How Many Dogs Stay in Their First Home?

We found Suzie on the streets, and we were definitively not her first home, as she was 5ish at that time, and she was really well groomed and everything. We think she lived with an older man because she is really fond of them, and we're guessing he either passed away or was put in a home because we couldn't find her owners.

And Sign was a 1 or so when we found her on the street, eating a rat bone, so we may or may not have been her first home

I'd guess that a large percentage of animals do get rehomed at one point in their life.

I'm Quinn's first home obviously.

Dally I'd say we're her first home. A friend technically got her from the breeder, but he needed to puppy proof his place so we brought her home and she never left. I think we all knew it was going to end up that way which is why I don't consider him her own owner, LOL.

We were Jasmine's (childhood dog) first and only home after her (backyard) breeder.

My old GSD Akela I'm not sure on as she was a stray. I'm guessing before us she had at least 1 owner, and her breeder of course. She was then rehomed and they still have her.

Willow, our cat, I'm not sure on. She was sick so her breeder took her to the vet, and then the vet phoned us to see if we'd take her. I'm not sure if the vet counts as a home/owner, LOL.

The new cat Minerva I'm not sure on - she was a stray that was dropped off here. She's young so I'd guess that she was from a litter of barn kittens and they weren't able to find a home for her and just dropped her off in the country somewhere.

Chowder- we found him in the street & he was around 2 years old - I assume we were his second home.
Eli - we're his first home. He was born in a foster home after a rescue pulled his pregnant mom from a kill shelter. He came to us at 3 months old.

past dogs:
Bubba (ACD) - my partner was his second home. He was purchased from a breeder by a family friend to work on his farm, then the friend broke his leg and was not able to care for or train him, so gave him to my partner.
Max - (Samoyed) - second home. Got him from a breed specific rescue when he was 6 years old.

cats (some past, some current):
Tigger and Rainy - first home, taken as kittens from the barn of the same family friend who gave us Bubba.
Rosie - first home. I adopted her from a shelter. She had been found as a stray kitten.
Tater - first home - found as a stray at around 6 months old. He had been living in an alley surviving on kindness from the local crack addicts and leftovers from a deli.
Mao- first home. Got him from a friend's aunt whose cat had kittens. God sent him to us because we are the only people who would love his foul tempered smelly self.
Edgar - second home. He came strolling up looking for love and food at around 5-6 months old. He was very sweet and friendly, and hungry. We couldn't find his owners.

Really interesting question.

This is at least a second home for Mushroom and Luce both. Possible that it could be more than that, but I doubt it.

This is Steve's first home.

Bamm- was born on a farm and they kept him for a little bit. He then went to a shelter and was fostered through that shelter and then came to me. So, I'd consider myself technically his second home.

Cricket- Street, Grace and then me. I'm going to say I'm her first real home where the intention was to keep her permanently since at Grace's she was technically a foster.

Lizzie - first home, rescue puppy.
Blaze - first home, breeder puppy.
Jake- first home, breeder puppy.
Major - first home, breeder puppy.

66% of my dogs, assuming you don't count Kim's foster mom as a second home, and assuming that her breeder was her and her litter's means of conveyance to their temporary ditch residence.

I'm at least Web's second home, but know nothing of his history beyond a few details of why he was shuffled off. First home for Mira as well.

I'm at least the second home for all of my animals. I don't count foster homes as "homes" because they were placed there with the intention of being adopted out - it was always meant to be temporary.

Jack was surrendered to the rescue by a woman because her boyfriend didn't like him. He was with the rescue in a foster home for six months before I adopted him.

Missy was picked up as a stray by animal control, taken in by the rescue, and spent a bit of time in a few different boarding facilities before I adopted her. There was never a good foster home for her since she's so-so with other large dogs.

Sassy was also picked up by animal control as a stray, and then fostered for a few months before I adopted her.

I found the birds on Craigslist. Their owner was moving overseas, and didn't want them to go through the stress of a quarantine period. She was incredibly nice and really made sure that they were going to a good home. She had had them since they were baby birds.

I think a majority of dogs are shuffled from home to home to home.

Buster - we are his first home as we got him as a puppy.

Rudy - we are his 2nd home, he was abused before we got him by a little kid. He is by far the most sensitive dog I have ever had.

Dixie - we are her 2nd home, she was abandoned in an alley at only 9 weeks of age.

Nia is from a breeder although we didn't get her until 5.5 months old since she was kept to grow out and didn't end up making it to the show ring. We've been her only home.

Truffles came from a pet shop, not counting the mill or "breeder" that bred her and the pet store, we're her only home.

Same with Popcorn, came to us at 12 weeks, still here.

Of the dogs that were "Mine".

Tucker stayed with my parents, he's been in only one home his whole life.
Hannah stayed with my parents, she came from a kennel so it was sort of a rehome.

Arnold was in 4 homes by 5 months before I adopted him.
Shamoo was supposedly in just one home her whole life before my fostering her, I placed her with my parents and then took her back when my dad got sick and she's here forever now.
Backup and Sloan are in their first homes with us.
Hazmat has been through 2 homes prior.

I have had a ton of fosters and so have my parents while I grew up.

This is Art's first home, and Bear is in her second home (us being her first) with my sister.

Mac went "breeder" - pet shop - us
Buster went god knows where - shopping centre carpark - us
Quinn went "breeder - us

And we'll have them all forever.

I got Saga when she was 9 months old. Her turn in papers at the rescue league said that the previous home had only had her for a month, so I am probably her 3rd home.

I got Lucy at 3ish, and we were at least her 3rd home. The shelter had records of her twice, both times dropped off because the families were military who were reassigned and "couldn't" (read: "didn't want to") take their dog with them. I suspect she was too high energy, and moving was a convenient time to give her back.

I just stick with the number is too high for my liking. I am Bandit's 5th home and he came to stay for me forever at six months old.

The old family dog Buddy was from a litter of ranch BC's.... he stayed with us from cute fuzzball till he died.

Their current dog, also BC, will be there until he dies and its his 3rd home. He was first a kid's 4H project (he LOVES kids), then some guy bought him with intentions of trialing him, but never did. He was a kennel dog with that guy, so while he's still primarily an outside dog (ranch dog!) he's got a pretty sweet life now.

Lily is my first dog of my very own.
I think her past went something like this: breeder, first owner, dumped on street, shelter, then me. That was the first year of her life, she's 4 now... been with me 3 of those years.
I intend to keep her till she dies, nothing in this world could make me rehome her. I'd live in my **** car first oh wait, we've done that...

Scout is supposed to be a foster, she's been with me officially a year and two months. However I lived in the same house as her for several months prior and knew her the previous 6 months. She's had a rough go so far home-wise: first the hoarder that "bred" her for the first 3 months of her life she was crammed in a cage on a bus with 80-90 other dogs, after that bust she ended up at the shelter in Bozeman, where she was adopted by a nice lady who grew up with GSD's, but in no way was equipped to handle a special needs puppy in dire need of work and heavy socialization (there were mistakes made that further created issues in Scout... she was a very nice lady, but not the best fit!!), she "rehomed" her to my best friend's mom. My best friend's mom moved to PDX with intentions of returning for the dog, so 6 months of this my friend asks me if I'd take her on. I agreed obviously. I have no idea why, but Scout has been bonded to me and followed me since the second she met me. She did not like my best friend's mom. She will now seek pets from her (she's back in ID), but if the woman comes to her she is very uncomfortable and leans heavily on me because I'm her safe zone for all the scary crap involved in life. She's an odd duck, gotta love her!

Cats:
Kissy - my first cat when I was four. She was out of my aunt's gray manx momma cat. Kept her for life.

Squeakers - Kissy's daughter, kept her until she died of old age.

Scummy - B-day present from my mom after I lost Squeakers that spring, lives permanently at my parent's so she can be safely indoor/outdoor. She's 11 this year.

Missy - Was a barn cat at my parents (her mom actually just died this past Xmas... her name was Barn Kitty, she got spayed after Missy's litter) until she was 2, when I took her and got her healthy because it would be wrong to move the Scum from where she is happy because she's an older lady. Currently at my parent's because my apt sucks, hopefully that changes soon. I though about rehoming her because I can't afford to get her a dental .... but realistically no one around here is going to take on a 6 year old cat that needs a dental, so we'll just stick together. She is an awesome cat!

Vivian - Off a litter at my friend's mom's house (her mom's name is Pickle, she's been spayed since!), I loved that evil beast so much. Lily helped me raise her. She just grew up to be a major bitch. I made the decision to rehome her when she flipped out and scratched the crap out of me for no reason. She came very close to getting my eyes. Its pretty hard to cross the line with me but that was it. And started attacking Lily, who loves her as much as I do. I found her a very good home where my parent's live with a girl who has a male cat and a female lab and Vivi can be safely indoor/outdoor and take out some of that crankiness on the voles. I know that girl will keep her until she dies.

Bella went: "Breeder" - First Family - Ex of first family - family friend - me.
Psyche went: "Breeder" - family who didn't have time - me.
Zoey went: "breeder" - me.
And Crash went (as far as I know): "breeder" - original owner - friend of mine - me.

Interesting stats, Moth, thanks for posting those.

Present pets:
I'm Sienna's at least second home. She was an owner turn-in at the shelter, but no information on why, or if that was her only previous owner. She was about a year old at the time.

Georgette and Claire, cats, I got as kittens from the shelter so first home. Claire is a failed foster.

Sidney, my parents' dog, came from a shelter with I think one previous home which was on a farm.

They also had three cats that they got from friends as kittens, two remain. One of the cats, Frankie, went to live with my brother briefly but didn't adjust very well, so she's back with my folks.

Childhood dogs:
Indy - GSD I got as a puppy from a breeder, and he was given to a couple after about 2 years (my parents' decision.) I still wonder about him. First, not only, home.
Lady - Golden Retriever puppy given to me at Christmas when I was either 4 or 5 (*great* idea, right?) We gave her to a family with older, sturdier children after a few months. First, not only, home.
Vanessa - Golden Retriever, my mom's dog. No idea how long my mom owned her, but she died of old age when I was a toddler. Maybe first, and last home.

Childhood cats:
Amy & Licorice - my aunt's cat's kittens that lived with me until we moved to an apartment and they were pried from my little arms and rehomed. First, but not only, home.

Kit - at a different apartment, he was either a stray or a neighborhood cat that liked our house better than his. Probably at least second home, but not his last. He went to live at my dad's office when we moved again, and ran away soon after that. I still wonder about him, too.

Tinkerbell aka Suki aka Socks - At yet another house (welcome to my childhood) she was the neighbors' cat, but decided our house was better so she became 1/2 our cat and 1/2 theirs...actually it was more like 1/3 ours, 1/3 theirs, and 1/3 another neighbor's, LOL. Not sure how to count her, she had 3 homes at the same time!

Loki - got him as a kitten, he lived with my stepdad before my mom married him (though he was my cat at the time.) Then he lived with all of us in house #...well, I stopped counting. He moved across the U.S. with us and lived out his life with my parents after I went away to college. First and only home.

Wow, my childhood pet history is depressing! Back then there wasn't a big stigma about rehoming, or at least not that I was aware of. Nobody ever told us we were horrible people for doing so, and I understand that life changes happen, and most people don't do their homework before getting a dog, and even if they do, they still don't always know what they're getting into. Though I understand, I was slightly traumatized by it as a child.

Needless to say, Sienna, George and Claire will be with me for life.