Surrendering a pet to an animal shelter?
By monica1216
@monica1216 (509)
United States
February 8, 2007 11:44am CST
I had to do this just yesterday. I'm really depressed over it. We didn't have a choice though because the dog was not safe around our young children. He had snapped his teeth at them and scrathched our two year old's nose and arm on several different ocassions. We had tried for 9 months keeping dog and little ones separated but it was not working and the dog was being more an more isolated and less and less socialized which was eventually just going to make the whole problem worse. It was a really heart-wrenching whole family decision to try and find our dog a new home. We placed ads in the newspaper and fieleded many inquiries and met with several different people who had interest but none of the replies to our ad worked out. The people either changed their mind or had other pets that eh didn't get along with. So.... in the end we felt the next best option was to get him in into the local "no-kill" SPCA shelter. It is their job there to help unite animals with new homes and they will NOT euthanize him so I have faith that they will do a good thing for him. Our whole family is just heart-broken though to have to part with a dog that we have loved for 3 years since he was a baby.
:(
3 people like this
6 responses
@taramoon (740)
• Spain
8 Feb 07
Awww Monica i'm very sorry about your news i can totally imagine what you are going through and your family, a very hard descision to make but maybe the best descision, it is better to do something before something awful was to happen to your children, i had to do that some years ago when i split with my husnand and he left me to cope with his dog a saint bernard, at the time my baby was a year and a half and my little girl 6 and a half, and the dog was pretty nasty would snao and snarl, i did'nt want to have him put to sleep and contacted our local RSPCA, the dog was the perfect pet if he was on his own without young children and other animals, i tried everything to calm the dog even private dog training lessons but to no avail, i adventually was able to find him the perfect home with the help from the animal shelter, he lives just half an hour away from me and is the only pet, he has a 16 year old little girl who looks after him and loves him and i often go up and we have a bit of lunch with his owners. Where animal shelters are involved there are normally nice endings, so please dont feel that you have done something bad, you have done something good for your situation
3 people like this
@biwasaki (1745)
• United States
9 Feb 07
I'm sorry to hear that you had to give up your dog. But in the end, you made the choice that was right for your whole family. I know that letting go of him must have been really tough, but imagine how much worse you would have felt if he had actually harmed your children. The good news about him being at the SPCA shelter is that there are trained individuals there who will work with him and help get him socialized and into a home that will be good for him. Perhaps one where he will be the "only child" and will get all of the attention!! *LoL*
2 people like this
@monica1216 (509)
• United States
9 Feb 07
Thank you. It's definitely my hope that they will find him a great new home where he will be much happier.
@weemam (13372)
•
10 Feb 07
try not to get too upset about it , you did the right thing and put your family first , I adore dogs but I would have done the very same , he will be looked after and taught the right way to behave then he will have new parents ( family )xx
@ineedaname (957)
• United States
9 Feb 07
I know exactly how you feel. We had to do that about 5 years ago. It was the hardest thing in the world to do. For me my animals are like my kids. I still cry about it sometimes. We tried everything to keep this dog happy and from hurting our kids. In the end we had to get rid of her. My kids think she ran away. But my husband took her to a shelter. Then he ran out and bought a new dog for me. Because he travels a lot, he didn't want the kids and I home alone. It will get easier but it will still hurt when you look back. I wish you luck!
@monica1216 (509)
• United States
9 Feb 07
Thanks! Yes we are getting another dog too. We LOVE dogs!
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
9 Feb 07
That must have been really hard on you. I have never had to take a pet to the shelter but if it was a threat to my children, I would do it. Many pets find wonderful homes from the shelter. Both my daughters got their cats from a shelter and they just love them. They gave them a good home.
Keeping your children safe is your number one priority.
@DesignDiva (379)
• United States
10 Feb 07
What a hard thing to have to do! But you totally did the right thing. As a mom, your children are your number one priority. We had a dog that was half rottweiler, half doberman. Now, I think both of those breeds of dogs are wonderful dogs. However, we got this one as a stray, and she'd obviously had a hard life with her prior owner--she had some issues. We debated taking her to a shelter, or even putting her down after she killed a neighbor's cat (the cat actually jumped into our backyard, so it wasn't like our dog was terrorizing the neighborhood). We ended up trying to keep her. A few years later, my little sister was outside playing with her. I'm not sure what happened, but the dog ended up biting her such that she had to go to the emergency room and get stitches. My sister is fine now (only a small scar), but I know my parents never forgave themselves for not listening to their gut and putting our dog down earlier.
Luckily for you, you had a no kill shelter to give the dog to, so you did the best thing by all parties involved--your children and the dog. I know you're sad, but you did the right thing.
