In reply to Steve_Jones :
Exactly. Wife was so pissed.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
Exactly. Wife was so pissed.
Most of these "rescue organizations" are nothing more than crazy animal-activists. They rarely return calls or emails and they never actually allow anyone to adopt due to their Draconian regulations...my guess is that they want a non-profit LLC for some nefarious, taw-dodging reason. Some want to tour your home in advance and conduct random visits for years, yeah right. If my house is not good enough for an animal that is put down by the thousands daily, drinks from the toilet and eats cat poop from the litterbox, then your standards are too high.
I ran into the same problem in 2020, and just flat out gave up, because the constant rejections/being ignored entirely wasn't helping my already suboptimal mental state.
I couldn't even apply at a lot of rescues, and even some shelters, because I have no vet to use as a reference, since I've never personally had a pet outside of a fish or hamster, and none of them ever needed to go to a vet. There was *one place* that said they could use references from the vets that my family used, but they still turned me down.
My family had dealt with both rescues and shelters in the past, and never had to jump through anywhere near as many hoops, sometimes it was as easy as showing up, filling out a short application, and you could take the pet home the same day. Apparently not anymore. I hope you're able to find someplace less ridiculous.
I had to put my canine soul mate to sleep a little over a year ago because of some cancer and I think I'm just getting the courage up to go to the shelter this weekend. I'm not looking forward to the hoops, or to the fact I'm just going to want to take all of them home.
In reply to ddavidv :
This is exactly why it's almost impossible to find a lab or golden retriever at the SPCA/Humane Society/Dumb Friends League here. All the rescues go and immediately scoop up those dogs. Which means you're forced to deal with the rescues. Just like you I don't really want a puppy but we may end up having to get one.
In reply to iansane :
I've never heard of this sort of nonsense at a shelter. Good luck with your search for a new companion!
Seems like whenever I do a home check for my rescue group I end up fixing the fence for them in places where a husky can push through. I just make sure I have a hammer and enough nails before I leave. I actually had a large male husky make his own doggie door through an inside door when I left him in my bedroom. I guess he got tired of sleeping on my bed. These guys can jump over or get through just about anything. My own back fence is huskyproofed with lots of concrete and a welder.
I still can't figure out why my vet recommends 60 dollar a bag dog food, yet all my guys love to eat out of garbage cans and drink out of toilets.
docwyte said:In reply to ddavidv :
This is exactly why it's almost impossible to find a lab or golden retriever at the SPCA/Humane Society/Dumb Friends League here. All the rescues go and immediately scoop up those dogs. Which means you're forced to deal with the rescues. Just like you I don't really want a puppy but we may end up having to get one.
Rescues bemoan the existence of breeders. DON'T BUY!! ADOPT!!
Meanwhile, their policies and ridiculous rules drive people to keep breeders in business.
Rescue people are lunatics. I'm a cat person, but it's all the same. They want home visits and regular check ins and all E36 M3 E36 M3. No. I'm not letting your crazy ass in my house. No you cannot check on butthole licker. He's fine. I solve this problem by finding cats under things, getting them on free cat day from the shelter, or going to the actual humane society where they're just happy someone wants one.
Some breeders are worse than rescue groups about their puppies. The require home checks and want to know if you own your house. I have talked to a few Malamute breeders who have applications that are twice the size of the online form my rescue group has. Then when your application is approved, you write them a check for $2,000 for a puppy.
I've rescued three dogs as an adult all from the same rescue organization. Saving Animals from Euthanasia of FL (S.A.F.E). They have a facebook page that constantly updates posts with dogs at their different locations that need homes. Each dog required me filling out a form & paying a small fee (~$75). It may have helped that we live just down the street from one of their locations. I'm still shocked how easy it was to walk in and leave owning a dog 30 minutes later. I'd like to think it's because we went in as a family and acted like responsible people...but they're also funded by donations and had more dogs than they know what to do with sometimes. We didn't have a fenced yard when we rescued #1 and #2. I can't remember if we were honest about it or not. We did fence it in afterwards.
Find a new rescue organization. Before we adopted our first family dog we talked to one rescue group at Petco that sound like yours..they wanted an in-home inspection, $300, and a vet reference (which was impossible, since we'd never owned a dog as a family).
A fenced yard is a stupid requirement. There, I said it. There are many ways to get your dog exercise that don't involve a fenced yard. In fact, I'd argue a fenced yard is the lazyiest thing you can do. I try to walk my dogs on a leash whenever i can so they get to see something other than my back yard.
Dog #1 passed away 18 months ago. Dog #2 below, I found a new home w/a friend for pup #3. Pup #2 and #3 were both female and couldn't decide peacefully who would be the boss.
Similar story here except with cats. We adopted 2 from a rescue 5 years ago and in that time they've upped their requirements. We have to give them our vet info and proof of all vaccinations etc. Ridiculous. You'd think that if you adopted from an organization in the past and took good care of your animal you'd be 'grandfathered in' so to speak, but no. Gotta meet their exhaustive requirements.
The county animal control shelter in Tampa is currently over capacity. They have about twice as many dogs as they had a year ago, for reasons that are unclear. Pit bulls always seem to be the greatest in number, along with other big dogs, and the small dogs tend to get adopted quickly. They update the web site immediately as dogs come and go. Right now they are urgently trying to place a couple hundred dogs and cats. As far as I can remember, they are not fussy about where you live or how fancy your yard is. Our Mini came from there, and was a wonderful dog who spent her last 12 years with us.
You can check out the roster of available pets at Hillsborough County (Tampa Bay) Pet Adoption
In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :
People cleaned out the shelters when covid hit, and brought em right the berkeley back when they actually had to do something. Load of E36 M3.
Dog breeding could end yesterday for all I care. Too many damn dogs (and cats for that matter).
People shouldn't be so picky about the dogs they adopt. Adoption centers shouldn't be so picky about the potential owners.
Charge a big fee, but offer free returns (but no, you don't get your money back.) I think that'd do a lot to help the over abundance of bad owners out there. In my town college students are the worst.
Fence, other dogs, kids, doesn't matter. I've seen crappy pet owners who "look" perfect on paper, but were crappy owners.
In reply to docwyte :
We had the same type response from a Collie rescue. For us, it was the heart worm pills. This completely blindsided us. We had planned to drive 4 hours to visit the rescue that weekend when the rejection email showed up.
We ended up getting a great little Schnauzer mix from a friend who could not keep her.
Dog rescues in Colorado are ridiculous. They all worship dogs whereas in some other states they are just happy that the dog is going to a decent home. When I adopted a few years back I was in the same boat. I wanted a young but fully grown dog. Second Chance in Ridgway (south of Montrose) had such strict requirements that I eventually gave up. I got approved at the humane society in Durango after getting creative with my questionnaire responses. My dog has a heated dog bed INSIDE the house where he loves to lay all day. I can't imaging anybody providing a better, more loving home than I do yet I didn't meet all the criteria. It's ridiculous.
pet finder is a good place to keep an eye out, and I bet you'll find some great dogs if you're willing to drive out of Colorado to go pick one up. New Mexico is filled with stray dogs but a lab/Golden is probably hard to find.
I live in the Mid-Atlantic region. We, and the northeast, arguably don't have much 'inventory' when it comes to dogs-other-than-pitbulls. The local shelter we got our first three dogs from used to always be at capacity. Today, it's like a ghost town. Maybe six kennels in use out of 50. It's hard to get mad about this because it means all the spay-n-neuter propaganda is working.
There are parts of the country that still have way too much inventory, but I don't live there. The areas I can think of are 1-2 days drive (or more) away. And am I really going to drive that far to either be rejected by the shelter because I don't live locally or find out the dog isn't compatible with the one I currently have?
I will admit that I'm self-limiting because of some breed snobbery. I don't care about pedigree but I do vastly prefer (and understand) collie/shepherd type dogs. I've had some life experiences with them that simply draw me to a certain type of dog. That's just not negotiable. I'll probably have another one or two dogs in my remaining years so want what I'm comfortable with. I've got money and am not afraid to spend it, but I'm also not a person who wants to 'buy' a dog for $1000+. The idea makes me feel icky.
The dog adoption world has changed a lot in my lifetime. Good in a lot of ways overall, but not so great for the person just wanting to give a dog a better life.
In reply to ddavidv :
The shelter local to me just made a deal with a shelter in New Jersey to ship 20 to 60 dogs a month up there. They don't have any dogs to adopt and we have too many.
I admit I'm a bit snobbish on the dog breeds I like, I've had 2 anatolians and I love the fact that the dog gets his role and I don't have to really train in his protective instincts. I also like the fact that if they think there a threat that I don't see/hear they will not listen to me at all and still protect.
And I always thought it was just me and my miserable disposition...
I've not had too many positive experiences with animal welfare organizations and recently heard, when looking for a few barn cats, if you're giving cats away for free, you may as well murder them, because that's what's going to happen. Thanks, I had a deal worked out to give two unwanted cats a good, comfortable, home and you're doing your best to prevent that from happening. shiny happy person.
Our local SPCA used to have foster homes and you could adopt a dog for $35 with little fanfare. The city people came along and bumped that up to $400 with an application process that pretty much nobody can pass. And they bitch about having too many dogs.
Different experience with Second Chance in Ridgway, CO, but it was 10 years ago. Found our 2 year old poodle after lunch, took her home about 4 pm, she's still going strong. Haven't had any more recent experience, but most other locals I know have had good experience with them.
You'll need to log in to post.
