RELINQUISHMENT

If You Must Give Up Your Saint…..

Please contact us. We are willing to help. Please do not take your Saint to a shelter or place a “free to good home ad” in the newspaper. We will do our best to get your Saint 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 Saint while we do the search, that is 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 you can search the internet for 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. Your Saint 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 you Saint, please know that the Kansas Saint Bernard Rescue will do its best to help.

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. There are many unscrupulous backyard breeders 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 or more). 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 naïve – gave his unspayed dog 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 hand your dog over to someone before you’ve seen where your dog will be living. 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 come to the home that should be a red flag warning. Ask the family for a vet reference. YOUR DOG IS DEPENDING ON YOU TO MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION FOR HIM/HER!