When you get a dog, you promise to love it forever. You make a commitment to care and take care of them for at least 10 - 15 years, but life is unpredictable and now you’ve found yourself in a position where you have no choice but to re-home your treasured family member - where do you start? How does one begin?

Firstly, you’d need to establish WHY you want to re-home your pooch. If you are rehoming because they are displaying behavioural issues (such as barking, digging, jumping, destroying your things) OR you’re having a baby and not sure how your dog will react: Why not consider getting a trainer, behaviourist or pet communicator to help make suggestions and teach you ways to resolve the issues, or consider a reputable dog school that offers obedience training.

If you are rehoming your pup for financial reasons, consider approaching your local animal welfare organisation for assistance. Many will offer cheaper vet rates and will often help out with pet food for a donation if asked, knowing the reality is that there are not enough suitable homes for fur babies, many organisations will do anything they can to help you keep your doggy with you.

If you are emigrating, there are affordable ways of taking your doggo with you. DIY is usually cheaper. There are lots of options available. EMBARK - South Africans Emigrating with Pets is a fantastic, helpful and informative Facebook group to join, their group members are filled with suggestions and advice on how to travel with your pets.

I may say this a few times going forward - shelters and animal welfare organisations with foster systems are full to the brim, and finding a way to keep your dog with you is always the first prize.

If you’ve exhausted all your options and keeping your pooch becomes impossible there are ways to re-home your pet responsibly, ensuring their safety and well-being for the rest of their lives:

If your dog (cat, rabbit, horse or bunny) was previously adopted, all reputable, registered animal welfare organisations have a return policy. You, not wanting to send your pet back to a shelter is not worth risking their safety. Do the right thing and make the call. They may be disappointed but your animal’s safety will always be their number one priority.

If you have bought your dog from a breeder and you’re on your own, you must involve a reputable, registered animal welfare organisation to handle or facilitate the rehoming process. Please remember that any ethical breeder will step up for their progeny (the dogs they bred) and ensure that they assist in their safe rescue and rehoming. Ensure that it is included in your breeder’s contract and contact them in the first instance to assist you.

 

It is VERY IMPORTANT that you DO NOT advertise your pet privately on Gumtree or Facebook. These websites are trawled daily by individuals who unfortunately do not have your pet’s best interests at heart. These websites are magnets for abusive, cruel people and those who wouldn’t be approved to adopt an animal from a reputable shelter. You need to be aware of the dangers of private rehoming - your dogs could end up being used in fighting rings, as security dogs living in horrific conditions, as breeding machines in puppy mills or worse.

Contact your local rescue groups / shelters. Go and visit them. Have them meet your dog. Ask them to help you with your rehoming and agree that they will charge an adoption fee and in exchange they will handle the adoption and home checks, while your dog stays with you at home. Shelters are sadly all full and might not be able to take in your doggo immediately. By starting to reach out early and building a relationship with your chosen shelter, you will be setting your pooch up for a better chance at finding the right home. Once your dog is safely rehomed, give the shelter that helped you a donation so they can help another.

Find a reputable rescue organisation.

Sadly, not all that is shiny is gold. YOU must check these organisations out. Ask for their NPO numbers, and do your research. There are unscrupulous people out there who will prey on you and the difficult time you are going through. There are also many “rescuers” and “organisations” who are careless with their rehomings, individuals often posting for an “urgent home needed or he/she will be euthanised!!!” - this leads to emotional rehoming and is setting your dog up to fail, being adopted to the wrong home out of “desperation” for a rehoming success, rather than finding a suitable and safe home, is dangerous.

How to make sure the organisation you’re working with is who they say they are:

# Check their NPO status with Department of Social Development. Just go on the website and type in the NPO number.
# Check Hello Peter and Google for reviews.
# No reputable organisation will ask you for money upfront when you surrender your pet to them.
# No reputable organisation will ask you for a deposit to show you their NPO registration certificate.
# Check out their Social Media pages - see if they are posting the same dogs over and over. Look for images of the facility - they should be proud to show their runs, kennels and other facilities.
# Are they actively participating in fundraising and community activities?
# What content do they post - do they give advice or just do begging posts?
# Visit the premises of the organisation before you introduce your dog to them, to see with your own eyes the condition of the dogs in their care. Ask how often the dogs are exercised and given enrichment activities.
# Ask for a copy of their adoption contract and read ALL of it.
# Please note rescue organisations are NOT regulated. Anyone can start an NPO and start “saving" and rehoming dogs.
# Ask for the names and contact details of the behaviourists they work with.
# Ask other reputable rescue organisations for recommendations.

Once you have signed a surrender form your pet belongs to the organisation you signed them over to. That is why it is so important to check them out first.

The sad reality is that older or reactive dogs are incredibly difficult to rehome. If your dog is a senior, has previous aggression or bite history or major anxiety, will not cope in a kennel or needs to be an only dog and in your heart, you know that they will be extremely difficult, if not impossible to rehome; do what is right for them. Take them for a long walk, feed them their favourite meal, and let them go knowing they are loved. This is never an easy option, but sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest - our dogs are our responsibility, and we need to put their best interests ahead of our own emotions. There are fates much worse than peacefully crossing the rainbow bridge.

In Conclusion

If you are rehoming your dog, do all you can to ensure their safety:

1 Start early. Deadline rehoming often leads to emotional and irresponsible decisions and does not generally end well for the rehomed animal, more often than not finding themselves needing to be rehomed again, or worse, abused, given away or dumped.

2 Sterilise your dogs. If you put up your dog for rehoming and they are not sterilised you are putting your dog at risk from breeding farms and dog fighting syndicates or costing an additional expense to the organisation helping you.

3 Take them for a vet check and ensure they are microchipped, vaccinations are up to date and the vet gives them a clean bill of health.

Once you’ve had a successful rehoming through a rescue organisation, support them with a donation and share your experience to encourage your friends to support the registered rescue organisations too.

Remember, our dogs are our responsibility and there is always help available to ensure their best welfare - all you need to do is ask.

By Carolyn Dudgeon
Paws-a-While