I know you may not want to hear this , but maybe you should have considered more options before you gave her back to the shelter . If the dog has been adopted into a nice , loving home the best thing you can do is leave her and her new family alone and work with your son . Personally , if one of my dog ' s previous owners who surrendered her came to me saying it was a mistake my son just wants a visit it would be a hard and fast NO . YOU surrendered her . Now YOU deal with the consequences and leave the new family alone . I work in rescue , and this happens more often than you ' d think . People adopt a dog , keep them for a month or two then bring them back because of one thing or the other . then two or three months later want the dog back or want updates . All we tell them is that the dog was adopted by a COMMITTED family . Once you return a dog to a shelterrescue you are never looked at the same . I ' m sorry for your son but I hope the dog is happy , healthy and safe from ever being returned to you .