Fair Play Dogsindistress! Thanks from Bessie

Lauragoesmad

Hi all,
I'm so happy!!
Me and my parents have decided to keep our little foster, Bessie the beautiful staffie.
I would just like to tell everyone in the forum how helpful and dedicated the people at dogsindistress have been. Their brilliant work goes mostly unnoticed and I would like to give them all a big pat on the back!! If it wasn't for them, Bessie would be another statistic on the rediculous number of dogs that are put to sleep in this country every year. Instead she is beside me asleep on her blankey. She has just been spayed so her breeding days are over!

WELL DONE DOGSINDISTRESS!!!

seanybiker

aw she is gorgeous. Gone to hear all the gone work been done.

Lauragoesmad

Thanks, Seanybiker! I'm so happy!:D

Appleguy

Lovely little dog, best of luck with her.

On a personal note i think they could do better. I tried to contact them on several occasions over the last number of weeks and i have heard nothing.

Heres a tip for dogs in distress maybe if you answer the phone you might have more customers.

You've lost one here anyway. Got two beautiful new dogs today, elsewhere!

spiderdog

awwwwww thats fantastc, well done dogsindistress and wishing your years of fun with your girl:D:D:D

Lauragoesmad

Appleguy, they work with no government funding and no premises. They work totally on the basis of volunteers and fosters and really do do the best they can. The day I took Bessie home, they had 11 dogs taken into fostercare that were all going to be put to sleep. The running around that the foster co-ordinator had to do that day was mental! Do keep in mind that these people all have full time jobs, families and other things going on in their lives and still make time to do their best for these dogs. If you cant get through, try the forum on the website. In a perfect world, dogsindistress would have someone to answer the phone 24/7 but unfortunately all the volunteers have many other things going on.
I also think that you have ruined my thread saying what a good job they did with Bessie.
If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all!

abouttobebanned

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

Appleguy, they work with no government funding and no premises. They work totally on the basis of volunteers and fosters and really do do the best they can. The day I took Bessie home, they had 11 dogs taken into fostercare that were all going to be put to sleep. The running around that the foster co-ordinator had to do that day was mental! Do keep in mind that these people all have full time jobs, families and other things going on in their lives and still make time to do their best for these dogs. If you cant get through, try the forum on the website. In a perfect world, dogsindistress would have someone to answer the phone 24/7 but unfortunately all the volunteers have many other things going on.
I also think that you have ruined my thread saying what a good job they did with Bessie.
If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all!

I hate this attitude. I think appleguy applauds and appreciates the work they do as much as anyone else here, but doesn't he have a right to make a suggestion on how they could do even better? This "if you have nothing good to say, say nothing" attitude has been plaguing our country for years.

There's a local paper here that posts a picture of a dog each week that's been rescued by animal welfare...I saw one last week that i wanted and rang the number...no answer - for 3 days solid. Went on to their website found 2 other numbers, none of which were answered either.

Lauragoesmad

abouttobebanned wrote: »

I hate this attitude. I think appleguy applauds and appreciates the work they do as much as anyone else here, but doesn't he have a right to make a suggestion on how they could do even better?

Yes, he does, but not in MY thread about the good work that they do. Make your own thread about how people don't answer phones but stop ruining mine!

ISDW

Aww, thats fantastic news for Bessie and your family. I remember the mad panic on that day, trying to get those dogs to safety, and how you stepped in the save her. Brilliant ending to the story.

As someone who runs a small rescue, I can only say that it is very, very tough to please everybody. I run the rescue, a boarding kennels and have children and a home to run, so sometimes it may take me a few days to get back to people. I start work at 7.30 in the morning, letting the dogs out, and have just put the last dogs to bed about half an hour ago, so please have some patience with the volunteers at DID and the other rescues around the country.

Sorry, don't want to spoil your thread either, but I think DID do amazing work as well, unfortunately they have too many days like that one to deal with.

abouttobebanned

Lauragoesmad alright...

Apologies.

Appleguy

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

Appleguy, they work with no government funding and no premises. They work totally on the basis of volunteers and fosters and really do do the best they can. The day I took Bessie home, they had 11 dogs taken into fostercare that were all going to be put to sleep. The running around that the foster co-ordinator had to do that day was mental! Do keep in mind that these people all have full time jobs, families and other things going on in their lives and still make time to do their best for these dogs. If you cant get through, try the forum on the website. In a perfect world, dogsindistress would have someone to answer the phone 24/7 but unfortunately all the volunteers have many other things going on.
I also think that you have ruined my thread saying what a good job they did with Bessie.
If you can't say something nice, say nothing at all!

I haven't ruined your thread. I've given my opinion (which i'm entitled to do) on dogs in distress based on my experience over the last few weeks with them.

I already know pretty much everything you said in your post already and ill just say the following:

I know they're volunteers, but being a volunteer to me means that you should have a real passion for it.
All i'm saying is when i'm volunteering for my organization i put my heart and sole into it and don't use the excuse that i've a full time job get in the way.
If i'm working for dogs in distress for x amount of hours a week i'm working for them thats it. If that phone rings i'll answer it.

And i'm pointing out the fact that if these people had been more proactive in relation to talking to me i would more than likely be in the possession of two of their dogs at this very moment. I know its difficult to get volunteers but when nobody even bothers answering the phone maybe its time to check and see if the "volunteers" you have are worth a ****e in the first place.

Its absolutely ridiculous that having filled in an 4 page adoption questioner and phoned on several occasions to get no answer or callback is just plane rude when your trying and willing to pay €300 to take two dogs into a loving home.

Call me Socket

Congratulations Laura, very happy for you!!
I see her collar is off....is she leaving herself alone?

DID do great work and deserve every bit of praise they get

Appleguy

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

Yes, he does, but not in MY thread about the good work that they do. Make your own thread about how people don't answer phones but stop ruining mine!

Oh and i don't open threads to badmouth a voluntary organization. Just thought your view of dogs in distress was very distorted and didn't want our fellow boardsie's to only hear the word of one of their voluntary adopt a dog staff/people.

Call me Socket

You're entitled to share your experience, but Appleguy the thread is about Lauragoesmad having decided to keep the dog she was fostering....it's not a 'Lets hear of your DID experience' thread.... you're hijacking- open your own...

Appleguy

Call me Socket wrote: »

You're entitled to share your experience, but Appleguy the thread is about Lauragoesmad having decided to keep the dog she was fostering....it's not a 'Lets hear of your DID experience' thread.... you're hijacking- open your own...

No no i'm finished. If you look back at my first post the first thing i did was congratulate her.
I got two new dogs today and can assure you i know how she feels.

Good luck Laura

Call me Socket

They're Poms yeah? Very cute...congrats:)
Did you adopt them from a rescue?

Lauragoesmad

Appleguy wrote: »

Its absolutely ridiculous that having filled in an 4 page adoption questioner and phoned on several occasions to get no answer or callback is just plane rude when your trying and willing to pay €300 to take two dogs into a loving home.

This isn't why this thread was opened, do you not get my drift here?

Appleguy wrote: »

Oh and i don't open threads to badmouth a voluntary organization. Just thought your view of dogs in distress was very distorted and didn't want our fellow boardsie's to only hear the word of one of their voluntary adopt a dog staff/people.

You just hi-jack other people's threads to do it, thats much better!:rolleyes:
Also, this is the first time I have ever fostered for them. You presuming that I'm staff is a bit of an assumption TBH. And you know what they say about assumptions!

woofie87

Laura you are a star and gorgeous Bessie is a lucky girl!

Calhoun

Lauragoesmad wrote: »

This isn't why this thread was opened, do you not get my drift here?



You just hi-jack other people's threads to do it, thats much better!:rolleyes:
Also, this is the first time I have ever fostered for them. You presuming that I'm staff is a bit of an assumption TBH. And you know what they say about assumptions!

Im confused you posted on a discussion board ? what did you expect ? High fiving and congrats for adopting a dog ?

I dont agree with all of what appleguy has said but he is highlighting an issue with their service and if anything potential adopters can be aware of potential constraints DID have when contacting them.

Would it be worse if the negative perception spread and people stopped contacting them all together? At least in this discussion you can refute and give valid reasons for any problems.

Whispered

Congrats Laura, well done. Hope you'll be very happy with your new family member.

I just want to say Laura, you had 1 foster dog from them and you kept her, you had a great experience. I know people who WONT deal with them again, whether fostering or trying to adopt because their experience wasn't quite so good.

Personally I think they do great things and their hearts are certainly in the right place.

Ulanzi

Email is a good way to contact dogs in distress in my experience. You can't be manning a phone all the time in a voluntary organisation. We adopted our gorgeous fella from them in January and I was well impressed with them. It all happened within a fortnight of contacting them. It's a voluntary operation which is something I can't get over and I'm completely delighted with how it's all worked out. Adopting a dog has its advantages and disadvantages. We didn't have to house train our fella, but bad experiences had made him a bit neurotic. It's brilliant to see the change in him since he has settled in. I'd highly recommend them to be honest.

Hellrazer

Look will you lot give the bitching over.
Theres the same few users names who keep popping up in every thread where an argument starts and frankly Im getting sick of it.

This is a final warning.

If you lot dont calm it down Im going to start banning the lot of you.

Lauragoesmad

Thanks, Ulanzi,
What you said is exactly my point. They do the best they can and people are giving them crap for it. They try so hard and really do have the best interests of the dogs at heart!
Any pics of your dog?

kazza90210

well done and congrats on saving her from being pts! it was great that all those dogs that day got to safety, hope u guys have many years of happiness together

beth-lou

Congratulations! I love to hear of dogs being rescued from shelters.
I adopted a dog from dogs in distress a year and a half ago and while they may not be super efficient on the phone, they were great in the forums and when I emailed them. It took about 2/3 weeks to actually get to meet our dog and another week before we took him home. Yes it takes time, but I understood the pressure they were under.

I then fostered a dog last summer who we ended up keeping as he was such a dote and got on so well with the first dog we got from them. They were very quick to get the dog out of the pound and over to me as he was going to be put to sleep that day. I suppose they have to direct their resources where they can, when they can. I would fully support them.

If you want a dog instantly go straight to the pound. You will be taking a bit of pressure off them by doing that. But they are doing the best they can, with the resources they have.

Whispered

Appleguy wrote: »

I know they're volunteers, but being a volunteer to me means that you should have a real passion for it.
All i'm saying is when i'm volunteering for my organization i put my heart and sole into it and don't use the excuse that i've a full time job get in the way.
If i'm working for dogs in distress for x amount of hours a week i'm working for them thats it. If that phone rings i'll answer it.

In fairness there are no "x amount of hours per week", volunteers do what they can when they can and tend not to divide their time into hours they do charity work and hours they "have off".

I rang one of the girls in the middle of the day once, she didn't answer, when she rang me back, she apologised. She couldn't answer because she was asleep. She had taken in a litter of week old pups, whos mother did not survive. The woman was getting up at 2 hourly intervals to feed the pups, all the while looking after her young kids. She was managing on sleeping in intervals, whenever her busy schedule allowed for it, snatching ten mins here and there. She sounded absolutely shattered and STILL offered to drive over an hour out to me to help me out.

People get frustrated trying to get through to them, but every single one of their volunteers work harder than you'd imagine.

(Not to mention the terrible emotional stress of being around the pound environment all the time must be very tiring too.)

boomerang

Appleguy wrote: »

Heres a tip for dogs in distress maybe if you answer the phone you might have more customers.

How about thinking about it a different way, Appleguy? Maybe if DogsInDistress had more funding, they could pay someone to sit and answer the phone all day, rather than trying to grab the phone while trying to do all the other work rescue involves at the same time?

Or maybe if we hadn't such a dog over-population crisis, DIDs phones wouldn't be constantly engaged, making it difficult to get through?

I work for another rescue, we answer the phones while also doing the daily feed/clean/poo-pick/vaccinate/deal with visitors etc etc at the same time. If you ring us, the person at the other end is usually doing three things at once while talking to you! We recognise the importance of being contactable at all times and that is why we strive so damn hard to answer every call. Every evening a volunteer takes the mobile phone home with them in case there is an emergency. That's after a full day's work and they could be called out anywhere at any hour of the night to an injured animal.

Perhaps DID share our problem - we get so many calls each day - 50 or so on average from 9am to 5pm - the phone is frequently engaged.

Just trying to give you a different perspective on it.

kazza90210

Whats the point in all this bitching, laura just wanted to share her good news about having a new family member that just happened to be from DID.

All charities try there best to make people happy but their number one concern is for the animals and so in putting the animals first some people are going to be put second and may not get the "service" they want. Im sure if the charities had an never ending budget there would be a top class service and everyone would be happy, but as we all know thats not the case and I for one would prefer if they put the animals first and worried about the people later.

Dixie Chick

Ah your new doggie is lovely!! You must be delighted with him!!

Not wanting to get into the DID not answering phones debate cos I can understand that they probably are up the walls when there. I dont think you can question soemones dedication to an organisation just cos they cant answer a phone, its not a "SERVICE" in the same manner as a profit maknig organisation.

But ayway, Aplleguy, was there an answer message there that was possible to leave you message and have someone ring you back?

Appleguy

Dixie Chick wrote: »

But ayway, Aplleguy, was there an answer message there that was possible to leave you message and have someone ring you back?

No every time i rang the phone just rang out. Various times they take calls from 9 to 9. I rang three times in one day and my phone is not on private number so i just cant understand how i wasn't contacted back.

I will say when i sent an e-mail in they were quick to respond to that and sent me adoption forms. I filled in the forms and had it back to them within 20 minutes and then never heard from them again.

Maybe i just had a bad experience, was just frustrating considering i did all i could to get 2 dogs out of them, visited As***n pound and still ended up with nothing.

Anyway i'm very happy with what i got elsewhere so no complaining.