Difficult Decisions in Life: When You’re Thinking of Re-Homing Your Dog

Do you ever feel like you have hard decisions to make and just do not know which way to go?

I’ve recently been really contemplating if Molly was the right choice for my family.  I hate to even say that out loud, but I often wonder if she would be happier with another family…

It just feels to me like I never have enough time at the end of the day to devote to her.  That said, she is always right beside me, so close that I trip over her.

What do you do when you’re faced with a difficult decision to make?  Have you ever felt like you’re not giving enough to your furbaby?

A little bit of background ….

My Miss Molly is my 3 year old labradoodle dog.  When I got her, my grandson was just a little baby and I really thought that having a dog for him would be a completely wonderful thing.

At the time, I had emptied my home of children and was taking some time off to get my health back.  My thought and my goal was that Molly would be a great friend for Boogaloo, and she would be a great friend for me.

My intention was that I would have a bunch of time to spend with her, and that she could be my walking companion, as I worked at getting healthier and losing weight on my healthy keto weight loss journey.

Fast forward 6 months….

Things change.  Yes I’ve spent time walking her and loving on her, but instead of being an empty nester I am right back in the middle of a full house of kids.  In addition I’ve started a new local business and continue to do my online ventures, leaving me ZERO extra time to spend with Miss Molly.

I hired a wonderful local company to walk Molly daily.  So she wasn’t getting neglected.  But I really started to feel like this is not the life that I set out to have with her.

Fast forward another 2 years….

There are times in my world when I have a house of 8 people and two  businesses that consume much of my time.  That is not at all where I thought I would be 3 years ago.  Some days Molly feels more like a point of guilt for me rather than a point of joy.

I occasionally go through a phase where I think that it would be better for Molly, and for my family if I were to find somewhere to re-home her.  I’m sure I would be able to find someone that would give her a happy life.

I’m not even sure I’m going to post this blog because it makes me feel like a failure as a fur mommy.

What would you do?

I’ve been talking to the kids and thinking it through very carefully.  I even made a sort of Pros/Cons list in my head.

The Pros

• She is amazing with my littles.  They can climb right no top of her, or put their hand directly in her mouth.  She does not get angry or bite, she may give them a warning growl but has not done more than that.
• I do think that it is good for kids to have a family pet.
• She is an automatic alarm that alerts me whenever anything even moves outside (lol this really a pro AND a con).
• We’ve had her for 3 years and she’s part of the crew.
• We’ve had her for 3 years, and so at some point she WILL lose some of her energy, won’t she?
• She is amazing at being house broken.  I don’t think she’s messed inside the house after the first month we had her.
• She’s completely crate trained and actually enjoys being in her crate even when I don’t close the door.  She absolutely loves the dog bed I have for her in the crate.

The Cons

• I wonder if she’s happy.
• She is a complete SPAZ – she’s afraid of her own shadow.
• She is VERY high energy.
• She’s twice the size I thought she was going to be.
• She’s a jumper.  When anyone comes into my home I have to put her away, just because she’s never really learned manners.
• Keeping her has been very cost prohibitive.  Because of the guilt I feel about not have the time for her, I’ve been pouring money into walking her etc.
• It’s hard to find someone to take her when we go away, which is really only once or twice a year.
• She’s a girl and she wrecks my grass when she goes pee

Family Decisions

We’ve talked about Molly as a family, and what we need to do about her, or for her.

My kids were devastated at the thought of Molly not being here anymore.  That actually shocked me a bit because I thinking they really didn’t care about her at all.

Truthfully, as frustrated as I can be with her some days and as much work as she is, I love her bunches and I would miss her terribly if she weren’t here.

So what are we going to do?

Well first all, I said to the older kids that if it means that much to them that we keep Molly, they also have to take an active role in taking care of her.

Molly’s care can NOT be left completely up to me, after all, she is a FAMILY pet.

They must also take time to play with her, continue her training, and help to walk her.

We may not walk Molly everyday, but we do need to spend time with Molly every day.  Playing in the back yard, or training her with treats or whatever it may be for that day.

Secondly, in order to save (or try and recover) my lawn from all the dead spots, a friend told me about these Dog Rocks.  They are suppose to save your lawn from Pet Urine Burns.  So I bought some.  I want to give them a try.  Have you heard of them?  I just got them, so I’ll let you know how they work out.

Lastly, I’ve gone through the amount of money that I have been spending on her, and made some adjustments to the budget.

I’ve decided that we need to cut the expense of the dog walking service.  Although they have been amazing with her, it’s just not feasible for me to keep spending that kind of cash on her every month (that was a $300 plus cost).

I do get a Bark Box for Molly.  That I am going to keep going with because I think it is great value for the money.  The only difference I will be making there that I will be upgrading to the Super Chew Bark Box so that she has some tougher toys to toss around.

I will continue to take Molly to the groomers, but maybe lengthen the time between visits by a week or two just so that over the course of the year it will save a grooming.

As much as life would be easier without her, life would also be lonely.  She has become part of our family.  She is will grow out of her puppy stage, hopefully very soon considering she’s already 3+ years old.

I think what I need to do, is reframe my thinking.  Instead of thinking of Molly as more work, I need to start thinking of her more as part of my self-care routine.

Spending time with her is actually a stress relief, even if it’s only in 5 or 10 minute chunks.

Talk soon,

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