Hi. I can only endorse what others have said and I can't imagine anyone on here would judge you. I think I've made every mistake possible in the dog-owning stakes, and you're to be highly commended for taking advice regarding going through Working Cocker Rescue or CAESSR etc., and not trying to privately rehome or sell on your dog. Lord, the stories you hear when you work or volunteer in rescue can be horrendous - dogs passed around on Facebook etc - it's awful.
Your dog is so young a good spaniel rescue will get him in a good home and he'll never look back, but you should do it sooner rather later for both your sakes.
We currently own 3 rescue dogs - 2 are working cockers and we were lucky enough to get ones that had had a lot of time and effort put into them - they settled immediately and never looked back. Our third is a springer we adopted a couple of months ago - she's quite ancient so took much longer to settle and can be a grumbleguts, and - er - I'm still trying to teach her to sit
. Says a lot for my training skills. This lady only sits when SHE wants to.
The dogs are kennelled where I volunteer and, honestly, you shouldn't feel sorry them - they are the lucky ones. Most of them cope amazingly well, even the akitas and huskies that stay for months, and you'd be surprised how much the staff gets attached to them all. Those dogs that do stress are usually found a foster home, even if it's only very temporary to give them a holiday. I can tell you that a cocker coming in will not be there more than a week or so, even though a specialist home has to be found. Also, I often see dogs I've helped rehome out and about when walking my dogs and they're without exception doing great. If sometimes they do not, they come back to rescue and find the right home second time around. We are the second shot at a rehome for 2 of our dogs and, what wasn't right for them in their first rehome is right in their second. We had a mad drama queen of a GSD in a couple of years ago that I still meet on walks. She was not good with other dogs and pulled like a train and wasn't particularly pleasant when I knew her. She now has another GSD as a sister and passed her gold KC citizenship award this year. Most folks that take rescue dogs are just nice people and, as another poster said, go the extra mile.
I just wish everyone did what you are doing, as hard as it is for you. Please let us know how you get on.
