Trying to rehome

Laafet

Laafet

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Joined
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Suffolk
adventuresinblackandwhite.co.uk
Hey, it's been a while but figured you guys may know what it's like. We've been registered with all the major dog rehomers and some of the smaller ones and in 6 months, we've not even had a sniff of a dog. When we do see ones on line they are reserved before we've seen them.
We went over to Dogs Trust on Sunday to see if talking to them inperson might help. Seemingly our main issue is we have a cat and apparently that's a problem. We've had many rescues over the years and also always had cats and its not been this much of an issue.
Our set up is semi rural bungalow with big garden etc. One person at home all day, my mum, I own the house and work 4 days in office one WFH. Both experienced with challenging dogs. We are wanting a medium to smaller dog now due to Mum being older and We've never had big dogs anyway.
It's so frustrating but is this how it is? I don't want a puppy or to risk buying some poor soul off pets for homes.
Barley died of old age last July and it's been awful being so long without a dog.
 
Do you follow any of the smaller ones on FB? I applied recently to one I follow on FB and they wanted to home check me the next day.

My brother also recently rehomed via the dogs Trust. They were on the list for nearly a year until they were brilliantly matched with a fantastic dog.
 
Sorry you're having such a tough time adopting, we saw Tala on dogs trust site last year and it was fairly easy to complete her adoption, mind you she had been with them 18 months, had 3 failed rehomes in that time and apparently most of the staff weren't keen on her so maybe they just wanted rid 😂
It always amazes me though who they will and won't give dogs to.
Edited to add that when we got our RSPCA boy we did tell a few white lies to be more in line with their policies.
 
I sincerely wish you all the best 🤞

When we sadly lost old Poppy-dog in 2023, I was adamant I wasn't having a puppy, hadn't had a puppy this century, purely rescues. Poppy dog came via dog warden (a friend).
We registered up with various charities, got failed on a home visit by one as 12ft of our garden had 4ft high chain link fence as 2 of the neighbours panels had gone in storms. Was told we had to be 6ft (despite us only wanting a small/toy breed.

Like you, every potential one was 'reserved' when it came up on line.
One foreign rescue wanted £500 for an un spayed 1yr old, offering a £100 voucher to get her done. Cost at my vets is around £350 then, teeth also required attention.

In exasperation, I did what I wasn't going to do ..... bought a puppy.
Had had 1st jab already (had 2nd one the day we got her ) and had been in a car regularly so was cool with that too, plus was used to a pen/crate set up.
Yes, the 1st few days settling in was busy, but greatly helped by our huge 7,5kg fluffy senior cat who was only too happy to escort on garden visits etc. He was tickled pink that we'd bought him a (then) 2.2kg pet!🤣
At 12 weeks she came to the office with me for 1.5 days a week, I was v fortunate it was a dog friendly workplace!

Good luck x
 
I sympathise!

6ft fencing in a private enclosed garden, single owner occupied house, no visiting children or other pets in the house, had dogs all my childhood including the type I'd like to adopt, no holidays booked, would need a dog that is non-reactive due to needing them to come into the dog friendly office with me 3x per week where one other friendly dog visits in another room... cannot get a sniff of a dog anywhere. They answer and then go completely off the radar!

I then tried to see if somewhere would allow me a cat thinking perhaps something was wrong with my set up, and they all seemed to be unhappy with the fact that my road leads onto a busy road... don't most roads end up on a bigger road? Isn't that how roads work?

I have paused my search for now but will likely end up taking one from pets for homes locally I imagine.
 
Once again I will promote ex racing greyhounds.

Usually very good on lead, crate and muzzle trained, really easy to house train as they have bladder control. Do not need a lot of exercise and some can be cat friendly. The trainers used by North Yorkshire greyhound trust branch will cat test dogs for rehoming if asked.

Most branches of the GT are realistic about homes and working hours too.
 
rabatsa said:
Once again I will promote ex racing greyhounds.

Usually very good on lead, crate and muzzle trained, really easy to house train as they have bladder control. Do not need a lot of exercise and some can be cat friendly. The trainers used by North Yorkshire greyhound trust branch will cat test dogs for rehoming if asked.

Most branches of the GT are realistic about homes and working hours too.
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I was just going to say the same thing, I see plenty who are cat savvy. Easy dogs. Mine loves and is terrified of my cat in equal measure!
 
Maybe look at a breed specific rescue for a particular type?

We'd be screwed, both of ours are entire and love every dog they ever meet so wouldn't be an issue, imo. I just think one of them isn't keen on very bouncy youngsters, so if ever we adopt, we'd need multiple meet ups.
 
We've adopted 3 and been instrumental in 2 friends also adopting from the same charity near Belfast. It's a gundog Rescue and rehoming charity although they do also sometimes have non gundog breeds in as well. Some are genuine rehomes from people no longer able to care for their pets, some are abandoned ones from the pound,.
We filled in the online form and did a video walk round of our place. They have a weekly transporter over to the mainland.
 
Laafet said:
Hey, it's been a while but figured you guys may know what it's like. We've been registered with all the major dog rehomers and some of the smaller ones and in 6 months, we've not even had a sniff of a dog. When we do see ones on line they are reserved before we've seen them.
We went over to Dogs Trust on Sunday to see if talking to them inperson might help. Seemingly our main issue is we have a cat and apparently that's a problem. We've had many rescues over the years and also always had cats and its not been this much of an issue.
Our set up is semi rural bungalow with big garden etc. One person at home all day, my mum, I own the house and work 4 days in office one WFH. Both experienced with challenging dogs. We are wanting a medium to smaller dog now due to Mum being older and We've never had big dogs anyway.
It's so frustrating but is this how it is? I don't want a puppy or to risk buying some poor soul off pets for homes.
Barley died of old age last July and it's been awful being so long without a dog.
Click to expand...
Wish you were over here.. I’m going to be rehoming one of my borderwhippets and you sound like the type of person I’d be looking for.
 
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rabatsa said:
Once again I will promote ex racing greyhounds.

Usually very good on lead, crate and muzzle trained, really easy to house train as they have bladder control. Do not need a lot of exercise and some can be cat friendly. The trainers used by North Yorkshire greyhound trust branch will cat test dogs for rehoming if asked.

Most branches of the GT are realistic about homes and working hours too.
Click to expand...
Agree! As someone that volunteers for a freyhound rehoming charity it is doable with cats if you have the right greyhound - a lot of the small no trust rescues will also cat test (we can't as we don't have any cats....). Durham, Norfolk and Kent cat test greyhounds also.

Also the breed specific rescues can (esp sighthounds) are a bit more relaxed than the larger national rehoming centres and often more savvy about where they'd fit in
 
Laafet said:
Hey, it's been a while but figured you guys may know what it's like. We've been registered with all the major dog rehomers and some of the smaller ones and in 6 months, we've not even had a sniff of a dog. When we do see ones on line they are reserved before we've seen them.
We went over to Dogs Trust on Sunday to see if talking to them inperson might help. Seemingly our main issue is we have a cat and apparently that's a problem. We've had many rescues over the years and also always had cats and its not been this much of an issue.
Our set up is semi rural bungalow with big garden etc. One person at home all day, my mum, I own the house and work 4 days in office one WFH. Both experienced with challenging dogs. We are wanting a medium to smaller dog now due to Mum being older and We've never had big dogs anyway.
It's so frustrating but is this how it is? I don't want a puppy or to risk buying some poor soul off pets for homes.
Barley died of old age last July and it's been awful being so long without a dog.
Click to expand...
Why don’t you try ‘preloved’ or one other of the second hand sites? Not uncommon to find surplus dogs due to bereavement, changed housing, circumstances, etc - they’re not all scammy breeders and dealers! And they will be dogs in need of a home, which is what you’re trying to provide. Good luck.
 
Exasperated said:
Why don’t you try ‘preloved’ or one other of the second hand sites? Not uncommon to find surplus dogs due to bereavement, changed housing, circumstances, etc - they’re not all scammy breeders and dealers! And they will be dogs in need of a home, which is what you’re trying to provide. Good luck.
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That is where we found our brown Lab. She was 5 1/2 months old, living with a 1 yr old Lab dog and an older GSD. Her family had just learned of 2 major life changes and she needed to be rehomed as they simply hadn't time for her. She cost a similar amount to that required by Dogs Trust, no-one was making a profit.
 
A friend of mine takes in dogs seized or given over to the Police. Over the last few years she’s had a right mix, from puppies under a year old who were just given up by daffy owners who hadn’t realises a Springer wouldn’t work for a housebound widow in her 80’s, to bitches being used for breeding, retired Police dogs, seized gun dogs, elderly poodles and all types in between. She often has to wait until the court action has been completed. Anyway, what i’m not very successfully saying is that all Police forces will be in a similar situation, it’s worth calling them - try the Dog Unit. DM me if you are planning a visit to Devon and want to be put in touch.
 
I would definitely look at the smaller rescues, and even some of the local "dogs home" type places. There are some local to me where you can literally walk in and walk back out with a dog, not saying that is exactly the right approach either but they definitely don't have all the red tape around adopting that the bigger organisations do.

We actually got our adult dog off Gumtree, he was in a home where they completely couldn't cope with him (14 month old Springer) and though he wasn't technically a 'rescue', he was a dog that needed a new/better home.
 
We got our latest dog from Preloved she had been handed over twice already but last one because of an eviction and to many other dogs. She had not been mistreated and has actually been our best dog ever. Lots of dogs on there seem to be young dogs with people not wanting the bother but some are truly needing rehoming good luck
 
Probably not the very best way to go about it but I saw someone advertising on FB just the past few days and they were looking to rehome (as in they were offering a home not trying to find one) a spaniel bitch as a pet. They had several suggestions of spaniel rescues but also at least 3 private offers.
I’m not sure the outcome but presume you could visit/meet and speak to the owners first to see if one was suitable.
 
Have you tried Wallace kennels in Essex? 7 month old yorkie/Jack Russell says not tested with cats but at 7 months could be suitable?
 

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We went to one rehoming center and they said they didn't re-home to anyone with a cat. We were quite surprised they had such a rigid rule!
Anyway we then went to a smaller rescue and re-homed easily. So, my advice would be to just keep trying and register with as many centers as you can.

The Dogs Trust don't put many dogs online so you tend to see long stayers on there or they'll already have been re-homed. The most successful way is to keep turning up and seeing what new arrivals they have.

The Blue Cross put the majority of dogs online as you can't just turn up and visit the dogs without an appointment. Have you got a Blue Cross near to you?
 
If you know what kind of dog you’d ideally like then looking at breed rescues might be the way to go as some of them can be a bit more real world realistic.

The downside to this is that smaller rescues are less likely to be able to cat test and so may only allow dogs who have previously been known to live with cats be rehomed with them.

If you give a vague idea of area someone may be able to suggest somewhere less likely to be bothered by the cats
 
There are loads and loads of rescues advertising dogs on FB. You will have to jump through the hoops / obstacles they put in your way. This is as much to protect the dogs as it is to frustrate you. You will have to agree to a home check, some organisations will accept the HC from other organisations and some won’t, It can take a while for a dog to be assessed, have vet checks carried out and then start the process of finding a home. There is definitely a big reduction in people offering to rehome and applications have dwindled form up wards of 30 for a reasonably straightforward dog to one or two chancers. Some dogs will be fine with cats and some won’t. Visiting kennels won’t get you any further up the ladder unless it’s somewhere like a council pound as most reputable organisations use volunteers to foster dogs and carry out assessments before their bio is written up. Smaller breed rescues are usually well organised but you’ll need to have knowledge of the breed. Good luck.
 
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