It’s OK to Buy a Dog Online!
I’ll admit it. I love the Craigslists, Facebook groups, and Reddits of our online world. These forums can be great for selling furniture, finding great vintage accessories… and even getting your next dog.
WHOA, WHAT!? Yep, I said it. It’s OK to find pets for adoption through open online forums. And that means it’s OK to put a dog up for adoption on one of these online spaces. But, like so many other things in life, it’s all about doing it the right way.
Now, let me acknowledge that these spaces can be used by puppy mills, scammers, and just downright creepy people who buy, sell, and give away pets for many wrong reasons. But if genuine folks use them to help animals find loving homes, we should take a look at the success stories to understand what went right.
Rehoming a Dog on Craigslist – My Experience
Before adopting our German Shorthair Pointer, she was 10 months old, spending most of her time in a crate, in need of a new home. Her owner had just gotten divorced and recognized she had too many responsibilities to dedicate any time to this dog, and knew the best way to help her was to make the decision to rehome. So, she tried Craigslist.
Meanwhile, I had been looking for a young Pointer who could get along with our barn cats. I’d been running into a dead end with other sources like Petfinder. I saw the ad while browsing Craigslist, and lo and behold, she fit the bill! I sent off a reply.
In my opinion, our dog’s previous owner did everything right. But what does that look like in practice?
Rehoming a Dog The Right Way
- She advertised her dog but did not put up a photo. This protected her privacy, as well as dissuaded anyone who would be interested in adopting a dog for superficial reasons.
- She listed the asking price at $200 – at the time, this was a price point that would dissuade anyone who wasn’t serious about giving this pet a good home.
- She insisted on coming for a home visit BEFORE any transaction was made. We welcomed the opportunity to show her the farm this dog would now call home, and she appreciated the extra trust.
Recommendations For Rehoming a Dog
In a perfect world, people would never need to give up their pets. But life is messy. If you must rehome a pet and are using an online forum, I’d also recommend keeping these things in mind:
Be incredibly careful and discerning.
It’s a fact of life that there are people out there who want animals to sell as bait dogs, research experiments, puppy mill breeders, etc. It’s repulsive, but it’s out there.
Never go in alone.
For this reason, you should never go in alone. Have a trusted person with you, and be especially sure to never leave a pet by itself with a stranger.
Of course, your trust only goes so far, even when every flag appears green. As adopters, we could have tried to flip the dog to a new owner for profit. Worse, we could’ve kept the dog locked up or been abusive. In the end, nobody knows how another person will care for an animal that needs a new home. That means dogs that are adopted from rescues, horses that are sold, or barn cats that are given away are always at some risk. But there are people trying to do the right thing, too, both online and in shelters.
So, yes, it’s ok to use the internet to find a pet or rehome a pet; you’ll just need to do everything you can to verify that the potential new home is right. If you still don’t feel certain, that’s okay. There are plenty of resources to help. Your pet is most likely better off at one of the many rescues, shelters, or breed-specific groups that can help handle the process for you through their established adoption screening programs.
– Muzzlebump 🙂