08/31/2026
Every shelter and rescue is full!!!
🚨 **WE'RE DONE SUGARCOATING IT.** 🚨
This is from a real surrender ask.
**“Unfortunately, due to a change in landlord restrictions as well as my husband and I expecting a baby, we’re having to re-home our sweet fur baby. … We’re trying to avoid taking her to the pound if at all possible. We’d really love for her to find a good, safe, happy home with no risk of euthanasia 😅💕🐾”**
Read that last bit again. *“No risk of euthanasia 😅.”* We're struggling to find anything funny about that.
There is something profoundly broken about casually asking an overwhelmed rescue to guarantee that your dog won't die after you've decided she can no longer be part of your life.
And before anyone starts: yes, landlord restrictions can create very real problems but “we're having a baby” should not be casually sitting on the list of reasons your dog has to go.
Your dog is not your **practice family** until the baby arrives and doesn't become disposable when you become pregnant.
Here's what people seem to think happens:
You surrender your dog. A rescue swoops in. A foster magically appears.
Someone adopts her immediately. Everyone lives happily ever after. 💕
**That is not the reality in 2026.**
Rescues & shelters are overflowing. Adoptions are slow. Foster homes are exhausted. Wonderful dogs are waiting MONTHS, even years, for homes.
So when you say, “We don't want to take her to the pound because she might be euthanized,” what you're actually saying is: *We understand our decision puts our dog at risk of dying, so we'd like you to absorb that risk.*
Someone else should open their home, pay for her care, find her a family, and carry the emotional burden if there isn't anywhere for her to go.
**No.** Find the pet-friendly housing. Talk to your landlord. Ask for temporary help. Hire the trainer. Walk the dog while you're tired. Prepare your dog for the baby. Change your routine. **You made a commitment to a living animal.**
Sometimes surrender truly is unavoidable. We know that but surrender should be the **last option after you've fought like hell to keep your commitment**, not the convenient solution when your life enters a new chapter.
Your dog doesn't understand why the person who called her their “fur baby” suddenly doesn't have room when a human baby came along. She only knows **her family disappeared.** And there is absolutely nothing 😅 about that.
**Do better.**
— Dixie Girl Dog Rescue
