Therapy dog

[Itradehorses]

I'm not an animal person. Not at all. I have always thought that I have enough caring obligations without taking on a dog. Has been a red line for me as I would have to train, walk and feed it (trust me that's how it would pan out). Also not keen on Vets bills or the cost of insurance. However, OH secretly entered a free ballot for a fully trained therapy dog from a charity. Didn't expect to win as the odds were poor. Guess what happened next...

OH has now told me about it. We would get a free fully trained pedigree dog for our son with autism and adhd, to help him regulate. It would obviously be with us into adulthood for him, for however long they life (15 years???).

WWYD?

Go to the charity and learn EVERYTHING there is to know before deciding

But no one should get a dog who doesn't want one - dogs are amazing creatures, I have 3 who own my whole heart ❤️

Take it. It will be fabulous for your son. I am a dog lover, however they are well proven to have the anticipated effect on people with all types of needs.

If it is pedigree and you have hip scores etc, then health risks are low, however you will need to work out what to do with pet insurance (you definitely need this as vet bills are astronomical these days).

Also, check what 'fully trained' means.

I’d let someone have the dog who is absolutely desperate for it. It would be so unfair to the people who have put the work in, to the potential family who would be over the moon, and the dog itself for it to go to someone who clearly doesn’t want it

This sounds like a scam. Why would a charity hand over a therapy dog to a random prize winner?

Training these dogs is expensive and time consuming. You need to make sure parents are on board, and not all children will be suitable candidates. Also it takes time to match a dog to the needs of the child, and they would also need to ensure the home environment is suitable.

Thanks. Appreciate the honesty. OH and three kids would absolutely want it, so it would be me blocking them if I put foot down. And its purpose would be therapy/support for my son, so not just a pet. If we did it, your comment has helped me to see that I'd need to fully set aside my concerns and buy into it (meaning to embrace dog ownership).

Cannot believe you’d get a therapy dog just by entering a competition.

It's not a scam and I've probably oversimplified. I only found out last night and OH may have massaged the detail of how this came to be / how far along the process we are. We had a civil conversation about keeping secrets 😂. I said I was more bothered about that in truth.

I cannot believe a charity would give away a therapy dog without careful checks that would involve matching the owners to the dog. That sounds like bs to me! Which charity was it and have you seen the evidence?

I agree this sounds like a scam. No way would a charity hand over a fully trained dog (having invested ££££) to a randomer winning a competition.

there’s a massive long waiting list for these dogs, they absolutely would not have enough dogs to need to get rid of any via a competition.

i would triple check what’s going on. Especially if they ask you for any sort of “donation”

Thanks. Will check these points.

Which charity is this?

It's not a scam, or a competition or "prize" as such either.

It's just that the dog's homes are selected by a random draw of a pool of suitable and deserving applicants, because the charity can't think of another way to pick just one or two from a group of people who all need them!

We were in the pool twice (for my DS) and didn't get lucky either time. We now have a fantastic dog from elsewhere though!

No charity is going to promise a fully trained therapy dog to a random winner. The waitlists are enormous and plenty of suitable candidate wait years for a dog, and some never get one.

Like I said not all children and homes are suitable. A family where one parent doesn't even know about the application would never be accepted.

@DeleteIfNotAloud this is how my OH explained it. If we get past the admin of how it came to be, the question is whether I should put my reservations to one side. I realise that we have been incredibly lucky to have the offer, and that it's a privilege to be in consideration.

Also agree that this sounds like a scam. The need is so great that they don't have spare highly trained dogs to be given away as prizes.

@Whinge the situation is what it is. Believe me or don't. We have the space and access to countryside to provide a good home to the dog. My son has an EHCP and diagnosis of adhd and autism. He is doing well now but suffered a traumatic school placement breakdown in Y1. Now in Y2. It's him that qualifies for support. He is 7 and the cut off for this particular scheme is 8, because the dog is with you for ten years until it retires. And is meant to be the child's companion.

I get it, I'm a cynical person myself, but you'll just have to take the facts at face value. It is what it is.

For those of you worried about whether we are being scammed. Thanks for the concern, but I won't let that happen. Bear in mind that I'm having to reframe my mindset from anti to pro on this anyway. Any sniff of scamming and I'll clamp down hard. Cheers!

I'd rather not say TBH. It's me with the reservations, they are legit, and i don't want to soil the pitch for the family if I come around to the idea.

This sums it up perfectly - I would question the ethics of any organisation that would give away an animal as a prize.

I've posted in relationships without considering that it's where all the suspicious minds hang out 😂.

If they're a legitimate charity then why won't you tell us who it is.

There is a well known therapy dog charity near us and they definitely don't give dogs away as raffle prizes!

It's not a raffle, or a competition, or a prize.

As OP said in the first post, it's a charity that allocate dogs by ballot. This is a real thing, it is honestly how at least one of these organisations do things. They assess applicants and then put the names of the suitable ones into the ballot. Not just anybody can enter, they're assessed first.

I've explained why. In case it's outing. And it isn't relevant to my question on which I sought views. It's not a prize it's just how the charity have chosen to allocate to qualifying families.

Do you not think a charity raffling living creatures is a bit suspect? Are you not concerned your OH has lied and placed your family on a waiting list for a therapy dog knowing you didn't want this due to costs and you being the one caring for the dog? He's back you into a corner to be the one hurting your child.

Knowing how hard it is, the information you have to provide and tests you have to pass to adopt a dog from a sanctuary I cannot believe that any charity would give a dog away as a prize to some unknown.

Especially an unknown who describes themself as "not an animal person" . "I have enough caring obligations without taking on a dog", "Not keen on Vets bills or the cost of insurance".

When we adopted our dog we had to answer a whole list of criteria from fence height, to hours a day we were home, to how often we would walk the dog, could we afford it AND they came to see our house and wanted to meet everyone who lived in the house.

This is bilge.