Help me understand...

[Brandi]

A few years ago a very good friend of mine decided she wanted a Siberian Husky.  I forced her into doing plenty of research on the breed so she knew what she was getting into.  She was a novice dog owner and she always loved how magical the Husky's looked and fell in love.  After months and months of research, she decided the Husky was the right dog for her.  Having 2 younger children, she did not want a puppy, but wanted younger adult dog.  She and I searched many rescue sites and found a few dogs that sounded like they would fit in her home. This rescue was a very large, very well known rescue about 3 hrs from where we live.  She called several times asking about the application process and emailed the lady that runs the rescue.  About 6 weeks later, no response.  She called and emailed a few more times and finally got a return call.  The lady emailed her the application and my friend had it filled out and emailed back to her the next day with pictures of her home, fenced in yard that she just had fenced in and her whole family.  Another 5 weeks go by with no response.

 So on the phone she was, calling, calling, calling.  The lady did call her back 7 weeks after the time they received her application. She told my friend that she was approved pending the in home investigation. She also kind of nastily said to her " you know we all do this as volunteer work and we are very busy"  The lady said she would call her and set up the home visit.  Another several weeks go by and nothing.  No call, no response.  Soooo, my friend again called and emailed and got no response at all, and I mean still to this day, no response and that was over 2 yrs ago.  Are they soooo busy that they can't even do a follow up on applications??  My friend got fed up and went through a breeder and ended up getting a puppy anyhow.  Now through this whole process, the husky's she was looking at, had many status changes on their website, like "needs a home ASAP, rescue is paying a kennel to keep them, because they are sooo full, they have no room"   and similar stories. Now let me ask you, if you are running a rescue, and you have so many dogs who need homes and are paying a kennel a daily fee to keep some of them, why wouldn't you follow up with applicants??  My friend was extremely aggravated with the whole process and gave up with the rescue group.

Now, I have a sickness of creeping around on petfinder for doodles. I found a doodle I fell in love with and thought maybe, just maybe I knew someone who would adopt her. I did some calling around found a friend who would be willing to drive 800 miles to go adopt her, but she was told no. "will not adopt to out of state", or "must live within ( X) amount of mile" etc. WHY?? I understand the concept of making sure the dogs go to a good home and everything, but, if you have someone willing to drive 800 miles to go adopt a dog that obviously needs a home, why wouldn't you at least consider it?? With technology today, they could do a video interview or something to at least get the feel of a person before you just tell them NO, with no questions asked. When you limit your space with these adoptions, you are limiting your adopters I would think. I know there is alot of dogs and puppies out there needing homes badly, but I feel some of these rescues out there almost make it impossible to rescue a poor baby in need. Help me understand, I just don't get it.........

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Understand perfectly, Karen.  And furthermore, you can't actually pay anyone enough to do the work the volunteers do for love. And again, you are right, that a rejection response is never happily received or believed.  People who are honest find it hard to believe that others aren't  and those of us who take our dog parenting seriously, find it impossible to believe that others don't.

[Brandi]

Thank you all for the reponse, and I do, for the most part, understand philosophy of limiting the radius.  Like Lynn said, she likes to do home checks, which I think is wonderful.  BUT, like the issue with the doodle.  For instance, that doodle was listed as being in a poodle-mix rescue.  I know that there is a doodle rescue that is out of Indianapolis, which is only a few hours south of here.  Why couldn't they do a "chinese telephone" like approach to have the closest rescue do the home checks and give the feedback to the other rescue etc?  I do understand that these rescues are all volunteer and they do it for the love of dogs. But, if everyone could work together more, it would be like a domino effect, when more of these babies can be moved from the shelter, to the rescue, and in their permanent homes quicker and it would save more lives.  

And back to the Husky rescue.  I made sure my friend knew that husky's are escape artists.  She spent big money on her fence making it 6 ft, concrete all the way around at the bottom to prevent digging.  She did all this before ever contacting the rescue the very first time. Like Carol said, some places give the brush off instead of just being honest and telling them no. But When my friend did talk to that lady and she said she said her application was approved and she would set up the in home check.  She then told my friend that one of their foster ppl lived just 15 miles away and she would come to do the home check.  Then nothing.  I could understand if they did the home check and then didn't approve her for some reason, great, but at least follow up on things.  She was quite certain at that time that it would be easier and less stressful to just adopt a child instead, and we had a little giggle at that, because it felt that way, when we were almost 8 months dealing with this and waiting........but in the end, she went through a breeder and got a puppy, Kuma, and she is happy with her little guy who is gonna be 2 in january.  He's a good dog, they are a happy family, so I guess everything happens for a reason.  

The whole point of this forum, is, I would love to see more rescues really connect, communicate and work together more and start moving these dogs into their permanent homes.  Letting someone adopt outside a certain radius, or from another state doesn't mean they aren't good dog owners, and the could contact local rescues and help each other out by doing home checks for each other.  I would think if someone is willing to drive 800 miles one way to save a life, it should have at least been considered.  More communication would seem to open the doors more for some of these poor babies who need homes.  

I hope I don't offend anyone with this discussion, just hoping something can change, that's all

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Most rescues do not work together in the Doodle Rescue World or any other breed rescue. In fact, many times it is the opposite. But we'll leave that for another time. It is bewildering sometimes but the reality.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Again, I cannot speak for other rescues. Each group has their own criteria and policies, and while many rescue groups do work together to help save a dog who is at risk, when dogs are in private foster homes, they are safe.

In the case of the doodle, many rescues have approved adopters waiting for dogs. I don't know what a "Chinese telephone like approach" is, but chances are great that they already had several dozen local people interested in the dog. It seems unreasonable to me to expect a volunteer organization to make exceptions to their policies and stretch their very limited resources even further, not to mention asking another group of volunteers to do so as well, in order to send a dog 800 miles away when there is an equally good home (or two or three) available locally. I do think that is focusing solely on what a particular person wants and not on what is best for the dog. Again, there is not a shortage of homes for doodles.

  It is also not in the dog's best interest to "move them out" quickly. Rehoming is very traumatic for most dogs, and it takes time for them to be evaluated so that any health or behavior issues can be determined, along with the best kind of situation for the dog. Without observing how the dog is around children, for example, you could not place him in a home with kids.

There are no doodles sitting in private rescue for long periods of time unless they have medical or behavioral issues. They are usually adopted out very quickly.

For that matter, the DRC does do adoptions long distance; I think our record is 2800 miles.

I hope you are not offended by this, but unless you are directly involved in rescue or can demonstrate that you are willing to get involved in helping to bring about any changes you would like to see, it isn't really fair to criticize the very thankless, selfless, and often heartbreaking work that others are doing voluntarily, with no benefit to themselves except for the satisfaction of helping a dog, and often at great sacrifice to their own families and dogs. I am extremely grateful to all of the volunteers all over the country, and especially to those involved in doodle rescue, for everything they do.  

 

 

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Karen that being said ... It takes very little to be polite to potential adopters. Especially if the otrganization wants more volunteers to assist in rescuing more at risk dogs. I had personal experience when we tried to adopt a doodle. It was like working with Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. One email or call would be sweetness & light the next would be nothing but podsu & vinegar. Then I got an email saying if I gave a "donation" to the organization it might help move the application along (and of I still had to pay full adoption fee). When I wouldn't agree to the extra donation my application was rejected on the grounds we didn't have someone at home 24/7. But every black cloud has a silver lining... We ended up buying Harlow from a reputable breeder, joined DK and found a reputable rescue organization like DRC inc. I truly think the first group I contacted were a bunch of scam artists.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I deleted my original reply because I think it was too emotional, and I think I've given enough information already.   

There's no question that there are a lot of less-than-reputable organizations out there calling themselves rescues. All the more reason to do your homework before calling, emailing, or applying. Look at the website, read the information, adoption fees, requirements, etc.

But people also need to realize that they are not the only ones who would like to adopt a doodle. We had one woman who wanted us to hold a 6 month old puppy in foster care for 6 months because she was taking her "dream vacation." So many people want you to bend the rules for them. There have to be policies in place and the policies have to be fair and consistent for everyone. They may not be to a potential adopter's liking, but they are designed to safeguard the dogs.

Some people seem to think they are doing you and the dog a favor by applying to adopt. They actually put this out there. Why are you applying for a rescue dog? "Out of the goodness of my heart."  One woman who said this was turned down because they had young kids, no fence, and had never had a dog before. She sent an email tearing me a new one, excuse my French, all about how she could afford to buy any dog she wanted but she was trying to do a good deed and take a dog that nobody wanted. (Mind you this is a dog for whom there are 40 other applications.) And how dare I deny this poor dog a decent home.

I had had enough, and sent back a very strongly worded email. And if you think my posts here can be candid, imagine what they might be like when I want to be rude.  And you know what? This woman sent me back a very sincere apology, in which she said she had no idea that there were so many people interested in adopting these dogs because "I thought large dogs were hard to place."

In the case of the rescue who wouldn't adopt the doodle out-of-state, I don't think politeness was the issue. It was just the out-of-state policy that seems to have been upsetting. But that is a very common policy. They want to meet the whole family, they want to observe the family with the dog, they want to see if other pets get along with the dog, they want to make sure everyone is on board, they want to do home visits, and they want the dog close enough so that they can recover him easily if things go wrong.

I hope everyone will try to understand that dogs who are in foster homes are not at risk or in danger, and any policies that most rescues have regarding adoptions are meant to ensure the best interests of the dog. 

Owning an adopted rescue dog is a blessing and a privilege. It's worth the trouble and time it takes to find the right one.

 

 

[Brandi]

Karen, Thank you for all your input on this.  I was not one bit offended by anything you said at all.  At least you were there to shine a light on things, Thank You.  I do have a better understanding now of how these rescues work and I greatly appreciate everyone comments. I have tried to work with a rescue twice now and it was a dead end both times, it's frustrating is all.  Thank you everyone, I hope we helped other people out there comprehend why things are done the way they are.  :)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am glad this discussion was posted here because it gave dk members who are not involved in rescue a chance to see why some things are the way they are.  Dk has enlightened many of us about responsible dog ownership, puppy mills, irresponsible breeding/rescues etc.  Ain't it grand? We should all be grateful to learn these things and become knowledgeable so that we can enlighten others.

[Becka]

I am also glad to see this discussion--I think it reminds us of the importance of foster homes for these doodles, and the wonderful work foster owners do. I really appreciate what Karen said about it not being in the dog's best interest to move them out quickly. For many if not most of these dogs, I imagine that the foster home is the first safe place they've ever been.

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

I totally understand this. We live in Canada, and most doodles up for adoption are out of the states. The border is about an hour away, but because we live in Canada, we can't adopt. It's very annoying.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Brandi, thank you for your understanding, and for posting this discussion. It's obviously an emotional topic for me. 

I, too, have been on the receiving end of a rescue group's rejection. My companion of 16 years had died, and I had been without a dog for almost 4 months, which is the longest period of not living with a dog I have experienced since i was 6 years old. I started searching Petfinder and put in applications with two local rescue groups. One did not have a dog who was a good match at the time, and the other had a dog I thought  was perfect for me, a smallish silver colored one year old poodle mix.

I did go through a long wait before anyone contacted me, and then I did feel like I was being given the run-around. The foster mom did not seem like the warmest person in the world and was very negative. However, I did make the final cut and an appointment was made for my entire family, including my 5 yr old grandson, to meet the dog at a local Pet Supply store. Two other families were also meeting the dog.

We 'fell in love", of course, and apparently we passed the audition, because the next step was for them to bring the dog to my home, to do the home visit and to see how the dog did with my cat. I went out and bought a toy for the dog, to have something for him to play with when he came over.

When the visit ended, I was told they were going to take him to visit the other family who was being considered, and they would let me know their decision after that. I am sure you can imagine how anxious I was. I had met him, had him in my home, played with him. My GS had held him.

And I didn't get him. They told me they chose the other family, because they had another small dog and the two dogs really hit it off together. You can imagine my disappointment. It seemed so unfair; this other family now had two dogs, and i still had none.

But the very next day, the first rescue called me to tell me about a labradoodle who had just come in the night before. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I will forever be grateful that I wasn't chosen for that little dog, lol.

And here's the other side of the story.

The first doodle I fostered for the DRC was an 11 month old cream colored F1B female who was owner relinquished. It was really a tragedy. This woman had lost her job and her home and had to move into her sister's apartment. There was no way she could take the dog. The puppy was from a pet store, and therefore there was no breeder to contact for help rehoming her. The owner was beyond heartbroken when she left her here with me. I was afraid she would have a car accident on the way home, she was crying so hard. It was clear she deeply loved her dog. 

She had asked me if I would let her know what kind of home the dog got, and knowing that we were national, expressed a concern about the dog being transported too far away. I promised her I would do my best to find a wonderful home in the general area.

As you can imagine, the applications poured in, from everywhere in the country. A non-shedding cream colored 11 month old female doodle? And this dog was a dream; no issues, she had clearly been loved. People as far away as New Mexico were begging to be allowed to come and get her.

But there were also tons of local applications. And I had promised a heartbroken owner, who could easily have sold this dog on CL and gotten some much needed cash but instead chose to do what was best for her dog, that I would place her as close to "home" as possible. I did not consider any of the long distance applications.

She has been living happily in Wisconsin for several years, with a doodle sister, and her mom is a member here.

It's hard, when we want something so badly and are rejected, to try to see the other side of things.

But if any of you were the one who had to give up your doodle, how careful and picky would you want the rescue to be about choosing her new home?