First of all, I didn’t want to post this because I feel awful about it. Go easy on me please.
I’m moving and I cannot take my dog with me. I live in Delaware. I have called every place in a 100 mile radius, literally dozens of places, and no shelter will take my dog. It doesn’t help that he’s aggressive to strangers, and not house trained but I’m not going to lie to someone that asks.
I’m leaving in a couple weeks. I feel like I have no options anymore.
Advertise: “Free to good” home on Facebook, the local newspaper, the local free advertising shopper. Ask all your friends, relatives, acquaintances.
If you really can’t take him with and nobody else will shoulder the responsibility for him, then do the right thing and have him put down. It’s kinder than leaving him to the mercies of an overloaded shelter system wondering what he did wrong to cause you to abandon him. He’s your responsibility–it was your responsibility to train him and make him a good canine citizen that would be snapped up readily so you’re stuck with the only alternative you’ve left for him and for yourself. Call the vet.
I suspect an angry dog that craps on the floor is a tall order to ask someone to take…
Have you tried calling shelters near your destination to see if you could drop him off after you move? (I didn’t know how literally to take “I can’t take him with me.”)
What breed of dog? If he’s purebred or mostly so, a breed-specific rescue might take him even if they’re out of area.
Have you asked your vet if s/he knows of any rescue groups you didn’t know about?
How big a dog and how old? A younger and smaller dog is easier to place than bigger and/or older one.
Have you asked the shelters themselves if they have any suggestions, since they can’t take him themselves? Asking a second time might get you a different person who’s more helpful.
A local Facebook pet group might be helpful too. Obvs some people there will also criticise you for not keeping the dog, so be prepared to weather that.
Can you afford to offer to pay for vet bills or doggy training classes for a limited period?
The dog might end up being used for dog fighting then if he’s given away for free to a stranger.
Sadly there are some circumstances in which you simply won’t be able to surrender a particular dog because nobody (realistically close to you) will want it, and the local shelter won’t or can’t take it.
The option of advertising “for free” has been mentioned. This type of deal is risky and not very attractive to people because someone basically just drops a dog off to you and you have no medical history, no papers, no guarantees, no nothing… but it can work.
My wife saw such an ad and adopted (there was no actual paper work) such a dog. So people can unload dogs that way. Unfortunately our situation changed drastically and I was left needing to send that dog away because I couldn’t take care of it and it was becoming excessively destructive. My wife had been the only person in a town of 85,000 that took the chance on that dog, so there was no one else around to be the next volunteer.
That dog had to be put down since the only shelter in a 5-hour radius of us had a long waiting list and this dog was one of the least desirable types for adoption. It’s a hard choice and not one you’ll look back on fondly, but sometimes it’s all you can do.
The risk of that is very small in most places.
Wow. I’m sorry you’re going thru this.
You are between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
Call the vet.
My adopted Yorkie was surrendered to the Vet. She was born developmentally delayed. Significant intellectual deficit.
The home breeder brought her in to be euthanized. I just happened to be there that day.
I talked to the Vet about how he believed her life would be. He tried his best to talk me out of wanting her. I took her anyway.
I’ve had her nearly 10yrs. Lots of work. She’s happy, does her potty outdoors. I have to basically hand feed her. She’s dumb as a box of rocks but I love her anyway.
You take your dog in and maybe someone there will want him. To save him from being put down. I’d try it.
Good luck.
Please, please don’t drive down a country lane and put him out.
I’ve saved a few that have been dropped off near me.
Most country folks shoot and bury.
Why are you moving, and why can’t the dog come? Perhaps there are unexplored options there.
When you say " no shelter will take my dog", I assume you’re talking about no-kill shelters, not the ones that take strays in off the street. You are not going to find a no-kill shelter that will accept an aggressive dog that is not house-trained - the reason they can be “no-kill” is because they only accept animals that are likely to be adopted. A county or municipal shelter that must accept strays will accept your dog, but there’s typically a time limit- animals that aren’t adopted within a short time are euthanized. I’m sorry to say this, but you aren’t going to find anyone to adopt your dog. He’s going to be put down - and the only choice is whether you will take him to the vet or if he will spend a couple of frightened, anxious days in a shelter before they do it.
Yeah, dumping the dog off at a kill shelter is the ultimate betrayal. They’re going to be scared shitless for the time they’re there and they know perfectly well what’s to come because they can smell the death happening in the back room and every dog there will be channeling that fear and amping it up in every other dog. The method of execution for the dogs is likely to be horrific–google that if you’ve the stomach for it. If you know the dog is going to be put down then make it quick and painless, at the vet with you right there telling him it’s okay, no fear, no pain, no betrayal. Yes, it will cost you but you owe it to the dog, that’s part of the bargain you make when you take them on, to care for them until they die. Circumstances dictating that death comes sooner than it naturally would doesn’t release us from that obligation.
Uh, no. If you can’t give him away (to a responsible person or organization) and you can’t take him, then the only alternative is not to move, or to move somewhere that accepts pets. It’s your problem, not his. Abandoning or shooting a dog because he’s suddenly inconvenient is not cool, and you mustn’t do anything that you wouldn’t do to your own kid, if you want a gauge.
(ETA or, if no place within a 100-mile radius will take him, try a 500-mile radius. You see what I mean.)
Thanks for the replies so far. Delaware is a “no-kill” state which is why maybe every place is full. You’ve given me some things to think about.
I don’t usually do this - but you have no idea why **Ashtura ** is moving. Maybe’s he’s getting evicted and the only alternatives are a sister’s apartment where dogs aren’t allowed, the homeless shelter where dogs also aren’t allowed or the street - which isn’t any better for the dog than just leaving him on the street while Ashtura goes to the sister’s.
Who the FUCK said ONE GODDAMNED word about abandoning or fucking SHOOTING the dog? I said, if the dog is not going to be adopted out due to a lack of training and aggressiveness, and there truly is no option re moving AND keeping the dog then do the right fucking thing, call the vet and have the dog safely and humanely euthanized. AT the OP’s expense. Because that’s part of the responsibility of dog ownership. You euthanize the dog at the end of life when there’s no hope, and if that end comes sooner because another part of the responsibility was not met, that of making the dog an adoptable candidate should the occasion arise, that does not abrogate the entire burden of responsibility.
And life happens, shit happens. People have to move into nursing homes where they don’t have an option of taking the dog with them nor do they have the option of “moving somewhere that allows pets” because that’s a reality of life, that not everyone has all these awesome options that allow them to have all their cake and eat it too. I will take the OP at their word that they can’t move with the dog and the move is necessary such that rehoming the dog is required and that the dog is not a good candidate for rehoming due to poor socialization and a lack of training. That limits the options available to the OP and rather than insist OP pull some deus ex machina straight out of his or her ass I think it’s pretty valid to suggest the alternative that fits all the criteria. Because that’s what sensible people do, even when it’s sad and regrettable.
A hundred times this.
Sorry you’re in this position Ashtura, and whilst it will be tough, I suspect having your doggie put to sleep might be the kindest option.
It was posted above, as first-hand information, that some “country folks” do either or both, and I believe it. (Though that’s a bit of a broad brush with which to tar country folk, as well as letting all the urban animal-haters off easily.) It was meant to be a classic example of abject irresponsibility, not a suggestion for what to do.
Force majeure exists in the world, but, firstly, the OP has not even approached that situation unless it is factually established that he or she can’t move somewhere else, that no shelter or organisation in NY, DC, VA, NJ, PA, etc. is willing to help, nor friends, relatives, etc., and, secondly, I disagree that the poster can in any way absolve himself or herself of legal, moral, and ethical responsibility no matter how limited the options or sad or regrettable. As an additional factual point, my sample size is admittedly not huge but I am not personally acquainted with any veterinarian (and they’re not all Dr Dolittle) who considers it professionally ethical to euthanize an animal for non-medical reasons. (They are also not in the business of re-homing abandoned animals, though they do encounter that sort of thing all the time and may have leads or contacts, so it is still worth asking all the vets within X or Y radius as well.)
There are many, many worse fates than a swift death in the presence of familiar hands and voice. Well loved though he may be, he is not going to be easy to rehome and so any standard shelter will accept him and promptly euthanize him to make room for adoptable dogs.
I don’t know why he’s aggressive to strangers, maybe he’s protective of his family or maybe he is just a very anxious or unconfident dog. It hardly matters. Either way he is going to be a lot of work for someone, never mind the housebreaking issues, and shelters are not as rule keen to take in aggressive dogs.
I am truly sorry for the OP’s dilemma - I can’t imagine anything worse. But my vote is to give your dog the best day of his life, eating and doing all of his favorite things, and then let him go for good. If you can find a vet who will come to our house that will ease the stress, as will some tranquilizer for the dog, administered before the vet arrives.