It's very hard. To me when you adopt a dog it's like adopting a child, that is for life.

I got the form from Dogs Trust yesterday and saw I had to sign to authorise them to rehome her in whichever way they consider best. That's what put me off. Not knowing who she would be going to and what sort of life she would lead.

I got her from the pound originally, not a rescue centre

There's no way I could get a job where I could take her with me. There aren't many jobs in this area, the job I'm after is night shift I would be away from the house for 10 hours. I can't afford to have her at the dogsitters every night and I don't know anyone else who would take her. Everyone I know either has a dog or is too old.

I think I'll try privately as suggested even if it means putting an advert somewhere, will go and visit the different vets in the area. I'm pretty good or at least used to be at sussing people out and would definitely check them out before parting with Lana.

Is it better to get her rehomed away from the area I live in?

This is actually harder than when I had to get my previous dog put down. At least I knew she had a good life and was ready to go, whereas rehoming you have the fear of someone getting her and being cruel to her.

I think that however hard it may be, once you have found a suitable home for Lana then it would be better if you never saw her again, for both your sakes, so yes........rehoming out of your area might be best.

Your idea of visiting various vets is a good one, because they may know just the person who would be the ideal companion for Lana. The problem is, most people do have to go out from time to time so perhaps you are searching for a retired couple who are not globe trotters and like a quiet life.

I really feel you you and know how hard it is, I had to re-home one of my girls last year and it was heart breaking. I re-homed privately to the brother of a good friend so I get updates.

I have recently found myself in a very similar situation to your self and this is something I may at some point have to consider myself if things don't look up soon so I can really sympathise with where your at right now.

Good luck with the new job.

Sorry to hear you're in such a difficult situation

Our dog had separation anxiety when we adopted him but luckily we were able to overcome it through weeks of crate training and he is fine to be left now.

I just wanted to say that we adopted our dog through a private advertisement. We went and visited the owner and even though she'd had lots of other people visit, Kasper just 'clicked' with us. It was like he chose us! We've had him for 7 months now and still send her updates and photos about how he's doing.

Maybe something similar could be done for you, where you could meet up with possible owners, see how they were with your dog and how she was with them? Kasper's old owner also came and checked out our place and stuff like that too, and you could easily ask that they send updates and photos.

Good luck!

Red

I was desperate to rehome Pereg when she got to an almost impossible age for me to cope with, phoning the person in charge of the Shelter begging her to find another home for my girl. It was not a case of not being able to keep her because of work or anything, it was just that I could not cope with her.

Luckily she gave me the name of a dog trainer who helped both of us, and I now shudder at the thought of what I might have done.

But as I say, it was not because I could not keep her, just because I could not cope, but had the person come to take Pereg to a temporary foster home I am sure I would not have been able to hand her over.

The thing is though, if Lana cannot be left the kindest thing to do for her, in my opinion, is to do your best to re-home her - and I am sure that you will do just that.

My heart goes out to you, it really does.

Have you thought about a smaller rescue, close to where you live being involved? I don't know how things work where you live, but down here in Birmingham we have a few small rescues that use kennels when they have to, but as a rule many/most of the dogs go into a foster home until rehomed or stay within their own home (which is better IMHO) until they're rehomed.

It could be that a local much smaller escue would ask you to keep her with you temporarily until a new permanent home is found or if you have to start work and you can't leave her, they may be able to offer her a foster home. This will give them the time and opportunity to conduct a full and very thorough home check on anyone who approaches them about a dog or anyone who shows any interest in Lana.

ok this is a long shot, but why not try going into the dog walking/pet sitting business. That way you could find a part time job, and if she is good with other dogs (and other dogs are good with her) you could take her a long on some walks with you.

It's something to consider, obviously there is a lot to take on board but with the advice of one legendary person on this forum who has started her own business in dog walking, this year i began and i'm really enjoying it so far.

Such a shame you have to rehome the poor dog, but i give you a big pat on the back for thinking of the dog and not yourself. Lots of people would leave the dog without a moments thought, and not considered how unhappy he/she may be at being left. Some dogs are fine with being on their own, but unfortunately some just cannot cope.

A rescue would be a good route to go down if you can find a reputable rescue, which can promise to find your dog a nice new home and does home checks to ensure that the house is nice and clean and suitable. It's such a hard one...... I really don't know what i would do. But just be very very careful about private buyers... Please make sure that you vet any private people, home check them and make sure that your dog likes them. But you say, you are unsure about rescues as some people may lie, but please bare in mind a person will lie to you if they really do want your dog. Some people are just scum bags like that...

It's a shame that you couldn't find a nice retired person in your area, who is willing to take out your dogs with their own each day for a couple of pounds. Dog walkers can be expensive, personally i tend to charge £10 per hour for a one-one dog walk.

The only other thing i could think of would be to try a doggy day care which does not kennel your pet. Again you would be looking at about £10-15 per day but bare in mind you will get a full day of them looking after your dog for that. If it is good with other dogs, its also a chance for the dog to get in some good old fashioned playtime and socialisation. Here is the website of one of the ones in my local area to give you an idea. I have been there and checked it out, and left in awe and jealousy... the dogs seem to love it! http://www.happiathome.co.uk/prices.htm

Whatever you need to do, just remember you are doing the right thing no matter what others tell you. Your thinking of your dog, not yourself so plese try to think hard but dont have any regrets. It's going to be hard, but rescues really are not that bad if you find a reputable rescue which has a good rehoming rate. The trouble with some of the bigger ones would be that they have more dogs needing new homes, so yours may be waiting in the kennel that little bit longer. But... the people their are trained to match, and find your dog the best home possible.

The problem with some of the possible solutions put forward so far, is that 1Cutedog is going for a nightshift job........finding someone to care for Lana overnight will not be so easy.

I am still wracking my brains

Is she good with other dogs?

Maybe someone could foster her till your back on your feet?

Id offer to help but im too far away

Thanks to everyone for your replies and your suggestions.

I apologise for wasting your time. I've discovered I can't do, I simply can't rehome her When I first wrote this thread I had been struggling with this problem for a while and had definitely made my mind up as I couldn't see any other option but to rehome her and ended up getting myself into a right state.

Once the forms came from the rescue stating I had to sign her over to them and they could do what they wanted with her I started thinking of her going somewere where she would be treated unkindly or abused which is why I started this thread. There aren't any rescues here where you would get a say in who the dog goes to and even one which I thought was good I heard a couple of bad stories about.

I decided if I could get a different job before the nightshift one started beginning of next month I would take anything instead. There are very few jobs here but yesterday morning there was a job advertised for a cleaner, only 2 hours a day, not enough to keep me but I applied and luckily it wasn't an agency but a proper firm and they did it the old fashioned way, I went for interview in the afternoon and started this morning. It's only 10 hours a week but he said there's plenty of work and I can have more hours.

I had to get up at 5 this morning eek. The day before I hadn't gone to bed until 5.30am, I'm a night person. Fed us, took Lana for a walk so I could come back and still have half an hour in the house so I wouldn't be dumping her and running. The job is literally at my back door so only took 3-4 minutes to get there. I was back by 8.50 and she was fine, well I didn't hear any barking and howling while I was outside the door, my dictaphone's broken so couldn't record her. We normally don't get up until 9 - 9.30am so if I'm getting up so early now Lana should hopefully sleep when I'm away. I will see how it goes the rest of the week.

I went out late afternoon for 20 mins to try it out as she would normally bark and howl the whole time if I went out a second time but again she seemed fine so maybe I could get another couple of hours later in the day.

It doesn't really solve my problems, even with double hours I'll make just enough to cover rent and maybe food bills, luckily in Scotland we don't go to jail for not paying our council tax I still won't be able to afford to put on my heating but if it's too cold I'll either go to bed or take Lana for more walks.

I'll keep working on Lana and hopefully I can keep leaving her for longer, I've become more detached and stricter with her the last week and I see a difference in her. I don't know what will happen but I've decided I can't give her up and never know what happens to her so if it means being cold and eating crap food, (me, not Lana) well so be it.

I'm never going to get myself into such a state again. I can't understand it, normally I'm very optimistic but I couldn't see another way out and the more I thought about it the more negative I became until I really thought it was for the best. I had been thinking of nothing else for weeks and had made a firm decision but I believe that what helped enormously was writing it down here and reading all your replies.

Thanks very much again to everyone who replied to me for helping me see things more clearly.