Before you contact us (or another rescue group) about giving up your Rat Terrier, please be sure that you have truly thought the matter through. Many of the most common problems you may be experiencing are readily solved with a little help. There are many resources available that offer a wealth of advice and possible solutions and alternatives to re-homing your dog. We truly hope that you will find an answer to your particular problem, both for your dog’s sake and your own. We can’t urge you enough to please reconsider giving up your Rattie. We hope that the links listed below might provide a good starting point.
- “Can We Help You…Keep Your Pet?”
- “Free to a Good Home”
- “Need to Find Your Pet A New Home?”
- “Giving Up Your Pet”
- Pit Bull Rescue Central (provides excellent advice & addresses several reasons why people give up their pets — moving, having a baby, not enough time for the dog, and behavior problems.)
- “Pet-Friendly Housing”
If, after reading through this material, you still feel you must rehome your Rattie, please first go back to the breeder, rescue, or shelter where you originally got the dog. Many shelters and rescues have adoption contracts that legally require you to return their dogs to them. Responsible breeders also care about what happens to their dogs, and many of them do require that you return your dog if you cannot keep it. If you purchased your dog from a backyard breeder or pet shop, however, chances are you’re out of luck.
Please do not abandon your dog at a shelter in the hope that it will be adopted from there. In reality, owner surrenders are often the first dogs to be euthanized when shelter space becomes critical because the shelters know that no one is going to be looking for them. Many times they are not even offered for adoption. And, even if they are, Rat Terriers generally do not “show well” in a shelter environment and are often passed over for a more outgoing, better known breed.
You can try to re-home your dog yourself by advertising online, in newspapers, and with flyers posted in veterinary offices and workplace bulletin boards, etc. We hope you will be conscientious about screening prospective adopters, and please DO NOT advertise your dog as “Free to a Good Home” because people looking for a “free” dog often don’t have realistic expectations about the on-going care a dog needs.
If your dog is up-to-date on its vetting, and if you have some time to help ensure that the dog goes to a great new home, we will be happy to accept him or her in our ReHome program. This program lets us work with you to find the best new home for the dog.
If our ReHome program will not work for you for some reason, you can contact us about space availability in a New Rattitude foster home. Because we have limited space in our foster home network, however, we simply cannot accept all the dogs needing rescue, and we must prioritize, with the dogs who are about to die in shelters generally considered the most urgent. So please do not count on our being able to take your dog. If you do want to apply to get your dog into our foster care program, please submit the form at NewRattitude.org/forms/owner-surrender-application. You will be asked to describe the dog and your situation, and submit photos that allow us to verify breed ID. Please be realistic in the amount of time you give us, keeping in mind that the more time we are given, the better then chances for a positive outcome. If you wait until the last possible moment, our chances of being able to help are very slim.
It is also possible that a local all-breed rescue might have foster space for your dog. You can locate these rescues by searching online or by asking your vet, shelter, or humane society for recommendations.