Rescue Organisations

[Gayle.]

So she just gave up totally. She was very upset too. I almost feel like just getting her a companion dog out of the paper.

Check the mature dogs listings here on DOL. My son had a similar experience......the second dog he enquired about he was told to come and see, however he rang the day before their arranged time to let them know what time he'd be there, only to find the dog had already been rehomed. And they hadn't bothered to let him know. Just as well he rang as it was a 4 hour round trip. I think that's bloody rude.

He ended up with a lovely dog when I suggested he try the DOL listings. He didn't want a puppy but got a gorgeous 18 month old English Setter.

[♥Baxter♥]

We had tried a rescue GSD place & filled an application, not one contact/reply from them at all, then we tried here on DOL, someone withing our State, but at the price she wanted we could have bought at least 2 to 3 open tickets for an oversea trip, no thank you. So we adopted out our boy from NSW & were lucky the owner were traveling to Brisbane on a week-end & came to our house to drop him off, very lovely people too.

Finding a pet is never really easy, specially when trying to do the right thing.

[HugUrPup]

I applied for a dog last night. Not sure if I will get a response, I didn't get one last time

Where it asked why I wanted to adopt a dog I just said, I'm a sucker for those eyes.

I doubt I'll hear back even though I have 7ft fences and the dog would be indoors and I am home almost 24/7.

Edited September 25, 2010 by puggerup

[Rascalmyshadow]

I have had a few of my grooming customers contact rescue organisations and have ended up having bad experiences, one was told she could not adopt another male dog with the male pom she already had because they would fight (this was by multiple rescues), I adopted a little male poodlex to her and they are now the best of friends and very spoilt.

One was told she was unsuitable because of her age even though her family was willing to take on the dog if anything happened to her.

One was told they couldn't even meet any cats because they worked full time, their is many more I could add to the list.

All ridiculous excuses to wonderful homes, I have stopped recommending rescue groups to my customers due to the way many treat potential adoptees (that includes AAPS) now only send them to the RSPCA/PAA or the Lort smith.

[Maddy]

I can understand both sides of this and really, it's quite a difficult issue.

On one hand you've had the dog in your home for at least the last two months and you know how it will react in almost every situation- the dog's behaviour has been assessed and you know exactly what sort of home would best suit that dog. Then, along comes an adopter.. an unsuitable adopter who proceeds to tell you that they know the breed very well, thank you very much, and that their home is exactly what this dog must have and nothing else is going to suit it as well and if you knew how to rehome dogs properly, you wouldn't be questioning their sound judgement.

Even if you're not overly insulted by the assumption that the last two months with this dog has taught you nothing about it, you still have (potentially) an angry would-be adopter to deal with who'll likely go on to trash your rescue to anyone who'll listen because they were turned down, even though the dog simply wasn't right for their home.

It's frustrating, upsetting and there's often no way you can get out of a situation like that without getting burnt, one way or the other.

On the other hand.. I can understand that some people (and rescues) operate in a manner that could best be described as peculiar and that sometimes, the public have to deal with these people when they perhaps ought not to have to. Odd behaviour that borders on irrational seems to be a little more common that you'd want from people who are controlling the lives of dogs.

You only need to keep an eye on the rescue section of the forums here to see some of the dubious behaviour that goes on (for whatever reason- I've seen plenty of it but could never understand the motivations behind it) and in my opinion, it's all the more reason for rescue to be regulated to whatever extent is required to weed out the people who're giving rescue a bad reputation.

[Sheridan]

We work fulltime, but that doesn't mean our dogs are left for endless hours on their own. I am often home by 3.30pm due to some early starts. Husband is self employed and configures his days to suit himself. He often pops home for a while to check on the dogs, play with them, do stuff around the house etc. Fulltime doesn't mean 10 hours of loneliness for a dog, but it's assumed it does.

Often it means around 10 hours of sleep so they can be bouncy and active aaaaaalllllllll night. Yes, nearly 15-year-old Grumpy dog, I'm looking at you.

[tdierikx]

I'm sure I'd be turned down by some rescue organisationss to adopt a dog... I work fulltime, am on a single wage (not much really), and probably a whole slew of other things that reading some of the questionnaires out there ask for would have me fail as a potential adopter...

... but... my own 2 dogs are pretty happy souls, and they help me foster pups for another rescue organisation - and not one of my fosters has been rehomed poorly, or had issues when placed...

Go figure?

If you get turned down by one rescue, try another - especially if you are a "perfect" home... there are plenty of rescues out there who CAN recognise a good home when they see one, OK?

Quite frankly, if I was faced with a form to enquire about a dog that had more personal questions than my bank asks of me to apply for a home loan, then I'd be looking elsewhere...

T.

[_PL_]

Basically it's impossible to keep everyone happy.

When you have to say no, it's really not all that often that applicants aren't suitable for any pet at all. Just not that particular individual animal.

My dogs live in the home, I'm not taking a guess on their temp/needs, I live with them - I know them. I try to be helpful with people, not offend and see no need for arguments or narky responses which are pretty rare thankfully.

And for everyone who says rescues haven't responded I'll bet I can match you for enquirers that ask a whole lot of questions and never respond to even say thanks but no thanks, or to go as far as a home visit and then vanish off the planet. It's just a people thing, we have to accept it and move on.

[Maddy]

And for everyone who says rescues haven't responded I'll bet I can match you for enquirers that ask a whole lot of questions and never respond to even say thanks but no thanks, or to go as far as a home visit and then vanish off the planet. It's just a people thing, we have to accept it and move on.

Ah yes..

We actually had one family (who looked suitable on paper) not even bother to be home for their home check. The date was arranged to suit them, the person doing the check turned up and.. nothing, not even a note to say they'd had to cancel for some reason.

The person stayed a while, wandered around their front yard and looked at the animals there and after waiting a reasonable amount of time, she had to leave. We never heard from that family again, I can only guess.. they changed their minds?

[Snout Girl]

I know a very good home turned down by a rescue organisation as the people work full time.

this dog would of lived the life of adam, walks, trips, spoiling you name it.l

ironic thing is the person who turned them down also works full time, as does the OH, and they were the ones fostering the dog

go figure.

[Steve]

Seems to me there are two different issues here.

I think some rescue groups go way overboard in their criteria for what they determine is a good home but you

cannot have rescue groups who rehome any dog to anyone with any question mark over it's temperament.

You cant seriously think that because it LOOKED like A FLATTIE that it was a flattie and therefore wouldnt bite someone?

Im sorry I think the group did the right thing and if they had known it was a potential problem and rehomed it to you just because you say so I wouldnt support them if you you got it home and it bit your child or if you tried your heart out and still was no good.

This isnt just about you - rescue groups have to consider not just what happens in your case to their group but how what they do will impact on recue in general.

However, I do agree that some have policies on who can take home a dog and what their lifestyles and homes should be like which are pretty stupid.

[Gayle.]

I can understand both sides of this and really, it's quite a difficult issue.

On one hand you've had the dog in your home for at least the last two months and you know how it will react in almost every situation- the dog's behaviour has been assessed and you know exactly what sort of home would best suit that dog. Then, along comes an adopter.. an unsuitable adopter who proceeds to tell you that they know the breed very well, thank you very much, and that their home is exactly what this dog must have and nothing else is going to suit it as well and if you knew how to rehome dogs properly, you wouldn't be questioning their sound judgement.

Even if you're not overly insulted by the assumption that the last two months with this dog has taught you nothing about it, you still have (potentially) an angry would-be adopter to deal with who'll likely go on to trash your rescue to anyone who'll listen because they were turned down, even though the dog simply wasn't right for their home.

It's frustrating, upsetting and there's often no way you can get out of a situation like that without getting burnt, one way or the other.

That's not always the case. When my son found the dog he wanted, it was advertised by the owner, so he rang only to find it had been "rescued" the same day. He was given the number of the rescue organisation and spoke to someone there at length. I was there and could hear his side of the conversation. He politely described their living situation......spacious yard, securely fenced, wanted a running mate so was looking for an active dog, girlfriend home a lot, dog to be inside etc. etc.

He was told he could come see the dog on the weekend, and was told this dog would be rehomed to "the best home, not the first home". But a few days later when he called to let her know he'd be there around mid morning, he was told "Oh that dog went to his new home a few days ago".

Now, he'd seen the dog advertised on the Thursday, rang the owner immediately, rang the rescue person straight away, arranged to go there on the Sunday then rang on the Saturday night to confirm.....and the dog was already gone....well, I'd say he did go to the first person that came along and they definitely didn't have him in their care long enough to get to know him.

And that came hot on the heels of another rescue orgaisation telling him they'd ring him back regarding a dog he was interested in, only to never hear from them again.

[tdierikx]

When a lot of these stories about disappointed potential adopters come up, we can only speculate as to what happened - especially in the cases where the dog was rehomed to someone else.

The case that GayleK states is a worry - rehomed well before any quarantine period has been completed... not a good idea in most rescuer's books... apart from the fact that they really couldn't "know" the dog very well before rehoming it, what about it's health history, etc??

T.

[Burkes]

OK, so you don't like registered breeders as per a previous comment on another thread:

'The “head in the sand” attitude of many breeders continues to amaze me. Outside of Show circle, the term “Registered Breeder” is just an alarm bell to many people. For your average dumb-schmuck member of the public they assumed that buying an expensive “pedigreed” from a breeder represented a quality product, and so unfortunately the horror stories proliferate. Some breeds in WA have been decimated by the poor practices of registered breeders, to the point that cross-breeding is the only way to get a pup that will live more than a few years. It’s no wonder that Mr & Mrs Joe Public are turning to SpaniCavmagnadoodles.

And, you are not happy with rescue as per this thread.

Perhaps you should either rescue dogs yourself so you can choose who you think their perfect owners are or start breeding. Either that or move to cats.

[Gayle.]

I like registered breeders, which is why I recommended my son head in that direction rather than rescue, after his miserable attempt to adopt a rescue dog. He is very happy with the outcome, he still has contact with the breeder and consults with her if he has any queries about the breed.

Just because one person posted something in another thread, doesn't mean everyone thinks that way.

Edited September 26, 2010 by GayleK

[Danois]

Personally I think too many in rescue have a 'god' complex and lose sight of what is in the best interests of the dog.

I used to recommend rescue to people looking for a dog (second to a registered breeder) but I don't bother these days (other than breed specific) given things I have heard first hand from people trying to deal with rescue and also from seeing the antics and carry on in the rescue thread here - no quarantine, DA dogs, inadequate temp assessments, over the top criteria, melodramatics and the save at all costs mentality.

IMO rescue is its own worst enemy at times.

[HugUrPup]

wow wow wow I just got a call from the rescue group and I am meeting the doggy next week ;) *faints*

[sandra64]

;) :D

OK, so you don't like registered breeders as per a previous comment on another thread:

'The “head in the sand” attitude of many breeders continues to amaze me. Outside of Show circle, the term “Registered Breeder” is just an alarm bell to many people. For your average dumb-schmuck member of the public they assumed that buying an expensive “pedigreed” from a breeder represented a quality product, and so unfortunately the horror stories proliferate. Some breeds in WA have been decimated by the poor practices of registered breeders, to the point that cross-breeding is the only way to get a pup that will live more than a few years. It’s no wonder that Mr & Mrs Joe Public are turning to SpaniCavmagnadoodles.

And, you are not happy with rescue as per this thread.

Perhaps you should either rescue dogs yourself so you can choose who you think their perfect owners are or start breeding. Either that or move to cats.

I cant speak for any other rescue, but the one im associated with. I foster care and i hope we do help the small % of dogs thatwe save from death row...I get emails all the time from my foster furkids new parents on how well they are doing. I also have 2 papered pure breds myself. It would be nice to think these bad experiences come down to alot of volunteers maybe not stepping up to the mark on that day. They do not run like clock work and some days are tougher than others, but all i can say is we try

Edited September 26, 2010 by sandra64

[rubiton]

I looked at one site and it had a 20 question form that included stuff like 'do you work fulltime' - dont think its relevant unless they want to know you are employed and therefore can pay for sudden medical bills but then why ask full time. As for home checks - why? Sorry but if you want proof of the fences ask for photos and look on google earth. Can remember someone offering a home to a dog from a rescue organisation and they failed when the homecheck had the dog (not a bitterly cold or hot place and not a thin coated type dog) sleeping outside not inside the house.

Questions on if they had kids, cats, owned dogs before, fully fenced yard yes fine but demanding a dog sleep inside not outside and demanding to inspect your house and that you be at home to keep it company while it sleeps?

[rastus_froggy]

Yes maybe some rescues go over the top but with this rescue being concerned that this dog was not right to be rehomed is their prerogative and responsibility.

I am sure you would much prefer this situation to my last encounter with rescue where they rehomed a dog to me who had attacked while in their care and neglected to tell me about this during the adoption, the whole situation ended in tears for me and worse for the dog.