Has society turned into a “just return it” nation?
Like returning an unwanted item to Amazon, people think that it’s easy to just to return their dog to a rescue. They often don’t try training or offer the dog stability or routine or they just really misunderstand what a greyhound or lurcher is. Do we all just want that insta ready perfect pet who will be fabulous from day 1? and if not, do we just give up?
Of course, we don’t mean those cases, for example, where people lose their home or job – or are ill. We mean the ones where people expectations do not match the reality – they expect the dog to be perfect from day 1 because they have given it a home – they expect the dog to love them to death even though the dog has never loved anyone before, the expect the dog to be great with every other dog he meets – without training. And they expect the dog to know what they expect of him – without showing him or training him. And the often don’t follow advice.
When the dog doesn’t understand what the humans expect – the dog is returned. They treat returning a dog like returning a parcel to amazon – just pop a label on it, send it back & everything is fine. Sadly, the only label the dog now has is rejected and damaged. There are massive consequences to returning a dog. What people don’t realise is that when the dog comes back damaged – we have to pick up the pieces. It is so much harder to rehome a “rejected and returned” dog that a one who had not been homed. If you don’t want the dog, then why would someone else? The returned dogs need more training and more work and can often bed block the rescue spaces. We are only a small team so if we spend time rehoming a dog to you – and you return it – someone else has missed out. We can only X number of dogs per week.
They all ignore the 3-3-3 rule – It takes:
- 3 days for the dog to decompress (start to relax).
- 3 weeks to start to learn what you expect of them and your routine.
- 3 months to feel settled and at home.
Yet many dogs are returned within the first couple of days – up to 3 weeks. Put simply – they are not given a chance. We seem to forget we are the humans and we have the ability to train the dog to behave as we want them to.
Please think very carefully before adopting – returning a dog should be a last resort when you have tried everything else (and followed the advice – not just paid for it). People think its just like returning something to the shop – it isn’t – it is very damaging for the dog and very disruptive for the rescue. You are returning a live, vulnerable animal who has had a traumatic past – not a jacket that is the wrong size.
Before adopting please ensure:
That you are fully up to the challenge of training and helping the dog to settle in – you may have a week or so of sleepiness night. Is your health up to it? Have you got the time and patience for it?
That you are fully prepared to put the work in to help the dog settle – and to follow our advice.
That you are willing to use a muzzle in the home if you have another dog. This allows you to monitor the behaviour without stressing and allows the dogs to just be dogs without thinking you have an issue with them.
Mental Health
Society, in general, seems very stressed these days and mental health is often to blame – and this is a guilt free way of returning the dog because your health comes first. Please consider your mental health before adopting – if you are at all unsure why not borrow a friend’s dog to see how you cope.
Greyhounds – especially the young ones – still require time and commitment. You must be 100% able to deal with the responsibility and the stress in the first 3 months.