To ask how we’re supposed to adopt and not shop if rescues are so strict?

[elisabethhh]

We were trying to find a dog to rescue but have been turned down by all due to us having a ‘young’ child (I don’t think 10 is very young) and working full time although dog would go to work with DH twice a week and be left for 4.5 hours tops the other 3 days. Surely a loving home where it’s occasionally left alone is better than a cage?

Cat protection turned us down because our previous cat had died on the road. Said we clearly lived too close to the road. By that criteria..... well, it IS the UK. Most people live somewhere near the road. (FWIW the road our cat died on was an unmade private road).

RSPCA did a home visit and were perfectly happy.

Charities preventing adoption happens to older people too. My aunt’s lurcher died and she tried to get another dog, she was happy to have an older dog and because she was over 75 she was told she wasn’t a suitable adopter. She’s at home most of the day, likes going for walks and lives nears woods & a stream. She drives & her mid 40s daughter lives with her. She only goes out to have her hair done & to shop, with a few trips to her son. No under 10s in her life.

Sounds like it's almost as hard to qualify to adopt a dog as to adopt a child.

I'm not a dog person at all but this would seem to make perfect sense to me.

Dogs are sentient beings not possessions. They have needs and to have found themselves in rescue centres means that someone has already failed to meet their needs once.

The rescue centres have to be certain that, as far as possible, the placement won't break down. Given how many dogs find themselves abandoned because they were harder work than expected; didn't behave as expected; the family lost interest in them, I can well understand why those responsible for rehoming them take a great deal of care.

Some of the rules might seem a bit heavy handed and it might feel as though there is a bit of a 'computer says no' mentality about it but that is because they have found that those are the rules that work best for them.

As for those saying that this is why people go and buy puppies, maybe some of those people should consider whether they have the right circumstances to offer a dog at all.

Tbh, I'm not sure I agree with pet ownership generally - I know that owning an animal can have huge benefits to humans but I do sometimes wonder about the benefit to the animals.

The rescue centres want to rehome. They’re not looking for ways not to rehome. They want the space to be able to accommodate more rescue dogs.

So if they have these rules it’s because it is in the best interest of the dog. And that means that it may not be in your best interest.

Tbh, I'm not sure I agree with pet ownership generally - I know that owning an animal can have huge benefits to humans but I do sometimes wonder about the benefit to the animal

I’d love you to elaborate on this.

We don't live in the UK and have no local rescue centres so adopted from oversees which meant no home check - we did exchange a lot of messages about lifestyle and what sort of dogs would suit but realistically we weren't going to be refused.

I'm sure there are many issues and problems with this but our dog is gorgeous and we love her but we were prepared for the fact that you just don't know what you'll get when you adopt from Cyprus or Romania etc. and that we would cope and keep her no matter what. I don't know if you can do that when you have kids (which we don't). Our dog is fabulous with kids - much prefers them to adults! - but as we don't have them, it was a risk we could take.

Had the same argument with a friend who rescues and advocates only rescuing
We wanted a chihuahua. Had to be cat friendly and child safe plus only want to financially commit to one
All the rescue ones only scored 2/3
Also I work part time - 2 full days - and the terms wouldn’t accept that even with a doggy care plan/visitor/walker
So we bought
And she’s perfect
Loves kids, adores the cat and sleeps 18 hrs a day lol

I think the rescues can be utterly ridiculous. We have someone come in twice a day on the two days we are out from usually 10-4 at the most. But I know no rescue would look at us (also have a 6year old) but our dog lives the life of Riley (and sleeps a lot of the day whilst we are here). I find this preference for retired people strange. Their health can deteriorate v quickly meaning they can’t exercise the dog properly etc. Surely better to have a dog in a loving (if not perfect) home playing with a child, walking out with fit healthy families thrown sat in a concrete kennel.

@BigGreenOlives - that seems a bit crazy. My mum is in exactly the same position (though daughter in 40s lives round the corner rather than with her) and will soon be adopting an older dog who needs a little daily exercise but mainly cuddles on the sofa... exactly like my mum. If something happens, then daughter and family will be very much part of the dog's life and so the dog would not have to be re-homed.

@LonelyandTiredandLow thanks for the budget info and the cartoon links!

Honeyroar

That's fine what you're saying about not wanting unsuitable homes but we DID adopt a dog after being turned down by the big rescues. We've had him for 9 years now (hes 14.5, a big dog who's in great health) and even had another baby during this time (not what we'd planned on doing!!!). Surely this is a good thing?

And we refenced once we knew what kind of dog we were getting and how high he can jump. You need a much higher fence for a boxer than you do for a pug! Why would we do it before we knew what kind of dog we'd get?!

So clearly, in our case, rescue got their assessment completely wrong with us.

Snog I have 6 retired greyhounds and they are very easy to look after, we work full time and have a dog walker who comes in the middle of the day.
I have a camera on them all the time and they sleep from being left to the dog walker arriving and then again until we get home.
Gorgeous, goofy, lazy fur babies.

Whilst it would be much better to rehome rescue dogs from the UK in the UK - for those that are unable to please consider a rescue from Cyprus. The dogs have such a hard time there - abandoned by 'owners' and left to starve in the hills. There are many ex-pat run charities who are happy to rehome dogs here following a successful home check.

Had the same argument with a friend who rescues and advocates only rescuing
We wanted a chihuahua. Had to be cat friendly and child safe plus only want to financially commit to one
All the rescue ones only scored 2/3
Also I work part time - 2 full days - and the terms wouldn’t accept that even with a doggy care plan/visitor/walker
So we bought
And she’s perfect
Loves kids, adores the cat and sleeps 18 hrs a day lol

Kikipost

I know people who have pets and the animals have idyllic lives but have known far too many over the years who have bought pets - especially dogs or smaller animals because they "wanted one" but haven't given any thought to the animals' needs at all.

This includes 3 large poodles that were never walked - never. They were allowed into the smallish garden for toileting and when the owner got fed up of them barking in the house and were taken to get their coats clipped every few months. Never left the house otherwise. But the owner loved dogs and always wanted dogs around them and the dogs kept them company in the daytime...

A Jack Russell that was rarely walked because it was described as a 'lapdog'. Wasn't taken out if it was cold, raining or the owner was tired/having a bad day/had something better to do...

There are more examples.

Or people who have smaller animals - hamsters up to rabbits who think that because they are smaller/less 'vocal'/more easily ignored than dogs, they are easier to own and don't mind being cooped up and ignored.

These animals, and most pets to be fair, aren't living in natural environments or environments that mimic natural environments.

Take rabbits for example - 'a hutch is not enough' is the current thing. The minimum recommended housing space for rabbits is a 6ftx2ftx2ft hutch with a minimum of 4 hours a day in a 6ftx4ft run. The natural roaming patch of a wild rabbit is something like the area of 2 football pitches. There are an awful lot of rabbit owners who don't meet even the minimum recommended requirements. But they love rabbits.

There are a lot of people who buy an animal thinking about how it will make their lives better without fully considering whether they can meet the basic needs of their pets.

@simplesimple - yes when I said no homecheck (we adopted from an ex-pat run charity in Cyprus) I assume this was because we are not in the UK and there was no one to do the home check... but it has worked out really well for us and would say that it is worth looking into for those who are not able to rescue from their local UK centre for whatever reason (though agree it is best to try to adopt in the UK from the UK).

You can watch videos and get all the information you need... but unless you're going to fly out there, you do not get to meet the dog so you're not really going to be 100% sure of what you're going to get.

@snog, greyhounds are cheap to keep. Sack of food which lasted about 6 weeks cost £15. Insurance manybe another £15 a month.

You can get greyhounds which are less prey driven, so less likely to chase. My greyhound wasn't bothered about my cats. But I agree if your cat is elderly best not to stress her out. However even with a greyhound that wasn't interested in chasing she was a bugger for chasing hares in the fields. I used to walk her off lead and she was fine 99% of the time but if she saw a hare she was off. I used to see her disappearing into the distance several fields away and would just have to sit and wait, she'd always come back! But that did put me off sighthounds to be honest.

The issue is puppy sellers aren’t strict enough. If they followed the same rules as shelters there would be far fewer miserable dogs around.

You're going to leave a puppy alone for 4 hours? And you question why rescue won't let you have a dog. Buy a goldfish.

We rehomed a rescue dog earlier this year after our previous dog was PTS at the age of 17 🙁 I was not keen to get another dog so soon after but my husband and kids visited the rescue centre every weekend/evening they were free for about a month! I refused to go with them as didn't want to get too attached to any other dog. But the rehoming centre matched us with a stray that had come in despite the fact my youngest was only 5 at the time. We then continued to visit for another 2 weeks at every available time to try and bond with this dog before she came home so I think if you do not want a specific breed but are just happy to rehome a dog and can show you are committed then some rescue centres are more flexible. Any centre that lets you walk out the same day with a dog would be a little irresponsible in my opinion.

We've got a lab, had her since 10 weeks, she loves people, other dogs, but she does not like small kids. We first found this out when our nephew came, he's 6, he went to stroke the dog and she 'went for him'. We were so shocked, he didn't understand as his family have labs and he's always cuddling them and they love it. We thought it might just be a one off but no, she just does not like kids. We have to tell kids who approach her that she's not too friendly but then they see her with adults and she's either all over them or presenting them with her belly for rubs. The kids don't understand but I'd rather keep them away on the off chance she snaps again

We wanted to adopt from one of the big rescue centres and was told no as we rent. Our current dog is a rescue of sorts he can from someone DH used to work with as their ex left the dog and we took him in.

I agree that they have to be sure of the right home for that dog, but sometimes they put so many criteria in place that it's nearly impossible to re-home an animal. To say no because you work but out the time in when you get back I think is fine.

stabulos has summed it up perfectly

A bit different I wanted to adopt a cat with my dh about 9 years ago. We got turned down by one rescue place and were made to feel very uncomfortable all because I had lived with 3 cats in my life. 2 of whom my parents got when I was a young child and lived till nearly 22 and my final very old cat who the cats protection league trusted me enough to foster for as long as she lived. The reason she was fostered to me was she was very ill and only expected to live 6 months maximum but needed ongoing medical bills and care they just didn’t believe anyone should be asked to cover or could provide. However my childhood cat had suffered the same condition from 16 so I was well used to medicating a cat with the condition so they trusted I could do it. She was loved and cared for in her last few months so was happy. My friend then needed to rehome her older cat a few weeks after the rehoming centre said no and I took her lovely little cat who lived happily with us for years. Strangely I then rehomed another cat vis the SSPCA who had no issues giving me my lovely ginger and white much loved tom cat.

Cat’s Protection were so rude and unhelpful to me over the phone when I merely enquired that I went to an independent rescue for my lovely kittens.