Also, I didn't add in my earlier post, but sometimes I think it also just depends on the dog and what exactly is going on. I can live with a dog I'm not very connected to and do so happily, but I guess IME it's a little dog dependent/personality dependent.
I live with a dog currently that took me a really long time to bond with, and I still don't have a big connection with her. But I worked on it and this is a dog I wouldn't dream of rehoming. While I may not feel the same toward her as I do my other dogs, I still love her very much and can't imagine her elsewhere ever. And she is very attached to somebody else in my family, so between that and everything I do for and with her, we're all plenty happy.
Honestly, rehoming is one of the most difficult things a person can do, and when I made the decision to do so, it wasn't without heartache and a lot of thought. I don't think I could ever do it again, but I don't regret it for a second. In Spring's case, I felt that was what was best and I'm glad I did it. It took a huge load of stress off of me, and she's one hundred times happier for it. My decision to rehome her, as I said, was based on more than just a lack of a connection, so that's why there was stress involved, but it was still part of my decision.
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, dogs and people just clash. And for me, if I really, truly didn't feel much of anything toward a dog and just lived life frustrated and trying to hide my frustration from the dog, rehoming is the best solution.
I'm not the type of person who believes that absolutely every dog you bring home in a lifetime needs to stay forever. That's a lot of dogs someone could potentially have in a lifetime, and I think it's hard to imagine that every one of those dogs will fit. Most of them probably will, but there might be one or two that doesn't. My goal and my plan when I get a dog is to keep it forever, but sometimes things just don't work for a plethora of reasons. I bring a dog home with the intention to love it and care for it and provide everything it needs and made **** sure that dog has the best life I can possibly provide... if I feel that something is missing and that neither the dog nor I am living the best life we can with eachother, then rehoming might be a better option. It's very situation dependent. Obviously rehoming isn't something anybody really wants to do and it is very hard. And my Spring experience really showed me that I am not the type of person to take a dog on a whim without knowing a lot about it and that finding a good dog (and breeder) match for me is very important. I'm really not that picky when it comes to dogs and I can live with a lot of different personality types, but as she showed me, there are apparently some I don't do well with.
I don't bring every dog into my life and expect to feel about it as I do Journey or Dance. I'm ok with that and it would be weird to have dog after dog be as awesome for me as those two are. But if I'm really truly not happy with a dog and I know somebody else will be, then I feel like I'm doing both that dog and I a favour.
It's not always black and white. It isn't as simple as "oh, I don't get along the best with this dog so I'm going to get rid of it". Not even close.
Or, I could have just finished reading Fran's post, because as usual, she basically already said what I was thinking and wanted to say.