“A dog is a commitment for life.”

“I’d sleep in my car before I’d give up my dog.”

“Would you give up your children?”

Dog at the Sacramento County Shelter

The quotes above are all things that animal advocates tend to say on social media sites whenever there is a post about someone who needs to give up his or her dog. Because I am with a Pit Bull rescue organization, I get hundreds of emails every year from people who need to “surrender” or “donate” their dogs to us. Whenever possible, I try to steer people to resources that might help them either keep or responsibly rehome their dogs.

And, while I do think that dogs are a 10-18 year commitment and many people give up dogs for just plain selfish reasons, I also recognize that there are situations where people legitimately need to rehome their pets (and when doing so would be in the best interest of the pet). Of course, anyone who is just taking the easy way out after getting tired of his dog is still going to give up the dog, and telling that person he shouldn’t do so isn’t going to make him keep the dog (and even if he did, the dog would likely be woefully neglected).

Therefore, I’m writing this blog post so I can offer this link to anyone who does email me about needing to surrender a dog and to give resources to anyone searching about how to rehome a dog.

I’ll start with the most important piece of advise first….

Be Sure You Can Commit Before You Get a Dog

Don’t get a dog if you’re not in a position to commit to the dog for the next 15 years. Yes, I realize circumstances change, but if you know your situation is precarious and unpredictable, don’t get a dog. This applies to many college students, military personnel (especially those subject to deployment who don’t have family sticking in one place to care for the dog), those with unpredictable employment or serious financial problems, and people facing serious health issues with an uncertain future and little family support (and I’m saddened by such circumstances, but the reality is, it’s likely not a good time to take on a 15 year commitment). I recognize there are exceptions to every rule, so if you must comment about how it worked out for you, that’s perfectly okay, but realize these are some of the most common situations in which people end up needing to rehome pets. If you feel like you need a dog in your life during such a period of time, consider fostering.

Recognize it can be hard to find a good place to rent with a dog, so if you aren’t absolutely willing to take some crappy, tiny house in a terrible part of town, if that’s what it takes to keep your dog, don’t get a dog. Of course, if you’re sure you’re going to be in your current residence for at least 15 years, then great, but the reality is, most people cannot realistically be sure about that. The future is not predictable.

Finding housing is especially difficult for owners of certain breeds like Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. Securing a nice place to live can take time and be filled with frustration. Housing issues are the number one reason folks give for needing to give up their dogs. In fact, we created a PSA on that very subject. Yes, you can find a place to rent with a Pit Bull. I promise. I’ve done it myself. It just means you might need to live somewhere you’d rather not, at least for awhile.

Don’t get a dog if you currently have existing pets and it’s a deal breaker for you if the animals don’t absolutely always get along in the future. In that case, stick to one pet. If you’re not willing to separate or crate and rotate or make some adjustments to your place via baby gates or kennels just in case your animals don’t always feel the love toward one another, it is best if you stay with a one animal household. If you decide to forge ahead anyway, even if pet conflicts are a deal breaker, at the very least be absolutely willing to keep BOTH animals until you can responsibly rehome one of them with the right person.

Choosing to Rehome Your Dog

Even if you are the best owner and you thought carefully before getting a dog, sometimes things do happen (terminal illness or other unexpected medical issues, among other things). If you have to rehome your dog, please try to do so in the most responsible way possible for your circumstances. My suggestions below are guidelines.

1. Rehome your dog yourself, as I mentioned above. Don’t try to give the dog to a shelter or rescue. If you are rehoming your dog due to conflicts with other animals in the home, please take the time to rehome one of the pets (ideally, the easier to place pet). Of course, if you have three or more pets and one is the problem, then you may have to rehome that more difficult one. Recognize it can take a long time to rehome a dog, especially one that doesn’t get along well with other animals.Make sure you keep the problem dog away from your other animals while you search for her new home. That means getting a SECURE crate (see this one if you have an escape artist), and putting that crate in another room for anytime when you’re away. Consider an outdoor, shaded kennel (dig proof, with a top) if you need to be gone during the workweek. Crate and rotate. Be diligent. Do that for as long as it takes while you market your dog on Facebook, Instagram, and yes, even Craigslist. Of course, make sure your pet is chipped, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered prior to rehoming him or her.When you do get someone interested, screen that person. Interview him or her on the phone and ask for a couple of references (at least one professional like a veterinarian, groomer, or even coworker). Check out their home (take along a buddy if you feel unsafe doing so alone). Let the person have a trial adoption period with their new pet and charge a low but reasonable rehoming fee. Of course, be willing to take the dog back if it doesn’t work out with the new owner.

2. Board your dog until you can figure out something better.
This can be an expensive and impractical solution in the long term, but some folks have had luck putting a call out on social media and offering a flat monthly fee (say, $200/month) to someone willing to house their dog for a few months. That gives you some time to find a new place to rent or make other arrangements for the dog. Just make sure you screen the person carefully.

3. Show them the money!
If for some reason time is not on your side and you cannot board your dog, then shell out as much money as you can and offer it to local rescues willing to take your dog. Research the rescue. Make sure the rescue is legitimate and treats dogs well, and when you find one you trust, offer them as much money as you can to take your dog. Does this sound crass? Absolutely, but running in the red is often a reality of rescue work (especially Pit Bull rescue).  Let me dampen your hopes, however. A reputable rescue won’t take a dog it otherwise would not have taken just because money is attached. Chako gets offers to take dogs that come with sponsorships or other money all the time, and we rarely take them in because we almost always run full or have another dog slated to take an opening foster space. However, if a rescue happens to have an open foster space, and there are two dogs that are equally a match for that one foster space, then, yes, the donation might just make the difference. Plus, it’s your dog, and you should offer up some money to help the organization with expenses like food, vet care, advertising, etc.

4. If all else fails, surrender your dog to a shelter, but…
Please don’t surrender a senior dog to a shelter. Don’t surrender any dog, of any age, to a high-kill shelter. I know this isn’t easy to hear, but the truth is simple and brutal. It is far kinder to give your dog a fantastic couple of final days with you, in her home, eating hamburgers and doing all her favorite things, then to force her to spend her final days scared and alone in a crowded, noisy shelter wondering why she is there and when you’re coming back. If, on the other hand, you are lucky enough to live near an animal shelter that has a low euthanasia rate, talk to the staff when you surrender your dog. Ask if you can sign up to volunteer at the shelter. If the shelter is okay with that (and most will be), visit your dog and others as many times in a week as you can. Take him for walks. Play ball in the exercise yards, etc. But here is a caveat to remember: once you surrender your dog to the shelter, that dog becomes the shelter’s property. Recognize the shelter might have to make a tough decision about the dog you surrendered. If they do, that’s not the time to throw a fit over the shelter’s decision. Ultimately, it was your decision to give up your dog.

I hope this advice helps. Yes, all of the advice I’ve given involves some tough decisions and hard work. Hopefully, if you’re reading this blog, you believe your dog is worth that effort. Good luck.

It is well-known that dog saliva has anti-bacterial properties. Chako Pit Bull Rescue volunteers have access to huge amounts of dog saliva as part of their daily work with rescued and shelter Pit Bulls in need.

Our volunteers are now capturing excess dog saliva and bottling it. Our all-natural anti-bacterial dog saliva will be sold for $2 for each 3-ounce bottle, and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to our rescue efforts. No dogs are harmed during the collection process. Volunteers are able to collect free flowing drool by holding treats in front of drool-prone dogs. Other volunteers reclaim saliva left on cheeks, necks and hands.

Look for sales of Chako’s anti-bacterial hand gel soon!

Adoptable Pit Bull Tiger is one of our saliva donors!

Today, I’m going to talk about something that is well known in rescue circles, but not something that people really shine the light on in social media. Today, I’m going to talk about the plight of the average shelter or rescue dog…the dog that is not emaciated, with bones sticking out, doesn’t have a cleft palate or three legs, didn’t make the  news because of some celebrity dog fighting case, and is therefore more likely to end up taking that short walk into some room where a syringe full of pink medicine ends his or her life.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It is GREAT that rescues take on these hard cases. Chako has taken on a lot of medical cases, such as little Sabrina (aka Oreo) who was blind from birth, Hank, who had a juvenile autoimmune condition and needed MANY months of treatment before he could be adopted, and Henry, who had one of the absolutely worst cases of demodex we’ve ever seen when he came to us (literally, small pieces of him were falling off as he waddled).

Sabrina was born blind and needed surgery to remove her deformed eyes so that she would not be susceptible to infections.

Let’s talk about the Michael Vick dogs. They got national media attention. They were flown to rescues all over the nation, thousands of miles away. Meanwhile, the shelter dogs in those communities thousands of miles away that didn’t have media cameras pointed at them languished in their kennels; many took their last breaths in those shelters. No cameras captured their last moments. Not enough people cared about them because they weren’t famous and didn’t come with large sums of money.

Let’s talk about the three-legged puppies, the swimmer’s puppies, the puppies with knuckling over (which Chako has taken, as well). These dogs do need homes, and yes, they are more expensive to rescue, certainly.

Spunky Brewster was a pup was pulled from a shelter. She suffered from a condition known as knuckling over, which is often caused by poor nutrition.

However, they also tend to get a lot of attention. People feel sorry for them. More people, it seems, become interested in adopting them and showering them with much-deserved love to make up for the hardships they’ve endured.

That is all perfectly okay. It is understandable. There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with that.

But it does lead to an interesting collective phenomenon that ends up hurting the regular dog in a shelter or the regular stray–the one that doesn’t have media attention or a sad story or the cutest darn face you’ve ever seen. The one that’s just average looking, with no heart-tugging medical condition. The one that didn’t come from a celebrity dog fighter but whose history is unknown. That dog, few people want. That dog doesn’t have a compelling story. That dog doesn’t realize he’s not famous. That dog doesn’t understand that no one wants him because he is the the “average joe” of dogs.

Take a recent case of a seemingly stray dog that was photographed snuggled on a Teddy Bear. The organization that published the photo, Forgotten Dogs of the 5th Ward, tries to save many of the stray dogs in the area. They frequently photograph dogs. They cannot find foster homes or adopters for all the dogs. But this one dog, this one photo, called out to people. People demanded someone save that dog and asked why didn’t the rescue take him in.

The answer is simple and one many people don’t seem to understand: there aren’t enough foster homes. There aren’t enough people who want to adopt. Rescues have to make decisions all the time–logical, rational decisions. They have to choose which dogs to save and which dogs to pass by. Shelters often have to make the same decisions. This means that the dogs that have a special story, or a heart-tugging medical condition, or that have national media attention often get saved. They get people who ask to foster them. They often get adopters lining up for a chance to adopt them.

Another case in point: the dogs that came to Sacramento months ago from a South Korean meat farm ended up with massive media attention and a LINE of adopters wanting to take one home. Meanwhile, hundreds of other local “average” shelter dogs waited and waited. Some even died, still waiting.

This blog post is not about guilting anyone who steps up to take in a hard luck case. Those hard-luck dogs need to be adopted JUST AS MUCH as the “average Joe” dogs, of course. But the opposite is also true. The “average Joe” dogs are equally deserving.

So, next time you or someone you know thinks about adopting or fostering, all I hope is you’ll take a look at all dogs in need and work to find the best match for you, regardless of whether that dog has a sad story, lots of media attention, or is otherwise in the shadows–going relatively unnoticed in some shelter kennel or rescue foster home.

Mouse, an average, soft-hearted dog who went unnoticed at the Sacramento County Shelter and is currently in a foster home, where she lives with another dog and two cats.

Today is the day I said goodbye to Savvy. Savvy has been my companion for almost 12 years. He’s been trained as a service dog and a therapy dog, passed his Canine Good Citizen test, his Delta Therapy dog test, and proven himself a true ambassador for his breed.  He’s done so much, but I can only cover a few of the joyful highlights.

Savvy has taught children about dog safety.

He was an avid activist, participating in protests against breed specific legislation and even attending California legislative sessions to stand against breed specific legislation.

He’s provided kisses at Chako’s UC Davis Kiss-A-Bull booth, and he even tried his hand at documentary work when featured in Beyond the Myth, a documentary about breed specific legislation.

He enjoyed his service dog work.

He also loved being one of Santa’s elves, delivering presents to those in need during the holidays. Some years he brought gifts to children; other years, he helped animals. Here he is delivering beds and other goodies to the Yuba animal shelter.

However, life is short, and all lives eventually come to an end. Savvy’s life came to an end a little too soon. He should have lived to a wonderful age of 15 or even 16, but Lymphoma stole the last few years from him.

There’s no right or wrong way to say goodbye to a friend. In my case, I focused on making Savvy’s last days as good as they could possibly be.

He got a photo shoot thanks to his good friend Joni Moore of Pawtography and Moore.

He went on small field trips

He took quick car rides to enjoy the sights.

He even visited some of northern California’s dog-friendly wineries

He slept in.

He even got tucked in to keep him warm on the chilly mornings.

He snuggled with new toys.

Savvy got special food from his friend Kris with VibraPet (chicken and steak, yum!)

Of course, he also got Hamburgers, since life is too short to always eat well.

His friends threw a party for him.

And, on his last day, Savvy got more hamburgers, with fries, and all the yummy junk food he could eat…

Before he took his final sleep, free from the misery of lymphoma.

Goodbye, Savvy, my friend. Follow your buddy, Joey, like you did when you were just a wee pup.

It’s the month to spread love, and dogs are masters giving unconditional love. Since 1997, Chako has been rescuing Pit Bulls and spreading awareness. Below are some members of our Chako family who have found their forever valentines! Click any thumbnail below to start the slideshow or, for a simpler view, scroll down to read their stories!

When you’ve viewed the slideshow, head on over to our Facebook page to post a photo of your Pit Bull Valentine in the comments of our Valentine’s Day thread! (Thanks to Joni Moore of Pawtography and Moore).

1. Annie came to Chako when she was abandoned at four weeks old in a dog park. Her foster mom, Suzi, fell in love with her and adopted her.
   

   Annie with her foster mom turned forever Mom–Suzi!

2. Cha Cha came to Chako deaf and with a broken leg. She had surgery to fix her leg and found a great foster Dad, Mike, then lucked out and found true love with her forever family!
   

   Cha Cha with her foster dad, Mike

   

   Cha Cha with her forever family.

3. Mouse is a new Chako dog who came to us from the Sacramento County shelter. Here she is with Chako founder, Dawn Capp, while she waits to find her true forever love with a new family!
   

   Mouse is a Chako dog waiting for her new home. She’s available for adoption and gets along great with dogs and cats! Here she is happy to be out of the shelter and snuggled up to Dawn, Chako’s founder.

4. Hank came to Chako as a 3-4 month old puppy with an autoimmune condition known as puppy strangles. After months of treatment and a foster family who stuck with him, he recovered and JUST celebrated his first birthday with his forever family!
   

   Hank with his forever family!

5. Star, now Tesla, needed surgery to remove a cancerous lump when she came to Chako. We got her all fixed up, and now this older gal is loving life with her new mom!
   

   Tesla enjoys the sun with her forever mom.

6. Nina was a youngster when she found her way into a Chako foster home, and now she’s doing great with her new family. She loves them, and they adore her!
   

   Nina really loves her family and they love her!

7. Darla was just a wee pup when she and her brother came to Chako and foster Dad Mike took them in. Mike and Darla fell in love, and now she’s his forever! Another Chako “foster failure!”
   

   Mike and Darla – True love, rescue style.

8. Sirius had a bum leg when he went to his wonderful Chako foster home, and now he’s got a new family and a beautiful collar!
   

   Sirius (L) has a new forever family!

9. Frankie liked to sing the blues when he was a pup looking for his forever home. Here he is, the apple of one particular little girl’s eye!
   

   Frankie is adored by one particular adorable little girl!

10. Chako founder Dawn with her two dogs, Savvy and Soli. Soli is a Chako dog who was in the Yuba shelter at a mere 5 weeks, all alone. She was to be made available to whomever had his or her name drawn out of a box, so Chako volunteers showed up to make sure she went to a good place! Check out her video.
    

    Chako’s founder with her two Pit Bull valentines!

11. Chako volunteer Windigo is totally in love with her year-old gal, Dara!
    

    Dara and Windigo, true love.

12. Daisy loves her former Chako foster mom, Mary. Daisy came to Chako from a bay area shelter, and she adores her forever family. Check out the happy family portrait below.
    

    Daisy lounges on the lap of her former Chako foster mom.

    

    Daisy and her forever family!

13. Suzi is one extraordinary puppy foster mom. Here she smooches her newest Pit Bull valentine, Nimoy, who is up for adoption through Chako! This 14 week old boy is mellow as can be and loves dogs and cats.
    

    Nimoy wholeheartedly loves his Chako foster mom!

    If you’re doggie-lonesome and interested in finding your own Pit Bull Valentine, adopt a Pit Bull!