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I moved from the northeast to TN. I had little contact with rescues up north because there wasn't too much of a problem where I lived and someone I knew was always looking for homes for their dog's puppies.
SW TN. I have been the recipient of several dumped dogs and cats. I started trying to find out about the local shelter - well, there isn't one. I got involved in fostering and now I'm in the whole rescue, foster, political angle trying to find a way to deal with the problems we have. Every single day someone sees an animal being abused, tossed out of a moving vehicle, chained and starving in an abandoned home's yard, or beaten, etc. I am not some crazed old woman looking for glory. I cry real tears at what I see. Just yesterday a friend who is an ACO got a call from the water treatment folks in her town to come out for 2 dogs. She is ready to quit and move away - someone had tossed two middle aged dogs into the tank filled with sewage - and no way for the dogs to climb out. They died of exhaustion trying to swim and drowned. Yes, that could make some of us crazy women. It could make us not trust people who want to adopt these trusting creatures. Some of these animals have been tortured beyond belief.
I do not believe that everyone who wants to adopt a dog does so with the intention of abandoning it or beating it to death or starving it. The people I interact with also still believe that most people want to do the right thing.
For those of you looking to adopt a dog, check out any of the shelters here in SW TN. Right now one kill shelter has offered to pay the adoption fee of $37 for anyone who cannot afford it. We have offered to pay a s/n fee for anyone who cannot afford it who adopts one of that shelter's dogs. The shelter has not had a euth in 2 years but it is overfull. Check out facebook, all of the local shelters have pictures of the dogs online and the local advocacy/rescue groups have written info about the dogs (trained volunteers who do personality assessments in many cases). I would be thrilled to help you out by alerting you to what dogs/puppies are in which shelter. My feed is filled with pictures and info every single day.
Transportation is often arranged through local volunteers and/or rescue groups. I have driven dogs from a pound/shelter to a rescue group hours away because an adopter was found.
I truly would not mind anyone sending me a DM and I will help you find what you are looking for.
Thanks for what you are doing. I don't think any one would confuse you with some of the cooky animal hoarders that are running some "rescue" organizations.
There are a lot of good people out there doing their best to help, but the cooks really hurt the cause!
Thanks for what you are doing. I don't think any one would confuse you with some of the cooky animal hoarders that are running some "rescue" organizations.
There are a lot of good people out there doing their best to help, but the cooks really hurt the cause!
Exactly. You would think legitimate rescues would be yelling the loudest to clamp down on the kooks and the corrupt in the dog rescue circles because of what it does to their image.
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Exactly. You would think legitimate rescues would be yelling the loudest to clamp down on the kooks and the corrupt in the dog rescue circles because of what it does to their image.
Trust me, the rescues do yell the loudest when another rescue is a front. There is this one "rescue" in town that keeps getting ACO called for animal abuse. I use rescue in quotes because they aren't a real rescue, just have it in their name. Many of the local good rescues have been calling about the bad rescue, but like every other ACO in the south, they are over worked and with limited resources.
^^This is true. Rescues and shelters alike will speak up if a "rescue" becomes a hoarding or brokering situation, or doesn't take good care of its animals. When issues are more borderline, it becomes more difficult. To make public complaints that other organizations have poor adoption policies in place when animals are receiving proper care could reflect badly on the group doing the complaining-as if every time you walked into Target their employees said, oh you're smart to come here instead of Walmart where they sell poor quality products yadda yadda, and Target put out press releases about how awful Walmart is (bad example I know but it's early and you get my point I hope!). Adoption policies are subjective to a point, as there can be a fine line between being careful to get a good owner, and thinking almost no one is good enough. Somewhere in the middle, reasonable rejections of adopters can be misconstrued. That makes it dicey for other organizations to judge. I say this as someone firmly on the side of the organizations who work hard to get all of the animals into good homes, as quickly as they can be found.
Exactly. You would think legitimate rescues would be yelling the loudest to clamp down on the kooks and the corrupt in the dog rescue circles because of what it does to their image.
We do when we can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcatp
Trust me, the rescues do yell the loudest when another rescue is a front. There is this one "rescue" in town that keeps getting ACO called for animal abuse. I use rescue in quotes because they aren't a real rescue, just have it in their name. Many of the local good rescues have been calling about the bad rescue, but like every other ACO in the south, they are over worked and with limited resources.
This^^^
And then the law doesn't support those who see abuse/neglect and so what if it does? Even where the abuse is flagrant, the penalties are so minimal as to be a slap on the wrist with a feather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by subject2change
^^This is true. Rescues and shelters alike will speak up if a "rescue" becomes a hoarding or brokering situation, or doesn't take good care of its animals. When issues are more borderline, it becomes more difficult. To make public complaints that other organizations have poor adoption policies in place when animals are receiving proper care could reflect badly on the group doing the complaining-as if every time you walked into Target their employees said, oh you're smart to come here instead of Walmart where they sell poor quality products yadda yadda, and Target put out press releases about how awful Walmart is (bad example I know but it's early and you get my point I hope!). Adoption policies are subjective to a point, as there can be a fine line between being careful to get a good owner, and thinking almost no one is good enough. Somewhere in the middle, reasonable rejections of adopters can be misconstrued. That makes it dicey for other organizations to judge. I say this as someone firmly on the side of the organizations who work hard to get all of the animals into good homes, as quickly as they can be found.
Maybe the rescue group issue depends on where you live. I'm in the PNW, & it is virtually impossible to get a dog from a breed specific rescue. Before finding our Lab at the Humane Society, I was actually thinking of driving to my native SoCal to get another dog from the rescue group that we had adopted from before, isn't that crazy?? I don't want to have to go to a breeder...all of my dogs for 40 yrs. have been rescues, & had long & happy lives with us. Experienced dog owners should not have to jump hoops to love a dog.
Maybe the rescue group issue depends on where you live. I'm in the PNW, & it is virtually impossible to get a dog from a breed specific rescue. Before finding our Lab at the Humane Society, I was actually thinking of driving to my native SoCal to get another dog from the rescue group that we had adopted from before, isn't that crazy?? I don't want to have to go to a breeder...all of my dogs for 40 yrs. have been rescues, & had long & happy lives with us. Experienced dog owners should not have to jump hoops to love a dog.
I know the rescue I work with here in the southeast will adopt dogs to any area of the country. Transport is always an issue, but the area with dog overpopulation wants to adopt dogs.
^^^
Finding that out too. I live in ID, trying to get a breed specific in WA state. They have ok'ed me per a review from the local breed rescue (I fostered a dog for them once), but they keep screwing around. I keep asking what the next process is and so far, no reply to that exact question.
They have two dogs that fit the perfectly (if the information is correct), and I am willing to drive the eight hours to get one, stay a few days as necessary. But no replies to exact questions. Almost like they don't want to say no, but are making it next to impossible to work out a solution.
I would go with the local rescue if they had a male of the right age and temperament.
I'm puzzled about people who seem to think that Humane Societies and SPCA's are not rescue organizations.
There are only two types of entities that deal with homeless animals:
1. Municipal shelters, paid for with tax dollars, they are generally open admission, the animals have very short time limits, fees are usually low and it is easy to obtain a pet from them. The animals get little to no vet care while there. The adopter must take on that cost and responsibility for themselves. Often the only thing they can tell you about the animal is that it was a stray or an owner surrender, but not whether it will be good with your kids or or cat or is housebroken, etc. Many do a great job of trying to find homes for the critters in their facility, have websites, FB pages, etc. and some are merely short term warehouses and a high percentage of the animals are euthanized after a short time. Some work with rescue groups and try to move as many adoptable animals as possible and some don't even allow rescues to pull any of the animals, or limit the number and charge them the same fee as any adopter.
The first priority and focus of government run animal control is public safety, second is to investigate cases of abuse or neglect or animals that might pose a danger or are injured or running loose in places with leash laws. Rehoming animals in need is a lower priority. This is as it should be, our communities do need to insure that we are safe from dangerous dogs and that rules and regs are adhered to.
2. The second type of entity is privately funded and it was created to care for animals in need of new homes. They may be large and have a bricks and mortar shelter and have names that include the words Humane Society or SPCA and have paid staff or they may be much smaller, be entirely run by volunteers, are limited admission, foster based, may be breed or species specific, higher fees help to cover the costs of vetting and routine supplies and food. Animals are kept until a home is found or possibly sent on to other rescue organizations.
In some locations a private group may have a contract with the city or county to run the day to day operations of the physical shelter that is owned by the govt, or they may own a shelter and have a contract to house the animals that are in the custody of animal control. After an animals time is up the custody of it may transfer to the rescue group. Sometimes these sorts of arrangements work well and sometimes not. I've seen two that were dissolved because the rescue group was partially subsidizing the govt unit or because of fundamental differences in focus and policy.
So when people on this thread have suggested that those who are looking to adopt forget about rescues and go to the SPCA or HS shelter instead they are actually saying go to a different rescue group, generally a larger one than the smaller rescues.
Rescue groups may spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to treat a litter of pups with parvo, a batch of kittens with sever respiratory infections, a heart worm positive dog or a horse that has been abused and nearly starved to death. Public monies simply can not be allocated for such efforts. They often also do such things as run rabies vaccination clinics, low cost spay/neuter, TRN of feral cats, etc.
As for those who complain about the fact they they may apply to a rescue and not even get any response, well, have you or anyone you know, ever applied for a job with a company that had even one PAID staffer doing HR work and not even gotten a response? It may be that the rescue doesn't reply because that dog or cat was adopted out last week, they just don't have enough volunteers to keep the website or FB page up to date. Yeah, it would be nice if they at least sent a note to say sorry but it's a low priority when they are understaffed.
Maybe someday there will be so few animals in need of new homes that there will no longer be a need for private rescues but until such time be thankful that there are so many people trying to save the lives of wonderful pets.
I am a my wits end and about ready to throw in the towel on adopting a dog through a rescue group. I have emailed a few about dogs I am interested in....never heard anything back. I was asking them if the dog I was interested in was going to be at their adoption event they were having so you would think they could at least tell me that.
Then I find one that I am really interested in and email a rescue and ask them a little more about her. All I get back (almost right away actually) is I need to fill out an application. OK - I don't know why I need to fill out an application just to have you answer a few questions but I really like this dog so I go ahead and do it. About 10 minutes after I submit the application I get an email asking if I am open on Monday to meet the dog. I wrote back and told them that I had a few questions about the dog before I met her to make sure I am not wasting anyones time. I had about 5 questions about the dog. they were pretty basic questions like how long the dog had been with the rescue and things like that. I NEVER heard anything back from them. I am sorry, did it ANNOY you that I had a few questions about the dog? I mean, I answered about 100 of them (some very personal) so that you would actually communicate with me and now you cannot even answer some questions? WTH is with these people?
This last one is the 4th rescue group in the area that I have try to contact and I am about done. I don't want to go the breeder route but I am so sick of this! I just want a puppy for my family for crying out loud!
I just read your post today, so I am entering the conversation late. I have NOT read all of the replies, so if my reply echoes others, please excuse me.
Firstly, the people who operate rescue groups are all volunteers, and it is a VERY hard job. The hardest job of all is just finding foster homes whilst the animals are waiting to find forever homes. Do not be discouraged by lack of communication via email. These folks are incredibly busy with not only their jobs, children, extended families, their own animals, but also their foster animals. If you are truly interested in a dog, then show up at the meet and greet. If the dog you are interested in is not there, then you at least can meet some of the volunteers and ask your questions.
I suppose the most important thing to realise is this is NOT about YOU. It is about the DOG, just as adoption of a child is about the child. Think about it. You should be adopting a dog because you know you can give him/her a good, loving, forever home and not simply because a puppy would amuse your children for a while. Whilst I am at it, I might as well ask do you have the budget for a dog? Do you realise how much annual vet care costs? What if the animals becomes ill? My dog has allergies and has occasionally had other issues come up. This last twelve months alone her vet bills (including her annual exam and shots) have approached $1,000, and I can assure you that the vet bills only increase substantially as the dog becomes a senior citizen. I spent over $6,000 on vet bills over the last couple of years of my last dog's life alone.
There is also the issue of cost of food. I feed an excellent quality food. A 33 lb. bag costs me roughly $55 per month. She also takes monthly medication to prevent heart worms (a MUST for all dogs) and control fleas. You have to consider incidental costs, too, such as shampoo, getting the dog's nails dremmelled and glands expressed if it has a problem expressing them on its own as does my dog. Puppies need toys to chew on, too, and ALL dogs need at least two hours of daily exercise. Do you have the time and inclination to do all of this?
A dog is a living, breathing, feeling being, and as such, it requires all the care and love that a child requires. Please do not adopt any animal if you cannot fully meet ALL of its needs. To do so would be both tragic and immoral.
Last edited by the_little_truth_writer; 04-11-2015 at 09:14 AM..
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