Options Other Than Rescue

HOW TO FIND A NEW HOME FOR YOUR BEAGLE (or any breed)

This information was adapted from
"When You Can't Keep Your Chow Chow"
written by Karen Privitello, Lisa Hrico & Barbara Malone.

Reproduced & Excerpted with Permission.

Not that long ago, you were thrilled to have a Beagle puppy of your very own. You never dreamed you'd have to give him up someday. Even if you can't keep him any more, your dog still depends on you to do what's best for him, just like he depended on you when he was a puppy. Now, more than ever, he needs you to make the right choices for his future.

Throughout this page, we're going to be direct and honest with you. Your dog is your responsibility. He has no one else but you to look out for his interests. It will take effort, patience and persistence to find him the right home. He deserves your best efforts.

Finding a new home involves several steps. Before you start, there are some important things you should know about...

Animal Shelters | "No-Kill" Shelters/Rescues | Soul Searching

...about Animal Shelters...

Shelters and humane societies were created to care for stray and abused animals. They weren't meant to be a drop-off for people who don't want their pets anymore. Shelters, on average, take in 100 new animals or more each day. Let's face it - there won't be enough good homes for all of them. Even the best shelters can't boast much more than a 50% adoption rate. Only the youngest, friendliest, cutest and best behaved dogs are going to be adopted.

By law, stray pets must be kept several days for their owners to reclaim them. They may not be destroyed until that period is up. Dogs given up by their owners aren't protected by these laws. They may be destroyed at any time. Shelters don't want to kill all these animals but they don't have a choice. There just isn't enough room for all of them. Shelters today are so overcrowded that your dog could be killed the same day it arrives.

Being purebred won't help your dog's chances of adoption either - almost half of the dogs in many shelters are purebreds. If your [Beagle] is old, has health problems or a poor attitude toward strangers, its chances of adoption are slim to none.

Sending your dog to a shelter in hopes that he'll find a good home is wishful thinking. It's more likely that you'll be signing your [Beagle's] death warrant. A shelter is your last resort only after all your best efforts have failed.

... about "No-Kill" shelters and Breed Rescue services ...

True "no-kill" shelters are few and far between. Obviously, no one wants to see their pet killed so the demand for no-kill shelter services is high. So high that they're forced to turn away many pets because they don't have room for them all. Sometimes they have to choose only the most adoptable dogs to work with.

Breed Rescue services are small, private groups run by volunteers dedicated to a particular breed. Most of them operate out of the volunteer's home. Like no-kill shelters, demand for their services is high, so high that your dog may be turned away for lack of room. A breed rescue can still help you place your dog by providing referrals to persons interested in adopting your dog. You'll have the most success if you follow the rescue service's advice and are willing to do your share of the work to find a new home.

... Soul Searching ...

Do you really have to give up your [Beagle]? There's a big difference between being forced to give up your dog and wanting to "get rid of him". Search your heart for the real reason why your dog can't live with you anymore. Be honest with yourself. Your answer will probably fall into one of two categories: People Problems or Dog Problems.

The Most Common People Problems:

"We're moving - we can't find a landlord who'll let us keep our dog."....... Many landlords don't allow children either but you'd never give up one of your kids if you couldn't find the right apartment. Affordable rental homes that allow pets are out there if you work to find them. Most people give up too easily. Click here for suggestions that might help you find an apartment and still keep your dog.

"We don't have enough time for the dog".......as a puppy, your dog took far more of your time than he does now. Are you really that busy? Can other members of your family help care for the dog? Will getting rid of your [Beagle] really make your life less stressful? When they look closely at their lives, people often discover that the dog isn't cramping their style as much as they think.

The Most Common Dog Problems:

Behavior problems.........If you got your dog as a puppy and he now has a behavior problem you can't live with, you must accept the fact that you are at least partly responsible for the way your dog is now.

You have 4 options:

1. You can continue to live with your dog the way he is.

2. You can get help to correct the problem.

3. You can try to give your problem to someone else.

4. You can have the dog destroyed.

Obviously the first option is out or you wouldn't be reading this page. You're probably most interested in Option 3 so let's talk frankly about that for a moment.

If you were looking for a dog and could select from all kinds of dogs and puppies, would you deliberately choose one with a behavior problem?

No, certainly not - and neither would anyone else. To make your dog desirable to other people, you're going to have to take some action to fix his problems.

Most behavior problems aren't that hard to solve. We can help you with them if you'll give it a try. Think hard about Option 2 before deciding it won't work for you - because the only option you have left is number 4: Having the dog destroyed. That's the bottom line. If you, who know and love the dog best, won't give him another chance, why should anyone else? Think about that.

**IF YOUR DOG HAS EVER BITTEN ANYONE...

If your dog is aggressive with people or has ever bitten anyone, you can't, in good conscience, give him to anyone else. Could you live with yourself if that dog hurt another person, especially a child? Can you deal with the lawsuit that could result from it? You stand to lose your home and everything else you own. Lawsuits from dog bites are settling for millions of dollars in damages.

Our society today has zero tolerance for a dog with a bite history, no matter how minor. A dog that has bitten - whether or not it was his fault - is considered by law to be a dangerous dog. In some states, it's illegal to sell or give away a biting dog. No insurance company will cover a family with a biting dog. And to be perfectly honest, no responsible person in his right mind would want to adopt a biting dog.

So you've read this far, and still feel that you need to give away your Beagle.  Please click here to explore how to proceed with finding a home for your Beagle on your own. 

We thank the Chow Chow Club Inc.'s Welfare Committee for permission to reprint the above.

Cascade Beagle Rescue, Inc. - A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization
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