What was your experience of adopting a dog like?

[hwoolfe]

We applied to adopt a dog (from Dog's Trust) at the beginning of this week. I'm feeling a bit disappointed as we still haven't heard anything back, but the dog is still listed as available on their website. All calls are going to their central number so it's not even possible to speak to the centre to ask for any updates.

I read through the information very carefully, we definitely met all of the requirements they were asking for and live close to the centre. I had to phone up initially and the call centre checked everything with me first before sending me an application form.

Having spoken to a few friends who have adopted, I have heard mixed reviews with some saying that staff have enforced unreasonable requests on people at the last minute and so on. Does anyone have any experiences (good or bad!) they could share?

Both of my dogs are adopted from a small local charity. The older one we called about another dog who they thought wasn't suited to us, but said ddog1 was coming in that day - we went to see him with his foster mums that evening and he came home a week later. Ddog2, we'd seen on fb as he was born in the rescue and I'd dithered, but they had so many puppies born with them in a short time that he'd hung around. Went to see him, brought him home!
Now we foster for the same charity, and people have a lot of expectations of a rescue with no staff - complaining about getting through on the phone, asking questions on FB rather than calling as requested, complaining about the dogs requirements (my recent pups needed slightly older children due to resource guarding, and people were incredibly rude about it).
For the pups we often gather a list of possible families and then choose the most appropriate from that rather than doing first come first served, so maybe that is what is happening with DT

Mine are rescues. Have you had a home check? I agree with CMOT that just because you have applied does not mean that you will be offered the dog. Some dogs have many requests.

The Dogs Trust have this on their website We’re currently experiencing an unprecedented amount of interest, with some dogs getting several hundred applications. Please bear with us, we’re doing everything we can to find our dogs their forever homes which may explain the delay

Every rescue is receiving hundreds of applications for dogs right now, even those they would have struggled to rehome six months ago. It has never been like this. Frustrating as it is, it's just the current situation. The price of puppies has led many people who would have previously bought to look at rescuing instead.

It took I think two weeks from seeing our dog on FB (on the foster site) and her coming to us, via a home visit with the dog, too, to see how she reacted to us and our son, then aged 6.

4 years ago next Monday!

They're busy! Give them time. The next step should be a home inspection to make sure you, your family, home, garden and personal circumstances are suitable (ie will the dog be left alone at all).

It's honestly just insane at rehoming centres at the moment. I think there's a 5 day wait for a response from Dogs Trust at the moment, if the dog was popular they may have several perfect homes to work through.

In this current bonkers situation, where everyone and their mother, cousin, grandmother and neighbour, want a rescue dog, it will take patience and more time than pre-pandemic to find that perfect pup.

I'm sure I read that Dogs Trust can have over 800 applications for popular breeds or puppies, and they still will have limited members of staff and no volunteers to help due to local restrictions :(

Everyone wants a dog this year.
Rescues which no-one would have dreamt of adopting are getting snapped up instantly and if they are nice looking with get hundreds of applications.

I've adopted twice (a couple of years ago) and it took 6 months of looking before I found them (separate adoptions).
In this climate I would just hold off a year, lots of those dog will be dumped back into the system as more puppy farming takes place

We adopted about 18 months ago. Started looking at lots of charities & got our girl from a breed specific charity in the February. She came available late January. Had our home check & then it was all quite quick.

As other posters have said, there’s likely to be a lot of demand at the moment. Breed specific, local charities are likely to be a better bet. Ours was great and was keen to encourage us to have our dog on trial as a couple of family members were a bit nervous of dogs. Turned out brilliantly.

I rescued my little man 10 years ago from a. Charity I found online they weren't local to me and he was I foster a long way away. But they had someone come check the house etc and meet me as they had local volunteers. Because he was far away I took him home on our first meeting.
From what I can remember he settled in quickly and he's been a lovely companion for me stayed longer than my ex

I think what you have to bear in mind is, the rescue's purpose isn't to find you or anyone else a dog. It's to find a dog in need a suitable home. So they're going to want to find the best home for each dog, and you may not quite be the right environment for a specific dog. They also want to avoid rehoming a dog somewhere that's not going to work out and having to start over again - not necessarily any fault of either the family or the dog, just not the right fit.