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?

I haven't had time to read the whole thread (on break at work), so someone else may have made the same suggestion. Look into rescues abroad, like Romania, Spain etc. They are often very well organised places that make the process very uncomplicated, and often have less strict conditions. We went with a Romanian rescue as I was determined to rescue but we have children, so weren't considered by any British resxues we tried.

@brettsndsalis it Stray Aid you've tried ?

We rehomed through a small local rescue who took into account individual circumstances. Ours was advertised as suitable to be homed with children or cats but not another dog. She's been an absolute delight. They rehome nationwide but are based in Rotherham www.jlptrustanimalrescue.org.uk/ and support is ongoing should you need it.

@brettsndsal Sorry if you've said but whereabouts are you? There is a rehoming centre in my area that's pretty sensible snd might not be so strict.

It's absolutely crazy and infuriating. They'd rather the poor dogs stay in a cage in a rescue than in a flat with access to the beach and park?

We had the same with a cat rescue a few years ago. Tried to adopt an old cat that no one else wanted. Ok, we'll have her I thought. Ooooh no - got turned down because we had a cat flap!!! Yes, we had a cat flap. 'Oh no she may get out at night' they said.
'No, I keep all my cats in at night and lock the cat flap' I said.
But they wouldn't budge 😡

my brother in law got his dog from Stray Aid op and he doesn't have a garden

Have you tried Far place animal rescue and Hope animal rescue? They're in your area and may have a more pragmatic approach to rehoming.

I wasn’t looking for a kitten that used a wheelchair

That made me snort out loud 😂

@Lavender24

Please don't buy a puppy...

So, just not have another dog?

And so ones got to buy puppies that have been born

We are getting a dog next year. Won’t even bother looking at rescues as we work full time mainly home based but do have to go in the office (plenty of money to pay for day care), own a cat and some rabbits.

So many dogs' homes have ridiculous criteria now.

After my sister's beloved 15 year old rescue dog passed away, she wanted to give another dog a good home. Not one of the local shelters would let her take a dog as she had a 6 year old child. Absolutely ridiculous. She ended up getting an abandoned dog from abroad. She's a fabulous little dog, but my sister's still bloody angry that she couldn't give a local dog a home.

I think it depends on the dog, the potential owner, loads of other factors but hate that they disregard people without knowing what they can offer. I can’t rescue a dog because my son has autism

@cheesychip

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

We have a massive garden but like PPs, my fussy golden retriever wouldn’t dream of doing a wee or poo in it. Oh no, he demands to be taken out on a walk to perform such indignities.

We e fed up buying a puppy.

We don't have kids,husband retired, live i n a ground floor flat but have a back yard. On paper we were perfect.....

We'd had dogs as kids but not as adults and every dog we asked about 'no,you don't have enough experience ' but how are supposed to get experience without a dog? We were registered with 3 or 4 rescues and all said the same thing, not enough experience.

People say 'adopt don't shop' but it's easier said than done.

The charities are very short sighted by refusing you but i am not surprised. Our local animal shelter puts the phone down on any one calling from the local R.A.F camp. I lived on that camp for years and not one family abandoned a pet.

liveforsummer

No I have not checked. I am retired and have a massive garden, don't live near a main road, and don't know what else they would check, but I am sure I will find out

Ps sorry for typos. J broke my right arm yesterday so typing with y non dominant hand

Hi Op, seeing as you are looking around Darlington/Durham way have you tried Hope Animal Shelter Loftus

We had the same with kittens because I lived in a flat. Dogs it's maybe more understandable because they need to go out to go to the toilet I suppose, but cats can use a litter tray! It just seems ridiculous that they would rather have a dog sitting in a shelter than let it go to a family who will love it.

I ended up buying two pedigree kittens and rehoming an adult one of the same breed. All of whom live happily indoors.

You could look into that, a lot of breed-specific groups look seek rehoming of adults when other people want/need to give up. I did this and got the best cat I've ever had and the people rehoming her got to decide if we were suitable using their common sense rather than some blanket policy.

I haven’t read the full thread so don’t know if this has been mentioned already. When we got our dog from Dogs Trust they didn’t need to do a home visit as we were able to get a reference from our vet (which we used for our previous but departed dog). It was just a standard form that the vets had to sign. It was a few years ago now, but I would try asking if the same system is available and not mention the lack of garden. I agree with pp. It would be a shame to get a puppy when there are rescue dogs needing a home.

Did you try the Blue Cross at Thirsk?
They were certainly more flexible when we got cats- RSCPA wouldn't let is have one as children under 5 (4)

Try Morgan’s dog rescue

@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!

I saw that article too. I had to stop reading as it was making me cry

Have you tried a charity rescuing dogs from other countries? I think the Romanian rescue dog place tends to be better about this kind of thing.

id try one of the foreign rescues. Most of them will probably still want a garden, but i think that theyre often a bit more open minded and realistic, and there will be some older dog thats already housetrained that would be fine in a flat