Well, it has finally come to this. :-(
I have tried very hard but the time has come for us to part. She has been advertised in a website for old dogs and have got a handful of lovely retired people wanting to get her.
The people interested in her have volunteered information about where they live, their life style, how often she will be walked, etc etc. Someone who seems just perfect has contacted me and has offered to get a reference from the vet of her last dog to prove she will be a good owner.
It is the first time in my life I have not seen a dog to the end of his/her days (and I have had many dogs!), so I really don't know what other questions to ask. I'm satisfied that the setting is right, that the person has the time to exercise her and also has, from what she says, plenty of experience with the breed, she lives unfortunately quite far from us, what questions should I ask?
Please help, at the moment I have two people interested and not a clue on how to follow up on this! :-S
Many thanks.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
I'm rehoming my dog, what questions to ask to prospective new owners?
Chandras · 01/04/2013 23:39
OP, are you in hte UK?
If you are, what website is your dog advertised on? Please be aware that any dog that is offered as Free to good home or similar is hugely vulnerable - they can be used as bait dogs and for various other unpleasant uses.
Please do not rehome privately - go through a reputable rescue. There are several who deal specifically with older dogs such as the Oldies Club. Depending on your dog's breed, there may well be a dedicated breed rescue who can help.
Private rehoming does not guarantee lifelong security and care - far from it. The point is you are rehoming her as an elderly dog - what is to stop the next person doing this? With very elderly people there can be issues over health, hospital admissions and sadly going into care - these are often reasons for owner surrender. If you go through a rescue they can maintain continuity of care for the dog's life.
For instance, two of our dogs are currently a pair of elderly dogs that were fostered by the rescue when their adopter became ill last year. While she was in hospital the dogs stayed with us, and sadly when the lady's health deteriorated further, the dogs have a secure lifetime home with us as long term foster dogs with all their vets bills paid by the charity. As dogs of 10 and 9, with health and behavioural issues, they would have stood no chance in a pound, would have been separated, and gone through the miserable trauma of being separated from their loving home and likely ended up as PTS. I shudder to think about it, honestly. But their owner had adopted the dogs some 5/6 years previously - so the lifelong support and back up really did do as it promised. No private rehoming can offer that.
Rehoming via a rescue does not necessarily mean that the dog will go into kennels 
. Many rescues are entirely foster home based, and even rescues that do use kennels will move heaven and earth to keep older dogs out of the kennel environment.
Rescues also use a variety of means to check out potential homes - these include using independent homecheckers and a variety of vetting techniques.
No no no. Do not rehome on a website
Let a responsible no kill rescue help this dog.
if you rehome privately there will be no guarantees that your poor dog wont just be passed around from owner to owner (or PTS if the new owners have trouble with it). At least a rescue will take them back if rehoming doesnt work out
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