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.

We had a similar experience. Not allowed to rescue because we had a cat and at that time our youngest soon was 11, too young apparently.

Ended up rehoming a dog from Cyprus, had her 6 years and she's brilliant.

I think the rehoming centres get too attached to the dogs/cats and only want them to go to absolutely perfect homes otherwise - in their minds - the animals are “better” staying with the rescue centre. How that’s better for the animals escapes me, it’s a bit of “saviour” complex I suspect.

A sibling wanted to rehome a dog and, despite having years of experience of the particular breed, a huge secure garden, access to huge areas for off-road exercise, they were turned down for having children, even though the children had grown up with dogs of the same breed, would never be left alone with them and so on. They ended up getting a dog from an overseas rehoming group who - rightly - insisted on stringent checks but recognised this as a good home for a dog that needed a me.

Other people I know have ended up buying from breeders out of desperation, because the rehomers won’t touch them for spurious reasons (like living near a road), or else just don’t bother responding to expressions of interest.

As I say, these groups seem to like to be seen to be doing “saving” without actually doing much good.

*needed a home!

I was turned down because I have a career even though I fully work from home and set my own hours (I'm a professional novelist) on the grounds that I have to have a meeting with my publisher maybe once a year.

Madness.

That sounds like they need to employ someone specifically to match animals to homes.

Others I find charging £150 per animal to be too much. Yes I can afford the animal and its monthly insurance and food, but I can't then afford £150 on top of that, but I won't buy.

I'm seeking a kitten.

How many dogs do we import a year?
Are there any charities in Romania and Greece doing neutering?

Totally agree with you, OP. It's such a disservice to dogs who would otherwise be in a better situation than they currently are.

Paws2Rescue (on Facebook) do neutering in Romania. We adopted our beautiful little dog through them after being turned down for being too old here. We all have the best possible life together.
To be on the safe side I have made family arrangements so if anything happens my daughter will take her.
I can thoroughly recommend this charity. They are very caring about their dogs but not ridiculous. Ricky Gervais is one of their patrons.

This is why we ended up getting a puppy. We had no luck whatsoever with rescues despite being experienced dog owners, i wfh all day, have a teenage dd and a dh, live rurally with a large enclosed garden, I even walk for a local dog charity. We gave up in the end and got a puppy.

We gave up in the end. Three adult household, 1 wfh permanently, fully enclosed garden, lots of green open areas for walks, previously rescued two dogs with no issues (when our children were young), no financial worries so vet's bill not a problem.

Turned down repeatedly. Can only imagine it was because we have a mature 12 year old, with two dogs of their own, visit us once a week.

So at least one dog was denied an active, loving home, for no apparent reason.

Dh and I went to one rehoming place years ago.

We fell for a lovely dog and enquires at the desk.

Without knowing anything about us they told us we couldn’t rehome any dog as we lived on a main road

We didn’t live on a main road

They then said that we couldn’t rehome because of having children ..... we didnt
because we lived in a flat.... we didnt
because we both worked f/t..... I was home all day.
We didn’t have a garden...we did.

We got the message loud and clear. Dh and I weren’t people they wanted on their charity

Person who we spoke to hit the headlines and not in a good way some months later

We got our beautiful girl who we had for 14.5 years the following week when we visited another rehoming charity who weren’t as snooty and really wanted to get the dogs into loving homes.

What?! That is ridiculous

I think YANBU. It’s almost impossible now, I haven’t tried to adopt a dog as my garden isn’t fenced but I remember as a child we rescued a rhodesian ridgeback, I was secondary age and my brother primary school age, both adults in the household worked, he was the most amazing dog, we paid £100 for him. He was so loved and I remember my stepdad picking him up the same day we went to view him. It all felt very easy and we were rightly trusted. I now as an adult have been trying to adopt an indoor cat for almost a year, everytime met with a no with no reason. I picked up a three legged one from a family today who have had a change of circumstances. I have also given up with rescues, they seem to have too many animals with such different needs but don’t have the effort to match the animals with suitable families. It’s a “one fits all” type questionnaire, which doesn’t suit all animal personality types!

I’ve heard of two people refused dogs and another refused cats. All had experience with their respective request.

Same with rabbit rescues. I have had rabbits for years but they are so strict about you not having cats and using their bonding services (£200) and adoption fees (£70) and needing at least 6sq m locked away all the time from cats… etc…

then they are refusing to take new rabbits because they are full.

don’t even get me started on the appeals because a rabbit called Donald needs £5,000 of dental work

maybe I’m evil

Is it expensive to adopt from abroad?

Our local rescue won't allow you to have a dog if you will be using a crate so we got a puppy who is now 5. My (very small) dog sleeps very happily in a (large) crate in our bedroom with a very comfortable bed inside it. I can then be certain that he is safe and won't be stepped on if someone goes to the toilet in the night. He is with us, and if he makes any sound at all, we get him straight out. No cruelty, he is adored. Yet this makes us unsuitable in the eyes of our local rescue.

The thing is, they all have strict criteria, yet very often are sharing that a dog has been returned as a failed adoption. So there are more important things than just a set of criteria. I cannot rescue a Lurcher despite the fact there are absolutely loads of them in rescue, they’re not a popular adoption choice, and they’re quite tricky dogs - I am an experienced and current owner but because I live near a main road they won’t even entertain it. Although that main road is adjacent to a major wildlife site in our area! it’s such a shame, I’d much prefer to rescue in principle but it’s almost impossible.

People have such negative views on crates, my mums dog is also crated sometimes, by her own choice she will go in and that’s her quiet hiding space when she wants some time alone. Rescues definetly put all animals in the same “box” needs and personality wise. One dog will hate a crate and it would be a little mean but another will love their crate and it’s in their best interest to have access to one!

Unfortunately a lot of people who work for these charities seem to lack the ability to wield a small amount of power sensibly and have utterly preposterous views on what is necessary for an animal to have a decent life. It’s utterly bananas and frankly there needs to be some kind of overseeing ombudsman but obviously that will never happen and even if it did it would probably end up being staffed by people just as batshit!

Will say we got our own old dog from a small shelter who take a very sensible view that a home with minor imperfections is better than a life of boredom and monotony in a shelter. Something that ought to be fairly obvious!

Cats protection refused us an adoption because we live on a main road.

Front door to kerb is around 18 metres. They were worried the cats would run out the door and into the road

Ridiculous

Yours is not a unique experience op. A lot of dog rescues are tiny and run by volunteers who seem to be universally disorganised. The fees they want are huge and uk ones just won’t rehome to houses with children. It cuts out so many potentially suitable homes. I have applied to a breed rescue, I am home all day and fulfill all criteria but two months later still being ignored whilst the begging posts on Facebook are still ongoing. I give up. I think that overseas rescues will just come in and fill the gap to be honest. I also worry about some of the rescues when they seem to have 12 dogs each, I think many of them are animal hoarders and it is based on their own emotional needs rather than genuine rehoming.

A reactive dog of that size needs to be put to sleep.

I saw a recent advert on a land wanted Facebook group for a Dog rescue wanting a farmhouse to rent with at least 5 acres and preferably good outbuildings or they would build some. I presume the funds raised pay for rent, utilities etc so if the kennels aren’t full of dogs the rent for a large rural property can’t be justified.
I thibk many are just dog collectors who think no one can look after them as well as they can or it’s an easy life mainly living off the fund raising