Removing Your Dog from Your Home

Sometimes a dog comes into people’s lives and things take an unexpected turn…well, more like a gradual curve of slow change.

You’re in over your head and the life you imagined with your dog is a far cry from what you’re actually living day to day.

The experience screws with your emotions big time because there are good moments laced in with the bad ones, and although you’re frustrated, scared, or exhausted; a part of you does love them. A lot.

But here’s the thing, whether you researched the heck out of that particular breed of dog, or you got it on an impulse, you made a decision based off of the information you had at the time. As your dog’s behaviour starts to shift and you realize you want off the ride, what do you do?

Do you re-home the dog? Spend money on a trainer? Give it to a shelter? Euthanize it?

I, unfortunately, can’t answer that for you. I would hope every effort would be made to solve the issues but really, whatever decision you make is the right one for your family. Don’t fear the judgement of others around you.

If you’re getting put through the wringer, you have to save yourself. Your sanity. The truth of it is, owning a dog doesn’t have to be so hard.  If it’s unbearably hard then it may not be a good match and this happens sometimes.

We also have to start looking at what kind of life the dog is living. Is it constantly stressed out, under exercised, lashing out at their people, fearful of its environment? These things usually happen with dogs when the human isn’t fulfilling the dogs needs.

We need to remember that everyone’s effort in dog ownership is different. While some wake up at the crack of dawn to exercise their dog, others are on the couch for the 3rd day in a row while depression takes over. Both people got the dog for companionship – it’s just the void the dog is filling is different.  But if the runner got a 10 year old Pekinese and the one battling mental heath got a 1 year old Pointer, and their dogs are true to their breeds, no amount of anything is going to make those dogs fit in those boxes. The dog can’t fulfill the humans needs or the human can’t fulfill the dog’s needs.

Everyone’s threshold of tolerance is different. What one may see as totally out of control, others think “huh…he’s not that bad?” As outsiders, it can be easy to look in at a situation and see what we’d do differently but how are we to know what someone else’s breaking point is?

What about those people who cycle through dogs, making bad choices constantly? Good chance that’s trickling into other areas of their life and not just dogs are disposable….

But majority of people living through this have their “come-to-Jesus” moment, take accountability for the situation they’re in (as it’s very rarely the dog’s fault), and make a huge effort to not have a repeat situation with their next dog. Whether it’s better breed research, reaching out to a trainer before they bring the new puppy/dog home, or wait until they get their life in order before adding a dog; they’ve changed for the better.

Those who make the decision to remove a dog from the home, knowing they’re breaking their own heart, should be able to love a dog again.