Should You Rehome Your Dog? I did...

Normalize NOT condemning people for re-homing their pet. Why people are so harsh on folks who decide it's time to rehome I will never understand! Why would you want someone to keep a pet that is stressing them out and/or isn't a good fit for them, OR they just don't want anymore? I will never understand that mindset to make people feel bad for keeping a dog they don't want (for whatever reason). To each his/her own. Oftentimes rehoming is for the best!

This makes me think about the importance of being absolutely ready when choosing to have kids

I have a 4 month old pup. If I could go back in time I would say no thanks to getting him. I knew it would be a huge responsibility, but actually being in it, is completely different. To rehome him stresses me out because I want to make sure he'll be loved and cared for. I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but thanks for posting this.

At least you re-homed him and didn't just abandon him.

I always think its so important to not judge the owner when they rehome their dog because you don't know their reason

Pretty much described everything that happened to me. I think getting a dog is a family job. Doing it from the puppy stage by yourself is extremely difficult.

I have to re home my dog and it scares the heck out of me and it breaks my heart. Been crying all day

I rehomed my dog today... I had him for a year. And I haven’t stopped crying. My heart is broken. But I realized this needed to happen. I barely had time for him. Going through depression, made me give him less love, less care. And I tried my best to be strong. I miss him so much. Today is the first night I haven’t had him. My apartment feels so empty and quiet. I’m so upset.... I miss him so much... he was my bestfriend. My heart, I ran to him for love. I will never ever forget him... hopefully one day I can get another pup.

Going through this right now. I have someone from a farm coming to adopt it off me and I know he’ll have a better life there rather then with me, I’ve got really bad anxiety this past week. Owning a dog is a MASSIVE responsibility that I didn’t know of.

You are so honest and thoughtful and introspective! You made the best decision for you and the dog! It needed to happen because the puppy blues are so very real! My husband and I are older now and in our mid 60s. We have had 3 amazing dogs in our lifetime and lost our last one over a year ago. But since our last dog we had sold our home with a yard…moved to a condo and apartment in Boston with no yard and the children had all grown up and left the nest! So we bought this gorgeous English Labrador puppy from an amazing breeder who breeds show and service dogs. Long story after giving it our all….Exhaustion and depression and anxiety had set in deep for both of us. I read all about the puppy blues and they are real!!! We hadn't slept in 6 weeks! And without a yard or playmate, the dog was miserable…anxious all the time and wouldn’t hardly ever settle. We hated crating her and she hated it more! I called the breeder to discuss options and she said she would love to have her back on her farm with the only litter mate she had left from the 8 pups. The opportunity was just too good all the way around and best for Eloise!💝🐾💝 We experience sadness in saying goodbye to her but such great joy in seeing her back with her breeder mommy and litter mate back on the farm. Our adult children were saddened and disappointed not that they wanted her! We learned so much about this stage in our life and to embrace our freedom to travel and just be…not tied to a dog’s need and schedule. I am texting this from back in the gym on a bike…I am eating and sleeping well again…and my husband and I just celebrated our 39th anniversary with so much love and understanding and freedom to rejoice in our shared decision! Bravo to you and all out there who make this decision. Never good to be a martyr just because you feel guilty or care what anyone else thinks! Self care and healthy relationships must always come first to live your best life!💝🐾💝🐾💝

I feel bad because I’m giving up my dog tomorrow and all I can think is he wouldn’t give up on me like I’m giving up on him.. :( but at the same time we found him a GREAT HOME! With a female of his same Breed and a well off family u can love and take care of him

We have found a lovely family to rehome my 9 month old puppy. I'm heartbroken but my depression is getting worse and my pup needs more exercise than I can give him. He deserves a better life. I have seen photo's of where he will live and he's going to love it. The family are really excited. I hope he settles in quickly.

I have never felt like I feel right now. I haven’t even had my puppy for a week but I feel so overwhelmed. I’ve wanted a dog for so many years it really was my lifelong dream, now that I have her I don’t understand why I feel like this. I feel sad, anxious, I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I feel alone, I feel like I cannot do this by myself. But I love her I really do. I don’t know what is happening to me but I don’t want to feel like this anymore.

Thank you I’ve been crying about this for 2 weeks everyone kept saying keep her today I am rehoming her. Just like you I lost myself and it’s stressful. I listened to other people and I’ve kept her but I do move around a lot. Thank you I feel bad because of other people

Thank you. I am struggling after rehoming my dog 2 days ago. I really liked what you said about finding an honest and truthful answer, but not one that makes you feel good. That’s how I decided to rehome my dog.... the bad feelings after Doing it make me think I made the wrong choice. But that’s not necessarily true... I just wish I hadn’t made the choice in the first place so I wouldn’t have to feel this way now 😣

This was literally me with my chocolate lab. I’d had him for almost 2 years since he was a puppy. I really didn’t want to do it, but the financial and psychological burden of it was too much. He’d bark like crazy when people came over and would throw a fit if he couldn’t come and jump on people. Mind you, he was trained not to do this and I didn’t let up on his training. He was always either outside or crated when I wasn’t there because he would tear things up if I wasn’t there. He chewed up a HS graduation gift that was a handmade wallet and I was so upset. I found myself leaving things way earlier than I wanted or needed because I had to tend to my dog. I ended up rehoming him after attempting to have my friend take care of him and she said he was a full-time job. In one night, he destroyed two pairs of shoes, a carpet, pooped and smeared it into a different carpet, and got a complaint filed with the front office. One night. He was a very smart dog, smart enough to know that he was being disobedient and would do it only when he got an attitude. I’m very glad I did what I did because I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Thank you for sharing, it really helped me to deal with my emotion, it been a roller coaster past week. I just recently decided to rehome my 12 weeks old puppy. My husband and I thought it was a perfect time in our life to have a dog, I have a huge back yard, my 2 girls are just in love with our dog and my mom who's with us 5 days a week so, the dog is never alone. Raising a puppy is not easy, the reality hits after 2 wks with our puppy, the demand is more than we expected and came to the realization we are not fit to have any pets. Having a puppy is accepting the good and bad owning a dog, although we enjoyed having him and my daughters love him. My husband and I can't fully cope with our dog being fully dependent on us for the rest of his life and I'm not referring the dog expense. The decision was not easy, I have to make sure my girls are ok and I told them they did a fantastic job taking care of him while mommy and daddy are working. It's not their fault but ours for putting everyone in this sad situation. Our puppy needs to be in a home that let him be a puppy and mature into a good dog. He's leaving us in a couple of days. I'm happy my friend decided to adopt him, we will be able to visit him and see grow. But, can't help feeling the sadness of him leaving our home. Our home was supposed to a permanent home for him.

Going through the anxiety (cant eat and cant sleep) right now and have been told that this is normal as well. Just want to know my options if I cant get past this crazy anxiety I'm having. Even grew up with dogs and helped raise puppies in my home, so I knew the work involved. The anxiety is from this being my first dog completely on my own. I really appreciate hearing this.

Thanks for sharing this experience. I recognize your feelings. We are currently thinking of rehoming the dog that we got 11 days ago, even though a dog has been our dream for many years. The responsibility is bigger than we thought, but she also seems to have bad separation anxiety. On top of that, the shelter we got her from said that kids visiting us would be okay - but the dog reacted aggressively towards my nephew, who was just standing there. We'll be seeing a therapist tomorrow. It's reassuring to see that we're not the only people who experience strong feelings of doubt. We wish this dog the best, but we feel that the current situation might not be what's best for her (or us).

Thank you, having doubts about rehoming our pup. This video really helped me see it’s not the best time for us to have a second dog and better for the pup to go to a loving family who will have more time for him x