My dog had puppies and we're ready to get rid of them, the shelter said they'd just put them to sleep. now wha

Question

should we just give them away for free

my dog is now fixed

Answer 1

This is something you should have thought about already. A home should have already been lined up before you bred your dog. What is going to happen to those poor puppies? You don't know what you are going to do with them, do you? The shelters already told you they would put them to sleep. Take them to the vet. Get them their puppy vaccines and make sure they are healthy. Next take pictures of your puppies, make up ads telling what breed or mix the puppies are, vaccines included if you had them done. $50 adoption fee. Put the ads up in Vet offices, farm stores, etc....Above all make sure they go to GOOD homes. Don't just pawn them off to be rid of them. Give the new owner the vaccination record the vet gave you when you had the puppies vaccinated. Give the new owner any info he or she needs to provide a healthy life for the pup.

You can also log on to www.petfinder.com. contact the people in your area and tell them you have puppies you can no longer keep. Hope and pray they can find foster homes for your pups until a permanent home can be found for them.

This is why people need to THINK of the consequences before they breed.

Answer 2

You obviously didn't plan & want the litter, so they should have been euthanased in the first 12 hours.

What do you and your pups have to offer possible owners?
I am quite sure you won't have records of any health checks on the sire and dam - the dam is probably still a pup herself - so how can you assure potential owners that the pups won't develop hip or elbow dysplasia, patella luxation, epilepsy, progressive retinal atrophy, or any of the other problems dogs can be subject to?
Have you had your vet check them for heart & lung sounds, hernias, wry mouths? Have you had the males checked for cryptorchidism?

Can you afford to recompense owners if something goes wrong, such as parvovirus in the next few days, genetic disorders later on?

If not - euthanase! And pay YOUR vet to do it, don't make it yet another strain on a shelter's or rescue group's slim resources.

Most of the people who've answered are obviously children or childlike, thinking only of the NOW and those "cute puppies". But responsibility requires that EVERYTHING is taken into account.

Several of the suggestions you've received for giving them away are totally irresponsible, and should be given the thumb-down - NO puppy should be placed into the care of someone else until you have checked that person's attitudes & family & property, to make sure that they WILL be "good homes" and that they CAN keep the pup from wandering into the road or getting killed by a stray dog or being left unvaccinated and so dying of disease. Better a painless end by euthanasia than THAT sort of death!

Next is the timing.
Any holiday is the WORST POSSIBLE TIME to put a pup into the household of anyone except a hermit. Everyone else is too busy cooking & eating & visiting relatives, etc etc, to do what is ESSENTIAL with a new dog - WATCH IT CONSTANTLY so that you will notice when it starts to get uncomfortable so must be picked up and taken out to the toilet area then praised when it piddles or poos.
And Xmas is undoubtedly the MOST hectic and long-lasting of the holidays.

Anyone taking on a dog should be a "homebody" for at least the first 2 weeks that they have the pooch.

All of which added up is no doubt why the shelter does NOT promise that it can keep your pups until a suitable home turns up.


You have probably put a lot of time into handling & playing with the puppies, and so I am fairly confident that they will have very happy natures.
But everything else strikes me as almost certain to be wrong.


If you cannot bear to euthanase them, PLEASE wait until Xmas & New Year are over before you start advertising them. And make sure they have the properly-spaced vaccinations for the ages at which they will still be with you (even finding a vet open might be difficult over the Xmas-New Year period!). The proper spacing is either at 8, 12 & 16 weeks old, or at 6, 9, 12 & 16 weeks old - never closer than 3 weeks, never further apart than 4 weeks. And DO then check the home before agreeing to place a pup. If, as I suspect, you are a child, you need to inveigle the "meaner" & more suspicious of your parents to help you screen out the liars & irresponsibles who will apply for a cheap or free puppy. Even then, probably a quarter of the people you allow to have a puppy will let you down. Life is NOT a bed of roses for people who care about dogs!
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly
"In GSDs" as of 1967

Answer 3

find another shelter; there are other shelters that will keep that animal until it is adopted. every shelter goes by their own
policy concerning adoption. look into others, get some information, ask questions. and if youre not satisfied with any of the shelters, maybe it would be better to give them away for free. posting a classified in the paper etc. also, too on that note, make sure the puppy is going home to a good owner.
good luck, and i hope this helped.

Answer 4

Why do you suppose the shelters are overloaded in the first place? Because careless people like you, let their dogs get pregnant and then wait until they are born to realize they need somewhere to go. Geez. Shelters generally all have actual waiting lists for accepting pets. Even "kill" shelters won't just take animals on the spot, they simply don't have any room. They also usually have a "grace period" between the animals arrival and ultimate demise. I would like to know this shelter that you say told you they would "just put them to sleep". Very unlikely. You got a big bucket buddy? Use it you idiot. Giving them away for free is a complete and total crapshoot. Shelters want more information about you before they will adopt out an animal, than you could possibly begin to imagine. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Why don't you volunteer at your local shelter for a while and try and redeem yourself a bit.

Answer 5

Does your local paper have a free add? We gave away a total of 17 puppies from two different litters that way. I would screen the caller and pick the pup or pups that I thought would best go with this person. This worked really well. I would also keep the phone numbers of people who took pups and call them in a month to check up on the pups too. I have also gotten several dogs out of the free adds too.

Answer 6

Sell them for the cost of their vaccations and dewormings. If the pups are 6-8 weeks old they need their first distemper, parvo vaccine. Three weeks after they need a booster by this time you may be down to one or two pups be sure to complete the series and you will be able to find them great homes. Most people will take better care of a pet that they have money invested in then if they got them for free.
Get the mom spayed ASAP. Also get her vacctions and get her on heartworm prevention.

Answer 7

Good thing you fixed your dog. All those who have female dogs and dont wont puppies, fix them.. give them either for free, do an advert on the newspaper or go to the pet shop. Or see who of your friends will take them but make sure they go to good families.

Answer 8

and we're ready to get rid of them ....

well isn't that nice

see it is statements like this that evoke some of the replies that are received when people just haphazardly let their dogs mate

well, you just can not get rid of them --- they are not bedbugs

you have to accept some kind of responsibility, your family needs to accept some kind of accountability to finding these puppies good homes. No you just can't stand in front of a store and pass them out ... these are living breathing little things

don't you have any concience at all

search and look and inquire to who and where would be the best homes for them. Put some work into it, it is the least you can do ... don't let these puppies pay the ultimate price for your mistakes

Don't just give them to anybody, you need to know if they are going to be loved and protected for the rest of their lives

people will take a puppy for all kinds of sick reasons, you were responsible for these little things coming into the world, you have to at least stand up and do the best things for them and not the easiest most convenient for you

this is sad, because the cycle just repeats itself in this maddening event where every year millions of dogs are put to sleep

Answer 9

look on the internet 4 'no kill shelters' there are loads that have a no kill policy.
if u give them away make sure they go 2 good loving homes, dont give 2 pet shop, they dont vet the people who buy the puppy, the best thing is def 2 find a no kill policy shelter.
hope they find good homes.

also dont no what fuckwits r saying give them away at walmart?? people could jus take them and kill them or hurt them or jus leave them on the road , losers, these are living animals not something 2 just 'get rid of!'
do the right thing and find a good rescue center.
yr wordin is funny, we're ready 2 get rid of them?? what about we're ready 2 find them good homes??? i dont think u need any more pets

Answer 10

SPAY & NEUTER!! Check with your shelter and have your animal sterilized.

If you give your puppies away for free, don't expect to be giving them any better quality of life than having them be put down, alot of people taking 'free' animals torture, maim and use these free animals to train fighting dogs. Sad & disgusting, but true.

Check local rescue groups Petfinder.com has listings by zipcode.