1. Before you decide

Alternatives to consider before giving up your dog

We understand that there are many reasons owners consider giving up their dogs.

Those could be allergy issues, dog behaviour problems, financial concerns, a house move, illness or worries around pregnancy.

These issues don’t necessarily mean you’ll need to give up your dog, though. We have advice and information to help you think through your options and, the sooner you get in touch, the more options we have to help you.  

If you ultimately decide that you have to give up your dog, we can help.

Finding an alternative

We always advise owners to consider the other options before deciding to give up their dog.

Try our advice tool to explore if there are any alternatives that could help both of you.

Let's get started

Dog advice

Talk to our team for friendly advice.

If you are struggling and need to give up your dog, or if you want to speak to someone for advice, we are just a phone call away. We’ll listen without judgment and talk you through the next steps.  

If you need to return a dog you've adopted from us, we'll do everything to help you and your new dog stay together. But if there's an issue that can't be overcome, we’ll always take back a dog adopted from us. 

Call us on 0300 303 2188 or

Complete our form

Have you explored the alternative options available before giving up your dog?

Other ways we can help

Frequently-asked questions

I’m thinking about selling my dog or giving them to a friend

If you sell your dog through a website, you won’t know for sure where your dog is going, who’s looking after them, and whether they’ll be loved and cared for. They could even end up in the hands of irresponsible breeders or being exploited at a puppy farm.  

We won’t judge you for needing to find your dog a new home. Sometimes, asking us for help is the most responsible thing you can do for your dog. We will do everything we can and have different options to help. The sooner you contact us, the more options available to you.

If you’re thinking about selling because you’re worried your dog won’t cope well in our kennels, then Homestay could be the right option for you. your dog will stay with you in your home, and we get to work straight away to find them the right match. As soon as we do, we’ll arrange for them to move directly from your home to their new one. This means that your dog will spend no time in kennels.

Whatever happens, the sooner you get in touch, the more we can do.