Good Dog, Bad Fit
Rescuing animals starts with a lot of love and good intentions, but not every animal suits every owner. Here’s how to find a new home for your pet
Jenn Goebel never planned on finding a new home for the family bulldog, Daisy, but in the end, she said she “felt like Daisy was getting the short end of the stick.”
While living in her Chicago apartment with her family, a growing Daisy became too much to handle, and she eventually looked into a local bulldog rescue association to find a new home for her pet.
“It was very sad, but in the end it was the right decision for our family,” Goebel says.
Regardless of the reason you’re finding a new home for a pet, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it.
“If you adopted a pet from a shelter, the agreement asks you to either inform them or bring the animal back to them,” says Nancy Peterson, issues specialist for the Humane Society, Washington, D.C.
“Sometimes your local animal shelter can help provide other guidelines so that you know what to ask when you’re finding a new home for your pet,” she says.
Owners usually give up pets because their lifestyles have changed, they’re moving or expecting a baby, says Mary Leake Schilder, public affairs managers for PAWS, Seattle, Wash.
“You want to be completely honest,” she says. “Share everything about that animal because it wouldn’t be fair not to.”
While Schilder recommends spaying or neutering your pet before finding a new home and offering to pay for some of the costs of a trainer if needed, Peterson says the latter is completely unnecessary. “That’s going to have to be the new owner’s responsibility,” Peterson says.
In addition to being fair to the prospective owner, Schilder advises keeping the animal’s best interest in mind.
“Don’t offer the animal for free,” she says. “This may attract people who use animals for research laboratories.”
For those confident that your current pet is in prospective good hands, it’s still important to conduct interviews and speak to references.
“Don’t give your dog or cat away right then and there,” Peterson says. “Tell them you have other people who are interested and you’re checking references. If you feel at all uncomfortable, do not give this animal to that person.”
If there’s serious animal aggression, says Schilder, get a behaviorist to come in and evaluate. “What might look like a fight to one person, another person might say that’s normal play behavior,” she says.
And while Lassie, Old Yeller, and the dog on “Frasier,” are great fun to watch, Peterson advises prospective owners to remember that pets are animals first.
“Forget what you’ve seen in movies and on TV,” Peterson says. “Go into this with realistic expectations that you will lose something valuable to you, like your $100 vase, if you don’t pet-proof your home.”
So before you hold too tightly to the image of you and your well groomed show dog cuddling next to the fireplace, remember that pets require some patience and learning – even if the most important thing Fluffy learns is not to pee on your bed.
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