I'm sorry in advance but this is going to be a long one....
Many years ago I was in the position where my gorgeous German Shepherd was about to be at the mercy of the courts, simply because my nightmare neighbour had called environmental services reporting him for being a noisy barker.
At the time, I was working and refused to shut him indoors all day so I left my conservatory door open to give him free access to the back garden as well as the whole house.
We have a row of garages behind our houses and there are gaps in the row every 2 houses along to gain access to the rear of the properties. Apparently, the problem arose when someone walked down the entry leading to my neighbour's and my back gardens. My dog, not specifically a guard dog but still guarding my home, barked at this person, presumably telling them that he was there. The problem was that my neighbour is a nurse and worked night shifts, so was at home, possibly trying to sleep, when this happened.
Now, if she had spoken to me, we might have been able to arrange something that would prevent this happening again, but no, she went straight to the council.
This only came to light a couple of weeks later when I received a letter from the council saying that they had sent someone round to measure the volume of the 'nuisance dog' and that I had to 'reduce his volume'. I telephoned to ask where I might find the volume control on a dog because I couldn't find it. I also explained that my dog would only ever bark if someone comes down the entry, if they were simply standing by or walking past, the garage doors, he wouldn't make a sound.
So, evidently, someone had actually come down our entry, for what purpose? No-one knows, because there's no way to get into the gardens without having a key or first having had contact with either my neighbour or myself.
I also asked what would happen if I didn't reduce my dog's volume and was told that they would come out again and repeat their test and then take me to court, the expected outcome of which would be that environmental services would be given permission to seize and destroy my dog.
I couldn't let that happen and there was no way to comply with their demands.
I asked everyone I knew what they would do and came to the conclusion that it would be best to rehome him.
I found a website where you could buy and sell pets and wrote my ad for him. I explained all the details of why I needed to rehome him, the fact that I didn't want to do this but was being forced and also that I'd put it all in the ad because I didn't feel that I could keep my emotions out of any telephone calls enquiring about him. I also said in the ad that I was giving him up for free but that I would be doing a house check to be sure that he would be going to a suitable/respectable new home.
A lovely lady contacted me within 3hrs of me posting the ad. We talked for almost 2.5hrs and she explained that she had had a dog exactly like mine but female and she'd suddenly lost her to cancer 2wks previously. She explained that she also had other cats and dogs, lived with her parents who were retired and at home pretty much all day. She sent me pictures of the dog she'd lost and all the others, I spoke to her mum and realised that between talking to them and other little details that came to light, I felt that this could be the right family for him to go to.
We arranged for me to go visit their home, without my boy, to be sure that these were the right people for him. They were wonderful, their pets were friendly, they had a lovely home and the thing that almost broke my heart was the photo, in the perfect spot so it could be seen the second you entered the room, of their beloved girl lying at the top of the stairs, chin between her paws. That picture could easily have been my boy, they really did look identical.
We arranged for them to come and meet him to see whether he would like them and them him. I did say that if all was good, I would take him to their house because I knew that he would know there was something strange if he was bundle into a strange car and taken away from home without me. They came, everything was wonderful, my boy behaved as though he'd known them forever. We agreed that I would take him to them the following weekend.
I took a friend with me in case I was too upset to drive on the way home (they lived in Manchester and I'm in Birmingham). We walked into the house and my boy looked really comfortable. We went into the lounge and one by one the other pets were allowed in to introduce themselves. By the time we'd got everyone in the room, my boy was playing and chasing the staffie around the lounge and garden. We stayed a little while watching him and I knew that this would be his forever home.
When we left, i gave my boy a huge hug, he gave me a single kiss (big lick on the cheek), which I believe was his way of telling me that everything was going to be fine, he loved me and that it was OK for me to go, and he let me walk away. I was too emotional to drive so was glad I'd taken my friend).
My boy's new mum called me the next day to tell me how he was settling in.
I visited him twice over the first couple of months and it was clear that he knew who I was, he spent a fair amount of time giving me cuddles but he was also really well settled and happy. We stayed in touch with emails and pictures for about 6 months, then we stopped because as much as I wanted to know how he was, I felt too emotional every time an email landed and I decided it was time to cut the strings.
The whole situation about my neighbour, the council and having to rehome my boy was heartbreaking. Even now, 13yrs on, thinking about it reduces me to tears. I know that he's more than likely gone over Rainbow Bridge by now but for years I felt that I wanted him back, that I should have fought the neighbour and council, I would have had him back in a heartbeat. But I knew that I'd given him up and couldn't have him back, I told myself that he had been destined to go to his forever home and that for the 7yrs that I'd had him, I'd been preparing him to go there. He'd given me all those years of love and now he'd moved on to give his love to another family.
I know only too well that, regardless of the circumstances, once you've handed a pet over to someone else on the basis of 'rehoming' them (paid for or not), you really can't ask for them to return them. You should be absolutely certain of what you're doing BEFORE you advertise them and take on board the fact that once they're gone, they're gone, and there's no going back on it.