If a friend or family member plans to give away a pet using “free to a good home” ads, you must warn of common “stranger dangers,” which include pets being used as dogfighter bait, puppy mill breeding dogs, research lab victims, for sex, or food for pet snakes. Or the pet might simply be neglected and starved by a drug addict or hoarder.

Learn how to find a new home for a pet. Remember, the fewer transitions for your pet, the better. If you find a new home, one transition occurs. If your pet goes to a shelter or rescue, several transitions occur. Each is confusing and stressful for your pet.

Lucy, a “Free to a Good Home” Dog Advertised on Craigslist, became Dogfighter Bait

Her family didn’t want her any more and the craigslist ad worked just fine to get rid of her. Three years later, Milwaukee Animal Control discovered a microchip in a drowned, bleeding, starving, dying dog and called that family. Her name had been Lucy once. The new and old wounds from head to foot revealed her long suffering in dogfighting pits. But the cold, suffering dog was shaking so hard, they could hardly examine them.

Lucy convulsed repeatedly as Milwaukee Area Department of Animal Care and Control staff tried to revive her. But she had hypothermia from being thrown into the deep water in a careless attempt to kill her. Lucy had lost too much blood from the fresh head wounds inflicted by a more powerful dog. Also, she was malnourished. Once a lively, sweet, healthy puppy with a home and family, she had been criminally abused and neglected for years. With sinking hearts, the staff euthanized her to end her terrible suffering.

Protect your pet from “stranger dangers” if you must find a new home for your pet. Beware: just like junk mailers, they will try to “con” you. They might send a nicely dressed mother and children to pick up your pet. Always deliver your pet to the new home yourself!

This is a process that can’t be rushed and you must think like a good rescue does. Start early. Remember Lucy’s story of enduring years of pain and suffering. Don’t put your dog in danger.

Find a New Home for a Pet using a Free Online Re-Homing Site

Adopt-A-Pet offers an online re-homing service that is completely free; try it. Go to https://rehome.adoptapet.com/ to set up an online profile for your pet. Prospective adopters enter their zip code to look at pets nearby. Adopt-A-Pet Rehome provides additional support, including an adoption contract. This is a much safer alternative to Craigslist.

Find a New Home for a Pet using Your Network

Use your social and family networks to find responsible families who are looking to add a pet to their lives. Your veterinary clinic might help you also; be sure to ask.

• Require a reasonable re-homing fee to discourage criminals and hoarders
• Spay or neuter to discourage backyard breeders
• Write interview questions that will reveal experience with pet ownership; weekday, night, and weekend living conditions; other family members and pets; ability to provide veterinary care when needed; dangers in the neighborhood such as nearby highways
• Keep a list of bad neighborhoods that you will automatically refuse inquiries from
• Screen every inquiry by telephone using your prepared questions
• For those that pass screening, during daylight hours, visit the home with your pet when all family members and pets will be there (remember, good neighborhoods required, so you should be safe)
• Require references, including a veterinary clinic, and call every one
• Ask for the right to visit your former pet occasionally and then follow through
• Ask that the family contact you first if they need to find a new home for your pet for any reason, unless you are certain they will make the same efforts you made to ensure the safety and well-being of your pet

Be Careful About Bringing Your Pet to a Shelter

You might consider contacting a reputable rescue for help in rehoming. Contact a shelter ONLY if you are certain that owner-surrendered animals are provided ample opportunities for adoption through that organization. Be advised that many shelters, also known as pounds, do not have adoption programs and they will not tell you. Your pet might be killed in less than an hour in some bad shelters.

The sad truth: if you surrender your pet to a bad shelter or pound, you will not get a phone call before they euthanize your pet. Before you bring your pet to a shelter, call to ask if they will euthanize your pet.