I will never pay a “re-homing fee” to an individual giving up his dog.
Of course, I would pay an adoption fee to adopt a dog from a shelter, humane society, pound or rescue group, but I won’t pay an individual.
Since pets are property, everyone seems OK with the idea that dogs and cats should be sold. Apparently even a bad owner deserves $100 for realizing he doesn’t deserve his dog. Just search Craigslist or look in the newspaper classifieds for a few examples. But it’s not the price that shows irresponsibility, it’s how the person goes about selecting the next home for his dog.
My cat Scout came from an “accidental” litter, and I adopted him for free. I did not pay anything for my mutt Ace either, who was also an “accident.” I offered his original family $50, but the response I got was something like, “No, just take him.”
I was doing them a favor and saving them money for every day they did not have him. Since then, I’ve changed my mind about how I will acquire pets.
Irresponsible and responsible are not defined by a price.
An irresponsible person doesn’t care who gets his dog. He might give the dog away for free or he might sell it. It doesn’t matter. Either way, the pet will likely go to another irresponsible person who agreed to take the pet after a fast, thoughtless decision. This only continues the cycle of dogs being recycled from home to home and eventually a pound. That’s why people say not to advertise with words like “Free to good home” or “Free dog.” When things are free, quick decisions are made.
On the other hand, a responsible person is going to take the time to select the best person for his dog. There will be questions, an interview process, maybe even a home visit, a follow-up and plenty of time to think. Whether the next owner pays for the dog or not doesn’t really matter. What matters is the dog will get a good home.
I will never pay someone for a puppy or dog they no longer want.
1. If someone has an adult dog he can’t afford or doesn’t have time for, then he should be paying me to take the dog off his hands.
2. If someone has a litter of mixed-breed or purebred puppies from an “accidental” litter, I’m not going to encourage irresponsibility by paying for one of those pups.
There are too many people out there who refuse to have their pets spayed or neutered. Instead, they profit from “accidental” litters by selling the pups. Most people will pay at least $100 for a puppy, no matter what kind of mutt it is. In a state like North Dakota where dogs run loose in rural areas, “accidental” litters happen all the time.
There will always be exceptions to this. For example, I might pay someone for his dog if I had no other way to get the dog out of an abusive home. Or if for some reason I was dead set on a certain mutt, I would probably pay for him. And I can’t say I will never buy a dog from a breeder either. My boyfriend has his heart set on greater Swiss mountain dogs. With rare breeds, there aren’t many to rescue. Does that mean we shouldn’t buy one?
Have you paid or charged a re-homing fee for a dog? Why or why not?
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February 18th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I would like to say that I have only given one of my dogs away my whole life. That was because of a relationship situation that I was in that changed. I couldn’t have two big dogs by my self back then. But I knew who he went to and knew he was going to a good home. I will say that if I ever did need to get rid of one of my dogs I would charge a rehoming fee if I couldn’t give them to someone that I knew. The reason being. The rehoming fee usually weeds out a lot of the people that you do not want to have the dog in the first place. If they can’t afford the rehoming fee they probably won’t be able to afford the dogs expenses. Plus they usually get stuff with the dog that if they had to purchase it would cost them the rehoming fee anyway. You can always change your mind once you meet the people. If you think they are going to be great for the dog tell them that they don’t need to pay the fee. Usually you will be able to tell if they are going to be a good home or not by how they act around the dog. But hopefully I never have to give another dog away and then I don’t have to worry about it.
Shane
February 19th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Yeah those are good points Shane. It would be a tough decision to give up a dog, and I’d want to find the best person possible. I agree that requesting a re-homing fee could weed out some of the people I wouldn’t choose as a new home for my dog. Thanks for your input.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I’ve noticed that private parties will put a re-homing fee in their listings for dog in order to weed out snap decision makers as well. At the very least, it is a small safeguard. However, I totally agree that irresponsible people should not be given money for “accidental” litters or animals that they simply don’t feel like taking care of anymore.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Oh, and I forgot to mention (and you can merge this with my other comment or not count it)…is that drool all over Ace’s handsome face? Gus looks like that most of the day also! Hahahahaha! We carry a drool towel every time we take him out!
February 19th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I’ve only given away one dog, which was planned from the beginning, and I regretted it. The only reason I would give away a dog again would be if I had to leave the country, and really couldn’t take the dog with me. That dog would have to go to someone I knew had a very special bond with him/her, or I would rather have my dog put down.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Yes, that would be drool all over my dog’s face! Very typical.
Hi Esther. Yeah, I can’t imagine having to give up my dog. I hope my family or a friend would take him, but I can’t count on that. I wouldn’t have him put down though. I think he’d be an easy dog to place in a new home.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I have only given up one cat – my Luna girl went to a new home last year. I wouldn’t have even thought of charging a fee!! In fact, I was willing to help pay for her care for a while to help the family who took her!
We had to find her a new home to restore harmony in our home. She picked on our Miss Girl and it never improved (we tried for TWO years!) It was the toughest decision to make… but now I know Luna is with good people and happy. And Miss G is doing MUCH better without being picked on all the time.
I have paid rescue fees – Luna for instance!
It covered her spay and care before I adopted her. It went to a shelter and I didn’t mind paying it at all.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:17 am
After we stupidly didn’t get Daisy spayed in time and she escaped, we ended up with five puppies. We still have Jet but found good homes for the rest.
We were just glad we could find homes for them. Heck, I would have paid for people to take the Pups not want money for them.
Dogs can be expensive to keep. I am surprised that people want money for accidental puppies. They should realise the kind of bills they will be stuck with for 15 years or so if they can’t get homes for them.
February 20th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Hi Tammy. I remember when you had to find a new home for Luna. It wasn’t easy for you at all but you did what was best for your cats.
Thanks for sharing your story, Three Dog. Most people don’t admit fault when their dog gets pregnant. I know what you mean about paying people to take the puppies. I would probably do the same.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I’m with you all the way. I’ve only given away 1 dog in my lifetime, and that was only after I found I couldn’t handle him – he was becoming agressive towards my other dog and cat, and then turned on me and I became terrified of him. Luckily a man I worked with that had experience with hard to handle dogs agreed to take him and he was very happy to have him. He was more stern with him than I could be and was able to work through the agression and he became a good dog for him, although he still lapsed back into his bad behavior toward the man’s wife from time to time, but he was there to control him. I would never have asked for money because I felt bad enough that I had to admit I couldn’t handle the dog and my friend was helping me out of a bad situation for which I was grateful.
February 21st, 2009 at 3:20 am
Hi Lindsay, thanks for sniffing by my blog. Mummy thinks that Ace has the same white bib and trainer socks as my sister Sophie. He does look a bit Daney and possibly Mastiffy.
Me and Sophie were shelter hounds and Mummy says we were worth every penny she paid, considering the castration surgery we returned for was more than the price of our fee’s to free us.
She said she’d consider paying someone to give a hound a good home, dependant on the situation.
Love George
February 25th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well, I’m going to be in the minority here with my opinion. Although I’m vehemently opposed to irresponsible breeding, and even more so to those people profiting from unplanned litters, I am not opposed to people asking for re-homing fees.
The reason being that in my area it’s common for people to try to get “free” dogs to use for breeding. It happens all the time with Labradors and Lab X here. They don’t want to put any initial investment into it, but they assume that they’ll be able to sell puppies. They used to come into the shelter and then were appalled that there was an adoption fee. So, even a small re-homing fee is sometimes enough to deter them from taking the dog.
Also, in my ideal world, I’d like to see people (even if it was an accidental litter), having taken care of at least vaccinations and of course spaying/neutering prior to re-homing and I wouldn’t have any problem reimbursing them for those costs.
Just my two cents…
February 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Thanks Marie. Good points. I wish people would pay for vaccinations and spaying or neutering before re-homing their pets too.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:10 am
We live where there are pharmaceutical companies and pit bull rings that will use dogs for bait.
We suggest anyone here who advertises a dog to ask at least $100 for the dog and to never give away free kittens either.
There is a chance that the dog or cat you are giving away will make good chum for pits or for testing and the people who take them for free make money on the re-sale of them.
So we actually contact people with free ads in the papers here and plead with them to change their mind and ask for a re-homing fee and beg them to check references also but if you ask for a fee and bad guys can not make a profit, they will not mess with it.
Then everyone here are so paranoid that when I try and rescue animals, I get the third degree and so many follow up phone calls and visits from the surrenderer, because they are all so worried that I am one of the people who took their animal to re-sale it to a fighter down in Va or to sell right here in our backyard at the pharma companies. YIKES! At least we are raising awareness though.
February 26th, 2009 at 8:12 am
You’re doing a lot of great things, Lori!
January 25th, 2010 at 5:11 am
I’m writing for a different sort of reason, related to rehoming my dog. I Love my dogs, 2 border collies and a malamute. All spayed/neutered and vaccinations up to date. Two of them accompany me everywhere. I experienced some changes in my life that resulted in my thinking i couldn’t handle the responsibility and i was thinking my kids aged 18 and 15 weren’t helping with giving them all attention so i thought of rehoming one of the border collies. In my heart i knew it felt wrong from the beginning. A young man fell in love with the collie and in feeling bad for the young man allowed my dog to go with him on a condition that we keep in touch and go for walks together and keep close. I realized after feeling as though my heart was being torn out that I couldn’t “give up” this dog so wrote him and told him i had made a mistake and was sorry but i really needed to have my dog back. His mom wrote me back and refused to give the dog back. I am really devastated, as are my kids. I don’t understand how they could not give him back? I know i made a mistake in even thinking of rehoming this boy, but I don’t know what to do now.
January 25th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I feel bad that you miss dog, but I don’t think it’s fair for you to get the dog back when you decided to give him up. Try to be happy for the dog and his new owner and be glad that the dog has a good home. If you are ready for a third dog again, try to consider the millions of animals out there in need of homes.