Great reasons to re-home dogs

I browse through the pet sections of Craigslist pretty often. I visit pet rescue sites every time I’m online, and I even read the pet classifieds section of the newspaper. I think to myself what dogs would fit in well with my lifestyle and with my current animals.

I can’t help it. I always want more dogs.

But as I fantasize about adopting a little sister for Ace, I have to read the reasons why people are giving up on their pets. These excuses for getting rid of animals really say a lot about humans in general.

It’s not a few of us who fail on our animals, it’s hundreds and thousands of us in every community every day. Most of us know someone who has given up a dog or a cat, we might’ve even abandoned one ourselves – or at least thought about it.

We’ve all heard the same old excuses before such as “moving,” “new baby in house,” “too hyper,” “allergies,” “yard is too small,” or even, “barks.”

For some reason people can’t spend one day finding a dog-friendly apartment or house to rent. And even when they have nine months to prepare a dog for a new baby, the dog has to go. What a great lesson to teach older children – pets are disposable just like toys, cars, TVs.

But then again, these are the same people who thought their dog would be fine without exercise, training and socialization. It’s news to them that if a dog gets taken for walks she doesn’t need a big yard.

If I ever have to give up a pet, I will at least be honest and explain why I can’t keep that animal. The reasons why will be my failures, not the dog’s.

I thought I’d share the best excuses I found for re-homing animals. These are all from recent Craigslist postings on the North Dakota, Fargo-Moorhead, Duluth-Superior and Minneapolis pages. I don’t need to say anything more.

These re-homing ads speak for themselves:

– “My daughter brought home a golden retriever puppy a few days ago. I thought it was fun for a few days.”

– “We love him and want to keep him but … Every night it is a fight about who Guedo gets to sleep with.”

– “Boyfriend says I have too many cats.”

– “She pees on beds.”

– “He is getting ‘excited’ over our female Chihuahua.”

– “She likes to get in garbages.”

– “He LOVES to lick and he will lick the baby’s face.”

– “I think he’s bored.”

– “Right now he has to be tied up all the time because he runs through the invisible fence.”

– “Needs more potty training.”

– “She is full of energy.”

– “He WILL run away whenever he is not leashed.”

– “He has already sprayed on my bed twice.”

– “She’s really a good dog, just really wild.”

– “He needs to go to a good country home.”

– “My son is too aggressive toward him.”

– “I fear he needs a yard.”

– “I have to get rid of him cause of the fact I am pregnant.”

– “We now have 3 dogs – it is too much. As we have 2 small kids & one on the way.”

– “We’d keep her but can not bring her to our new house.”

– “Due to a marriage separation I need to find a new home for our golden retriever.”

– “I recently moved and the place is too small of an area for him to play and run.”

– “I would love to keep her but I have a 9 month old and another on the way.”

– “She’s full of energy and we don’t have the room or yard for her to run in.”

– “Needs a home with another active dog to play with.”

What’s the best excuse you’ve seen?