Adopting From A Pound

[animals]

While the only sydney pound Ive ever been to is Blacktown my thoughts for writing this were based on my impressions from there ..........

Martha and husband Stu decide they will adopt a little dog from the pound. After visting they choose a little scruffy .As they live alone now with kids grown up and Grandkids visit now and then they aren"t too worried and believe they will cross that bridge when they come to it.

The Brady family also decide they want to adopt a family dog and are also at the pound. They decide on a med young x breed .But are concerned about issues as they have 3 kids

Are there people who test the dogs available for adoption.? If so are they qualified to do so?

I found when I was there (on more than one occ) the staff weren"t as knowledgeable about each dog and offered very common sense based advice .Not their fault I don"t blame them and think most of them do a great job.

Now not everyone is aware of Rescue ( or limited knowledge ) (so based on the notion they don"t ) Where would someone concerned about a dog but eager to still adopt him go for help?

Im sure most people would turn to the internet and maybe read up about what to look for BUT is there a contact list of real people who could help? or maybe work within the pound who have more to do with the dogs?

I know there are volunteers who work more closely with the dogs but I don"t expect their personal details to be available .

So if the pound staff don"t know does anyone wishing to adopt simply take the chance maybe bring someone with them to help or can they call ??????????

I realise this is a lot of questions and of course it would be based on dog by dog situation as to what someone may want to know but I can"t help but think this maybe a question alot of people have thought about . And in saying that they adopt from rescue so as not to worry about issues but does that mean more dogs miss out ? I know rescue can"t take them all and good ones are still left behind ....

Over the years I have adopted straight from the pound and have had 3 awesome dogs but also a not so good one who looking back on what we went through shouldn"t have been for sale but we took the risk tried our best ( spent alot hired alot of help ) but in the end it wasn"t enough

[Alkhe]

It really differs from pound to pound, unfortunately. Some have staff who are more qualified than others, or who have more knowledge about particular dogs, and who are available to chat with potential adopters. Other pounds will have volunteers speaking to potential adopters who have little knowledge of them. It also depends on the actual time of day that people go in to look at the dogs and who's on duty, etc etc.

[Guest Ams]

After a lot of research and visiting dogs, my sister adopted a dog from a pound year before last. She had contacted a number of rescue organisations but because she didn't really want a dog sleeping inside she didn't meet their criteria. Funnily enough the dog she ended up adopting from the pound slept inside anyway. She kept in touch with them regarding the problems (and there were many) whilst working with trainers and behaviourists to try and rectify and in the end had to return the dog. There was no blame on eithe side, the dog simply was not a suitable fit for them and was unhappy living in suburbia. She then sourced another dog from a different pound (experience = knowledge) and whilst were some issues, they have been manageable and the dog has fitted in well.

[kelpiecuddles]

Just wanted to point out that adopting from rescue doesn't mean a pound dog misses out, it means that foster carer is then available again to take another pound dog in :)

[tdierikx]

Not all rescues have the 'dog sleeps inside' criteria either...

T.

[Rosetta]

I think it is a risk sure. So is adopting any older dog from any source - including breeders. We have seen cases on here of people getting older dogs from breeders and having problems so it is not only the pound. There are no guarantees. Many dogs will not display behaviours in a pound environment that they will in a home. Separation anxiety is quite often not recognised in a pound environment. My dog came from RSPCA originally and has separation anxiety - whether he had that originally or as a result of being in a shelter environment I don't know.

Sorry I know that is not answering your question. There is still a culture that believes dogs end up in the pound because there is something wrong with them. I don't believe that really - I think the majority are there because of people's irresponsibility and incompetence.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I think it is a risk sure. So is adopting any older dog from any source - including breeders. We have seen cases on here of people getting older dogs from breeders and having problems so it is not only the pound. There are no guarantees. Many dogs will not display behaviours in a pound environment that they will in a home. Separation anxiety is quite often not recognised in a pound environment. My dog came from RSPCA originally and has separation anxiety - whether he had that originally or as a result of being in a shelter environment I don't know.

Sorry I know that is not answering your question. There is still a culture that believes dogs end up in the pound because there is something wrong with them. I don't believe that really - I think the majority are there because of people's irresponsibility and incompetence.

This is very true - there is nothing wrong with most dogs in the pound - their behavioural problems (f there are any) are normally due to hopeless owners. Many people want a puppy but they don't want all the responsibilities that come with that - diet, vet work, companionship and training. Many of these dogs have never been inside a house. If you get a dog that needs housetraining, it isn't that hard and you can find tips on the internet but in my experience, many people don't do that and find it all too hard so the poor dog gets chucked outside or rehomed/abandoned again.

Housetraining a dog that has lived inside a run/kennels in a breeding situation all it's life can pose some huge challenges but not insurmountable if you are experienced or seek some help.

Edited October 24, 2013 by dogmad

[denali]

There is still a culture that believes dogs end up in the pound because there is something wrong with them. I don't believe that really - I think the majority are there because of people's irresponsibility and incompetence.

I completely agree with this. My next dog will be a rescue, not for a couple of years, but i have told couple of people and that is their exact reaction.

"Oh, don't do that, they're all damaged"

Its a shame really.

Edited October 24, 2013 by denali

[vicdrg]

There is still a culture that believes dogs end up in the pound because there is something wrong with them. I don't believe that really - I think the majority are there because of people's irresponsibility and incompetence.

I completely agree with this. My next dog will be a rescue, not for a couple of years, but i have told couple of people and that is their exact reaction.

"Oh, don't do that, they're all damaged"

Its a shame really.

We find the oppposite is happening in Melbourne. it's almost the 'in' thing to get a rescue dog,from people who formerly would have bought from a pet shop or a breeder. But it does make us laugh when they say they feel they should get a rescue dog and then give us a list obviously formulated from questions to ask a breeder - like can we see the parents!!

[huntrox]

I would prefer to give a "damaged" dog a chance than putting money in the pockets of byb or pet shops :) :)

[juice]

Manpower is probably the biggest issue.

I would love to see a liason officer at all pounds who is on the ground and knows the dogs and can talk to people and advise them, it makes sense, less dogs would bounce back.

The shelter in the UK I got my dogs from had this, you had to fill in a form before you saw any of the dogs in the kennels, then they would talk to you about what they had suitable.

[tdierikx]

When I have to select dogs from pounds for the purpose of rescue, I talk to the kennel hands who have been caring for them - they tend to have the greater isight as to how the dog has been handling the pound environment, basic likes and dislikes, etc...

T.

[Tibbie_tabbie]

Manpower is probably the biggest issue.

I would love to see a liason officer at all pounds who is on the ground and knows the dogs and can talk to people and advise them, it makes sense, less dogs would bounce back.

The shelter in the UK I got my dogs from had this, you had to fill in a form before you saw any of the dogs in the kennels, then they would talk to you about what they had suitable.

The kennel I vollie at works like that. You can't just walk in and choose one by looks - it's a matchmaking service lol!

[koalathebear]

For me, I don't think any inexperienced dog owners should adopt directly from a pound. I really applaud the desire to give a dog a second chance, but I've seen it end sadly too many times. Dogs can present and behave so differently in a pound environment and unless you're very experienced, it's hard to know what they're really like. I've even seen dogs behave so differently with different foster carers - wonderful with one, awful with the next or vice versa.

There are never any guarantees but I do believe that going with an ethical breeder you trust or going with a reputable rescue group that fosters dogs in homes is the best way to to go. That way you get at least a little backstory on the dog, with the group I'm with you get a trial period. I give ongoing support/advice/assistance for all of my fosters and would take any of them back in a heartbeat. Finding a breeder you trust is really important, too. My dog Hoover's breeder would take him back in a heartbeat - not that we'd ever part with him. We have recently had a difficult situation with a beautiful-looking dog with severe behavioural issues who really should have gone back to his breeder to have the situation addressed but his owners ended up having no option but to surrender him to rescue. This was a very well-known breeder of long-standing as well, so it's so important to find a breeder that you trust as a person not just as a name.

It is definitely not the case that all rescues require dogs to sleep inside. It's actually a point of contention for me sometimes :D I pretty much refuse to adopt any of my dogs out to homes that won't let them at least sleep in a laundry/kitchen at night but our rescue definitely does rehome to families who want an outside-only dog so I occasionally have a lively debate about my fosters when the adoption applications come in. :laugh:

With our foster carers, it's about 50/50 in terms of people who raise their fosters to be inside dogs or outside dogs. When recommending dogs to people who submit general applications (i.e. don't specify a dog but want recommendations), if they want an outside only dog I while often make sure I recommend dogs that have been fostered outside/don't mind sleeping outside so that the transition to a new home is easier.

I definitely do not agree that pound dogs are damaged dogs. I foster working dogs and I find that the main reason the dogs we look after end up in care is because they are completely untrained, bored out of their brains, smart and have never been taught to have an off-switch. If you look through my Foster Dog thread here on DOL, you'll see that the majority of my fosters (including my current one) have been pound dogs and all of them have been incredibly wonderful, smart and loving dogs who are now part of a loving family who absolutely adore them.

All the homes who have adopted our foster doggies still keep in touch with us and sends updates and I think that they would disagree mostly violently that their beloved family member was 'damaged' :laugh:

Edited October 30, 2013 by koalathebear

[Plan B]

For me, I don't think any inexperienced dog owners should adopt directly from a pound. I really applaud the desire to give a dog a second chance, but I've seen it end sadly too many times.

I can see where you're coming from with this but I don't at all agree. The trouble with going off our own experiences is that they're incredibly limited. If we put up our own 'horror stories' with the amount of successful adoptions direct from pounds of first time owners, we'd likely see our fears shouldn't be fears at all - we just tend to hear about (and see) the horror stories more.

Most of the dogs we've had have just required basic training and that basic training and how to implement can be easily learned from searching on Google - not much experience necessary. Plenty of videos on Youtube showing you how to get a dog's focus, teach him to sit, stay, drop, etc.

It's always worth, for any adopter, to just look at the individual dog - no matter where it's coming from. Some dogs in pounds will require basic training, some will require a lot more, and some will require a lot less too. For anyone who seriously does doubt their own capabilities, being guided by a reputable breeder and good rescue group could be the best way to go.

[koalathebear]

For me, I don't think any inexperienced dog owners should adopt directly from a pound. I really applaud the desire to give a dog a second chance, but I've seen it end sadly too many times.

I can see where you're coming from with this but I don't at all agree. The trouble with going off our own experiences is that they're incredibly limited. If we put up our own 'horror stories' with the amount of successful adoptions direct from pounds of first time owners, we'd likely see our fears shouldn't be fears at all - we just tend to hear about (and see) the horror stories more.

Most of the dogs we've had have just required basic training and that basic training and how to implement can be easily learned from searching on Google - not much experience necessary. Plenty of videos on Youtube showing you how to get a dog's focus, teach him to sit, stay, drop, etc.

It's always worth, for any adopter, to just look at the individual dog - no matter where it's coming from. Some dogs in pounds will require basic training, some will require a lot more, and some will require a lot less too. For anyone who seriously does doubt their own capabilities, being guided by a reputable breeder and good rescue group could be the best way to go.

I can also see where you're coming from even though I don't agree with you either :) I agree there are a lot of things where the horror stories can put people off - just do a search about dog parks on DOL and you'd think that they were the worst possible place in the world to go ... and we've been taking our dogs to the local dog park for the last 2+ years without any problems. You read a lot of horror stories about fostering and we've had a wonderful experience fostering despite even having had parvo puppies earlier this year ...

I don't doubt that a lot of people have successful adoptions from the pound but being on the rescue end of things, I see a lot of the stories that don't have happen endings and I think that although it doesn't completely remove the risk, adoption from a good breeder or a good rescue mitigates that risk to some extent. Our rescue lists pound dogs and while they don't facilitate adoptions directly from the pound - people can foster with a view to adopt which means that they get the benefit of support from the rest of the carers and also the rescue. In many cases, they end up adopting the pound dog they've been fostering. In some instances, while they loved the look of the dog which is why they applied - it turned out that the dog wasn't a good fit so they either fostered the dog and had it adopted out to someone else, or the dog went to another carer to foster.

I've owned working dogs for several years now and as I've mentioned almost all of my foster dogs have been from the pound but I still wouldn't adopt a dog straight from the pound. There are too many variables. I have seen for myself how much a dog's personality can be different in a pound environment to when it's in a home environment.

I'm a big fan of youtube and self-learning and a lot of our dog training has been learned from obedience class and also youtube - but there are some dogs with behavioural issues that are too acute that simply teaching them tricks and focus work isn't going to be enough. I've lost count of the number of rather sad, barely coping owners I've seen at obedience school who are really struggling with a dog that they adopted directly from the pound - usually it's dog reactivity.

I'm all for people who feel confident enough in their dog behaviour assessment abilities to go and adopt from the pound but I still think that for the rest of us, it's a better option for dog and human to go through a breeder/rescue. As I mentioned above - given that our rescue has the 'fostering with a view to adopt' option for the pound dogs, that seems a good middle-ground between your viewpoint and mine.

Edited October 30, 2013 by koalathebear

[Plan B]

I don't doubt that a lot of people have successful adoptions from the pound but being on the rescue end of things, I see a lot of the stories that don't have happen endings and I think that although it doesn't completely remove the risk, adoption from a good breeder or a good rescue mitigates that risk to some extent.

I'd agree that there is less of a chance of things going awry from a breeder or rescue but, also being in rescue, I see a whole lot of amazing adoptions direct from pounds. I see dogs going into rescue that need very little training or behaviour modification and could have been adopted direct from the pound with no issue.

I've owned working dogs for several years now and as I've mentioned almost all of my foster dogs have been from the pound but I still wouldn't adopt a dog straight from the pound. There are too many variables. I have seen for myself how much a dog's personality can be different in a pound environment to when it's in a home environment.

That's true for some dogs but, like you said before, a dog can change behaviour from foster home to foster home, so changing behaviour from foster home to adoptive home isn't unlikely either. Adopters can still be left with a dog of 'unknown' behaviour in those circumstances, much like they would be if they'd adopted from some pounds.

I'm a big fan of youtube and self-learning and a lot of our dog training has been learned from obedience class and also youtube - but there are some dogs with behavioural issues that are too acute that simply teaching them tricks and focus work isn't going to be enough.

There are some but those aren't the ones I was referring to. The majority of dogs in pounds and rescue need nothing more than basic training. Some need more, some need less, but most are just normal dogs that have happened to find themselves in pounds because a human relationship has failed them. All these dogs need are the very basics.

I'm all for people who feel confident enough in their dog behaviour assessment abilities to go and adopt from the pound but I still think that for the rest of us, it's a better option for dog and human to go through a breeder/rescue. As I mentioned above - given that our rescue has the 'fostering with a view to adopt' option for the pound dogs, that seems a good middle-ground between your viewpoint and mine.

I think it's a good approach, although I still think pushing direct adoptions from helpful and responsible pounds is the ultimate way to get more dogs good homes.

[mixeduppup]

It can work, depending on the dog.

Edited October 30, 2013 by mixeduppup

[Perry's Mum]

I have had 3 rescue dogs - one directly from a pound - and none have been a problem that could not be overcome with training. If people are concerned they might be better off getting a dog from a rescue organisation.

[Rosetta]

Thats what I would do next time. The little dog I have came from RSPCA originally and the older lady who adopted him could not cope with his barking because of separation anxiety when she went out. She did not want to return him because she was nervous that he would be PTS if she told them. Anyway I have him now and we manage :) I still say "most" of the dogs in the pounds are quite OK and probably settle into a new home just fine.