There are occasions when it IS necessary/acceptable to re-home an animal?

[Lookmeupanddown]

And that doing so doesn't necessarily make you the devil incarnate? Just seen something on FB (I know, I know!) along the lines of, if you re-home an animal after you have a child you are pond scum. Similarly worded to the below:

FREE TO A GOOD HOME: 2 year old child. Genuine reason, I've just got a new puppy so no longer have the time for the child. Also worried the child may bite the puppy. Child is crate trained and up to date on all shots. Needs home by tomorrow or it'll be put to sleep. Thanks! YOU WOULDN'T DO THIS TO A CHILD SO WHY DO U SEE IT AS ACCEPTABLE TO DO IT TO A DOG? If you can't dedicate 15yrs to a dog, don't get one!!

Firstly, I can't believe anyone would actually put an animal to sleep because they had a child. Secondly - surely there are sometimes valid reasons for re-homing an animal? (I speak as someone who re-homed two cats after having second child so am digging out my hard hat.)

AIBU?

I completely agree that sometimes it's necessary. I was in that position myself. I had a dog, who I absolutely adored. I lived close by my mum, who had her during the day for me while I worked, and then my mum died suddenly. I hope everyone will believe me when I say I tried so hard to make it work, but I couldn't, I was spending a fortune on dog walking fees and if I had to work late my poor dog would be alone from 7 in the morning until 7 in the evening. That lasted about four months and it was a very unhappy period for both of us.

I eventually rehomed her. She lives with a retired headmaster and his wife in a very rural spot and is loved and adored and doted on. I wouldn't have just left her in a rescue centre - it broke my heart as it was - but fortunately being a small and very pretty breed when I contacted the rescue centre they had a waiting list of people wanting a small dog, thank God.

That was over a year ago and I have gone from crying once a day to once a week. If I see her breed out and about I get tearful though. I do try to make up, I'm on maternity leave and money is tight but I still have a direct debit to the animal centre and I sponsor a dog through Dog's Trust, but it upsets me so much even so.

But it does make me angry when people just give up on animals, even though maybe some people just think I gave up on my dog. I'd give anything to have her back home to be honest.

We had to rehome our rescue dog because she kept escaping. I mean she jumped 8ft fences, chewed her lead etc. She had no recall and despite our perseverence with training etc she got worse.

It was either re home or keep her locked in a crate at all times with only two walks a day. She literally wouldnt even stay in the garden while we were playing with her.

We now have a puppy and I dont feel at all bad. We tried everything for the dog and in the end we couldnt give her what she needed (a padded cell).

Also cannot understand people who look at me funny when I tell them our dogs sleep in the garage. The puppy doesnt but will when old enough.

I like my furniture intact and hair free. And dogs did originate as wild animals.

Dogs are NOT humans.

Rant over.

I double dare you to post this in the Doghouse. YANBU btw.

There are many unforseen circumstances that can lead to rehoming an animal. Illness, allergies, unplanned house moves, and lifestyle changes are good reasons. There are also many fuckwits who treat a dog as disposable.

Most dog breeds last an average of 10-13 years. That means that if you're planning to have children in the next 10-13 years you need to think about how that will fit with having a dog before you get one. Dogs need exercise even if you're 40+6 or if your 2 week old refuses to detach from your nipple. And dogs and DCs need boundaries and training to live together.

The 2 year old dog you end up with is a result of nature + how you've trained the puppy for 2 years. If you don't put in the work you will end up with a dog that's not house trained, that might not be safe around small children, that might have separation anxiety and be destructive etc etc. It's not bad luck if you end up with a dog with issues at 2 when you've had it from 8 weeks. It's poor dog ownership. Some dogs will be very easy to train and some will be much harder but, yes, it is your fault if you haven't trained them. Rescue dogs are often dogs who've had these kind of owners, so if you get one you need to be prepared to put the work in to deal with a lack of training.

I rehomed my 2 cats because my son who was 5 at the time was just being so mean to them. He was constantly pulling their tails, chasing them and grabbing at them. The poor things were petrified of him and spent most of their time hiding under the sofa. I tried my best to get him to stop, punishments/talking to him etc but it didn't work. I decided in the end that it was kindest that they went to a home where they wouldn't be terrorised on a daily basis. I was sad though as I loved them

YA sort of NBU. I see no problem in finding a family pet a better home if you are unable or unwilling to look after it properly.

But people who are trying to guilt others to adopt their pet by threatening the poor beast with being put down, are pondscum.

I had to rehome my dog and it broke my heart. He was a rescue dog and was fab but as soon as we had a baby he freaked out and was really scared by a baby crawling towards him. Cared so much I even hired a dog psychologist!!! She said she couldn't solve the issue so we found him a new home the new owner wrote to us to thank us and reassure that he was happy. Sometimes there are genuine reasons.

Sometimes there are genuine reasons but I think the spirit of the FB post thing is to highlight just how many irresonsible feckwits take on dogs (and any animals, really) without thinking of the long term implications, then being all too quick to pass the animal on when things get a tiny bit tough.

I know life sometimes takes an unexpected turn but it's not rocket science to work out that buying a puppy means a dog will be your responsibility for the next 10+ years.

Often it seems to be the default that when you have a baby you get rid of the animals without even giving it a go (I've certainly read things to that effect on here, where family members put pressure on new parents to get rid of the dog before the baby arrives). Fair enough a child takes priority but that doesn't negate your responsibility to the animal you chose to take on.

I understand OP, have just rehomed 2 cats after 10 years together - but everyone; the cats, asthmatic DH and DS1, the lady who's taken them and myself so I can stop worrying - are all much happier. I am sure you did the right thing and that FB post is v annoying.

We had to re-home our beloved Collie when DD2 came along. He was just about ok with DD1 but he started freaking out when DD2 came along to the point where he snapped at DD1. DH and I sobbed for about three days after taking him back to the Centre where we had him from 5 years earlier. We felt we had let him down and failed him. It turns out he was then re-homed by a retired farmer and is having a ball infront of a log fire. Much better all round.

I had to choose between my beloved cat and my two children. The cat was possesive of me and therfore jealous of the children. He kept attacking them! Really nasty, not just little swipes and they hadn't gone anywhere near him.

Tough choice though

I'm glad I saw this post because I was going to do my own. We've just moved overseas. Turns out it'll cost over a thousand quid to ship the dog . We were going to suck it up and ship the dog but a friend has asked if she can have him. I know the dog will be happy there and a thousand pounds is a lot of money but I do feel bad and I'm in two minds about this.

There are plenty of good reasons to rehome. We had a cat when we were first married dh turned out to be allergic, but wanted to keep it. We had to extra clean, or it set his skin itching. Dd was born and was severely allergic to the cat and it caused breathing problems. So at that point we regimes the cat.
A woman at work rehomed her dog after her husbands stroke. She physically could not look after the dog and her dh. One had to go and she wasn't going to rehome her dh.
However some people rehome unnecessarily and at a whim. I know a few people who have got dogs and its clear they shouldn't be.

i see this stuff a lot. as far as i'm concerned 'baby first priority, animals after'. if you need to re-home, do it.

I think that the major issue is that many people don't find their much loved pet a new home where they will be similarly loved due to unforeseen circumstances. Otherwise there wouldn't be pounds and rescue centres bursting at the seams. Pets given up in this manner may well never have another home because they will be put down. When we got our current pair of cats the rescue centre had almost 400 cats looking for homes and more were coming in all the time. I think that many people have a overly rosy view of the fate of the pets they drop off assuming that they will have a better life.

We had to rehome one of our dogs as he turned out to be a sheep chaser, and when you have 1600 sheep outside your back door and he always had to be on a lead it wasn't fair on him. It was awful.

When I was growing up we rehomed a dog, as in, he came to live with us and became ours. His owner had died and he refused to go back into the house even with the rest of the family still there. He just sat outside
So he came to live with us, he was with us for 10years before he died and he was the most loved and looked after dog. My dad had always refused to get a dog, saying it would be up to him to do all the walks and looking after. But when the owner died my dad agreed to have him for a couple of weeks until somewhere more suitable became available. At the end of those 2 weeks hell would have frozen over before my dad would have let him go anywhere else. He has been gone 18years and is still talked about in our family. He was lovely
Maybe, sometimes rehoming can be a positive thing.

Battersea Dogs Home alone kills getting on for 3,000 unwanted dogs every year!

So for all you people with perfectly justifiable reasons for re-homing there are a lot more who just treat pets as disposable.

All this FB post is doing is trying to get people away form that mind-set. If you rehomed you pet in a responsible manner for good reasons then don't take it personally, it's not aimed at you!

Yes of course there are good reasons- both for the people and the animal concerned.

And as for the next person who puts a status about all of their children having paws, or fur babies, or of that guff about dogs loving you more than they love themselves.......

I rehomed my dog when my DS was born. Actually, it was a while after. It did work initially, and I had no intention of him going until it became apparent that he ws jealous of DS.

As soon as DS started crawling, it got worse. He would knock him over, wee'd on all his toys contantly, was just aggressive. All I seemed to be doing was shouting No, or sending him to the kitchen. He was miserable, and I just couldn't take the risk.

However, he was rehomed with a friend of ours, we see him at least twice a week, and I still walk him. He is again, such a happy little doggy.

YANBU OP.

I think there are lots of very genuine reasons to rehome pets, but people seem to think they're all fun and no work.

Must be off, have to feed dog and cat, walk dog, clean out hamster and see that the lizard likes his new light. Already sorted the snakes and fish