Surrendering a Saint

Shelters and humane societies were created to care for stray and abused animals. They weren’t meant to be a drop-off for people who don’t want their pets anymore. Shelters, on average, take in 100 new animals or more each day. The reality is that there aren’t enough good homes for all of them. The best shelters don’t do much better than a 50% adoption rate. This means that your Saint has a 50/50 shot at finding a home, or being put down.

By law, stray pets must be kept several days for their owners to reclaim them. They may not be destroyed until that period is up. Dogs given up by their owners aren’t protected by these laws. They may be destroyed at any time. So the shelter is faced with the harsh reality of running out of room, and having to put down the dogs that aren’t on stray hold.

Being purebred won’t help your dog’s chances of adoption either – almost half of the dogs in many shelters are purebreds. And Saints are big, sloppy, drooly animals that require owners able to care for them properly. Vet bills are expensive. The dog’s size is intimidating. These factors all work against a Saint finding a good home. This also means that the dog may be put down after the stray hold is up, and they have spent 10 miserable days in a kennel with strangers.

Sending dog to a shelter in hopes that they’ll find a good home is wishful thinking. More than likely, they’ll be put down due to lack of available space and the difficulty of finding them an appropriate home.

True “No Kill” shelters, though growing, are still few and far between. Obviously, no one wants to see their pet killed so the demand for No Kill shelter services is high. No Kill shelters with open enrollment are important.  This means they don’t turn away dogs in need.  For a list of these shelters, please go to the NoKillNetwork and see if there is one near you.  But if you can find a way to keep your dog, you will be doing much greater good than just finding someone else to take care of the animal you made a commitment.

Breed-specific rescues like Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue are small, self-funded, non-profit organizations run out of volunteers’ homes. Fosters are kept in private foster homes until a permanent home is found. This results in a shortage of available space for new intakes. Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue prioritizes dogs by risk: Those in high-kill rate shelters are given first available slots.  For owner surrenders, we are happy to provide references to resources that may help keep your dog in your home (we know some great trainers, for example). Due to our limited space, we are not able to help every dog that needs it, but we do what we can.  If you need to surrender your dog, please be sure to provide a complete and fully detailed history about them – this helps us place the dog into an appropriate foster home and get them adopted ASAP. 

If you got your Saint as a puppy and it now has a behavior problem you can’t live with, you must accept the fact that you are at least partly responsible for the behavior problems you are seeing. You have four Options:

1. You can continue to live with your Saint the way it is.
2. You can get help to correct the problem.
3. You can try to give your problem to someone else.
4. You can have the dog destroyed.

Option 1 – this isn’t a great option for anyone, and one that we assume you are not leaning towards as you are here, reading about surrendering your dog.

Option 2 – we really do know some great trainers!  Additionally, we see many owners who want to surrender their Saints when they are around a year old – remember, just because your dog is 100+ pounds doesn’t mean they are not still a puppy.  Consistency with training along with positive training methods can make a world of difference.

Option 3 – rehoming your dog (through surrendering the dog to a rescue like us, a shelter, or attempting to find a home for the dog yourself) is another option.  Some things to consider – make sure that if you  are surrendering to shelter that you ask about their live outcome percentage for owner surrenders.  If a shelter is out of space, owner surrenders are the first to be euthanized.  If you opt to find a new home for your dog yourself, there are a couple of things that you should consider – checking vet references on a potential new home is a great way to ensure that your dog will be well taken care of.  You should also make sure that your dog is spayed or neutered before rehoming them to help ensure that they are not used for breeding.

Option 4 – this option is obviously a last resort.  If your dog’s behavioral issues are severe enough that you are considering this option, please discuss it thoroughly with your vet, as there may be additional resources (such as intensive training or medication) that your vet can discuss with you.

If your dog is aggressive with people or has ever bitten anyone, you can’t, in good conscience, give it to anyone else. Could you live with yourself if that dog hurt another person, especially a child? Can you deal with the lawsuit that could result from it? You stand to lose your home and everything else you own. Lawsuits from dog bites are settling for millions of dollars in damages. We are unable to place dogs with bite histories. Period. We cannot expose ourselves to the risk of being shut down by a lawsuit. This means that if we take in a dog with a bite history, we have to put it down. Any bite history.

Our society today has zero tolerance for a dog with a bite history, no matter how minor. A dog that has bitten – whether or not it was his fault – is considered by law to be a dangerous dog. In some states, it’s illegal to sell or give away a biting dog. No insurance company will cover a family with a biting dog. And to be perfectly honest, no responsible person in his right mind would want to adopt a biting dog.

No matter how much you love your dog, if it has ever bitten anyone outside of defending itself or its family, you only have one responsible choice – take it to your veterinarian and have it humanely put to sleep. Don’t leave it with a shelter to die confused and alone with strangers. It’s not fair to the dog.

As hard as it is to face, putting a potentially dangerous, biting dog to sleep is the only safe and responsible thing to do. It’s the right thing to do.

You need to be realistic about your Saint’s adoption potential. Let’s be honest: most people don’t want “used” Saints, especially if they have health or behavior problems. Your Saint will have the best chance if it’s less than 4 years old, is healthy, friendly to strangers, obeys commands and adapts quickly to new situations. Look at your Saint as if you were meeting it for the first time. What kind of impression would it make? Would you want to adopt it?

Your Saint will be much more appealing if it’s clean, well-groomed and healthy. First, take it to the vet for a checkup. Get copies of vaccination records as well as records for any other treatments they have undergone. Be sure to tell the vet about any behavior problems so they can rule out physical causes. A healthy, clean, up-to-date-on-shots Saint is much easier to place than a dirty, poorly-maintained Saint.

If your Saint isn’t spayed or neutered, do it now! Don’t waste your time trying to sell your Saint as “breeding stock” even if it’s AKC-registered. Frankly, no reputable Saint breeder will want it unless he came from a well-known show dog fancier in the first place. The only kind of “breeder” who’ll be interested in your Saint will be a puppy mill or a dog broker. Brokers seek out unaltered purebreds for resale to puppy mills or research laboratories. That’s not the kind of future you want for your Saint.

Spaying or neutering guarantees that your Saint won’t end up in a puppy mill. It’s the best way to ensure that your Saint will be adopted by a family who wants it only as a best friend and member of the family. If you can’t afford the cost of surgery, check with your vet, local shelter or rescue group for information about low-cost spay and neuter programs. We can provide guidance about programs which can ensure that your Saint does not end up in a puppy mill. Remember, they are of no value to the puppy mills if they are not intact.

Groom your Saint. You want your Saint to look beautiful and make a good impression. It needs to be clean and well-dressed! Get rid of those mats and tangles and give it a bath. Make sure it’s neatly trimmed. If you can’t do these things yourself, take your Saint to a groomer. Replace that old collar with a nice, new, strong collar and lead.

Set a reasonable adoption fee. The key word is “reasonable”. You can’t expect the new owner to pay you anywhere near the same price for a “used” Saint as they would for a shiny new puppy. The Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue spends an average of $1500 per dog to get it healthy – this includes spaying or neutering, dentals if needed, bloodwork, vaccines, and treatments for other illnesses that we may discover.  You will want to pick a number that ensures that your dog ends up in a caring home.

Word of mouth doesn’t go very far. Don’t be afraid to use classified ads to advertise your Saint. Done right, it’s the most effective way to reach the largest number of people. It’s easy to write a good ad that will weed out poor adoption prospects right away.

Your ad should give a short description of your Saint, its needs, your requirements for a home and of course, your phone number. The description should include color, sex, the fact that it’s neutered/spayed, and an indication of age. Hints: if your Saint is less than two years old, state its age in months so it will be perceived as the young Saint that it is. If your Saint is over three, just say that they’re an “adult”.

Emphasize your Saint’s good points: Is it friendly? Housebroken? Well-mannered? Loves kids? Does it do tricks? Has it had any training? Don’t keep it a secret but don’t exaggerate either. Responding to its name doesn’t make it a well-trained Saint.

State any definite requirements you might have for the new home: fenced yard, no cats, kids over 10, whatever. Try to say these in a positive way – for example, saying “Kids over 10” sounds better than “No kids under 10”. If your Saint doesn’t like other pets, say “should be only pet” rather than “doesn’t like other animals”.

Always state that references are required. This tells people that you’re being selective and that you’re not going to give your Saint to just anybody. This statement will do a lot to keep people with bad intentions from dialing your number.

Never include the phrase “free to good home” in your ad even if you’re not planning to charge a fee. If possible, don’t put in any reference to a price at all. The chance at a “free” Saint will bring lots of calls, but most of them won’t be the kind of people you’re looking for and many of them will be people you’d rather not talk to at all.

Your ad should look something like this:

“Saint Bernard: young adult, rough-coat male. Neutered. Friendly, housebroken, well-behaved. Great with children, other dogs, cats. Fenced yard, references required. Karen 555-1234”

Schedule your ad so that it appears in Sunday’s paper – the issue that’s the most well-read and widely circulated. If your budget is very limited, choose to run your ad only on Sundays rather than throughout the week. Nearly every community also has small, weekly “budget-shopper” newspapers that offer inexpensive classified ads. Take advantage of them!

Don’t be discouraged if your phone isn’t ringing right away. Most people give up too soon. It can take a month or more to find a new home, so plan on advertising for several weeks. Put a phone number in the ad where you can be easily reached or use an answering machine. People can’t call you if no one’s home to answer the phone.

Newspapers are just one way to advertise. Take a good cute photo of your Saint and have copies made. Duplicating photos can be done for as little as a quarter each at most photo shops. Make an attractive flyer on colored paper that you can have copied for a few cents each. Attach the cutest photo of your Saint that you have. Your flyer doesn’t have to be expensive, professional or computerized, just neat and eye-catching. Since you’re not paying for words, you can write more about your Saint than you could in a newspaper ad. Be descriptive!

Post your flyers at grocery stores, department stores, vets’ offices, pet supply stores, grooming shops, factories, malls, etc. – anywhere you can find a public bulletin board.

“First come, first served” does not apply here. You are under no obligation to give your Saint to the first person who says he wants it. You have every right to ask questions and choose the person you think will make the best new owner. Don’t let anyone rush you or intimidate you. Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue turns down 5 out of 6 applications. That means successful applicants constitute less than 20% of our applications. Good homes are tough to find, but they are out there.

Feel free to contact us for our list of questions that we ask prospective adopters, or view our Adoption Application.

First of all, get your caller’s name, address, and phone number. Deceitful people may call you from a phone booth or give you a fake address. Ask for information that you can verify.

Does the caller’s family know about and approve of their plans to get a Saint? A dog should never be a gift or a surprise.  Dogs (especially giant breeds like Saints) are a a lot of work – adopting one needs to be a family decision.

Do they own or rent their home? If renting, does their landlord approve? You’d be surprised how many people haven’t checked with their landlord before calling you. If you have doubts, ask for the landlord’s name and number, then call the landlord yourself. Be cautious about renters – they’re quicker to move than people who own their homes and movers often leave their pets behind. Remember, you’re looking for a permanent home for your Saint.

Does the caller have children? How many and how old are they? If your Saint isn’t good with kids, say so up front. How many children can make a difference depending on your Saint’s personality? A shy Saint may not be able to cope with several children and their friends. Very young children may not be old enough to treat the Saint properly. If the callers don’t have children, ask them if they’re thinking of having any in the near future. Many people get rid of their Saints when they start a family.

Have they had dogs, especially Saints, before? If yes, how long did they keep them? These are very important questions! How they treated the pets they’ve had in the past will tell you how they might treat your Saint. The following answers should raise a red flag and make you suspicious:

“We gave him away when we moved.”

Unless they had to because of unavoidable problems, moving is a poor excuse for giving up a pet. Almost everyone can find a place that will allow dogs if they try hard enough. If they gave up their last dog that easily, there’s a good chance they’ll give yours up someday, too.

“We gave him away because he had behavior problems.”

Most behavior problems – poor housebreaking, chewing, barking, digging, running away – result from a lack of training and attention. If the caller wasn’t willing to solve the problems he had with his last dog, he probably won’t try very hard with your Saint either.

“Oh, we’ve had lots of dogs!”

Watch out for people who’ve had several different dogs in just a few years’ time. They may have never kept any of them for very long.

Do they have pets now? What kinds? Obviously, if your Saint isn’t good with cats or other animals and your caller has them, the adoption’s not going to work out. Be up front. Better to turn people away now than have to take the Saint back later. If the prospective adopter has other dogs, a meeting on neutral territory should be done first to ensure they get along.  Dogfights can be serious problems and one dog can hurt or even kill the other. 

Do they have a yard? Is it fenced? Your Saint will need daily exercise. Without a yard, how will it get it? Can the caller provide it with regular walks? If the yard isn’t fenced, ask how they plan to keep the Saint from leaving their property? Did the caller’s last dog wander off or get hit by a car? If so, how will they keep this from happening to their next dog? Do they understand that Saints are indoor dogs, and shouldn’t be left outside for long periods of time unsupervised? Are they aware of the disastrous effects of chaining or tethering a Saint, which often leads to aggression resulting in euthanasia?

Where will the Saint spend most of its time? Again, Saints are indoor dogs. They don’t respond well to being left outside for long periods of time unsupervised.

Why is the caller interested in a Saint? What do they like about them? Find out what kind of dog “personality” they’re looking for. Many people are attracted by the Saint’s appearance and loving temperament, but don’t know the first thing about grooming requirements, dietary needs, drooling, shedding, snoring, etc. If their expectations don’t match your Saint’s disposition, the adoption’s not going to work. Be honest about our Saint’s good and bad points. Is a Saint really what they’re looking for or would they do better with another breed?

References: Get the phone number of their vet (if they’ve had pets before) and two other personal references. Call those references! Explain that John Doe is interested in adopting your Saint and you want to make sure he’ll give it a good home. Ask the vet whether former pets were given regular medical care, annual vaccinations and heartworm preventative. Were they in good condition and well-groomed? How long have they known this person? If they were placing a pet, would they feel comfortable giving it to this person?

Once you’ve chosen a family (or families) that you feel are good candidates, make an appointment for them to see the Saint. You should actually set two appointments: one at your house and one at theirs. Going to their house lets you see whether their home and yard are truly what they said they are and whether your Saint will do well there. It also gives you an opportunity to call off the adoption and take the Saint back home with you if things aren’t as represented, if you think there’ll be problems or if you just get a bad feeling about the whole thing.

If they already have a dog, make plans to introduce the dogs on “neutral” territory, like a park. Most dogs resent meeting a strange dog at home. They may be hostile toward the new dog or even start a fight.

If the family has children, ask them to bring them to the interview. You need to see how the Saint will react to them and how the children treat the Saint. Some allowance should be made for kids’ natural enthusiasm but if these children are undisciplined, disrespectful to your Saint and not kept in hand by their parents, your Saint could be mistreated in its new home and someone could get bitten.

Do you like these people? Are you comfortable having them as guests in your home? Would they make good friends? If not, don’t give them your Saint. Trust your instincts. If something about them doesn’t seem quite right, even if you can’t explain what it is, don’t take a chance on your Saint’s future. Wait for another family!

After the interviews are over, give the new family a day or two to decide if they really want to adopt your Saint. Make sure they have a chance to think over the commitment they’re making. While they’re deciding, get a package ready to send along with your Saint. This package should include:

• Your Saint’s medical records and the name, address & phone number of your vet.
• Your name, address & phone (new address if you’re moving)
• Your Saint’s toys and belongings (dog bed, blanket, etc.), a supply of dog food & special treats they love
• An instruction sheet on feeding, special needs, etc.; some reading material about the Saint breed.
• Collar and leash; ID and rabies tags

Set aside a special time for you and your Saint to take a last walk together and say goodbye. There’s a good chance you’ll cry. Do it now, in private, so you’re clear-headed when it comes time for them to leave. Your Saint may be confused about being left with strangers and you don’t want your emotions to upset them even more.

There are some things you need to explain to the new family before they take your Saint home: The Saint will go through an adjustment period as it gets to know its new people, learns new rules and mourns the loss of its old family. Saints can take up to a month to adjust to a new home, and the new family should be careful about forcing the Saint to do anything stressful – taking a bath, obedience training classes, meeting too many strangers at once, etc. – until the Saint has had a chance to settle in. Tell them to take things easy at first and give the Saint time to bond to them. The Saint might not eat for the first day ( or week ) or two. Not to worry – it’ll eat when it’s ready. Some dogs temporarily forget their training. A well-housebroken Saint may have an accident during the first day in their new home. This isn’t unusual and rarely happens more than once.