Why are so many puppies being re-homed? This is a great question; I've been thinking about this for a while. I've had a lot of clients of mine who have re-homed their puppies recently, and a lot of people contacted me and ended up not hiring me but re-homing their puppies. This is unprecedented. In all of the years I've been doing puppy training, I've never seen as many puppies being re-homed as I have over the last two or three months, all types of dogs for all types of reasons. Let's get into this in more detail.
Listen to this podcast episode on Puppy Talk.
Why are so many puppies being re-homed?
Owners don't have time to raise and train a puppy. This is obvious that if you don't have enough time to put into raising a puppy, then don't get a puppy. The first episode I did here on Puppy Talk was in January of 2021, entitled, Owning a New Puppy is a Lot of Work. if you're unwilling to do the work, don't get a puppy.
Owners have unrealistic expectations for their puppies. In other words, they think their puppies should learn to be potty trained instantly, love the crate immediately, and learn all obedience commands within a couple of weeks. That's unrealistic. Puppies don't learn that fast. You have to be patient. I've done a podcast episode on Be Patient with Your Puppy, so check that out.
Owners realize they have the wrong puppy for their lifestyle. They may have a puppy that needs a tremendous amount of exercise and they can't give them that exercise. I had a client who re-homed a golden retriever that was a great dog. I love this dog so much, but it needed three to four hours of daily exercise. In addition, it needed a lot of mental stimulation, enrichment, and play. This dog needed a lot of attention, and the owner couldn't give it to the dog, so she rehomed it and got a little dog that didn't need as much exercise and mental stimulation. Now she’s able to manage the lifestyle of that dog a lot easier.
The puppy develops behavior problems that are hard to fix. These include barking, jumping, play biting too much, and chewing things in the house, such as furniture. This goes on for several months. When the puppy is usually eight to 10 months old, this is when I get phone calls from people saying, “Help! My puppy's bad, and they're destroying my house and jumping on all my guests and they're just hard to walk on a leash, and I'm really frustrated in having a hard time managing them.” When I have a conversation with them, I let them know that the breed they have needs a lot of exercise and outlets for their energy. Then they realize that these behavior problems aren't going to be fixed immediately and that they have to put in a lot of work to fix them.
Many people think they can hire a dog trainer, and we have a magic wand to wave and fix the puppy. It's not that simple. When I do puppy training or dog behavior modification, I never use the word fix. A puppy is not an appliance. You can't take a part out and put another part back in, and the puppy's behaving better. It takes work. Remember that if your puppy starts developing behavior problems, you should call a professional immediately. When you start to notice these behaviors, not when the puppy has rehearsed these behaviors for several months. Sometimes they've rehearsed it so much that reversing the behavior is a tremendous amount of work, not only for the trainer but also for the puppy owner.
How do you prevent rehoming your puppy?
Choose the right puppy. It won't work out if you don't choose the right puppy for your lifestyle. You can't fit a square peg into a round hole. Before you get a puppy, do some research on the website dogtime.com. On this website, you can search for almost any breed and find their demeanor, how trainable they are, and how good they are with children, other dogs, and other people. You can find out a lot of details before you get the puppy. If you're adopting from the shelter or rescue organization and getting a mixed puppy, try to find out as much information about the mixed breed of that puppy and look them up before you adopt the puppy and bring them home. This will save you a lot of frustration and aggravation down the road. If you think you got a lab and you actually got a pit bull, things will change a little bit regarding how you manage that puppy, how you train them, and how you meet your puppy's needs.
Provide clear rules and boundaries for your puppy. Don't let them in the kitchen if you don't want them counters surfing. If you don't want them jumping up on your furniture, don't let them near the furniture. Keep them away from the furniture. Put their bed away from the couch, and have them lay down on their bed and stay. You have to set very clear rules and boundaries and enforce them.
Put them on a structured schedule. Make sure that your puppy has everything that it needs for success. For example, they get up in the morning, go potty, come back inside, eat, do a little training, go potty again, and then they go in their crate or take a nap and have some downtime. Repeat that cycle throughout the day, every four hours. This will help teach your puppy what will happen next, and they don't have to stress out worrying, “What are we gonna do now? What's gonna happen next? When will I get food? When can I go outside? When are we gonna throw the ball?” They already know when it's going to happen because puppies are very intuitive, and they can instinctually tell what's gonna happen once they're on a structured schedule.
Get obedience training for your puppy as soon as possible. When you get the puppy at eight or 10 weeks old, find a trainer to start with you within the first week or two that you bring them home. Find a trainer who can help you immediately develop the foundational skills of the puppy so they're easy to live with and manage. They should learn the commands sit, down, stay, and come. They need to learn impulse control, leave it, and drop it. They should learn how to walk on a loose leash outside so you can take them places and socialize them. I do this at Top Gun Dog Training with the puppies I train. I put 'em on a 6-week disciplined training program, and at the end, they go to Home Depot and socialize. So they can learn to obey the owner when there are distractions and be relaxed in public.
Get your puppy lease trained as soon as possible. In my book Lease Training Your Puppy, I explain that the relationship between the owner and the dog is built through the leash. It's not built inside the house, cuddling on the couch, giving a lot of affection. It's built through leadership, and that leadership is done while teaching your puppy to walk on a loose leash without them pulling and reacting to everything. This needs to start immediately. When I got Dixie, I started leash training her the first hour I brought her home on May 5th, 2020. She was 10 weeks old. I put a slip lead on her and taught her to walk on a leash immediately. This was very important and is one reason why my relationship with Dixie is so good and her behavior is pristine.
Set your puppy up for success. The chances of rehoming your puppy are less likely if your puppy's very happy. If your puppy's having a good time, and they're not getting told no, knock it off and stop constantly. That type of frustration and that type of chit-chat with your puppy is going to make them check out and set them up for failure. Then they're to do more bad things because they're bored and don't want to engage and listen to you. This is when puppies get rehomed. Set your puppy up for success the first day you bring them home.