[Vent] Stop giving rescue organizations crap about being picky--we are drowningDog Talks

I volunteer for a dog rescue in the Mid-Atlantic--I don't think mentioning names will be beneficial. I check applications, do home visits, casework (the person who works with an approved adopter to help them find the right match), foster, and do follow up work with already adopted dogs. We get so much sh*t every day saying we are being too picky, too slow to approve, not doing enough for the dogs. We have over 100 applicants who have applied in the last 10 days--and that is an improvement from right after the shutdown. We had over one thousand people apply, of those 1000 85% were approved, 9% denied, and 6% were given a list of why they were denied and how to fix it (typically if an animal in the home was overdue on vaccines by less than 3-4 months or if they were not educated of the importance on heartworm preventatives and went and got a heartworm test for their dog and a year's supply of meds we would review and approve) .

We have adopted out 100s of dogs over this period. We pull from at risk southern shelters, especially medical risk cases, and pay WHATEVER it takes to make them better. However, we have also had more returns than we have ever seen in the going on three years with this organization. People are returning after less than a week. We talk about decompression and how it takes dogs to warm to people and we are having dogs bounced all over the place and we are struggling. We have no idea how to vet people anymore because the people who seemed like they had a plan -- dog trainer, dog walker, etc come back and say the dog is too much. Like we are a large breed specific rescue. We have Malinois and German Shepherd and all sorts of things in between--we try our best to educate, but what are we supposed to do when people lie about what they think they can handle.

I have fostered 6 dogs this summer, all spent 10 days with me, my partner, and my dog and we are beyond honest about the pros and cons of each dog we've had with us. Only 3 of those 6 are with the people who originally adopted them, and all of the returns were because "this dog has too much energy" "this dog doesn't like to be crated and we don't want to hire a trainer to work through this or hire a dog walker" "this dog chewed my shoes/couch/whatever when I left him in the house alone for 3 hours". Like what the heck. Right now is an awful time to adopt for dedicated dog owners because the rescue as a whole has begun to doubt everyone's words. We aren't sure how to mitigate this issue, but people are the reason we are tightening our requirements. People are the reason we are extended foster hold times before meet and greets (forcing more and more people to wait longer for dogs, as there are limited #s of fosters and if we have to foster dogs for weeks at a time that means less dogs getting adopted overall). People are the reason that I as a foster have grilled people living in apartments and with full time jobs to think of the financial commitment.

I wish rescuing and rehoming dogs were all sunshine and rainbows. But its not and if it's not the right place for you--go to a responsible breeder, get a puppy, and do it right. I am all for responsible breeding. Also all about responsible adopting. I have just had it with people right now.

Submitted October 23, 2020 at 02:18PM by unlucky-chicken10 https://ift.tt/37wKBBP