Surrendering to a No-Kill Shelter or Animal Rescue
If you dont have the time or ability to rehome your pet directly, surrendering them to a no-kill shelter or animal rescue group might be a safe option. Make sure you research the organization you plan to leave your animal with; understand their adoption policies for rehoming and the nurturing support your pet will receive while with the organization. Note which shelters in your area euthanize animals as a solution to over-crowding, as you create the risk your pet will be put down if its there for too long. In areas where animal shelters are especially overwhelmed, the time limit before euthanasia can be very short.
In a worse-case scenario where you need to get rid of your pet immediately, some public rescues and shelters will allow you to drop off your pet after hours. They may even have a specified drop-off area. Some shelters wont allow this, however, and just leaving your pet there can constitute abandonment.
How Long Can I Legally Leave my Dog Alone?
Sometimes you may intend to keep your pet, but circumstances will separate you for a time. While cats are generally okay on their own for up to a day or two, provided youve left them with plenty of food and water to last that long and clean their litter box before you go, its still highly recommended they dont spend more than 12 hours unchecked.
Dogs, however, are a very different matter. For one thing, dogs are more likely to gorge themselves on food thats left out for them rather than saving some for later as cats are a bit more likely to do, which can make them sick or end up painfully hungry as time passes without a refill. They also need a chance to go outside to relieve themselves, so unless you have a doggie door that leads to a fenced-in yard, you run the risk of coming back to quite a mess. Dogs with high or even average energy levels also need a chance to get outside and move around freely or go on walks to help them burn energy. And perhaps even more importantly, dogs tend to be very social animals—leaving them alone for too long or too frequently can cause them severe anxiety or even depression.
While not every state provides an exact limit for when a time period becomes “too long” before a dog is considered abandoned, you do risk animal cruelty charges if the time youve left them is deemed excessive. It could also be illegal to leave them alone for long periods of time, even if theyre not technically ruled abandoned. Nearly all states make it illegal to leave a dog alone in a car at all, or for more than a few minutes at a time. Leaving a dog tied outside all day or all night is usually illegal as well. Youll need to find information that specifically relates to the local laws in your city or town.
In general, for the sake of your dogs physical and mental health, you shouldnt leave young puppies alone for more than two hours, or older dogs for more than six to eight. Elderly dogs may also require a shorter timeline.
What Are My Options if I Need to Get Rid of My Pet?
If you realize youre no longer able to provide proper care for your animal, you may start considering your options for rehoming them, including considering factors like the legal and ethical implications of the options you want to pursue.
If you have the time and resources, rehoming your dog or cat may be a kind way you can give them a new place to live. When you rehome, youre giving your animal up for adoption directly to its new family. If you have a trusted friend or family member you know can provide your pet with the love, attention, and care it deserves, that can be an especially humane way to relinquish your ownership.
Giving your animal to a stranger can be a lot riskier, and some local city laws may dictate how youre allowed to do it. Its generally advised to charge some kind of small fee to rehome them, so you reduce the risk of someone just picking up a free animal they may not be able to afford or commit to. You should ask them questions about their experience with pets, and be honest about your surrendered pets habits and personality to improve the odds of a good fit.
Do Not Abandon Your Pet
Abandoning pet dogs is a traumatic occurrence that happens far too often in cities like Bengaluru, and can lead to emotional stress for the animal and a burden on shelters.
At around 4 pm, the gates at Fetch, a canine training school, are opened and a happy Labrador dog skips out and scampers onto the grass, never leaving her trainer, CV Franklin’s side. He holds out a biscuit, and, Jade, the four-year-old Labrador happily chomps on the treat.
When Franklin, a canine behaviourist, first met Jade, he knew there was something special about her. The roly-poly yellow lab had a sunny disposition and seemed friendly towards anyone she met. But like hundreds of dogs in Bengaluru, Jade had been abandoned by her owners and still showed signs of heartbreak and the burden of having been left behind by her family.
Abandoning pet dogs is a traumatic occurrence that happens far too often in cities like Bengaluru. Take Helen, a Rottweiler who was kicked out of her home. Or Holly, a Saint Bernard who was found wandering the streets. Beauty and Bruno were rescued and never claimed after the Kodagu floods. And Rudra, a cocker spaniel had been treated so cruelly by his previous owners that shelters workers could barely touch him when he was first brought in.
The emotional stress that a dog feels when he or she is abandoned is very real, but Franklin knew that with training and rehabilitation, Jade could overcome her issues of abandonment. However, it takes months of work, love and care to bring those dogs back to a state of happiness.
According to Sanjana Madappa, who is in charge of CUPA’s Second Chance Adoption Centre, the most common cases of canine abandonment occur when a dog is left on the streets when they’ve been surrendered by their owners, or in cruelty cases, where the dogs have been severely mistreated. One of the reasons that dogs are abandoned is because people often aren’t aware that there are animal organisations which care for dogs. And even when dog owners are aware of these NGOs, there is often a cost associated with leaving the animal at a shelter, which can also be a deterrent for some.
In other cases, people seek to avoid giving explanations to animal shelters, so their dogs are left loose to fend for themselves. These dogs are often dropped off in well-populated areas, like parks, in hopes that a concerned dog lover will notice the stranded animal. “I think for a lot of them there is a certain amount of shame attached to it,” she said.
CUPA currently has roughly 50 indie dogs and 50 pedigree breeds, many of whom were abandoned. Indies typically end up at the shelter after being injured on the streets or were brought in as puppies. The pedigree dogs, however, were almost all brought in by owners.
Two dogs play with a stick on the grounds at CUPAs Second Chance Adoptions Centre.
India’s feeble breeding laws have caused a proliferation of expensive breeds being sold at lowered costs, making it easier for anyone to own a dog, without considering the cost and commitment required. The majority of abandoned dogs come from people who are able to make a one-time investment in buying the dog — particularly when illegal breeders and puppy mills are selling them at significantly reduced prices — but don’t take long-term expenses into consideration.
Ethical breeders work to preserve the quality and standard of the breed, and as a result, these puppies can be exorbitantly expensive and the breeders are careful in selecting owners for their pups. “These people aren’t breeding for money. They’re breeding for the love of the breed,” Sanjana said.
However, there are currently swaths of unethical breeders who fail to follow those same checks. While quality breeders will carefully consider each dog, including genetic and temperament issues, before mating them, there is little governance to ensure that unethical breeders follow those same steps, Sanjana said. As a result, the dogs’ health is compromised and puppies are sold for a pittance.
There are many dogs that spend their lives in shelters, which are rapidly filling up.
This has led to a wide availability of breeds being sold to people who don’t actually have the bandwidth to care for them. “It cannot be to say, ‘I want to have a show dog in my house but I don’t want to pay the price for it. I want a Saint Bernard by I don’t want to pay the Rs 90,000 or one lakh it might actually cost me, I want to pay Rs 5,000,’” Sanjana said.
That’s why animal experts are urging potential dog owners to think beyond short-term costs and investments before bringing a dog into their homes.
“Dogs live an average of 10 years, during which point you can get married, your job can take you somewhere else, you can have a child,” Sanjana said. “If you cannot commit to a dog saying, ‘I will treat the dog as I would any other family member,’ don’t get one.”
After Jade was abandoned at CUPA’s adoption centre, she was eventually taken to Fetch, a canine training centre owned by CV Franklin. “When a dog is abandoned, it goes through a lot of trauma,” he said. “There are times where the dog actually looks for his owner for the next few days. If he hears a male voice from a male owner or a female voice from a female owner, he actually looks for them and says, ‘is it them?’ And then eventually realises that they’re not coming back.”
Like humans, dogs also show signs of emotional stress associated with leaving their homes, facing a new environment and suddenly being surrounded by dozens of other dogs. That includes depression, loss of appetite, inactivity, weight gain, skittishness or a shattered sense of trust that makes the animal move away from people and other dogs.
Trainers like Franklin work to rehabilitate these dogs and help relieve them of trauma. He compares this kind of therapy to “a gym workout for a heartbroken person.” It uses a combination of physical routines, like playing fetch and going for walks, and mental ones, like obedience training, to get the dog back on its feet. But this isn’t a quick process — depending on the dog, it can usually take anywhere between 90 to 120 days.
In February, CUPA’s Second Chance Adoption Centre moved to its latest home in Doddaballapur, where there are currently almost a hundred dogs, many of whom have been abandoned, including both older dogs and litters of newborn puppies.
CUPA currently has about 50 pedigree dogs and 50 indies, many of whom have been abandoned.
For many abandoned dogs, particularly those who had been treated cruelly, the centre is a welcome change. The dogs can run free in wide-open grounds with shady trees, they can look forward to regular meals and gated enclosures to sleep in. Health check-ups are also performed to ensure the dogs stay healthy. But for some dogs, the change can be jarring, especially if they were attached to their owners, came from comfortable homes and aren’t used to living around so many other dogs. These dogs can become lethargic, may stop eating, or worse, lash out aggressively, particularly if they were trained as guard dogs which is often the case for Rottweilers and Dobermans. And for cruelty cases where dogs have been mistreated to the point of near death, it serves as a loving home where they can spend their last few months in dignity.
When a dog is brought into a shelter, the expenses can vary greatly. For example, an abandoned dog brought into CUPA is first given a blood test as part of a health check, followed by sterilisation as well as vaccinations if those haven’t already been administered. These can add up to Rs 5,000 to 6,000 in just initial expenses. That doesn’t include the monthly expenses for feeding and upkeep, which can shift from dog to dog, and will be expensive for breeds that require more maintenance, like Saint Bernards.
Thanks to NGOs in the city, a good number of abandoned dogs find homes. Still, there are many that spend their lives in shelters, which are rapidly filling up.
Since Franklin first met Jade and noticed the spark of kindness and intelligence in her, Jade has spent the last few months working with Franklin, and seems to have come a long way from her timid self when she was abandoned. She’s learnt how to be submissive and gentle, particularly around children, by laying on the ground when a child approaches or carefully taking treats from their hands.
On a recent Thursday at Fetch canine training centre, Jade was rolling around on a patch of grass, snacking on biscuits, and accepting belly scratches and head rubs. After careful rehabilitation and obedience training, she’s finally ready for a new home and the next chapter in her life.
Jade will be heading to a school where she will live as a companion dog for children. Though Franklin could not disclose the name or location with the school, he said Jade will be interacting with children of different ages to bring joy and comfort to their days. “Basically, sunshine on a dull day kind of dog,” he said. Become a