Jump to content

Immutable Scientific Laws Of Rescue


 Share

Recommended Posts

Do feel free to add your own laws of rescue, I'm sure there are more than this.

1. The number of emails your receive about an animal from an individual is directly inverse proportion to the chances of them adopting or even turning up to a meeting.

2. When someone is so impatient to meet an animal that they convince you to schedule a meeting at a time (during the week, at night, early in the morning) when you wouldn't usually schedule a meeting, there is a 100% chance that they will cancel that meeting at the last minute and you'll never hear from them again.

3. If people say they want to adopt a dog or cat and then ring later to change their mind they always tell you it's because their husband has just lost his job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4. The more flexible you try to be with potential adopters (ie meeting times, paperwork) the less reliable they will be with you.

5. Despite the foster dog already having a perfectly pleasant name the new family will rename it something else (that you probably wont like).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The person who calls 5 times after 6pm on a Sunday desperate to get a puppy, will then have bought another one by the time you call back at 12pm Monday.

The level of enthusiasm and need to get the puppy ASAP is directly proportional to the likelihood that they'll not end up getting the dog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more people are willing to listen to you and allow you to shape their choice of who to adopt with your knowledge of the dog itself, the higher the probability that dog and owner will be be satisfied with the adoption.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more people are willing to listen to you and allow you to shape their choice of who to adopt with your knowledge of the dog itself, the higher the probability that dog and owner will be be satisfied with the adoption.

Am loving this one! Well said Ams!

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5. Despite the foster dog already having a perfectly pleasant name the new family will rename it something else (that you probably wont like).

Why does this matter? What's in a name? The suitability of the new home is what is important :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

# People will only look at the picture and possibly read the first sentence of any adoption ad and will then call you and ask you every single question that could have been answered if they'd just read the whole ad.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

# People will only look at the picture and possibly read the first sentence of any adoption ad and will then call you and ask you every single question that could have been answered if they'd just read the whole ad.......

Hahaha! That does happen a fair bit, doesn't it?

T.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5. Despite the foster dog already having a perfectly pleasant name the new family will rename it something else (that you probably wont like).

Why does this matter? What's in a name? The suitability of the new home is what is important :)

Of course it is Trifecta - I was just going with the spirit of the thread. I get quite attached to my foster babies and it is just one of those silly things that bug me - you spend ages getting the dog to respond to commands using that name, then they go to a new place where everything is different including their name! The dogs probably are in such heaven they don't care less though. The right match is far more important than a name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5. Despite the foster dog already having a perfectly pleasant name the new family will rename it something else (that you probably wont like).

Why does this matter? What's in a name? The suitability of the new home is what is important :)

Of course it is Trifecta - I was just going with the spirit of the thread. I get quite attached to my foster babies and it is just one of those silly things that bug me - you spend ages getting the dog to respond to commands using that name, then they go to a new place where everything is different including their name! The dogs probably are in such heaven they don't care less though. The right match is far more important than a name.

Do you include a written list of commands the dog knows? That's one of the things I missed when I adopted my first dog. She had basic training, but who knows what commands they'd used. I never figured it out and re-trained her using my own commands.

The name isn't important, I renamed my first dog and she responded to it within a day. For my puppy I called him "puppy" because I didn't like the name he came with. He was "puppy" for 2 weeks and was responding to it, then I came up with a name I liked.

Dogs learn new names very quickly, but it would be nice to know what commands they already know, because re-training a command takes longer than re-training their name.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't include a written list of commands but because potential adopters spend as much time with the dog as they want at my place I show them the commands and hand signals I use (or that the dog already knows) and I get them to engage with the dog using them (and lamb puffs!). I am also upfront about skills they still need to learn as some dogs need more work than others and sometimes their forever family comes along sooner than expected. The breed I foster can be a bit mouthy (and stubborn) so I have a technique for that which I show the adopters too. Plus they all have my numbers and email addy if follow up is needed, as well as contact details for the rescuer I foster for who knows oodles about the breed. I see the process as an organic one. Lots of adopters become part of the rescuer's extended family network.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...