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Dog Ownership, Nutrition and Care: Giving Up

How to choose the right canine companion; facts about puppy stores, rescues, breeders; basic dog training, health, care and safety; choosing the right food for your dog; understanding dog food ingredient labels; behavior and training; giving up your dog.

Finding a better future for your dog

If for any unfortunate reason you were in the situation of not being able to keep your dog, here are some facts you should consider:

Shelters, animal control, humane societies:

Not all have a no-kill philosophy. Many dogs are euthanized due to easily treatable health problems, or just because there is no space to keep them. 

 

Newspaper or website ads ("free to good home")

Beware! Many cases have been reported where dog owners trying to find their dog a good home through these ads are actually giving them up to people who will use it for animal testing or bait for dog fighting rings.

 

Breed Rescues

This is probably the best way to ensure tohat your dog will find a great home to spend the rest of his life. Read more in the Dog Rescue page to learn how differently your dog will be treated and re-homed in comparison to all the options above.

Most Common Reasons


In an article published by The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), here are excerpts of interesting data from a study conducted:

Top 10 Reasons for Relinquishment

Dogs

  • Moving
  • Landlord not allowing pet
  • Too many animals in household
  • Cost of pet maintenance
  • Owner having personal problems
  • Inadequate facilities
  • No homes available for litter mates
  • Having no time for pet
  • Pet illness(es)
  • Biting

In addition to the reasons for relinquishment, the study collected data on pets being relinguished.

According to the study:

  • The majority of the surrendered dogs (47.7%) and cats (40.3%) were between 5 months and 3 years of age.
  • The majority of dogs (37.1%) and cats (30.2) had been owned from 7 months to 1 year.
  • Approximately half of the pets (42.8% of dogs; 50.8% of cats) surrendered were not neutered.
  • Many of the pets relinquished (33% of dogs; 46.9% of cats) had not been to a veterinarian.
  • Animals acquired from friends were relinquished in higher numbers (31.4% of dogs; 33.2% of cats) than from any other source.
  • Close to equal numbers of male and female dogs and cats were surrendered.
  • Most dogs (96%) had not received any obedience training.