way out again.
I wasn't allowed to adopt a dog because I don't have a garden - I explained my circumstances and it was still a firm no.




C5_Steve

4,826 posts

110 months

Wednesday 10th April
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CheesecakeRunner said:
C5_Steve said:
My Mum recently went through the process of adopting a cat, or tried to at least but the big charities were so difficult and demanding to deal with she found it impossible.
That surprises me. I adopted two cats last year from Cats Protection. Saw them on their website Sunday night, sent them an email on Monday, had a phone call with their adoption coordinator on Tuesday, sent them a video walk-around of the house and garden on Tuesday, and collected the cats from their foster home on the Friday. All for a donation of 50 quid a cat, it couldn't have been any easier. They even vaccinated and neutered them.
It was Batterseas specifically with the Cats. We tried them for a dog years earlier and the attitude was one of serious disdain, even for (at the time) a household with three adults all working different days and hours meaning the most a dog would be alone for was about 4 hours on a rare occasion and had access to a large garden basically 24hrs a day.

With the cat, aside from the general attitude it was the non-negotiable requirement to collect any cat offered within 24hrs of being notified. My Mum was semi-retired at the time so the absolute longest it would take would be 48hrs on the odd chance they called her and she was working the next day but this was not acceptable to them.

In fairness her second cat from Celia Hammond was brilliant, he was a stray who started hanging around and then was injured, a neighbour worked at Celia Hammond and took him in. Mum offered to adopt him and had him back once everything had been done and checked.