To think that dog charities are so fussy about rehoming that they drive people to buy from breeders?

[FreshFreesias]

I volunteer and help fund a small very well-run dog charity. We are all volunteers, no one takes any remuneration and we are all united in our desire to help dogs in the direst of situations find a lovely home.

However I struggle with the strict rehoming policy. We are rescuing (healthy, attractive, assessed, socialised and rehomeable) dogs and puppies from the horrors of life in a concrete pen in a `shelter’ in 100 Fahrenheit from which they will never be released, even for a walk; or from a precarious life starving on the streets of in Greece or from life on a chain.

Given that these dogs have absolutely no hope where they are, a loving, sensible, experienced owner in the UK who may well live in a flat or in a big city can most probably give one of these dogs the fantastic opportunity of a new life.

But I’m constantly working with dare I say, dogmatic ladies who, while redoubtable and salt of the earth, have very restrictive ideas of where these hopeless hounds can be happy.

A recent conversation with the rehomer made my heart sink. She explained that while she didn’t rule out homes in London and cities, she didn’t think London was a good place for a dog and that a flat in London would automatically be ruled out. Ironic as I live in a London flat with 3 dogs who have the most wonderful life as I live in the middle of a Common! The most important thing is the right owner, who is determined to make it work.

While I agree that rehoming to someone who is working all day isn’t a good idea, if someone can take their dog to work with them, why not? Oh no’, she replied, what is the dog meant to do in the work place?’ Um, I should have replied, do whatever it will do when it’s at home… sleep, get petted by visitors, potter around or whatever.

This all came to a head when my sister in law recently applied for one of the rescues on the website. She is a really lovely woman who lives with my brother in a modest but comfortable terrace house in Bristol, with a nice garden and near parks. They are middle-aged, no kids, both work from home and have one old dog already for whom they seek a companion. I’m despondent to find out that she applied for a dog on the website but was told he already had a home. Fair enough. But soon after I find out that this home has fallen through and despite SIL having sent in her form and stated her keenness on this dog, has not been informed.

Consequently, this dog is being advertised again. I don’t think she has slipped through the net as the rehomer is supremely efficient but very fussy. (I haven’t let her know that this applicant is my SIL as I am interested in her being a `mystery shopper’ and giving me an insight from the other side, so to speak).

Because SIL lives in a city in a terraced house I have the feeling that she has been tacitly turned down as country homes are favoured. Of course it would be wonderful if all adopters lived in the greenbelt with acres of land but that is not the reality. Many of the best dog owners I know live in London and make good use of all the parks. Many people who live in the countryside have no access to `countryside’ and must drive for miles to access dog-walking fields, so country living is no panacea.

While I am in favour of home checks and dogs going to the right homes for them, do you feel that dog charities are over fussy? It breaks my heart when great homes are rejected and owners then go to breeders. The last thing the world needs are any more dogs when there are millions, even billions, living wretched lives, and yet kind-hearted, dogmatic rescuers are inadvertently making things even worse than they need be.

The other maddening thing is that dogs are often kennelled while homes are being found but due to all the turning good homes down, this can take months and this is a huge expense for the charity.
I’m so fed up I am pulling out of rescue and will stick to raising money for neutering programmes, which is even more vital anyway.

Yes I agree. We ended up walking away from a rescue dog after it became far too difficult and intrusive to take her. As well as taking our own dog along on three separate occasions to meet her the charity required home visits etc, it all ended up feeling like we were being judged and it wasn't very nice. FWIW we love our dog and she's happy, healthy and well looked after.

This is why I rescued two dogs from Cyprus.

They required a home check and everything was a simple, although expensive process.

Sorry I havent had time to read the thread, but I found this with specialist pedigree cat rescues. Always a reason why I wasnt suitable for their cats (tries on 3 separate occasions). Well I have had my rescue fur baby for 7 years now. He is well loved, looked after, none of the reasons given by the first rescue have been an issue at all. I am hoping that as I now have history of having a rescue that if I ever want/need to rescue again it will be easier.

@Daabs that made me laugh: yes, it's true, there is often one `one power crazed loon' in charge making impossible demands.... while I feel utterly dispirited reading these stories, if someone is determined to adopt rather than resort to a breeder, they will manage it. It really is worth persevering but of course, it really shouldn't be so hard.

Worth nothing that many posters are recommending Cypriot rescues, who seem to have a very pragmatic approach to rescue.

All recommendations from successful adopters most welcome. Especially rescues that will consider rehoming to families with children. I understand that this can be problematic but if home checks are done with an open mind and on a case by case basis, it would result in so many dogs having the chance to leave sterile shelters and enjoy a happy home life.

Completely agree, we were told that we could not adopt because we had kids, lived in a city and I worked - the kids were 8&10, our house is less than 10 minutes walk from a huge park and 10 mins drive from open countryside, our garden is 1/4 acre and I work 3 hours a day, sometimes from home! We found a local farmer with extra sheepdog pups, our pampered pooch would probably turn his nose up at life living in a barn now!

And this is why I now buy...

I have taken on 3 rescue dogs over the years, they have all been hard work and had issues from previous owners. Although they have all been great dogs

But I refuse to jump through hoops, have people invade my home and then charge me the same as I can buy a crossbreed puppy for, when they are expecting me to take on an “unwanted” dog (who will have issues due to previous handling/being abandoned).

Sorry, I’d rather buy a puppy.

We rehomed a cat from CPL about 20 years ago without difficulty, despite tiny house, tiny garden and tiny DC.

A few years later we tried rehoming a dog. One place actually laughed down the phone at me because I had DC under 10, and that did quite piss me off. We ended up with a puppy bred by someone we vaguely knew. To be fair we were not a perfect home (I had the time to walk the dog, but training was minimal) but the dog was well socialised and had a long and happy life with us.

To be honest I find that there is a vocal group of dog owners who insist that everything must be The Best and that anything less is terrible: their criteria for a 'good breeder' would rule out a lot of breeders who produce happy, healthy animals but because they don't show, or didn't test the bitch for a recessive genetic nasty (even though the stud was tested), they're the scum of the earth. It sounds as if it's the same in many rescues when it comes to finding homes.

I do agree that they need to be fussy. Who wants to put a dog back into a miserable or unsafe situation? But I also think a little good sense and flexibility are needed too.

I know when we've rehoused cats, the RSPCA has always done a home visit to check the actual situation.

By the way, our neighbour lost 2 dogs by not having a reliable fence around their garden. Hedges are NOT secure. Do you really want to risk your dog escaping and getting run over (or worse)? Shelters may not be the best places in the world, but they are safe.

Also, a year or so ago I inquired about rescuing a cat as my dog was missing her friend (I had to have my oldest dog pts). But as she is fear aggressive to adult dogs I couldn’t get another dog. However she had (allegedly) live with cats for the first year of her life, so I thought an older cat that had lived with dogs before would be ideal. (And I was more than willing to accept advice, go slow, take precautions etc)

I spoke to every cat rescue in the area, not one of them was interested in helping... she was an aggressive dog (she isn’t, just never socialised I think). I bought a kitten, dog and kitten are best friends.

But an older, hard to rehome cat lost a chance at a forever home.

Almost every animal in my local rescue center must be the only pet in the home, which must rule out an awful lot of people.

They need to be fussy but since the alternative is being caged.....

To the poster above who worked for HYPS. We got our dog from there. Like the poster said, they don't have blanket rules. They assess every dog on what it needs and what would work best. They are very flexible and they work tirelessly.

It was so important to us to re home a dog that needed rescuing. We have three kids and a very busy life style, but our dog is so precious to us and is always with us.

By the way, our neighbour lost 2 dogs by not having a reliable fence around their garden

I see this, but we lived on 1000 acre farm in the middle of nowhere, the garden wasn't fenced because it just led into fields. I think even the tiny chance of being run over would have been worth it, compared to living in a cage.

The shelters are safe (if they don't euthanise) but what kind of life is it? For all animals I have had, I would rather a shorter enjoyable life than a long one in a cage.

And of course the vast vast vast majority of dogs do not jump out of gardens and get run over. So they are denying a home life to scores of dogs based on a minuscule chance of an accident happening.

Can you imagine having to go through multiple home checks to be able to come off contraception and try for a baby?! Would probably make more sense than this system for cats and dogs!

Haven't read everything but I agree with you. Not a dog, but I wanted a kitten to keep my old cat company when I lost his sister to cancer. My local rescue were sniffy about me working and they don't agree with indoor cats. In the end, I bought a beautiful kitten from a breeder and she's fitted right in

I agree. I wanted to adopt a cat or two and one shelter said no because they weren’t happy with my children’s behaviour at their fundraising fun day. Their general behaviour. Someone said they had been chasing kittens, when in fact they had even spent time in the feral pen with the nervous cats with no issues whatsoever. Every person I spoke to on the day was encouraging and helpful and raised no concerns, even suggesting possible cats for us, so I think we must have been being observed by someone else without our knowledge, and their opinion held sway. This is a charity I have supported for years. When I rang to speak to them I was disgusted with what I overheard someone say about my family when I was on the phone. They clearly made a decision about what kind of family they thought we were and that was that. We had had a cat for 8 happy years and the children grew up with a cat. I have now adopted a stray who was living in someone’s garden and needed a home, so we finally have a cat, but I still get upset about how we were judged and how intrusive and personal it was, with personal comments being made about my kids. Obviously the charity need to be comfortable about who they rehome to but I think they sometimes forget that they are dealing with people as well as animals.

We live near a reasonably well known animal charity and recently came across one of these power crazed individuals. The manager of the charity often rings my friend to come pick up any small furries they get in (she’s a rescuer of a particular breed with the facilities and knowledge to care for and manage them for the rest of their lives). She asked the woman behind the desk about some recent animals that had been advertised, and after a few questions this woman deemed her to be unsuitable as she already had too many animals and it would get out of control and unmanageable so no she couldn’t follow up on the enquiry. Tried to explain the history and arrangement with the manager but was told that was ridiculous and she was trying it on, the arrangement would never happen.

The next day the manager (who had no knowledge of the conversation) phoned as usual asking if my friend was happy to take the animals as before.

Haven’t seen woman again, perhaps she’s been sent off for “training”

Almost every animal in my local rescue center must be the only pet in the home, which must rule out an awful lot of people.

This can be genuinely true. It certainly wouldn't be unreasonable to state that for my own DDog - he chases cats and small furries, barks at horses, and while he likes spending time with other dogs out in the park he's both territorial and resource guards around other dogs so couldn't live with one. He could probably live with a fishtank though, so long as he couldn't knock it over...

The other factor is that those dogs who can live with other pets / children tend to get rehomed faster, so they won't stay on the website for long.

Yesterday we had our home check for adopting a dog from Romania and we passed! We have been turned down previously by UK Rescues because they wouldn't accept my adult son as being the person at home during the day (he works evenings). They rejected my husband and I as we work full time. The Romanian rescue were far more interested in the bigger picture and looked at the individual dog's requirements. I doubt we would have been allowed a big mountain dog as we have a smallish garden but the little fluff ball we have chosen was ideal. They also offer lifelong support for behavioural issues that may occur so they seem very focused on the animal welfare and trying to make a success of each adoption. I can't tell you how excited we all are to collect our dog later this month.

I'm really sad that so many families get turned down when there are so many dogs living in rescue kennels with a real lack of interaction. They get put to bed when the shelter closes at maybe 4pm and are all alone then until morning. How is that better than being left while people work. It would be better if families could be matched with a suitable dog and maybe have a trial to see if the situation worked.

That's great news @piglet208, you have stumbled upon a great sounding rescue. Please could you share the charity, I'm sure others in a similar position would find it helpful.

"The only pet in the home" policy is so short sighted. Of course some dogs will only tolerate being the sole pet but for the majority the policy is so short-sighted because

(a) people who have dogs are more knowledgeable (and probably more realistic when it comes to adoption) than those who haven't and the rescue can check on the state of their existing dog(s) as to whether the owners know what they are doing or not

(b) any dog-ownwr worth their salt who has one dog, knows that in effect it is the "resident" dog who ultimately makes the "decision" about whether or not it is ok for a new animal to come in to the home and which one! (We took our existing adoptee who had been with us for four years alone along to meet our next adoptee three times to check that they were compatible, before we made the decision to adopt.)

(c) generally speaking, two compatible dogs together do really well and provide one another with entertwinment and reassurance (and just my own opinion now I've got two, I would never go back to having one.)

Meant to add, obviously you get the nutters who hoard animals but generally rescues need to give us dog-owners a bit more credit and take a more pragmatic approach. As pps have said, sitting in a cage in a rescue centre for 22 hours a day is not exactly a great life for a dog either.

We were turned down because we had children under 6 and both worked. Me PT and DH was planned to take the dog with him to work.

We eventually got our beautiful collie lab from a charity in Wales called Many Tears and 8 years on, she has a very happy life indeed.