Rehoming - why is it so !*~#£"&$"* difficult?

[MrsJackAubrey]

I want to offer a loving, safe and stable home to a rescue dog. You'd think I was asking to adopt the next in line to the bloody throne!

The hoops I'm asked to jump through are bad enough, but these at least make sense. I have fenced our acre of garden specifically to meet the requirements ffs at huge cost (mind you it does look lovely).

So I see a suitable dog - I leave messages as asked, and get no reply, at rescue centres. (and I mean no reply EVER). I email, ditto. I Facebook, and am asked to phone.

And I'm happy to take a Staffie! An older dog! I'm not asking for a picture perfect Cavalier with superb manners and a love of cats.

I'm resorting to looking at puppies, and I do NOT want a puppy when there are so many dogs needing exactly the kind of home I can offer.

Any advice? Or perspective? Because I'm getting really really annoyed about it

It is difficult as so many places are run by volunteers who also have jobs.

EGLR are good at getting back to people, and have some lovely dogs with them at the moment. They'll homecheck countrywide

Try Black Retriever Cross rescue They're very sensible and love a dog-safe home.

Spike, Jeffie and Charly are all gorgeous dogs who need good homes.

Where have you tried? I live by two dogs homes and the council one let us take our Staffie now problem. The other charity dogs home made a big fuss about us working and having not had a Staffie before. Ridiculous! How can being traumatised in the dogs home be better than being in a loving home. Granted, she is left for 3 hours in the morning and 4 in the afternoon (walk in the middle), but the rest of our time revolves around her!

Good luck on your quest- please update us once you have one :)

Where are you located- North, Midlands?

If you say where you are maybe people can suggest good rescues? You sound like you have an amazing set up for a dog!

I have been looking for a year. Tried rescues. Even tried a pedigree breeder. (Just found out today that the litter wasn't big enough for me to have one.)
I don't work. My youngest is school age. I'm a volunteer dog walker. My vet would vouch for me. We have a detached house. Close to lovely walks.
BUT we have cats. And don't have a dog already.
I'm actually feeling really down today.

If you are not too far away it may be worth travelling to one of the Battersea sites , you can fill in an adoption form on line before you go ( if you want) we got our dog from the London site - just turned up at opening on a Sunday , had an interview and were home with a dog by 3 pm - no hassle at all . ( this was 5 yrs ago not sure if things have changed )

Hi OP when you've visited shelters and met a suitable dog, what's happened? I'm struggling to see why you've not been able to bring a dog home with you.

Wolfiefan that's exactly how I feel - down, miserable and fed up about it. Yes I have cats - and no existing dog. But surely there are dogs out there who'd fit in?

I'm in the South East.

Veterinari, I don't get as far as getting into to a shelter, because one or more of these applies:
a) the dogs aren't kept there;
b) you have to have a specific dog to visit (no more 'browsing' the kennels) BUT the website is out of date so any dog you do want to see is reserved. The idea that I pop into a shelter and come away with a dog is so far from my experience of trying that it honestly makes me laugh a sardonic laugh. But perhaps I'm missing something.

Battersea never got back yo us. At all. One person at home all the time, garden fenced, no cats, child over 14.

Greyhound rescue told us we weren't suitable when I said we'd prefer one who had started on housetraining and recall even if not there yet. Maybe fair enough.

Labrador rescue never got back.

Worth trying the rspca godstone? Though I suspect it may be your hours that are putting them off...

Viking looks gorgeous and could live with cats!

Try RSPCA millbrook in chobbam

Which rescues are you contacting?

It's takes a while to get through to them on the phone but once you do it took us less that a week until we had had our home check and then we went to visit the kennels and came back with a dog that day.

You sound like you can offer a great home just persevere until you speak to an actual person. It's so worth it (much easier to house train an adult dog - ours got the hang of it in about 2 days!)

I agree, it's a nightmare. We've persevered and brought home our bow yesterday, via Black Retriever Cross. He's been worth the wait but crikey it's been a slog!

Good luck with your search OP.

Boy, not bow!

Many tears have lots of dogs and cats test I think. I have heard they do an m4 van run but could be wrong in that, I know they're based in Wales but foster all over. Black retriever x and labradoodle trust are other ones I've seen mentioned. Are you after a specific breed or not bothered?

I have just rehomed two Romanian rescues and couldn't be happier with how it's been working out. I live on the other side of the country from the charity's UK base, but the home check was carried by an agency (volunteers), who have a network across all of the UK.
The charity were very responsive and helpful. I didn't get to meet the dogs before committing to adopting them (as they were still in Romania), which wasn't an issue, as they matched the dogs very carefully to our situation (they look after 800 dogs, so should be able to find the right one for most circumstances). We have children, cats, two other rescue dogs and other animals.
There are several charities rescuing dogs from Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania etc, easily found on FaceBook. The cost for each of our dogs was £250 which covers transport, neutering, vaccination and worming.
Good luck!

We've re-homed via Many Tears (who were quite good at getting back to us once we put in an application) and Heathlands, who are lovely but their communication is somewhat patchy. Our Many Tears dog was on foster in Godalming and our Heathlands dog was literally a 5 minute walk from home (Cambridgeshire village). Have you tried breed specific rescues too?

Can highly recommend Amicii Dog Rescue who rehome stray dogs from Romania. We adopted through them last year and they were professional, organised and very thorough.

Have a look also at RescueMe Romania, they are on Facebook, they have some lovely dogs available for adoption and are desperate for people to give homes to their dogs. They are very professional and give you lots of post adoption support. All dogs come neutered, microchipped and vaccinated.

Have you tried Woodgreen Animal Shelters at Godmanchester?

Try Celia Cross - they are in the SE.

As others have said, EGLR will home nationwide, so will Birmingham Greyhound Protection and there's Southern Lurcher Rescue, plus a variety of greyhound specific rescues in your area, all of whom have very clear and well established adoption procedures.

Dogs Trust are professional. Is there one near you?