I’m in a quandry. Long story short, my dad is living at home, alone, and no longer wants to take care of the family dog (really, it’s my dog). I can’t take her with me, since I’m living in an apartment and will be for the forseeable future.
I need to find a good home for her, but there are several challenges. First, she’s a big dog and has pretty much lived outdoors for her whole life. At 6, it seems like she’s a little old to get housetrained. She’s good with kids, if rambunctious, and needs a big yard.
I’ve already spread word through the grapevine that I’m looking for a new home for her, so far without any luck. Aside from putting an ad in the local paper, what else can I do? And if I do find some people willing to take her, what do I look for to make sure she’s going to a good home?
I’ll be devastated if I have to take her to a shelter, but that possibility is looming. Dopers, please help me out!
Perhaps you could call up some local vets (look in the yellow pages to find them), and ask if they have any ideas? Years and years ago, we had to put down my parents dog (he had a stroke, after 15 years of life). After a few months, our vet heard from a colleague in a nearby town that there was a litter of puppies needing homes, and called us to see if we were interested.
See if any local pet supply shops have bulletin boards or anything, and post a flyer there.
My primary idea, though, would be to convince your father to keep the dog (if he’s physically capable, that is). A dog is a lifelong commitment, not something you just get rid of if you get bored of it.
I meant to say, you could try housebreaking him before you move into your new place. Many places will let you have a dog if you pay additional deposit money.
I don’t know where the OP lives, but virtually all metropolitan apartments have size/weight limits on dogs, if they allow them at all. This, and the fact that the dog has been traditionally outdoors and is (as the OP describes) “rambunctious, and needs a big yard” (i.e. likely to be a working breed with a need for space and exercize) may make the apartment lifestyle contraindicated for the dog. (Every time I see a t.v. show–usually a sitcom–where the character has a dog like a Retriever or Aussie Shepperd in a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, I wince. You could not contrive a worse environment for such a breed, and it would tear up the apartment and contents of it in quick order out of boredom and anxiety.)
Most if not all Humane Society shelters have a strict “no-kill” policy and a reasonably stringent adoption process. Of course, you’d probably rather meet the new owners yourself, which they don’t generally allow, so I think NinjaChick’s advice is spot on.
If she’s purebred or an identifiable mix, you could try to find a rescue organization for the breed or breeds in your area. For example, I know that English Springer Rescue America often lists springer mixes; they are not just dedicated to purebreds.
(But I can’t go to their site very often, because all those homeless springers break my heart, and we’re full up with dogs of our own. )
The ONE responsible thing to do here is find a new place to live that takes dogs. Yes, that’s a pain in the ass. Sorry.
The OP got a dog at some point in his life because he wanted a dog and now that the dog has become inconvenient, he wants to be done with it. Guess what. . .there aren’t too many people out there who want to take 6 year old dogs that aren’t housebroken, much as the OP didn’t want such a dog when he decided to get one 6 years ago. He wanted a cute puppy.
If more people actually thought about this shit before they got dogs, we wouldn’t have the problems we have now. It’s fucking ridiculous the amount of abandoned, stranded dogs that wind up in shelters because people are irresponsible.
I understand that, and finding a new home for my dog is not something I’m taking lightly. We got her in the first place when my dad was going through a manic phase, and brought home the otherwise homeless puppy of an acquaintance who ran out of the state due to some illegal activity. Now, I agree we probably shouldn’t have taken her to begin with, but what’s done can’t be undone. My mom recently passed away, all the kids have moved out of the house, and my dad is left alone with a dog he doesn’t particularly want to take care of. As I’ve just indicated, my dad has some pretty serious mental issues, and on top of that his wife (my mom) just died. I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation by finding a good home for my dog and relieving some of the stress on my dad.
Stranger got it right. She’s 80 pounds: no apartment is going to let me have her, and even if they do, she’d be miserable there. I’m in school, I don’t have a lot of money, so moving into a house isn’t really an option.
I think that was unnecessarily snarky. You don’t me, you don’t know my situation, and based on my rather limited OP I don’t think you can rightly judge whether or not I’m taking responsibility for my decisions. I’m doing the best I can with what I have. Sometimes, just sometimes, life intervenes and the ideal situation doesn’t always work out.
I’d also like to add that this is exactly what I’m trying to avoid. I absolutely DO NOT want to abandon my dog or take her to a shelter. That’s why I’m asking for advice about finding her a good home.
This isn’t necessarily true, though since I don’t know where you live it would be hard to say how difficult it would be to find a place that would let you keep her. Many humane societies maintain lists of pet-friendly rentals, and Craigslist is a good place to search or post an ad yourself.
We have two large dogs (65-75 lbs. each) and we found an apartment that let us have them. The Internet is a wonderful thing - I was able to do a search on realtor.com and filter it so I only got pet-friendly places. Saved me a ton of phone calls and leg work.
As for your dog being miserable, they can surprise you sometimes. My younger dog wasn’t really excited about apartment life, but it beat the hell out of living in a shelter or being separated from us until we found a house.
Also, a 6 year old dog can be housebroken. We currently have one that was 8 when we got her and it took her less than a week to figure out where the appropriate place to eliminate was (she’d spent the previous 4 years living on a farm in an indoor/outdoor enclosure with a dog door, so mostly what she had to do was learn to ‘hold it’ until someone lets her out).
Do you have any friends or relatives that can help out with the dog care? If you don’t have a lot of money, perhaps you could trade favors with them - for instance, maybe they can go over and feed the dog once a day for a set period of time, and you do something for them in exchange. That would at least take some pressure off your dad temporarily and it sounds like it would be a good idea for someone to check on him when they come by too.
If you really don’t see any way out of giving her to someone else, if she is a purebred there are purebred rescue/adoption groups that may take her. There are also mixed-breed groups, but there aren’t nearly so many of those. You could also post an ad on Craig’s list, but be very very careful about the home she goes to. You don’t want to hand her over to someone who may not have her best interests in mind (i.e. pit bull bait).
Sadly, jacob wrestling, there are simply more dogs on earth than people who want them. So, if you’re going to attempt to re-home one more, you will need to do an astronomical amount of work. Unfortunately we’ve heard this all before and don’t want to go through it again. So, here goes:
Call around and find out about every shelter in town. If there’s a waiting list, put the dog on the list.
Put up ads on community bulletin boards (locally and online.) Craigslist is okay but you will get flamed to death for trying to re-home. Put up ads in every pet store, vet office, etc. that you can find.
Expect to get few or no takers, outside older dogs are not popular.
Expect to carefully screen any actual takers - if you can, visit doggie’s new home. I can imagine that some nasty people might want a free outside dog.
Consider that keeping a dog in an apartment may in fact be easier than finding a new home for him.
The OP specifically asked for advice on finding a new home, not for judgemental pronouncements from someone who is not familiar with the particulars of his circumstance. Perhaps where you live, finding an inexpensive house with a back yard for rent is trivial; in many places, it’s nigh on impossible. Since the OP decribes himself as being “devestated” at the thought of taking her to a shelter, we can assume that he’s already considered and disposed of the possibility.
There’s no question that owning a pet is a responsibility, and clearly one the OP doesn’t take lightly (hence his desire to find a home rather than just dumping the dog at a shelter). The OP didn’t go out and get a dog and then, oops, didn’t consider the consequences; he had a previous arrangement which has suddenly changed and has the burden of trying to find an acceptible solution that works with his previous committments, obligations, and financial situation. Telling him to break lease, drop everything, and immediately find someplace that will allow a large dog is both obtuse and unhelpful.
Some large dogs can be happy and healthy with apartment life (Great Danes and, surprisingly, Greyhouds, are often great apartment dogs) but a dog that needs a lot of exercise and/or attention may suffer from extreme anxiety from being cooped up all day. Ultimately, the OP is the only one in the position to make this judgement.
When I had to re-home my 80 lb black lab I found a rescue organization that specialized. I did not want to get rid of him, I loved him very much and had invested time and moey (including obediance training) into him, but with a newborn and having to move to a rental we had to find something better for him. I took excellent care of him and he was a well-mannered dog with the basics down well.
We lucked out, huge. He now works with the RCMP in Ottawa on Parliament Hill sniffng bigshots for explosives on the red carpet. I got to visit him a few months ago and will be given the opportunity to re-acquire him when he retires. MY baby is a WORKING dog!
That is a win-win scenario when you take the time and effort to find a great home. I had time and made sure I was careful and picky about where he would go. Your dog, while maybe will not end up as a member of the RCMP deserves for you to take the time and effort to make sure he is going to a great home.
His name is Ripley, if you are ever in Ottawa, look him up.
Another story, my sister had a golden retriever that she knew wasn’t getting the care and attention she needed. Lexie now lives on a farm with a vet and two other retrievers.
My dogs are greyhounds. And the younger one was rather depressed about not having a yard anymore. Just because a breed may have certain tendencies doesn’t mean they are all the same. He even cried the first day we left him alone to go to work. But we, and he, dealt with it. The alternatives were much less acceptable than living in an apartment until we could make other arrangements. You may think you know how a dog is going to react to a situation, but unless you try it, you don’t really. Snowcarpet’s assessment is spot on - if a good home is what the OP wants for his dog, it may very well be more work than figuring out a way to keep her.
Thank you all for your responses. One reason I was asking for advice was that, after a bit of research, I found out how risky those “free to good home” ads are and was looking for alternatives. There are some pretty scary stories out there about dog fighting trainers hiring respectable-looking people to answer those ads and get bait for their atrocious practices. Posting on bulletin boards at pet stores and vets seems like a good idea, but I know I’ll still have to be very careful.
romansperson, thanks for the tip off about realtor.com. Finding an apartment that will let me have a big dog will be difficult in my area, though perhaps not impossible. I wouldn’t be able to move until this summer, but I may try and talk my dad into keeping my dog until then. I was encouraged to hear that your big dogs successfully made the transition into apartment life. I don’t know if that will work for my puppy, but you’re right, it’s worth a shot. Much better than leaving her at a shelter or a bad home.
Scarlett67, I have looked into Rottweiler rescue organizations in my areas since my dog is 1/2 Rottie. Unfortunately, they seem to primarily place dogs already abandoned or in shelters, which I totally understand. I may still call them and pick their brains for placement advice, but I plan to do the work myself.
Poysyn, great story. I do have time to look for a good home, since I know my dad isn’t just going to take her to a shelter. She’s got a pretty good place to live in the meantime.
Finally, some good news. I talked to a friend last night who may be interested in providing a home. She lives in the country and currently has a 7 year old lab mix who lives outdoors and gets lonely sometimes. She was already thinking about getting another dog! I am really hoping this works out, since it means I would still be able to see my dog. I’ll keep looking in the meantime.
That’s great news- that’s how I ended up with 1 of my 3, count 'em 3 dogs (and I rent, if you can believe that. Talk about luck when I’ve looked for apartments/houses) A coworker had just had a baby and his wife didn’t want their shephard/Rottie mix anymore. He just required too much attention and is kind of a clumsy oaf, so she insisted that my old coworker get rid of him. We went to see him, we all fell in love and 10 years later now we still have him and adore him.
I hope it works out the same for you. Where are you located, just so we know in case anyone can be of help with placement?
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