Responsible breed rescue suggestions or any advice on how to find a new home for my lovely dogs?

[Athendof]

I'm not happy about rehoming them as this will be the first time ai don't see a dog until the end of its days. These dogs have been loved to bits, but in the years since we got them our life has changed so much that I think letting them go is kinder on them.

I'm no meanie selfish bastard, these dogs have been cherished for years, but whereas when we got them I had a husband, was not working and had no children, now I am single, have a child with asthma and have to work very long hours in order to make ends meet with this resulting in the dogs not been able to be around the house due to severe asthma and they are now spending almost 9 hrs alone in the house.

I have explored every possibility and tried very hard for the last few years but this is not working and I cannot forsee my circumstances changing in the foreseable future.

Can somebody tell me what I need to do or point me in the direction of a reputable rescue organisation?

Thank you

google the breed site and look for the rescue section?
email and ask them?

which breed and how old are they

Maybe give some info about your dogs? What breed, age etc are they? Neutered? I'm sorry you're having to rehome, btw. I'm sure it's hard to give them up.

difficult thing to have to do. What breed are they?

It's really hard to give them up, and I think it will be equally difficult to find someone to take them.

They are yorkies, beautiful temperaments, both have been "done", have had a lot of training but due to lack of recent practice they don't follow many commands but are still very obedient dogs. They are vaccinated and microchipped. One of them is very pretty and so sweet you can rock her to sleep before putting her back in her bed,, the other one is incredibly clever and the best dog I have had in my life, I refer to him as my first born :-(

They are in pretty good health despite their years, but are in a restricted diet so they could only have a single type of food which is nothing specialised or expensive.

I'm sure the age is the problem... I feel awful about it, they are pretty senior but then Yorkies have a very long life expectancy record.

I have done a google search but I am not sure how to identify a good rescue place.

How old are they? What does "pretty senior" mean? Why a restricted diet?

13

One of them had a pancreatitis 6 years ago, she was left with a delicate stomach, the other one... because if I serve him other food his friend will come and eat it. They have been in Burns food ever since (I get a 7.5kg bag of it a month for the two of them, it costs £20).

It is really hard to find homes for senior animals, however lovely they are. They will also be very bonded with you, and miss you. If you can find a way to manage, it is probably better for them. Even if it's not the perfect life, so long as it is good enough, it's fine. At their age they are probably not so active. Are they showing signs of unhappiness when you are out at work? If you really have to rehome them, then it is best to go with a breed-specific rescue that uses foster homes rather than kennels, and hopefully someone else will know of one. Best of luck.

if you have had them since pups they will probably be more harmed in a kennels than with you, even if they are alone.

could a neighbour not pop in to let them out?

or a friend?
or someone dog sit for an hour each day?

you are not going to find good homes for 2 aging and diet restricted yorkshire terriers.

i would try your best to find a way to work this if you can. it would be a hell of a lot of change for 2 dogs which are elderly and bonded with you.....i couldnt do it even with those good intentions.

hope you find a solution.

Whereabouts are you OP? I may be able to help.

Would you get rid of your child....you describe one of them as your first born ...shame on you for even thinking about dumping them,when they no longer fit into your lifestyle.A dogs is for life,work round it,get a dog sitter,minder,friend,neighbour to help out.Rehoming 2 elderly dogs is downright cruel.I just dont get some people..you are obviously not a dog lover.

I'm not naive about this and have tried very hard, but is comming to breaking point. I have had these dogs since they were pups, you would understand that despite my trying to find every possible solution for the last few years, the situation is affecting us to a point where neither us or the dogs have an acceptable quality of life.

Bobby, don't judge me, i can't have my child in hospital with asthma several times a year or put it to further financial hardship in order to keep the dogs. Dog sitter? Bloody fantastic idea, if I could afford a sitter I wouldn't even consider rehominf, even if we stop paying the mortgage we won't be able to afford them, we are already living on beans on toast.

Meerkat. I will email you when I get to work, for some reason i can't send messages on mumsnet from my phone. Thank you.

Have you tried the cinnamon trust? The specialised in older owners and older pets. The likelihood your beloved pets would end up with a retired person who had concerns about taking on a young pet.

Sorry you're having trouble but if you get a sitter for the dogs how does that help with the asthma?
Is the asthma under control enough for the dogs to stay with you if you get company/walker for them during your working hours?
My son has asthma, when his asthma developed we got a good friend to take out dog for 2months , cleaned the house like maniacs to see if it altered his asthma..it didn't so dog came back . Is it worth getting your son tested to see if it in fact the dogs causing the problem?

atthendof I second the cinammon trust. They are a fantastic charity and may be able to help. If you want to tell me where you are in the country I will see if any rescue people I know can help you.

An older couple would probably be happy to have your yorkies. Feel free to PM me if you want to.

Try this one - have heard good things about it. All dogs are fostered first...

www.littledogrescue.co.uk/Givingadogin.html

Has your son had allergy tests?

I have asthma. I have three dogs. Cats, grass/straw/hay etc, dust and something else I can't remember trigger my asthma. Dogs and birds do not, although I find it hard keeping small furries because I am allergic to their bedding, I am not allergic to the animals themselves.

Has the doctor told you it will be the dogs and you should get rid of them? They always say that, mine still do. The first questions they ask 1) do you smoke? 2) do you keep pets in the house? I have to remind I had allergy tests as a child and I was not allergic to dogs.

My mum rehomed all of our birds when I was first diagnosed, after having the doctor panic her. Years later my Dad insisted on buying a parrot, determined to prove that he was going kill me, she took me for allergy tests, funnily when it came back that I was allergic to cats and not birds she had a slight change of heart and the cats stayed I still have not forgiven her for getting rid of my birds with no good reason.

There are also products you can use on the dogs to reduce the allergens spreading around the house. One is called petal cleanse. That coupled with strict regular cleaning and airing the house, maybe a few air purifiers for the main rooms and you should see an improvement.

I wouldn't be too hasty in rehoming the dogs, they'd rather have less exercise and live at home than find themselves in a strange place, scared and confused.

Push for allergy tests before you make any hard choices. Dogs are not normally a common allergen. Birds, house dust, pollen, grass, cats are all more common. Central heating if you have that also used to make my asthma a lot worse, try placing damp towels over radiators to keep the air from getting too dry.

Sorry , maybe I'm being a bit thick but I don't get your problem ,is it asthma ,the fact that they are alone for 9 hours or the financial issues ? I'm not getting at you BTW just not clear on why you have come to the decision to rehome .

Ggirl, I was there years ago, but the asthma has got worse with time. It is scary. If I had money to spend in sitters, i would use it to pay a cleaner to keep the house as free as possible of allergens and to open the door to the dogs while I'm out, to avoid comming back home to a mountain of soiled newspapers to cleanł and to prevent the dogs from sleeping all day long so We all could sleep at night,, but am afraid sitters and cleaners charge more per hour than I do.

And yes, DS has a proven and diagnosed allergy to dogs, yorkies do not have an undercoat, so they are less "allergenic" than other dogs so we have sort of managed ok, until now when there is not only the dogs but the whole situation I live in: stressful job, a child with health problems (asthma is only one of them) and learning difficulties, financial difficulties, etc. I'm rising my son single handedly, and do not have anybody around who can give me hand with things in a regular basis. I am having to take days off work due to asthma related problems very often, i'm not sleeping well as the dogs arevery active at night, which obviously affects my performance at work, my job is already at risk. :-(

my son had chronic asthma, and we were told to get rid of all our pets. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats, 2 rats and a hamster!

i just couldnt do it.

so i made some changes at home - the floors were all laminated so i could mop and keep the downstairs dust and dander free.
none of the pets were allowed to go upstairs at all - so his bedroom was a pet free zone.
he took a low dose daily antihistamine.
and gradually he desensitized - unusually now at 20, he hardly needs his inhalers anymore.
at 13 he was in hospital several times a year.
as the small furries died we did not get any more but were left with cats and dogs.

we had him tested for allergies but the tests are notoriously inaccurate - most asthma sufferes are allergic to the house dust mite - and there is little you can do about that barring keeping dust to an absolute minimum, damp dusting, changing bedding often, hoovering mattresses etc etc.

have you tried any of that OP?

when the consultant told me it was the boy or the pets i looked at DS and said, "well sorry son, looks like we have to rehome you" the oonsultants face was picture....i was of course joking but i would no more have rehomed my beloved dog than i would my son.
we worked around it.

if thats the main issue perhaps you could try some of the things above and see what happens?

Yes, we have tried all that and many other things, it's been YEARS of trying to keep them. I am afraid though that DS is the kind of child who gets wheezy if a dog gets near his face, and gets a quick and nasty rash if he is licked by one. And it's getting worse year on year :(

I keep a cat, despite being allergic, like Vicar's ds I find that over time I become more tolerant of them. My cat moves out regularly, I find my allergy is actually worse when he is not living in the house, simply sitting near someone who owns a cat can be enough to start the itching and awful dry eyes and wheezing. When the cat is home I use Piriton for the first few weeks, limit my contact with him and slowly start seeing improvements.

It does sound you like have things tough atm, but I can't see that rehoming the dogs will make things an awful lot easier for you. How much hard work can two 13 yo dogs be? You'd still need a strict cleaning routine, to keep on top of dust, as Vicar pointed out.

I can't see how active they can be at night? I have a collie x pup. He is active at night if he has not had enough exercise, but even for him throwing a tennis ball up and down the field for 45 minutes an evening is enough to keep him mainly under control. Surely 13yo dogs would need little more than a gentle stroll twice a day?

What support do you have? Is there anyway you could access more support? As you have a sick child there are charities that might help you keep your dogs, PAPAS might be able to offer some support around the dogs and I would look at finding local asthma support groups if you have not already done so. Maybe ask at your sons school if there are any other organisations that could help you.

Rehoming dogs of that age will not be easy, nor is it the best thing you could do for them, particularly at their age, they will find it extremely hard.

If you genuinely feel you have explored all other options I second whoever said to contact Cinnamon Trust, you could also try The Oldies Club, but you will have a wait. Unfortunately rescues are full to bursting with healthy, trained young dogs, older dogs are often over looked because of this.

If you can find anyway possible to keep the dogs in your home, despite being left longer than is ideal, they'd have a better life than the alternative.

Good luck and I hope you can manage to access the support you need.