By Denise Crane

Many of us have had an experience with rescuing a dog. There is a special feeling of finding the right dog, knowing that you can provide a good home, and also knowing the dog could have some unknown quirks that usually turn out to be quite manageable once you can figure them out. But when the new dog is too disruptive to the existing community, have you ever had the experience of trying to rehome a dog? 

Rehoming Zentry was a new experience for all of us.

It felt like a gut punch. 

Had we done enough to make it work? What if Zentry was moved to a different home in our human family? What if all the dogs in the home all had special training? Could Tank and Nugget move permanently to our home and we just keep them separated forever? Was that fair to Tank and Nugget? And though none of us could conceive of it, what if Zentry got overly excited and hurt one of the children? In the meantime, Tank’s wounds had healed, but Nugget was weeks away from solid food and each time his mouth was checked, more teeth were being extracted.

We would not consider giving Zentry to any place that might decide not to let him live. We did consider that Zentry really needed to be in a home where he was an “only” dog and could have the undivided attention of his humans. David and Courtney turned to social media and applied to an agency called “The Love Pit” to see if they could facilitate a rehoming.

The first person who showed interest got Covid. She recovered, but lost track of her interest during her illness.

The second family seemed very promising. No other pets, older kids, had been looking for a dog like Zentry for months. The day before the meet up, their landlord changed his mind and decided they couldn’t have a pet.

The third person spent several hours with Zentry and Courtney. Zentry never offered his belly to her for a belly rub. This dog loves belly rubs. Nope, not that one.

By then, Zentry’s picture went up on The Love Pit. Tiffany contacted them right away though she didn’t live nearby. She’d been looking for a young (just past early puppyhood) pit for a long time. Zentry looked like just what she was looking for. A meet up was set. Zentry offered his belly to her almost immediately. He brought her his favorite toy. When she wanted to take him for a car ride to see how he travels, he got right into the car. It was very clear that Zentry could easily love Tiffany. And Tiffany could provide a forever home. He’d have a bigger back yard and be down the block from a park living with a person whose entire set of family members have and love pits.

Once we could breathe after sending Zentry home with Tiffany, we realized that the residence with Courtney’s family had been a key part of Zentry’s journey to his forever home. If they had not rescued him from the tiny local shelter, he never would have crossed Tiffany’s path. If they hadn’t been so concerned with finding him the right situation, he may never have had the right situation. Sometimes the introduction of a disruption to the community spurs attention and change that is ultimately good and healthy for everyone concerned—even when there is chaos along the way. Sometimes best intentions aren’t enough to fit everyone into the community, but they are enough to figure out what new things can arise when a solution is found.

So it seems after all that lots of things can still be solved with a good belly rub.