Refused to rehome a dog ...aibu to think it's a ridiculous decision?

[brettsndsal]

We are a massive dog family.
Over the years we have had a lurcher,a border collie and a poodle all lived a happy long life.
They are part of the family and spoilt rotten.
Birthday ,Christmas presents,taken to the park daily and walks etc etc
We love them like a child basically.
Our last dog Lucy passed away aged 16 six weeks ago.
She was a rescue dog and had a bad start to life.
Anyway I've applied to rehome a dog through two rehoming places.
Both Declined us because we don't have a garden.

We have never had a Garden but that hasn't affected the dog in anyway.
We love opposite a huge park and 5 mins away from the beach.
They've refused to even do a home check because it's not suitable home for a dog.

We applied for a Jack Russell and another poodle.
Even if we had a garden I wouldn't let the dog out alone.

I'm really upset and I don't understand how a garden makes any difference.
They have lots of dogs in at the minute crying out for a new life.
We couldn't love them anymore if we tried

Aibu to think it's a bit shit?

[Threearm]

It's definitely at the point of causing more harm than good.

When we eventually get a dog it will be apuppy as no rescues will rehome to us on account of children under 8

[ColonelNobbyNobbs]

Second the advice to try and find a smaller rescue - we got our cats from a local rescue that is really just two women who take in strays and look after them in their houses until they are ready to be rehomed - they are an official charity but they didn’t have all the restrictions etc that the bigger rescues have (although of course they don’t just give out the cats to just anyone). There are similar rescues in my area that have dogs.

[HereticFanjo]

The rescue centres are actively harming dogs with these policies. They drive normal families to buy puppies which encourages backstreet breeders to keep pumping out the puppies. So unbelievably short sighted.

[Kuachui]

Yeah I can't rehome a dog even a puppy because I have kids, have tried 6 rescues, all say the same. They mostly don't rehome to families unless teens 🙄🙄

And I don't want to buy from a breeder because i don't want to support breeders or buy one when there are animals already needing homes

[WowIlikereallyhateyou]

@LowbrowVictoriana

Also, I saw a news article about an anonymous vet who'd had to euthanise 5 healthy dogs in one day because they were unadopted, and shelters couldn't keep them any more.

And yet they turn adopters down!

Exactly this, i saw it this morning.

[Lelliebellieboo]

A family member passed away recently and his dog was left to a charity for rehoming. The charity refused to take her. They suggested that we "visit the vet".

The dog has never been around children so because her temperament was 'unknown' apparently she couldn't be rehomed. Yet that same charity as policy doesn't allow rehomings with children anyway, I'm not actually sure who they rehome to?

Nearly everyone I know who has had a rescue has ended up taking a dog from abroad - all because the English rescue centres refuse to allow people any flexibility whatsoever.

[ABCDEF1234]

@brettsndsal

The shelter we used before has no dogs in (thankfully for them) at the minute.
So it looks like it will have to be a puppy for us.
It's just silly we will pay £800 plus for a puppy when we would rather donate money to a shelter and give a dog a happy life.

They are both charities based in Durham /Darlington.

These will be the same ones that told us we couldn't adopt as we wouldn't be home ALL the time. Apparently leaving the dogs for a 2/3 hours a day isn't appropriate 😩

[VodselForDinner]

We were once turned down by a rescue because we don’t have children.

Still trying to get my head around that one.

Going through vetting-

“How many children under 12 do you have?”
“None, we don’t have children.”
“What age are you?”
“I’m 33, husband is 38.”
“Right, well it’s very likely you’ll have a baby at some stage in the next few years so you’ll have young children in the house.”
“No, it’s not at all likely. We won’t be having children.”
“You say that now but it’s the dog who will suffer when you change your mind”

Try to deal with that level of logic.

[INeed2P]

It's absolutely wild!! I got two cats nearly a year ago - ended up finding a local small rescue (not a large nationwide one) who would let me adopt. Have had cats all my life, but because I live two streets away from a train line (that has a train an hour max) I was declined by the larger charities.

Fingers crossed you can find a local rescue who is willing to look at you as a family, not a box ticking exercise!!

[DancinAtTheDisco]

This springs to mind

[Geriatric1234]

The big rescues are always like this. No idea why they cut of their nose to spite their face - so many dogs could be in homes..... Anyway, I got my dog here: www.serbias-forgotten-paws.com and they were great. A bit slow but it's volunteer run, but the dogs are amazing.

[scully29]

Just try another rescue that doesnt have tick boxes and can be more personal. To be fair dog charities are super busy and need some tick boxes and garden would be a pretty basic requirement for a dog, you just need to bypass that by asking a more personal rescue place that has less enquiries to deal with as they will see that 5 mins from the beach is good. Maybe try the little breed specific ones or ask at your vets as people are always keen to euthanise their dog they cant look after so if you get there word out you will soon find a dog without needing to buy a puppy. Dog charities see so many people unable to manage their dogs that I think a few tick box requirements are understandable like the basics of a garden and not being left alone for hours.

[eurochick]

It's absolutely crazy.

We were turned down by cat rescues because we had a child under five (one gentle respectful girl who loves animals and claims she wants to be a vet). We were turned down by another because we live on a main road - ok but we also have a 1/3 acre back garden and gates to the front. We said we would be happy to adopt an indoor cat. They said it might escape. 🤦🏼‍♀️. They seemed determined not to let us adopt.

We gave up and bought two kittens of a breed known to be lazy happy as indoor cats. We've had them for two years and they live a wonderful life with a choice of beds to nap on, toys, and and endless supply of fish. I feel so sad we couldn't give that life to a shelter cat.

[vivainsomnia]

Oh the irony! We have a garden, but our dog is so rarely there and will only go if we are there, not because he cares for the garden but just to be around us.

He however has a daily 45mns walk to the park 10mns away and one 1h walk in the country side later in the day.

Our neighbour has garden. The dog is left there a lot of the time. Never taken for a walk. It suffers badly with separation anxiety.

I wonder which dog is happier! Those shelters have it so wrong!

[Flowers500]

The people who run these big places are utter morons. I would try smaller shelters and charities

[Flowers500]

They regularly give dogs to totally unsuitable people with no experience or understanding of dogs, and refuse them to people with long histories of responsible dog ownership

[RavingAnnie]

I had a similar issue when we wanted to adopt kittens. Ridiculous rules meant we couldn't do this and had to buy privately.

[LakieLady]

Have you tried breed-specific rescues, OP?

The Kennel Club can give you details of breed rescue for almost every recognised breed.

The dogs they rehome are often not rescues in the usual sense, they often rehome dogs that have been returned to the breeder because the owner can no longer care for them for some reason, and sometimes dogs that breeders intended to show, but have turned out not to quite make the grade.

Someone I know got a beautiful Lakeland terrier that had broken a tooth, and as they have to have perfect dentition to succeed in showing, he was rehomed through breed rescue. (He's been put to stud a couple of times, and his progeny have done pretty well.)

The breed rescues may well have a more sensible and flexible attitued than some of the general rescues.

[Notcontent]

It’s a crazy rule. Where I live in London it’s all terrace houses with small gardens. The vast majority of people keep their dogs inside but take them out for regular walks. Unless you have a very large garden then keeping your dog in the garden is not much fun for the dog or the neighbours if your dog is barking…

[CMOTDibbler]

Not all rescues are like this. I foster for EGLR and we rehome to people in flats, on narrow boats, who work, who have kids- if it is right for the dog, and that is always the case that the individual dog comes first. For people with no garden, they do have to demonstrate that they know the reality of going out a lot esp with young dog as its easy to underestimate what that means!

[DimplesToadfoot]

Where in the country are you? Helping Yorkshire Poundies will rehome to those without a garden, these type of homes come in especially handy with escape artist dogs :-)

[cheesychip]

If you've no garden where will the dog go to the toilet?

[RestingPandaFace]

For those saying try smaller places, I’ve tried and found them to be just as bad as the big ones.

It’s a ridiculous situation where healthy dogs are being euthanised because shelters are full and experienced rescue dogs owners with a garden and someone home full time are having to buy from a breeder because we have a child.

[Niffler92]

Try greyhound rescues, the overseas rescues and small local rescues.

[liveforsummer]

The blanket bans from many rescues are ridiculous, they really need to assess on a case by case basis instead. I have a Jack Russell who lives a charmed life in a flat with no danced garden and dc under 10. I'd be turned down from most rescues on each one of those pints alone let alone all 3. Ddog wouldn't even use a garden for the toilet, I have to walk her off our street and on to the paths before she'll go so a garden would be mostly pointless anyway.