By Victoria Mullen, WKTV
The holidays are over. The tree has been dragged outside for pick-up, the ornaments packed up and stored in the attic until next year, and that surprise pup you gave the kids for Christmas?
About to be kicked to the curb.
Alas, Bowser’s novelty has worn off, and the kids have moved on to the next new, shiny thing. Pup is growing fast, eating you out of house and home, and because no one makes time to train or exercise him, behavioral problems arise—chewing is a biggie; so, too, is possessiveness. If Bowser hasn’t been neutered, well, you can look forward to other ‘problems’.
So, you’re probably at your wits’ end, amiright? You’re thinking about rehoming the critter. Maybe take him to a shelter and let someone else deal with the behavioral issues.
Or possibly you’re taking another tack. Maybe you’re thinking of posting Bowser on Craig’s List and other social media sites. Something like this, perhaps: ‘Cute puppy FREE to a good home’.
First off:
Always charge a rehoming fee. Always.
We get it. Sometimes life circumstances precipitate the need for rehoming. Holiday gift disaster aside, maybe you’re moving overseas, or perhaps there is a severe illness or death in the family.
Anyway you slice it, rehoming can be a challenge: On the one hand, you want to be open-minded to different ways of life, yet you don’t want Bowser to fall into nefarious hands.
“The danger with free pets is that people are devious,” said Ginny Mikita, animal advocate and attorney in Rockford, Michigan. “Some acquire free animals to supply to medical testing facilities.”
Unfortunately, there is no foolproof way to discern the true motivation for potential adopters wanting a free animal, Mikita said. Dog fight trainers acquire animals in myriad ways. Live bait animals come from shelters or from ‘free to good home’ ads. Some animals are stolen out of yards.
Maybe someone responding to your ad shows up on your doorstep looking clean-cut and respectable. It’s a common ruse. In Florida, a young man and a woman purporting to be his grandmother led a family to believe that their pet would be a companion animal for the elder. The family waived their rehoming fee. Once home, however, the two tossed the pup into a cage with a fighting dog; things did not end well.
Maybe you’re not all that fond of Bowser, but would you really want something like that to happen to him?
Other atrocities abound. Aside from cats and submissive canines becoming bait for fighting dogs, smaller animals become food for snakes or star in crush videos—and we’re not talking Hollywood. (We’ll wait here while you look it up.)
Some people want free animals so that they can breed them—un-neutered Bowser could end up neglected in a puppy mill, producing scores of unsocialized, ill pups, and living in a small cage without vet care or affection.
And then there are the hoarders, people with a compulsion to collect free animals. We’ve all read stories about how that ends up.
The best way to ensure that your pet is going to a bonafide good home is to post a rehoming fee and to vet prospective adopters carefully. Here are some tips:
• Visit the home. Speak with other members of the family and ask questions—are there other pets in the household? Where will Bowser live? Who will care for him? Does anyone have allergies? Are all family members aware that Bowser is being adopted?
• If you can’t visit, ask someone to visit the home for you. Perhaps the interested party lives far away from you. Ask a rescue in the town to perform a home visit for you. Some rescues have volunteers that will help facilitate long-distance adoptions.
• Ask for personal references. And call the references—ask if the interested party takes good care of their current or former pets. See if you can find out what happened to their past pets. Did they die of natural causes?
• Ask for a vet reference. Call their present or former veterinarian about the party’s other pets and how well they were cared for. At the very least, the vet can confirm that the party has a relationship with the vet. Ask if the vet recommends the party as a good guardian.
• Check animal abuser registries. Michigan doesn’t have one set up yet, but other states might. In response to pressure from the public, registries are becoming more commonplace.
• Google the potential adopter. Google is an amazing resource. A search may turn up past crimes.
• Be prepared to take Bowser back. Sometimes even the best intentions don’t work out—maybe Bowser can’t stand the new family’s other pet. Maybe a family member discovers a previously unknown allergy. Keep Bowser safe by being ready to take him back; let the adopter know that you are willing to do so if things don’t work out.
• Have the adopter sign an adoption contract. Here’s a boilerplate pet adoption contract that can be downloaded and printed out.
• Beware of Craigslist. There are reputable animal databases like Petfinder, breed-specific rescue sites, and local shelters. Most people sourcing animals on Craigslist are looking for free cats and dogs; these people can come off as charming and are confident that they can get you to waive the re-homing fee. Don’t risk it.
• Check out breed rescues. If your pet is a purebred, contact a breed-specific rescue, which will perform a thorough vetting of any potential adopter.
From Lin, Doris. (2019, October 24). Why You Should Never Give Pets Away ‘Free to a Good Home’. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/dont-give-pets-away-free-127759
Pets are a huge part of our lives; they’re family. Companion animals give emotional support and help reduce stress levels. They ease the pain of loneliness and encourage us to get involved in social activities. They offer unconditional love and can boost a child’s self-esteem.
In return, as responsible pet owners we have a duty to ensure that our animal friends are kept healthy and fit, are exercised regularly, consume nutritious food, and are provided with love and affection, as well as proper housing and care. And if you absolutely cannot keep him, make sure that the home he is going to will be safe and that the family will give him love and affection.
On Nov. 25, 2019, the president signed the bipartisan Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) Act into law, making it federally illegal to engage in cruelty to animals. The bill immediately went into effect, meaning those found violating the act could be federally prosecuted, fined, and jailed for up to seven years.
