I actually know for a fact that the rescue literally threatened them with having to euthanize the dog if they didn't rehome him themselves, but like. They tried. And they're not fucking rescue professionals, they don't have the resources or any safe place to keep the damn dog! Oh, I'm so angry.
I have rehomed a dog and known, because we did it ourselves, that the people who took the dog loved her and were terrified two weeks after taking her home that we'd change our minds and take her back. Like, we went back to visit and check in, and they followed us about the house with big eyes and were clearly Worried about the situation, which was exactly the right reaction to see. I was fucked up about that for years afterwards. This is so much worse, and I'm still so angry about the way the rescue deliberately made the situation harder on my sister because it didn't want to take on the responsibility of either euthanizing the dog or finding him a home.
This was ATL; I was sincerely tempted at several points to try seeing what Austin Pets Alive! would do with the situation. Or even the Austin Municipal Shelter, which is pretty fucking great. I actually looked at the way that the two counties handle dog surrender out of fury and was relieved to see that Austin handles it better, but that just made me angrier because there's no reason that Atlanta should be so bad.
(The absolute worst thing is that the dog is fairly clearly rehabbable, but it would be a definite commitment and require a certain level of management for at least a couple of years, and he's not great with other animals--or my spouse and I would have considered taking him at least temporarily. But we have a blind cat and a second cat who likes dogs enough to approach dogs on lead and sniff noses with them, and my grouchy old lady dog doesn't want to deal. And he's a brindle dog with a short coat, so... fewer people who want to take on that responsibility, and I can't blame them.)
Oh, it's such a horrible situation. Thank you for your condolences.
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I have rehomed a dog and known, because we did it ourselves, that the people who took the dog loved her and were terrified two weeks after taking her home that we'd change our minds and take her back. Like, we went back to visit and check in, and they followed us about the house with big eyes and were clearly Worried about the situation, which was exactly the right reaction to see. I was fucked up about that for years afterwards. This is so much worse, and I'm still so angry about the way the rescue deliberately made the situation harder on my sister because it didn't want to take on the responsibility of either euthanizing the dog or finding him a home.
This was ATL; I was sincerely tempted at several points to try seeing what Austin Pets Alive! would do with the situation. Or even the Austin Municipal Shelter, which is pretty fucking great. I actually looked at the way that the two counties handle dog surrender out of fury and was relieved to see that Austin handles it better, but that just made me angrier because there's no reason that Atlanta should be so bad.
(The absolute worst thing is that the dog is fairly clearly rehabbable, but it would be a definite commitment and require a certain level of management for at least a couple of years, and he's not great with other animals--or my spouse and I would have considered taking him at least temporarily. But we have a blind cat and a second cat who likes dogs enough to approach dogs on lead and sniff noses with them, and my grouchy old lady dog doesn't want to deal. And he's a brindle dog with a short coat, so... fewer people who want to take on that responsibility, and I can't blame them.)
Oh, it's such a horrible situation. Thank you for your condolences.