NA-Adopting A Dog-NA

Jim Rosenow

Jim Rosenow

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Jim Rosenow
We've lost both our Maltese (a year ago today), and our Newfoundland, within the last year to old age. We've worked thru it, and decided that it may be time for a new 'kid' or two, so..... We decided to try adopting a 'rescue' dog, so I did some on-line looking and found a cute little Maltese mix fairly local we were interested in. Called the 'rescue league' up wanting to visit/see the little one.

They lady on the phone said that it wouldn't be possible to see the dog, until we had filled out an application, and that they would not consider an application until we agreed to build a fence on our property for the dog. I questioned that for a 10-pound dog that would be inside 23.5/7. She said that was the policy without exception...wow. Not to mention the $250 adoption fee. She said their process was to advertise the dog for 2 weeks on the rescue sites, then evaluate the applications they got, and pick a 'winner'. Oh, but 'they had another dog from a high-kill shelter we could look at tomorrow'.

We can get a pure-bred Maltese pup for $8-1000....meaning she pretty much ruled out adoption, at least from her group, by policy. Cute little dog, but not worth $3K of fencing. I found it very frustrating.

I know several folks on the board work with rescues. Are these policies normal for 'rescue dog' organizations? I understand vetting prospective adopters, but.... What say you? Thanks!

OH...and still looking for a Maltese mix/comparable :)

Jim
 
Jim Rosenow said:
I know several folks on the board work with rescues. Are these policies normal for 'rescue dog' organizations? I understand vetting prospective adopters, but.... What say you? Thanks!
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Depends on the rescue organization. Adoption failures are high and result in the dog returning to heavily stressed foster care in many organizations, so some make sure you're real serious about caring for the dog.

Our rescue pup, the interview was extensive but was eased by three of their foster folks knowing us and our dog that we already had. It also helped that the reduce dog showed signs of bonding with our dog via their time together at a doggy day camp place.

They asked about fencing but didn't force the issue because at that time we had just moved to the rural area and we walked the big guy on very long leashes. Since then we put up fence around two acres. They love to roam the property.

In the city, I'm sure the concerns run to dogs getting into streets and getting injured or killed. It does seem like they should consider the breed and size, but any Vet would probably disagree. They've seen all sizes and breeds hurt badly while chasing something.

Some might consider it if someone would commit to distraction training with the rescue's approved list of trainers. Even our rescue eyeballed us funny when we mentioned our excellent dog trainer the big boy was a graduate of -- they don't like his methods.

They're a bit looney sometimes about "negative" training, whereas the most negative thing our trainer ever does is pop a collar without pulling the animal and growling and lowering his voice, just like a real alpha dog does in the wild. Lots of young kids running these things and even the dogs are supposed to get nothing but praise and participation awards. LOL.
 
I think many of these rescue organizations are run by people that seem to dissuade others from adopting a pet.

It is perfectly okay for them to foster 27 dogs at a time. But God forbid you not have a fence for an indoor dog. They're also going to need to do a home inspection to make sure your dog can't stick a fork in an electrical socket.
 
Jim Rosenow said:
They lady on the phone said that it wouldn't be possible to see the dog, until we had filled out an application, and that they would not consider an application until we agreed to build a fence on our property for the dog. I questioned that for a 10-pound dog that would be inside 23.5/7. She said that was the policy without exception...wow.
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Jim, sadly some organizations are like this. They push the policies and don't consider the well being of the animal.

You might want to double-check if it has to be a fenced yard. Many guidelines allow for a fenced kennel. Maybe you can drive some stakes into the ground and create a small kennel area using plywood fencing or chain link? (i.e. go as cheap a material as you can that will pass muster?)

Now having said that, if you happen to know someone with a fenced yard, perhaps they could adopt the dog for you? There will be a "visit" at some point to visit the dog, so you might need to bother your friend one more time to arrange an appointment and you bring the dog over. But after that, your friend can "gift" the dog to you. You do the registration, get a tag and he/she's your dog! (This is provided they don't include some whacky language about what you can do with the dog in the first 60 days, etc.)
 
Thank you all for the replies.....sorry to be absent from the thread till now. The explanation follows....2016-12-09-063319.jpg

Sometimes amazing things happen....within a half-hour of my posting, we found our new joy :) We found out a local lady had two Maltese, one 9 months, and one 6 months, not related but grew up together, who needed a new home due to factors beyond their control. 15 minutes down the road, an hour with the girls, and they both came home with us. Got home at bed-time, they slept thru the night without a peep, and they seem to be adapting fairly well :) Ladies and gentlemen....life is good!

Still sad for the dogs affected by 'policies' over love, tho....

Jim
 
Good for you!

I guess each organization has its own policies for its own reasons.

Local groups here in the southern Appalachians try to make sure the dog is going to a good home, but are not excessively picky. We have "Barking Lot" on Saturdays in downtown Blue Ridge with numerous dogs and puppies available for viewing, handling, walking, etc. The adoption fees are reasonable considering the money already into the dogs for fostering, vetting and spaying/neutering in most cases.

The dogs we transport to NJ often end up at an adoption center in a mall (Rockaway Town Square) which we visited last time up:

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Fees somewhat higher, but again reasonable if you consider the time, money and effort required to get them all to that point.

In addition, you can walk into Animal Control facilities around here and pick up a dog with pretty mimnimum hassle. Jake and Chowder both came from Fannin County, GA Animal Control:

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Thanks, Ed! I agree that the fee for a rescue dog is not excessive...I was just frustrated when I sent the first post.

First thing we did was check the animal control/humane societies for several Counties around. Seems like all they had were pit pull mixes currently. I wonder if Christmas up-coming may have depleted the pool.

Thanks to all you folks who work with rescue animals!

Jim
 
I don't seem to have any problem getting pets. Some people just drop them off on my property late at night. Really heartbreaking. I try to find loving homes for them, but some have to go to the local pound. The local pound tells me they try for two weeks then ship them to the Denver area.
 
I've rescued 4 dogs so far. When I was married we also fostered for a group.

Every group is different. The one I got Autumn from asked a ton of questions, but since she was my 4th rescue and 5th Pomeranian they cut me some slack and didn't bother with a home visit. IIRC they did ask about fencing and I said 1 acre is fenced, the other is not. Seemed to work out.

The strangest rescue rule we ever encountered: The rescue group maintained the registration on the chip. We almost walked away from that one. Glad we didn't since Ashley is so damn cute. I don't know if my ex ever got "chip rights"
 
Yeah, the rescue group we got ours from was pretty low key. We asked to see her, they brought her to a vet's office, my wife and daughters went to see her, they paid the adoption fee and took her home. Eight years later, she's still with us
 
I work with an animal shelter. The big fear that we have, in this area, is people who adopt dogs to use them as "bait dogs" for pitbull training. While we would like to see people have fenced yards for dogs, we also understand why it's not practical for all.

All the animals that are adopted out of the shelter are micro chipped. It's up to the new owner to decide whether not they want to transfer the chip registration.


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I've heard about an organization that flies rescue dogs to people called pilotsnpaws- it ends in org. I cannot post links so you can look it up.
 
citizen5000 said:
I've heard about an organization that flies rescue dogs to people called pilotsnpaws- it ends in org. I cannot post links so you can look it up.
Click to expand...

Here's the link: http://www.pilotsnpaws.org/
My understanding is that PnP's mission is to move the pets between shelters and groups, not directly to the new Forever Home.
 
We adopted our Mastiff from a rescue group. Very low-key, but they usually insist on home visits. They didn't have a connection in our area (rescue was about 500 miles away), so I offered to make a video of our house and yard for them, which they really liked. That flexibility was key in us getting "approved" to adopt her. They were also pretty strict on breed experience, as a 180lb dog isn't for everyone. But overall, great experience with the rescue.
 
I was looking for a four legged friend for my shepherd mix. I went to a local rescue that had a white shepherd mix that could have been a twin except color. They had to do a home visit which "revealed" a small 2" gap in the fence for which disqualified me. I still cannot comprehend how a 50+ pound dog could get through such a small gap. The rest of the story is said white shepherd was adopted out twice and returned twice because of issues.
I've removed them the list. My search however brought me to a collie mix then a border collie. We're a happy family now.
Like local gov't boards, some rescue institute silly rules not keeping in sight or in mind what their end results are supposed to be.
 
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