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What are your thoughts on Re-homing?
Adopting a Traumatized dog that you want to help and love and then realizing your environment is not okay for that dog. Unfortunately this happens more than it should. There are reasons to be thorough in visiting the dog first and making sure it is a good fit. I had a client that this happened to and it was heartbreaking. After the client was so in shock and hurt that she didn’t want to do this again. I understood but I feel it is my duty to help the pet parents as well as the dog. I suggested and went with my client to volunteer just 1 hour a week to help heal that rejection and shame she felt, for no reason. Re-homing is sometimes the right thing to do. What are your thoughts?
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6 Replies
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I Believe its absolutely necessary at times. Having the best interest of the dog as a priority,
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Have you ever experienced this and if so how did you handle it?
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It can be so heartbreaking to connect with people when the match is just… wrong. Sometimes that means a great dog is simply in the wrong home and can easily transition to another family. Other times, it means the dog requires significant behavioral intervention to succeed, and that’s a huge lift in a brand-new relationship.
A person who has had a dog for a while, built a bond, and developed trust has a much better chance of successfully navigating behavior challenges. But when an adopter is handed a dog with serious behavior issues right from the start, it’s an unfair expectation. No matter how much they love dogs, no matter how committed they were when they adopted, they didn’t sign up to become a rehabilitation project manager overnight.
Sometimes, the burden is on the shelter or rescue to make better choices about which dogs should be placed, and with whom. There are wonderful, well-meaning shelters making tough calls under difficult conditions. But there are also shelters and rescues prioritizing numbers over outcomes, placing dogs in homes where they are not safe or sustainable. And when a new adopter realizes they can’t safely or reasonably meet a dog’s needs, returning that dog isn’t a failure, it’s a responsible decision.
We all want to believe we can save them all, and as trainers, it’s in our nature to try. But not every home can, or should, be a behavior case home. Ethical adoptions mean setting both dogs and adopters up for success. And when that doesn’t happen, it’s okay to acknowledge that a different outcome is needed. Sometimes, the kindest thing we can do is recognize that love alone isn’t always enough.
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@Julie , my heart goes out to your client. I see this on occasion with my own clients and feel a lot of compassion for them as well as the dogs.
Catherine wrote a great response, but I’d like to add that we should be trying harder to market the service of helping people select the right dog for their home, from the right place (whether it’s a shelter, rescue group or breeder) BEFORE they’ve already brought a dog home. Although I don’t provide this service frequently (I wish it was a more regular part of my business), I absolutely love when people contact me beforehand. There’s so much we can do to help steer them in the right direction so they choose a dog who is a great fit for their family and lifestyle.
Does anyone else provide this service? If so, how do you ‘market’ it so more people are aware this is a valuable and available resource?-
I love this idea, @virginiad and am so glad you have had folks utliize it. How do we reach people thinking about adding to their family BEFORE they fall in love? Great. Question. I sure wish I had an answer. It should be something we market more aggressively. … side note, for my litter of Aussies, I didn’t let owners pick their puppies. They signed a contract, paid a deposit and let me pick for them. It wasn’t easy, but I feel like we made good matches so far (puppies are only 15wks).
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Such a smart idea, @catherine , you selecting which pup went to which home. I’ve heard of some other breeders doing that too. Seems so much better than first come, first serve.
I wanted to mention some other tips we could share with clients if we’re lucky enough to speak with them BEFORE they adopt a dog, with the goal of increasing their chance of making a great doggie choice. This is how I go about adopting a dog for myself. When I was younger, I took on far more challenging dogs, often straight from shelters, but I now want relatively easy dogs and ones who are socially appropriate with other dogs, since part of my business is boarding clients’ dogs in my home when they go away.
- I now only adopt through a rescue group where the dog is in a foster home, rather than from a shelter setting. In this way, I have a much better chance of learning about the dog’s real behavior in a home setting. For myself, I specifically screen for dog sociability and against separation anxiety.
- I also only adopt from a rescue group that allows a trial adoption or foster-to-adopt option. Though I usually can get the info I need in advance and thus make a good choice for my home and lifestyle, I want to know they’d be willing to take the dog back after a trial period if it’s truly a bad match.
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