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If You Must Give Up Your Basset
Hound.....
Please contact us. We are willing to
help. Please do not take your Basset to a shelter or place a "free
to good home ad" in the newspaper. We will do our best to get your
Basset into our rescue as quickly as possible. He or she will be
placed in a foster home until we can find a loving, adoptive family.
If you are able to keep your Basset while we do the search, that's
even better. It will be less stressful for the dog. We will
still handle all adoptive matters, do the home checks, do a contract
with the new owners, etc.
Our first mission is to help you keep
your dog if at all possible. If you are considering giving up your
dog because of any behavioral problems, please visits our Links
page. We've listed several sites that may answer questions you have
on housebreaking, excessive barking, etc. We always recommend
spaying and neutering---this helps immensely with a great deal of
behavior problems. There are also links to Basset Health sites. Your
dog may have problems related to an undiagnosed medical problem. We
strongly encourage you to use your veterinarian as a first
source for advice and help in medical or behavioral matters.
If you must make the ultimate decision
to give up your Basset, please know that Las Vegas Basset Rescue
will do it's best to help. Our organization relies on donations and
fund-raisers to pay for vet bills related to incoming bassets. If
you would like to make a donation to aid us in helping your dog,
it's appreciated, but not required.
If you would
like to try and find your dog a home on your own, please heed the
following advice:
NEVER, EVER adopt your
dog out unaltered. Chances are good an adopter may be seeking a
dog to breed for profit. Please spay or neuter your pet. We have
many unscrupulous backyard breeders in this town who search the
newspaper ads daily looking for unspayed/unneutered purebred
dogs that they can pick up for free.They will convince you that
they are taking your dog to be a family member, when in reality
they are looking for ways to make more income for themselves by
breeding your dog until it drops. Never give an adopter any AKC
papers you may have on your dog--unless your pet is already
spayed/neutered. If they press you for the papers, that's a red
flag. If they truly just want a dog to love, why would having
those papers be so important?
NEVER, EVER put a “free
to good home ad” in the paper. Put a value on your dog, even if
it’s a minimal amount (say $50.00--or more, to cover the cost of
that spaying/neutering!). People who aren’t willing to pay a
fee most likely won’t bother to spend money on vet care and
decent food. There are people out there who will vow to love
your dog only to turn around and sell it for profit, breeding,
dog fighting, etc. Trust us, these people do exist—although they
may “look” okay. We recently learned of a case where a
man--well-intentioned, but naive--gave his unspayed basset away
to a "nice family" after he placed a free-to-good-home ad. A few
weeks later that "nice family" placed their own ad in the paper,
attempting to sell her (still unspayed) for $150.
NEVER, EVER just hand
your dog over to someone before you’ve seen where your dog will
be living. Take the dog to their home to meet them. This way you
can see the living conditions, meet all the members of the
family and see how they interact with your dog. If you don’t
like what you see—just say you’ve changed your mind or need to
think about it. If they seem hesitant to allow you to come to
their home, that should be a red flag warning. Ask the family
for a vet reference--then call that vet clinic to ask their
opinion on how the family has treated past pets. Please don't be
afraid that you are insulting people by checking them out. Good
pet owners will understand your concern and be grateful that you
are careful in placing your dog. Make the effort, because.......
Your dog is depending on YOU to make the right
decision for him/her!
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