Anyone had to give up a dog?

Starting the 121 life soon and the girlfriend is moving home and won't be able to take our dog with her (believe me I have tried) and obviously I won't be able to take care of even a home for the first couple years. So we might have to give our dog to a friend, we have a friend willing to take the dog. Obviously I trust this person and know it will be a good home for him, but has anyone had to give up their dog for whatever reason? It seems like it is going to be pretty tough thing to do.

This reply won't be very helpful as I haven't but I just wanted to sympathize, I wouldn't want to give up my dog and I really hope I don't have to, although it'll be difficult when I qualify as unless I'm incredibly lucky and stay in the same city, my husband and I will be doing the long distance thing and his job means he can't take care of a dog (48 hours away from home at a time) so the dog will be going with me.

I did.

Biggest mistake I have ever made.

I was flying 135 at the time and we thought she was not getting the 'quality of life' she deserved. We lived in an apartment and she was either confined to the small apartment, stuck in her kennel when we weren't there (chewed thing too much to be left out), and even with daily walks and playtime, she just didn't have the space or the location to just be able to run around a be a dog.

We gave her up to a friend of a friend (who my friend spoke highly of at the time). Supposedly a good family with lots of room to run and a couple of grade school kids to play with. I was heartbroken... miserable... horrible feelings to have. Long story short, we found out about two months later that things were not going well with the people we had given her to, so we decided to take her back. None of what we sent with her, save her kennel, came back... no collar, no leashes, no toys, nothing. The kennel reeked of urine and was covered in fecal matter and she was very thing (you could see all of her ribs) and looked like she had been put in her kennel and left for days.

I was happy to have her back and vowed I would never give up another animal to anybody. I would rather quit my job and find one that lets me keep my dog rather than go through that again. For me, it would be better to be miserable at work and happy at home, rather than happy at work and miserable at home.

Awe man, I'm sorry. I couldn't ever imagine having to give up Pete. I don't think I could do it.

Thank you for sharing, it is very tough especially thinking about endless possibites of what could happen to them. Good news though we found a friend willing to dogsit for a little bit while we get settled in a new place and transition to my new schedule, so I'm glad we will be able to keep him. Good luck Olisse, I hope it all works out.

Hell...yes. Our dogs are family. I always looked forward to getting married because then I'd have somebody who could watch a dog while I was on the road. Not only did that happen, but she came with her own who took to me really quickly.

Seems like the appropriate place for this:

And

I'm really glad it's going to work out, ctab your experience was horrible, I really don't understand how people can treat dogs like that.

And since we're going there, how could you not love this?

If you must give your pet up, make sure that you give them up to someone who will take care of them. I could kill some of the people who own pets around here. Not taking care of them, letting them bark all hours of the night, not picking up after them, etc. Check up on them often, and if necessary, take them back and find them a new home. She was happy to get her now rubber squeaky chicken toy. I swear, sometime I have this bad smell following me everywhere I go, only to turn around and realize it's Samantha.

I gave up two, but not for flying reasons. I really regret it now.

Heck no I would never give my dog up. ...Best girl I've ever had. She has never once mouthed off to me and she's always excited to see me. It doesn't matter if it's at 2:30am or after 15 days in AK, she's happy!

I've done the opposite. I found my dog on craigslist. The owners were going to drop her off at the kill shelter if I didn't take her and she turned out to be a great dog. I'd hate to ever give her up but if I had to for work I'd make sure to find a relative or friend so I could visit her on my days off.

Gave my dog up to my brother in the 1990s. I was in the 160th (gone alot), new baby, my wife is not a dog person (tolerates our current dog to make me and my daughter happy). It was very hard giving her up, but it was the best thing I did. She just died last year at the age of 14 (not bad for a yellow lab). She had a great life in a house full of kids including four great years at the Naval Academy where she got to go running most mornings with the Plebes.

We gave up a chow rottweiler mix. Was supposed to be rottweiler lab. The chow really brought out the agression and we got her as a puppy. Well, eating a wall, the floor, pee'd everywhere all the time (nervous thing) and VERY aggressive. We tried for a year, but as she got older, she got more energy and started to endanger our other dog if she got riled up. Ended up giving her back to the place we got her. The took her back and as far as I know she's a hunting dog now which is perfect for her. In an apartment wasn't right.

We've got two dogs now, a black lab basset mix, and a black lab.

I've got a cat to keep me entertained for the time being. Not as awesome as a dog, but still fun lower maintenance. She's ok on her own for a while and easy for friends/family to watch. I'm excited to have another dog someday, but gotta find a woman first.

I grew up with dogs and have one now that I absolutely love. Would have never thought that I could give a dog away, but I did. It's kind of a long story:

My wife and I are huge dog people. That is, we really love dogs, not that we're huge or only love huge dogs or are some kind of dog/human hybrid mutants (I think this every time someone says they're a huge *whatever* person). Christmas of 09 thinking that I would soon be hired somewhere besides my flight instructing job, my wife said she wanted a dog that would make her feel safe at home alone, running by herself, etc. We decided on a German Shepherd and began the search. The dog we ended up choosing was a beautiful white GS from the local rescue organization. Estimated 5 years old, had been found out on the street abandoned with heartworms, malnutrition, etc. However, also had had a collar so they knew he had been someone's dog at some point. Very quiet dog. Guarded was what we thought, and it made sense considering what we knew of his history. No outward signs of aggression except that he didn't like to have his tail grabbed. Well, okay, if I was a dog I probably wouldn't like that either. Very even tempered. We live in Austin, TX and at the time lived close to downtown. Would take him out on walks and he was very well behaved. Let folks come up to pet him with no growling or hackles or anything. I even let kids pet and hug on him if their parents let them.

Things were going great until my parents came to visit for Christmas. We had had the dog for about 5 weeks and discovered that if you made kissing noises at him, he would come up to you and give you a lick on the hand or whatever you presented to him. My family (and everyone else I showed this to) thought it was a neat trick, and would do it often, with nothing out of the ordinary. I'd seen him do it dozens of times. The day after Christmas we were all seated around the table enjoying some leftovers. My mom leaned over in her chair and made the kissing noise. The dog came up to her like normal, but instead of licking, he just snapped. Without any growling, hackles, or warning at all he jumped on my mom, snarling and biting her face. It took a split second of total shock before any of us realized what was happening and I was able to jump on him and pull him off. Luckily he reverted as quickly as he had started and didn't fight me too. My mom ended up having to get 12 stitches on her face to close up the gash he left. We don't know if it was something my mom did that reminded him of some bad memory, the smell of food in the air (we had given him the bone out of the ham but it was nowhere near the table at the time), or something else entirely. And that was all we saw of it, but it was enough. We contacted the German Shepherd rescue and arranged to take him back. They assured us that he would not be adopted out to anyone else, and as far as I know is still living with the foster we left him with at a house with a lot of land and about 8 other GS dogs.

It was tough on us because even after just five weeks we had already developed a bond with this dog. Still, the memory of him snapping like that will stay with me for a long time. As bad as it was that he got my mom, I'm glad that the whole family was there to contain him and see to her. I shudder to think about what could have been if this had happened when he was home alone with my wife, or one of the several times I let a child get up close to him. Ugghh! I guess that with any dog, but especially a rescue, there are just some things that you don't understand about them and maybe never will.

The story has a happy ending though. After this whole debacle we still wanted a dog, and my wife still wanted a big dog. I put my foot down that it had to be at the bottom end of the aggression spectrum. After some additional research, we got in touch with the Houston Collie Rescue and adopted a 9 month old collie pup. It was also important to me that we could know his whole history, which they did (given up by the older woman who bought him because he had too much energy). That was one of the best decisions I've ever made. He is the sweetest, most affectionate dog I've ever seen, and even though he's pretty good sized (75lbs) he has about as much killer instinct as a wet noodle. We even had him be the ring bearer in our wedding!

So, IMHO giving up a dog doesn't mean you're a terrible person, that the dog given up will have a terrible life, or that you will never be able to have (and love) a dog. Sometimes it is just the right thing to do. Good luck!

Also, I never miss an opportunity to show this one:

Jim, glad to hear you ended up finding a dog that works well for you guys. I grew up with collies and they really are great dogs.

I did just have a similar situation to yours though, just last month. My sister lives in New York City and has a large (80lb) lab mix. She is a very smart dog and has always been very low energy and well behaved. My sister had a busy summer between working, her internship, and she was looking for a new apartment. She didnt feel like she was giving the dog enough attention, so she asked if we could dog sit for the summer until things calmed down.

My wife and I have an 80lb chocolate lab and a 40lb lab mix (both pictured above). The first month and a half, the dogs got along very well. We had dog sat for her before and had no previous problems.

One morning my wife got up to go to work. I was off that day so I stayed in bed like the lazy husband I am. After she fed them and let them outside they came upstairs. Our smaller dog always sleeps at our feet on the bed, so she hopped up for a post breakfast nap. My sisters dog started to jump up as well, but our dog growled at her. This growl was just a short chirp, and she did t show any teeth, but it certainly set something in my sisters dog off. She attacked our dog and wouldn't let go. I gave it about 15 seconds and it kept going, so I grabbed my sisters dog's collar and pulled her off. She turned, snapped at me, then went after our dog again. The fight went on for about another min before us yelling and beating on her with a hiking boot got her to let go of our dog. I ended up needing 3 stitches in the ER.

We watched them closely, things turned back to normal so we figured it was an isolated event. About 3 weeks later, I was dorking around on the computer when I heard growling. They were both looking at the same toy. I picked it up before either of them had a chance. But once again, my sisters dog snapped and latched onto our dog's neck. Having learned my lesson last time, I kept my distance. Her dog has at least 40 pounds on ours, so it wasnt even close. We tried hitting her with things again and she didnt even flinch. Eventually we could see our dogs blood pouring out of her mouth and onto the carpet. I grabbed a big wooden dining room chair and started beating her with it. Again, not even a flinch. Our dog was whimpering, laying on the ground, and obviously hurt pretty bad. Finally I took the chair, pinned my sisters dog against the couch, and finally got her to let go. Our dog ran upstairs right away and lodged herself under our bed. My sisters dog still had Ellies blood just pouring from her mouth, was like a scary movie. I took her outside and that is where she stayed until I drove her back to NYC the next day. When we finally got close enough to Ellie, we saw she was in really bad shape and whimpering, so we took her to the 24 hour emergency vet 30 mins away.

Ellie is still healing from it even though it was about 3 weeks ago. She has puncture/tear wounds on her shoulder, neck, and leg. Was on an antibiotic, anti inflammatory, and codeine for two weeks. Vet bill was almost $700, and my ER bill over $400. I have never seen any living thing look so crazy in my life. It was absolutely heartbreaking to see our dog in that much pain. I won't lie, after I dropped her and my wife off at the front of the vet, I (as Waco says) had a tear as I found a parking place. These animals become your family. When my sisters dog bit me, I could deal with it. But when she attacked our little girl, that was over the line. She is lucky we don't own a gun...yet.

That's terrible. Like I said, I love dogs, but I do believe that there are situations where the best thing to do is to put the animal down. Believe me after spending all day with my mom in the ER I was ready to do it to the one we had, but my wife wouldn't hear of it. Especially in Texas where you can be held criminally liable for damage caused by your dog! Also, nice thinking with the chair. Cool under fire. I remember thinking after my incident that if that dog hadn't wanted to stop, I'm not sure I could have stopped him. It's amazing how strong something half your weight can be. Hope your dog continues feeling better.