I am going to address a pet peeve of mine. I see so many ads on our local yardsale groups and sites like CraigsList that say “I don’t want to take him to the shelter but need to rehome for (insert reason here).” Here’s what I have observed.
Most of the folks that get the dogs from a shelter are getting the known facts from the shelter who go based on what they observe rather than what they are told. They have observed the dog in multiple situations with different types of people. They work with the adopters to find the right fit and to make the adoption a success. Then we see them in our classes, in private sessions and in the group walks we host. We take the phone calls and provide problem solving suggestions or set up evaluations and treatment plans.
When we see a dog “rehomed” in order to avoid the shelter we often see the same dog advertised multiple times in a period of months. Each advertisement is usually a variation of “don’t have time, not fair to dog and don’t want to take to the shelter”. Then this dog goes to a new home with high hopes that are quickly dashed when the new owner has no knowledge of his or her non-housetrained, barking, nipping, digging, jumping, chewing behavior that becomes worse with each rehoming as the dog’s anxiety levels grow. Because the dog is rehomed with little vetting of the new family the dog is a bad fit and is quickly rehomed again with another version of the “don’t have time, not fair to dog, don’t want to take to the shelter” ad.
I have seen the same husky rehomed at least 5 times on the same site. I’ve seen the same dog advertised one site after another. And sadly, the more the dog is rehomed with the same lack of vetting and lack of honestly in the dog’s situation, the chances for success are slim to none.
If you have made the decision to rehome a dog you owe it the best chance possible. This is with a shelter that has a caring staff that would prefer to see the dog sooner, with fewer issues that need to be worked with, than later when they dog is older, less marketable and has a lot more baggage. Each dog that comes in captures their heart and they try their best in order to get that dog the right home the first time.