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

I had the same problem a few years ago. 3 in fact. I am still waiting to hear back from rpsome rescues. One breed specific on I even said I'd be interested in volunteering my time as well as I was in an are that doesn't have anyone specifically. I chased it up, I emailed and got a frankly rude reply back about how they were volunteers etc. Yep aware of that but had heard nothing for months and repeat I would like to volunteer. Got told someone would be in touch...still waiting.
A few months later looking for a puppy in the end I found a family trying to rehome the breed due to family illness. Dog was a year old. Got to know the family over a few weeks on email and went and picked her up. 3 years later she is a loved and looked after member of our family and I'm still in touch with her old family so they can see how she's doing.

Have you tried a micii dog rescue or safe rescue?

That's a micii dag rescue.

Sorry, Amicii.

ZOMBIE**

I think a year down the line OP may have solved her problem

Black Retriever rescue probably won't let you have a dog unless you already have one.
We tried to rescue last year ( although we did have a lot stricter requirements than you OP) and ended up going to a breeder.

I had to go abroad to adopt as first they wouldn't let me adopt because I worked and wouldn't be at home enough and then because I didn't work so how would I afford the costs of a dog. Not to mention the fact that I had young children! The list was endless. I've now been fostering for 3 years and I can honestly say Cyprus rescues are incredible dogs, so grateful and willing to please. I've now adopted a gorgeous little Kokoni through P.A.W.S and he is only a pup but so very well trained and well behaved. Can also highly recommend SPDC and DALI who are all on Facebook and have their own websites too

Haven't read all - but saw that Battersea had not got back to you OP at all. With Battersea (I discovered), you need to go there and register with them (they interview you properly to find out if you are au fait with dog care or new to it, etc, previous dog experience if any, details of where you live, how much you are home). Having done that, if you email them, they'll let you know if they have any dogs that might suit you coming up (they can tell you this before the dogs appear on their website). Meantime, you can check their website daily and if you see one you are interested in, you just 'phone or email them and they will reserve it for you to come and see (only if you are already registered). I did all this when looking for my current dog (I only lasted a few weeks after my last dear rescue dog had to be PTS and the dog-shaped hole in my flat got too much for me and the parrot). I had also been to RSPCA Southridge (who were very nice and encouraging but I didn't meet any dog that I really felt was the "one" though they encouraged me to take a nice lurcher for a walk round their enormous field to see we clicked. I checked lots of other websites of rescues. I really liked Battersea and I tried to reserve a dog I had "met" on a visit there but they had had to take her off the rehoming list as she was unwell and they needed to sort her issues out before she was fit to go (someone else has since adopted her). Another staffie/cross came up around the same time I missed out on the sickly one and I reserved her. I went up to meet her (I didn't need a home inspection as they were happy with the previous registration interview and my doggy experience and answers to their queries) and it was explained to me that she had come into Battersea after being picked up as a stray in Camden by the dog warden. She wasn't in a good state when they got her (3 months before) but they had "sorted out the issues she came in with" (unspecified) and then had a problem with her intolerance of kennels - very stressed, snapping at people coming up to her kennel, etc and a bit of a tummy problem (off her food sometimes/vomiting occasionally). They went to enormous lengths to make sure she had no serious problem - ultrasounds, lymph node biopsies, extensive blood tests and even sending the lymph node samples to The Royal Veterinary College lab for best analysis. Everything came back normal. When my own vet met her, she could not believe how many lymph node samples they'd taken - some were apparently very difficult to get and hardly anyone bothers. Battersea were determined to leave nothing to chance. They also sent her home to stay with a member of staff as she was so upset in kennels. So, all this was explained to me before I was allowed to meet her - especially as it might effect her pet insurance for six months or so in case she had tummy issues again (this proved to be the case but she has not had any tummy problems, has put on a lot of muscle and condition and is absolutely brimming with energy and happiness). Once I'd met her, it was hopeless, she had to come home on the bus with me. I was given a "goodie bag" of worming tablets, vitamin tablets, helpful leaflets, free new lead and collar, etc etc. They also microchipped her for no extra charge. While we were doing the paperwork, they engraved two new dog tags (one spare) for my dog's collar with all my details on and her name. Two members of staff appeared next to us in reception and fell on their knees by my dog to hug her goodbye. One (male) cried as he'd had a lot to do with her when she was in kennels and spent time trying to help her and the other told me she was a really great dog and they were all delighted she was going "home". Anyway, I brought little Cookie home on the upper deck of a red bus and an overground train (in the rush hour). She really is a great dog. Very, very happy to have a home, very eager to please and turned out to have been very nicely trained by Battersea - she knew sit, come here, lie down, etc. I've sent a report and pics back to Battersea so those who looked after her can see what a great time she has now. Every day, when I come home from work, she is looking out of the window, waiting for me, then straight downstairs to the front door so that when I unlock it, she hurls herself upon me to slobber all over my face with delight. (I have a dogwalker to take her out for an hour at lunchtime, so she doesn't get left for long hours alone). I was super-impressed with Battersea.

The other thing I discovered was that some rescues, on their websites, give very good descriptions of the dogs' characters/their experiences with them and other rescues give next to no information or a couple of vague sentences that make the dogs seem to have no problems/faults and be just waiting for their forever home with you. I ended up thinking I'd rather go to a responsible rescue who have found out all about their charges and their individual needs than the ones that looked as though they hadn't really taken the trouble to discern whether their dogs were suited to particular types of households.