Where will my wee dog go if I am not here?

[Sam I Am]

I was reading about Molly and her owner sending a letter to the original owner to say all was well. Then also one of the threads that pointed out how many of these sweet wonderful animals are euthanized. And that got me thinking. How many owners (dogs, cats, horses etc) have made provisions for their animals when they are no longer on this earth or able to care for them. It was very important for us to have our animals in our will . The thought of Jock or my mare Hally going to a shelter or worse is a horrifying one for me. We all want to live long lives but stuff happens and its so important to remember that these little animals depend on us 100%.

So if there are people out there that havent thought about this perhaps take a few minutes and think of what would happen to your Cairn if you suddenly were not there anymore to look after them

[BetsyNoodle]

I agree that this is such an important issue. Murphy and Gracie are in our will and will go to live with my sister and brother-in-law should we pre-decease them. Our estate also provides a sum of money to help my sister and brother-in- law with vet bills, food, etc. Likewise, my DH and I will take Tiffany my sister and brother-in-law's beloved chihuahua-pug mix should something happen to them. To each of us, they are like children. We can't imagine leaving without providing a loving home for them.

[Autumn & Lola]

Wow. I have to say I haven't thought of this before, and I am usually such a planner! What an excellent topic for discussion.

[bradl]

Very good advice.

[pkcrossley]

you handle this with a will. in your will you can state who you want to take care of your animals. best to check this out with them before hand!

in your will, you can also add a financial dimension if appropriate. animal trusts --particularly for horses-- are a developing area of the law, and in most areas you can find at least one lawyer who is very informed about the latest developments in your state. basically, you make all your current assets a trust, with yourself as the main beneficiary while you are alive. if you die, you can designate your surviving pets as beneficiaries of the trust, and allow the trust to go to residual beneficiaries (family, charities, institutions, etc) when the pet beneficiaries are dead. you designate some person or institution (it could be the trust department of your bank) as manager of the trust, and instruct that the proceeds of the trust should be used to cover the expenses of your surviving pets. this is an important tool if you know who you would like to take care of your pets, but you are not sure that they can handle the economic burden. the trust will take care of that, and the person you trust will take care of your pets. technically, your pets will remain the property of your trust, but the people you designate will "foster" them (permanently, of course) and have the expenses covered by the trust. you can either do this on an allowance basis, or have them submit the charges to your trust manager for reimbursement.

even if you have no real assets, you might have a life insurance policy that would fund the trust when you are gone (or, you can get a term life insurance policy for a small annual premium and build the trust on that). if you are worried about the welfare of a single dog, you can figure out a budget and base it on the likely lifespan of your dog, and plan on a trust of that size. if you have more pet dependents to plan for, use the same principles. remember that the trust will be based not only on your equity assets (including sale of your house if you own it) but also the value of any life insurance policy. with a trust, you can provide for your pet and also eventually benefit any individuals or institutions you wish.

the nice thing about a trust is that your dog will always be property of the trust. the individual to whom you instruct the dog should be fostered will never be able to give the dog away or sell it. if the original fosterer dies or for some reason has to rehome the pet, it must be done with the permission of the trust manager, and in accord with any principles you have laid down in the will (like, it must be somebody known to your family, or something like that). legally, your dog will never face the prospect of being placed in a shelter or a rescue.

if you don't want to deal with the complexity of a trust (the main obstacle is that you will have to pay a lawyer several hundred dollars to set it up the first time), you can still provide for your pet by designating a new owner (you are leaving the pet to that person, since the pet is part of your estate) and leaving that owner a sum of money that you think will assure that the new owner will never have to part with the dog. the new owner will really own the pet, and be able to do whatever he or she likes with it, so of course one thinks carefully about whom to entrust the dog to.

many dogs enter a shelter or rescue network after the death of an owner, so this is very worth setting your mind at ease by making a few provisions now.

[tlwtheq]

you handle this with a will. in your will you can state who you want to take care of your animals. best to check this out with them before hand!

My dear Sister-in-law, really my sister is tasked with this responsibility in my will.

She is trustworthy and faithful and a lot younger than me!

[Tracy A.]

I've been faced with the fact that Steve and I don't have anyone trustworthy enough to leave our dogs to should we die at the same time. My step son, is well...not mature and I know that the boys would last a week at the most under his care before they got loose and ran off. I had the hard decision to make that I have it provisioned in the will to leave them too one of two Cairn rescue groups for re-homing with a financial provision to take care of the costs. Maybe something will change and i'll find someone we find trustworthy, wills are easy to revise. I'd rather know that the dogs would be with a cairn rescue group than at an animal shelter...It's really hard when you don't have any family to rely on.

[MacFluff]

It is difficult to think of leaving your little dogs to someone who will care for them as you have. Since my brother doesn't seem to give a toot, and God forbid my sister in law have a say and they'd end up at the pound, I have two friends listed in my will. I trust that one or the other will take care of my dogs -- and keep them together if humanly possible. Its like a pact where we all agree to care for the other's animals, if necessary.

Luckily, I'm the oldest. Ha-ha.

I know that Sully, Sarah and Gracie would have a good home with either friend, and would be well cared for.

[Nikki]

I think that it would be really easy to find Angel a new home but Scotty...well he's high maintenance. I wouldn't want them to be separated. I am not sure my family would be able to handle both dogs. So I probably would give my dogs to a cairn rescue.

[Sue G]

I haven't made any plans for Oz yet, but I'm 100% sure that my son or daughter would look out for his best interest. Either one would take him in. I have a girlfriend who is constantly seperating her cat and her husband. He HATES the cat, and there's no doubt that the cat is equally unfond of her husband and does things just to get under his skin. We have a plan with all of our other friends that if she dies the FIRST thing to do is call me so I can get to the cat before her husband gets to him. It's become a great insode joke, but there is some truth to it and I'm sure I will be called first! The plan is "Cat first, grief later".

[kjwarnold]

I'm lucky enough to have parents, a brother and two sisters, not to mention several friends, who would all gladly take our boys if anything would happen to both of us at the same time. All would be great with them and we trust them implicitly.