Friend rehoming due to depression

[Anon645]

My friend is suffering from pretty brutal depression and has been for a number of months. She has young children and a 1 year old dog. At the moment she is contemplating rehoming the dog as she feels her depression leaves her unable to cope with him. She feels extremely guilty as I know she loves the dog and she is very affectionate ate towards it. She doesn't have any family to mind the dog and I already have my own pets and family so can't take the dog on for her.

Does anyone have any advice? At the moment the dog is having a walk twice a week as that's all she can do. She's also not got the energy to train the dog beyond what she's already done as she's so low and fatigued.

Any advice?

I had sympathy for this woman right up until you said she was selling her dog online. Wtf... selling your pet online? Depression my arse. She's basically got this dog, and maybe yeah feels a bit down and basically cant be arsed to look after a dog now so has tried to recoup her money. She prefers to fester on the sofa watching tv with her (poor kids) rather than take her dog for a walk. If she was clinically depressed I cannot imagine she would have bought a dog in the first place.

I hope she never gets a dog again, but you can bet your bottom dollar within a few months the kids will miss the dog so she will get some puppy farmed white fluffy thing thinking it doesnt need walking and then a few months after that - another dog for sale.

Disgusting. I just hope the poor dog has be re-homed to a decent person.

I said previously in the post that having worked in veterinary and rescue environments it is unfortunately a very prominent thing - if you search the RSPCA cases you’ll see there’s hundreds of dogs rescued from fighting and there’s many dogs who are rehomed recently on the cheap on sites and picked up for seemingly lovely family homes when the reality is the entirely different, hopefully for this little one it isn’t the case but unfortunately when someone turns up at your home they can sell you dreams and you don’t know the reality if you aren’t vetting them. Being a terrier breed he’s desirable for fighting unfortunately.

My friend is missing him already...

And so am I tbh. I won't lie, he was way too energetic and extremely busy, walking him was tough ! But I can't believe I won't see him again :(

Please advise her that it’s not a good idea to get any dog - regardless of breed in the future until she has fully been evaluated for her mental health needs. Whether it is a small “low maintenance” breed or not, they all require walks, they all require attention and unfortunately this home has proven they’re not capable of giving that to an animal sadly and it would be the best interests of her children to not go and purchase another pet anytime soon.

Im sorry you’re missing him but hopefully he is somewhere better.

Is your friend getting any proper help and support from professionals?