For being fed up that some charities make it it impossible to adopt despite insisting that they are ‘inundated’ with dogs?

[GreekDogRescue]

A well-established dog rescue charity I used to fund neutering programmes for and supported big time are desperate for fosterers and adopters. When I moved to a house with a big (fenced) garden, I offered to foster 5 times (they put up beseeching posts all the time in social media) but they completely ignored me. I’m at home all day, am middle aged, retired, no kids visiting, have help but now foster and adopt from other charities as presumably they think I’m ‘not up to it’.

Then out of the blue 2 weeks ago they messaged to ask if I will foster a specific
dog; I agreed and said when would it be arriving from Greece. No response.

Now I see the same dog advertised on Facebook with no interest. Charity says they are desperate for homes but nobody is applying. Nice sister in law applied but was ignored. Go figure! The trouble is people end up going to breeders which compounds the problem.

Needless to say I no longer send them any money which I suspect was the motive for their message anyway. I now support rescues who have a pragmatic approach to rehoming.

But seeing this rescue plus others constantly posting about how desperate they are for homes while ignoring genuine homes is really maddening.

My parents were really messed around by breed specific rescue centres - they are fit and healthy 76 year olds with 20 acres plus garden but turned down immediately as they didn't have a 5ft wooden fence around their garden!! 5ft high 3ft thick hawthorn hedge with sheep netting in front wasn't good enough. They re-homed a lovely dog from The Dogs Trust in the end who were more than happy with the thick hedge and sheep fence!

Please keep persevering; there are rescues that have a more pragmatic approach. I heard Wild At Heart are sensible.
if anyone reading knows of good rescues please give them a shout out.
Failing that I support a very sensible nice young rescuer in Romania called Nanu Madelescu who has a FB page of dogs she’s desperate to rehome. She works with K9 Angels who are also pretty good I think. I adopted a dear little poodle cross from Nanu and she arranged all the transport and pet passport, jabs etc.

Further to my post up thread - I now adopt Spanish rescues (sight hounds - my particular passion). I have gone through two separate charities over the years, both are very thorough (home, or video home check, telephone ‘interviews’, questionnaires, etc) - this is only sensible. A dog is a huge and expensive commitment, and a living animal who deserves the best care.

Absolutely agree. We tried to adopt from a whole host of different charities including ones which had dogs overseas which would otherwise be euthanized. After a long process they decided we were not eligible as part of our garden fence was not high enough (they made no attempt to allow us to rectify this). After that I just bought a puppy and stopped donating to them.

I don’t think it’s in dog’s best interests for the criteria to be so strict. Also it appears to apply to some but not to others.

I’m a massive supporter of rescues and my wider family have only ever had rescue dogs but some of the places are so weird about their criteria.

Our local FB page is constantly full of posts from the woman who runs a local breed specific rehoming and rescue place. She rehomes terriers and is always saying how desperate she is for homes and how no one will consider terriers as they aren’t popular etc now it’s all about the cockapoo.
So when our last dog died (of old age) I approached her. Our kids were all much older, both of us WFH, very experienced dog owners including terriers although not this specific type . We have a large fully enclosed garden. We genuinely tick all the usual boxes as evidenced but the fact all our dogs have been rescues.

She conducted two lengthy interviews and was so negative in her questioning like we had to beg her for her to let us have a dog and she turned us down saying she didn’t think we loved the breed enough and to come back when we had evidence that we had ‘done the work’ to bond with this specific type of terrier.

That’s unbelievable. I actually think these people don’t even like dogs very much.

YANBU, I've been saying this for years that some are ridiculously restrictive.

I can think of at least 2 people who have always had rescues, who ended up buying puppies after months and months of trying.

I was turned down for a cat because we didn't want an outdoor cat as we live on a road with buses (although not a huge main road). We thought there might be a previously indoor cat that would be ok with us, especially as we have an outdoor fenced area for a cat (catio!) And surely it was better for a quieter cat to be indoors than in a pen without proper human company? Nope, we were told it was totally unacceptable, there were no cats that would benefit from this except very old ones (which I only didn't want as we'd had a recent terrible bereavement and I didn't want to nurse a very old ill cat which was the only one offered, I love that people take these but that didn't suit us). In the end, I went to a breeder and by coincidence they needed to rehome a cat that wasn't suitable for showing (due to personality) and so we got our fantastic cat.

It was all quite horrid and we felt somehow like we'd done something wrong on our visits round rescues by even asking, they weren't friendly, or open, or really explained things, just saw us as some type of defective potential owners that should be kept away from their cats, despite the fact many were in cages.

There’s a dachshund rescue I support who rescue dogs from kill shelters in South Korea. They’re on FB.

My daughter has just adopted a beautiful boy from them. She got him today.

personally I have given up with dog rescues here after not hearing anything when I’ve applied to adopt.

Oh dear, that is so sad when millions of dogs are suffering.
I was so determined I actually went to Greece myself and volunteered in a shelter with this charity. Then they couldn’t actually refuse to let me adopt, even though I lived in London then and they forbade dogs being rehomed in cities!
I’d advise anyone to persevere as there are some good charities out there, also there are lots of desperate people rehoming on Facebook.
Some people put their dogs on Gumtree - it’s not ideal but at least you are still rehoming (though of course being gumtree you have to do your own checks to confirm it’s kosher).

This is absolute craziness! I feel so bad for all the dogs needlessly stuck in rescue centres.
It makes me wonder if some of the rescue staff really want what's best for the dogs, or if at the end of the day it's all down to funding and being able to spin a good sob story.
I see no reason why so many people are turned down.

And cats!

We’ve rehomed rescue dogs from a rescue in Nottinghamshire and then adopted directly from a rescue in Spain. Both centres were brilliant.

This is so true!

We ended up buying a dog because we could not adopt. I'm home all day, DH works but home at 5.00, four DC in and out. All into keeping fit and walking. Older dog, Labrador who just likes snoozing in the sun and going for short walks twice a day. No young children. Acre and a half of closed garden. Reason we were turned down........two cats adopted us four years ago, they never come into the house, they are outdoor slightly feral. We fed them. We did catch them and get them neutered. They come and go as they please. We don't own them....BUT we have cats

Yes we applied for about 12 different dogs over the course of a year from 4 different charities and never heard a thing from any of them. No children in the household, both work from home, secure garden, home backs on to open fields.

A 5th charity said that we couldn’t adopt from them because we’d never owned a dog as adults and said it didn’t matter that I’d grown up in a household with dogs and routinely cared for my parents difficult rescue dog.

Ended up buying a puppy in the end, I’ll try again when we’re ready for a 2nd.

Rescues near me are mental. If you work you don't have time, if you don't work you can't afford, if you don't have a huge garden you don't have space, the home inspection person told us our home was too nice and we wouldn't cope with distruction well, our garden contains plants that are poisonous (daffodils) we gave up in the end and bought a puppy from a breeder and a year later added a second who are never left alone despite me having a full time job, eats better than I do, has two 3 mile walks a day, have never destroyed anything in the house, and doesn't eat the daffodils lays in them from time to time but doesn't eat them

OMG turned down for having daffodils in the garden! Thats a new one. They’re getting really creative in their determination not to rehome.
All I’d say is please persevere next time, overseas rescues can be more sensible for example.

Similar experience here. We desperately wanted to rehome a dog, but we had a cat and chickens. Oh and a DS who was 9, very sensible and had been brought up around numerous pets. Fully fenced garden and several lovely walking places within a 10 minute drive as well as a lake and woods across the road. Think there would have been about 2 hours a day when the dog would have been alone.

Could we get one? No we bloody couldn’t, ended up buying a puppy who is now nearly 13 and snoring beside me on the sofa. He’s had a great life but no, the rescue centres would rather have a dog in kennels indefinitely than rehome to anyone less than 100% perfect.

Yet a friend’s parent has just rehomed a German shepherd puppy from the RSPCA - the man is late seventies, riddled with arthritis and uses a mobility scooter!

I’m glad they rehomed to the old boy; normally age is a huge factor.
Rescues think you’re too young, then there is a very brief window in early middle age where you’re at peak suitability but this often coincides with being busy with work and family.
I’m just 60 so suspect I’m getting in the ‘too old’ bracket. But it’s the oldies who generally have more free time, their own property and some money.
you can’t win!
One of the crazy elderly ladies who used to rehome for the charity I’m moaning about would refuse everybody but one day surprised me by rehoming a large dog to a 90 year old 🤣

I am having the same issue but when looking to foster or adopt cats. It's very frustrating that you know you could give a lovely cat or dog a great home if only the rescues let you. 😑

If a no kill shelter is refusing it it sounds like putting it down is the best option.

I think a lot of the time a snap judgment is made almost the moment you get in contact, and then reasons are found to support that judgment (e.g too young, too old, daffodils in garden, home too nice etc). The animal rescue world does contain a lot of people who have the attitude that nobody else could possibly care for an animal like they could and believe that they have the ability to instantly intuit who is worthy of a pet or not.

@GreekDogRescue I have no problem with older people rehoming dogs at all. My parents had took on several dogs in their late 60’s early 70’s but I do question the suitability of the breed and age of the dog for someone whose mobility is severely limited. He is 78 and the pup is only 8 months old, I worry that the dog will need to be rehomed again at some point in the future.