Home visit today......any advice or tips please??

[ClaimedByMe]

We are getting a home visit today for a rescue staffy any hints or tips, what do they ask and look for??

Disclaimer: I am not the worlds most houseproud woman and we are slighlty under construction as the hallway/stairs has been plastered but not painted yet and has no carpet laid yet will this go against us??

They're looking to see that your house is safe and secure. Not being secure will not mean you get an immediate no, they'll tell you what their issue is and ask if/how you will fix it.

I was told by my home checker when I apologised for my staircase being exactly as you describe yours to be, that they do not like houses to be utterly spotless because then they'd worry that dog hair etc. might be a problem to the prospective adopter. Every rescue has a story to tell about a dog who was returned because it no longer matched the soft furnishings or it left hair on the new rug

It's also just a way to have a nice, informal chat with you and find out more about what you expect/can cope with.

It'll be fine honestly. I thought I'd failed ours when the dc brought down half a tonne of toys and scattered them in the living room, but I didn't. They only asked what would happen if the dog got hold of and broke a favorite toy. They were told the kids knew the rules e.g if it's on the floor and it gets eaten - tough. It should have been put away.

Thanks, Im a nervous wreck, just realised there is a strip of wallpaper missing off the livingroom wall too as the cat had picked it and I havent round to replacing it, I have the spare roll of paper.

I am getting on dps nerves already!!

Well they're not looking at your decor. They'll be checking fences and gates and asking to see where the dog will sleep.

Ideally they'd like a nice, secure, safe garden i.e high fences and no poisonous plants or garden tools here and there that the dog could injure itself on. A house that is not too cluttered or dirty e.g no empty cans/bottles/rubbish the dog could injure itself on, but equally not so spotless that the home owner seems like they might have heart failure if the dog left a paw print somewhere. They wouldn't mind a few plates in the sink or missing wallpaper, they would mind if your living room resembled something from How Clean is Your House.

They want to see that you have thought about where the dog will eat/sleep and have come up with a safe and comfortable space - you don't have to a dog bed there, you just need to show them where you'd put one.

At mine they asked when and for how long the dog would be left alone. When and for how long the dog would be walked. What we would do if the dog pee'd in the house. How would we deal with damaged toys/teddies. They checked the kitchen and where we keep food, but this is because we were looking at fostering Greyhounds who are master food thieves

They'll have a nice chat and ask to meet everyone in the family, just to make sure you are all fully on board and understand the commitment a dog is.

It will all be very informal and friendly and when they've gone you will feel very silly about how worried you were about it

I have my first home check on Tuesday. Let us know how yours went. I'm very excited.

I will do, what kind of dog are you looking for?

she is half an hour late and lost.......

Ditto what D0oin said, I was soooooo nervous before our home check for our greyhound. Then when they left I was all "oh, was that it? I was expecting to have to wrestle a mountain troll or something . . ."

Oh forgot to ask, how did it go?

Haha, I felt a bit 'was that it' when she had gone, she was really nice, I had to fill in a form, she asked us general questions about our daily life, never even looked round the spotless house, I hoovered under my bed and everything!!!

As she was leaving she she says we would have no problems getting a dog and she wished that more people like us took on a dog.