Thursday, January 10, 2013

Rehoming Our Doggy Tia - or not


We had decided to rehome one of our dogs Tia because I'm out all day and while my husband works from home, he also does a lot of travelling and we had decided last night that maybe it would be for the best to rehome her. I went as far as contacting a few people who I thought might be able to help, and posting on a local mums facebook group. I had a few responses and someone emailed me today asking if she could come round and see the dog, Tia. She did come and took her for a walk as she arrived early and my husband was on a conference call. But this evening we are both having second thoughts. We think the problem is us and maybe we should just pull our socks up as dog owners. I'd been imagining the quiet and peace with just having one (old terrier type) dog. Less noise, less mess, less things chewed, less barking. Obviously I was thinking about her standard of life too. I'd just decided that we weren't capable / didn't have the time to train her, walk her, spend actual and emotional time on her.

I've had lovely cuddles with her tonight and hubby and I have talked. We're not sure but we are erring on the side of pulling out of the rehoming idea. We haven't had anyone yet say they definitely want her but have had 2 enquiries, including this one lady who visited.

If we keep her, we need to:
  1. Sort out somewhere for her to stay when hubby goes away for 2 weeks (kennels during the week I think is the best option)
  2. Buy her a crate (hubby has been looking into this and apparently we should be crate training her - I hadn't even known this existed)
  3. Take her to training classes. Perhaps with my son - so he gets a little sense of the responsibililty that it takes to train your doggy to be well-behaved - that shouting at her won't work (sadly, he's learnt that from us)
  4. Take her for long walks every sunday without fail (in addition to twice daily)
  5. Buy her new bedding as her current bedding is just towels and blankets (she did eat her last cushion but she doesn't chew quite as much now)
  6. Give her more cuddles and accept more love off her (she has tonnes to give)
  7. Enjoy her
I feel sad and ashamed that I just jumped on the easy option which is to get rid of her. I am going to sleep on it but I think tomorrow I will contact everyone that I asked to help and tell them we've changed our minds.

9 comments:

  1. There's no shame in changing your mind! Better to think twice now than regret your decision when it's too late. Have a think about it and go with your gut...

    Kate @Just Pirouette and Carry On...

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    1. Thanks. We have decided to keep her. Will be enrolling her on doggy training classes (and ourselves on owner training classes).

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  2. Awww what a difficult decision (I'm secretly glad she's staying ;)

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad too. She's a lovely dog really. Very loving.

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  3. We rehomed our dog. It was very difficult but she wasn't good with children. We met the new owners and visited their home before making a decision. We charged a hefty fee for her so no timewasters that just fancied a free dog would apply. We used a pet rehoming website. I think it was called pets4homes or something. It was very difficult and we miss her. It was an "open adoption" as they agreed we could visit anytime and they send photos and videos. But then they moved house... our doggy is now living it large in the Caribbean! She has a fantastic life now swimming in the sea and fetching coconuts but I wouldn't recommend rehoming unless you are 100% sure. Its heartbreaking.

    On the bed front... buy a ruff n tuff bed - they are unchewable. But just to be sure, spray the edges with chew repellent. You can get it in pets at home. Xx

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    1. Thanks. I will look into those beds. xxxxx

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  4. We rehomed our dog. It was very difficult but she wasn't good with children. We met the new owners and visited their home before making a decision. We charged a hefty fee for her so no timewasters that just fancied a free dog would apply. We used a pet rehoming website. I think it was called pets4homes or something. It was very difficult and we miss her. It was an "open adoption" as they agreed we could visit anytime and they send photos and videos. But then they moved house... our doggy is now living it large in the Caribbean! She has a fantastic life now swimming in the sea and fetching coconuts but I wouldn't recommend rehoming unless you are 100% sure. Its heartbreaking.

    On the bed front... buy a ruff n tuff bed - they are unchewable. But just to be sure, spray the edges with chew repellent. You can get it in pets at home. Xx

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  5. Hello

    I can relate to this we made the very difficult decision to rehome one of our dogs this year as we just didn't have the time and they constantly attacked each other probably because they were bored. He also had quite a few behavioural issues. We found a lovely couple who take dogs in and rehome (rather then rspca who I've heard do put down healthy dogs). We took him there, I cried all the way home and then the next day went back and got him vowing to do everything I could to make it work. Unfortunately for us it didn't as the two dogs just didn't get on and then scrapping was s danger to the kids. So knowing that we tried everything we sent him back a few months later to the couple. This time I didnt cry as I knew it wad for the best. I had a lovely email and picture of home in his new home he looks happy and will have a better life so I think that makes me a responsible owner.

    Really like your blog :-)

    Amber x

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    1. Its hard. I did rehome our cat after my son was born. It was hard but I know it was for the best for us at the time. I just had a vision for us that included a big sandy dog. She's just I think my image of that dog was Tia in about 4 years time! She is lovely. I just need to bear in mind that she is a teenager effectively. She's already behaving better since we started doing some training with her and taking her out for more walks (she's never been agressive, just a bit boisterous - she's fab with the kids).

      Thanks for the lovely comment. Glad you like my blog. x

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