Can't rehome a dog from Dogs Trust because we work

F-Stop

We decided to head to Dogs Trust today to take a look, find out what the procedure was for rehoming, but not really planning on getting a new dog just yet.

We took a look around, filled out the form, and then had a few questions. One of the staff members came to talk to us, and was very friendly and helpful. It turns out that because we both work and that any potential dogs would be outside while we are at work (from about 07:00 to 15:30 four days a week) that we aren't suitable for giving a rescue dog a new home.

I was a bit surprised. We're offering a good home where any dog would be loved and cared for and would free up one or two places for other dogs to find a new home. OK, for a third of the day they would be outside, but for the other two thirds they would be either inside with us or... outside going for walks.

Yes, ideally this wouldn't be the situation, but ideally I'd win the lottery and ideally I wouldn't have to go to work everyday. I am confused about the claim that they have rehomed 1,000 dogs in the past year; is it just that people are lying on their form in order to rehome. I can provide a good loving home for one or two dogs, but by being honest I cannot 'pass'.

By the way, this post isn't intended to bash Dog's Trust. I have a lot of respect for them and all the rescue charities and volunteers. They all do great work. It just seems to me that this decision is counter productive to their ends; I'd rather rehome a rescue dog than resort to a dogdy donedeal ad.

TooManyDogs

Why not head out to Dogs Aid? They're only a few miles from Dogs Trust and judge each person on a case by case basis. Maybe they wouldnt give you a border collie type dog if you work nearly full time but there are plenty of dogs that would suit you and they'll match one for you.

maringo

That seems to be a ridiculous rule with so many animals needing a good home. I have had pets over many years while working. They all lived to be a ripe old age and I think they enjoyed their lives. In an ideal world we could be with our pets 24/7 but however we live in the real world with the need to earn a living. I never found any problems - my cat and dog were company for each other - they seemed quite happy while I was at work and were well fed and very much loved. Loneliness might be a problem if you had only one pet but I think once they have a companion and their comforts they are quite contented.

Graces7

It is the "outside" part that would worry me, frankly. Inside is where our dogs are whenever we are out. Safe and away from bad weather and thieves.

MyKeyG

Graces7 wrote: »

It is the "outside" part that would worry me, frankly. Inside is where our dogs are whenever we are out. Safe and away from bad weather and thieves.

Yeah me too. I'm 100% against dogs being left outside when we're out but that's a personal thing it's still an odd reason not to give a dog a home.

Dogs are usually well behaved but if you were worried about it making a mess then is there an area of the house that you could restrict the dog to such as the kitchen and close the doors to living/bed rooms or carpeted areas?

Graces7

MyKeyG wrote: »

Yeah me too. I'm 100% against dogs being left outside when we're out but that's a personal thing it's still an odd reason not to give a dog a home.

Dogs are usually well behaved but if you were worried about it making a mess then is there an area of the house that you could restrict the dog to such as the kitchen and close the doors to living/bed rooms or carpeted areas?

Too many dogs in Ireland are left out chained up.... Hence maybe the rule. And yes to all you say. we could never leave our dogs unsecure when we are out-period.

And we have never come home to a mess of any kind.

F-Stop

I appreciate all your replies and opinions.

Firstly, I would never chain a dog up.

My preference would be to restrict a dog less rather than more. My view, and it is just my opinion, is that there is far more to stimulate a dog mentally being outside where there are ever changing smells and noises and things to investigate. As long as there is a reasonable standard of comfort, then that seems a lot less boring than being restricted to a single room indoors. Of course this isn't a hard and fast rule that the dog can only ever be inside when I am home and cases such as extreme weather or illness would be obvious exceptions.

Also, I am not concerned about returning home to a mess, though I'd find it difficult to reconcile training a dog to know that it is wrong to go to the toilet inside and then removing all other options for it.

Again, the above are just my opinions and I am open to changing them, especially if it can be shown that leaving a dog outside during the day is detrimental to its wellbeing. Perhaps I am missing something, or I am a horrible monster and unaware of it, but I still think it is strange to find it preferable to deny a dog a caring home where it will get lots of love and attention based on this criteria. I am still baffled by how they can be rehoming 20 dogs a week as my situation is not unique, but I suppose ultimately the good thing is that they are rehoming them.

ppink

OP did they do a home check at all?

portgirl123

my worry about a dog been left outside all day would be the chance of him/her been stolen. Maybe this is one of their reasons. im not saying i agree with them just thinking why it could be. did u ask them why?

F-Stop

ppink wrote: »

OP did they do a home check at all?

No, didn't get to that stage.

Graces7

F-Stop wrote: »

I appreciate all your replies and opinions.

Firstly, I would never chain a dog up.

My preference would be to restrict a dog less rather than more. My view, and it is just my opinion, is that there is far more to stimulate a dog mentally being outside where there are ever changing smells and noises and things to investigate. As long as there is a reasonable standard of comfort, then that seems a lot less boring than being restricted to a single room indoors. Of course this isn't a hard and fast rule that the dog can only ever be inside when I am home and cases such as extreme weather or illness would be obvious exceptions.

Also, I am not concerned about returning home to a mess, though I'd find it difficult to reconcile training a dog to know that it is wrong to go to the toilet inside and then removing all other options for it.

Again, the above are just my opinions and I am open to changing them, especially if it can be shown that leaving a dog outside during the day is detrimental to its wellbeing. Perhaps I am missing something, or I am a horrible monster and unaware of it, but I still think it is strange to find it preferable to deny a dog a caring home where it will get lots of love and attention based on this criteria. I am still baffled by how they can be rehoming 20 dogs a week as my situation is not unique, but I suppose ultimately the good thing is that they are rehoming them.

Would this, please, be your first dog? So much of this is caring, but as many have said in other threads, dogs are not people. So words like "boring" do not necessarily apply. YOU are the dog's real stimulus and most seem to sleep when you are out.

it is often a case of safety simply and we would be wary of rehoming a dog in this kind of circumstance.

NO WAY would we ever leave our dogs anywhere but safe indoors; they are after all our most precious "possessions".

As for toilet training. That was my only real worry when we brought collie indoors and never a problem. She first slept in the back porch and in fact would "tidy" any leaves etc into a corner.

mosi

From the Dogs Trust website rehoming criteria:

"The majority of our adult dogs are homed as house pets and we prefer them
not to be kept kennelled outside on a permanent basis. However the wellbeing of the dog is our principle concern and we do on occasion look to
rehome dogs that may have a history of previously living outdoors. If this is
the case then a home visit will determine if the outdoor accommodation is of a sufficient standard. The dog must never be kept on a tether/chain and the use of electric fences is not acceptable."

"Puppies will not be rehomed to live outside."

Thw site mentions nothing about working hours etc., so I would guess that the fact that you intend to leave the dog outside when you are not there is the main issue.

Many smaller types do better inside (as long as they are given adequate walks etc), while a rescue greyhound will be the ultimate couch potato. Maybe you should consider getting a dog that is suitable for indoor living and, if you are concerned, you could get a dog walker to come and take him/her out while you are at work.

planetX

F-Stop wrote: »

I appreciate all your replies and opinions.

Firstly, I would never chain a dog up.

My preference would be to restrict a dog less rather than more. My view, and it is just my opinion, is that there is far more to stimulate a dog mentally being outside where there are ever changing smells and noises and things to investigate. As long as there is a reasonable standard of comfort, then that seems a lot less boring than being restricted to a single room indoors. Of course this isn't a hard and fast rule that the dog can only ever be inside when I am home and cases such as extreme weather or illness would be obvious exceptions.

Also, I am not concerned about returning home to a mess, though I'd find it difficult to reconcile training a dog to know that it is wrong to go to the toilet inside and then removing all other options for it.

Again, the above are just my opinions and I am open to changing them, especially if it can be shown that leaving a dog outside during the day is detrimental to its wellbeing. Perhaps I am missing something, or I am a horrible monster and unaware of it, but I still think it is strange to find it preferable to deny a dog a caring home where it will get lots of love and attention based on this criteria. I am still baffled by how they can be rehoming 20 dogs a week as my situation is not unique, but I suppose ultimately the good thing is that they are rehoming them.

I think it's a mistake to assume that it's less boring for a dog to be outside. Your dog will be sleeping and waiting for you to come home, and the least stressful and safest place to do that is inside. My dog would be very distressed by being left outside all day, would probably be barking or whining non-stop, and as others have mentioned there is a big risk of theft - doesn't matter if it's a mutt, there are people who will take any dog. Even when I'm at home my dog doesn't enjoy being in the garden on her own, the pack is everything and you are your dogs pack leader, and the house is your packs den.

Whispered

planetX wrote: »

I think it's a mistake to assume that it's less boring for a dog to be outside. Your dog will be sleeping and waiting for you to come home, and the least stressful and safest place to do that is inside. My dog would be very distressed by being left outside all day, would probably be barking or whining non-stop, and as others have mentioned there is a big risk of theft - doesn't matter if it's a mutt, there are people who will take any dog. Even when I'm at home my dog doesn't enjoy being in the garden on her own, the pack is everything and you are your dogs pack leader, and the house is your packs den.

+1

OP I can see how you'd think this to be the case but it's usually not. Within a few hours they will have explored their garden completly and then just wait for you to come home. The same as they would in their kitchen.

My fella hates to be in the garden on his own, but just accepts if we do put him out for a few hours every now and then. He loves it though if we are out with him and spends hours sun bathing if we're sitting out. As soon as we go in, he prefers to be in too.

andrewire

I agree with the OP. Such a stupid rule and so many dogs in need of loving families. What's best? To put dogs down because of a silly rule or to give dogs to families that will take care of them? In this day and age, who can afford to be at home all day? If your garden is secure, leaving a dog outside for a few hours is not a problem, as long as you can provide them with a good dog kennel or shelter.

Discodog

I can see both sides of the argument. I do not have a secure garden & I work. My three dogs live in the house & get two good walks every day. So I could not rehome from some rescues.

However I can understand that organisations have to set some basic rules. Anyone who rescues will tell you that their biggest concern is that a dog goes to a good home. Many of the dogs in rescues have had an upsetting time & it is essential for their future that they have a settled new life.

The Dogs Trust rehome about 16,000 dogs per year with 1000 being rehomed this year in Ireland. That's a staggering 40 rehomes per day !. Their rehoming "rules" are based on a vast amount of experience. It is understandable that such a huge organisation has some inflexibility.

Many smaller local rescues may have no problem with your working but I suspect that the "outside" aspect will be the concern. Dogs do not need constant stimulation. Like all of of us they need some chill time. Being outside is hugely exciting especially when you bear in mind a dogs heightened sense of smell & hearing. But you may not be aware that your dog is barking all day, getting soaked, getting cold, killing a neighbours cat or being injured etc etc. Being indoors doesn't give total protection but it is much safer. My three dogs (two big & one medium) take up little space. I have set up a camera, in the past, & they happily sleep all day on a big warm, cosy bed.

Cork24

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/dogs/1597971

Makes me Sick.... "Selling to acquire new bloodline."

Cant Stand people Selling dogs over 1 years Old!! OK. if they go an Husky not knowing how to look after him then they shouldn't have dogs at all.. it doesn't take 2 Seconds to do a Google Search on the Dog you looking at!! and maybe then you think twice about a F**CKing dog..

i had 3 dogs but now have 2 after one had to be put down due to Cancer. and both are well looked after would never sell them.

I also have them neutered so any Dirty K****er wont take them as they are no good for dog Farms..


If you going to get a dog for Rehome do. We all work. whats Stopping you from getting up @ 6 Am and go for a 45 Min walk with him, and leave him out the back come home and go for another walk with the dog..

sionnaic

I had the same experience with Dogs Trust. We went in and filled out the form and as soon as we told them we both worked full time that was that. We weren't even to be considered as potential adopters. To be honest the girl speaking to us made us feel like we were animal abusers or something. We might as well have told her we want a dog to chain up to a barrel and use for a spot of dog fighting. (as I type my little rescue dog adopted from another charity is sleeping curled up beside me on the sofa). Fair enough they want the absolute best outcome for their rescued dogs, and I've no problem with that except to say I think a lot of dogs may lose out on good homes because of such a narrow view. It's a laudable if impractical principle. But don't make me feel like something you scraped off your shoe for suggesting that I could have dogs as well as work.

To be honest we thought it was a bit suspect that a charity could afford a big snazzy new building with a huge plush office and reception area but yet have posters up appealing for bedding for their kennels. Surely dog bedding should have had higher priority than office chairs and fancy staff facilities? Anyway, maybe my bad experience there is making me cynical! It's just when I compare that setup and obvious supporting cash flow with the struggles of smaller rescues like ASH I can't help thinking Dogs Trust must waste a lot of money which could have saved more animals.

Fluorescence

When we were at DogsTrust today the first thing we were asked as we handed in our application was if the dog would ever be left alone (which would rarely happen - there's nearly always someone at home in our house). I felt like the tone they used with us was quite accusatory, like this:

sionnaic wrote:

To be honest the girl speaking to us made us feel like we were animal abusers or something

It seems like it's all too easy for an animal to be abandoned to a shelter but very difficult to adopt one. With the amount of pets being euthanised across the country for lack of space it seems a bit odd to me . Surely someone who is willing to give a dog a loving home and is able to meet its needs shouldn't have such difficulty? As another poster said, giving the dog 2 walks a day, one before work and one after, should satisfy the dog's need for exercise and companionship.

Discodog

The Dogs Trust chose to impose conditions & that is their prerogative. They will take 1000 dogs off of the PTS figure this year which is an amazing number. All of their money comes from donations & most of it from the UK.

They are not here to please people but to save dogs & they are doing a pretty good job. They chose to spend €10 million in Ireland to help with our problem & I think that they should be commended.

There are loads of rescues that have more flexible rules. It is not difficult to take a rescue & you cannot blame any rescue from imposing conditions on who takes one of it's dogs. Imagine if you had to find a home for your own dog & how choosy you would be.

I have read through their homing policy & I agree that it is not specific regarding someone being at home all day. I will email them & post some clarification.

dvet

Wow... so the implication seems to be that if you ever leave your dog at home alone, you're not a suitable dog owner? Surely the vast majority of dog owners have to leave their dogs alone for at least a few hours every day.... Unless the adults in the household are all unemployed, or retired? Or maybe the OP was right about people just lying on their application forms? Otherwise the mind boggles as to where these 1,000 new homes a year coming from - Ireland is not that big a place!

Anyway, there are plenty of reasons why a person may be unsuitable to own a dog but I DON'T consider this to be one. If your dog is in a secure, safe and confortable environment (whether that be indoors or outdoors), has adequate food/water/stimulation, enough room, as well as being walked twice a day, I don't see the problem with them being at home alone sometimes. Except maybe if they are rehoming a dog with severe seperation anxiety issues or some exception like that?!

I imagine though, as Discodog said, the reason the rules are so inflexible is because the Dogs Trust is such a huge organisation... i.e. that they can't really look into new homes on a case by case basis so they just use blanket rules which are not allowed to be broken.

The Dogs Trust is a fantastic charity and does great work, both in their rehoming centre, and with their neutering schemes/subsidisation of vet bills. It's just sad that rules of this must be keeping so many potentially great owners from rehoming dogs.

F-Stop

Graces7 wrote: »

Would this, please, be your first dog?

No, certainly not. I've grown up with dogs in my family all my life as has my girlfriend. My last dog was put to sleep recently after 8 great years with us. We got him from the pound on day 5 when he was 6 and he was a nervous wreck for the first few weeks and would hide under the couch whenever anyone new came into the room. But with a lot of attention and care he soon came to not just trust us but anyone who came into the house.

He was one of the smartest dogs I've ever had, he not only knew what phrases and words referred to, but he got concepts; if you told him to take a treat into his bed he would decide if that meant the rug in front of the fire, his actually bed, the mat in front of the door or outside to his kennel, but never anywhere else.

He slept indoors at night, and stayed outside during the day while we were at work. He hated to be in the house on his own. Sometimes I would leave him in when the weather was particularly bad and would come home to hear him howling as if the gates of hell had opened. When we were home we'd leave the back door open and he'd often wander out and go to sleep under his favourite tree or on the manhole cover on the patio to soak up the heat.

He followed my girlfriend around all the time and I truly believe he thought she hung the sun in the sky. It was heartbreaking yesterday when she came down with tears in her eyes because she'd been changing the sheets on the beds and that used to be one of their little rituals when he would curl up on the old duvet covers as they were tossed on the floor.

He was sane, well mannered and well behaved, and very well cared for. The last few months of his life were very hard on us, but he was a trooper. We had weekly visits to the vet as old age got the better of him. Arthritis, a failing heart and a tumor in his head all ganged up on him. He could no longer follow us around upstairs and had to be carried and even lifted onto the couch. As he got worse we started bringing him upstairs to sleep on the bed at night. As his heart started to fail he started to have seizures. We'd wake up in the middle of the night with him on the bed spasming and throwing up. The next day we'd bring him to the vet. We had him put to sleep before he lost it all - while he still knew us, and was alert and still had wags in his tail. It was the hardest thing in the world to do, but it was the right thing to do for Oz.

we would be wary of rehoming a dog in this kind of circumstance

Any one we've talked to who knows us and knew Oz finds the situation laughably absurd. We're not brilliant, we're not perfect, but we can provide a dog that needs a home with a really good home.

F-Stop

Discodog wrote: »

The Dogs Trust chose to impose conditions & that is their prerogative. They will take 1000 dogs off of the PTS figure this year which is an amazing number. All of their money comes from donations & most of it from the UK.

I just want to reiterate what I said in my first post that the point of this thread is not to bash Dogs Trust. As Discodog says, what they do is fantastic and has made life a lot better for a lot of dogs. I do understand that they have rehoming criteria. I just hadn't come across this and to me it seemed counter productive to their cause, and was hoping for some insight.

Toulouse

I think you'll find that alot of rescue organisations do have the same criteria, I certainly don't think it's anything unusual.

However this can usually be overcome if one of you can pop home for lunch or if not by employing a dog walker so that the dog isn't on it's own for 8 hours a day. OP would this be a goer?

Discodog

The commitment of the Dogs Trust can be illustrated by the fact that I emailed their UK CEO at 1 am last night & had a reply by 8am. The DT in Ireland are still new & I would suspect that they are evolving. They could never rehome 16,000 dogs per year if people thought that they were too selective. Mark Beazley, the Director at DT Dublin, will be made aware of the negative comments here to see if they are indicative of a bigger problem.


"Our policy is that each dog is an individual and each home is individual. It’s our job to try and match the two. Having said that it would be most unlikely that we would allow a young dog to go to a family who are out at work all day and where no-one comes to exercise the dog and keep it company but we would certainly consider an older dog. We are so very grateful to people offering homes to the dogs that we would be crazy to turn people away on a whim. I will let Mark Beazley know about the comments.

Some years ago we did some research to find out why people didn’t come to rescues to rehome a dog. Their main fear was that they were “dark, dirty, dingy and some even called them death camps” . At that stage we said we had to build to make it a pleasant experience for the people as well as a comfortable “home from home” for the dogs. In the last 12 months over 1,000 dogs have gone to homes in Ireland."

Clarissa Baldwin CEO Dogs Trust.

Clarissa is a bit of a legend in dog welfare. She joined the DT 36 years ago, was awarded an OBE in 2003 & came up with the Dog is not just for Christmas tag.

harr

i dont know what the big deal is about dogs having to stay outside,i have 3 dogs 2 pets and one gun dog the gun dog rarely sees the inside of the house and the 2 pets only get in late in the evening.i have friends who keep there dogs in the house 24/7 surely this is not good for a dog.i have a large walled garden and the dogs love been outside and they wont sleep inside even last winter i tried to let them sleep in side and they would have none of it.they are well locked after with a walk every day and regular visits to the vets.i think they should have done a home visit before they decided the op was not fit to re home a dog.no dog needs to be in the house or too have some by there side 24/7.

sbsquarepants

I've had dog's my whole life, more or less. They have always lived outside, they're dogs, not people! Once they have a proper shelter or kennel with a dry warm bed, they are absolutely fine. There are more and more people treating dogs as if the are humans these days, they aren't. Will the dog be left alone? WTF! No dog if you both work? What bullsh'it. So only the rich and the unemployed can have a dog now? This is absolute nonsense. All our dogs were perfectly healthy and happy without any of this molly coddling rubbish or 24 hour supervision. The world is gone mad!

Toulouse

I think the main reason for this criteria is that in all the years of experience that Dog's Trust have you can be sure that for every one dog that was fine outside on it's own for the day you probably had 5 that escaped and got knocked down, escaped and chased sheep, escaped and scared a neighbours kid or tore the garden apart with boredom and bounced back to rescue. Then there are the ones who were difficult to train as there was no-one home alot and the others that developed behavioural problems.

These criteria are here for a reason and while there might be homes out there where it would work leaving a dog on it's own during the day there are vastly more where it would not.

I personally would not leave my dog alone all day, she's just not cut out for it. I tried it a couple of times but it wasn't doing her any good and so I came up with an alternative which meant there was someone with her for most of the day.

Graces7

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've had dog's my whole life, more or less. They have always lived outside, they're dogs, not people! Once they have a proper shelter or kennel with a dry warm bed, they are absolutely fine. There are more and more people treating dogs as if the are humans these days, they aren't. Will the dog be left alone? WTF! No dog if you both work? What bullsh'it. So only the rich and the unemployed can have a dog now? This is absolute nonsense. All our dogs were perfectly healthy and happy without any of this molly coddling rubbish or 24 hour supervision. The world is gone mad!

What an intolerant and inflexible post. Dogs mean different things to different people and that is fine. This has always been so; look at the Old Masters and see the wee dogs there.

No one here is treating dogs like humans. Nor is keeping them safe and inside mollycoddling. GEE! REALLY!

Dogs Trust are ultra careful is all, and that is great. And as others have said, there are plenty of other rescue centres. And each has the right to lay down its own conditions.

kylith

I'd recommend trying some of the other rescues. I was up front with the fact that I work full time and the rescue was happy to rehome two dogs to me so that they'd be company for each other when I'm out, so not everywhere's as stringent as DT.

seamus

Graces7 wrote: »

Dogs Trust are ultra careful is all, and that is great.

This is the thing. Any of the rescues who actually care about rehoming dogs tend to be very strict on their rehoming policies, based on what most people are like.

Because they don't know you. On paper, you may look identical to another couple - same working hours, same environment, etc. But while you may look after the dog, the other couple might chain it up outside and not bother to walk it when they get home in the evening because they too tired. The rescue organisations can't see into your soul to tell if you're a suitable candidate, all they can do is assess you against the average and then err on the side of caution when rehoming the dog.

If they find that the majority of dogs rehomed to full-time workers end up coming back in (or being sold on), then they'll simply stop rehoming dogs to people who work full time. It's terribly black-and-white, but if you have a better solution...