Rehoming a dog after the owner dies

kr15snw

Need a bit of advice really. My step nan died over the weekend and her family (she was my dads step mum so were not close to her blood family, just to her) have decided they can no longer look after her dog oscar. They have dogs and unfortunately Oscar doesnt get on with other dogs very well and its just not working. We tried taking him in but he doesnt like our dogs either

We thought we would be ok as my nan was donating to a charity that takes in pets after their owners have died. They then either keep them in one of their sacuturies, but try to rehome them with other elderly people who have lost their pets. My nan wanted Oscar to go there so donated quite a bit of cash. The charity doesnt ask for money but says that they would like to think that some money could be donated to help cover the cost. There is no registration etc.

Well we rang them and their exact words were 'sorry were full'. We explained the situation and asked to be placed on a waiting list to be told 'we dont do that, have you tried taking him to your local cats and dogs home?'. Oscar was in a home for at least 3 years before my nan came and adopted him. Hes a lovely dog and great with children, just doesnt like dogs bigger than him (hes slightly smaller than our springer).

We dont know what to do! We are really hurt that they charity wont take him, especially as they have had donations from our nan and were going to have money left to them through donations from family (nan had requested we donated instead of giving flowers at funeral). Well were pretty sure we wont be doing that anymore and will be picking another charity. We really dont want him to go in a home as hes nearly 12 and has probably only got another year or so left. Its obvious hes missing our nan aswell, which breaks our heart

Any advice? Does anyone know of any other charities that may be able to help? We cant take him, and weve tried all other members of the family and her family have the same problem as us. And we really dont want to take him to the cats and dogs home.

Any advice gratefully recieved.

(Sorry for the length)

Kimberley

The poor little thing, how old is he? Are you sure you can't work with him to like other dogs? Maybe a dog behaviourist can help?

Maybe your only other option is a dogs home, it's a sad situation but please try everything you can to keep him.

kr15snw

Hes nearly 12 which is why were desperate not to put him in a home.

Weve spoken to our family vet who is a dog behaviourist and she doesnt reccomend we take him as she knows our dogs (our male also doesnt like other dogs, other than his sister who lives with us). She said its more risky to try and work on it as one of them could get harmed. It also doesnt help that were picking up a 6 week old kitten on thursday (brothers cat got pregnant, desperate for homes). The vet thinks that there is a chance the cat could definately come off worse if there are two dogs who may have problems.

Plus theres the fact that we think its too much for my mum. Were all out of the house all day (uni and work) and its only my mum at home. We currently have 2 dogs, a cat (well will do soon), a parrot and a tortoise. As you can imagine all need daily care and the cat is going to need constant watching for the first few weeks.

Thank you for your thoughts though Were doing all we can, just hoping there may be another charity to take him.

Zingara

Can't advise on the rest, but kittens really shouldn't be separated from the mother until at least 8 weeks old so if your brother can keep them for another 2 weeks it will be a lot better for your kitten.

Karen
x

kr15snw

The vet says the kittens are ready to go (she saw them beginning of the week), she said its normally 6 - 8 weeks but depends on weaning. None are suckling from mum now and are all on solids and being little darlings / gits. Hehe

midlandsfairy

what about putting a note on the noticeboard of some local vets? Someone might be looking for another dog that has come from a loving home or might be at the vet with another animal that could live happily with a dog? It might be worth putting a couple of notes up for a week or two if there is someone to look after the dog very short term? Like you said, the dogs home is the last option.

Maybe also try doing a google search for any local charities? I found my guinea pigs through a local guinea pig rescue and rabbit rescue... I didn't even know it existed til I did a random google search one day

Hope that helps, fingers crossed you manage to get something sorted

Twopints

There's something called Oldies Club which is supposed to re-house older dogs - have you tried them ?

Oldies Club

I've never used them so can't comment on whether they are any good.

verynewmoneysaver

Have a look at Dogpages on the internet. They have a section for rehoming dogs.

Kimberley

kr15snw wrote: »

The vet says the kittens are ready to go (she saw them beginning of the week), she said its normally 6 - 8 weeks but depends on weaning. None are suckling from mum now and are all on solids and being little darlings / gits. Hehe

If they are on solids and non dependant on mum then yes they are ready to go.:p

claireandella

We took on a Jack Russell !!!!! a few years ago after her owner died, because the alternative was that she be put down. We'd never met her, or her owner, and didn't want a dog- just felt sorry for her and heard her plight through friends. we took her the morning she was booked in for the injection. Stupidly, we didn't think it through and we weren't told that she didn't like men or cats (I have a partner and then had 3 cats). After a few weeks, it was obvious that she was very unhappy and i was starting to wonder if we should have let her go to the vets after all... I spoke to the RSPCA but they weren't encouraging about her chances and we couldn't bear to think of her in a cage given her age and slim chance of being homed.

Eventually I advertised locally, as she wouldn't eat or settle, although I had real misgivings and have always firmly believed that an animal becomes your responsibility for life once you take it on. I was extremely specific about the type of home she was looking for and requested that the people who contacted me provide their vets details and allowed me to home check them (I asked the RSPCA for tips on this- sounds extreme but it worked)! I know that some people on here will say I have a cheek and I should be grateful that anyone was prepared to take her but I was really worried that someone would contact me because they felt sorry for her and hadn't thought it through (like us) or had worse intentions for her.

Everyone who contacted me was very nice and a I visited a couple before finding the ideal home. The first two were just kindly offering because they felt sorry for her (and one didn't have much garden and no experience of dogs), the last lady had two male Jack Russells who were even older than our dog, really wanted a girl and had a nice safe garden with lots of open space. I did keep in touch and agreed to have her back if she didn't settle but it seemed to work out fine.

if you think this approach isn't for you, I wonder if it's worth you contacting a few local vets to see if anyone has had a dog die recently who might be prepared to take him on? Or maybe contact some local dog training organisations or good companions groups where they might know of someone who has lost a husband/wife and might be prepared to take your dog on to help with the lonliness. After we rehomed our dog, several people suggested friends of theirs in this position who would have welcomed a dog in similar circumstances! Also, your dogs age might not be a drawback for an older person- I bet many pensioners don't replace much-loved dogs because they are worried that a puppy might outlive them.

Sorry to go on, good luck

Penny_Watcher

Well done Kr15snw for taking on the responsibility of rehoming Oscar :T

We took on another dog last week at 24 hours notice that was destined for the vets because his previous owners couldn't cope with his boisterous behaviour. They'd "been told :mad: " that he'd have no chance in a rehoming centre as he was too badly behaved (he's asleep at my feet at the moment, good as gold.) He's only just over a year old, but he'd been left alone all day and rarely walked. Surprise, surprise - he was very pleased to see his previous owners when they eventually came home :mad:

Anyway the point of this post is to give tips to anyone introducing a new dog to dog/dogs you already have.

• Introduce your dogs on neutral territory, for example on a walk that none of the dogs are familiar with.
• Let them sniff around for a while, without any fights being allowed to develop.
• Distract the dogs every now and again to stop things becoming too intense.
• If all goes well take all the mutts home :j

We did this last week and after a few teething problems (readjusting the pecking order) all the dogs are happy as Larry! Fat Dog has someone to love and hug and is New Dog's No. 1 Fan. Thin Dog has someone who can keep up in a game of chase. New Dog is part of a small pack and has a whole new family. Win win situation all round We've been very lucky :rolleyes:

I think this worked because all the dogs are very young (3,2 & 1) and not very territorial - and the Fat Dog is a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic . As other posters have said it's far more difficult with older, more dominant dogs.