Circumstances sometimes force dogs (and other pet) owners to look for a new home when they can\u2019t \u00a0keep their pet with them any longer. People often don\u2019t want to relinquish the dog to a shelter, afraid that the animal will be put down if it doesn\u2019t find a new home. With few options open to them, the owners advertise the pet on a public forum as \u201cfree to a good home\u201d \u2013 with disastrous results for the dog.<\/p>\n
If the owner doesn\u2019t take precautions, the unfortunate dog can end up in unacceptable circumstances, neglected, abused or even used in dog fights or as breeding stock in a puppy mill. If you care about your dog, don\u2019t take the chance that it will be mistreated by unscrupulous new owners.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t use an online forum to find a new home for your dog; just take the time and effort to make sure your dog is re-homed with the right people when you can\u2019t keep it any longer.<\/p>\n
If you decide to re-home your dog privately, there are some steps you can take to minimize the risk of your dog ending up in a bad situation.<\/p>\n
Spay or neuter<\/strong> your dog, especially if it\u2019s a purebred, before re-homing.<\/p>\n Draw up an adoption contract<\/strong>, there are examples online or at welfare organizations.<\/p>\n Have an adoption fee<\/strong>; you can always give the money to animal welfare.<\/p>\n If your dog has issues<\/strong>, for instance with other dogs, children, pets or health problems, be honest<\/strong> about that with the prospective owners.<\/p>\n Do a home check,<\/strong> get a feel for the people, the circumstances and other pets.<\/p>\n If they have pets, speak to their vet.<\/strong><\/p>\n Do follow-up visits<\/strong>, particularly if you\u2019re not sure.<\/p>\n Take your time<\/strong> \u2013 you and the dog may deeply regret hasty decisions.<\/p>\n Listen to your instincts<\/strong>. Meet the people on the neutral ground and see how they and the dog interact. Dogs\u2019 instincts are often better than that of humans<\/p>\n Like most issues in life, re-homing has another side \u2013 that of the new owner. If you want to adopt a dog, the first rule is to never agree to take a dog unless you have seen it and asked questions from its owners.<\/p>\n Make sure the dog you want to adopt is a good fit for you and your family. A number of dogs are in shelters because their previous and new owners didn’t communicate. If possible, see the dog in the circumstances it will encounter at your home; for instance with children, other dogs etc.<\/p>\n Adoption is a wonderful way to give a dog a new chance in life; but only when both parties are honest, take their time and make an effort. To get it wrong will lead to disappointment and can even have disastrous consequences.<\/p>\n Re-homing a dog should be treated as a serious business by everyone involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Circumstances sometimes force dogs (and other pet) owners to look for a new home when they can\u2019t \u00a0keep their pet with them any longer. People often don\u2019t want to relinquish the dog to a shelter, afraid that the animal will be put down if it doesn\u2019t find a new home. With few options open to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pethobs.com\/pet\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}