Re-homing question

[Lara2]

I have a nephew who is struggling to look after his dog. He is a recovering addict, but is often still in trouble with the police, being arrested etc. his dog is much loved and well cared for, he always feeds her before himself etc. However, because he is often arrested it means that the dog has to be looked after by other people and it's just not an ideal situation for her. My dogs are old, crotchety and territorial about their home, so I can't have her. No other relatives are in a position to have her permanently either.
I had a chat with him and suggested that he re-home her. He actually thought that this was a good idea (it's taken a long time to get to this point), but said that because he was prosecuted for not having her under control ( she bit a policeman who was kicking her - she had barked and growled at him, he over reacted. The other policemen who were present at the arrest said in court that she had been provoked and the other policeman shouldn't have behaved like that), she is now classed as a dangerous dog ( this was in my sister's house, not in a public place). He said that he was told that if he ever wanted to re-home her, he couldn't, rescues couldn't and she would have to be destroyed.
Can anyone tell me if this is true? It breaks my heart to think it has come to this.
Sorry it's so long, I just want to find out if he's been told the truth, especially as he's finally coming round to the idea of re-homing her.

What kind of dog, what sex, how old, I can put a shout out, where are you?

I completely understand, what you are saying, I usually say with a dog that has bitten, I say no hope mate,next, but in these circumstances, and I have come across this a lot,

it one of the few times a dog may bite and it is understandable,

the situation from the dogs point of view, is that all is lost, defend your leader from the people that are harming him, if leader was showing fear, the dog would of felt obliged to help, in the only way it could.

Hi Lara, the no-rehoming message usually applies to dogs that have been identified as being a banned breed under the DDA- usually Pit Bull. For these dogs, it's virtually impossible to rehome them. Unfortunately many police officers are ignorant of the details surrounding dog law - you will often hear for instance that dog on dog attacks cannot be prosecuted, and this is simply not true. You need to have a look at what if any details were included in the sentence - for instance, did the court order that no rehoming was possible, or that for instance she could only be walked wearing a muzzle.

Unless these conditions exist, I'd say that rehoming is possible, though it's also likely that some rescues will be understandably wary given her history. Things that will help her be rehomed include:- is she chipped and spayed? Are her vax and worming up to date, with her record cards. For the court case, is there any independent paperwork (eg letters from the court etc) confirming sentence and any restrictions.

I would also recommend having the paperwork together and having a quick chat with Trevor Cooper of DogLaw - Trevor is a national expert on dangerous dog legislation, advises many charities and rescues as well as individual owners. Just google DogLaw to go to his website which goes into a lot more detail.

I wish you all the best.

My little dachshund, would have bit the postman, as he was doing a can-can , if I had not picked her up and got kicked on my thumb joint by hysterical postie.

A big dog though, even when provoked by being kicked < ridiculous behaviour from the policeman> can inflict considerably more damage than a tiny one.
I don't know what will happen, but wish you luck as is

Scuttle utter - that's excellent, thanks. I've looked at his page and will get more information on the sentence and make a phone call.
quoteunquote - thanks for the offer of making some calls, I don't think it's quite that far ahead yet, but will get back to you if I need to, if that's OK? I agree, she wad defending her owner - the policeman was a complete tosser. They took my nephew to court twice - the first time was for having a dog out of control in a public place and this wad thrown out of court. Then he was re-arrested a few months later, the charge being having a dog out of control in a private place; this was for the same incident! Unbelievable!

Sorry about the spelling, on my mobile.