Nat12

We are having to leave our beloved dog behind.
Firstly he has had a past heart murmour and although is ok now I would worry about him coping the long flight and stress.
Secondly we really dont have the money to take him as we are looking at £2000 without all the blood tests, kennels etc.
It is tearing me apart, how silly I feel. I have asked family members if they would be willing to take him on but no luck.
I am looking at rehoming him through The English Bull Terrier rehoming service, although they havent been all that great in sending me the relevant info etc, im panicking he wont be rehomed on time!
Has anyone had any similar experiences or any advice on where to rehome your dog etc would be appreciated.
Thankyou to anyone who replies.

MANDS14

Hi Nat12

We are in a similar position. Our dog is 10 (although in good health) but has never been in a kennel in his life and we are worried the ordeal would be too much for him.

We are just about to start the search for a home for him. I am panicking a bit about it as we may be going in Dec so not much time. Thought I would ask every one I knew, post some ads in local vets, do some flyers around our town. Its heartbreaking to think of leaving, I've had him since he was 6 weeks old and he's a real gentle soul but it seems the sensible thing to do.

Has anyone brought a dog of this age or older across to Aus?

bugdog

Yep having the same trouble,would love to take our French Bulldog love him to pieces,and also looking at going dec time.But been in touch with some companies and they wont take him because he's a flat faced dog. He's 19 months old still only young,hoping the breeder might have him back.if not going to have to advertise

Tellyaddict

Hi Mands14

We are bringing our dogs with us and they are aged 9 and 10. I too was worried about taking them as they have never been in a kennel and we have had them both since 8 weeks old.

I had a good discussion with my vet last week when I took them for vaccinations and he said they both have good healthy hearts and will be absolutely fine. He said dogs are very adaptable. We are going to Melbourne and although I am worried about the flight for them I am not worried about the quarantine. We are sendng them with Golden Arrow who we have spoken to at length and the guy we spoke to has even visited the quarantine station in Melbourne and knows the manager etc so he really put our minds at ease.

They are going for microchipping tomorrow morning and then we just need to get the blood tests done when we have a definate date.

Hope this helps to put your mind at rest a little - when are you hoping to go? We go in November (fingers crossed) so if you want me to let you know how it goes once we arrive I will happily do so.

Kind regards
Nikky

Sorry to hear about your dog Nat12 hope you manage to find a good home soon.

Damson

Has anyone thought/heard of The Dogs Trust (www.dogtrust.org.uk) who are a sound crowd. We have sponsored dogs with them for years and they are absolutely fantastic. They never put a dog down and the centres they live in look great (the dog I sponsor has a sofa!) and they even own a house open only to old rescue dogs - aahh. They've got about 10 centres I think and I think there is one in Ilfracombe. I don't know if they would ask money for upkeep or a donation of some kind. We were going to ask if they could take our old (15 years) Border Collie if we emmigrated but we had to have her put down in May so it didn't prove an issue. Just a thought
Lorraine

vicki t

i was also going to suggest the dogs trusts and any other doggie charity near you. you must be heartbroken to have to do this but get it started asap that way you can vet prospective new owners. such a shame no one in the family could take him.

i have the same concerns about my 2 cats. i cant leave them but am SO worried about how they would cope with the journey and the Q. thing is i dont think i would trust anyone with them to add to the stress we r not planning on going forever, just for a few years (unless it is REALLY great, then maybe...) so they will have to come all the way back again.

good luck with your searching.

Kath & Graham

We took our westie to Perth when she was 8 years old and we brought her back again!!! I think dogs are a lot stronger than you give them credit!!! BTW shes nearly 12 now and we also brought our kelpie back with us too ...

And when we go back AGAIN we are taking them with us.....

Nat12

I am hoping that over the weekend I will recieve all the info I need so he can be put on the rehoming website of the English Bull Terrier club. Fingers crossed.
I really hope he finds a good home and just a bit nervous about advertising him through the local paper etc as at least if he goes through them the new owners will be vetted.
Saying that I guess I could do that myself..??
I really dont want to think about it but we have only got until the end of october so not long at all.
I was hoping my mum would soften to the idea but no luck there!
Thanks for some great replies there I will look at more rescue centres etc and if there is something in Ilfracombe that would be good as its quite near to me.
Good luck to everyone else in the same position, heres to hoping our dogs find a good home, Im sure they will.

popeye

Yes we left our dog behind, as we knew we would be in rented accom for a while and so hard to find a place that aloud pets
We tried to rehome him a couple of times but being a 10 year old boxer and still a bit of a handful at times they fell though ( why people dont say they have cats and rabbits when we tell them he dont get on with other animals is beyond me,lol )
So we was set on having him put to sleep as he had lead a good life and we didnt want to put him though the ordeal of rehoming again, but lucky enough the day before he was booked in the vet phoned and asked us to try this one last person, he now lives in the countryside and is getting on really well with his new family

Dreams of Oz

We ve been in Australia now for 3 months and we had to leave our beautiful labrador in the UK. He is 5 years old and the most gorgeous dog you could wish to meet....so soft. In fact that was the problem. He is scared of anything loud so fireworks were a nightmarefor us. Even someone shutting their car door near by would freak him out. He would urinate uncontrollably he was so freaked.We knew flying him was a no brainer. If the flight didnt kill him then the quarentine would. If we could have bought him a seat on the plane with us we wouldnt have hesitated but unfortunately Singapore wouldnt do that!!
We looked into all kinds of options. We advertised with no luck. We asked everyone we knew...no luck. I thought my Dad would come through but...no luck. We got in touch with the Labrador Trust through the internet who said they would take him but he would have to go into kennels until they got him a home and we wouldnt be able to see where he had gone. We asked the local vet who was very good and put feelers out for us. She kept calling us to see if we had found him anywhere.
Time wasnt on our side either as we flew in a month from then.
My husbands brother came to stay with us before we flew out and he said what a cool dude our dog was and maybe his neighbour (who already had a black lab) would have him. He said he would love him so we took him for a trial weekend and he never came back!
He now lives in Barnard Castle County Durham in the middle of the countryside on a 2 1/2 acre plot with chickens and sheep and a female black lab for company. They are a lovely family with 2 young girls and he is adored.My husbands brother is a triathlete and when he runs he takes both dogs with him over the hills so they get loads of exercise.
He goes to the local pub every night with his new Dad and is fussed over. He wears a red bandana around his neck and they treat him like a celebrity!
We had a great outcome and apart from to be still with us this is the next best thing for Zak.
They send us regular updates and photos so we can keep in touch with whats happening with him.
The main thing is he is happy and having a lovely life.
I miss him every day and still think if he wonders where we are or will we go collect him some day? I guess we ll never know but at least he has a good life. His new family adore him and he does them.
Good luck to all of you in this situation...i know its not easy and i am thinking of you all. Hope you get as happy an outcome as we did for Zak.
Janice.

Nat12

Ahh that is so lovely.
People have said to me dont feel bad as the dog will probably forget you in a few weeks and be happy enough but its hard and it doesnt stop me feeling guilty.
Trying not to get too upset about it as then the waterworks will start lol.

Nat12

Hiya,
Just wanted to comment on what lovely post about your Lab and it sounds like he is having a wonderful life. Its making me feel teary now as I just hope my dog will be as happy as he will be.
My dog can also get very nervy at times.
Im just getting worried as although when Ive spoken to the organisation who are supposed to be organising him being rehomed they have been great but they have yet to send me all the info I need in order to put him on their website and I feel like Im chasing my tail a bit when I am trying to get hold of them to email me the various info etc. Just feel like Im being 'fobbed' off a bit Im sure they are just busy though, well I hope they are, as this whole thing is stressing me out worrying about whats going to happen to him.
Thankyou for posting your story as it makes me feel like there is hope.

Nick11

Our dogs were 16 and 10. we couldn't bear to leave them behind. So we waited til they died.
I couldn't have given them away or had them put to sleep. It wasn't an option.
Sam died at the grand old age of 19. We emmigrated 3 months after his death.

jothefw

We rehomed three dogs before moving to Australia. It was different in each dogs case, they were all different so had different requirements.

I advertised for my jack russell, he was only 1 yr old and went very quickly.

I also advertised for my 4 yr old springer spaniel - he is a trained gun dog and had a lot of interest, he'd been trained by an excellent trainer so had a good reputation. I was very particular with my interviews ... the family who have him send christmas cards and he's doing very well.

For our cocker spaniel we were lucky that my husbands parents love him to bits so wanted him desperately. What I will say though is how hard it is to see him on the webcam and when we visited last year there's no doubt he recognised us, immediately jumping in our hire car as if to say "come on then, lets get home!" My inlaws do an amazing job looking after him but I find it hard not to judge how they feed him (he's a little overweight) but my husband points out he's not our dog anymore, it's no longer our right to comment!

In hindsight I'd have brought the cocker, yes he was 10 yrs old at the time and he's never been in kennels but he'd have coped fine here and I miss him so much! I've two lovely labradors here (less grass seed risks) but it's not the same, first love I guess!

Kim67

We left our 17 year old kelpie with friends in Australia when we relocated to Dubai recently. They're great people we've known for over 20 years and our dog has settled in nicely. Feeling the heat here in Dubai, I know we made the right decision for her.