I’ll start by saying I am prepared for a flaming. Didn’t think I would be in a position to write a post like this but here we are. I will try to put as much information as I can, sorry if it is really long.
2 and a half years ago we adopted our dog, he is now 10, he’s a greyhound. At the time I was able to work from home 3 days and go into the office 2 days, my daughter also worked from home 3 days and was at college 2 days, so one of us was around all the time and it worked out fine.
In April, 2 weeks into lockdown my husband had his hours cut at work. It was either take the reduced hours or be made redundant so he took the reduced hours and took on another job in a supermarket. We are down a lot of money each month. Husband is now working 6 days a week pretty much from 7am until 10pm. I had to increase my hours and am now in the office 5 and a half days a week (Saturday until 1pm). On top of that, my daughter changed jobs (in a bid to help out with money partly) and is working 32 hours in shift patterns that change. Basically, the dog is now on his own 6 days a week from 7 in the morning until I get home at half five. We sold my car at the beginning of May for a few hundred quid and that paid for us to get a dog walker to come in for one hour every day – this obviously is still terrible in terms of how long he is alone but was better than nothing. That money has run out now. I have to get up at five every day to walk him for an hour to try and tire him out so he sleeps when he is alone but I KNOW this isn’t a solution and I feel guilty. The guilt is making me feel sick every day.
Dog is now messing in the house (wee and poo 
) because he is alone so much, not his fault but he can’t hold it. To make it worse our house is rented and I’m terrified he is doing permanent damage to someone elses property. Nothing is going to change – we are behind on rent and will have to continue working like this until we can get straight.
I feel like we have been backed into a corner and have to return the dog to rescue. I don’t know what I want from this post really. Has anyone done this? Am I the worst person in the world? The stress of the situation is making me ill – tough, I know, I took on the dog but I can’t see a way out of this situation without returning him. What would you do
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Thinking of returning my dog to the rescue
HappyMealWithLegs · 29/07/2020 09:16
OP in Ireland theres a charity that you enrolled in if you want to do charity work, can you go looking to see if there's anything that provides volunteers to help with your dog so you can keep him? Dont give up yet and 
, that's tough
OP. He sounds like a wonderful (or at any rate interesting 
) boy. I've read all your posts, and you come across as a loving, caring owner who only wants the best for him. I hope you find a solution that for for all of you.
HappyMealWithLegs I'm so sorry. What an awful situation to find yourself in. While you obviously don't want to take him back to the shelter, it really won't be a massive adjustment for him and better for him in the short term.
And while he's there I would have thought you'll be able to take him out for walks or the odd foster for a couple of days? Perhaps in the future when things ease up you could re-adopt him?
Speak to the shelter anyway. Good luck and be kind to yourself. You're doing your best
@AlternativePerspective
. OP, ignore anyone wanting to stick the boot in, or the likes of Suggesting people you offload your dog to a random stranger you know only from a username on the internet.
There is a vast difference between someone who buys a puppy and rehomes it a couple of months later because they can’t be bothered any more, and someone who has had a dog for years and is left in an impossible situation needing to consider what is best for the dog.
Sometimes, life changes. We’re in a global pandemic with tens of thousands of job losses, salary cuts etc, and life has changed for a lot of people. That is nobody’s fault.
I have never rehomed an animal in my life, until I had to rehome my African Grey parrot after I fell seriously ill and couldn’t give him the attention he needed. In my case I rehomed him to a parrot sanctuary in the Lincolnshire wildlife park as I could never have rehomed him to another person as in truth most people don’t realise how much work they are. But it broke my heart to have to do so. But I had to do what was in his best interests, not mine. It would have been easy to keep him caged permanently but what would he have gained from that?
Sometimes you have to ask the question: Who is this for? And in this instance it is clearly your dog you’re thinking about.
As for the idiots suggesting a dog door, erm, a burglar door do you mean?
.Great post
Some seem to be the hard of reading on here, what do they hope to gain by such nasty and idiotic responses, the op is trying her best.
don’t really know what people are expecting tbh, some of the suggestions are about as useful as - catch a genie and wish for it to look after the dog while you’re at work...
And as usual this topic lives up to its reputation. .
OP, ignore anyone wanting to stick the boot in, or the likes of Suggesting people you offload your dog to a random stranger you know only from a username on the internet.
There is a vast difference between someone who buys a puppy and rehomes it a couple of months later because they can’t be bothered any more, and someone who has had a dog for years and is left in an impossible situation needing to consider what is best for the dog.
Sometimes, life changes. We’re in a global pandemic with tens of thousands of job losses, salary cuts etc, and life has changed for a lot of people. That is nobody’s fault.
I have never rehomed an animal in my life, until I had to rehome my African Grey parrot after I fell seriously ill and couldn’t give him the attention he needed. In my case I rehomed him to a parrot sanctuary in the Lincolnshire wildlife park as I could never have rehomed him to another person as in truth most people don’t realise how much work they are. But it broke my heart to have to do so. But I had to do what was in his best interests, not mine. It would have been easy to keep him caged permanently but what would he have gained from that?
Sometimes you have to ask the question: Who is this for? And in this instance it is clearly your dog you’re thinking about.
As for the idiots suggesting a dog door, erm, a burglar door do you mean? .
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