Hi there, I am very scared at asking this question as I feel distraught enough already, so hearing the bluntness of 'you're a disgrace' is going to be like taking a bullet but maybe I deserve it. I am 27 and have no children but soon to be married. We have had our Jack for 11 months and I adored her. We moved 3 months ago to a new home (but this is away from family and no on-hand help to look in on her during the daytime). She was left on her own from 8.00am until around 3.00pm most weekdays and this seemed to be ok for the first 8 months. I did not realise how much I would mither about her being alone for all that time, so much so it affected my health. Call me selfish for having a dog in the first place, but I have never had my own pet so I didn't know I would be like it. Because she would be on her own during the day I would never consider going out on the evening, because I didn't want to leave her again unless I could get someone to sit with her. It's no good people saying it's ok to leave a dog that long - it really bothered me and I felt sorry for her. Jacks are working dogs and the last few months she has constantly wanted to be outside, digging under our fencing to escape and explore, she would always come back but we now live on a busy road. The last two weeks I would let her out to the toilet about 7.00pm and she would not come in until bedtime around 10.30pm she would just sit in the middle of the lawn like a statue...poised...waiting. As they are ratters this is what she is waiting for, some kind of prey. The poor thing was constantly at the back door waiting and looking out the door. She was so loving still - but something was clearly missing for her and I felt I was keeping her from what she was born to do. The thought of rehoming her made me sick, I thought and thought for months. I searched for a home just in case I had the courage to do it, and found a farm miles and miles away. They have 7 children, horses, hens, chickens, other dogs, fields where the boy who has had her takes her out catching rabbits and looking for rats. He also takes her fishing and she is his sidekick. I am crying as I type because this is the life I wanted for her and I said to myself I would only rehome her if I found 'the perfect home' where she could do what she clearly wanted to do. She loved being with people and was always trying to catch the odd bird in the garden. I hear from the new owners that she sleeps sound at night, whereas here she was up at the crack of dawn scratching to get out on the lawn again. I think she must sleep there because she is tired and her little active mind is finally at peace. I feel a failure. I despise people who get rid of their animals, dogs are for life and family members. I don't know if I'll ever forgive myself. I didn't know I would think so much about what a dog thought, I am clearly too soft hearted and I think that she thinks like a human and would hate me for being kept indoors in the kitchen every day when at work. In hindsight I should have got a sleepy dog that wouldn't mind being in her bed until you got home so that is my fault and I am very irresponsible in not really checking out what a Jack could be like. She was a little live wire always on the move. My mom tells me as I got her from a very deprived area and gave her a beautiful home that if I hadn't had her, she would never have gotten to her dream home for a Jack Russell 'a farm' and I searched and searched for months to find this home driving everywhere. Someone in a block of flats could have had her and she would have been a depressed little dog. This is an essay and I don't know what I want to hear. I want to hear that my dog will settle with her new family and won't miss me. I miss her terribly but I will battle with my own demons I just want her to be happy doing what she loves, not to relieve my guilt, nothing will ever do that. I called the owners today who said that she had been out chasing chickens all day and rolling around with a new puppy they have just had. If I still had her she would have been couped up in her bed until we got home from work. How can I compete with that? My dad is disgusted with me as he says a dogs a dog and they do what they are told and that she was fine being by herself. I disagree. I don't agree with rehoming dogs if you're moving or for any reason really because they are a part of your family, but if the dog is clearly troubled (they are no more than 12 months old so still very young) and seem to be missing something, and you can fill the void in their life and let them live out their days in that way, then isn't keeping her irresponsible?! Help!
