Question..

[KCboxer]

before I unload the entire story I have a question

is it ok to give up a dog to a wonderful home, to aquire another?

the dog in question of giving to another home is a adult I rescued, the dog I would possibly aquire is also a adult and a rescue.

It is my belief, that a dog that has lived in a loving home can and will adapt and and love a new home just as much as the old as long as it is surrounded by love and affection and all things work out with the new home (as long as the dog fits in with the new family with no major issues)

what do you think?

[angleheart]

It is hard to imagine for me, but, I think it depends on the circumstance. I would say that if you just adopted the current dog, and it has taken a liking to someone you know and trust and you believe that dog would be better off with that person, then go for it...it would be a win win for two dogs. Of course, I would need to know the whole story before being able to comment on your current situation.

[bucca]

i would have to hear the circumstances for giving up a dog to get another but if it is in the best interest of the dog and the family wants and will commit to it then i would have to say let the dog and the family be happy, but you do have to remember we are dealing with a dog that has been rescued before and unless you actually know everything about his or her past then i would have to say step back a moment and think about it, this dog has been given up once or prehaps more times and now again imagine how he or she feels being put in one home then another im sorry you are thinking of giving your dog up but as i have always said and posted more then once i personally think once you take any animal into your home it is yours regardless of the facts, you take on a responsibility for better or worse, im not coming down on you i would really like to hear why you want to give the dog to another family and rescue another. bottom line in this case do what is right for the dog.

[KCboxer]

let me give you a brief history of the two dogs ...

Layla- she was a 2 year old that I like to think I rescued from a bad home. At the time Eddie (my male boxer that I got as a pup) was about 10 months old and started really getting onry and needed a playmate. I walked into a local costco and saw a picture of a boxer and the sign said giving away free. I went to the house she was living @ and found her being treated very poorly, this family was making her live outside (winter or summer) and here in kansas city it can get very hot and humid in the summer. She was in bad shape as far as she was being eaten alive by flies and bugs, and was just neglected and unwanted.
I brought her home and she has been apart of our family every since and we do love her. I have had her aprox 4 years now. Layla is a good dog but at times is very jealous. She gets extremely mad at eddie when he shows any type of agression or even barks at another dog. She will snap at him and swipe him with her paws and sometimes this causes problems if a dog is not submissive to them at the dog park.
We have went out of town a few times for a extended period of time and each time she stayed with my fiances sister, each time we returned Layla had completely gelled with the new family and in fact they really wanted to keep her at the time, and we considered it but they soon got pregnant with twins and that was the end of that.

New dog...
I live in Kansas City, not far from downtown Near a wooded park area that homeless people frequently live in durring the summer. For about a month now, a beautiful boy boxer has been spotted wandering along the bulivard and the edge of the wooded area. This is a major hot spot for the neighborhood people to walk and run dogs. This dog has befriended many many peoples dogs in the last month. When you walk your dog he would come up and play with the dogs, no aggression just very playful. But if you tried to reach down and touch the dog he would run off into the woods.
This week they started calling for freezing temps and that worried me knowing this dog will not make it though the winter, and that he had probably belonged to one of the homeless guys who had been staying over in the woods.(they migrate to the steam grates when it startes to get cold and left the area and the dog behind is the local theory).
This dog had such a fan base of neighborhood people worried and caring for him. Each day someone would be setting food and water out for him along the sidwalk, you would see him sleeping along the side of the road right in the grass like that area was his back yard.

The other morning my fiance called me as she was leaving for work and said this boxer was sitting up @ his spot again but had a blood chest, at the same time im watching the morning news and they are talking about first freeze of the year that night.
I made up my mind at that point I was going to save that dog. That day I spent about 6 hours total time either going up to his area by myself and just talking to him trying to get him familar with me (he would never get any closer then say 20 feet to me if I was alone). I would also go up there with my dog eddie and he would play and love on him and I could get him within a few feet of me when eddie was with, but yet could still never grab him he was to quick.
after hours of this, and one last attempt before I went to bed, I took eddie back up the street and was able to get the dog to follow me home. I trapped him in my front porch , put my dogs inside(he played with box of my dogs and was very playful, never ever saw any aggression out of him).
I then had him alone in a small area and after a few minutes he let me pet him, and ever since he has really taken to me. He was loving on me, sitting in my lap, following me everywhere....
I have fallen for this dog after all the energy I put in with him and I also feel a sense of responsibility to him, being that he still is very shy to everyone except me.

the other owner...

As my fiance was telling her grandmother the story of how I captured this boxer (over 20 people in my neighborhood seeing me with that dog stoped to tell me they have been trying to catch him for weeks and was glad someone finally got him and they were amazed I was able to catch him) Her grandmothers hospise nurse heard the conversation and said that her sister had recently went though a divorse and they had owned boxers and the husband got it from the divorse. She said her sister was looking for another boxer and had been a little depressed about loosing hers. So this is a possible great home for a boxer.


My delima..I would love to keep all 3 in all honestly I am just afraid it might be to much, not for me but for my fiance since I work nights and she has to let them out in the morning. I just dont know if 3 boxers is to much for her, although I know I could easily handle it.

This lady has would take either dog, she is not picky, and this led me to consider giving her Layla knowing she would be going to a good local home that we could continue to see her @ the dog park and at this womans house.


I feel obligated to both...the best solution would be to keep all 3, but again Im not sure if its possible..

Am I a terrible owner for considering this?

[Kaybie's Mom]

My mouth is just hanging open right now. I'm baffled how you could even consider giving away your dog that you've had for 4 years that you supposedly love? Give this lady the stray dog. Do you even think of how unbelievable confused your poor girl would be if suddenly her entire world changed and she has no clue why? I'm trying very hard not to be judgemental but seriously, you are talking about giving your dog away for some dog you found on the street that might end up being a holy mess if allowed in your house. Either keep them all or give away the stray dog. But in all honesty, if you can that easily give away your girl, then maybe she's better off with someone else that will love her and never want to give her up. I can't even imagine.

I found a stray pitbull a couple months back and we ended up keeping him, thus making us a 3 dog household now......I can't even imagine the thought ever crossing my mind that in order to keep him, we would give up one of our current dogs.....it's not even fathomable to me......

[EAO76]

I completely understand your feelings for the stray but if you could help create a connection between the lady and the stray that would be best.

A couple of years ago we fostered a dog for our local boxer rescue. Trucker was hit by a car and we were supposed to foster him until he had recovered from multiple injuries. After nursing him for months through surgeries, infections, etc, etc. he was finally well. But once he was healthy MANY behavioral problems began to surface. He ended up being unpredictable around strangers, other dogs, etc. He was not adoptable to the general public but he trusted us so we kept him. Although Trucker has his wonderful qualities and we do truly love him he makes our life very difficult. We cannot even have a salesman come to our door or a friend show up unannounced. I could go on & on about all of the money we have spent on training & the ways we have had to modify our lives for Trucker.

Anyway awhile ago we fostered a dog named Rocky. I fell in love with Rocky (you can see my thread titled “I have a soul mate” in the rescue section). To me Rocky was the worlds greatest dog! And I wanted to keep him more than anything but I was already at my emotional limit with my current three boxers. Now if someone would have asked me if I would “trade” Rocky for Trucker I might have entertained the thought briefly but in the end I would have realized my commitment was to Trucker. Even with all the problems that he creates he is part of our family and has a place here for the rest of his life.

Also be careful with this stray dog, first impressions can be deceiving. I never would have guessed that Trucker was going to turn out the way he did. But with dogs it can sometimes take months for the true personality to surface. So keep in mind that there may be challenges that arise.

[KCboxer]

Originally Posted by Kaybie's Mom

My mouth is just hanging open right now. I'm baffled how you could even consider giving away your dog that you've had for 4 years that you supposedly love? Give this lady the stray dog. Do you even think of how unbelievable confused your poor girl would be if suddenly her entire world changed and she has no clue why? I'm trying very hard not to be judgemental but seriously, you are talking about giving your dog away for some dog you found on the street that might end up being a holy mess if allowed in your house. Either keep them all or give away the stray dog. But in all honesty, if you can that easily give away your girl, then maybe she's better off with someone else that will love her and never want to give her up. I can't even imagine.

I found a stray pitbull a couple months back and we ended up keeping him, thus making us a 3 dog household now......I can't even imagine the thought ever crossing my mind that in order to keep him, we would give up one of our current dogs.....it's not even fathomable to me......

I understand your response, and initally I wanted to keep the stray and make it a 3 boxer house hold, its my fiance that was not keen to it.
In the last couple of days I have been working on trying to do everything I could to ensure that having 3 would not be a burden at all, and I also have 3 crates.

I am going to try and make it work with all 3, if it does not I will give the lady the stray, after a day of thinking of it I also came to the conculsion that I was just being irrational and could never give up my girl layla.

Sometimes you think of crazy things in the heat of the moment..

[LILYLARUE]

I would definitely give up the stray if necessary. And that woman would appreciate him as much as he would her. They could grow and learn together, developing a bond that both are lacking.

[bucca]

i first want to say thank you for taking this poor dog off the streets and into a loving home. i think your doing the right thing by giving her the stray dog, you dont just throw 4 yrs away and im so glad you see that, i myself and im sure just about everyone else has almost made really bad decisions in the heat of the moment so your are definitly not alone there have you spoken to the lady about the dog? keep us posted .

[catcrazy56]

I have 3 and its great they all love each other but my female can be a b****
its in her nature the 2 males are used to her and they all have an understandiing giving your female up might be too hard on her I suggest you try all 3 my males wrestle all day long female for a minute a day

Try all 3

BTW my dh wanted no part of 3 dogs at first Ruby is a failed foster but loves them all now and they get along so good he wouldn't have it any other way