Why is adopting a dog so difficult?

Bannasidhe

Well I am sitting here with my adopted rescue jrt sleeping next to me on the sofa - she was found abandoned and starving with nothing known about her age or history bar the fact that she had been abused (with the scars to prove it) and had at least one litter. Sometimes playing with the grandkids she can get too excited and jump at them. As she is strong she can knock them. They understand and aged 6 and 4 tell her very firmly not to jump on them then give her a cuddle.

Lying on a blanket cuddling a large bone is a long-term foster dog from the same rescue with a liver condition. All we know about him is that his owners wanted to pts him at 5 months (he is a year old now) when they learned of his condition. The vet refused contacted a rescue and now he will be with us for as long as he lives. He would play soccer all day and all night if we left him and my granddaughter has declared he is hers.


On my OH's lap is a dog we bought as a 9 week old pup - we saw her mother and the shed they lived in - it was waterproof and clean. But just yesterday OH happened to meet the woman we bought Dolly off and all the woman wanted to know is if we had bred her. OH said no and never will as she has been 'done.'

The woman said OH was mad as loads of people are looking for 'miniature' jrts and she will be breeding Dolly's mother again - maybe not this year as she had eaten some stones and had to have some of her intestines removed and the vet advised she not have any more litters. Despite this the woman intends to breed her again :eek:. Just to make a few bucks...:mad:
Dolly loves the idea of the kids and goes mad with the kisses when they arrive - and then fecks off somewhere quiet for a snooze. No one told us that. We know that because she lives here with us.

We are now awaiting arrival of our first short-term foster - a jrt pup found starving in an industrial estate. The rescue trying to find him a place to go was not the same one as we got our 2 from so when I offered to foster 'new' rescue got in contact with 'other' rescue to find out if I was suitable. They made no bones about it and I am glad they did - I would have felt they were not 'doing their job' if they had taken me at my word via a facebook message.

So in the last year I have been homechecked by a rescue, another rescue then contacted them for a reference and they both are assured that any dogs in my house will be well cared for with a safe enclosed garden to play in. Actually, they know they will be pampered!

For our other dog we simply handed over 150 euro- no questions asked to a woman who is willing to put 'her' dog at serious risk to keep the money rolling in.

I will never, ever get another dog from any source but a rescue.

Our newbie foster will be looking for his forever home in a few months and we will be able to say he likes a,b,c but hates x,y,z. We will have seen how he is on the lead, with other dogs - both the ones he lives with and strangers. How he is with kids, if he likes to play ball, tug-of-war etc etc. We will have a very good idea of what kind of home will suit him.

inocybe

borderlinemeath wrote: »

The breed doesn't really matter. All the hyperbole about baiting and fighting and some of the ridiculous facebook posts that give people downright paranoia about their dogs doesn't help. If somebody wanted a dog for nefarious purposes, approaching rescues that have strict criteria and a rehoming fee wouldn't be their first port of call. Unfortunately stealing or indiscriminate breeding would be more their thing. I would imagine that the majority of people working in rescue have a fairly intuitive nature when it comes to rehoming and if 'a hard man' etc came in looking specifically for a restricted breed they wouldn't even get to fill out the forms.

Again, the breed doesn't matter. The dog itself matters because at this point it's in a rescue, it's either been lost or strayed, abandoned, given up for various reasons or was part of an accidental litter. Unless it's a puppy then it's probably already got some psychological battle scars from removed/lost from it's original family and the rescue have a duty of care to protect the poor confused dog from further trauma.

I think people who don't know a whole lot about dogs will pick a dog purely on looks and then get pissed off when the rescue says..
"no that dog can't be rehomed with children", or "that dog can only go to a single dog home" or "that dog will only suit an active household" etc. It may seem like the rescue are putting nothing but obstacles in your way but they are just protecting the dog, ensuring it gets the right home as opposed to any home, ie one there's a chance it might end up back in rescue.

In this case the breed does matter because one of the problems in the OP was that he needed a letter from the council confirming that he is allowed to have a restricted breed at that address. Sounds like a good rescue covering all the bases.

borderlinemeath

inocybe wrote: »

In this case the breed does matter because one of the problems in the OP was that he needed a letter from the council confirming that he is allowed to have a restricted breed at that address. Sounds like a good rescue covering all the bases.

But not pertinent to everybody, only certain housing associations have bans on keeping restricted breeds. Your post indicated nothing about that whatsoever, it was more about rescues being choosy. You said:

inocybe wrote: »

Just want to point out that the OP and another poster have mentioned Staffies. Rescues have to be really careful and a bit paranoid when people come looking for a staffie. Someone who is prepared to wait and go through all the process is probably a safer bet.

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

We are now awaiting arrival of our first short-term foster - a jrt pup found starving in an industrial estate. The rescue trying to find him a place to go was not the same one as we got our 2 from so when I offered to foster 'new' rescue got in contact with 'other' rescue to find out if I was suitable. They made no bones about it and I am glad they did - I would have felt they were not 'doing their job' if they had taken me at my word via a facebook message.



Our newbie foster will be looking for his forever home in a few months and we will be able to say he likes a,b,c but hates x,y,z. We will have seen how he is on the lead, with other dogs - both the ones he lives with and strangers. How he is with kids, if he likes to play ball, tug-of-war etc etc. We will have a very good idea of what kind of home will suit him.

Just found out that this little guy was offered free to good home on Done Deal 11 days ago... :eek:

The 'home' he got can't have been much good since he was found starving, lost and without a collar never mind a tag 6 days ago. :mad:

Now, thanks to the diligence of the rescue involved his forever home will actually be good because it will be checked first and care will be taken to find the right match.

Unless we end up adopting him which OH has bet will happen...

Nody

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Just found out that this little guy was offered free to good home on Done Deal 11 days ago... :eek:

The 'home' he got can't have been much good since he was found starving, lost and without a collar never mind a tag 6 days ago. :mad:

Now, thanks to the diligence of the rescue involved his forever home will actually be good because it will be checked first and care will be taken to find the right match.

Unless we end up adopting him which OH has bet will happen...

We had similar bets put on us by friends when we became a cat foster family (and having a 7 week kitten cuddle you or a cat sleeping in your bed next to you every night don't help) but we've stayed strong so far and said we want to focus on helping more cats (i.e. we can have X cat in the house, if Y is ours the higher Y gets the fewer cats we can help).

DBB

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Unless we end up adopting him which OH has bet will happen...

But sure, he's only small. You'd hardly even notice he was there :D

boomerang

kylith wrote: »

They checked my accommodation and that my garden was secure, and that I didn't have a van with 'Furrier' on the side or anything

inocybe

borderlinemeath wrote: »

But not pertinent to everybody, only certain housing associations have bans on keeping restricted breeds. Your post indicated nothing about that whatsoever, it was more about rescues being choosy. You said:

What's your point? I never used the word 'choosy', I said careful and a bit paranoid. There are extra requirements for the restricted breeds, and if you are asked for that letter and view it as a 'hoop' to jump through then you probably aren't ready for the responsibility.
Didn't realise it was the Spanish inquisition:(

FawltyTowel

I'm located in Drogheda. I know there's Meath pound. <snip> use it for a lot of their dogs. Is it just a case of going down there?

I have cats too so it's proving rather difficult. Been trying for about two months with no success

We can't allow mentioning of individual rescues here OP, unfortunately. But just to check, that rescue take dogs from that pound, puts them into foster care, and then rehomes them. I'm not sure what you mean by they "use it for a lot of their dogs"?
You've also got Louth pound not too far from you, and a large rescue based in the very town you live in!

Bannasidhe

DBB wrote: »

But sure, he's only small. You'd hardly even notice he was there :D

He's a jack - no jack is 'small' when it comes to being noticed.

Bullseye1

DBB wrote: »

I don't agree with you, because I rehome almost all purebreeds, and at an estimate I would say 90% of their owners, most of whom would be average dog owners, bought them from puppy farmers and didn't know it. Actually, not so much puppy farmers as Ireland's more insidious bybs. In some cases, the owners look back and think that maybe things weren't quite right... But still bought the pup anyway. Many more had no clue, but I know from the dog's papers, or from what the owner tells me, who they bought it off and under what circumstances.
I know quite a few breeders who are producing dozens of pups in a shed down the country, but are selling them from their lovely residences in leafy Dublin suburbs.
It is very easy to fool people, and the proof is in the fact that many people are fooled.
When you say about the 6 week old pup, do you mean you're just visiting the pup? Or bringing it home at that age?

Can nothing be done about these types of breeders?

DBB

Bullseye1 wrote: »

Can nothing be done about these types of breeders?

I'm afraid Bullseye, all I can say in response to that is "Harumph"!:P
There is new-ish legislation to supposedly control the puppy farmers: they have to have a licence, the price of which is proportionate to the number of breeding bitches they keep. Their premises are subject to welfare inspections by County Council inspectors and vets and various other controls are put in place. On paper anyway.
However, and here's the clincher which makes the legislation a joke, the legislation only applies to breeders who keep more than 6 bitches of breeding potential. Anyone who keeps fewer than 6 breeding bitches is not subject to ANY controls relating to breeding. And the thing is, I would say that the huge, huge majority of disreputable puppy producers in Ireland fall into this category.
There are also various loopholes used: there could be, say 15 breeding bitches in a premises. But 5 of them are in one name, 5 are in spouse's name, 5 are in son/daughter's name. So the legislation doesn't apply here either. This, of course, could be stretched to as many bitches as you want, as long as you have names to assign them to.
So, the only way these types can be stopped is by using the old, outdated welfare legislation which the ISPCA and AGS have been struggling to get prosecutions with for years. There have been prosecutions, but the scale of the problem is so huge that it seems an impossible task to get this problem under control. Meanwhile, the government tell us they're great altogether, they've introduced legislation to stop puppy farming, what are people like me gurning about?:rolleyes:

borderlinemeath

inocybe wrote: »

What's your point? I never used the word 'choosy', I said careful and a bit paranoid. There are extra requirements for the restricted breeds, and if you are asked for that letter and view it as a 'hoop' to jump through then you probably aren't ready for the responsibility.
Didn't realise it was the Spanish inquisition:(

Please read the opening post again. The OP had a staff for 10 years, I'm sure they're well aware of restricted breed legislation and owner responsibility but they didn't get the dog through a rescue so wouldn't be aware of any of the requirements that rescues stipulate to adopt a dog. The letter from the council was just one of the things mentioned and that was at the end of the post.

I really don't know what point you're trying to make, it's certainly not an inquisition, I stated breed doesn't matter because in the grand scheme of rescuing a dog, it really doesn't. All people who want to potentially adopt a dog should be responsible owners of ANY breed, restricted or otherwise.

Bid08

I have to say im all for rehoming dogs from the pound / rescue but I have to say SOME whom I have had experience with makes it extremely hard. I have 3 rescue dogs but none actually came from a pound / rescue centre as we were deemed 'not eligible' for ridiculous reasons. The second lad I got was after I was rejected by a rescue centre I got a call a few days later to say there was a woman who just called them to say that her dog had pups and she wanted the rescue centre to come and take them but the rescue centre had no space for them so I was told I could go down and take one of them if I wanted cos they were not in the rescue centre so they couldnt tell me no. when I went down the conditions the pups were in were appalling we ended up taking all pups and gettin good homes for them cos we didnt have the heart to leave them all there.

Even though I had bad experiences with trying to get a dog from the rescue centres I have to say I dont think I would ever buy a pure breed dog, I would always go for a rescue one

JustAThought

Ivd had a lot of dog stuff that I've tried to give away - brand new kennels, unopened Drontall treatments, big bags of dog food that I win & don't suite my dog so no point in giving it to her, toys she refused to play with, etc. I've contacted three big dog rescue/organisations ( NOT <snip>) & really no one ever bothered getting back to me , or offered any interest -the same organisation that aaSK for donations & gifts that will help.

Personally I don't understand it .j was happy to drive the stuff out to them but they just weren't interested.

I ended up giving up & driving the lot out to the lady who runs the dog place near Ballymun who was glad of the lot. I can't remember if she is <snip> or <snip> -amazing woman.

Still getting over the others tbh.

As per the forum charter, please do not name individual rescues on thread.
Thanks,
DBB

borderlinemeath

JustAThought wrote: »

Ivd had a lot of dog stuff that I've tried to give away - brand new kennels, unopened Drontall treatments, big bags of dog food that I win & don't suite my dog so no point in giving it to her, toys she refused to play with, etc. I've contacted three big dog rescue/organisations ( NOT <snip>) & really no one ever bothered getting back to me , or offered any interest -the same organisation that aaSK for donations & gifts that will help.

Personally I don't understand it .j was happy to drive the stuff out to them but they just weren't interested.

I ended up giving up & driving the lot out to the lady who runs the dog place near Ballymun who was glad of the lot. I can't remember if she is <snip>or <snip> -amazing woman.

Still getting over the others tbh.

I always prefer to give to the smaller/one man/woman show operations rather than the big official ones. My local rescue doesn't even have a premises for dog, but it has a small cattery that always needs food/towels/blankets, even newspapers. I also try to send back what I can to the rescue that Benson came from.

The only exception is when I know a rescue is sending dogs by the truckload to the UK, (one or two rescues spring to mind) as I don't like the habit they have of exporting our problems. It only dilutes the problem to a certain degree and also keeps the statistics at a level where the powers that be can still choose to ignore it as it's considered not important enough to warrant proper legislative change.

TooManyDogs

borderlinemeath wrote: »

The only exception is when I know a rescue is sending dogs by the truckload to the UK, (one or two rescues spring to mind) as I don't like the habit they have of exporting our problems. It only dilutes the problem to a certain degree and also keeps the statistics at a level where the powers that be can still choose to ignore it as it's considered not important enough to warrant proper legislative change.

This is a situation that I know creates a lot of debate. The rescue I volunteer for sends the occasional dog to the UK and some dogs go to Sweden, mainly they're the dogs that have been waiting months or in some cases years for a home here because they're simply not desirable to Irish people. Bull breeds and sighthounds are very difficult to home here but much easier to home in Sweden so you're left with the choice of keeping a dog in Ireland until eventually it's homed or maybe never homed so it's taking up a kennel space that could go to a new dog in need, or letting them go out of the country to a foreign rescue who can home them in a matter of weeks.

Again in some places in the UK it's really really difficult to adopt smaller dogs or puppies of any breed, and again the UK has the same difficulty homing the bull breeds and sighthounds and the people looking for pups or small breeds won't adopt bullies or sighthounds cos it's simply not the dog they're looking for. So you're left in the situation of there being homes for certain types of dogs in the UK, those dogs are unwanted here and there simply aren't the number of homes here for them all, so what do you do?

It's absolutely not ideal, and yes some rescues seem to send dogs to the UK in their droves without trying to get a home here but I guess it all comes down to each individual rescue trying to do their very best for Irish dogs. Sometimes that's by getting them homes as quickly as possible wherever the demand is, sometimes it's only taking in the dogs that they know will be adopted out fast so they can keep taking in new dogs, sometimes it's taking in the dogs no-one else wants - old, sick, behaviour problems etc and hanging on to them indefinitely if they prove unadoptable but it takes up valuable kennel space.

There's no one correct way to help the situation here, it's simply an unbalanced equation - number of unwanted dogs is far greater than number of homes available

borderlinemeath

TooManyDogs wrote: »

This is a situation that I know creates a lot of debate. The rescue I volunteer for sends the occasional dog to the UK and some dogs go to Sweden, mainly they're the dogs that have been waiting months or in some cases years for a home here because they're simply not desirable to Irish people. Bull breeds and sighthounds are very difficult to home here but much easier to home in Sweden so you're left with the choice of keeping a dog in Ireland until eventually it's homed or maybe never homed so it's taking up a kennel space that could go to a new dog in need, or letting them go out of the country to a foreign rescue who can home them in a matter of weeks.

The occasional dog to the UK doesn't annoy me at all. I know there's some dogs that simply have a better home in the UK, be it because of breed etc. Also Sweden has a far better animal welfare system to ours and the occasional sending of dogs to somewhere where they will be far better off and thrive is ok too.

It's absolutely not ideal, and yes some rescues seem to send dogs to the UK in their droves without trying to get a home here but I guess it all comes down to each individual rescue trying to do their very best for Irish dogs. Sometimes that's by getting them homes as quickly as possible wherever the demand is, sometimes it's only taking in the dogs that they know will be adopted out fast so they can keep taking in new dogs, sometimes it's taking in the dogs no-one else wants - old, sick, behaviour problems etc and hanging on to them indefinitely if they prove unadoptable but it takes up valuable kennel space.

It's the ones that send dogs in their droves, literally every week a van might head stuffed with Irelands unwanted dogs, pulled frantically from pounds all over the country, sent to one rescue in particular, maybe stay for a few days and then get shoved on the van to the UK. While it is probably saving the dogs life, it really is skewing the pound figures.

There's no one correct way to help the situation here, it's simply an unbalanced equation - number of unwanted dogs is far greater than number of homes available

Very true. But if the epidemic was fully transparent through actual statistics rather than skewed figures then it might warrant proper legislation that has a proper effect on the indiscriminate breeding and the attitude that some people have towards dumping/straying their dogs. To be flippant about it, the quote "you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" springs to mind. Although the thoughts of it are horrible.

crally

hi sorry to hear so many bad experiences in trying to rehome a dog. Contact a reputable rescue in your area and phone them to make contact arrange to call out to see the dogs and take it from there. Do not rely on email or phone messages. There is a pound in most areas, some put photos of the dogs in the pound on their council site and others do not.

If you want to pm me with where you are located I will give you detail on your nearest pound or rescue. There are good rescues and bad rescues and this will make all the difference with advise and finding you the perfect dog.

FawltyTowel

Can anyone pm me some shelters/pounds in the Louth area?

anniehoo

FawltyTowel wrote: »

Can anyone pm me some shelters/pounds in the Louth area?

As we are now allowing "umbrella group linking" please see our forum charter here under General/List of Irish Animal Shelters & Rescues

Any individual recommendations are free to be PM'd to you

Fair play to you for trying again. Best of luck and hope your next experience is more fulfilling.

crally

hi i do a lot of work in dog rescue, i run a fb page <snip> to try to help home the dogs in pounds around ireland. i am disgusted to see the comments about people who are trying to be responsible and try to rehome a rescue and they are not getting replies etc. it is outrageous. i have had people contact me looking for a dog i have put them n touch with a particular rescue in dublin (I know her), only to hear that she never got in touch with the person concerned. there are good and bad rescues, i am based in Galway and work with <snip> and wonder what part of the country you are in.

As per the forum charter, please do not name individual rescues, nor promote your own interests.
Thanks,
DBB

crally

There is a pound in Louth that is run very well, if you google you will find and there is a rescue called <snip>

As above, do not discuss individual rescues on forum please.
Thanks,
DBB

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Unless we end up adopting him which OH has bet will happen...

OH has won the bet and I have to make her Wellington Squares or a Banoffee.

I saw the little fella on the rehoming list of the rescue as 'available' and my heart plummeted into my stomach so I rang OH and said...I want him to stay. He just 'fits' right in. OH admitted she felt the same so I have asked to keep him.

Maybe I'm just not the fostering type....:(

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

OH has won the bet and I have to make her Wellington Squares or a Banoffee.

I saw the little fella on the rehoming list of the rescue as 'available' and my heart plummeted into my stomach so I rang OH and said...I want him to stay. He just 'fits' right in. OH admitted she felt the same so I have asked to keep him.

Maybe I'm just not the fostering type....:(

And it's official

Meet Charlie

TooManyDogs

Have to say fostering is one of the hardest jobs I think. I've only got 1 failed foster dog which considering the number of dogs and pups I've fostered isn't bad at all, and really it was my OH responsible for keeping him

Charlie looks like a real pet

anniehoo

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Have to say fostering is one of the hardest jobs I think. I've only got 1 failed foster dog

I failed at fostering at my first time doing it Ridiculously impossible not to get attached. I genuinely don't think i could do it again.

Tranceypoo

anniehoo wrote: »

I failed at fostering at my first time doing it Ridiculously impossible not to get attached. I genuinely don't think i could do it again.

Me too....:o

OldNotWIse

TillyGirl wrote: »

I think you are confusing pounds and rescues. Pounds pick up stray dogs and hold them for at least 5 days and then the dog is either rehomed or killed. I have never heard of them doing home visits you go pay for the dog and a dog license and off you go.

Rescues on the other hand do home visits/neuter/vaccinate the dogs etc before rehoming and the fee is more than the pound as all these things have to be paid for.

Exactly, there are actually charities that foster dogs out from "deaths row" to try to keep them alive long enough to find forever homes for.

Bannasidhe

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Have to say fostering is one of the hardest jobs I think. I've only got 1 failed foster dog which considering the number of dogs and pups I've fostered isn't bad at all, and really it was my OH responsible for keeping him

Charlie looks like a real pet

anniehoo wrote: »

I failed at fostering at my first time doing it Ridiculously impossible not to get attached. I genuinely don't think i could do it again.

Tranceypoo wrote: »

Me too....:o

I went through all the reason why we would 'only' foster to OH (trying to convince myself) and they are all very valid reasons but then he did this thing with his ears that is adorable and last night watching him hare around a field with my other dogs trying to catch a swallow with a look of pure joy on his face...
So I log on to FB this morning and the photo above was there (a photo I took) saying he was available...
I just couldn't do it. I couldn't let him go.

Even better, the woman who found him and cared so well for him (she works ridiculous hours and lives in a gardenless apt so couldn't keep him) lives just down the road and she will be able to visit and take him out for walks and spins.

On the topic of this thread just got linked this on FB - it may answer some questions for the OP.


Those darn dog rescues with all of their rules and questions - what gives?
http://www.examiner.com/article/those-darn-dog-rescues-with-all-of-their-rules-and-questions-what-gives