To think there must be another way? Dog shelters

[Steppingintome]

I get it. Some of these dogs have had a crap life. These guys see dogs in some right states and they must be paired with the right homes. I get it I do.

But some of the rules just seem so bizarre!

I grew up with dogs as did DH. We haven’t had a pet since the early days of our relationship and this pet passed away 8 years ago. We live in a large house. Our children are adults/older teens. We have a large secure garden. DH works from home so is in all day. We love animals.

We wanted to adopt a dog as we go walking a lot and thought we’d meet ideal criteria. Ideally the dog would be small to medium breed, we’d consider a bigger dog if it wasn’t too boisterous and ideally the dog would be older than a year old but again, not too fussy.

All seems ok right?

We applied to the shelter. They came to do a home check and said our home was lovely. They met the kids and agreed they were older and calm so most dogs would suit. Then they asked for a reference from a vet. I said we couldn’t provide this as we don’t have a pet. They asked for a reference from an employer but we are both self employed. They asked if we had employees? I said no.

Sorry we can’t let you adopt!! :( we asked if a friend or family member could give us a ref, no it can’t be from them. One of them is a dog groomer. No sorry

We applied to another rescue. Straight no because they are still building on our new build estate. Even though our street is finished and they are nowhere near us now.

Wtf am I being unreasonable to think something has to change? No wonder they are all overrun?

This is what I mean......I think I disagree these dogs should even be in rescue. Going to an event soon where I will actively avoid a certain dog charity who will be there, because they always want to push 'sponsoring' their dogs who will never be suitable to rehome.

.....but cry poverty and lack of ability to help more dogs!

In what way does a vet or employer reference stop a dog hurting or killing someone? Ditto living in an area where there is no building work going on.

A vet reference for a second time owner is an excellent idea actually. But yes impossible for a first time owner.

I used to volunteer as a home checker, we were independent but worked for numerous shelters, we'd a list of questions and had to take photos of the garden and ensure it was secure, all very sensible stuff but I quit recently because I couldn't understand the shelters procedures after the checks were done. I did a home check over a year ago, despite it being a long way from where I live it turned out I knew the people years ago, semi retired,one at home all the time, adult children, secure garden, experienced dog owners, family next door to pet sit if needed,vet references, every single box ticked off, no preference to male or female, just wanted a small dog of any age under 5 so I thought perfect, there's so many needing homes it'll take no time to match them up with a new pet. Over a year later they finally got a dog from the shelter that requested the home check be done, I spoke to the new owners, they were never given a reason, just left waiting, if they rang or emailed they were told someone will be in touch when a suitable dog is available despite the shelter constantly putting up pictures and videos of dogs needling homes and asking people to consider them. None of it makes sense to me so I've taken my name off the list of volunteers.

I understand certain rules - secure gardens, no young DC or no cats, for example - but what benefit is it of it to anyone to ask for a vet reference, or an employer reference?

What does that prove?

Please show your workings.

One of the rescues I looked at recently had dogs that could only go to a home with an existing dog. If I can remember which one it was I’ll put it on the thread.

OP, I’m self-employed and our rescue were happy with a reference from a long-standing regular client (who was surprised but rather charmed to be asked).

If I was rehoming a dog to someone who had had dogs before I’d be reassured to know he’d been taken to the vets. The vets would have (I can’t remember if they were out in touch with Battersea before we got new dog) we’d taken her regularly, sought treatment promptly.

We also gave up trying to adopt from a shelter. They told us that it wasn’t possible to have a dog living with a child under 8. But we already had a dog living with our child until she passed away a few months ago, we said. So it’s nonsense to say that a dog can’t live with a child under 8. Surely it’s just a case of picking a dog which is ok with kids? Nope, they said. You can’t have a dog if your child is under 8. So we went and got a puppy instead. And the dog has happily lived with DC for two years, despite the fact that he is still under 8.

I'd do my research and get an ex breeding bitch or a puppy.

I get the home check to ensure you are who you say you are as well as helping with matching the right dog for your environment.

But the references thing is ridiculous... ok I get the vet but from your employer/ employees??? Sorry but some things are private and that includes my hobbies/ who I share my life with.

My friend has 2 rescues from the same place, she went to rescue a third 2 years later and they'd changed their policy to you have to be 30 or over to adopt. So they wouldn't let her adopt another for a year as she was 29 at the time, even though they got regular updates about how happy the other 2 were and what a lovely life they have. Very bizarre.

I volunteer with a breed specific rescue and those rules sound bonkers.

All this talk of how dogs are so damaged they can’t be rehomed to this or that is just bollocks though.

We’re not talking about a baby here, we’re talking about a dog. If dogs are so damaged that they are almost impossible to rehome then they need to be put down. Sorry if it’s not politically correct to say that but there is nothing to be achieved by having a dog which either can’t be rehomed and is going to spend its life in kennels, or is so damaged that even on the off chance it is rehomed it is a risk to other people and animals around it.

Rescues aren’t overflowing because of the amount of unwanted puppies relinquished to them, they’re overflowing because of the amount of unrehomeable dogs they have, but because they want to stick to some kind of no kill agenda because of the potential for backlash, they hang on to the unsuitable dogs, meaning they don’t have the resources to take in the genuinely rehomeable ones.

And the reason why breed specific rescues work so well is because they’re actually dealing with specific breeds. So if you want to adopt a lab or a Maltese or a poodle you know that the lab or Maltese or poodle rescue isn’t going to be overflowing with unrehomeable staffies and Rottweilers and are going to concentrate on those dogs who actually do make decent pets.

It’s the same with cats though. I’ve been trying to adopt a cat for two years and I’m either rejected for no apparent reason or the rescues just never return my calls. And you can’t visit any of them without an appointment any more or without first passing a home check, so gone are the days when you could nip down to Battersea or RSPCA or any of the other cat rescues and have a look at the cats you might like to adopt.

It would actually be easier to just have a baby than it is to adopt a dog or a cat.

I’m afraid I think in many cases it is just being officious

‘assertive of authority in a domineering way, especially with regard to trivial matters.’

though I am not saying vetting a home for a pet is trivial.

there seems to be an increasing delight in policing other people’s actions and indeed opinions and feelings, largely for the self-aggrandisement of the actor. Of course, this activity is only directed at the peaceable and trivial, because the people who are doing the really bad things, like keeping dogs in disgusting conditions, not feeding them properly, training them to attack on command, tend to be big scary people whom it is safer to leave alone.

I don't think a vet would have the time or inclination to write anything meaningful. Also, a vet doesn't know what the dog's home life is like. They may be able to guess to a certain extent but no more than that. Then there's the fear of getting sued. Unlikely but being sued is a real fear for vets.

@Steppingintome

Come on, admit it. You've left out the bit where you have a dragon in the basement!

some of them are run by very strange people.

not all shelters are like this though, keep trying, it's worth it !!

This is craziness!
i adopted my doggo from the dogs trust 7 years ago. I had a 1 year old and we did have checks in the centre but no one came to the home. Our dog did come for a visit to see if she was okay with our cat and then a week later she came home for good. She’s lived a fuckin fantastic life here and runs with the kids everyday and just has an absolute ball. We’ve got another dog now and she gets on fine with him too. Someone could have passed all these annoying over the top checks and still been a shitty dog owner.

That’s bonkers! You could try one of the money spinning Romanian dog “charities” they usually have less of a criteria.

What @MayThe4th said… spot on

There's a post on my local FB today about shelters being over run, encouraging people to foster and just DO SOMETHING to help.

But shelters need to help the animals to find new homes - they need to let people know if kittens are available, and appreciate cats and small children can actually live happily in the same house. It's all very well saying that they don't have time to update their websites because they are volunteers, but find some social media volunteer teenager who wants to put it in their CV.

Just angrily shouting that people should do more, but not letting people actually adopt because they live near a road isn't the way forward.

We ended up buying our very pampered and well looked after moggie cat because rescues were just too difficult to deal with.

Dog show at a village fete last week 90% of the rescue dogs were from overseas. One dogs trust, one greyhound rescue, one Battersea and the rest from Spain and Romania. It does seem crazy.

I have a rescue lurcher who's great. ( We've had him for nearly nine years now). They really are lovely dogs, and as well as sighthound specific rescues, there did also used to be ex racing greyhounds in need of homes. Not sure if that's still the case, but if so maybe they'd be less strict?

Just get one of those Boston Dynamics robot dogs instead. Less hassle, less mess, they can be programmed to dance and they don’t chew toddler’s faces off - win-win !