Home To Home: A Different Approach to Rehoming Your Pet

Mary has a beagle named Drax, who she has loved and cared for since he was a puppy. Mary lost her job a few months ago and got behind on rent payments. Her apartment gave her an eviction notice and 30 days to move out, but Mary doesn’t have the means to find another pet-friendly apartment right now. She never thought she’d be in this position, and she’s devastated that her longtime companion, Drax, can’t stay with her. While researching her city’s animal shelters, Mary learned about a free website called Home to Home that she can use to find Drax a loving home, and the best part is Mary can talk to prospective adopters and help him transition into a new family, without ever stepping foot in the shelter. She feels relieved and hopeful because Home to Home gives her control over Drax’s future.

Housing challenges, allergies, not enough time, financial hardship- these are a few of the most common reasons people can no longer keep their pets and we hear their stories daily. We get anywhere from 5-10 calls a day from pet owners who ask to surrender their four-legged family members. That’s about 50 calls per week and 200 calls per month. Add to that approximately 20-30 lost or stray animals per week who are brought in by police officers, animal control officers, and the public. With a record high number of animals needing homes, shelters and rescues across the country are overwhelmed and there’s simply not enough room for everyone.

There’s no magic wand to solve this problem, but there are alternatives to surrendering a pet if someone is willing to put in a little work. There are community and shelter-run pet food banks, low-cost veterinary services, low-cost spay and neuter clinics, emergency boarding programs for qualified individuals, free dog training resources, and more. However, shelter workers are a pretty realistic bunch of folks, and we understand that some things are unavoidable and there are circumstances where it’s in the pet’s best interest to find a new home. We’re asking our community to try a different approach, direct home placement.

Direct home placement has so many benefits for pets, people, shelters, and rescues. Rehoming programs, like the website, Home To Home, are a fantastic alternative to surrendering pets to an already overcrowded shelter system. Less stress is placed on everyone when pet owners can take responsibility for placing their beloved animals with families who they can talk to, meet, and develop a relationship with.

These days pet surrender requests are at an all-time high and shelter resources are stretched thin. Shelter staff and pet owners need to work together now more than ever to help give pets in our community the best possible outcome.