Rehoming dog

I know there will be mixed feelings about this but looking to hear everyone’s thoughts. We got our working cocker spaniel just under 2 years ago. My son was 1 at the time. We’ve since moved, renovated, cats had kittens, I’ve been pregnant with awful sickness and now have a newborn so the timing has all just been very overwhelming for everyone. The dog would obviously love long walks daily and attention like stroking, being played with etc but I’ve just found it impossible to provide him with that. My son enjoys him but I don’t think the dog enjoys my son. He often wees on the floor when my son gets loud or tries to play with him. We shouldn’t have got the dog but want to do right by him. Should we just wait it out and one day life will settle down and we’ll have more time to give him what he needs or should we rehome him whilst he’s still young and easy to train to a home that has more patience for him and time to exercise him properly?

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Maybe try some mental enrichment and puzzles to exhaust the dog mentally for days you can’t give him a full walk? Consider hiring a dog walker or private field once or twice a week to let the dog have a good run?

Rehoming is never an easy thing to deal with. I’ve had to rehome my kitten for her own good as my baby is still learning to be gentle, we loved her but didn’t think it was fair as she was so young and didn’t have the survival instincts to move away when he tried to play with her although we tried hard, teaching him and always keeping an eye out it wasn’t fair I got a lot of judgement for doing this. Specially from people who thought she was another wasted Christmas present which just isn’t true at all, the reality just changed. If you believe things will be better so you can provide a better life for him that’s great but if you think that you are doing best by him to find him a loving home where he will get a lot of attention that he needs then do it. It’s not an easy choice to make and realities change, life changes drastically sometimes in a way we just can’t control

I think rehoming sounds sensible with what you have said. If dog is reacting to your child like that then he might be much happier on a child free home. Where he can be the centre of their world. No judgement - sometimes it’s the best thing for the family and the dog!

We’ve got a show cocker, we make sure to give him a short walk in the morning and an evening. During the day we’ve hired a dog walker, it’s expensive but we feel he needs that stimulation during the day. A dog walker is a very good option if you can afford it xx