Owning a dog is no easy task, and sometimes people overlook the fact that it can be hard work caring for a dog. Instead, the focus is often on how comforting it will be to have a canine companion or how fun it will be for the family, specifically the children.
However, there is much more to owning a dog than playtime. On top of the regular needs like food and water, there’s making sure the dog gets enough exercise, health care for the dog, and the extra financial responsibilities of having to provide for the dog.
Arriving at the decision to surrender your dog is difficult, but if you ultimately know you cannot care for the dog as it deserves, it could be the best decision for everyone involved.
Can You Get Your Dog Back If You Gave It Away?
Once the decision has been made to surrender the dog and they go through with doing so, it is fair to say that the person giving up the dog has no further rights to the animal once surrendered.
Other avenues, such as consultations with an animal behavior specialist or veterinarian, should have been visited before arriving at the final decision. Surrendering the dog should really be the last resort.
That way, having to return it shouldn’t be too much of an option. Changing your mind after you’ve released responsibility for the dog could take an emotional and mental toll on both the owner and the dog.
However, depending on how the dog has been surrendered, as in rehomed or given to an animal rescue center, you can always discuss with them ways of moving forward and the possibility of bettering your situation to handle the responsibility of a dog.
Why Shouldn’t You Do It?
Making the decision to try and care for the dog once again should not be made lightly.
By this point, the dog has been separated from who it thought was its owner, handed to a whole new environment, and then you want to shift them back again.
This would be confusing for a human, let alone a dog. You also have to consider that you might feel overwhelmed with sadness for giving up the dog, but in time that may pass, you could realize you made the best decision.
So give it some time, it is not the time for spontaneous decisions because of how you feel in the present moment.
How Do You Start If You Decide To Take It Back?
You’ve decided you want to get your dog back, but where do you go from here? It is not going to be easy.
As previously mentioned, once you have surrendered your dog, you have essentially given up all rights to the animal, and it is now in the animal shelter’s ‘hands.’ Therefore, it will be their decision as to whether or not you get to rehome the dog.
Whilst a shelter may be understanding over what led you to give up the dog, it does not necessarily mean they will be willing to give you another chance. You will need to prove your situation is different and that the things that led to this won’t happen again.
Will Your Dog Remember You If You Rehome It?
Although dogs don’t remember things the same way humans do, they do have good long-term memory.
Dogs also remember things such as places and people that they have strong feelings about or associated memories about.
For example, if the dog knows you for your smell and only you, it will be you when they see you or smell ‘that’ smell. They remember; they associate the smell with you.
Whilst it may be a hard thought to digest, it is most likely that the dog will remember their previous owner, but that does not mean they only remember that they surrendered them.
How Long Does A Dog Miss Their Owner?
A dog’s memory of an individual can last for years and years to come.
Based on the scientific evidence available so far, dogs can indefinitely store visual, auditory, and olfactory experiences.
It is possible because of this that a dog may, in fact, remember an owner their whole life.
Dogs are capable of basic emotions and feelings like joy and sadness, and it is possible for them to be sad because a person or the memory of that person is absent.
Final Thoughts on You Surrendered Your Dog and Now You Want Him Back
Surrendering a dog can be one of those unimaginable experiences you probably thought you would never go through yourself. Yet, you found yourself here.
It is crucial that the decision is not made lightly because once you have gone through with it, there is almost no going back, except in some really rare circumstances. Surrendering your dog is a final decision.
Give yourself time, and if you decide to fight for your dog’s back, be prepared for a tough road ahead but an incredibly fulfilling reward waiting for you.