Can we get a dog back after we "surrendered" it?

Question

Some background information: I'm 20, been living with my mom and two sisters while I attend college the next town over, though this month I dropped out so I can go live with my dad and (hopefully) more easily find work (then eventually attend college there). We have two dogs, one I'll be taking with me, and two cats.

At the beginning of December, I found a puppy under my car. We kept her while we tried to find her a home (because we knew mom wouldn't be willing to keep her) ideally to a friend or someone we know and trusted. After no luck on that front, my mom pushed us to give her away to a no kill shelter out of state. None of us wanted to go through with this as we all grew very attached to her. Despite this, my sisters and I drove to where the representative of the shelter asked us to meet them, gave her away, and then left.

My sister has been talking it over with me and she said that since I'm moving soon, they could take on another pet. We talked it over with ma and she doesn't think it'll work out due to us "surrendering" her to the shelter, but says if we can make it work, she'd allow it.

Now this is the key thing: we never signed anything that said we surrendered her. I'm thinking if they'd be willing to transfer her to a shelter near where my family lives, we can get her back.

Considering all these factors: could we get this dog back?

Answer 1

The only thing you can do is go to that shelter and adopt the puppy. There’s no “getting her back” once you’ve surrendered her, that’s what surrendering means.



You can however go through the normal channels like anyone else and adopt her.



Although I’ll warn you, as a puppy at a no kill shelter she was probably adopted out the day after you surrendered her. Everyone wants a pup.

Answer 2

If you turned the dog over to them you 'surrendered' the dog. They don't need a signature for it. It's in the shelter's possession, they now own it.



If you want to get her back, you go down and adopt her and pay the fee. They'll already have money invested in the dog by having it fixed, vaccinated, vet checked and microchipped so the dog isn't free.

Answer 3

Um yeah NO! You waived all rights to this puppy when you HANDED IT OVER to the shelter. So what if you didn't sign anything? You GAVE it to the shelter. It's surely been adopted by now.



If by chance it is still there you would have to fill out an application and be APPROVED to adopt it and pay whatever fee the shelter charges for it IF they approve you.



I'm also sure you live with your parents which means your PARENTS would have to be the ones approved to adopt not you.



Can you give us a link to this puppy's listing at the shelter? I find it REALLY hard to believe a puppy has sat at a shelter for over a MONTH in WINTER and no one's adopted it.

Answer 4

Wait, technically the dog was never yours to 'surrender' so they should have took her in as a stray?



If you SURRENDERED her as your dog they would've took your details & most (if not all) shelters will record these details to ensure no pets are rehomed with those people.



So my thoughts are, if she was surrendered as a stray, yes you can claim her. I reluctantly surrendered a 'stray' dog to a rescue & they always said adoption was possible once he's available. But days later his owners turned up :)

Answer 5

Is the dog UP for adoption? If so, there's one thing that no one here has mentioned.



Even if they have a policy against letting you readopt a dog you've surrendered, what's to stop you from having one of your friends go and adopt the dog, then transfer ownership to you?



Even if you don't know anyone, you could put an ad on craigslist offering an x amount of money for someone to perform such a transaction for you. Offer say, $100 bucks and I guarantee you get about ten responses within a day.



How do the folks at the shelter know they are in cahoots with you?



Easy peasey Japanesey.



But you have to get on it now, before someone else adopts it.

Answer 6

No

Answer 7

This is a really weird question. Instead of asking complete strangers online, why not call the shelter? Also, what makes you think the dog is still there? Have you checked their website? Are you sure the person you gave the dog to was a legit representative of the shelter? I've never heard of a shelter where you hand the dog off to some random person.



Finally, why would you expect the shelter to transfer the dog to your area? That's a little entitled. If you want the dog badly enough, you should be prepared to get it to your area yourself.

Answer 8

Most shelters will not give back an animal to the person who surrendered it. And it sounds like your ma is still not 100% behind the idea. If they decide they want another pet once you move out, there are plenty of other animals out there that need homes.

Answer 9

No.

They aren't going to adopt back a surrendered dog.

They also do NOT transfer dogs to other shelters except for extreme cases (such as the shelter has parvo, puppies will he transferred to another shelter before being brought into the infected shelter, or severe weather has destroyed an area, then dogs will be transported to another area, or the shelter did a puppy mill raid and has dozens of dogs all at once, then some will be distributed to other shelters).





I'm not sure why you took this pup out of state instead of to your local shelter. If his owner was still looking for him, he would have more easily been found at the local shelter





"No kill" doesn't mean a dog won't be killed. They will kill sick or injured dogs. They often also rotate dogs with kill shelters close to them. So the pup could still end up in a kill shelter.

No kill shelters are also often overcrowded, understaffed.. dogs get crammed two and three or more to a kennel. It's far more stressful

Answer 10

No. You will not be able to get this dog back.

Answer 11

If you hadn't signed anything, I would have not admitted to surrendering it. I would have said I'm trying to

locate a dog that my neighbor surrendered. Once I went to a shelter to surrender an animal

that was given to me because it just wasn't working out. Turned out a family member was allergic to

the pet. They said once you surrender an animal, you can never adopt again. That made me angry,

considering that people's life situations and living arrangements change all the time, and I also felt that

they should accept animals in a helpful, non-judgemental way.

I backed out of the deal, and gave the pet to a friend.

Answer 12

We had to pay $80 get our own dog back when she escaped our yard (she dug under the fence)and the cops had the shelter van pick her up. We races to the shelter before she got there. We still had to pay $80, even though they didn't do anything for her. But she would have been adopted quickly. To this day I won't give a penny to the Humane Society.

Answer 13

When you surrender a dog, it's unlikely they will give it back to you, since they will not believe that you will take care of it.



Who's to say that you won't come back and surrender it again?!



If the dog was not surrendered under your name and address, then you could try to adopt it. But you didn't have the dog long and thus you are not attached to it (I think you just want a free puppy), so go and get another dog if you want one and only if you will take care of it.

Answer 14

No. You had no right to keep the found puppy, it should have been turned in immediately to a shelter/rescue where the owner could have claim it, in essence you stole someones puppy.

Answer 15

They won't give it back to if for no other reason you don't sound too bright. I wouldn't be surprised if the "shelter representative" was actually involved in a dog-fighting ring and wanted the puppy for "kill" practice.

Answer 16

No animal shelter is a no kill shelter, even if they say they are they will still put them down.

Answer 17

Your priorities are all mixed up. Have you not noticed that you provide nothing into these plans? You are 20. Get a job.

Answer 18

Nope that would be betraying the dog. And also defeating the objective. Would it not?

Answer 19

Nope



It was never your dog to keep any way. you had no right to want to keep the dog since that would be theft.



The shelter won't let you adopt the dog. They won't transfer the dog either. Grow up and move on.

Answer 20

It is absolutely worth contacting the shelter, explaining that your situation has change, and asking. Keep in mind that puppies sometimes get adopted very quickly, so there is a possibility that she has already found a home. It is also possible that the shelter will refuse, thinking that perhaps you might give her up again in the future. But the likelihood of being able to get her back is not 0, so give it a shot.



If not, I am sure that another shelter has a dog who is equally amazing and in just as much need of a home.

Answer 21

Generally shelters do not give dogs back to people who surrendered the dog.



If the dog is available for adoption your mother could probably adopt the dog since they didn't write down your address. So they wouldn't know your mother had any connection with the dog.

Answer 22

Ask your mother's friend.

Answer 23

HOW do you know:

1) You even met a legitimate representative of the shelter? Shelters do not normally meet you ANYWHERE but @ the shelter itself. This sounds extremely "fishy".



2) All "legitimate" shelters or rescue groups have you SIGN ownership or control of the pet, over to them. This is REQUIRED by law.



3) What makes you think the puppy ever made it TO the shelter? Did you ever even see the puppy LISTED on their site for adoption? I bet not.



4) Even if the puppy was put online, I would BET the puppy has been adopted by now.



5) Rarely if ever, do shelters allow the home that surrendered the animal, to take it back. Once a home has made up its mind not to keep an animal, it is usually the RIGHT decision.

Answer 24

My every instinct would be to say no. For starters why take the puppy to an out of State Shelter when any owner searching for their missing dog would check a local Shelter surely? Then even if nobody came forward to claim the puppy, it would have been put up for adoption and as puppies tend to go fast, it would be a forlorn hope that it would still be available.

Answer 25

I would opt for driving right back to the shelter, immediately, and speaking with the staff. It might take a little more effort, but it is going to show how serious you are about taking this puppy back. Tell them how attached your family has become to this puppy, and it really hurts that you have given the puppy up. You will likely need to pay an adoption fee. But if your family is as attached to this puppy as you say, that fee would be well worth it in order to have the puppy with your family.



I wouldn't wait, either, because too many things can happen. Just go and be done with it. I wouldn't call first. I would just go.



And yes, this does happen. I know of a family who took their own family cat to shelter bcz couldn't afford to keep it. Regretting the decision they got a rescue group to help w the fee, and adopted her back.



If you simply can't go NOW, call. But don't expect the pup to be there.



If all else fails gets to the rescue person to help you. But don't wait.

Answer 26

You never know until you ask!!

Give them a ring and explain your situ.

Answer 27

Nope. No pound will do that.